Stats

Current vitals on the kiddies as of this weekend. I like to post to look back on and see how their tastes have evolved and stayed the same.

PERRY

weighs 62.0 lbs
grade: kindergarten
fav restaurant: Gardin Corona
fav colors: pink and purple
current reads: princess books

MASON

weight 52.5 lbs
grade: 2nd
fav restaurant: Gardin Corona
fav colors: all except pink & purple
current reads: anything by Dr. Seuss

CORA

weight 72.5 lbs
grade: 3rd
fav restaurant: Olive Garden
fav colors: pink black white
current read: "No Dogs Allowed"

CRISTIAN

weight 84.0
grade: 5th
fav restaurant: Gardin Corona
fav colors: green
current read: "Hunger Games"

Baile Folklorico

Cora and Perry just started participating in baile folklorico, Mexican traditional dancing.  This is the first dance they have learned - La Raspa.  

making the cut

we had a good friend (robb) take some family pictures. he is the real deal. it was a full-on photo shoot in our living room. we snapped a few for our christmas card which was so fun to pull together. here are some that didn't make the cut, but which i enjoy immensely!

thanksgiving 2011

just had to post this beautiful little face. i love her gorgeous brown skin. i spent lunch with perry at school for the thanksgiving feast (in november of course). she was so happy to have me there with her. she gave me ALL the details of kindergarten life.

SAY WHAT?!

this one was funny after i heard myself say the words.

cristian has a wart on his left elbow. he's become really aware of it and is often times fiddling around with it. he's learned it grosses us out.

one of his current past times these days is annoying, teasing, or grossing people out. enter.pre-pubesent.boy. (sigh)

he was asking me for something and i shot him down, dashing his future of happiness for ever. he takes his warty elbow and starts rubbing it (the wart) up and down my forearm.

i angrily tell him, "stop rubbing your wart on me!"

there ya go. who'd ever thought i'd need to say such a thing!

boys.

Cora's First Performance

Cora was so nervous about her performance tonight. She did a great job and we our so proud of our budding violinist!

Click on the picture for a link to her performance.

Twinkle Twinkle

signs

my boy is changing.

gosh, i hate it. especially because he is my firstborn. that's what i keep telling myself at least.

he is still my sweet child, but i see the metamorphosis happening.

he's increasingly more quiet (if that is possible).
he retreats to his bedroom for long periods of time.
he likes music and listens to it and knows all the current songs.
some girls really annoy him, but SOME don't. (eek)
he is wearing deodorant.
his legs are getting hairier.
he doesn't see the need to shower EVERY day.
he has almost a man's appetite.
i am no longer allowed to hold his hand or kiss him in public. (stab my heart)
he and i are reading the same books for fun.

this is a heart wrenching part of parenthood. i know it is just growing pains for us both, but man does this hurt emotionally. i am happy to see him mature and develop himself. but what happens when he has a girlfriend? oh no, i don't think they are going to stand a chance.

i've got to tame my mama-bear now.

Mustang Owners Car Show

I took these three boys with me today to the Mustang Owners Club of Austin Car Show. I have to admit it was more for me than for them, but I think they enjoyed it. The muscle cars of the 60s and 70s these days just seem to call my name these days - may be directly related my approaching 40. One of these days I may surprise Jen and drive one home instead of my 1997 Volvo.

Cristian's Favorite - Shelby Cobra

Mason's Favorite - because of the doors.

Not sure what Ian's favorite car was, but he just appreciates cars in general.

I didn't really have a favorite, but I definitely gravitate to the 60s mustangs. There were probably 40 of them there. Very Nice!

I am looking forward the Texas Classic Car Show on September 24!

pacos' love of my sister

carlos loves this picture of shay. in fact he uses it on his phone as her i.d. when she calls. i don't even know how she produced such a face but it's here to stay. she actually scares me here. one of her finer moments and i'm sure she's thrilled to be published here.

zoo fieldtrip

i take one large outing with the kids every week and call it "fieldtrip day". the name alone excites them more than the outing i think. this week we drove up to waco to visit the cameron park zoo. we've been a handful of times before and enjoyed it so much that we've bought season passes.

yesterday was a great time with the kids. i so enjoyed the afternoon with them. here are some highlights:

1. the 109 degree weather
2. mason asking to go home after we'd been there for 30 minutes
3. my genius gene striking again - i supplied all 4 kids with spray bottles to spray each other with as we walked everywhere. they kept us cooler and they loved the "toy factor".
4. cristian announcing that he was sweating in places he never knew could sweat on his body.
5. perry screaming because she was scared of the river otters.
6. an almost empty zoo because of the heat.
7. the feeding of the lime green eel before closing time.
8. perry announcing she wanted to "love on those" cute tiny screech owls.
9. cristian being eyed by the alligator like he was the next meal.
10. cora's retelling of an indian legend prompted by our visit to the bison and tepee. she retold the whole story for the following 20 minutes. it was precious.
11. mason's spraying of his armpits and making the loudest armpit farts ever. he and i were both so proud.
12. mason's announcement of his favorite animal at dinner being the "dik dik". it's an actual animal, look it up.
13. the cute brown duck with a bright blue bill.
14. perry's love of the huge rusty orangutan.
15. cristian catching a dragon fly.
16. perry accumulating a collection of 8 river turtles with her spray bottle.
17. cora's spotting of the alligator gar in the pond. they are freaky, ugly fish.


the heat could have made for such a miserable day. but it was the best time i've had with them at the zoo. it was fabulous. i hope they remember these memories that we are making for a lifetime.

dads are great for this....

...all thirty minutes of screaming with joy!

the house

here's our new house - still under construction. we'll be moving in in about 3 weeks and we are ALL so excited about it. we drove by today (as is custom) and noticed that they are working on the sprinklers and sod. yee haw?
here is cristian's private bathroom. he is pretty jazzed about it. i've tried to make it extra special for him since he is entering tweendom. he specifically asked to have his own bedroom which surprised me. it shouldn't though. he is gaining more independece and automy which is good but personally devastating for his mommie. we picked out his bath decor and he's getting a large bed with new bedding to boot.

this is the girls' room. we picked this over the others because of the lovely bay windows. i thought cora would want her own room but she still loves the security of having perry with her at night. hey, i'll take that as long as it lasts.

in case the dishwasher doesn't arrive i've got my spare ready to go. no electricity or batteries required. he looks happy about it now - just wait! the granite isn't something i would have picked out but i can definitely live with it. we actually didn't pick out anything in the house. it was an existing unfinished home. i got to "pick out" the tile from the three choices they gave me. not what i would have chosen either, but it'll do.

ridiculous amounts of cupboard space with i am totally down with. i am excited about having a built in micro and oven next to each other. as usual, these large homes have tiny pantries. i just don't get it. i'll forever love my pantry on john tee. it was ginormous!

love the curving stairway. the youngsters have already been caught climbing the outside of the railings. REALLY?!! (sigh) my favorite feature of this home is the very grand and open foyer and staircase as you enter the front doors. large foyers make me feel like the house tells a story when you enter.

the lovely foyer. i keep myself awake at night thinking about how to decorate this space. silly isn't it?

covered porch is lovely but i'll never use it. i don't BBQ on my porch nor drink beer. someday we want to build it into another room. the small three windows above it will be a fifth bedroom hopefully within the next year.

melt

here is my beautiful boy. he has been fun this summer. he has had a lot of changes in the past few months. he is really enjoying reading with us these days instead of getting so frustrated by sounding out words. he still loves to rhyme. dr.seuss is his idol. he is experiencing growing pains. his legs ache and he is eating lots of food as of late. he has become such a strong swimmer. he is loving building with several block kits he owns. he loves to manage the car. about every 2 minutes he reports the time to me that he sees on the dash. he is always telling me how much gas the car has and calls out the color of the lights so i can text at the reds. he is still a volatile little personality. he has done well though telling us now that he has been "made angry". it's a step in the right direction. he is obsessed with "technology" and gets very bent when he is denied access. he loves to climb into our bed every morning for a few minutes. he is still our best sleeper and earliest riser. we are working on his volume control. he talks way too loud for each setting. he secretly loves my tickles but fight them everyday.

even though he is such a pickle, there is something that i just can't get enough of about him. i love him so much. he is such an independent, unique personality. he is so strong and overwhelming, but sensitive at the same time. he tries me the hardest sometimes, but i love him to pieces. he is just priceless to me. i cannot imagine him not being in our family. we all need and love who he is.

my genius gene strikes again

point a) i hate the junk linoleum in our craptastic rental. i decided to use the sqares to our advantage. cristian had a good time taping off the hopscotch board per my instructions.
point b) look how freak'n black our little pear-bear is this summer. our daily swims are really paying off, eh?

drew names

sometimes the kiddies fight over who gets to bake with me on sunday afternoons...
that was the case last sunday and cora and cristian got their names drawn for pineapple upside-down cake. we've never made it before.

they did a great job lining up the fruit "just so"

it looked beautiful and was a hit with most of the family

portraits

we had some pics taken of the kiddies a couple months back. my intent was to have one blown up for carlos' office at work for father's day. it'll happen eventually. i love the colors the kids wore and the photographer had some fun poses & props. my babies just aren't babies anymore. sigh.

as usual, i don't make this stuff up. cora & lena asleep with their masks on. we are in so much trouble.

this has been the summer of stir fry. all the kids will eat it...

it's healthy....

it's pretty...

it's quick....

it's been eaten every week for a past two months. yumm-o!

here's what our summer looks like. how i love these little faces!

the Brown Bag in the Brown Home

our annual camping trip began with a visit to our friends, the brown's. they introduced us to a crazy game called the brown bag.

its simple. take a paper grocery bag. cut it down by half from the top. the challenge is to pick up the bag with your mouth. only the bottom of your feet may touch the ground.

after every round you trim off the top of the bag. (we pause here for some comic relief from mace and girl friendship from cora and haley)

it's hilarious to watch the kids contort their bodies to pick up the bag with their mouth.

poor tucker got a little over zealous and ended up with an ice pack on his wallabies after the game!

thank you brown's for the introduction to this fun game! it's been a hit with every crowd we've played it with.