Gotta Read This!

This book is wonderful. We are reading it for our book club this month and I fell in love with it. It is about the German occupation of the Island of Guernsey that sits inbetween England and France. It is upbeat and whitty. What is really clever, is that the whole book is in letter form. The story comes out as you read the correspondance between an English book author and the people on the island. I give this book 4 stars (4 out of 4 in case you were wondering).

LOVED IT!!!

Miguel and I hit the 9:30 Nordstrom's premier of New Moon last night and we both really liked it. So much better than the first. The directing is a lot better and there is a lot more action. Even your husbands would like it. Go see it.

The tides a coming, man the deck!

I had all three of the munchkins in the tub the other day and decided to pull out the camera. Julianne is obsessed with these boats that have magnets in the ends of them. She kept trying to line them up and would make this hilarious face as she does the sound a boat makes. Her little lips pucker up and you just want to squish those cheeks of hers.

This picture is so funny to me.

The other two like to be mermaids and float in the water.

We went to Pirate Island last night for the first time. Gabriela was so excited. I would give it a "B" for effort, but the staff is a little creepy. It seems like they are the kind of people who would dress up like pirates even if they weren't at work, if you know what I mean. The kids were thrilled, so I guess that's what matters.

Good ole' pirate face.

We ordered this massive 26' pizza, because we had a coupon, so if you're wondering what we'll be eating at home for rest of the week, you can bet your pants it'll be pizza.

You gotta try this!

Here is an awesome recipe I found and your kids will love it...I promise!

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Ingredients:

1 can large refrigerated biscuits

1 can Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup

1 to 2 tablespoons butter

1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 shredded mozzarella cheese or whatever cheese you've got

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease your muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Separate dough into 8 biscuits and cut them in half making 16. Place half the biscuits in bottom of muffin cups, pressing to cover bottom and sides.

2. Drain soup. Spoon drained soup evenly into biscuit cups. Place remaining biscuit halves over soup; gently seal each biscuit.

3. Spread biscuit tops with butter. Sprinkle with seasonings and cheese.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until edges are golden brown. To remove from pan, run knife around edge of pies.

This is a good recipe to let the kids help with. Sophia loves doing it.

I'd be grumpy too.

On Sunday we had our Primary program for our ward. I was in charge and had to write the entire thing and I couldn't have asked for a better performance from the kids. It went without a hitch and I was so proud of them. So many of them memorized their parts. Gabriela was able to sing her first public solo. She sang, "I love to see the temple," all by herself up there. I really did get choked up everytime she did it in rehersals. She's so confident at such a young age and so many people complemented her on how well she did.
After she sang, and during the program, she had this pouty face on and just didn't look happy. She would sit on the floor and really looked bothered. After the meeting was over she was in a really bad mood. Miguel asked her what the problem was and she says, "they won't let me sing AND dance up there." Yep, I'd be bummed too if I were her. I'm telling you, she is a performer in the making. Watch out Taylor Swift, she's coming for ya in about ten years.

She Did It!!!

I can't believe it! Gabriela finally gave up her pacifier. This has been my skeleton in the closet as a mother for forever. We limited it to just night time, but she was just getting too big, and I didn't like her having an attatchment like that. I think she had been wanting to give it up for a while, but when I proposed that we take her to the Disney Store and she can pick anything out as long as she gave the cashier her pacifiers, she jumped on it. We made it a really big deal...almost like a graduation. This is a seriously big deal for our family. The other two aren't quite ready yet, but at least we know it can be done. Hooray for Gabriela. We are so proud of her. Can you spot the two pacifiers on the counter?
The lovely number is what she chose and loves it too death.

As we were leaving, I whispered to the cashier guy to just throw them away. He looked at me and said, "are you sure you don't want to keep them." I thought, no way jose, I'm weaning all of us. I don't even want the temptation to give it back.

29 Today!

Last night I thought I was going to have a panic attack realizing that I've been on this Earth for almost 30 years. That's crazy to me! But before I dwelled on it too long, I also started to think about me as a person. Within the last 10 years, or throughout my twenties, I am a completely different person than I used to be when I got out of high school. I've been able to set goals and have become an outgoing more confident woman (that's coming from the little girl who would cry at an Easter egg hunt or when a pinata was broken...I hated competition that much). I've moved across the country by myself, become a college graduate, a wife, a MOTHER, an in-law, a pageant contestant, a member of a college dance team, a competitor, a book club organizer, a primary councelor, a Relief Society teacher, a nursery worker, an HOA activities chair, and the list goes on. It's been good, bad, and even ugly sometimes (i.e.: last week). I've major highs and also some really low points, but through it all I've been progressing and I'm a better, more compassionate, person than I used to be. So if that's what getting older does to you I guess I'll just look forward to the journey. Here's to my last year in my twenties.

It's that time, again!

So I've been probing the girls about what they want from Santa this year and they've given me some pretty good ideas. I remember as a kid getting the Toys R Us flyer in the Sunday paper and pour over it for hours making our lists. Since we don't get the paper I stopped by the store and picked two up yesterday for the girls. They were totally into it. I gave them a crayon and told them to pick there favorite things. They circled just about everything in there. Sophia was so serious about it and I was cracking up at dinner watching her face as she studied it, so I pulled out the camera. (Note: she still had a little dinner on her face)

Bring in the Calvalry!!!

I found another horse to add to the calvalry in the back yard at D.I. No more taking turns around here. Now the fighting is over which one you get to ride.

I must be having a good day.

If you've been reading my blog lately, I haven't caught a break in a while. I just wanted to report that today has gone really good so far. Granted I haven't showered and I'm sitting her in my multi-colored striped pajama pants and NYC t-shirt with my hair pulled up in ponytail, but here is what I HAVE done. Yanked down all the Halloween decorations from around the house and put them away, cleaned the huge mess left over from the Halloween party, fixed all the furniture in the living room (including lugging a coffee table from my bedroom by myself), vacummed the room, swept and MOPPED my kitchen floor (that rarely happens), washed two sink fulls of dishes, and made my kids a creative lunch. Somebody bring my the trophy for MOM OF THE DAY, and hurry because it won't last long. If you can beat me today, you can have the trophy. I probably won't be in the running for another couple of months.

Drum role please!

Introducing the Ruiz Witches Guild Esmerelda

Halloweena

Watch out, she pulls a nasty spell out of her hat!

Carophina

She might be part vampire, by the looks of those lips.

And the littlest witch of all. Julianne.

She's so mean, she wouldn't let her mom get one picture of her smiling or wearing her hat the entire weekend. She was truly acting like a witch.

And Papi was Hassan the snake charmer. He was the creepiest guy at the party.

For Halloween, we gathered all the kids in the neighborhood to go trick or treating. They loved it and by the end of the night Julianne had completely caught on. She might have been the last one at the door, but her voice was heard. She got her "trick or treat"s and her "thank you"s down pat.

Just a little creepy don't you think. He looks like a child snatcher.

Gabriela was so excited to visit her Sunbeam teacher and went running for her house right off the bat. We convinced her to hit the houses inbetween, but can you see the reason why. They invite you in for punch and doughnuts. I think we overwhelmed a little with our large group.

Here's Gabriela with her sweet teacher.

After getting there treats we all headed back to the house where we played charades, and I treated the kids to Halloween Bingo and they won temp tattoos. We had lots of good food and good company. All in all, it was another great Halloween.