July Happenings

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted, but I think that's what comes with four kids. My camera is usually left at home or stays in the diaper bag because a baby occupies my hands most of the time. But here are a few events that I have been able to capture.

The river behind our house was flooded for most of the summer, which means that our pond was extra high out back. The kids and Papi decided to take full advantage of it and took the "boat" out there. The kids loved it. But Papi quickly turned the joy ride into work when they started cleaning out all the branches that were in there.

 To summerize our summer, it would be two words:    Swimming Lessons

We've done two rounds of swimming lessons and the kids love it.

It was my way of making sure they got to swim this summmer without me having to get in the water (and in swimming suit) with the baby. Worked like a charm.

 Notice those cards in their hands. Our family has started focusing our family home evening lessons on service. We talked about being thankful and saying thanks to those who help us. We wrote a ton of thank you notes and the girls all wanted to write one to their swimming instructors. I wrote one to the mail lady and a couple of days later I saw her and she thanked us for the nice note. I bet it will be the only one she'll ever get in her career and that makes us feel great.

Here is Gabriela giving hers to her swim teacher.

 Sophia is a true fish in the water. It was hilarious to watch her. She spent probably 25 of the 30 minute lesson with her head in the water. She would belly flop or throw herself in the water and then pop up and then go right back under. She was not timid at all. This kid is full throttle all the time.  I love that about her.

 Julianne is kid of a swimming snob. She will figure out how to do everything the teacher asks her to do without getting her face wet. It's like she's done her makeup and can't stand the thought of washing it away. She kind of just pranced around the whole time. She's a prissy little thing.

 The teacher's review at the end of lessons summs up Gabriela pretty well.

Great swimming skills.

Needs to pay better attention.

This kid can make a friend in no time flat. It's one of my favorite things about her. She is a talker too.

 Max turned two months old.

 And this is another one of our family home evenings. Miguel was out of town for a week. Yes, I survived it with four kids, but anyways, I had to do FHE by myself. So we decided to do service for and learn about missionaries. I've got a cousin out on a mission here in Utah, so we colored pictures for him and wrote a letter. We then had a misssionary relay in the house to learn how missionaries lived.

They had to pretend to be sleeping, wake up and do 5 push ups, go iron their white shirt, put on a tie, pack a backpack with their scriptures and Preach My Gospel, go get on their bike and ride it around the kitchen table (that was their favorite part), and go knock on all the doors upstairs until they found the one the other girls were hiding behind and then say hello in 4 languages.

They loved this and it was pretty fun to watch.

Other mishaps:

My neighbor came over one evening and told me that my kids were playing in his daughters bedroom with the door shut and noone was home.

I wanted to die of embarassment!

And Julianne came and told me that Max was crying and wanted me, and that she had moved him to the baby swing. When I went to get him, he was screaming as if he was scared and I mentioned it to her and she said it was because there was a monster that came through my bedroom sliding door and scared him. Max was scared of monsters. I think it is more like a long haired, blue eyed, little monster.

Life is crazy and great and hectic.

What we do when Papi works late.

One of my very favorite things to do with my kids is art. I could probably be a little more laid back about it, but hey I'm working on it. I get a little up tight about how much glue and paint they waste, but like I said, I'm trying to be better. Anyways, last night Miguel was going to be working late, so I decided to fill the time after dinner with an art project inspired by the Eric Carle book Mr. Seahorse which we had in our library basket this week. Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle for the great idea.

The kids love to do stuff like this and they especially loved it when I showed them how to splatter paint. What Mom? You actually WANT us to throw paint?

It was fun watching their faces light up everytime the paint landed on the paper.

When Miguel came home there was paint, sequins, scissors, and more paint everywhere, but at least I was meeting my goal in spending more time engaged with the kids.

Max's Baby Blessing

In our church, our babies get a priesthood blessing during our Sunday services. It is a special time for the family to gather and to present these precious little ones with a name and a blessing. Usually the father gives the blessing and asks our Heavenly Father for special blessings for this child. Miguel did a wonderful job and we were so happy to share in Max's special day.

Gigi made Max a blessing outfit and was her way of participating from so far away.

 I have had this picture in my head since he was born and my wonderful neighbor and friend took these pictures for me. It turned out great. Max will make a wonderful missionary someday.

Isn't his sweet smile so cute!

 We took these family pictures after church on Sunday.

 These girls sure do love him.

 Here is all of the Ruiz men.

Three out of four of them carry the name Alberto!

Alberto Sr. (Miguel's dad), Maximus Alberto, Miguel, and Alberto Jr.(Miguel's brother)

We love you little Maximus!

What a Weekend!

4th of July weekend is one of our favorite holidays around here, and there is no better place to be than Provo. We have so many activities that go on during the Freedom Festival that we never seem to make it to everything. But we always, and I mean ALWAYS, go to the Balloon Fest. It's crazy to have to wake up at 5 a.m. to get there, but Max helped us out this year. We ate the Kawanis all you can eat pancake breakfast and watched all the balloons inflate. After we ate, Miguel took the girls to get a closer look while Max and I hung back by our chairs and people watched.

 New this year was the Star Wars balloon. I guess they had these guys hanging out  under the balloon too.

 Here's a better look, just for you Mom, of this balloon. Crazy thing was, he didn't go up in the air for more than five minutes. He pretty much hopped the street and hung out behind the trees, where he peeked out every once in a while.

 Afterwards, we headed over to the Home Depot to get a fire pit. We've been dying to roast some marshmallows. While we were there we realized that a kids workshop was going on, so we got our kits and came home for a special lesson in hammering and building from our own master builder, Miguel. They made coaster sets. Wasn't too thrilled about having those hanging around my house, but the experience was priceless.

 On Sunday, we had Max's baby blessing. But I'll make that it's own post.

On Monday we headed out for the big parade. The weather was perfect and overcast for most of it. They kids semi-enjoyed it this year. Julianne was ready to go within the first thirty minutes. We might have to rethink this tradition. It seems like every year Miguel and I ask ourselves was it worth it. It sounds cooler than it really is. Our cute little niece stayed with us Sunday night so she could go with us in the morning.

 In true Ruiz fashion, Max sported his 4th of July outfit!

 We then met the family back at our house for an afternoon of fun. We had a barbeque complete with Hula Burgers, grilled corn, patriotic banana splits, and more. We played volleyball, bocce ball, played in the pond, and had a great time.