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.



Trying to Listen

It seems for the longest time we have been hearing over and over again the importance of listening to the Spirit in our lives and how critical it is and will be for our futures. As I was flipping through and reading a couple of articles from the Friend to Gabriela this morning, I was reminded again, to be sensitive to those promptings. On page 11, there are Conference Spotlight Cards, and one of the quotes on there was from Elder Uchtdorf and it said, "Don't let a day go by without doing something to act on the promptings of the Spirit."

It was late afternoon and I had put the girls down for naps to save them from the harsh afternoon sun and give them a break from the heat. I washed the dishes and swept the floor and then began reading from a book (and munching on chocolate cake I might add) when I got this idea that I should go and get a children's book from the library basket and take it down and read it to Gabriela and Sophia, who had decided to nap together. I keep feeling like my kids don't get enough individual time from me, so I thought I would surprise them, because I was sure they weren't sleeping yet. So I selected the Eric Carle book, Mr. Seahorse, and went downstairs only to find two cute kids sound asleep. So I thought I would try Julianne, who had still been awake the last time I checked, but she was out too. Max was the only one still awake, lying in his swing, so I decided somebody was going to get a story and it might as well be him. I sat down on the floor infront of his swing and read him the book. I even showed him the pictures. I actually read him into a slumber.

But you know what?

 I felt good.

And I feel like I acted on a prompting for the day.

And maybe I'll get even better at it the more I practice. 

Little Brother

Man, we sure love this little brother of ours!

(6 weeks old)

The Gift of Nature

I have been reading a delightful book called Mitten Strings For God, by Katrina Kenison. It has been such a blessing for me to read over the last week. It makes you want to slow down and learn to enjoy the simple things in life and to teach those simple things to your kids. So I thought I'd share some of the principles in the book that stood out to me.

One of the chapters in the book that I loved, was called Secret Places. Children should be allowed to have a secret place. A place where they can be alone. A place to imagine and dream and to call their own. As the author puts it, hidden places beyone the realm and ken and comprehension of adults. Every child needs such a place, a place that invokes the processes of the imagination and the possbility of transformation. A place that is at once a haven from the adult world and a sourse of mystery and wonder, a place that a child can discover and shape and lay claim to, simply by virtue of his or her own quiet presence there, and deep observation.

I had such a place as a kid. It was on the other side of my neighbors home. We lived on two acres in GA and the trees were endless. We had a clubhouse that was really just a patch of trees inbetween two of the yards on the street. We wore all the grass out in that little circular patch of trees. We drug an old play kitchen in there. There were rooms to it and doorways. But it was all in our heads. No adult would have been able to see it. I had all boy neighbors, so I was always left in the clubhouse to tend to it and keep it clean, while the boys went off and got the bad guys or played war, or whatever else they did. I also made a place in the woods at the babysitters house where we stayed after school. We would line up rocks to show the perimeter of our space and then clean it out. We would drag books up there, or our toys, and would imagine all sorts of things. I loved my childhood outdoors.

There is also a chapter on Nature. Love it too. As the author puts it, any relationship requires time, lots of it. If a child is to truly love the natural world, to experience its beauty and truth and power at a spiritual level, he or she must first spend time in natural places. In the end, those who will make a real difference in our world-- those who will grow up with the confindence and the imagination to help save the earth-- will be those who know it well and love it deeply.

I've been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of months. As I drive up close to the foothills and see those big fancy homes with their perfectly manicured yards, I think to myself, what do their kids do in the yard. It lends itself to no imagination. The perfectly cut grass, the fine curbing, the flowers perfectly planted, and most importantly...no mature trees. As I see this it makes me ever so grateful for my mess of a backyard. There is a trail that runs along the other side of the river and as you walk down it,  you can tell our yard is the most wild and unkept, but you know what, I love it. We do keep up a portion of the yard up by the house, but the back, we just let it go. My kids have nature right in their backyard and that is rare here in Utah. And that is why we will probably never move from this spot. In fact, it's why we moved in the house in the first place. Nature is so acceccible to us, with our backyard, and then the mountains only minutes away. It's awesome.

Here is my kids' natural world.

 Nature tends to float right on in all the time.

This is the view from the other side of the bridge.

 These little guys have made our yard their home over the last week.

We have ducks all the time.

And a muskrat.

He's pretty cute. Kind of like a beaver...but with a rat's tail.

He swims in from the river and has made his home somewhere in our pond.

 We've even got our very own "Grandmother Willow."

(Although she kind of scares my kids)

I know Gabriela has a special spot up in her favorite apple tree.