A ROMANTIC Valentines Weekend - Cruz Style

Valentines day - Its sweet, there's valentines and chocolate...its a Hallmark holiday. I'll admit i haven't been much into Valentines day since my freshman year of college when I broke up with my then-boyfriend on Valentines day. By email. That's class. So here's some valentines for y'all.

How did we spend Valentines then you may (or possibly not) wonder? Since I was fighting a virus, I kept my day low key. We ate some Burgerville and watched American Chopper with the kids. Nothing says romance like that.

Since we all perked up on Sunday, it was off to OMSI for us!!! Again, nothing says romance like the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry! Right Mason, with his puppets...

Nope, Siena wasn't having ANY fun...

Water. Yes, the kids got wet.

There was water. Lots of water.

We ran into our friends the Escobars at OMSI. That's Corrine with her kids Eli and Evan. Evan used to go to Gloria's for daycare with Mason and Siena.

OMSI is great. There's all kinds of stuff to check out.

And climb in.

Oh, and power tools for my daughter. Just what she needs.

In honor of one of my favorite weekends of the year, NBA All-Star weekend, here's the following clip of the greatest team in the history of professional sports for your viewing enjoyment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSMRna71Pk8

Now I've got an All-Star game to go watch.

The Lottery Winner

Okay, not really. But...

you might think that with my working until 8 and 9PM this week and working Saturday until 2, I maybe wouldn't be considering myself too lucky. On top of the brutal work week, the Blazers lost to Oklahoma City - seriously. Oklahom City. Sometimes luck has a way of turning around though.

The auto show was this weekend and this can only be described as Mason's favorite event of the year after his birthday and Christmas. We are not in the market for a car and Luis and I have no real interest in what Detroit and Stuttgart are turning out this year. We went to take the kids.

While waiting in line to buy our tickets to the show, a lady walked by and handed us 4 free passes to get in! That saved us $30! That might have been enough to leave me happy for the weekend, but wait. It gets better.
The kids got to spend hours climbing around in new cars. According to Mason, his favorite was the Herbie.
And of course Siena had to like the Sienna...

The Hummers were quite popular amongst the Cruz kids too.

While the kids were climbing around on the latest in automotive technology, I was standing in line. For an hour. Why would someone do such a thing you may ask? Well, unbeknownst to us when we got there...

MY FAVORITE BLAZER RUDY FERNANDEZ WAS ON HAND SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS!!!!!

Isn't he cute! (Note that isn't a question)

Don't think this picture won't be our Christmas card next year...

Luis spoke a little Spanish with him, asking him who his favorite football team was (FC Barcelona if anyone cares). Oh yeah. That was cool.

To top it off, we had Popeye's chicken for dinner. I went to sleep happy.

The weekend only got better from there...KUMLA at Auntie Lou's house!!!

Here is the classic kumla birthing...see, its crowning now. For further details on Kumla, check out the detailed blog from August 2008.

The kumla has been born! There is is next to its cousin Butter.

Course part of the fun of kumla is getting together with family. Mason loves to see his YaYa.

Bruce and Mary Lou recently converted grandpa's old room into a playroom for the kids, complete with the little pink car that my kids LOVED (and fought over). Siena won. If you're wondering how, just see the clip of her right hook from a couple of weeks ago.

Here's Mr. Berren. He's just so darn cute I keep taking pictures of him.

Part of the kumla occasion was to celebrate my aunt Joanne's b-day and my Grandma Bessie's 91st birthday!

It was cute watching Grandma feed cake to Grandpa. I'm wondering if Cruz will do that for me in 60 years...

I found this blog a couple weeks ago and am convinced its perpetually the funniest thing I've ever seen. Course it might just be me but just in case, here's the link: http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2007/09/great-olan-mills-photos.html I left it on my favorite entry. The rest of it is hilarious too.

Since Cousin Craig disclosed to me this week his adoration of Top 40's music, including Justin Timberlake, this was the only possible link I could think of for him. All else is just wasted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol6vr5_CY1o

A Very Super Cruz Bowl

First Quarter

Kickoff at 6:00 AM with Siena shouting MAMA! DADDY! This "whistle" also wakes up Mason. Score: Kids 2; Parents 0.

Major play of first quarter involves kids watching "Mason Nana movie" for the 68th time and Siena NOT eating her Daddy-made French toast.

End of first quarter: Kids 7; Parents 0.

Second Quarter

Second quarter begins with Mom attempting to fold 1 weeks worth of laundry. Daughter helps by handing clothes to mom. Score: Kids 10; Parents 3.

Mason decides to help by laying in laundry and Siena decides to put her own clothes away. Parents lose 3 points. Yes, it is possible to lose points in the Cruz Super Bowl.

Mom spends 3.5 hours attempting to pick up toys around the house while Dad tries to vacuum and do dishes - people are coming over later. Kids take toys back out as parents try to put them away.

Kids choose to eat Pedialyte popcicles rather than shop with Mom for groceries.

End of 1st half: Kids 21; Parents 0. Oh, and parents look like this:

Third Quarter

Friends the DeCicco's and family (Jose, Sara, Kendra, and Andre) come over for what is known as the "real" Super Bowl. Kids take over house:

Food is enjoyed. Television is watched. All tidied up toys are taken back out...and then some.

Score at end of third: Kids 35; Parents 3 (courtesy of beer and wings).

Forth Quarter

Mom dons Siena's Spelunker helmet. The Cardinals score. The kids are all playing in another room. It seems a comeback and a victory are imminent!

Alas...the kids, and the Steelers, have the last laugh. A mess is made. A game is loss. A Spelunker hat is tossed on the floor in despair.

Final score: Kids 42; Parents 7 (the beer helped stem the rout)

Oh yeah, and the effin Steelers won. Since I still haven't gotten over their unearned victory over my Seahawks, I'm not pleased about this outcome.