signs

after spending a beautiful morning at a playground by the beach it occurred to me that we have really settled in to life in the southern part of this state. as we drove home (stopping at del taco to feed the little "c"s) i made a quick list of how one might know they have been in LA too long.

i bet you are dying to see this list...so, i am going to post it for you now!

:)

1. you have flip flop tan lines on your feet...in december.
2. you no longer look with disdain at the women who have artificially fixed what child bearing does to your body...in fact you envy them.
3. you have no idea where your umbrella is...and if you're honest with yourself, you are not even sure what it is used for anymore.
4. you buy more sunscreen than you do food.
5. when it is more than 80 degrees outside, you complain about being hot.
6. when it is less than 75 degrees outside, you complain about being cold!
7. you use the word "the" whenever speaking of a freeway or highway.
8. you can name every single one of a fore mentioned freeways or highways in LA...in numerical order!
9. you think it normal to have sand in your car, tub, kitchen floor and bedding.
10. and finally...you know you have been living in So. Ca. way too long when doing this to your son's hair seems totally normal:

flattered

snapped this moment today...elia, 17 months old.

reminded me of this moment years ago(although it so feels like yesterday!)...selah, 17 months old.


though they are often spoken of as looking nothing alike, they truly are quite "alike"!



i read that old familiar quote the other day, "imitation is the highest form of flattery"

...i feel completely flattered (and honored!)

There is this blog i was told about by my sweet sister in law(who is really one of my longest, dearest and best friends!!) Rebecca. On it the mom who writes it does this hilarious thing called "Not me Mondays"! She explains it way better than i can...so check out her blog...if i did this right, you should be able to do so below??!! we shall see!!! i am lame-o at this stuff! Anyhow...it was completely free-ing to hear other moms be REAL about being mammas!

So, with that...here is my own, "Not Me Mondays"...

today i did not allow my four otherwise hygenic children play with handfuls (seriously! gobs of them!)of earth worms, just so i could cook dinner in peace...not me!



Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

live this moment

arriving home to a bit of a heat wave was rough, but we settled back into so. cal life quickly.

elia cleans up well, don't you think! (her pony tail isn't crooked, there are two of them, you just can only see one...i promise!)

on go the days...minutes become months.

we are nearing our two year mark here, and good news...we DON'T have to move at the end of May as has been our "tradition" for the past two years!

some of our people actually think that is what we do every May, and so have been asking if we should start packing, and can the next place please have three swings instead of just one. (as long as we are making requests, mine would be for the next place to have more bathrooms...one toilet for 6 people is killin me!!)

here's hoping i do this a tiny bit more often than once every three months!

if you need more frequent updates, i am sure you can get them on dan's facebook page...i think he is on it nearly daily!

i have as yet refused to succumb to the pressure many of you have put on me to start doing that wretchedly trendy form of staying in touch. serioulsy, this blogging stuff is more than i can handle as it is! (obviously!!)

plus, as you can see from the photos, i have loads of laundry waiting for me!!

peace and love to you from our 6!

April 09

best part of the past three months you ask??? getting to spend 10 days in northern california visiting with family in fresno and sacramento!

we had a great time and enjoyed every second with you all!!!

march 09

the dog...it's "roco", our sometimes family pet...really owned by dan's med school buddy-Alon. we get to pretend we have a dog whenever Alon goes out of town! as you can see, roco is well loved!

the faces are the result of insisting that limes really are a good dessert snack!

not only are our people cute, but also hygienic!
Question: what is most often asked to us by strangers?
Answer:"are they related?"

February 09

don't worry, we have not adopted a fifth child...the little boy in the box with our four is our neighbor..."PJ"

and yes, elia is incredibly talented! at just 15 months she can put on her own shoes (well, at least one!) and play the harmonica!!

Three months?? Really!?

blogger extraordinaire i am not (nor can i spell, as i had to allow the computer to spell that word for me!)!

as evidenced by my complete lack of posting anything new since January (my husband reminds me of this daily!!) i will never be one of those moms who has become so amazing at "blogging" (makes me think of trees and forests and running through mud!) that they now single-handedly support their families from all the money brought in by advertisers wanting to run ads on their blogs.

what i do have going for me are four totally cute, busy and awesome kids! and what i am for sure, is a mom who loves an excuse to show off just how cute i think they are to all of you!

you...are our sweet family who live far from us (or do we live far from you?) and rarely get to see each of them in all their cuteness!

so, with no shame at all (well, very little at least!) here is a quick-ish recap of life...cortez6 style... over the past three months!

( i have not quite figured out how to get things in the right order...so i will do my best to have this be chronological(phew, another hard word to spell!)!!