Big Boy Haircut

last night we had cruz's haircut at a fun place called wild child hair right by primrose. at first he was NOT interested in getting a haircut and proceeded to scream! the stylist put handy manny on the tv and that settled him down a bit. she gave him a brand new 'big boy' haircut and he looks so much older now! here he is with his new 'do and his latest cheesy smile. getting him to pause for pictures is no longer an easy task...i had to snap this one while he was strapped in his car seat! :)

tonight we have cruz's first conferences at school and then he gets to put his costume on (a lion!) and go trick-or-treating at primrose. should be fun!

ps - baby girl is continuing to grow and do well. she is right on target for ~25 weeks...to date i have gained 9 lbs and am still squeezing into some of my regular clothes! these days will be coming to an end soon though.

Apple Orchard!

on sunday, october 9th, we hit aamodt's apple orchard in stillwater with grandma and grandpa johnson. cruz had a fun time checking everything out, playing in the pumpkins and watching all the other kids. heath got some of his favorite apples - honeycrisps - and we all enjoyed the beautiful, warm fall weather.

pumpkins!

more pumpkins!

riding the 'train' with mommy!

too bad this beautiful weather now seems to be a distant memory...happy fall!

Big Truck Day

tia mel came and stayed with us the night of september 30th (following cruz's surgeries...umbilical hernia repair and circumcision). it was nice having a nurse in the house, just in case, for our little patient! both of his surgeries were successful and he had a very quick recovery. on saturday tia, cruz and i walked up to 'big truck day' at the library here in woodbury. cruz had lots of fun climbing in the firetrucks, police car, army vehicles, etc.

thanks tia for a fun weekend!

Latin American Family Picnic

on sunday, september 25th, we had the pleasure of attending our first latin american family picnic at a park in eagan. we had so much fun catching up with "old" friends and meeting lots of new friends. we ran into one of the families that was at hotel paris with us for a short time (they live near duluth) and it was fun to see how their 3 boys have changed in the 6 or so months that they've been home in minnesota. we also got to see manny & his parents...manny is the little boy that we met when we through the adoption training class at lss. we also got to see a family from woodbury that we met when we spoke on the adoption panel at lss this summer (cruz could be their manny!). cruz was reunited with his girlfriend lauren jaenisch and we all loved catching up with them again! mary even brought me some yummy trader joe's chocolate covered cranberries! love her! it was fun to see jack and cruz interact with each other now that they're getting a little older.

here are some photos from the fun day:

the beautiful latin american kids:

taking a crack at the pinata:

future soccer stars: jack & cruz

he only has eyes for his girl, lauren!

what a fun day! looking forward to next year's gathering already.