Easter Picnic & four kids

Cardoza Family Easter 2011

MiMi, PaPa & Grandkids

Today was nice. We celebrated Easter with my side of the family. All of us, my parents, my sis, Rusty, and Ashley (TJ had to work). It was simple and fun. We had a picnic at Woodward park. We also had a photo shoot, several egg hunts, made bird's nests from cupcakes, and played on the play structure. The kids all had a blast and that is so fun to watch. After we left the picnic, we headed back to Becca and TJ's and hung out for a few hours. We watched the movie "Tangled" and relaxed. Bec and I also looked at all of the cute pictures that she took today at the park. I love her new camera. It takes amazing photos and we enjoyed capturing the growing kid's and all of the fun they had.

Rusty is back to his normal cutie patootie self. He looked great. Healthy, happy, calm, and easy going. I enjoyed watching him play with my dad. Rusty laughed and laughed at Papa as he tried to feed Papa some of his animal crackers. Rusty loved Papa's pen (you that know him- Dad always has a pen in his shirt pocket). It reminded me of when Ty was a baby and playing with Papa. Baby Rusty reminds me of Baby Ty. I miss Baby Ty.

My niece Ashley is hilarious. She is absolutely adorable. I have had so many people say that she looks like she could be my daughter. I really love that. She has my beaver teeth smile from when I was little, my blondie hair, blue eyes, crazy toes, and bossy/independent attitude. I love her many expressions and phrases. She is like a little streak of sunshine running around trying to eat up every little bit of life she can grasp. I also love that she loves Ty. I think she has a little girl crush on him. She seems to idolize him. And he is very sweet to her and enjoys being the big cousin. Today she walked up to him and said, "I love you Ty". He got embarrassed. It was super cute. Instead of saying I love you too Ashley, he just said, "Thank you". Ty thinks girls are pretty yucky right now. In fact, he loves his Mommy's hugs and kisses.....but NOT in front of other people besides his family. Sigh. But deep down I know I am still his very favorite person. Lately whenever I tell him I love him, he likes to say, "I love you even more!"

Sister put this together for me

MiMi is creative with her Easter Egg surprises

Bird's nest cupcakes

My little boy is growing up sooooo fast!

Boy is Miss Sheratyn growing up. She wore one of my tank tops today. It's fun, but scary that she is getting to the age that we can share! She will be 12 on Tuesday. She is such a fun and sweet girl. She is a breathtaking mix of beautiful and adorable, goofy, giving, fair, silly, fun, and very much my little sidekick lately. I love it. She cannot wait until Tuesday because she will finally be old enough to have a gym membership and come to the gym with me. This year for the kid's birthdays they got to have one friend over for birthday dinner and cake. Sheratyn said that she would rather go to the gym with me to my boxing class that night instead. That made my heart swell. She is so excited. She probably doesn't realize that I am even more excited that she is, simply knowing that she wants to spend this time with me.

Daphnee is such a little Mommy-girl to her cousins. I love how she likes to take care of them. Today she immediately went to Ashley to take her to play on the playground. She is attentive and sweet. She is a darling girl. Delicate, but competitive and firey. I love that. She is super sensitive. I can relate to her in a lot of ways because I too can be very sensitive. I like that we have that connection. Being a blended family has been such a blessing, but is not without challenges. Daphnee has indeed struggled the most with confused emotions. Even though having a step=mother hasn't always been easy for her, the heart-to-heart conversations that we have had and the understanding that I feel for her is priceless. Through the challenges, her and I have been able to connect in ways that have been very beneficial for her, and for me. God is in this relationship, molding it into something beautiful.

Fiesty little Sheedyn. This girl makes me laugh and act goofy along with her. She is so intelligent, witty, stubborn, and strong. She reminds me of a little pixie fairy. She and Ty together just make my heart so full. They are adorable. They are the best of buddies. They don't let a whole lot of people in on that secret. It's almost like they have an understanding. But at home....it's precious. I pray that their sibling relationship will continue to be so special to them both throughout the rest of their lives. Sheedyn is dependable, consistent, and so helpful. She has a style of personality that is uniquely her. I love it.

I love these children. I thank God for allowing me to care for them daily. All the driving to and from school, the HOMEWORK HEADACHE's, the fighting about everything that siblings fight about, all the tiring stuff.....is all that I will miss in a few short years. I am cherishing this time. I believe that God has allowed me the time, responsibility, and blessing of shepherding these children and their fragile hearts. Only with Him can I hold them well. On my own, I constantly fail. Thank you Jesus for picking me up and holding my hand every step of the way.

I'm getting sleepy. Just a few comments about Jax: Oh how I love that he is so content just sitting with me. He is such a sweetie. The last two nights he cried/howled all night long (no joke). But tonight, so far (fingers crossed), he is quiet. We tried having him outside in his big crate for nighttime. Not good. He wants to be close to his "pack". About an hour and a half ago I moved him into a smaller crate into our room and he has been locked inside fast asleep ever since. Not a peep. So far. We'll see how the night goes on.

Shutting off for now. I promised a sweet girl I would go lay by her for awhile <3