January 31, 2010

In honor of tonight's GRAMMY Awards (which of course I watch every year!) here is an interesting collection of music business facts about how things unfolded in 2009. *(photo from the Wall Street Journal)

And as you can see, not everyone in my family thought the Grammys were all that exciting. :)

January 30, 2010

When dad is in charge of feeding the kids for the day.... Fun food is on the menu!

And believe it or not, I found microwave version of LUNCH ROOM PIZZA! Remember that square pizza we all had to eat every friday in middle school? Well, you can buy it at the store, and my son loved it!

And of course the standby is a good old fashion microwave burrito!

Mom sent healthy snacks with the kids.... here is one. maybe we will eat it later when we run out of other food. ;)

January 29, 2010

(This post is pretty much for Radio folks)
Exciting day at Z88.3 today! Engineers have installed and set up
Arbitron PPM encoders for all our signals, streams and HD stations.
(first rack on far left side of photo of the rack room)

21st century here we come!!!!

January 28, 2010

Homeschool = doing Real schoolwork, but doing it in your pajamas and
fuzzy slipper-socks!! Yeah homeschool !!

January 27, 2010

What a day! Started at 6:30 when I started the first of many runs back and forth to and from between the radio station and the hotel with members of Sanctus Real, Josh Wilson, Audrey Assad, Sam from Luminate, and their EMI record label rep, Shannon Steele. Then after two hours of morning show interviews, we grabbed a few other staff members from Z88.3 and headed to First Watch for breakfast!!

Audrey Assad, just the most adorable thing ever, regaled us with fun stories of how she has grown closer to God through all the wonderful experiences she has had, and many great books she has read. She even shared her latest favorite, she just happened to have with her in her purse. (true story)

She found it at a vintage book store (and it is so cute!)

Then in the evening we are backstage where the kids are al in the photos with Ellis & Tyler and all the many band members!

Then it was SHOWTIME for Sanctus Real and the New Music New Faces Tour!! All of them were great!!

January 26, 2010

Our family went to see the new movie "Letters From God" at a special sneak preview for pastors and people in ministry. It is a powerful Christian film, beautifully filmed right here in Winter Garden, FL. It deals with a young boy who has cancer and how his relationship with God has a major effect on the world around him. (Based on a true story - find out more at Letters to God)

W

We left with lots of stuff about the film and how to share it (and its message) with others. The one thing that SHOULD have come in the packet.... KLEENEX!! It is a very emotional film.

January 25, 2010

She's black! She's beautiful! She's dynamite! She IS Black Barbie!!

This is not an old retro toy. Believe it or not this is a brand new toy in Target stores now. I surprised that this is something mattel would make today, because it seems to either a bad throwback item that kids would not get... or bad stereo types of seventies styles for black women. wow.

January 24, 2010

What do homeschool kids do for fun with their families??? Well play Scrabble of course! Tina and I have both gotten so hooked on the iPhone game WORDS WITH FRIENDS that we decided to get a nice new Scrabble and teach the kids how to play. They did GREAT! Yes, we helped them some and we showed all our tiles so that we could all work together, but what is amazing is some of the words they came up with!

Eli had the biggest point total for a word all day with Quilt! (on a triple word score!)

In the end, we broke a few rules (used names, etc) but we used every single tile and were all within a few points of each other!!!

Mean while, Bailey, just hung out under the table and chilled out. :)

January 23, 2010

Let's go fly a kite, Up to the highest height! Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring! Up through the atmosphere, Up where the air is clear, Oh, let's go fly a kite! Here we go...

Perfect day for our first family outing with our newest family member (Bailey) and the kite that Nanna and Pop gave us for Christmas! Now for the long walk down the trail back to where we parked. :)

January 22, 2010

I did it. We are now all setup and running the home now from Apple's Time Capsule wireless backup system AND Internet router! I'm telling you... If we could just get Apple to make appliances, then we might be making some big new purchases!!

bye bye Linksys....

January 21, 2010

Tonight Tina and I met a music legend.

Amy Grant has sold more records than most all CCM artists combined. Still talented and beautiful. She says she is turning 50 this year but that just can't be true...
Tonight we were all back in college reliving all kinds of sweet forgotten memories and making a few new ones. Comfortable as your favorite old jeans. Wonderful night.

PLUS We got to see the FIRST EVER ticketed performance of CALEB (http://calebchapman.com) which is a band that includes both of Steven Curtis Chapmen's sons, Will Franklin and Caleb. They were very good. Most everyone seemed to really enjoy their music. Not like Steven's though. It was edgy, progressive, modern rock, but not too rocky that the power of the lyrics were overshadowed.

Clear to see where they get their musical talent. Look forward to seeing them again in MARCH with Casting Crowns!

January 20, 2010

Bailey comes home! Today we adopted a sweet, tiny little Golden Retriever mix from the local animal shelter. She is so gentle and relaxed. PERFECT for our family. She is only about 30 lbs. at the most and so so soft! We have had her home now for a few hours and she has not made a sound. Clearly someone's pet in the past, but had been at the shelter for a month. Now, she is home. :)

January 19, 2010

I have anew found passion/addiction. Words With Friends app on the iPhone is the game scrabble but played with someone head to head over the Internet. I have had about 12 games going at once. I think I have a problem... :)

**my user name is JeffCruz in case you want to play!!

January 18, 2010

I found the secret to getting your wife to think your sexy... FIX STUFF! Today I took on the challenge of fixing several things all by myself. First I replaced the burner coil in the bottom of our oven that went out a few days ago. Ordered the part online and did it in no time!

Then I stopped by the local PepBoys for a few new bulbs (Tina's car had a headlight and 2 tail lights out) and even though it took a little time and a quick check online to make sure I did in fact have to remove the battery AND coolant overflow to get to the headlamp bulbs, I got both headlights replaced and everything back together... (and now brighter than EVER with super halogens!)

then replaced the bulbs in both tail lights that were out!

It was a banner day for Mr. Fix It and I did not even break anything, cuss, or scream through the whole process. I even changed a burned out porch light bulb for good measure while I was on a roll.

Now if I could just figure out how to get this grease off my hands?!

January 17, 2010

The big day... First, we had breakfast in the hotel.

Then one of her favorite parts of the weekend... Opening our hotel room door!

And what girl doesn't love a good bubble bath!

She also LOVES to push the buttons in the elevator.

LUNCH! One of the best mexican restaurants I have ever experienced. Miguel's near downtown Tampa. Amazing food!

I got the Miguel special platter. Naomi got the tortilla soup!

Before the show, we walked over to the pier to get a close up look at the cruise ship.

Once in the arena we had trouble finding our seats. We were in the right section, but it turns out our "front row seats" were actually down there ON THE FLOOR right next to the horses!

We were sitting about 3 feet from the ring. She was SO EXCITED!

They were gorgeous, graceful and powerful, and right in front of us!

After the show, Naomi found that she could see and touch the ice below the floor mats (where the Tampa ice hockey team plays when there are no horses in there...)

One more walk around the waterway before we head back home. It's Florida, so gators are everywhere.

and then the crash happens. Long, fun filled day. I bet she is dreaming about riding those beautiful horses.