29 February 2008

Sharing


Recently we speant a datenight dreaming about homes and looking specifically at floorplans. A lot of decisions have to be made before you get to look at what you want. What square footage are you looking for? What style of archetecture do you like? Is the kitchen your highest priority? How many bathrooms do you want to clean? How many bedrooms do you need? It was not very easy to make some of these decisions really.

We decided that the kids should all have their own rooms, and so looked at several 5+ bedroom homes. They were all amazing, we found that we both love open floorplans. Doug dreams of an exercise room just off the master suite. I love the idea of the laundry room being on the same level as the bedrooms. And then I took this photo.

They have their own beds, but they spend most nights together. Even when they fall asleep at first on their separate bunks, they wake in the night to snuggle eachother. Maybe we should opt for a 3 bedroom home with rooms large enough for the kids to have their own space, but still share. That'll be another datenight for sure.

26 February 2008

Wierd


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Growing up


This is all happening too fast. Jennie is already sitting up well enough to use her high chair (the one baby item that actually lasted through all 4 kids). She has been acting like life just isn't fair while staring at my plate, watching the fork come up from the plate, and then into my mouth, for about a month now. After one particularly whiney family dinner at the table we decided to bring the high chair up from storage, and my little Jennie is so happy. She doesn't really like rice cereal yet, (or maybe never since the other 3 never did), but she loves holding a spoon, and sitting level with all of us. I'm sure she'll catch onto the eating thing in true Crawford form in no time at all. My baby is growing up.

25 February 2008

Wink

Yesterday we had our stake conference in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, and I was priveleged to have participated in the choir. We packed up all of the kids and headed downtown. I ended up late for practice which put me on edge (I'm a little crazy about timeing). I was grumpy and honestly exposed my grump to a few of my close freinds and Kimburs unsuspecting husband. I didn't really mellow till we got up to sing our first song. In the pews, Dalt and Joe were watching me intently, and Joseph shot me the most handsome wink. He instantly brightened my mood, and I felt able to handle the rest of the conference. Since it was Sophia's naptime, and Jennie is just a baby, we enjoyed Sarajanes help with the boys, and Kimbur and Scotts help with Sophia. Sometimes it feels like a family in this ward, and I love it. I think the message was something about temple attendance, (managing 4 kids even with help doesn't allow for much absorbtion of the intended meaning of things.) Whatever the message, I walked away knowing that my Heavenly Father loves me and he shows me through loving neighbors, stretching opportunities, and a perfectly timed wink.

23 February 2008

Lost


This picture might seem a little cryptic, but it's all because we lost Jennie's pacifiers. She is a good baby and doesn't need the constant oral stimulation while she's awake, but we sure have enjoyed them while putting the little one to sleep. So just yesterday when the last one (I swear) magicly disappeared I put her to sleep and she found her chubby little forearm, sucked away like a baracuda, and woke with this hickie. I got a new pacifier today, and her arms will tell the tale of wether we've lost that one in the future.

Emily's Hand-Me-Downs


Usually I organize the wonderful Christmas-feeling-bag of hand-me-downs from Emily before Soph even knows they're here, but I didn't get to it in time. I found Sophia all dressed up when I went to get her from her nap. She knew to be stealthily quiet, and managed to put the whole ensemble on all by herself. She even wore it to our institute class that evening. We love frogs. Oh, I better go, I just heard Joe downstairs say, "Hey do you guys want a sugar rush for breakfast?" They need their mom.

21 February 2008

Presidents Day Weekend


We enjoyed our whirlwind of a weekend in Lake Havasu with ALL of my Nelson siblings, and ALL of their children (Mark the younger isn't pictured, but he was there).

Thank you Mama for enjoying Farkle with my kids and for the firework sustinance. Thank you Papa for packing a whole kitchen and appreciating my bread.

Thank you Andy and Sally for listening, really listening. Thank you Drew for helping me with Sophia, and you better believe Joe will hold you to your promise. Thank you Ben for continuing to bond with Joe and serenading my aching head with some acoustic guitar. Thank you Daniel for beating me at SpeedStacks and letting me in on a little bit of your life with quadruplets (it's time to double date with your friend Austin, whomever you take out, you'll have a blast with). Thank you Samuel for engineering the domino trail with Dalt. Thank you Hannah for including all of your cousins in your play, and leaving no one out.

Thank you Mark for the wonderful cinnamon rolls and a real hug. Thank you Yvonne for talking under the bridge and handeling, my inability to handle things, with grace. Thank you Kellen for showing me how a person can love a guitar as much as his wife, and daughters. Thank you Yolanda for allowing me to snuggle Cambria. Thank you Arianna for playing with Sophia so nicely. Thank you Cambria for being so "sweet". Thank you Jeff for your laugh and SpeedStacks. Thank you Mark for being subltly aware of everything, and willing to pitch in when needed. Thank you Austin for your "bock, bock". Thank you Quintin for working for your valentine M&M's. Thank you Abraham for playing like a brother with both my boys.

Thank you Randy for sharing your air pump and managing the photos. Thank you Katie for always being so attentive to whomever you're with, especially me and my babies. Thank you Megan for shining like you always do and being so real. Thank you Spencer for burping away from my face.

Thank you Brad for the awesome egg burritos and for actually understanding what Doug is talking about. Thank you Lenora for being the steady calm in our family. Thank you Trevor for showing your obvious new maturity and setting a great example for my boys. Thank you Taylor for your speedy hands and your ability to mingle with everyone. Thank you Abby for your beautiful hair, it means more to me than I can express, I also love your smile. Thank you Emily for all of the new clothes for Sophia, and for holding Jennie so nicely.

Thank you Chad for hosting, planning, working, and still having the energy to enjoy all of us. Thank you Shelley for hosting, planning, working and still having the energy to share with me, also for forcing your parents out of their perfect house, and for setting us up so nicely the last night; we really did get a good nights sleep just before the drive. Thank you Shelley's parents for allowing us to stay in your home and also for letting me wash my undies each day.

Thank you Preston (oh, Zane right?) and Diana for coming to us to visit, and for the fabulous cookies, and for sharing your little Zoe with us.

Oh, and thank the pyros in the world for inventing and displaying the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen or even heard of. This show alone made it worth the 10 hour drive each way. I love my family.

Random Information

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful mint frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yum

Reheat Pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

For Easy Deviled Eggs, put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag, seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, and squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding frosting: when you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread: to warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper keeps weeds away. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes, place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- Static is gone.

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works much better than a cloth!

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well, the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through
it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & w ash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

14 February 2008

I love Doug because he...

does the dishes on occasion.
rarely watches sports.
gets the kids ready each morning.
always cleans up after himself.
never says the wrong thing.
always drives.
never complains.
sings with the kids.
does the laundry on occasion.
makes me laugh.
never yells.
eats ice cream in the winter.
handles my meltdowns.
cuddles me even when his arms fall asleep.
makes food if there isn't any made.
supports my "me" time.
isn't a video game guy.
feeds Jennie at 3am.
takes time to do experiments with Dalton.
wrestles with Joe.
dances with Sophia.
expects nothing of me.
works hard at work.
values time with me.
loves his mom.
is passionate about weightlifting.
listens to the kids.
fulfills his duties.
is ambitious.
forgives me.
surprised me with roses (might sound cliche to some, but after 9 years, it's only my 3rd bunch).
is always himself.
loves me.

Choosing the Right

Just the other day Joe came home telling me that some kids are mean. He is having a hard time because he switches busses to get home, and everyone on the 2nd bus is already sitting with someone and he feels left out. Well, there is this 5th grader he sits with pretty regularly on his first bus home, and he asked Joseph to say something mean to a girl named Kelsey. Joe chose the right, and didn't say it. WOAH! Joseph a kindergartner had the gumption to stand up to a 5th grader! I was so proud of him that we turned it into our FHE, and we all praised him a gazillion times for making a good choice, and proving that he can indeed do it sometimes even when it's hard like when he stood up to the 5th grader.

He is feeling out of place most of the time lately. He is in the diagnostic K-2 class (13 kids, 1 teacher & 2 aids) with other children who have more obvious disabilities in their speech, motor skills, and other diagnoses. He is, for the first time, noticing that he is not like them, he is abled much more than dis-abled. Now, for the tricky part.

I meet with his teachers, therapists and principals, this spring, to determine the best placement for him this fall. I wish I could feel totally comfortable with him heading straight into a typical classroom with 28 or so kids and 1 stressed out teacher. For now, that doesn't sound like a good fit for him (does it sound like a good fit for any 1st grader?). He seems finished with a separated special-ed class. I think that for him to have an aid in the classroom who understands Joseph specifically, but would also help out the teacher, and all of the other children, would be perfect. The law, (IEP, and 504 plan) allows for Joe to have such priveleges, however these mandates are not funded. The principal will now begin to tell me her hands are tied and that they just can't provide such extravagances because there isn't enough money. I'm just going to have to stand up to my personal 5th grader and show Joseph that I too can be strong and choose the right for him. Maybe we'll soon have a FHE about how mom chose the right, and I'll get a gazillion praises for my efforts. Wish me luck.

p.s. my spell check won't work anymore, so you'll just have to deal with my inability to spell correctly for the rest of my blogging career (unless someone can fix my spell check button).

13 February 2008

Chloe and Rosalie


Dougs niece Brittany gave birth to these beautiful baby girls 6 days ago. The three of them are mostly healthy but still in the hospital under much supervision. They have been in my constant thoughts and prayers and I would like to extend the prayer circle to include anyone reading my blog. Pray that the doctors will understand what to do with Brittany's blood pressure, and that the girls will eat and breathe on their own.

Doug's Daughter


I'm almost always singing or humming, and on Sundays I try to make my songs hymnal or primary songbookish. I don't really remember my medly, but a few hours later I heard, "I love to see the temple, it's full of I-ice cream." from sweet Sophia's mouth in perfect pitch and everything. Doug can eat Ice Cream and wear shorts when it's 12 below outside, absolutely crazy if you ask me. Bryers Peanut Butter Fudge is his favorite lately, it's pretty good, I recommend you check it out when the daytime temperatures are at least high enough to melt the snow.

08 February 2008

Missing my Papa alerady

My Mama had to go home on Sunday, but my Papa was able to stay just long enough for me to get used to him being here. When I woke this morning, in between dreams of Tami Ward's, (actually Tenney for the past 10 years) emergency shelter (which included an emergency zoo for the children's enjoyment...) and real baby crying wakefulness, I still thought my Papa would be here to walk Joe to the bus and make sure Sophia was engaged in something good (vs. something destructive of course). We took him to the airport yesterday while the boys were at school, and Sophia wouldn't forgive me all day for letting him go.

The kids love their grandparents on both sides, and so do I for that matter, but there is something magical about Papa coming to stay. Papa makes sure things run smoothly, everything is in its place, and everyone is happy. People are fed and their needs are met (okay, a Doug sized pink and red puppy may not have been a need, but Soph surely can't live without it now). That's my version, the kids might think its magical because of the constant sugars, listening ear, availability to play games, watch TV, go for walks and bedtime stories. I like that dreamy place where my papa is always here, and I don't have to worry that he is missing my mom or that she is feeling lonely. The Prescott family is so lucky to have them both there all of the time, I hope they enjoy them as much as I do.



07 February 2008

Jennie at 4 months, Yea!

I have had the exact experience with my first 3 kids. At their 6 month appointment, Dr. VanDenBerghe asks "is he/she sitting up yet?" and I reply, "I keep trying, but not yet." He then props them up and they sit up perfectly for the rest of our time with him. So I've come to expect this milestone at the 6 month doctor visit and not a minute sooner.

Jennie at 4 months, responds to all people, (and her bottle) with great eye-contact and a HUGE smile. She babbles, ooohs, aaahs and some people swear that she has said "hi" and "mama". She is scooting, rolling over and in need of some serious bumper pads; not at all trustworthy on a bed or couch anymore. The incredible drum-roller for me has been that she is sitting up! It's been sad to watch my baby grow so quickly when all I want for her is to remain my tiny little baby. I'm happy for her though, she wants to be like her big siblings, and she is on her way.

So I mentioned bottle familiarity, and the story goes like this. Mama is sad, baby is sad, mama feels guilty for imprinting motherly sadness on baby and toddler. Mama is smart, and remembers what makes mama happy. Mama puts plan of happiness into action. Nursing is over, baby loves bottle, mama starts shedding unwanted baby/nursing pounds, baby stops waking 6 times a night, mama is happy, baby is happy, mama feels like she is imprinting happy healthy habits for toddler and baby.

It's been quite a roller coaster of hormones, happinesses, sadnesses, milestones and surprises, but we've made it to the 4 month mark, and I believe we're doing well now. Yea for babies, yea for healthy bodies, yea for families, yea for a supportive husband. Yea all around.



04 February 2008

Photos

Okay, you'll quickly notice that most of the slideshow is Jennie as a newborn. Many of you can, just as quickly, do the math to determine that the wee one is 4 months old today, not at all a newborn anymore. So, I'm a little slow, but I can and will blame it on the fact that I am a mother of 4 and it's a dang lot of work! These pics were actually taken just before Christmas, and were meant to go out in cards that never did. The list of things I can not keep up with is mounting, but so far I have successfully brought 4 amazing children into this world, and will prioritize my time to help them successfully make to the next. Enjoy my beautiful family, I sure do.

For Eternity

What a fabulous weekend! Everything went so right, when I felt everything going so wrong.

Katie, (my sister-in-law) was sealed to her parents this Saturday. Many waiting years have come to this great end/beginning. Because of this, I was able to spend a fun afternoon with Randy and Katie, and have my parents stay with me. I love it when my kididdles connect with family and make new memories. A few rousing games of FARKLE, some sledding, and a great meal at Joe Moreley's BBQ were all just wonderful. Oh, and, (this makes me sound/feel old) I've been baptized for 23 years (thanks Annie for the math correction)!

The wrong part started with Joe getting strep throat, continued with Sophia destroying most of my moms make-up, Doug leaving for a business trip to Portland, and saddest of all, me not realizing till too late, that my temple recommend had expired 2 days before:(.

I did get to make some whole wheat bread for my papa, and rub his feet, and help with the Klingonsmiths move, make it for my guitar lesson, and enjoy a lovely lunch with Annie.

The best part is that my papa will be staying with us till after Doug gets home from Portland! Yea for me and my laundry. The kids are already enjoying their sugar high.