I found what I want!

Now I have to pick the size to order it in, the frame, and hang it, but should I keep the text, change the text, or remove it altogether? Home decor is NOT my thing, all of these questions might haunt me... What do you think?

PCE Club

1:30 in the afternoon Church has necessitated the invention of the Perfectly Clean Eaters Club. Doug is the President, and I'm not even a member.

You see, we are all dressed in our best (summertime often had us in white) with our hair done, scriptures packed and shoes on before we're allowed to eat our lunch, a lunch which consistantly consists of cheese, lunchmeat, ritz, wheat thins and a clean fruit, usually an apple, but sometimes grapes (NEVER cherries or watermelon!) The President is allowed, however to eat whatever leftover he can find, He alone is allowed to eat Spaghetti (a serious danger for the non-member) and last Sunday, a hot dog with katsup and mustard (I think he was just showing off).

Our children don't think it is fair that he is allowed to eat whatever he wants and would like to join. I don't think Dalton will ever make it, at 11 he still gets icecream all over his mouth and some on his nose every time. Sophia is like me a little too passionate about her food. Jennie could go either way too young to tell. I think that Joe is a real candidate though. You see, it's in him.

We've noticed for awhile now that Dalton and Sophia are more like their Nelson side. Joe and Jennie take after their Crawford side. It's not a 100% thing of course, but time and time again they can be separated by their skin pigment, sense of humor, lip shape and now their cleanliness in eating.

The Crawford side has the crazy cleanliness in it, NOT the Nelsons (my mom has scores of blouses with a stain directly below her chin). We've heard stories of Doug's grandpa having his wife step outside to brush her hair, and Doug has had a difficult time combining most foods since birth (picture: deconstructed hamburgers, sandwiches and even Thanksgiving dinner).

It's more like the Psychotically Clean Eaters club if you ask me, but since half of my children and the man I love are in it (or at least trying to be in it), I need to embrace the madness.

I'll eat my hot-dog after church.

How to Eat a Banana

Start with a cute 3 year old (preferably one in her jammies). Give her a half banana on a plate with a butter knife and toothpick.

Gingerly slice the banana...

Insert toothpick...

Enjoy!

Repeat.

Am I A Quitter?

I joined Weight Watchers yesterday, and I'm STOKED!

I was officially off of SUGAR for 3 months and I loved it! I kept my same exercise routing of 5X a week, but didn't do any other food modification other than no sugar. Keep in mind that ALL store bought bread, most crackers, cereals, dressings, all jarred sauces, deli meats, and of course treats, almost everything has sugar in it and I quit them all! I ate 3 pieces of carott cake for my birthday, but that was the only time I officially had ANY sugar (and it resulted in the worst headache I've had in ages!).

The results... I felt great, I slept well, I exercised with energy, I ate fruit when I craved sweets, I lost the 6 lbs. I gained over Christmastime, and I loved it. But since February, I haven't really lost any more weight. A bummer, but I swear my guts are the healthiest out there, really.

So my real goal is to have a healthy body, and I'm 6 lbs. above what most health guidelines say I should be right now. If a lifestyle without sugar isn't going to help me lose those pesky pounds, I needed to make a different change. My happy place, Weight Watchers is where I turned first.

Weight Watchers carries memories of having lost 75 lbs. after the boys were born, and a feeling of success that was celebrated by my whole group. I kept if off, learned how to maintain my weight, and then had two more babies. I love my girlies, but I'm not too thrilled with the 25 lbs. that has lingered there since their birth. My 2nd time doing Weight Watchers was while I was still nursing Jennie, and after many meetings, I gained and gained and gained. I visited my doc and found out that my thyroid had quit on me. I've been on meds for that for the last 3 years, but the psychological damage from doing my WW so religiously and not seeing any results has been severe. I didn't want to go back unless I was going to be successful like the first time.

Well, I'm ready! I'm the healthiest I've ever been, I have great eating and exercising habits, I'm surrounded by a kitchen full of great options, and people who want nothing but success for me. My thyroid is under control, and it's my time.

So then last night at dinner when I had a bite of Jennie's ice cream, the boys said, "Mom! You don't eat sugar!" I explained my situation and their first response was, "Oh, you quit." Well, I didn't quit! I'm just changing my focus. So, to all of you who made New Years Resolutions, have you quit? Did you change your focus? would you consider me a quitter?

I feel good about my choice, but the boys words are haunting me...

Dalton Turns 11

Fabulous Facts about Dalton in No Particular Order:

He wants to grow up to be an actuary.
He is collecting interest on PACE buck, (his school's currency), loans to his friends.
He would LOVE to learn how to work the real Stock Market.
He sells his Halloween/Christmas/Easter candy to his siblings and friends at an awesome profit.
He has recently started babysitting for me at $1 per. hour, a rate we both have agreed upon.
He enjoys reading books, but mostly ones in a series so he can keep going, and going, and going...
He does 3 jobs a day without complaint.
He monitors his own 30 minutes of earned Wii time each day.
He plays the piano beautifully and wows his instructor each week with his dedication to practice.
He is reverent for sacred events and is becoming more in tune with the Holy Ghost.
He enjoys his morning routine of shower and starting breakfast just before I get home from the gym.
He has improved his trampoline skills already this spring and hopes to master a back flip by the end of the summer.
He has a great group of friends that I envision being a strength and support throughout his teen years, possibly his whole life.
He and Joe and friends have built a sturdy hideout/fort complete with lighting, computer access (not internet), TV (not cable), and protected by rubber-band guns.
He is a delight to his parents, teachers and a good friend to his siblings.

Happy Birthday!

(This is all the good stuff of course. We also call him our absent minded professor for reasons that need not be recorded ;)

Dalton's 2nd Piano Recital

Remember I started teaching Dalt last year. Well we got him a real teacher in September 2010 and he's progressing beautifully! He loves playing, I only sometimes have to remind him to practice and even then, he's happy to do it. Actually he plays at the most inconvenient times ie: screaming Jennie? Dalton is playing. Screaming Joe, Dalton is playing. Crying Sophia, (she's not much of a screamer) Dalton is playing. I've realized that he uses it to scrub out the chaos of family life. I'm just glad he has a productive coping mechanism. He loves learning the theory, his mathamatical mind finds patterns everywhere. I see music being his lifelong friend.

She keeps us laughing

In the supermarket...
Jennie: (loudly with a pointed finger) "That man looks like a..."
Me: (in a whisper) "Jennie, put your finger down."
Jennie: (this time in a whisper) "I was just going to say fungus"

At home...
Joe: "Mom, Jennie just said a bad word"
Me: "What did she say?"
Joe: "F*%#head"
Me: "Jennie!"
Jennie: (running up the stairs arriving at my side in a pant, but with the look of complete innocence.)
Me: "Jennie what did you just say?"
Jennie: "Well, (then putting her pointer finger on the edge of her mouth and looking away from me.) about that..."

Lying on the office floor in a bed of her own making...
Jennie: "Let's play sleeping beauty mom."
Me: "Okay" (I stroke her hair with a random My Little Pony brush)
Jennie: (eyes closed and just about asleep) "I'm waiting for my true loves first kiss."
Me: "Who is he?"
Jennie: (eyes still closed) "You can be him for today mom" (cutest pucker you've ever seen)
Me: Smooch

As I'm typing...she's painting her toes with a basting brush and her water from lunch quoting Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas.

Temple Themed Resolutions

I will worship in the temple weekly (excluding vacations, sickness or temple closures... I'm hoping to make it 40 times).

I will treat my body like the temple it is (No sugar for a year, and exercise 4-5X per week excluding sickness, but including vacations).

I will make my home the temple it can be(...).

I have specific plans as to how I will achieve the first two goals. In fact I'm doing really well with the body thing, and I've been to the temple once and have plans in place for the rest of the month, but I would love any advice on how to make my home a temple. Where do I begin? Where would you begin?

Christmas

Most of the kids in Joe's class wanted i-toys, and some even wrote nasty letters telling the S man off. Joe makes me so proud.

Dear Santa,
I've been looking for things for Christmas. I love Christmas because I go to Arizona for Christmas, cause my outside family lives there. Joe

Yay for outside family! We'll see you in a few short days!

Misty

We absolutely love our little Misty. She came litter box trained, never complains about what food we give her, loves to snuggle, lets the girls tote her around everywhere and cover her in dress-up clothes and baby blankies. Doug and I both enjoy playing with her and the boys get to sleep with her every night. Here are 28 seconds of her playing with Jennie and a spider and a marble, so easy to entertain. She's an absolute delight!

Please?

This year I'm doing a Christmas letter with a picture and a real stamp and everything. Please e-mail me your home address supercrawford@yahoo.com. Oh, and if you want to vote on which picture I should print, I'll take your vote too!

2010 Photo Shoot

A chess club was born

It's cold here in Idaho Falls. So cold in fact that these energetic children are driven indoors and with time limits to the Wii, are forced to play real games. I don't even know one of these boys, but they're showing up lately once or twice a week. I'm happy to provide the game, the space, free popcorn and if their cheeks show signs of cold, I'll even make some hot cocoa. They're making teams, building allies and capturing loads of pieces before checkmate is called, and they're teaching younger boys to play too! I love it all!

Sophia is 5!

Blueberry pancakes with whipped cream and bacon on the side for my birthday girl!


Let's open that huge pink box that's been tempting both girls for the past week.


What is all of this stuff? It all looks like it's not for a girl at all, but a...


KITTEN!
Let's go clean up, then we'll go pick your new kitten from our friends down the street.


We LOVE our new little Misty McKenzie Crawford!






Party Time! Tons of girl energy, tons of crayons...

Tons of dancing...

Tons of nail polish...

Tons of make-up...

Tons of cake!

Happy Birthday my sweet!

My favorite compliment

I guess I'm getting old, old enough to be seriously complimented when my almost 5 year old neighbor says,

"When I first met you, I didn't think you were a mom."

I asked what that meant, of course, because "Mom" is my favorite name and the proudest accomplishment of my life. She went on to say,

"I thought you were a sister or something."

I can't remember the last time I felt so flattered. Really.

I Wonder...

How long will Dalton let Joe play with his big friends?
How long will he put up with Joe tipping over coffee tables in the middle of a losing game?
How long will he ask me to help him with homework?
How long will he be willing to babysit for $1 an hour?
How long will he be interested in helping me in the kitchen?

How long will Joseph hold my hand in public?
How long will he be willing to distract Jennie with "The Horsey Game" while I'm slipping out the door to Book Club?
How long will he help buckle the girls or give them pegs on his bike?
How long will he come to snuggle next to my bed when he's scared at night?
How long will he believe that he is the strongest 8 year old alive?

How long will Sophia and Jennie play kitten and puppy, carrying on for hours communicating exclusively in yelps and meows?
How long will Sophia beam while showing me her artwork?
How long will she build castles and play dress-up?
How long will she love pink?
How long will she snuggle with me, full bodied, when she hurts?

How long will Jennie look up to Sophia?
How long will she insist on sleeping with her silky blanky?
How long will she let me give her ringlets?
How long will she blame others for everything including who messed her bed/underwear/hair?
How long will she ache to kiss and hug her daddy before he leaves for work?
How long will she color outside the lines?

Jennie is 3!!!

Curls in the morning.

Curls in the afternoon.

Her 1st cavity :(

She wakes up to a NEW KITCHEN!

She loves hers as much as I love mine.

Happy!

Let the party begin!

Story time in her bedroom.

Make-up all around.

Oh, the drama.

A little too experienced.

Pink plates, pink juice, mac & cheese and grapes... the perfect menu.

The Butterfly Cake (Thank you Yolanda for the inspiration!)

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jennie..."

Conference Packets

My kids LOVE "home church" (that's what we call Conference weekend). Maybe it's the treat making that goes on, or the prizes for good behavior, or the packets to entertain them, or the fact that Jennie's birthday is always around fall conference and Dalton's birthday is always around the spring conference, but they have a great time on Conference weekend.

I just printed my kids packets for Conference. I'm not a fan of cartooning the general authorities, so I printed them as follows.

Junior Primary Packet: pg 1,3,5,7,9,10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,22.
Youth Packet: pg 2,4,5,6,7,8,9,11.
Senior Primary Packet: pg 13,16.

enjoy!

At play

My girls speak exclusively in gobbeldygook when they play make believe. Is it strange? Is it strange that they understand each other? The only English words they use are pleasantries and titles.
"Ga ba goo da la dee." Then Jennie hands Sophia a pony wrapped in last nights jammies.
"Thank you Miss Gala."
"Bee da ga loo ba doo?"
"Ga la monster goo da lee ga do."
"Help, lava rock!"
"Meeka, you're standing in lava rock!"
Sophia jumps onto the coffee table while protectively clutching her baby, (now a long green block wrapped in an enormous beach towel).

it goes on and on and on...

So Many Firsts!

First time making my sisters AWESOME home made play dough.
First day Sophia didn't wince while I styled her hair around her 3 staples.
First day of preschool for Jennie.
First day of Dance for Sophia, (well in Idaho anyway).
First time I've ever asked one of my children to call me "Miss Sherrie"
First time Sophia shares a seat belt with her friend on the way home from dance.
First day Joseph came home from 3rd grade in a good mood.
First day of PACE for Dalton, (Idaho's accelerated program).
First day of real piano lessons for Dalton.
First time I've been complimented on how advanced Dalton is in piano.
First day Joseph takes a shower on the first time he's asked... EVER.
First time Jennie steals a popsicle right out of the neighbors deep freeze.
First call to the home owners insurance.
First flavorful nectarine of the season.