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!