Happy Halloweenie 2014

 Better late than never with this post, I guess. We bought a house and it has essentially swallowed all our margins for the time being but I refuse to go completely MIA so here goes...
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 I'm not a huge Halloween person, thanks to my childhood where trick or treating essentially only happened in secret. This would probably explain why we ended up at Value Village two days before the big day, in desperate search for some costumes for the cuties. I made out of there only $21 poorer which was more than I was hoping to spend but, hey, sometimes procrastination makes you poor. Isla chose to be a ballerina again and even found a flowing headpiece to go with her ensemble.

Emma was the cutest bumble bee you will ever see.

And sweet Jack. There are no words for my little hot dog. 

He got a lot of sympathy points from the peanut gallery, since all the pictures I posted are of him crying. Everyone assumed he hated his costume but let me assure you, it wasn't the costume that was making him cry. It was the fact that someone had put him down to take the picture (heaven forbid!!!) It did cramp his crawling style, however....

Word on the street was that our to-be new neighborhood was a jackpot of a treat or treating local, so we nabbed the opportunity to go door to door and meet our future neighbors. The Welchs (one set of future new neighbors!!!) invited us over for a fun dinner of snake calzones before we went in search of candy.

What do you think? A future Mrs. Welch in the making?

The neighborhood did not disappoint. There were SO many people out combing the streets and it made for a really fun evening. The kids had a BLAST as they rang door bells with Emma saying "Happy Trick or Treat!" in her cute little voice. Somehow they got the idea that after each successful transfer of candy, they were to yell "Nailed it!" as they ran off the porch. We must have been quite the sight. :) Such a fun night!

Do not tire

The scripture "Do not tire of doing good" keeps running through my head this afternoon which I suppose is fitting since I greeted the day already weary. Life has been full and crazy and chaotic and disastrous and good and everything else as of late. We were supposed to close on a house (yes, we are in the process of buying a house - more on that later) on Thursday but numerous situations beyond our control leave us still homeless today, with growing anxiety over whether the deal will ever actually go through. So there's that.

 

This morning it was my MOPS table's turn to bring breakfast for the 60 women who attend.  I was up early (with all three kids, thank-you daylight savings!) trying to make an egg dish, braid hair, prepare fruit, dress children, slice pumpkin bread and throw something a smidge dressier than pajamas over my tired body. If you were a fly on the wall over here, you would already know that the morning hours definitely do not put me in the running for mother of the year. Just ask my in-laws, who can now bear witness (incredibly humbling). I may appear calm and poised in public, but getting out the door and getting anywhere on time usually involves a lot of critical words and a decent amount of yelling. 

 

Today was one of those mornings. Unfortunately, with Isla in school now, most of my mornings are now one of "those mornings." We have somewhere to be at the crack of dawn every week day which makes life fun. I usually spend our walks to school begging my kids for forgiveness for yelling and then praying over our day (that I could turn my sticky behavior around!) It's ugly, but it's the truth.

 

In all this, I have spent a lot of time reflecting and wondering if anything I am doing could possibly be having a positive impact on anyone. My stress levels are soaring and, if I allow it, my mind swarms with self deprecating thoughts. Then on rainy days like today, the dark clouds outside literally seem to creep their way into the house and deep into my soul, darkening it and weighing me down.

 

This afternoon, as I was filling the dishwasher and scrubbing the kitchen for the umpteenth time, feeling totally overcome by this this darkness, the words from Galatians 6:9 came to mind. "Do not tire of doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." I carried on with my housework and came across one of the pieces of artwork that my eldest left lying around (there are HUNDREDS!!!) It was very simple but it totally struck me. 

 

Yesterday, my sweet Emma got her finger smashed in the door jam. Before I even had a chance to scoop her into my arms, Isla was at the ready with an ice pack for her sister. And not 30 seconds later, she came running down the stairs with a personalized piece of "get well artwork", and proudly presented it to Emma. You probably can see where this is going but it was that very piece of artwork that I encountered while enveloped by dark clouds this afternoon. What a sweet and lovely and tangible reminder to me that our Savior cares and that what we do, does matter and that I must be doing something right. Somehow, some way, amidst the raised voices and stress, my kids are developing hearts of tenderness. Praise God for mercies that are new every day!

Emma 38 Months

This GORGEOUS girl has had a fun and busy month! Read on for a few tidbits about her.

-she is our riot, constantly making us laugh

-very in tune to the emotions of others and is quick to offer comfort

-loves her baby cousin!

-loves boats and the water and stand up paddleboards, apparently

-I still can't believe I let my kids go out into the middle of the lake on this!

-she is quite the playground climber now too

-loves walking Isla to and from school

-is Isla's little after-school shadow, wanting to play with her and all her friends on the playground

-LOVES getting dressed up

-wanted to wear her bumble bee dress constantly this week

 -is in that you-can-get-her-excited-about-anything phase which is I ADORE

-carved a pumpkin with Grandma

-Grandma asked if she wanted a happy or sad face

-Emma's response "Sad! I LOVE sad!!"

 -it was adorable, just like her

-she was a superstar at her second ever dentist appointment

-wasn't scare of anything (except for the Incredibles movie that was playing)

-she's fascinated by shots and dr appointments right now

-I took her with me to get my flu shot and she was THRILLED

-I think she seriously viewed it as a special date

-she watched the entire procedure and held my hand and helped me be brave

-I asked her if she wanted to be a dr or a nurse when she grows up

-"No, I think I'll be a penguin"

-she told me her big future aspirations another time too:

-"I'm gonna dress up and be so pretty! (pause) On Christmas Eve."

-here she is practicing for her grown up years:

-she's gaining much independence and dresses herself these days

-isn't she such a bohemian beauty?

-she's our mischievous, rule-ignorant one and it's never a good idea to leave her unattended

-"activities" of hers have included: coloring on the window sill, marking up her tights with highlighters, putting makeup on the master bath tub, climbing into the pack 'n play with a sleeping Jack, or just tossing tons of throw pillows on top of him

-there have been many more but you get the point

-but man is she ever sweet!

-she has the most adorable little friendship (budding romance?) with Leif (above)

-and she is the tenderest of mamas to any baby doll

 -she's done napping and she doesn't seem to think beds are necessary

-we stumble (often literally!) upon a sight like this about weekly

-she's our crazy, fun, hilarious and sweet girl!!

Isla 62 Months

 Isla news this month:

-she's are busy-bee, always wanting to do, do, do little leader!

-she welcomed a new cousin, Leland James!

-loves hearts, as evidenced by the face of choice on her pumpkin

-opted to be a ballerina again this year for Halloween

-comes home from school and goes straight to her room to make art

-wants to be an artist when she grows up



-is doing great at school

-came home with 2 "Awesome Otter" awards for demonstrating responsibility

-is feeling very sad to leave all her friends when we move

-took her on a Starbucks date and interviewed her with various questions

-apparently interviews are her love language because she ate it up!!

-came away with a clean bill of oral health from the dentist

-is so organized and systematic that it cracks me up

-the other day I heard her yell "Mom! Emma just peed in her underwear! But don't worry, she didn't get any on the carpet. It all went in the heater vent."

-and thus commenced a month-long-multi-step sterilization of the heater vent procedure

-complete with signage a la Isla, warning us not to fall into the opening

-she loves homework

-and is doing well with reading, writing and spelling

-she can identify "helper words" and punctuation

-came across the old packet of bylaws from our condo and spent a good hour "doing her work," flipping through and looking for words she knew

-has developed leaps and bounds in the physical department since beginning school
-now loves to climb, slide down poles (the playground kind!!!!), and dangle from the jungle gym
-despite the decreasing temperatures, she is still always hot and rolls up her pants to make shorts...

-took a ballet class with her friend Lannie and LOVED it

-here is her spotlight moment at her last class (the "recital") where she was asked to show us her "favorite move"

-and here is the totally adorable performance of Be Our Guest by all the little ballerinas :)

First Haircut!

Us Croziers have hair issues. Crazy hair and lots of it. I've always adored Jack's hair in particular and am told quite often it looks like the fuzz on a baby chick. I love how it used to stick straight up when it was shorter and if I could reverse time, I'd somehow make it do that again. It's been getting longer and longer and inching closer and to his little eyes so I finally decided it was time. But I'm all talk and when it came down to it, I couldn't bring myself to cut any off the top. That could be partially due to the fact that he would. not. hold. still. I used to liken feeding him to breastfeeding a rattle snake, always squirming and tearing around like crazy. And cutting his hair? It wasn't much different except I was yielding a sharp object that had the capacity to gauge his eyes out. 

 We did it though and he's looking mighty dapper these days. As long as you squint....

Partying like Penguins

 Oh my word! How did this happen? My baby is pictured there sitting behind a cake with a candle in it. A FIRST BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! Gah. I'm feeling all weepy today but I'll try and spare you. I really don't know where the time went.



We had a very small gathering on Saturday with my sister and her family and my parents to celebrate.

Jack was still under the weather (isn't he always) and was a bit shy with all the attention but eventually warmed up to his new stacking cups and water bottle. 

 The boy loves meat and so I served a lunch of BBQ pork sandwiches, slaw and grapes along with hot cider. He ate three servings of meat!!

We took a party intermission after lunch so the birthday boy could take a nap and the rest of us carved pumpkins.



 The kids were uber-creative with their carving requests. Both Emma and Gid wanted the stem cutout to be the shape of a fish. Good thing I was assigned to help Isla!!!!! She just wanted a simple heart. 

Then she requested heart eyes and a heart mouth. I drew the line when she asked for heart eyelashes...this is about as artistic as I get, folks!



Grandma asked Emma if she wanted a happy or sad face. She said a sad face. "I LOVE sad!!" I'm trying not to read into that one too hard. I gotta say, I sort of love her sad pumpkin.

When Jack woke up, it was cake time! It wasn't hard to figure out what kind of cake to request for the boy. I have never seen penguins flock to a kid but if you ever want a good show, take Jack to the zoo. They just LOVE him and it's obvious the feeling is mutual. He has this adorable penguin call that brings them all a'flocking. 

My mom made these ADORABLE cakes. (Golly, I'm so glad I'm learning to delegate!)



Jack was as impressed as the rest of us and didn't hesitate to dive in.

Pardon ALL the pictures but it was his first birthday.

He couldn't figure out when we kept pulling it away whenever he got close.

Whoops! That one was supposed to be for the adults...

He knows when he sees a good thing.

Classic one-year-old playing with fire.

And then the moment he'd been waiting for!

I'm not gonna lie. It was awesome watching him dive in with both hands. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have eaten that whole cake had we not cut him off after about 10 minutes of straight sugar.

Needless to say, he was up until 9 PM (but we didn't care because we were out on a date!) :)