February 28, 2010

Ok. It's been just about a year since my last post. I am really not good at this blogging thing. I did purchase the notebook. Wrote many songs and ideas for businesses and had the kids draw in it... and then in December, I lost the notebook... sniff. Ah well, I have been re-writing one of the songs with a friend and hope to record it soon. I was doing hair and make-up for the Southwest Shakespeare Company in Mesa, AZ. It has been a good time, but to time consuming so I will be taking a break the rest of the season.
The kids are doing great! Eddie is so big now. He is talking, bullying ;) and loving all of us. He is a bruiser, but so dang cute. Will is going to be starting t-ball next month. I will post pics once he has started. He was involved in Soccer this last Fall and did a decent job for his first season. He actually got a goal by hitting the ball off his head into the goal... it was on accident, but still awesome. He really enjoyed being in soccer and started to develop a sense of team spirit. He actually tripped a kid that was bullying one of his female teammates. I was upset and also kind of proud that he stood up for a teammate. He is a sweet kid and normally wouldn't do something like that, but the situation kind of called for a little aggressive action.
Life is going well for the Crawford family. We are busy and life is full and good. Hope all is well with you.

Back to the grind.

Another Monday...
I find myself wondering what happened to that creative, fun loving and attention mongering Mary I love. Lately I have been real down on my current work life. I know the economy is terrible and getting a new job is not what I am looking for. I just need to start doing things to satisfy this theatrical element in me. I recently purchased a notebook with full intentions to begin writing again. I used to write all the time; poems, songs, random stories. I think this will be a good way to start milking those creative juices out of me again. I think this was inspired by a recent karoake night. I sang "Welcome to the Jungle", again, but this time something was different, it felt so good to sing and I got some great compliments from Blake and some other friends. Made me feel like if I really put my mind to it I could maybe write some songs and perform just for the fun of performing. I love being in the spotlight, literally on stage in the spotlight. It ignites this energy in me and just gives me a good feeling.
My girlfriend Bobbi also had a hand in this turn towards the artistic. She is getting a massage therapy license and has been doing a lot of concertrated studies in the healing arts. She recently did a toe reading on me, I know weird, but she was so dead on when she addressed some issues I have been quietly processing and gave me solutions to my woes without knowing it. It was an amazing experience. She told me to start writing. Anyhow, anyway, just get back to writing. We will see where this takes me.
I have also been thinking about creating learning opportunities for my children through hands on experiences. Eddie and I weeded the side yard yesterday and this weekend we are going to get some pumpkin seedlings and plant them. I am also going to start a compost pile next to the pumpkins and begin growing some herbs at the end of summer. I used to have a garden and I miss being outside, putting my hands in the dirt. It just makes me feel good to grow something on my own. I can't wait to share that experience with the boys. I invited the neighborhood kids to participate; the eldest, Aaron, asked if I was going to pay him for his services and I offered to share everything he helped to grow. That seemed like payment enough, cause he has joined the ranks of the summer garden team. I will post some pics after Eddie and I get done playing in the yard this weekend. I didn't take pics yesterday, Eddie was covered head to toe in dirt. Gotta love being a boy!
Well, that's it for today...

Too long...

So it has been so long since my last post! I actually forgot my own Blog address. Yikes. What's the point if I forget to update the Blog?! Well, the family is doing well. Over the last 4 months Will and Eddie have become great friends; wrestling and playing and Eddie is Will's ever present shadow. They are adorable. Eddie has started to talk. His favorite word is "me". He uses it any chance he can! Especially when food is involved. =)

Will has been getting ready for Kindergarten. We registered at one the best rated schools in our area and he is really excited to move forward into this next phase. It is sad, but his enthusiasm makes it bearable. The school provides every child with a take home packet full of worksheets to complete over the summer, Will completed the packet in one day. He thought it was a fun! I hope his current perspective towards education continues through the coming years. I remember losing my love of learning early on and I do not want that to happen to Will.

Well, I am tired and ready for bed. I have so few moments to myself when I am awake. I guess that's the reason for my delayed posts, but four months is ridiculous. I will do my best to keep this updated.

Will is FIVE

Yea William! We had a blast celebrating Will's 5th birthday last Wednesday. We went to breakfast before school and ate with Bobbi and Kimmy. I brought cupcakes to Will's school for the celebration. And at dinner we went to Applebee's and ate with my Mom and Dad and Kimmy and Ashley. The staff came out and sang to Will, he was so excited! It was fun. The only downer was the baby got sick and Blake couldn't come to any of the fun events cause he was playing nurse to baby. Good Daddy. Will only kind of noticed and he had a great birthday! On Saturday we had a birthday party for Will. His grandmother from Pennsylvania came into town to celebrate his birthday too. Will had his b-day party at Jeepers, it's an indoor amusement park for little kids, or as Blake calls it, a cesspool of disease. We had a good time, but birthday parties are exhausting. I didn't sit down all day. Oh, and I got sick thanks to me kissing the sick baby all the time. Here's some photos from the few days of William David Loder's birthday celebration.

Busy Busy...

This has been a busy last couple of weeks. Blake and I had friends from Kentucky stay with us a couple of weeks ago. I actually didn't take one picture of them... so I guess I will show you a pic of them from the wedding in August.
We had fun with Sarah and Jimmy in town. They came out to look for places to live in case they make the move to AZ in January... good to know your options! we really enjoyed having them around. I could imagine having game night with them any day of the week and loving it. The last night they were in town I made a sort of hodge podge of italian foods for dinner. The baby loved the spaghetti! So did Will, plain, just like Uncle Ben.

And then...

Kimmy graduated!!!!! Yeah, her name was actually listed in the program! It's for real.




and then I drove back down to Mesa from Flagstaff on Friday for Blake's holiday party and Saturday was my work holiday party... where Blake and I won so much in the casino portion that we won three raffle prizes! One of which was an Ipod Shuffle. So exciting.
On Sunday we met all the Loder's at Joe's Crabshack. It was so cold we actually bundled up the baby. Mitten Baby!!!
Will loves Joe's Crabshack cause he can play pool before dinner. He is really good at chalking the stick. He was too funny, making up rules and playing with his hands after he chalked the stick. Cute. I can't believe he is going to be five tomorrow. Time has really flown by too quickly.

Yeah it's been awhile

I finally found some time to upload new pics of the kids and give you an update.
So, I cooked my first Turkey this year. It was a long process, but it was tasty. I won two turkeys from work and I got a brine recipe from my girlfriend Katie. The night before Thanksgiving I had to prep the birds and submerge them in a salt and brown sugar brine. Jenny came over and helped too. We put one of the turkeys into a heavy duty trash bag and into the roasting dish. As we were transferring the dish into the fridge a piece of thyme poked a hole in the bag and turkey juice spilt all over the back and bottom of my fridge. Annoying and gross!!! Well, we cleaned it up and triple bagged 'em. It was well worth it, the turkey was delicious. I also made Granny's mac-n-cheese and Marie's sweet potato caserole. Both of those dishes were good too. Blake made his Granny's stuffing, also delicious, and we made so much that we have eaten leftovers for the entire weekend. It was enough to feed Kim, Ben, Alyx, JD and Jenny all weekend too. After Thanksgiving my family traditionally takes our family photo for the Christmas card, but it was raining too hard and we rescheduled to Saturday, here's some of the pics.





The day after we took these pics I dressed up the kids in little outfits I intended to use in professional photos, but lately things have been tight, so I took the pics myself and I think I took some winners. The kids had a good time too. The baby was more interested in throwing rocks, and Will, of course, obliged in throwing them too.
We took pics at the Dobson Ranch Inn, where our wedding reception was held, and at Bobbi's new house in Scottsdale. We had a great time playing in her backyard!

My wisdom teeth...

So I had my wisdom teeth removed last Friday. I was having headaches I believe were related to the lower ones and the dentist told me they were food traps, so I got them removed... I delayed the whole ordeal a few years. Well, I should have done it earlier cause they struck a nerve (more susceptible to do this when you are older than 26) and now my lower left lip, chin and gums are totally numb. I hope the feeling comes back cause my lip feels humongous and I feel all irritated everytime I touch my chin... Grrrrr! Get those wisdom teeth out early!!!

To some cute and good blogging... the kids are doing great! The baby really has started to move. He started walking a few weeks ago and now he sort of runs around. It is so cute. He chases Will around the house, he just loves his older brother. He is saying "Da Da" and I swear he says "Brother". Every morning he calls for me to come get him, by crying really loud, and then he calls for Brother while I am changing his diaper. It is precious. William is doing good too, but I think he is starting to really react to me giving Eddie attention. If I do something for Eddie I must do it for Will. And Will makes sure that Eddie gets equal attention too, For instance, I was reading to Will the other night and he informed me that we need to include his brother in the nightly routine. So now when I put them to bed I always let them each pick a book and we read them together. They are funny.

Here's some recent pics of the kiddies.

Busy weekend!

Little Shark turned one on Friday! Yea Eddie!!! It was so cute watching him tear into the cake. He eventually turned it into mush and then started flinging it on the floor and walls of the kitchen. I actually took a hose to the highchair when he finished playing with his cake.
Will was Harry Potter for Halloween, so cute!

He got to go trick or treating with his girlfriend, Acacia, who was a princess, she kept changing her mind on who she was, Cinderella one minute, Belle the next. They were adorable and really cleaned up while trick or treating.

I think I will need to take some of Will's candy to my co-workers tomorrow! Will probably won't miss it cause he has been filling up on cake, sweet rolls and cookies... my house has been a regular bakery this last weekend.
Marie went home today and we are going to miss her, especially me, Marie always is so helpful when she comes out. She helps with the kids and house work, but most important she makes Blake so happy. He always has a good time when his Mom comes out. Wish you could have stayed longer Mimi!
We all went to the Zoo on Saturday while she was here and saw some interesting things at the Zoo.
The kids were so cute. Will kept finding picture ops around the Zoo and would ask Mimi to take his picture...
The baby was so cute! He is one in these pics, can't you tell =)
Well I finished up the weekend helping a friend with her baby shower and a dinner with my family and Mimi. It was a busy and fun weekend!