Colorado Crockers

Part 1- Pueblo Last week we went to Pueblo to do an early Christmas with Matt's family. They will be in New York for Christmas. Elie loves going down there, her uncles dote on her. We had a Christmas dinner of lasagna that was awesome. We opened gifts and gave my favorite present of the year: a marine dog. Matt's bro Luke is over seas right now, so we made his parents a dog in a Marine outfit at build a bear. We recorded a message from Luke to wish his parents a merry Christmas. it turned out great and was a big hit. Elie and her Grandpa read "What God wants for Christmas". Part 2- Ross Family Christmas with friends On Christmas eve, we celebrated Christmas with my family and our good friends the McHams who were in town for a few days. We started with a brunch at my sister Amanda's house which was fabulous! We opened presents and then took the kids home for much needed naps. When the kids woke up, we all met up at dad's church for the 4pm service. Elie loved t...

My dads house has a little photo studio in the garage, we get some great pictures of the kiddos out there. Here are some of the latest. Here are the girls in front of our Christmas tree. I hope to take some more "Christmas Pictures" before the season is over, after all Addilyn does have 5 Christmas dresses.

Did you know I go to preschool? Its true! We start out with a greeting in "circle time" then we have a snack, more "circle time" and a craft. Of course, for us grown ups, they don't call it preschool, they call it MOPS! Please, don't think this is bitterness, it is simple irony. I am not sure where along the way it was decide that "good Christian women" like to do xyz. Sometime MOPS makes me feel like I am 80. Matt laughs at some of the crafts I bring home and asks if I want to hang them on the fridge. He isn't being mean, he just knows that it is really NOT me to be told what to make and how to make it. My dream for MOPS? I would love something that acknowledged us a full and complete modern women. I am more than a mother and more than a wife, not that I don't love those titles. I spend my life doing the "wife/mother" thing and sometimes I would love a chance to explore other aspects of who I am. What if we started a book club? A...

-1- Number of showers I have taken by myself in the last 2 weeks. Yes, I have taken more than one shower. For some reason both girls seem to sleep better if they take a shower instead of a bath at night. Since Elie is too old to shower with Papa anymore, that leaves me. Who says "3's a crowd?" -4- Number of long sleeve shirts I bought at Target when they were on sale. Finally , someone realised that not all women like to have the belly/ butt crack showing. The shirts are long, with sleeves that actually cover my wrists and they wash up great. -14- pairs of shoes that Addilyn has in size 2. Yes, I know, the child doesn't walk. "Hi, my name is Gretchen and I have a problem with shoes..." -1/2 tsp- Addilyn's dose of Tylenol . -4- number of hours between doses. She is getting teeth. Or she has a cold. Or something that Tylenol fixes. -3- Times I do yoga a week. I really like. Who knew I would ever say that about any for of exercise? -4- Types of Christma...

- Why is it that I am the only one in the house who hangs up wet towels? I am also in charge of keeping track of the amount of t.p. left, all toilet cleaning, finding socks and everything else that disappears. What, exactly, is my job description and why don't I get paid more? - I am not fat, I am currently...fluffy?! I think this is how the math works: high school weight+10 lbs= college weight. College weight+ 5lbs= married weight. College weight+10 lbs per each child born in the last 12 months+ 5 lbs per kid over the age of 1= mommy weight. Mommy weight-a lb per hour of free time you have each week= adult married weight. - I have started my Christmas baking. This actually balances everything out. I eat some of the baking, but give it a week and I am so sick of smelling, looking at and being around the junk that I end up giving most of it away. - Christmas cards. Do I bother? Does anyone really read them anyway? Everyone I care about knows what is going on in my life. They know wh...

Finally, we got some snow. I mean , its getting a little ridiculous that it is almost December and we haven't even had anything to shovel yet. Elie loved the snow. Addilyn was fine with it, but over all unimpressed. We went sledding in the front yard. I know, its not really much of a hill, but when your 3 you have to start somewhere. Otis loves the snow, him and Elie love to play chase. Both kids have a cold. Again. I think I see a theme for the winter. They both handle it like champs. Addilyn is a terrible sleeper and has been since day one, so it really isn't much different than usual . Lots of boogers at the Crocker house.

Today I am thankful for 3 year olds . Yes, Elie is sometimes a pain in the neck, but I love this age. She is learning so fast. Last night we discussed "Carnivore and herbivore " and what was what. We have been talking about water, ice and steam. We sort things by size and color. We tell stories. I have learned that you never tell a 3 year old a secret, Elie and Matt went Christmas shopping for me and I know exactly what they bought! Elie is such a blessing in my life. I love watching her care for her little sister, she crys if anyone gets hurt, and loves to make you feel better when your having a bad a day.

Today I am thankful for 10 month olds with a sense of humor. Addilyn has discovered hers. She puts her binky in my mouth and laughs. She puts her shoe on her head and laughs. She gets why things are funny and its great. Here is a video of her latest trick. We may not win the "Parenting of the Year" award, but gosh, its funny! Addilyn has more than enough personality to fit in well with this family. She is so funny anymore, wanting to communicate and be part of all the action. Here are some recent pics of our sweet youngest baby. Thank you God, for starting people out as sweet little babies.

I consider myself blessed beyond measure to be surrounded by wonderful women. I have a great play group who goes out for girls nights. I have single women who remind me what it looks like to be cool. I have MOPS and some wonderful ladies who are older, mentor moms. I have my sisters. Our Friday morning bible study is on wisdom, taken straight from Proverbs. This week we talked about friendship. Here is what I learned: Friendship is distinctive. Friends and acquaintances are different. It is better to have a few close friends than a whole host of acquaintance who don't know your heart. Friends have your best interest at heart and an acquaintance has common interest. It is the difference of know about someone and truly knowing someone. Friendship endures. Even when I don't NEED you as a friend, I want you in my life. I love you when your a pain and when your fun. Friendship makes the choice to love when your unlovable A friend provides and asks for "heartfelt council ...

Addilyn looking longingly at her sister having fun in the snow Elie, dressed and ready to play! Usually I love Fridays. I have MOPS or bible study and shop in the afternoon followed by yoga. Matt is either home or on his way. Not today. Matt is in Hawaii over the weekend so its just the girls and I. I hate when he travels over a weekend, everyone else is doing family time so our weekends just drag. Yesterday it snowed! Elie looked outside and said "It's a snowing day!". She was thrilled and didn't even make it out of her jammies before she had on her snow boots. I asked her if she wanted breakfast first and she told me "not yet!". On went the jacket and new mittens from Grandma and Bumpa and Elie and the dogs went out to play. She played in the snow for a good half hour. The dogs loved it. Poor baby Addilyn just looked out the window longingly. Friday is always busy for us, yesterday was no exception. The day started with bible study , a Beth Moore stud...

I forgot to post a picture of Elie's birthday cake. She is really into curious George so we made a monkey cake. Yesterday, her friend came over to celebrate and play with her. Aunt Amanda gave Elie a really cool Curious George coloring book with stickers, so I copied a page and put out some birthday stickers and stamps. This morning Elie asked "Why is my birthday all over?" I told her she only gets one a year. She said "Oh, that makes me sad."

Once upon a time, back when I was young, I believed in fanciful things like most children do. I believed that my stuffed animals had feelings that were hurt if I failed to kiss them good night. I believed there was a monster under my bed who would eat my feet when I had to get up to pee in the middle of the night. I believed in fair. I never did have the chance to believe in Santa or the Easter bunny do to insistence of my sisters that they were not real. Childhood is a lovely thing. At some point, I stopped kissing my stuffed animals every night before bed. I am sure it was originally with some pangs of guilt. While I no longer believe my animals are real, they do hold a special place in my heart filled with memories of tea parties and hide and seek. I am not sure when I stopped jumping into bed to avoid the dreaded toe monster. I am assume it was when I became old enough to worry about fear not being cool. I still don't like the dark, but manage to walk to my bed with grace an...

Eliana was born. Here is her story Matt and I decided that we were ready for kids. We were just waiting for God to decide we ready for kids. Wouldn't you know it, the day before we left for a trip for Italy we found out I was expecting. Like my sister Steph has said, you know how babies are made, but it is always a little surprising to find out it actually works! My time in Italy was a lot of fun, I was tired and took lots of naps but over all felt pretty good. When we got back to the US we had our first ultrasound and saw Elie for the first time. I was 9 weeks along and she was this itty bitty baby floating around in a sea of black. I struggled with some headaches, high blood pressure and swelling. Matt got the chicken pox when I was about 6 months along but I never got them. At 20 weeks we tried to get a peek to see if we were going to have a boy or girl, but Elie wasn't feeling cooperative. At 32 weeks the doctor thought she may not be head down so we had another ultraso...

I can't believe that Addilyn is 9 months old. It seems like just yesterday that she joined our family. Here is her 9 month update: Addilyn is a peanut, not yet 15 lbs. Elie was 17 at a year, we will see if Addie is even that big. She is on the move! Addilyn crawls in a weird half army crawl half normal crawl sort of thing because of the hardwood, I'm assuming. She is scary fast. She pulls up to her knees on everything she can reach, which isn't much because she is tiny. Addilyn says more, mama, papa, and hi. She signs nurse, more, all done, and drink. Elie is always telling me what she believes Addilyn is saying. Addilyn also claps and dances. We FINALLY have teeth! Yes, she grew two. We were wondering because she hasn't been sleeping great for a few days, but she is never a wonderful sleeper, so it was hard to tell. Addilyn's favorite toys have 4 legs and fur. If she crawls over and they walk away, she is heart broken. Lucky for her, they are very tolerant ...

Here are the highlights of the rest of the trip: Friday: Matt went to work and then came back to the hotel to pick up Addilyn and I. We drove to his friend Otis' house and dropped off the baby and went out to a great little Mexican place. The town his friend lives in is beautiful, so we walked around for a while before going to pick up Addie. Saturday: We checked out of our hotel in San Jose after a big breakfast and headed up to San Fransisco. We got there a little after noon and walked down pier 39 and fisherman's wharf . We then headed up to my happy place; the Ghirilldeli Factory. We enjoyed some chocolate and people watching then headed back to the car. From there we headed up to the red wood forest, Muir woods. Addilyn fell asleep in the car, so we didn't stop for long and just enjoyed the view. We checked into our hotel in Napa , it was awesome . Completely gorgeous with swans, fountains , beautiful outdoor sitting areas and an open bar. Sunday: Our day of rest...

So far, its been quite a week! We left home on Tuesday, dropped off two large mutts at two different houses and headed to Pueblo. Elie was thrilled, she LOVES going to Nana's house. Wednesday morning we enjoyed breakfast and said goodbye to Elie, she was totally ok with us leaving, and started the almost 3 hour drive up to DIA with Addilyn. After a quick stop at the Babies r us in Park meadow and lunch at our favorite Burger place, 5 Guys, we boarded a plane. Addilyn promptly had a huge, screaming melt down. It wasn't pretty. We were "those people". After about a half hour Addilyn fell asleep. The rest of the flight was uneventful. We stopped by our Whole Foods and picked up some GF stuff for Addilyn and I to eat this weekend. Matt has spent the last few days working while us girls chill in the hotel. Addilyn has been taking great naps and I have been enjoying the quite time. Last night we rented the newest Indiana Jones movie and popped pop corn. Tonight we are heade...

Its that time of year again, time for everyones favorite made up holiday, Fall Family Fun Day. This year was great, we ate a huge brunch, carved pumpkins, played football and at the park and came home for a big soup dinner. Here are the pictures!

I am a lucky girl. I have 2 sisters, who I love dearly. They are my best friends. As my girls grow it is so fun to see them enjoy each other. Ok , so Elie likes Addie more than the other way around, but that is because Eliana is exceedingly annoying to her little sister and Addie is just to little to fight back. Give it a few months, when Addilyn can talk and move more and steal all of Elie's toys, and I am sure the tables will turn. But I am optimistic that when they grow up they will enjoy each other as much as my sisters and I do.

-I just found out a friend of mine has cancer. At first they thought it was not too bad, come to find out it is stage 3. With her type of cancer at this stage, survival is about 50%. She has kids my girls age. I am not sure how to process this. What do you say? What do you do? Kinda puts my "bad" days in perspective. She is going to lose both breasts and have chemo. God, please be with her, comfort her and her husband. Heal her. -I am doing a book club with some of my girl friends. We are starting with "The Love Dare" which is a 40 day challenge . I want to be excited, but then again I dread being challenged . This is pure laziness on my part. The more I learn about God and Love, the less I feel like I really know. The more I learn about love, the more I feel like I really suck at it. Sometimes I just want to hide behind my wall of "good enough". I want to hold on to my selfish nature like it is something to treasure. If I love like Jesus, I open up my he...

Ok , since everyone else is doing it, I figured I would jump in again with my "2 cents" on the political thing. Those of you who don't give a rip or vote down party lines, you won't offend me if you skip this post. This by no means implies that I know which way to vote, it is just ramblings. 1- I am sick of rich white guys in Washington. This "main street" vs "wall street" crap is driving me insane . Everyone is pointing fingers when the truth is we ALL made this mess. 2- It annoys me when people want to take profits from successful business based on the fact that they are successful. My brother in law is making a killing right now. What does he do? He manages repossessed homes and has more business than he can handle. It is not his fault that people default on a mortgage and no one should be able to take his business profits to help those who can't afford homes just because he is successful. 3- Guess what, "big oil" doesn't set...

We went to the circus yesterday, it was a blast. Elie loved it, but there was so much to see she didn't know where to look. Here is a video of her telling you all about it!

I haven't really updated on what the Crocker fam has been up to lately. Maybe because my life is just not that exciting? I do have some cute new pictures. So, lets see, we went up into the mountains (well, Evergreen) and went leaf peeping, walked around the lake and ate at Beau Joes (they have gf pizza). We went on a nice bike ride with the girls. Matt and I had our 9 year anniversary , he was soooo sweet and had flowers delivered and chocolates from See's. We are going to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's 60 th anniversary this Friday. That about covers it! Here are some pictures!

We do a lot of it in our house. Sometimes I feel like I spend my day either cooking or cleaning up. Hungry is Elie's default, and if she is eating, Addily wants some too. I lack creativity on some (most) days and end up feeding my kids the same stuff-over and over and over. Here is my list to break out of the rut , I choose one from each category . It will look different than yours because we are gluten free. I don't believe in making our kids a different meal than we have at dinner, so most of this is what we do for breakfast and lunch. Carbohydrates Rice cakes Pancakes Arypas (corn cakes) English muffin or bagel Crackers Oatmeal pasta Polenta quinoa Muffins or Rice potatoes Bread popcorn tortillas Protein Hot dogs Chicken Taco meat Cheese Yogurt Cottage cheese Eggs (boiled, salad, mixed) Lunch meat roll ups Hamburger sticks Beef jerky Peanut butter beans bacon Cream cheese Veggies Tomato soup Frozen mixed Patties French fries Raw (peppers, cucumber) Fresh steamed Pumpkin pa...

We have two really cute costumes for Addilyn . Which one should she wear for Halloween ? Let me know because Matt and I can't decide. A Bumble Bee A skunk

Ok , so I know it isn't Monday. It doesn't really matter because I am stealing this idea from my buddy Kari anyway. It seems appropriate that it is a day late, it it, after all, on my blog. -I didn't stay in my pj's half the day today because I just never got around to getting dressed. Nope, not me, I am dressed to the nines every day with hair done and make-up on! -I didn't tell the baby I was selling her to gypsies because she was being a grump. Not me, I am the perfection of motherhood with infinite patients . - I didn't let my toddler go without undies all day because I have no idea where they are, how do we lose those things?! Not me, my kids are always clean and well dressed, with matching socks and bows in the hair. - I didn't eat an embarrassingly large amount of "Sees Chocolates" yesterday and then make a batch of Carmel corn. Nope. only health food in this house! -I didn't tell my yoga instructor that there was no way I would tak...

Some days I am a energetic, creative, wonderful mommy. Most days, I am operating on 5 hours or less sleep with a husband who is out of town. For Elie's own safety, this week I was prepared with ideas of fun things to do. I thought I might share these for those of you who also have toddlers in danger of driving you crazy. Stuffed animal games : Make a train - Get a large sheet out and load it up with all the stuffed animals. Take them for a ride seeing how fast you can go without them all falling off. Sorting - Sort all animals by size, color, or animal type. Hide and seek - Kid waits in room while mama hides animal around house. Kid hunts them out. Birthday party - Pull out the hats and throw a birthday bash for all the animals. Basket ball - Put out a laundry basket and shoot hoops using the animals as balls. Crafts : Tear and glue - Grab a glue stick and tear up tissue paper to glue down to a sheet of paper. Toy prints - Use paint and a few toys or tp rolls. Dip toys in paint and...

Today Addilyn is 8 months old, she is 2/3 of the way to being a one year old. That is so crazy to me. I think time passes twice as fast for the second kid. Here is an update on what our sweet baby is up to: Addilyn LOVEs big people food and doesn't eat a bit of baby food, actually she never did. She is happiest if she gets to feed herself and can really put it away. She is on the move! She gets pretty much where ever she wants to go by using a mixture of scooting on her butt, rolling, crawling and army crawling. This annoys Elie to no end. She is still the worst sleeper ever. To this day she has slept through the night once in her life. Last night she was up every hour. Go figure. I am glad I didn't sign up for this parenting gig thinking it was going to be convenient or have easy hours. Elie makes her belly laugh all the time. Mama and papa are funny too, but not as much as the puppies! Otis loves her and lays next to her all the time, she proceeds to pull his hair, poke ...

Last week we went down to Pueblo and spent the week with Matt's family. It was nice to have grown-ups to talk to and someone else to hold babies. We are now going through detox. Elie is bored without Nana and uncles to play with and Addilyn wants to be held. Its going to be a long week, but it was so worth it. Here are some highlights! Riding the toys at Wal -Mart. Nana always has a quarter! Playing in the "water mountain" (fountain) The River walk in Pueblo. Nana with the mammoth stroller Baby Addie is tuckered out from all the fun Watching the ladies at the store make cookies

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I went to church today. Shocker, I know. I went to a new church, started by a guy I have known forever. He is charismatic , to put it lightly. His energy and zest for life is almost exhausting. I would love to say his church is the lively, fun and different, but it is the same as every church I have ever been to. Here in lays my problem. Church equals a greeter at the door handing out name tags and glad handing all who come in. Children are schlepped down to there rooms. Grown-ups file in to sit in pews or rows. There is a greeting followed by announcements . Several armature musicians take the stage and "lead worship". Followed by prayer and offering. The pastor takes the stage and preaches a sermon. We are dismissed to the lobby where people have a light conversation with people they don't really care about, retrieve the children who were inevitably given coloring pages with picture of a w...

Thats it, I am running for president. I am sure I can do better than these guys and here is some of my plan to prove it! Global Warming: McCain- Would cut greenhouse gas emisions 60 percent by 2050, spend 2 billion a year on clean coal and work on developing neclear power. Obama- Cut greenhouse gas emisions by 80 percent by 2050 and inver 150 billion over the next 10 years in clean energy. Get 25 percent of US power by other sources by 2025. Crocker- I am against spending money we don't have, or taxing the heck out of citiczen to get that money. I am a capitalist with great faith in American ingenuitiy. Here is what I would do: have a 2 year contest to create a clean and budget friendly power source with the prize being a goverment contract. Require all power companys (who cause 40 percent of US carbon dioxide emissions) to use at least 20 percent renuable energy within five years with tax breaks for using more. Increase the use of public transportation by offering companies who ...

- The T.V is in the basement. It is only on when Elie is watching "Curious George", " Clifford ", or "Sesame Street". - We have family reading time every night. Usually with popcorn, after the bath, before bedtime. - There is an appallingly large amount of dog hair on the floor. I swiffer all the time, but I have appallingly large dogs so their you go. - We eat shockingly large amounts of fruit. Currently we have: plums, peaches, grapes, raspberries , strawberries, blackberries, cantaloupe , bananas and kiwi. It may not last us the week. -Stories are told. Yesterday, when Elie put me to bed because I was sick with the flu, this was her story for me: "Once upon a time there was a fan. It blew mamas hair off, so mama went to the store for a new head. She got blue hair. Then the fan blew off her eyes. She went to Target to get new eyes and a cookie. Then the fan blew off her tummy, so she went to the store and got a new tummy that wasn't sick. The ...

Last night I had the night off. Amanda came over around 6 to watch the kids and I went out to dinner with Matt and some of his work guys. After an embarrassingly large meal, I went to the Hyatt. BY MYSELF! My wonderful husband went home to care for the girls and I stayed down town. The room was very nice, on the 27 th floor. Best of all it was empty of all other people. Matt asked if I wanted one of my girl friends to come down with me, and as much as I LOVE my girl friends, it was such a treat to be by myself. I woke up this morning after my first full night of sleep in 8 months. I ordered room service. I watched a movie in bed. I am so thankful for my wonderful family, and even more thankful that I get a break from them. What a great man I married! Side note: My MRI is scheduled for Monday morning, I should have the results by Thursday.

By looking at my house, you wouldn't think that order is something I strive for. Strangely, it is. I like routine, I like knowing where I am headed, I like having a plan, even better if I have it in list form. I am a list maker, Matt would say it is not one of my most redeeming qualities. He is just bitter because I make lists not only for myself, but for our family, and most annoyingly (or so I am told) for him. I have some health issues I am contemplating as of late. Nothing is definitive yet, I will have another test or two, but it did prompt me to consider my life. I am currently considering my priorities, both what I say are important and what I actually spend my time doing. Knowing that there is a chance that this is the healthiest I will ever be, what should my focus be? Growing up being taken to church several times a week, willingly or otherwise , I have had it pounded into my head the God should always be first in my life. This is not a practice I argue with, it is jus...

Catchy title, no? Things on my mind, typed out so that they are on my blog, instead of bouncing around in my head. - I like kids, no shocker there. I usually even like my own kids. I think we will have more. If we have at least one more and then adopt a couple, does that make our family freakishly large? Do I care if I have a freakishly large family? I say this and my baby doesn't even sleep through the night yet. I say "yet" because some day it is bound to happen...right? -I am generally against waking a sleeping child for just about any reason. It is now almost 4:30 and Elie is still asleep. She has a cold. If she doesn't wake up soon, I will never be able to put her in bed by 7. She needs her sleep but I need the sanity or both kids in bed at a decent hour. What to do? - I have no idea what to make for dinner tonight. Elie doesn't care and either does Addie. I want burgers or taco bell or something equally nutritionally devoid, but feel guilty feeding that c...