Colorado Crockers

I should be blogging about Christmas. After all, we have had three. One Crocker Christmas in Jersey, one Chambers Christmas in Pubelo and one Ross Christmas in Denver. They were all awesome. We were blessed beyond reason. My children had a blast and have loved all their new gifts. And, really, that is all I have to say about Christmas. This year I felt rather grinchy. Matt was no better, which is unusual, since he LOVES Christmas. We put up a tree and some decorations, but I didn't make the massive amounts of cookies and treats that I usually do because I didn't really have anyone I wanted to give them to. And there was the root of it. I love Christmas because I love the excuse to spend extra time with friends and family. I love the parties. I love the having people over for dinner and making treats for those I care about. I love being part of a church family who strives to shower those in the community with love. But this year, we didn't really have that. Yes, we have frie...

Every so often I get a wild hair and decide to grow out my hair. It is never a good idea. I don't look good with long hair. This is part due to general laziness on my part. And, it really just doesn't look good on me. So I chopped it off. Top is the before pic, bottom is the after.

Since Matt worked remotely for old company (read: in his jammies in the basement) We missed a lot of the whole "corporate" life thing. Part of that is good. Matt got way more done out of the office without all the meetings and politics. Part of it was sad, we missed all the celebrations, which at old company were few and far between. Apparently, they like to party at new company. Matt had told me weeks ago that there was a Christmas party that we had reservations for. He mentioned he thought it might be a big deal. I started planning some cute slacks and tops I had on hand. Three days before the party, he sheepishly informed me that it was a black tie event. Awesome. Nothing like being several month pregnant and having to look good in a dress. I told him I was wearing strategically placed bows. I ended up finding a cute dress that fit both over the bump and bust, without either spilling out. Matt had his 3 piece pin stripe suit cleaned and pressed. We call up the baby sitter ...

You can't live this close to New York City and NOT go in to see all the Christmas hulabaloo. This weekend, we packed up the girls and braved the madness. And oh.my.word. was it MADNESS!! First stop was the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. To give you an idea of the insanity, they actually CLOSE DOWN STREETS. Annabelle and Addilyn were in the stroller for the ride, Eliana was holding my hand. I picked her up so she could see. The tree was beautiful, as were the lights and decorations around the city. Next stop was the American Girl store. Three big stories of over priced dolls and about 500 people. Elie and Addilyn loved it. Annabelle put up with it as long as we kept feeding her snacks. Then off to the worlds biggest Toys R Us in Times square. Also three stories, with a massive Ferris wheel in the lobby. Of all the things we saw, I am pretty sure my girls were most impressed with the T-Rex in toys are us that moved and "roared". With small children spent, we headed back...

We live in a very quaint little Village, complete with main street, library, post office and town hall. They are big on celebrations here. For Halloween they closed down the street and had all the shops open booths. For Independence day they do a huge parade. And for Christmas, a tree lighting. Main street is a short walk from our house, so we went to check out the festivities, complete with the high school choir and band and Santa's arrival in...get this...a FIRE TRUCK! We invited some friends to come along for the fun. The girls thought it was a kick and us grown-up's enjoyed the walk on a cool December evening. Mrs. Clause was there passing out candy canes along with an elf (in Nikes) There are some benefits to living the small town life.

- We have 2 light triggered puzzles, one that is farm animals and one that is musical instruments. At any given time, they randomly start playing the violin or meowing like a cat. Disturbing when you turn out the lights in the evening only to hear paino music and a moo. - I am much to aware of the rest of the family's bowel habits. Why is it that I seem to be the only one who remembers to flush? -We go through cups at an alarming rate. I am pretty sure there must be a very thirsty elf hiding somewhere drinking copious amounts. My dishwasher is full every night with cups and Matt and I are the only ones tall enough to reach the cup cabinet. -I washed a least 2 dozen pairs of little girls underwear this week. I do laundry, all laundry, every week. Which of my children is doubling up on the panties? By my count I should only be washing 14 pair a week. -I find legos in the dryer, ponies in the bathtub and puzzle pieces between the sheets. Yet I can't find two matching socks. How ca...

In a given month, the Crocker family goes through: 6 gallons of whole milk 8 dozen eggs 6 lb of banana 10 pounds of cheese 3 large containers of yogurt 8 lbs of apple 6 lbs of pairs 12 packages of frozen veggies (corn, peas, spinach, Brussels sprouts, mixed) 3 lbs of baby carrots 3 lbs of applesauce 2 large containers of cottage cheese 4 loaves of normal bread (2 of gluten free) 1 giant tub of peanut butter Today, I am greatful for a husband with a good job and Costco.

When your children are born, you have grandiose ideas of who they will grow to be. A percosious toddler charming those at the local bookstore while your husband and you quietly sip coffee and read the New Yorker? A mild mannered pixy who bats eyelashes shyly from behind your leg while waiting in line at the store? The beautiful child in a stroller who people stop to coo at? Motherhood is a reality check on so many levels. I have learned to never say the words "oh, we won't EVER do that with our kid". God has a sense of humor that is a little off color. While you hope your child will be blessed with you and your mates best attributes, the mix doesn't always come out so...tidy. Belle is my third kid. You would think I would have been humbled enough at this point to better roll with the punches that parenthood delivers. Tiny but vocal from the very beginning, she was not to be overlooked. She somehow didn't get the memo that if you are going to be high maintenance yo...

I was told by my mother when I was a teen that my curfew was midnight because "nothing good happens after midnight". If that is true at 16, I am pretty sure that "nothing good happens before six a.m" is true for my current station in life. Some may argue that it is always true, but not Annabelle. For the last few weeks, the babe has been up before the sun. It isn't exactly the fault of the whole "fall back" time change, but that didn't help matters. Normally this is annoying, but not really my problem as Matt is the one on call as the sun rises. Alas, Matt is in Korea and I am flying solo, desperately missing my morning wing man. I am not ashamed to say that in the wee hours of the morning I told my not-quite two year old that I was not getting up yet, tossed her some toys and dry cheerios with a sippy and told her to play quietly. I stumbled back to my still warm bed knowing I bought myself about 15 minutes to clear the cob webs from my brain and ...

I have my panties in a wad about something, so if you are not in the mood to hear me rant, please move on. I read this , and oh boy, did it get my blood hot. I am a huge fan of "to each there own". I parent my children one way, because of who I am, who they are and what I believe to be true about children. I do not expect others to parent the same way I do. I am not raising your kid, and as long as your kid is turning out ok, more power to you! We are not really a spanking household. My girls don't usually require it, it isn't that effective and the few time my kids have been spanked I think it was as much to make me feel better as it was to get the desired outcome. What gets me mad is the idiot Christians who follow other idiot Christians in the misinterpretation of the bible and use it as an excuse to beat the crap out of there kids! They often quote the scripture that says "Spare the rod, spoil the child". Lets look at that a second: first, we must acknow...

I have a confession: I have a bad attitude. Not about everything, all the time, just lately, about a lot of things. I am grumpy that I just found out 2 of my good friends are expecting (one of them is having twins) right around the same time I am and yet here I am, stuck in Jersey, with no one to be pregnant with. I am surly about Matt leaving for Korea for 8 days. I am always cold in this stupid house, with high ceilings and absolutely no insulation and the cold winter days haven't even started yet. My kitchen is the worst and my kids eat all the time so I am always in my kitchen and always frozen, despite the many layers and slippers. None of my clothes fit me and I look like I have been hitting the Twinkies a little too hard. People in Jersey are rude and grumpy. I have to take several highways to get to my grocery store. It is easy to forget to be thankful. I don't want to be grateful for what I have, I want to sulk and be grumpy. I want to stomp my feet and crawl back into...

I swear to you, if Eliana asks me one more time "how long until Halloween?" I might just duct tape the calendar to her forehead. We have counted the days, looked on the calendar and yet she still feels the need to ask several times a day. I find it irritating that Halloween is so controversial in the Christian community. As if THAT is the "hill to die on". A holiday where children celebrate by playing pretend and eating candy evokes such a strong emotion and ends up making Christians look like petty idiots. World poverty? The orphan crisis? No sir, it's a 5 year old dressed like Mickey and Snickers that we get all up in arms about. In our family we handle Halloween differently than many people do. I am a firm believer that some of our reactions to things we don't agree with often stem from fear driven by a lack of knowledge. In our house, we talk about Halloween a long time ago. How the Celtic people of long ago celebrated there new year on November 1st alon...

I am a mediocre homeschooler. I don't have a time of day when we put on our "school hat" and sit and do worksheets. I consider making pancakes math for the day. We are reading Charlotte's Web together and that is vocabulary. Science is usually when we google something, often pictures of what new baby is looking like today. Or when we find an exceptional worm in the back yard and Eliana wonders why she can see through him so we grab our magnifying glass. We do practice handwriting but I have yet to do anything about the face Eliana is confusing b,d and p,q, she will figure it out. The other day Eliana informed me that she was the mom and I was the babysitter. She was going out for a nice dinner with her friends and it was just for grown-ups and it was my job to watch the babies. She then handed me my babysitting instructions. Just in case you don't read 5 year old, let me write it in "grown up": Be home at 1o at first feed them Dinner then clean up Then p...

It occured to me that I have never posted pictures of our house. Or at least not the inside. Sorry for the random order, I put them in a normal order and blogger shuffled them all around. So you are starting in our upstairs hallway. To the left goes downstairs and the stairway to the right goes up to the attic and guest room. This is Eliana and Addilyn's bedroom. Not a great picture. Bigger than there room in Colorado with lots of floor room to play and almost NO closest. Not great for two little girls with a TON of dresses. Our room. Also not much closet space. I use under the bed roller drawers for some of my stuff and you can see a closet rack for Matt to the right for Matt's stuff. Annabelle's room. Very tiny but somehow just right for her. A very large closet to the right of the rocker that we use for...well...everything. Linnins, extra bathrooms stuff, nice dishes, it all ends up in that closet because it is the ONLY closet. This is the view from the front door if you...

A few weekends ago we decided to celebrate like the Germans and ring in the fall with Oktoberfest! We drove up the Palisades parkway, enjoying the view, into New York and to Bear Mountain State park. The day was cool, but beautiful. The park was full. The beer was good (so I hear) and the German Food was...well Germans are not exactly known for there food, now are they. A great day was had by all. Matt with his "who drank my beer?!" face.

I didn't write this, not sure who did, but it totally captures how I feel. Dear Women's Ministry: The world can give me cute cupcake designs and decorating tips, scrapbooking parties, casserole recipes, and other ways to pass the time. But truly, with my respect and love, may I be honest? If I wanted to learn how to decorate cupcakes, I would take a class in it. If I wanted to be educated on strategies for decorating my home inexpensively from Winners , I would just, you know, go to Winners . Or Pinterest. But I'm here with you tonight because I want what the world cannot give me. We're choking on cutesy things and crafty bits, safe lady topics, and if one more person says that modest is hottest with a straight face, I may throw up. We are hungry for authenticity and vulnerability, not churchified life hacks from lady magazines. Some of us are drowning, suffocating, dying of thirst for want of the cold water of real community. We're trying really hard--after all, we...

Friends. We had a lot of them in Colorado. Mommy friends. Family friends. Friends who are related to us. We were never in want of company, someone to head to the park with, camp with, go on an adventure or just try the new fro yo place. Friends were one of the many reasons it was so hard to leave Colorado. I generally don't have a hard time making friends, or at least acquaintances. In Jersey I have found it a little harder. First of all, many if not most families are two income, meaning moms are not availible during the day. Even MOPS groups meet in the evening. This leaves me and the nanny's at the parks in day time hours. I have nothing against nanny's, having been one, but I don't speak Russian. Or Spanish. The other day I felt as if I stumbled into an episode of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" as I was waiting for Eliana to finish her class at the library. A group of women, thickly accented, discussing things that were just not really part of my life. Fr...

Blogger is being stupid so I haven't been able to up load this video, so here is the link instead. Forgive Annabelle, she is hollering "I see, I see, I see!" because she wants to see the picture on the camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU3GSwtUqRI

I wasn't going to blog about this. It somehow feels deeply personal, though it isn't really. It isn't yet a complete thought in my head, it is still messy and scrambled. Writing sometimes helps...and sometimes doesn't. Consider yourself warned! My dad has this great "mission statement" for his life. He works hours on getting the meaning right, to sum up what he believes into a great statement that encapsulates his life. I love the order of that, the neatness, the ability to bring every other choice under this one statement. I have yet to be able to achieve the same. First, a little bit of theology. This is my thoughts, and I am in no way saying it is "truth" or that you must subscribe to what I think, but I feel a little clarification is necessary before I move on. God created man in His own image. But He didn't stop there, he went on to create woman too, also in his image. He made us different, yet both in HIS image. There is something divine in...

We took the girls into the city to visit the museum of natural history. We loved it! We did even see a fraction of it and look forward to going back.

Eliana was so proud of herself, this was her first time by herself on a roller-coaster and she LOVED it! Annabelle was mad that she was too little to ride on some of the big girl rides that her sisters got to ride on.

This park is so cool! It is within about 20 minutes of our place. It has an amazingly huge playground, a great carousel, a nice little zoo and even a train. It is a great way to spend a morning.

I pride myself on not being a huge wimp. A little wimp sometimes, but generally a moderately tough chick. I kill spiders. I set and empty mouse traps when the occasion arises. I pick up worms to show my children. I have been known to hold a snake. I have a strong dislike for crickets (they are sneaky!) but am otherwise unfazed by generally creepy things. The other night we had a guest for dinner, Matt's ex-boss and a friend of ours. We had a very nice evening, we talked about Jersey and other parts of the country we would rather live. We discussed the house and all its "character". As we sat enjoying conversation, our guest politely pointed out that a mouse just ran under our dinning room table. Awesome. I know how to leave an impression. The next night we spotted the little fur ball while we were watching tv. But something seemed off to me. We have had mice before, I know how they scurry and I know how little they are. This guy didn't scurry and was a bit...large. I ...

I have a 'thing' for chocolate. And I have a 'thing' for baked goods. When the two meet, it can be a little crazy. Well, if you think "suburban mom with a sweet tooth and expanding waste line" is crazy. It is around here. I will consider the utter pathetic-ness of that statement at a later time. I had a gf brownie mix burning a whole in my pantry but didn't want to go the whole "make a pan of brownies" route, because you know me, I like to get a little wild. So I googled brownie mix recipe ideas, got some ideas and adapted as I saw fit. And, oh my goodness, I nailed it and because nothing is more irritating than having skinny friends, I am sharing the wealth with you! You will need: 1 brownie mix (mine was GF Betty Crocker, I assume any one that makes a 9 x 9 would work) 1 egg 1/2 cup of butter 1/4 cup cream cheese Mix all of the above together. Should make a soft cookie dough. 1 cup of peanut butter 3/4 cup of powdered sugar Make into a playdou...

Many years ago, when Matt and I were house hunting, I was hooked on homes with "character". Old houses with back stories, brick and hardwood, fireplaces and history. My dad has one. Matt and Amanda had one. But then we found our Colorado house. I must say, it was never a "love at first sight" type thing. It was a "what a good deal in our price range" type thing. We looked at a lot of houses out here. Big ones, small ones, expensive ones, close to work and further away. I told Matt that if I had to live all the way out on the freakin ' east coast, away from everyone and everything I loved, I was going to at least live in a house I liked. This means a house with, you guessed it, character. I wasn't very old when I discovered the phrase "it builds character" was synonymous with "it really sucks by you might end up being a better person if you make it through". I quickly decided I don't really want character, the price ta...

I swear I have been good. So yeah, we haven't found a church yet and really don't plan to, but come on! A earthquake and a hurricane? Is there a volcano close by I should know about? Locusts ? A plague? Remind me again why people choose to live in Jersey. To prepare for the insanity, the girls and I hit Costco yesterday, along with about 500 of our closest friends. We got some water, non- perishable food and stuff like that. Today Matt is heading to Home Depot (with, no doubt, 500 of HIS closest friends) to get a tarp to cover the cellar. Oh, didn't I mention? The cellar has no doors, and for those of you who are not familiar with cellars, this means it is open to our basement. Well, there is an interior door at the bottom of the stairs, but it is so warped from weather and moldy, it doesn't shut. It just seems like a bad idea to have a lot of rain+ gaping hole in your house= big mess to clean up. This afternoon will be spent moving anything we wish to keep ...

I am not sure where it is written that the mother of the family must always be in a good mood. But today I am not and there is little as guilt inducing in motherhood as being crabby. My children have done nothing wrong but they bare the brunt of my crankiness. Matt quickly escaped to the haven of his office. I am not a yeller . Even when feeling blue my default is quiet and introspective, not loud and abusive. Matt might disagree, but not to my face, not today. There is no one reason for my mood. I am just sick of living in the in-between. Even now that we have a house I don't feel settled. Nothing about this place feels like home except the half- eaten blueberry coffee cake in the kitchen. My children's needs don't get put on hold just because I have 10 billion other things to clean and organize , and my home remains unsettled. I am so excited to start the adventure of school with Eliana and feel like I don't have the time to devote to the planning of it lik...

We are finally feeling like the concept of "settling in" might be within our grasp. After almost a month of Gypsies living, we have a house and a learning a bit about our new home state. Here is what I have discovered: - Everything is expensive out here. The power company wanted $700 to put the bill in our name. -People out here take everything very seriously. You can imagine how well that goes over with someone like me...who takes nothing seriously. The next time I have to listen to someone lament about how someone "disrespected" something or someone I am not sure I will be able to keep the snarky comments to myself. -I actually heard someone use the phrase " Fo getabout it". I had to suppress a giggle. - I saw a woman at Target with big hair, a glowing "tan", daisy duke denim shorts, a net top over a leopard print bra. I so wanted to snap a picture, but couldn't figure out how. And she was remarkably fast in her 4 inch platfo...

I am beginning to think that I might just be an anarchist. It isn't just my general disdain for authority, it is my general annoyance at stupidity. Never have I met a company as poorly run as the American government. It would have been out of business years ago if it didn't have private funding. Oh yes, ever dollar spent must first be taken from the hand of someone who earned it with there hard work. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of paying taxes. I love our country. I am happy to pay for my freedom, protection from those who wish to take my freedoms. I love that our country happily educates all who are willing, I am glad to drive on roads that are cared for, I love our national park, library's, monuments and other things my tax dollars fund. I also have nothing against helping out those who find themselves in a tight spot. The government does a lot of good things. Here is the kicker: we can't pay for it. When Matt was finishing up school and we were living in M...