Colorado Crockers

May 31- Take both dogs and 3 children to vet to make sure every ones shots are up to date June 1- House measured for carpet June 2- Drive with girls and dad down to Sand Dunes to camp with friends June 3- Camping! June 4- Drive home from camping. Pack girls to stay at sisters and me for New Jersey June 5- Drop girls off at Woods, drive to airport, fly to New Jersey June 6 and 7- Find a house to live in June 8- Matt and I fly home June 9- Finish baking wedding cake June 10- Drive to Colorado Springs for Rehearsal dinner. Matt is a groomsman and girls are flower girls. Oh, and I made the wedding cake June 11- MY BIRTHDAY and my brother in laws wedding. He wins. June 12- Drive home. Celebrate my birthday with my family June 13- Hand Surgery 11 am. Hopefully Matt will be home for this June 14- Matt flys back to Jersey. I do things one handed for a week. June 15 to 17- Finish getting everything ready to move June 18- Going away party June 19- Sabbath ? Ha! Last day to get things done. Pa...

Here are my most commonly used status up-date words from Facebook. Yup. sounds like my life. Used 39 times: Year Used 33 times: Girls Used 23 times: Baby Used 21 times: Happy Used 21 times: Matt Used 21 times: Home Used 20 times: House Used 20 times: Chocolate Used 19 times: Children Used 18 times: Things Used 18 times: Mama Used 16 times: Time Used 16 times: Dinner Used 15 times: Husband Used 15 times: Need Used 14 times: Cold

I was out of baked goods today. It was a little scary, but I pulled through. It was because I left the last of the blueberry oat bars I made for my dad. I just couldn't resist leaving him with a little treat, even though I know he will eat them for breakfast and it will leave me without a treat to go with my tea. Sometimes you just can't walk away, even when you know what is good for you. The pull is just to strong, you fight and loose, and it feels good. We all have weaknesses, what we can't resist, her are a few of mine: - Eatting a finger full of frosting while making a cake, even though I shouldn't - Taking a looooong nap on Sunday afternoons when I have a "to-do" list a mile long - Squishing my bare feet in mud...just a little, even though it ruins my pedicure - Spending a little extra time snuggling a sleepy eyed baby, fresh from the bath, even though she is old enough to put herself to sleep - The words "mommy, will you read to me?" while I am...

My husband is an extrovert. This is like saying "rain is wet" or "the Pope is Catholic". Kind of a duh statement. Most assume I am an extrovert like him. I do like people, I am not shy and make conversation easily. But I can't keep up with Matt. On the personality tests, I fall almost dead smack in the middle of most categories , including introversion/extroversion. I just want to be left alone tonight. I have hung out with people all weekend, people I love, and I am in a lousy mood. As the mother of 3 small children and a wife to a man who loves to be with people, alone time is hard to come by. Tonight I have big plans. I intend to get all 3 kids in bed and go and sit in the hammock in the back yard. I would go for a drive but with the price of gas that seems a little silly. I would go to Barnes and Noble but someone might talk to me. So I will sit, rock slowly, maybe enjoy an adult beverage, smoke a cigar, listen to the sounds of the neighborhood and ignore th...

It has been raining. And raining. And raining. And if God starts hinting at boat building and random sets of animals apear at my front door, we are going to have words. I like rainy days. They make me lazy and I like lazy days, spent in my slippers, reading books with the girls, baking things I have no business eating. Matt has a couple of days off between jobs so he is home being lazy with me. When I was a little girl, way back in Iowa, I loved rainy days too. We had a house with a covered front patio and on rainy days i would take my sleeping bag and pillow outside to watch the rain fall. I would sit with a book (Baby Sitters Club anyone?) and read, the cool wet air and sound of rain making everything feel lazy and peaceful. I loved the smell of wet earth and when I couldn't bring myself to sit still any longer I would walk in the gutters letting all the rushing water pour over my bare feet. I would make paper boats and sail them down the stream. My sisters and I would take umbre...

Yes, the irony is not lost on me that I am writing a blog titled "House Keeping". I have seen my house and am very well aware that keeping it is something I am miserably bad at. My friends know this about me and seem to take it in stride. My family, only the other hand, still loves to give me crap about it. With the move impending, I have been tackling the long forgotten places in my house. Maybe these places don't exist in other homes, but boy do they in mine! Places like the storage room and above the fridge, the back of the linen closet and under the bathroom sink. I have found some things worth keeping and filled many a trash bag. After all, why move what I don't want? But I do. All the time. The dark, hidden, almost forgotten corners of my heart are full of trash I carry around. Every day. Some days I pretend the trash is treasure, I act if it is something worthy, I lie to myself and everyone in my life. Sometimes I am forced to follow the stench to get to the ro...

Often, when I consider what to write about on my blog, I go for the light and fluffy. It is easy and an accurate representation of a lot of my life. I love my life, in general, feel light and fluffy, easy going and can see the humor. This is not one of those posts. Everyone process information differently. Matt processes conversationally. When presented with new information or a new idea, he wants to talk it out to get it all making sense. I process internally. I think, over think on the verge of obsess, until I feel like I can accurately communicate what I have come to discover. Writing helps this process for me. I get to see my thoughts in black and white with the chance to erase, cut, paste and reorganize until I make sense of the world. This sometimes leaves me in a lurch, because honestly, not every thing I am working on should be written for the world, or anyone, to see. I am toeing the line tonight. Not everything I am processing is up for consumption, but I need it to make sens...

Annabelle is at such a fun stage...except when she isn't. I love the wonder in which she views the world, but the short fuse is sometimes enough to make me want to sell her to the nearest passing band of Gypsies. You see, Annabelle doesn't like to be told "no". Or to wait. As soon as the words leave my lips, the melt down begins. First with the stomping feet, followed by a shrill cry with the finally happening on the floor at full volume with hands and feet thrashing. It isn't pretty, it is down right ugly, and the girl has perfected it an art form. Annabelle and I have a lot in common, and I am not just referring to the rolls on our thighs and cute dimpled butts. I have perfected the art of ugly. I may have mentioned, or you may have observed, my issues with authority. This is at all levels, from the benign inability to follow a recipe as written to my out right defiance of God. It is stupid, really, and at some level I know this. After all, God wrote the rule...

Maybe it is because I like to keep people on their toes...or maybe God just has a sick sense of humor....but get ready for a little whip lash in keeping up with us Crockers. The very day I wrote the post that we were moving to CA, our world got flipped, topsy turvy. Samsung, who Matt had interviewed with several weeks before and was giving him the run around, we had counted as a loss. Oh well, on to sunny CA. That day Matt got a call. Apparently, right after they had interview him, Samsung was put on a hiring freeze. The guy in charge actually flew to Korea to get permission to offer Matt the position. Hence the delay, the poor man was running all over the globe. Sony gave us an offer for a CA move. It was pathetic, hardly a cost of living increase and not enough for a family of 5 to live in SoCal. Samsung offered ten grand more in base pay plus 20 grand more in bonuses. And a much better job. And then Matt went back and asked for more. And got it. So East we are headed. Samsungs' ...

What is the best way to spend your day? Eliana -I like playing with my friends, going places like the circus and parties and the zoo, and eating yummy food. Addilyn - play and eat cupcakes What is your favorite food Eliana - Peanut butter and jelly, pancakes, cupcakes and cereal Addilyn - chocolate chip pancakes and cereal Eliana - Mama? Why are you doing this? Me- Because I remember what you liked when you were five. Eliana - Can we go to the mall today? Me- Ummm ...no. What do you want to be when you grow up? Eliana - A fire fighter, a ballerina and an artist Me- why? Eliana - Because I think it would be fun, and I like to be pretty, and art is fun! Addilyn - I will be a grown up and sleep in mamas bed How do you make bread? Eliana - With flour and seeds, special seeds and milk. Put them in batter and then cook them Addilyn - Salt, sauce, sugar. Stir it and cook it and then we eat it! How much does a car cost? Eliana - A bunch of money! Maybe $20? Addilyn - (holds up 2 fingers) How...

Not so long ago, I went to the Doctor. It had been a while. The last time I had seen a doctor I was having a baby. Since the trip was long over due, I had all my blood work and such done. Everything came back just fine...well, almost everything. The same genes that make me a celiac are also the ones they see in diabetics. Double whammy crappy genes. My fasting blood sugar came back at 99. You are considered pre-diabetic at 100. Ugh. I have been successfully ignoring this information for months. Last week I went to the doctors again, twice in one year! This may be a non-pregnant record for me. I hate going to the doctor, it is expensive and inconvenient and they always find a reason to poke you. I was discussing with my doctor my up-coming surgery (don't freak out, it isn't anything big, just a bump in my hand) and she asked about my over all health. She asked how I was handling my blood sugar. Funny thing about doctors, they don't really want to hear about how you find the ...

It seems like we may finally have some answers to this whole "which coast are we going to live on?!" thing. And the winner is.... That's right! I am going to have to change the name of this blog to "Crocker's of California!" Not quite sure how I feel about this yet. I HATE leaving Colorado, my family, friends and community. I am excited for my husband who is excited for his new position at Sony. Over all I feel totally over whelmed by the whole idea.

I like looking in peoples pantry's and refridgerators. I find it fasinating what people keep on hand. Generally it is considered rude to search through cupboards when you are a guest in someones home, so let me save you the social faux-paux and just TELL you what I keep on hand. On my shopping list every week are the following: fresh fruit- always at least 8 banana's that won't even last us 3 days milk- 3 types including almond, lactose free and whole coffee creamer- cinnimon vanilla is the current fav eggs- we go through at least 2 dozen a week Things that I always have on hand include: canned beans canned tomatoes frozen veggies- we don't eat canned potatoes pasta sauce and pasta coconut milk peanut butter hummus or stuff to make it crackers corn chips corn tortillas salsa cheese yogurt and cottage cheese oatmeal rice some type of canned fruit It is always funny to me what people think of as necessities. We don't usually keep a lot of convienience foods on hand be...

To my girls, Today, in the car we were singing to the radio together. Eliana , your off key exuberance belted out "You are beautiful, just the way you are" with full passion and ultimate trust that the song was about you. I love that. I watch you and Addilyn put on princess dresses, while I try not to cringe, you dance with your invisible prince with whom you fall in love. I hope one day you will find a prince that steals your heart with his kindness and love. I hope that you will always believe that a kiss is so special it means love and that you never give them away cheaply. I hope you wear undies under your real princess dresses unlike your dress up clothes. I hope so much for your heart and your beauty. Girls, there will be days when you feel everything but beautiful. On the outside you will feel like your body is the wrong shape and size and on the inside you will feel like you have more questions than answers. I would love to tell you that "this is just a phase...