The Crafts

Here are the Easter bunny pics I promised. Don't tell Kate but it wasn't the real Easter bunny. Joe Craft was hiding inside.

The Easter bunny hopped on over with some Playdo for Kate this weekend. Or is it playdough? Either way, I thought Kate would have fun smelling, squishing, throwing and attempting to eat it. Nope. Kate's reaction was similar to a young teenage girl. "This is like... so boring mom. You are so lame." In fact it was soooo boring that we instead chose to teeth on the table. The pictures say it all. (Note: At least I had fun!)

Kate really enjoyed herself hunting for eggs around Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house. Enjoy the pics...

The latest house visitors are very serious about buying!!!!! I'm trying not to get ahead of myself because nothing is yet in writing but let me say that I am very, very, very excited!! Speaking of excited. Kate was eating lunch today when in walked the Easter bunny! No lie. She was so stunned she about dropped her cheese. And anyone who knows Kate, knows she doesn't let a piece of cheese get away. Matt's cousin owns a bunny costume. Who knows why, he is a tough guy to explain. Anyway, he owns an Easter bunny costume and visited each cousin with kids. Kate could not have been happier. Pictures will follow at some point. Hope everyone has a very happy Easter!

Matt took off early from work yesterday (Thursday) to watch basketball games with Kate and me. We were interrupted several times by people wanting to see the house. Keep your fingers crossed! Kate and I have been enjoying the weather by taking frequent walks around the neighborhood. By the way, did anyone else watch Lost last night?! That show is so fantastic. Sadly they are going to make us wait a month before airing the next episode. What is up with that?!?! First they make us wait over half a year to begin this season, then they air like five or six episodes and then they go on a month long hiatus? I wish I had a job where I could just take breaks whenever I wanted for unexplained, extended periods of time. Oh, brother!!! Finally, Matt's parents, Mike and LeAnn, are going to be away in Texas for over a week. Kate and I are taking care of their cats. Prepare yourself for some great pics. Kate LOVES animals... especially kitties!

While Mom is away, Kate and Dad will play. Matt dressed Kate up for a visit with the Easter Bunny. We LOVE this picture. I guess Kate was enamored with the big brown bunny.

Lindsay and I went to Chicago this weekend. Although St. Patrick's Day was officially on Monday the 17th, the City celebrated all weekend. I've never seen so many supposed Irish men and women. Chicago even dyes the Chicago River green. Check out the pics... Chicago River dyed green...although some Chicago residents say it is always that color. One of Kate's favorites books is "Good Night Chicago." The book includes a drawing of "The Historic Water Tower on the Magnificent Mile" so I had to take a picture of the real thing. It was awfully windy while shopping on Michigan Avenue. Lindsay's hair might elude you to that.

Well we made it through a voluntary week of no TV. And when our no TV sentence was up, we saw the exact same commercials that aired last week, and the week before and probably the week before that. You know, I don't think I really need TV in my life... unless of course my favorite shows are on like Lost, The Office, 30 Rock and Ugly Betty. All of which air on Thursday night. So I guess I only need TV on Thursdays. I was truly expecting to miss the television so much that I would have purchased cable, satelite and TIVO just so I could watch as much as possible. I'm really proud that Matt and I made it a full week.

As adorable as Kate is, she still has her moments of rebelliousness. After expressing significant signs of being tired, I put her in bed for a nap. I thought all was going well until I hear a very loud thud. I find in Kate's room one angry baby and a wall missing its pictures. (Notice all the nails in the wall above her crib.) She must have grown since yesterday because she wasn't able to reach those pics a day ago.

Matt has taken me to a lot of ISU basketball games over the course of our relationship. And after having Kate, we have taken Kate to a lot of games too. Rahshon is Kate's favorite bball player. We say that only because he is the only team member she has met in person. Anyway, Rahshon's career most likely ends tonight so Kate wanted to post this video as a tribute. It is a video of his top 10 dunks. The #1 dunk was one of the most fun games I have ever attended. Oh, and by the way, for those who have never heard of Rahshon... this is not a misspelling on my part. This is seriously how you spell his name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZcDcBRP-b0

Kate and I went for 3 walks yesterday. And we both worked at chipping away ice from the driveway. Today is supposed to get to 50 degrees. I feel like we are in a tropical oasis...if not for the leftover dreaded snow and ice. I'm not sure that Kate has yet adjusted to daylight savings. She has been sleeping until 9 / 9:30 each morning. Which is fabulous for me because I then have time to accomplish so much. But I'm probably jinxing myself just by typing this. I'll let you know what happens. Below are some more pics from our future house.

I really don't need to write anything here. The pictures speak for themself. A big thanks to Sade for the dresses. That was a very generous gift!

Well it has been roughly 60 hours without television and the Craft household has zero complaints. I think I like this no TV thing. Don't get me wrong...we're not hippies who are going to burn the TV in protest. (Actually I'm certain modern day hippies would never burn anything due to possible severe environmental pollution.) See the problem with TV began awhile back. We realized we had the TV on all the time and although there was nothing truly on television, we still somehow ended up watching something. And we don't even have cable. Moving on to Kate...She slept until 9:15 a.m. yesterday and that was before daylight savings kicked in. It is 9:21 a.m. on Sunday and we have yet to hear a peep. She must have worn herself ragged during her play date with Grandma Craft yesterday. We were going to wake her for church but she didn't seem at all interested in getting up. So we all skipped. We'll make up for it by going to the Lenten service on Wednesday. That counts ri

I wrote the other day that Kate loves canned goods and dishwashers....and even more so loves to combine the two. Well I failed to mention two of her other favorites. Luckily I was able to catch her on camera... She loves shoes. She loves to pull them out of the closet and carry them around the house. Even more scary is that she loves to visit shoe stores and honestly throws a fit when we leave. She also loves her baby doll. She has yet to develop any true mothering abilities. In fact, we are grateful that is not a real baby she is holding otherwise it would be suffering from severe shaking baby syndrome.

Today was take your daughter to work day so Kate dressed the part for an attorney's office. Okay maybe not. She was instead keenly interested in Matt's tie so she tried it on. In case you were wondering why Kate is shirtless in the middle of winter, let me first ask you to notice the orange mess on her chin. We had to strip her down for dinner. She loves spaghetti and can make a very good mess with it. Currently two of Kate's favorite things in the house include the dishwasher and any canned good within reach. She recently decided it would be wise to combine her two favorites. I opened the dishwasher the other day to start a load and found a can of mushrooms ready for washing.

Matt and I agreed that we have been watching too much television. So for one week we will give up the TV entirely. No news, no sports, no weather, no LOST!! Beginning 9:00 p.m. this Thursday through 9:00 p.m. the following Thursday. We still plan to tape Lost, we just can't watch it until our week of no TV is up. That isn't cheating, right? On a different note, Lindsay and I are planning a trip to Chicago. We intend to shop, eat and shop...and probably shop some more. I might spend an entire day in the IKEA store. If you have never been then you are truly missing out on a mecca of inexpensive, fabulous home decor. Anyone wishing to fund our trip may make a donation to either of our bank accounts. Matt will thank you.

Before we had Kate one of our friends with three kids told us, "You should really consider starting a family. Kids make you money." Well we did not believe him then nor now and we certainly didn't have Kate to make money. Had that panned out I probably would have started an infommercial about the benefits of children. ANYWAY, while they might not make you wealthy, you can at least put the kids to work on a warm winter's day. Kate chipped a good chunk of ice from the driveway and below is proof.

As most of you are well aware... the Crafts are moving. We signed a purchase agreement for our 'dream house' and should move in before June 1st. Everyone here is fast asleep, including the cat, so I am up dreaming of how to remodel/decorate the new place. I'm sure just about every man reading this post dozed off after seeing the word 'decorate' but don't snooze yet. Take a look at our house pics and share your project ideas. We will accept redecorating donations from just about anyone who does not want to be paid back. (I will post more pics later.)

Hi there! Kate and I were excitedly playing blocks the other day when I noticed her very first tooth. Yep, it only took 13 and 1/2 months of chewing and drooling. After dancing with Kate to celebrate this momentous event, I realized that this news may be of interest to others that care about Kate so I decided to start a blog. A way for family and friends to keep up on our life. For those unfamiliar with the 'internets' the word blog originates from the word weblog. Drop the 'we' and you have 'blog'. My intentions are to update this blog as often as possible with tidbits from daily life. It will most likely include more than my adventures with Kate. It will include updates on the new house appropriately titled Craft Cottage (actually we're still working on a name but this is what we are using for now), vacations, our half-marathon and triathlon (at least we intended to complete such races), the potentially humorous training for our half-marathon and triathlon