The Crafts

"'Clee Lake' here we come!" - Kate There is an air of relaxation in the house as we run around washing our clothes and packing the suitcases. Sunday morning we leave for our much anticipated trip to Clear Lake. The plan: sit poolside, eat delicious snacks, grill out, swim, golf, play cards and whatever else we want. I love lazy vacations. No agendas, no watches, no televisions...just family, sun and water. If you ask Kate who is coming with us, it includes: 2 Dammas (2 Grandmas) 2 Dampas (2 Grandpas) Mommy, Daddy (self explanatory) Kate Leeeee (my sister Lindsay) Mike (Matt's brother) Some may balk at a vacation with parents and in-laws but I think it really brings us all closer together. And it is (almost always) a really fun time. :) I'm hoping to avoid all modern technologies including computers but excluding air conditioning and golf carts. Therefore, I probably won't be posting any vacation pictures until the end of this week. Let the vacatio...

Our computer is slowly draining the life out of me. Everyday I tell myself I will only spend a short amount of time emailing, facebooking and blogging. And everyday I end up wasting so much time on useless things. Perhaps it is the pregnancy...maybe I am truly that worn down from the morning and early afternoon activities that it is easier to lounge in the chair then to be productive. Yeah, pregnancy. I'll blame that. But I'll need to come up with a new excuse come September. Although I'm secretly hoping this will be an August baby. We'll see. On a much, much different note: I would also like to add a short post about the loss of Ed Thomas. Each Tuesday morning Kate and I get together with Ellie Thomas, her kids and another friend for playdates. Ellie lost her father-in-law, Ed, this morning. Ed Thomas is a football coaching legend and was in the Parkersburg school weight room when a former football player came in and shot Ed several times in the head. He die...

I love to watch Kate take in the simple joys of being a child. Last night Kate and I stayed up to watch the fireworks. While I mostly enjoy watching fireworks it is a completely different experience watching your child see them for the first time. Kate loved the colors, loud booms and brightness of it all. I think her face lit up more than the fireworks themselves. My mom and I also took Kate on fair rides this weekend. She hasn't really experienced carnival rides before so it was another first I got to witness this weekend. Kate seems to have no fear. She loved the height of the ferris wheel, the spinning of the merry-go-round, and the noises of everything else. It makes me wish I were a kid again too. Kate also had another first that I got to experience this weekend, too. She was in her first parade. She was beyond thrilled to see all the people waving at her and all of the loud noises from trucks and floats. The pictures below are from Kate and I getting ready to participate i...

I have been running for years and for the most part I love it. I am very competitive in races, however, so I have to tame myself from starting out too terribly fast. Usually what happens is that I get passed by A LOT of people but a couple miles down the road, I pass them right back and we never meet again. I LOVE that feeling. So I knew walking the La Porte City 5K this morning was going to be a mental struggle for me. When I woke up this morning I was prepared to walk the race. I didn't even think twice about trying to jog a little. But when all the walkers and runners got behind the starting line and the gun fired...I literally yelled, "I really want to run." But I held my cool and began my slow, tedious walk. I could feel my paper race number pinned to the back of my shirt. (It was on my back because there was NO room on my belly!) I felt like a joke walking with a race number attached to me. It was as if the number was a neon sign announcing my inability t...

We visited a friend in Hudson this morning. She was throwing a Pampered Chef party and Kate wore herself out. On the way home she says, "I go to sleep now." And that she did. Despite how cute you might think this is, it is bad, bad news for a pregnant mama. If Kate goes to sleep, whether it is for 3 hours or 3 minutes, she thinks she has successfully taken her daily nap. So when we got home at 1 p.m. and Kate was ready to party I knew I had to find a way to wear her down. I offered a trip to the pool and she was out the door before the suit was on her body. I thought we'd stay there no more than an hour and she would be pooped. Nope, my little pool rat was there for 2 1/2 hours before showing any signs of slowing down. After finally coaxing her into going home we step in the house and she announces, "I go to bed now." I changed her clothes, she crawled into bed and I haven't heard her since! I was so proud of her at the pool. She went down the kiddie dragon ...

Kate loves our pastor. Each Saturday night or Sunday morning before church she brings him up several times. I'm not sure if its because he is the only person 'allowed' to speak loudly in church or if its because she is a little envious that he can 'run' up to the front of the church whenever he wants....which is something Kate has attempted on more than one occasion. As we were exiting the church sanctuary on Sunday morning it was my turn to say good morning to Pastor Doug and shake his hand. Kate was next in line and is usually too shy to shake his hand. But this past Sunday she marched right up to him, looked him straight in the eye...and had a finger up her nose. Both Matt and I quietly chanted, give him your other hand, not the hand covered in boogers. And although Pastor Doug saw the nose picking, he didn't appear to react on the outside. Inside, however, I imagine he was screaming the same thing Matt and I were thinking. Thankfully Kate extended the other...

I am tired...but it is not from staying up late last night. Thanks for the comments by the way, I eventually went to bed around midnight and didn't sleep too bad. Kate slept in a bit and so did Matt so I was able to sleep until 6:45 a.m.! And today Matt's mom, LeAnn, took Kate to multiple parks while I painted the nursery. Under non-preggo circumstances I probably could have knocked out that room in an hour and a half, but I am mego-preggo so it took a wee bit longer. However, I am finished painting the nursery! And I pulled a rug from the closet and stretched it out. It looks like a real, livable room! I am now lounging in front of the tv dipping a Gala apple in peanut butter. Ahhh...this is how I like to spend nap time.

I started yawning tonight around 8:3o p.m. I went to bed around 9:15 p.m. Before Kate I would have never, ever gone to bed so early. I laughed at the thought of sleeping before 10 but being a parent has changed me. After having newborn Kate I realized how little value I placed on sleep and how much I now want sleep. Sadly, sleep has abandoned me tonight and I want it to know I yearn for its return. For I know in a couple of short months I will no longer have the option of sleep. Someone else very small and mighty will determine my awake hours. Now it is only 11 p.m. and many adults my age are still up, but to be unwillingly wide awake at 11 p.m. is causing me huge amounts of grief. Perhaps it was the 45 minute nap I took this afternoon. Or maybe it was the fact my stomach was growling despite my hearty dinner. All I know is that I have found myself downstairs with a large bowl of cereal and no motivation to do anything but be awake. I hope those of you out there who read my b...

Most Saturday mornings Matt and Kate head out to the bakery for donuts followed by a stop at both the farm (Grandma and Grandpa Craft's house) and Uncle Mike's house. Below are a few pics from this Saturday's adventure which apparently involved a tent and lots of Kate smiles.

Rain, rain go away, come again on a weekday. We've had a string of rainy weekends...or at least that is all my brain will allow me to remember at this point. Last night we went out for couple's golf with two sets of friends. It rained the whole time. The rain started as a sprinkle and quickly changed into a virtual downpour. We forced out 5 1/2 holes but after drenching ourselves we went inside. We finished out the evening with a plate of Mexican food from Rudy's. While we had a fun time, I was really hoping to get some golf in with our friends. Tonight we are going to an outdoor picnic at a friend's house. There will be five to seven other couples we are friends with and everyone is bringing their kids. We were planning to grill out, have water balloon fights and have the kids run through the sprinkler. But that probably won't happen if this rain doesn't clear up. Argh. I'm trying not to sound too whiny but this rain is throwing our plans for a ...

A few weeks ago Matt appealed our property taxes to the County and we won...a lot...$35,000 a lot!! If we were intending to sell our house anytime in the near future then I might be a little concerned with a $35,000 drop in value, however we plan to live the rest of our lives here so I will celebrate this news. We are going to save over $500 a year in property taxes thanks to Matt's witty attorney talk. Great arguing, baby!! He is an awesome attorney - I think everyone should use Matt for their legal services!

Tuesday was the annual Cyclone Tailgate in Waterloo. Matt worked the room while I watched Kate run through a bouncy tent around 50 -60 times. Although we did find an opportunity to get our picture taken with a few choice 'celebrities.' Matt, Kate, me and of course...CY! Matt, Kate and Bill Fennelly, ISU head women's basketball coach...and according to Matt, Kate's future basketball coach Kate, me and my favorite ISU football player, Rashawn "Bubba" Parker...yes, Kate called him Bubba. He has to be the nicest football player I've ever met. He introduced himself to Kate and shook her hand. He also blushed a little when I told him he is my favorite player.

The few almost 80 degree days we have had so far involved Kate in a swimsuit. She BEGGED to go swimming but settled instead for the sprinkler. Here she is putting on a show between sprints through the water.

I am older, wiser and I am robbing the cradle. Today is Matt's birthday and he finally catches up with my 31 years. Kate practiced saying "Happy Birthday, Daddy!" a lot yesterday and it was well worth it because one of the first things she did this morning was to wish Matt a happy birthday. Hope you have a great birthday, Matt!!

This first pic was taken during a visit from my sister, Lindsay. We were about to take Kate for a walk so she runs to the door to get her shoes and returns wearing the hood from her winter coat. Lindsay and I laughed for a very, very long time at this. What made it even more entertaining is that Kate insisted she wear it outside to play. She was hilarious riding her big wheel with this giant space helmet looking thing on her head. As you might have guessed, we all got some weird looks outside. A new tradition is quickly developing in our house. Most Saturday mornings Matt will take Kate up to the bakery for a donut. They will then deliver and devour donuts at both Grandma and Grandpa's house and then at Uncle Mike's house. I believe Kate looks forward to this each and every week. (Oh, and I stay home and do whatever I want!) Below is a pic of Kate inhaling one of her favorite donuts...a frosting and sprinkle covered jelly filled donut. YUM! I was getting Kate ready to visit som...