The Crafts

Less than two weeks until the Cocoa Go-Go! You will join me, right? Saturday, February 12th Our house 9:00 a.m. 5k run OR You could chose to walk, in which case you will end up walking around 1.5 miles-ish. Best of all... you get free hot cocoa afterwards. Now, doesn't that make you want to tie on your running shoes and spend a little time in the great outdoors?

How to change a diaper...

Each week there is at least one night that Matt doesn't get home until after the girls are in bed. This can make for a very long day... SO, we try to find fun things to keep our spirits up. Like...play in a baby bouncer with a pink cowboy hat while snacking on graham Goldfish. Have you tried them?  They are delicious! Others of us like to put on sparkly shoes paired with mismatched clothing and practice our best dance moves. After wild dance parties and playtime we have to eat supper. And lately the meal of choice is Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes. The girls love them, I love them, and who doesn't love pancakes for supper! To make, you first have to pull out the cookbook.  Oh, and a Little People skateboard. More importantly, you need all hands on deck. Get those sous chefs into the kitchen! CJ took the liberty of rounding up and then lining up our best cooks. And then you mix, stir, spill and sizzle your way into a Craft girls' favorite meal. Then...

We haven't been up to much. I can't even think of much to blog about. That sounds kinda dull, huh? Maybe. The girls and I play, play, play all day long. They've been fighting little colds. I'm been trying to avoid their cold. I've been trying to fit in some running. I'm making eggplant patties for dinner tonight. It is THE ONLY meal that everyone in our house will eat. The only one.  No lie. Unless, of course, I made chocolate for supper. Everyone would eat a chocolate meal, too. I told I didn't have much to share.

How do you cure a kid's stomach ache? Tell them they should lay down and take a nap. Works every time! But if you offer to let them lay on the couch and watch endless cartoons, well, then your kid will have a stomach ache every single day.  This has been tested and proven true.  In our house, at least. ***************************************************************** I've baked just about every kind of muffin out there and the greatest muffin ever in the history of muffins is: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins I won't even pretend the recipe is mine. I found it this morning... a -16 degree morning. What better thing to do while stuck in the house on a blustery cold day than to bake!! *************************************************************** Nothing. That is what we have scheduled for this weekend! I can't remember the last weekend we were all here, in the house, with nothing else to do but relax. I am so excited! (We'll probably all be crazy by noon Sa...

A few weeks ago Matt and I strapped the girls into our swagger wagon for 4 hours. We drove somewhere too... to Lawton, IA to visit my Grandparents. We made our one and only pit stop in Early, IA.  Population?  Not many. The family enjoyed a little lunch and dessert. I think this CJ picture says it best. When you got something good, don't let go.  But breathing might be necessary. Once we arrived, the family ate, played, opened Christmas gifts and ran around like lunatics. (They were in the car for a very long time!) I'm not sure what to think about CJ's ensemble here. She looks a little poetic in her turtle neck but without pants...??? We took my Grandma, or better known in the blogging world as 'Great Gramma Smith', to the movie, "Yogi Bear." And we did other super fun things like hang out with family and wear really big shirts to bed! Kate thought wearing Matt's t-shirt to bed was the best thing to ever happen to her. However, she also s...

We love you! Four whole years? I can barely believe it either. You are fabulous in every way. I couldn't be more proud of you.

For those who don't know what Mom's Morning Out is all about, let me provide a very quick summary. It's kind of like M.O.P.S. from what I've heard. I've never actually been to MOPS. But anyway... Mom's Morning Out or MMO is held almost every Friday morning. The first hour is a spiritual based discussion with other moms and a leader. The second hour you are on your own... to do whatever you want. Whhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! Side note:  I won't be able to go to MMO next year once Kate starts 4 year old preschool due to timing of said preschool. Sigh.  Weep.  Bawl. But, I may as well enjoy it while I can. Back to the topic at hand... At MMO this morning we had a discussion that was timed up perfectly for me. What awesome timing God has. We discussed love and discipline between parents and children. Here is what I learned... *Too many commands means your child will fight you on the simplest of tasks... *The closer your child feels to you emotionally, the be...

Not once in my life has anyone confused me with Betty Crocker... or Heidi Klum for that matter. Today I decided it was time to clean out the freezer because gosh, darn it, almost every time I open that thing a frozen banana falls out and lands on my toe.  I don't know what is worse?  Child birth or frozen banana toes!  Ok... so labor pains hurt a lot more... Anyway, I started cleaning out the freezer and can you guess how many black, frozen bananas I found in there?! SEVENTEEN! So I rounded up the girls and trudged us to the store to buy a dozen eggs, 12 cups of flour, 6 cups of sugar, 6 sticks of butter, 6 cups of milk and a bag of coconut M&Ms because they taste really good. :) Yes folks, these are all the ingredients necessary to make 12 loaves of banana bread. What was I thinking? Especially when I only own 2 loaf pans. Yep, right here... big dummy. Here is my sous chef feeding herself Cheerios with a spoon. Such talent!  Such cuteness!! Anyway, do yo...

Today didn't start off very well... and it hasn't turned around yet, either. . The girls have been challenging and I have tried to power through it. I even built them a giant tent, dug out the Christmas lights that I just put away and tried to convince them to play. Without going into detail, let's just say the tent was only up for 10 minutes and in that 10 minutes I witnessed lots of tears, lots of screaming and lots of whining.  And it didn't end with the tent. These photos sure paint a different picture, don't they? I could pretend and tell you a hilarious story of how the girls loved the tent, got along with each other famously and loved the idea of playtime.  But I would be lying to you and myself. The tent was a failure.  My efforts were failures. These same failures continued all the way up until nap time... God, I hope nap time lasts for hours! So how did I succeed today? Today I succeed because I failed and yet I'm going to turn around and keep at i...

Have you heard the news? Someone has decided it's time to start potty training. And there are two other someones in this house that are VERY happy about it! Yes, the potty chair is in our dining room but hey, it works. And I clean everything...promise!

Playing catch up around here... Matt and I took a great mini-vacation over the weekend. We missed the girls to pieces but it was nice to have some time for us. The girls had themselves a wonderful time, too... playing and playing and playing some more with Grandma and Grandpa Craft. I have pics to share but I don't think I will get to them today. I have dinner to cook and a budget meeting, an auditor's meeting and a City Council meeting to prepare for. Soooooo... You will have to settle for more great photos of costume Kate. I'm sure you won't mind!

Thanks to my super great husband for helping me with embedding video...and he doesn't even blog! Enjoy the video!!

to my two new best friends!!!!!!!! I am totally IN LOVE with them!!!!!!!!!! My heart bursts when I think of them! They are fantastic in everyway. Who are these fabulous best friends you ask? Well, they are magical...they have brought pure bliss into our life! They transform this.... into this... My new best friends... Aren't they marvelous!!

Kate and I had a very special morning. Can you guess what we got to do? Horseback riding! Uncle Mike bought Kate a riding lesson for Christmas and we didn't waste any time putting his gift to good use. Mike's friend, Andria, is a very talented rider.  You can learn more about her talents here. Andria introduced Kate to Clifford the horse and they immediately became best buddies. Kate brushed his hair, fed him treats and took him for a wild ride. Ok, so it wasn't wild but Kate had a fabulous time. I took A TON of photos but it was pretty dusty in the barn so many of the photos didn't turn out the best. But despite this I was able to snap a few good pics! Kate now knows how to stop a horse, make a horse go, how to turn a horse and how to make a horse jump! I am so proud of how brave and gentle she was with Clifford. What an amazing little girl she is becoming. Good job, Kate! We love you! A big thanks to Uncle Mike for the thoughtful gift. And a second big thanks...

Welcome 2011! I think it's going to be a great year! I have a few goals for myself... 1. Learn to make Panang. This is one of the most delicious Thai dishes I have ever had.  And once I learn to make it, I may never cook anything else again. 2.  Attempt to make and bake Brioche. My friend, Julie,  makes Brioche and says it is fabulous.  I think it is a French, breakfast, dessert type bread and I've wanted to attempt the recipe ever since she first mentioned it to me.  But it is time consuming so I've avoided it...until 2011!  This year I will make it...or at least attempt to do so. 3.  Make the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Notice a food theme?  Ha! If you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is then you are missing out...on tasty recipes.  I don't know how she does it but her recipes are goooooood.  And I've longed to try her cinnamon rolls.   This is again a time consuming recipe so I want to make it my goal to give it a shot...

At first glance you might think this is a costume from The Village People! But it is actually a space suit. Kate decided she preferred a funky, yellow jeweled hat over the astronaut one. So this is an eclectic look. She's a fashionista for sure!

This isn't much of a costume but CJ was getting a little cranked up during Kate's dress-up marathon. She draped some pretty necklaces on herself but quickly decided against them. So I missed her sweet smile and instead got a bit of a scowl. Cheer up, Claudia! Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!!