The Crafts

Howdy-ho! It has been a long time since I've blogged. But I'm darn certain I start every blog post with that very same statement these days. To return to blogging on the occasion I decided I am not going to spend a bunch of time editing photos or over thinking the text because I don't have a bunch of time. So if you see an error or typo or anything of that nature just move on. I meant well.  I'm not going to pretend that life has been all rainbows, sunshine, ice cream and kitties because it hasn't been. Although I can honestly say we've had some pretty great events around here and I think that is worthy of sharing. The biggest and best event by far has to be the arrival of Madeline Elizabeth Craft. Sweet little Maddie arrived five days early after a date night. Three of our four girls arrived after a date night. Weird, eh? It was a fast and unbelievably painful labor. This was the quickest and most challenging of them all and I feel fortunate to have ...

It all started a few years ago on a whim I thought to share my March Madness picks via my blog. Somehow I have continued to do so ever since. I once won an office pool with my stellar basketball insights. Impressed? Well you shouldn't be. BUT if you are feeling stumped and need a little help with your March Madness picks then read the following and prepare to dominate with an award winning bracket. (At least an award winning first round, because is all I'm going to detail.) I'm feeling good about my selections this year. If nothing else I will have fun watching basketball, cheering for teams I haven't thought of since last year's tournament and eating wings. If this baby cooperates I may even get to enjoy a frosty beverage by the time the Championship game rolls around. Then again, I have to be honest with myself because baby is probably going to hold strong a little past April 6th. So without further ado, my picks for the NCAA Tournament 2015. Basketball is fun. ...

A few weeks back Matt and I decided to set a date to surprise the girls with a trip to an indoor water park in the snowy cold of February. That date finally arrived last week during a short week of school. We didn't tell our girls a thing. They didn't even know I had packed a suitcase, swim bag, air mattress, snacks and my much needed and beloved pillow. Matt came home from work early and we played dumb telling the girls we were going for a little drive. A few minutes in they of course start asking what in the world is going on. We divert their attention with a quick stop at Casey's. Upon pulling up to a hotel Kate is onto us like an ant on sugar. "Why are we at a hotel? Are we staying here? I smell chlorine. Did you pack our swim suits? They have a pool right? Why are we in this city?" And so on. We find our room, change into our suits and lead them to the double doors with the water park waiting on the other side. Matt and I together open the doors and you would...

It is cold and snowy and 100 percent officially winter. We are all feeling stir crazy while trying to find space for mountains of Christmas gifts, tripping over toys and leftover boxes.  I found a pile of dirty socks behind a chair and under a table.  Static is the newest member of our household and probably your's too.  Most parents are in the same spot but each of us easily forgets that we are not alone. My New Year's resolution is to control less and love more. And like any New Year's resolution it doesn't seem to be coming to me easily. Today, on a no school, snow day I have said yes to nearly everything and the mood has improved dramatically. All work and no play makes the household crabby. We have played in the snow, a dozen rounds of the game Spoons, two games of Uno, playdoh, play kitchen, princesses, made our own band, read books and now for some quiet time. And come lunch time, the girls offered to "cook" and told me to go ...

For those long time blog followers you may remember this post way back in 2009 where I detailed my semi-extensive history as the self dubbed Wasp Ninja. If you are not familiar you can read about  HERE.   While I am really quite proud of my history of indoor wasp kills I look back at that 2009 post about beheading a wasp with scissors in an epic battle for my life combined with the photo of a ninja wielding a sword and I immediately think of the extremely scary group ISIS. This all makes me cringe. So I will leave that picture out of today's post and instead focus on my most recent hard fought battle with an indoor wasp who was apparently sent to avenge the death of his ancestors. Yesterday's battle started like this... I was walking Natalie to the bathroom sink in our "Iowa State Room" when the wasp was spotted. Now to establish the proper scene in your mind I must tell you that this room is a bit odd. The room has a bathroom but the toilet is in a small closet-...

I'm not certain how two whole month got away from me but that is exactly what happened. About a week ago I realized I have not blogged since August 20th. I decided it was about time to get back at it and thought I would wait a wee bit longer for October 20th. To personally celebrate my return to blogging I want to share 20 things on October 20th that have been going on around here for the past two months.  1. Outdoors I can't say we are get down and dirty every single day but we come pretty darn close. If it's not sand in the hair, then it's crushed leaves in our shorts, dirty water in our shoes... You get the idea. But it's fun and we are building immunities to Ebola and stuff.  2. School Previously I blogged about Kate starting the school year but I never got around to blogging about CJ who started a week or so after Kate. CJ is well into her year in butterfly preschool class and while I believe she is excited for Kindergarten next year we have a ...

The word awesome is most likely way over used. Do I over use it? I certainly do, but in this case the things below could make the most negative grump say, "whoa, that is awesome." Sidenote: there really is a website called thingsthatareawesome.com. Any excitement I had to create such a site is now dashed. My list of recent awesome things.... Kids reenacting the musical, Les Miserables: Our neighbors and friends were cast in the Waterloo Community Playhouse summer musical Les Miserables. Since then Kate sings Les Mis songs all day. No, really. All day. Like all the time. Here they are recreating the first scene and singing "Look Down."  "Fantine" here has bit the dust...on a porch swing. I don't recall training wheels in the musical though. Not sure what scene Natalie is participating in. Was there breakdancing in that play? Here is "young Cosette." She apparently was a breakdancer also. I joke about how tir...