The Crafts

This afternoon I had a new experience; a little taste of the prehistoric life. I channeled my inner Fred Flintstone and drove without brakes. Yep, that's what I looked like driving...but without the 5 o'clock shadow. All three girls were safe. It was just me strapped in, driving white knuckle worried. And I don't think I want to do that again...ever. By the way, when searching Google images for 'Fred Flintstone driving' I found not only the above picture but also the Iowa Hawkeyes tiger hawk, a photo of a raw steak, a judge's gavel, Alice from The Brady Bunch and a revolver. The interwebs are a fascinating place.

Sunday late afternoon while the girls took a rest, Dina and I made our way to the mall. Shopping with someone over the age of four gave me time to look at shoes in my size and to examine jeans without elastic or some form of an adjustable waist. I was having flashbacks to my teenage years when I'd patiently peruse the racks of clothes in Vanity in search of the perfect Hypercolor shirt. I found one, by the way. It was stormy sky blue and deep purple and cost a whopping $30. Despite the birthday money I'd stocked away in my room I still didn't have enough, so my Hypercolor shirt was put on layaway. And I diligently returned each Saturday to add another $5 towards making that shirt mine. Sadly, right after I finally bought that shirt I jumped a wire fence while playing with friends and ripped a hole in the front. My heart still aches when I think of it. The word love is overused today but I can honestly say I loved that shirt. Dina and I visited several stores and had lots ...

Sorry...too busy  lazy to blog today. Miss Claudia actually fell asleep during Kate's preschool time. So instead of sitting down to write a thoughtful, funny or interesting blog post, I will share a picture of what I'm going to do instead... ...and that's all I've got to say... *coffee with half and half*  *brownie*  *Tina Fey's book, 'Bossypants' on the Nook* PS - I know that coffee mug is not at all cute but it is my favorite because it has a really large handle and you can wrap your entire hand around the mug through the handle. Your hands get warm and toasty that way. Happy weekend to you!! Matt and I are actually going to spend some time together. Say what? I know!  It's almost unheard of these days.

Rolling her eyes at me already? Oh, it starts so young. Actually I'm fairly certain she was just looking up. I think. ********************************** I have a little tip for you; a small piece of advice. If you are having a rough day with your kids and you think making cupcakes with them will cheer up the whole house, you would be wrong. You might have fun during the measuring, the stirring and the pouring but when it comes time to clean-up, your children may object. They may take handfuls of cocoa powder and eggs shells and chuck them at your head. It may be wiser to simply insert a Scooby Doo dvd into the dvd player and dunk your head into an ice bucket full of crisp water.  I warned her; flour and cocoa powder do not taste good. I guess she had to learn for herself.   You wouldn't think such a thing could be possible looking into those sweet, blue eyes but it is.  In an instant those eyes can change from blue skies to volcano lava....

Just when I think life has settled itself into a good old fashion, happy family routine, a fast, flying curve ball comes at me from behind. Whether the curve ball comes in the form of a new grown-up phase Kate is experimenting with or CJ declaring she will no longer consume grapes which leaves us with four foods she is willing to put in her mouth, there is always a curve ball. I guess curve balls are an assurance that life won't be boring. And who wants to be bored, right? Our latest curve ball was thrown by one of the best pitchers in this family; CJ. She climbed the pitcher's mound, wound up and aimed a wicked throw straight at my quiet time. Her lack of napping is cramping my lazy style. I cherish that one hour a day of quiet-all-to-myself time. I'm not complaining. I'm just experimenting. One day I corral her to her room. The next day I take her to Target. Tomorrow I might let her go nuts in the room I've been hiding toys. A mom's gotta do w...

Last night the Craft family, including Dina of course, had some fun with a very large package that arrived via air mail last night. Matt was the only person who could carry it into the living room.  In fact, it took two delivery drivers to carry it up front steps of the house. Needless to say, we had a lot of laughs around here. Since the weather in Iowa has taken a turn for the chilly, poor Dina has been suffering. She claims the weather here right now is colder than a Kuwaiti winter. Oh, Dina, Dina, Dina...is she in for a surprise this winter. But for those of you reading in Kuwait, let me explain that Iowa weather is similar to a roller coaster. One day you'll be on top of the hill with sunny skies, 80 degrees and air conditioning and the next you could very well be at the bottom of that roller coaster hill with 50 degrees, cloudy skies and heat blasting from the furnace. And that is exactly what happened between Monday and Thursday of this week. Anyway...

I don't want to quit my blog. I'm sorry I gave that impression in my last post. My blog is a fun outlet for me...whether it is entertaining to others or not. So there it has been said. I'm going to keep it up however my posts may be a little infrequent.  ************ The girls and I are off this morning for a trip to visit friends. My good friend, LeAnn, moved away this summer and we've been missing her. I can't wait to catch up! Here's to well behaved, happy kids so the moms can chat away the day!

I've been a bad blogger lately. My posts are sporadic and I don't put much thought into my words. I can't imagine they're all that entertaining to read either. One of the biggest reasons for my blog inattentiveness is Miss Claudia's lack of napping. Generally my only computer time during the day is when the girls are nestled in their beds. And they haven't been doing much nestling, or the nestling has been short. In fact, I'm quickly typing this between return trips upstairs to toss her back into bed. So I guess what I'm saying is if CJ's naptime continues to be nonexistent then my computer time will become nonexistent and therefore so will my blog. Sigh. Well I best get back up there to make more fruitless attempts at putting CJ to sleep. At least I'm getting in an extra, unplanned workout. I chase her (jogging), I swoop her into my arms and carry her back to bed (weight lifting) and then we start the whole thing over again (reps). An hour or ...

Some days this is the only way to get her dressed... Don't worry. I'm not hurting her. She apparently had her heart set on attending church in her birthday suit. The picture below probably wraps up Matt's entire weekend... And that's all I got folks.

Inspired by a large helping of friends' explorer stories mixed with a heavy dash of good news in the family, I awoke feeling adventurous. I really wanted to bring Dina but I'm a responsible parent and instead drove her to school, packed a hearty snack and a picnic blanket, and tossed the girls in the van. I've never visited Hickory Hills, a nearby County park, except for a night time Christmas party where I couldn't see anything but the lodge, so I thought this might be a good place to venture. And it did not disappoint... Unbeknownst to me the Park features a huge, gorgeous lake surrounded by fields of green grass that begged my girls to run wild. We greeted unexpected, but caged, bison, elk, turkeys and pheasant. We unintentionally stumbled across a frisbee golf course that thankfully no one was playing because we would have caught a frisbee in the head for sure. We risked falling in head first off fishing docks, danced along the shore's edge and of course...

This past weekend we packed a whole lot into three short days. Isn't it funny that even three day weekends sometimes don't feel long enough? Anyway... We took Dina to her first college football game. ISU v UNI Yes, I swam for UNI and yes, I still support UNI but I sported ISU gear because Matt has several big ties to ISU and I needed to look like the supportive wife. (FYI - Matt did NOT pressure me to do this.) Our first Ames stop was Buffalo Wild Wings for some, well...wings! We prefer boneless and I prefer spicy. Matt likes his with sugar and no spice. It turns out Dina loves spice too and the two of us together braved the second hottest spice on the menu. No problemo, people! Next time we are conquering the hottest. After touring the ISU campus and visiting the bookstore for sweatshirts we hit the tailgates. The weather was crummy but our spirits were high. The football game was actually hideously boring until the last 7 minutes of t...

My mind is swimming with a thousand thoughts. It's like a skyscraper-sized aquarium of thoughts squeezed into my little head.  So many thoughts have taken over that I'm not even quite sure what to blog so I'll just pick a few random things. Miss Claudia, who is officially two years and one week old, celebrated her birthday in Scooby Doo-style with family this weekend. Some CJ tidbits:  Loves - Milk, Oreos, bugs, rock, dirt, sand, all animals, putting miscellaneous items down her shirt and of course...Scooby Doo. Dislikes - Most foods except milk and oreos, sitting still, using a quiet voice and listening to direction. We love our little girl! Two other random bits: I recently learned that if you wear a bobby pin upside down with the bumpy side against your head, the bobby pin will stay put instead of slipping out all the time. Huh! What do you know! And my last piece of randomness is some advice to make  this pizza crust.  and automati...

Woot, woot! Hew haw! Whoopieee! However you say it, you gotta celebrate Friday! Especially a Friday that precedes a looong weekend! That deserves an extra woot, hee haw and whoop...don't ya think? (FYI...Thursday is Kuwait's Friday. Their weekends fall on Thursdays and Fridays. Just a little trivia for you.) Put on your cookie pants and let your bellies hang out...it's Friday! And a Friday favorite for me is bad coupons because you can't help but smile when you see them. This week's coupons feature a doily shirt, chest-high pants and some kickin' flower sneakers. Together they make a fabulous combination. Thanks to Megan and LeAnn for the great coupons. Notice Megan's comments in yellow above the model's head? I sure hope you have a fun weekend waiting for you. Our's includes an ISU tailgate and football game, a Scooby Doo birthday party and visits with family. It's going to be a good one for sure!! O...