The Crawford's

Kaila's Birthday

2012-02-12T10:19:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Trey and I went to a "Hello Kitty" birthday party for our niece, Kaila. She is growing up SO FAST, and such a diva she is. She loves all things princess and "girlie". If it isn't pink/purple, she wants nothing to do with it. (This is also the niece that, initially, didn't like the name we have chosen for our little boy and re-named him "Jonathan". Who knows how long she will call him that. Maybe he will forever be "Jonathan" to her. haha)

She is one loved little girl and had a BLAST entertaining her friends and cousins!

the men cooking the pineapple chicken that was served:

Kaila and her Oma made this cake and the cupcakes:

Baby Shower (part 2)

2012-02-08T19:49:00.005-06:00

Games:

a pile of SOME of the swag:

Taryn enjoying the dirty diaper game: (I couldn't resist this picture, it makes me laugh :))

a Labor & Delivery survival kit from my friend Lindsey (so cute!):

One of my favorite outfits!!:

And there were so many other favorites/cute things that we didn't get pictures of. I'm sure you'll see most of them when I post photos of the nursery :)

33 weeks

2012-02-08T19:37:00.003-06:00

It's been a bit since I've updated a belly pic. I was hoping to wait until after our maternity session, which was supposed to be this past Sunday. However, the weather did not cooperate. :( We've rescheduled to this coming Sunday, so let's cross our fingers that Mother Nature works with us this week.

We had a doctor's appointment on Friday and all was well. Cash is measuring just perfectly. I asked how big he was and Dr. Gullett said "he's right on target", whatever that means? BabyCenter says at this stage in pregnancy "baby" is about 4 pounds, so if he's "right on target", then he must be about 4 pounds.

MY weight is GREAT for once! He was so proud of me! I've only gained 4 pounds in the last 6 weeks. I figured out that taking my lunch to work is much more helpful in trying to control my weight. As well as not cleaning my plate-as much as I want to. :/ So my total weight gain up to this point is 24 pounds. Which is good considering my goal was to remain under 40. Now, I still have 7 weeks to go. HA

Dad has almost completed the 2 bookshelves and dresser/changing table. He was putting the last coats of varnish on them when I spoke to him on Sunday. He anticipated completion of these pieces by Friday. Then the crib will be up next. There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. I can't move them into my house until after the carpet is cleaned on the 18th. Then I can start washing everything! I can't wait, because then everything will start coming together and my little guy will have a room to come home to. :)) SO excited!!

He's just squirming around in my belly right now. I can see it wiggling around out of my peripheral vision and it's so weird, but I love it. It lets me know he's doing OK in there.

Baby Shower

2012-02-02T10:48:00.005-06:00

Saturday was my baby shower that was hosted by my sister and my friend Bobbie. It turned out BEAUTIFUL!! The decor was adorable; crafted mostly from ideas from Pinterest - what did we ever do without this site??, the cake was delicious!, and Cash got TONS of swag! I'll have to update the swag pics later, after I get the disc in the mail from my sister of the rest of the shower pictures :)

There are totally a LOT of pictures as I couldn't choose just a couple. Everything was just so dadgum cute!!

Here, Danielle made this ADORABLE little diaper bundle, creating the stork with her Silhouette machine she got for Christmas. She also made a diaper cake, which I didn't include a picture of.

Bobbie made all these pompoms above the table. I LOVE the flair they gave the room! And the cat was super intrigued by them.

Bobbie also painted mustache's on ALL the cups. How cute were those!?

Here's Danielle, me and Bobbie - such GREAT hostesses.

Danielle made 2 of these amazing ribbon wreaths. One with a C and one with "CASH" on it. The C is now in my half bath as decoration on my shutter and the one with "CASH" on it will be hospital door decoration and then go in his nursery after we bring him home.

BEST. COOKIES. EVER. It took Danielle and I both to make them and we had to watch them like a hawk. But, boy was it worth it. :)

This cake was incredible. Bobbie makes amazing cakes. She won't let on that she does, but wow.

Bobbie also made this super cute table cloth, by painting it with chalkboard paint!

These stars were all Bobbie! Again, cute! And the pennant was Danielle. She made Cash's quilt out of this fabric and had some scraps left so she made this banner with them. The banner will hang above his closet.

31 weeks

2012-01-22T09:53:00.003-06:00

Well, we are at 31 weeks now! And we had a busy weekend. Saturday anyway. We had our 3D/4D ultrasound yesterday! It was an exciting experience because I took Mom, Dad and Nanny along with me, but a little sad because Trey didn't get to go as he had to work. Nanny has never gotten to experience an ultrasound at all (and this is her 8th great-grandbaby!), so this was especially exciting for her! Cash didn't want to cooperate much as he just wanted to stay curled up in a little ball and sleep. At once point I poked at my belly and asked him to play with us and he gave us a little smile! Another time, he scowled at us. The snapshot we got during the scowl makes Leslie (MIL) and I think he could have Trey's nose/forehead/cheeks. We think he also could have Trey's fuller lips, but my mouth shape and chin. We shall see though. For being as inanimate as he was, we were able to tell that he IS still a boy :) He also opened his eyes for us. And he yawned a couple of times. He's just so precious and I think we'll keep him ;)

Cash Benjamin:

This one is my favorite; look at his precious little smile!!!

We also went by Bill's (FIL) and picked up the beautiful crib he handcrafted for Cash. It's amazing. Now my dad has quite the task in getting everything finished. It's slowly but surely coming along. Now to just get him going on the more "surely" part and less on the "slowly" ;)

the best doctor's appointment ever

2012-01-12T16:37:00.003-06:00

This morning Trey and I had a doctor's appointment. And of course I dreaded getting on the scale. And then we got to hear our little guy's heartbeat, which always makes me smile! It was a healthy, strong 146 BPM. Then I got to look forward to more dread as the nurse lady left and we awaited Dr. Gullett coming in to scold me on my weight.

.....

Only this time, when he walked in the door and opened my chart, he said - "you're weight is much better this time!!" WHAT?! My weight is GOOD?! WOOOOOT WOOOOOOT! He said I've only gained 2 pounds since my last appointment (which was 3 weeks ago) so I'm an "A student". He still anticipates that I'll be delivering at a little higher weight than he would like, because currently I weigh almost what he likes his patients to weigh at full term (weight gain throughout the entire pregnancy-wise). He says "perfect" full term pregnancy weight gain is 24 pounds - if you dissect what everything weighs (placenta, milk production, baby, etc.) and I've gained 22 and still have approximately 11 more weeks to go. But, I say I'm doing good. So phhlltt :P My BP was great (110/80) and always has been. My measurements are great. So if weight is all there is to be concerned with, and it's a measly amount, then I'm not worried.

Now, I want a milkshake. :)

29 weeks

2012-01-09T19:37:00.003-06:00

Ok, let the discomfort begin. But, I'm still not complaining because it could be oh-so-much worse. Baby has started to take up residence in my ribcage. This is extremely uncomfortable and makes it very hard to breathe. I pretty much expected this to happen since I'm so short waist-ed, but I also expected my belly to be protruding out to so-far-my-hands-couldn't-touch because baby would have no where else to go but out. So far, that has not happened. My belly seems to hardly be expanding at all (which, I guess, is why he is in my ribs), yet I don't see how it can expand any farther (if that makes any sense?).

Additionally, I've decided that I can no longer try to stuff myself into pre-preggo pants along with a Bella band. I tried to expand my wardrobe as long as possible, but with not being able to breathe, along with zippers digging into my lower abdomen, I just can't handle it anymore. Straight up maternity pants is all I shall wear anymore. Don't get me wrong, I've been wearing maternity pants since about 12 weeks, BUT, I've been throwing some pre-preggo pants/Bella band days in there as well. Just so that I'm not rotating the same 2 pairs of maternity dress pants and/or 2 pairs of leggings every day. I need some color to my wardrobe! I guess these last 11 weeks or so, (~GASP!!~ 11 weeks?! WHAT?! wow.) will be rather bland in color. Blah.

Now, seriously? 11 weeks? I'm going to be holding my own baby in roughly 11 weeks? No way. I need more time to prepare for this. I'm so ready but at the same time, I am not. The nursery is painted and THAT'S IT!!! PaPaw is still finishing the furniture. PopBill has built it all, thank goodness, but it's not complete yet!!! In fact, Dad (PaPaw) and I did A LOT of work on it this past weekend. Lots of sanding. I was coughing up sawdust all weekend. I'm so excited to see what it will look like once it's all fully complete and in the nursery! :))

We have our 3D/4D ultrasound on 1/21.
My baby shower is on 1/28! :)
We tour the hospital on 2/4.
Our maternity photo session is on 2/5! :)

All of the above are indications of being soooo close to meeting our little man!

and notice, I can't wear my regular t-shirts much longer either! It's practically busting at the seams. HA

30th birthday

2012-01-09T19:24:00.003-06:00

I turned 30 this year on my birthday. I don't feel any different really. But I got as close as I'm going to get to a maid, I think. My parents got me a Roomba. A Roomba is a robot vacuum cleaner. And let me just tell you, it's suhhhh-weeeeeeet!! You can set up virtual walls to keep it out of rooms that don't have doors. It goes under furniture, without having to move/shift stuff around. You can program it to clean on certain days at certain times. It vacuums as long as it has battery, but once it senses that the battery is dying, it runs itself back to the charger, docks itself and begins a charging cycle. It stays there until it's next scheduled cleaning. I have the model for pet hair, so it's pretty heavy duty, I think - and necessary. I couldn't be more excited about this new toy!! Especially since I despise vacuuming and I'm so OCD.

Zoe doesn't know quite how to react to it, but she's not as freaked out by it as I expected.

stocking hangers

2012-01-09T19:17:00.002-06:00

Before Christmas I started making these stocking holders...I finally finished them a couple of weeks ago, but was waiting on Trey to drill holes in them to screw the knobs in to hang the actual stockings on. He also had to make the tabs for the picture window on baby's. The "C" is obviously for me and the "T" is obviously for Trey. The one with the hole in the middle is for baby. The window covers that up because a picture will go in that and cover it up :) We will replace the picture from year to year.

26/27 weeks

2011-12-27T20:27:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was a typical one for us. Driving everywhere to see everyone in a short amount of time. At least we got to be with all of our loved ones, even if it wasn't for much time with all.

I'm realizing I didn't get many pictures, but I believe others did, so we'll all have to share.

Danielle and I did get some belly pictures together, comparing so those are cute.

I also got a picture with one of my favorite gifts from Mom - Nutcracker duos. A Red Raider Nutcracker to represent me and a duck hunter Nutcracker to represent Trey. They are perfect!!

I've also included a sneak peak of the work-n-progress changing table/dresser that Trey's dad is building for the nursery.

please disregard the wonky eye my camera likes to give me from time to time.

I am 26/27 weeks here and Danielle is 17/18 weeks.

25 weeks

2011-12-16T21:57:00.004-06:00

Baby has been some kinda busy building muscles and doing gymnastics in my belly. I feel movement constantly, all day. It's not visible on the outside unless it's a powerful one; but it's definitely frequent and can be felt by others on the outside.

I'm still waiting on my belly button to pop out and linea negra to show up. Now, I know that everyone's belly button doesn't pop out. But I really want it to because I just think that's the cutest thing!!

I've been reading the Jenny McCarthy "Belly Laughs" book and... wow. I'm so lucky. I've known all along that I've been lucky, but this just confirms it. I've seriously not got anything to write about because NOTHING IS HAPPENING during my pregnancy. It's no different than my pre-pregnancy days except I'm getting a belly (and of course the cycle thing is missing). I don't want to jinx anything, and I'm not complaining, so please don't think I am. :) Just observing.

my view:

Christmas Party

2011-12-16T21:51:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday evening Trey and I ventured out to my company Christmas party at the Hilton Americas downtown. It was very nice, except for the fact that they did not have enough seating. We had to sit out at the cocktail tables outside of the grand ballroom. The food was great and the dessert was even better. They had an open bar, which Trey got to enjoy. They also had a photo booth, where we got to take a cheesy, prom-type photo at. We later went back and took a "fun" photo.

As people liquored up, they decided to dance. We didn't witness anything too outrageous considering all the free-flowing alcohol. The craziest thing I saw was a guy with his tie tied Rambo-style around his forehead.

23 weeks

2011-12-01T22:10:00.003-06:00

We had a doctor's appointment today. Everything was great! Baby kicked the wand from the doppler machine right off my stomach almost as soon as the nurse put it there! He was not happy with getting his heart rate checked. It rang in at a strong 156 BPM once we got it back on there. It has increased from the first measure (138). My glucose tolerance test is in 4 weeks. I'm looking forward to that one. *insert sarcasm.* I've heard that's torturous. Our 3D/4D ultrasound is scheduled for 1/21.

He is moving more and more each day and I just love to feel him. Trey has been able to feel him lately as well. At first he was indifferent to it, but has begun to take more interest in it. It's more frequent and more solid and now that I'm showing more - it's just all around sinking in more.

The nursery is painted! That's it. Nothing else has been done in there. But hey, that's some progress, right?

I'm heading back to brave Canton again this weekend with Mom and Danielle. This time there's an 80% chance of rain. It just gets better and better. HA. Maybe the crowd will be less? One can hope anyway. I'm taking my rain gear. Will post again afterwards and let ya know how that goes.

I will leave you with this:

crafting with Sister

2011-11-23T22:17:00.004-06:00

Today I got to spend the day with my sister while she was in town. After running errands as a group (Toys R Us for Aubrey's Christmas present, Phillips' family Christmas pictures, lunch...) then wee crafted! - all crafting was done in the time that Aubrey napped. I had some projects picked out on Pinterest for us to do together and they came out pretty cute. The corks that I tinted last weekend were put to use as well as a couple of other things:

an ornament:

Thank you Pinterest

2011-11-20T19:02:00.006-06:00

This weekend Trey went hunting with a friend. I was extremely productive. I guess you could say my energy is back with a vengeance.

Friday I went to Hobby Lobby to get some crafting supplies to fulfill some ideas I found on Pinterest, both for the nursery and for Christmas crafts. When I got home I decided I needed to clean out my crafting cabinets as they were quite messy. So I re-organized them. Then I set out the crafts that I would complete this weekend. I called my dad to help me get all of my Christmas decorations out of the attic (as I had forgotten to have Trey help me with that before he left.) While Dad was over here, I mentioned that Sudden Link was going to have to come out in order to install a jack for us to move the desk/internet into the guest room. Dad said "well didn't you have a TV in there?" I said yes, that we had. So he proceeded to say that the internet could just be plugged into that outlet if he wasn't mistaken. He looked at it and sure enough, that turned into us moving the desk/internet right then. So now that chore is complete. The guest room is now converted to a guest room/office and the nursey is one step closer! I cleaned the guest room out as it had been home to all the nursery stuff while we cleaned it out to get rid of the second desk and futon (sold in a garage sale a couple of weeks ago) - so it was all moved back into the nursery and now the guest room is liveable again.

Saturday I went to a baby shower and then came home and cleaned house, did laundry, and got all my Christmas decorating done (minus the outside lights, which Trey must do sometime this week), got our Christmas letter written and labels edited, and then did some crafting. It might be safe to say that my nesting has begun??

my mess of new crafts to begin for the weekend:

the tree I made out of rolled scrap paper and glued to a canvas:

I tinted these wine corks to use in a later project:

I made these letters to go in the nursery:

And I had one of the full name up, but I just took it down. I'm not ready to have it on full display just yet. I have no problem telling people when they ask about it, but for some reason, I'm just not ready to display it yet! So you may have been lucky enough to see it... :)

Now I'm exhuasted and ready to go to bed. It's 7:00pm Sunday. :D

Ren Fest

2011-11-13T18:58:00.004-06:00

Today we went to the Renaissance Festival. I have photos that will not disappoint. And memories that will give me nightmares that I could not get to the camera in time for. These people, I swear, are something else. I just don't understand what could possess them to; 1) WANT to dress like this and 2) THINK they SHOULD dress like this. Unbelieveable.

The food though, is a pregnant woman's paradise. I had chocolate covered strawberries, a chocolate covered banana, fresh squeezed lemonade, {yes, I disregarded the fruit/sugar comment from the doctor for today} fried alligator, cajun chips, roasted corn, and a couple bites of Trey's apple dumplings.

These guys were head-to-toe black in back AND front:

uhm, nice flower.

Pretty sure I know what that kid is looking at (good thing he has on sunglasses):

"black swan" mid transition??: (Kaila was a bit scared to get TOO close)

because ALL meat is better on a stick:

she hit him in the throat!!:

Tom Hanks in "The Money Pit"??:

me and Kaila:

21 weeks

2011-11-12T23:14:00.004-06:00

I didn't get a 20 week photo; my apologies. Hubby was uncooperative that week and I just wasn't feeling the self-portraits.

We had our Christmas photo session today so I was already gussied up and thought that there just wasn't going to be a better day to capture my 21 week shot this week. So Trey was more than willing to take today's picture. {Can you sense the sarcasm?} He griped and complained all week about how I was ruining his weekend and that he couldn't golf or watch TV or do this or do that; yadda, yadda, yadda. In addition to the photo session, I drug him to Pottery Barn Kids to complete our last baby registry. He loved that. {More sarcasm}. My punishment was standing around Gander Mountain as he just browsed at camo raingear (which he already has) for nearly 2 hours. He's hardcore.

So, here we are at 21 weeks:

Hopefully I'll have more to post tomorrow as we are going to the Renessaisance Festival. Good times and lots to see!

The Snoogle

2011-11-12T23:04:00.004-06:00

Last weekend I went to Tyler to visit my sister and hang out with some friends...and while we were there we went shopping in Canton. Ok, ok. We made the trip up there that particular weekend first for Canton and the hanging out was just a bonus. We did our shopping on Saturday and then on Sunday, Danielle and her friend Lindsey took me to Babies R Us to help me get my first registry going, as they are the resident "baby stuff" experts. Lindsey also gave me this way cool "snoogle" pillow to allow for comfortable sleeping for pregnant women. I must say - WOW. I love it. Trey tries to steal it from me on a regular basis.

The Snoogle:

Canton was a bit disappointing; it was WAY too crowded, with too many dogs and I just didn't get near the shopping done that I was hoping, but we had fun anyway. The registering was only partially successful because Target was being ridiculous and uncooperative, so we only got to finish at Babies R Us. The good news is that I was able to get Trey to actually participate in the 2 remaining registries at home: Target and Pottery Barn Kids. Shocking. I know. That being said, ALL 3 registries are complete! YAY. I'm so relieved.

Gender Reveal

2011-11-02T20:03:00.007-05:00

After dealing with ALL the fits today...

everyone came over for elk steaks, baked potatoes, salad, rolls, AND colorfully centered chocolate chip cookies (that I slaved all day making) for the gender reveal! It was quite exciting. I've never seen everyone eat so quickly.

The most important news we received today was that everything they could tell from an ultrasound looks GREAT! We were so relieved.

(There was a pink and a blue balloon tied up on the picture here, they just aren't visible) Trey is scooping ice cream to go with the special cookies.

BLUE!!

All boy:

sweet profile:

Trey does this; crossing the legs at the feet, ALL THE TIME:

Montana Hunt

2011-10-31T21:48:00.005-05:00

On October 18th Trey left on a 26 hour car ride with his dad to head up to Billings, MT for a father/son hunt that they've had planned for a year and a half. They were set out on a quest to fill the elk and mule deer tags that they each had as well as the bear tag that Trey had. (Trey was under strict orders {from me} to return with a bear so that we could have newborn photos taken on a bear skin rug.)

*roadside Wyoming during the drive*

The first day they rode in (which was on horseback through the mountains, in 25* and snowing) they situated into camp. Next morning, they woke up to "teen temps" and Trey left out on foot while Bill left out on horseback. Bill shot a mule deer about an hour after first light. Success! Trey walked up the West Fork and over Dry Burris and shot an elk at 650 yards. Yes folks, that's 650!! Needless to say, the work started. It was a 12 mile hike round trip to and from camp to where it crashed. And it took 3 trips of 2 people carrying uhhh, "parts". This was about the equivalent of 2 days.
*base camp*

*West Fork*

*Dry Burris*

By day 3 (of the hunt), it HAD warmed up a bit, BUT it was raining now. So Trey decided he was going to camp out at the cook tent with rifle leaned up against the tree and binoculars in hand, "glassing" the area. If his mule deer or bear walked by, it was done for, but that was the extent of his hunting for the day.

Day 4 and 5 were cold, snowy and windy and were unsuccessful for all. Yeah, that's right. I didn't get my bearskin rug. Instead, I got a GIANT 6x6 elk. One that's classified by most standards a trophy for the mountain variety.

18 weeks

2011-10-27T19:08:00.003-05:00

Why doesn't anyone ever warn you of the cramping? The only time I was told you could experience cramping was if it was accompanied by blood and that most likely meant you were miscarrying. No one warned me that it's COMPLETELY NORMAL to experience cramping all throughout, and that it's just stretching of the stomach muscles and ligaments as your tummy is growing to accomodate baby. I experience this about once every 2-3 weeks, for the better part of a day. (I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty miserable.) Although I felt it pretty much ALL day this past Thursday, Friday AND Monday. I guess baby had a growth spurt. Not to worry, there was no blood.

Next week, Wednesday to be exact, we find out if Baby C is a boy or a girl!! FINALLY! I just can't handle not doing anything about it anymore. Just sitting back and doing nothing is driving me nuts. I can't wait to find out.

It's strange how my belly looks so much smaller from the side than it does from the front. Not so flattering...at least not in pictures. But I don't care :)))

17 weeks

2011-10-22T16:49:00.004-05:00

I had another OB check up this week. Everything is still good; with momma and baby. We heard the heartbeat, but couldn't get an acutal count of it because baby was so active, it wouldn't be still long enough to get one to read! Is this a sign of things to come? eeee.

My doctor is apparently going to be picky about my weight. I've gained a total of 8 pounds in 17 weeks. He says this is where I should be. BUT, I took a significant jump in the last 4 weeks so I need to watch what I eat going forward so as not to gain too much. "I don't want to see you go into a downward spiral," he says. "You should be sure to eat lots of salad and veggies, while staying away from too many fruits, juices and sugar." I wanted to knock his fool head off. Are you kidding?! That's ALL I want to eat! Granted, I do HAPPEN to eat salads quite often. And drink a lot of water. But still, I don't want to hear that. Esp. since the nurse just got done telling my urine came back good (again) and my BP was good (again). I know he has my best interest at heart, but sheesh, cut me SOME slack!

Some tidbits:
The appointment we've all been waiting for is just around the corner; November 2!!

Trey's dad has agreed to build all of our nursery furniture! This makes me soooo excited! :))

and now for my 17 week pic:

16 weeks

2011-10-13T18:28:00.003-05:00

I'm at 16 weeks now. So far everything is still pretty uneventful. I've not had any nausea still. {still a good thing} I'm thinking I'm probably in the clear for this. My energy is starting to come back; however, I tend to use it up as soon as I get it, putting me right back to exhausted :/ I HAVE had a few bloody noses, which is apparently pretty common in pregnancy, especially early on.

My craving so far has been milk. I don't like white milk, so I don't drink it plain; but I'll have it with cereal, or lately...chocolate milk -- and lots of it. What? It's good for me and baby, you say? Well, yes it is. But, I'm a stone former. So, it's not THAT good for me. I have to be careful with this. It can be very bad in my case. I REALLY don't want kidney stones again. So, of course, this would be my craving. UGH. I guess it could be worse. I'm trying to also drink plenty of water. I just tend to get the desire to drink LOTS of water right before bed. Oh bother.

OH, I almost forgot!! -- I've been starting to feel movement this past week. Come to realize it's the same stuff I've been feeling since I was about 10 weeks along. It's just becoming a lot more frequent. I knew when I first starting to {very} randomly feel it that it was stuff I had never felt before, but I wasn't ready to say it was Baby. Now I know that's what it was (and is). I guess I knew my body better than I thought. But Tuesday night I was lying on the couch watching TV with my hand resting on my belly and I felt a movement that was so strong that I felt (and saw out of my peripheal vision) my hand move. It was just the one time, but it was incredible!

Here are some pictures of 16 weeks. I finally got some good ones!!
Trey took this one last night; I guess "the bump" actually looks smaller in it because of the angle?:

I took these earlier in the week:

14 weeks

2011-09-29T18:31:00.003-05:00

I'm already sucking at updating.

Last week we went in for a check up. Baby had a heart rate of 148. All was great. My doctor said I'm an A student and my weight is perfect and that he has nothing to complain about. {Let's just hope my weight stays perfect.}

I'm still not having any sickness or nausea, which is great, but I'm still exhausted. Just when I think my energy might be coming back, I feel tired again. I guess that's just baby trying to grow. I don't try to fight it. :)

We go back for our next checkup on 10/20 (Dad's birthday) and then {hopefully} very soon after that we find out gender!

As you can see, a slight bump is beginning to show:

**If only I could fire Trey from taking the photos. He never gives me a heads up. No 1-2-3, no "say cheese"; nothing. Boo.

Family of Three!

2011-09-14T18:29:00.004-05:00

Well, we just announced to the family that we're becoming a family of three! Baby Crawford is due 3/23.

We had a BBQ on Saturday, 9/12 to let everyone know. Trey and I were counting on the disguise of a post-Labor day celebration. The family came over expecting an anniversary celebration. We didn't even THINK to use that excuse! HA. Either way, Everyone was clueless. I had our ultrasound photos "scrapped" into picture frames and set up with the food, so that as the family arrived, they could see them. The reactions were great! Dad just couldn't comprehend that that baby was in my tummy. He was convinced it was ME as a baby. Mom was in shock. Mimi and PawPaw couldn't make it as PawPaw wasn't feeling well, so I had to make a phone call to them. Mimi screamed into the receiver. They both just asked a million questions. And Leslie made the comment that she was ready to be an "Oma" again. All in all, it was a success!!

scrapped, framed ultrasound photos used at the BBQ:

7 weeks; for comparison to the below 12 weeks...(I really am excited, but Trey doesn't tell me when he's taking the picture, so I just have no warning :/ )

12 weeks:

and more will come as we grow!

Slithery un-friends

2011-07-24T11:18:00.003-05:00

When we got home yesterday (Saturday), we were lounging on the couch and catching up on DVR'ed shows. The cat (Boy) was outside and I'd just let little Zoe outside. Both were hanging around in the same place near the deck and the back of the house. This is rather unusual. I thought I'd better go check out what they could be looking at/messing with. When I went out there, something smelled a little off, but little Zoe had rolled in something over at Grammy's while there during our fishing trip this weekend, (I call that "putting on perfume") so I didn't REALLY think much of it, other than "gosh, that's REALLY pungent if I can STILL smell it and I'm not even that close to you - you MAY need a bath." Then I see Boy kinda lunge forward again, ears perked, so I looked up and sure enough, BIG snake. Copperhead. I ran in the house and told Trey so he could get his pistol (.22 with ratshot). He came back out and I grabbed the animals. He shot it. He said it definitely smelled like snake around there. I guess I didn't realize that snakes had a smell. But now I know to "sniff" for that as well.

I'm normally intrigued by snakes, but I hafta admit, this time when I saw that one, my heart skipped a beat. I guess the fact that my babies were so close by, staring it in the eyes and within striking distance, kinda had me on edge.

Fishin' in Looooosiana!

2011-07-24T11:07:00.004-05:00

My father in law, Bill, took us fishin' this past weekend in Louisiana. It was a AND Saturday, but there was so much rain that it made the water cloudy so the fish couldn't see the bait. We just came home on Saturday morning and will end up going back sometime later this summer or early fall most likely. Nonetheless, we had a good time and caught a lot of fish.

Apparently I'm not a great fisher-woman, or don't have the patience or something (imagine that) because I just don't catch a whole lot of fish (all speckled trout), but I did catch the biggest fish!!

Here are some pictures.

We really ARE wading several miles out in the bay. There were porpoises everywhere!

I Think His Tractor's Sexy

2011-04-03T19:01:00.003-05:00

Trey welds. It started as a hobby. Then it became a must-do because he was ripping people's fences out to build their putting green's and he needed to put them back in. Now, he's added it to his business as another service. He's working on making it his primary company.

A few weeks ago he ordered another tool, called a pipe bender. It does just that: bends pipe and tubing to a desired angle up to 180 degrees. His first attempt to build something using it was a brush guard for his riding lawn mower. It's ok to be jealous.

Aubrey turns 2

2011-04-02T20:38:00.005-05:00

Trey and I went to Danielle and Matt's house in Tyler last weekend for Aubrey's 2nd birthday. It was very relaxed - just 2 of Danielle's friends came over for the party (only one had a little boy Aubrey's age) and then some family was there. It was small, which was nice, but enough to make Aubrey feel special. And she celebrated for at least a week long. She got a TON of loot. (See the 4th picture) She started unwrapping as soon as she saw the presents and just unwrapped one whenever she felt like it. It was a great time!

Cohen had just pulled her ponytail and was apologizing. Sweet, sweet boy!!

She was LOVING her sparkly Sketcher's and her Kathy van Zeeland sparkly purse! Mama even put a Coach wallet in it from the purse market in Bali :) If she only knew how lucky she was with all her designer duds.

As soon as she put the oven mitt on, she punched Danielle. She thought it was a boxing glove!!! This little chef's outfit was adorable!

Mr. & Mrs. Early

2011-04-02T20:16:00.007-05:00

Trey and I went to the wedding of our friend's, Cliff and Julie, a couple of weeks ago. It was beautiful! I totally didn't get a picture of Cliff and Julie...so I've substituted one of them..but here are some from their wedding.

me and Sandra (miss this girl!!):

Fru-Fru clipboard "how to"

2011-04-02T19:22:00.004-05:00

I was making this clipboard for a friend and decided I'd take a few pictures to make it a how-to:

What you'll need: a clipboard (the kind with the clip pictured below), Mod-Podge, a sponge brush, 4 or more pieces of scrapbook paper, and small (decorative) ribbon {I like to use about 5 different colors that compliment the colors of papers I'm using - some wacky ribbons and some normal ribbons}, and scissors.
First: tear the paper to fit on the board. Width-wise, you may need to trim it if you have the square paper. Height-wise, I like to tear it. The rough edges look "neater". Round the corners with scissors to match the corners of the clipboard. You'll also need to cut out the area where the clip is on the front section. In the back, I just glue the paper on top of the brads.

Second: pour a puddle of mod-podge on the clipboard. You can do either side first. It will take about 24 hours to dry. After you get the bottom layer glued down, just lay the next layer over it, and glue. Be sure not to use TOO much mod-podge or you will get bubbles.

Third: Let dry and do the same with the next side in 24 hours or so.

Fourth: After both sides are dry, cut ribbons into 3 inch strips and tie into knots around the clip. I have to get creative on finding something laying around to hold the clip open. Just rotate your colors and tie away!

And TA-DA!!

This is one that I did a little differently at one time, more of a scrap appeal:

I hope this wasn't too confusing. I probably won't be posting anymore how-to's as it was definitely not as easy as I thought it would be.

Operation: Mike's cube

2011-04-02T19:05:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, my co-worker Mike went on a cruise. Another co-worker, Paul said to me: "Courtney, I've got to save boxes so that I can build a 'club house' for Mike's cube. I want to cover the front of it and cut a door out of it that he has to open to get in his cubicle. And make a sign that says 'No girls allowed!! (This means you Mike!)" I said that what he needed to do was get a crap ton of ping pong balls and load up the overhead cabinet with them so that when he opened it, they would pour out everywhere. He said I was genius, we researched doing this and long story short, the shipping wouldn't work. They just wouldn't get there in time. :( SO, instead, we used packing peanuts! In both overhead cabinets and EVERY single desk/filing drawer. Paul EVEN rigged a webcam to video it (set to start recording off of motion) in case we couldn't be there to see it when Mike arrived.
See the chaos:

The Kracken:

Mike was HACKED!!! Paul bought his lunch out of guilt. :) We couldn't stop laughing.
We ALMOST did it again (on a smaller scale) for April Fool's but refrained.

Oh Spring, How I Love Thee

2011-03-19T10:57:00.003-05:00

We have a lot of azalea bushes in front of our house. Which apparently, at least this year translates to a MILLION bumble bees. Seriously. I counted at least 20 in the one set of bushes by our driveway. The ones by our front door had another at least 5 at one time. This is not cool. We also have had wasps for the past 3 springs that keep trying to build a nest in the attic. They might have succeeded. I saw one fly into the crevice right above the azalea bushes. I told Trey that we need to call an exterminator because I don't want to end up on "Billy the exterminator". Yipes!

If you look closely, you can see the bumble bee in the middle.

Final Four

2011-03-19T10:56:00.002-05:00

My work building is proudly representing the fact that the "final four" is being played in Houston.

I love a good bargain!

2011-03-16T18:45:00.003-05:00

Even though I so rarely find them. Which makes them that much better!

Last night I drug hubby out to Barnes & Noble to spend the gift card that I got for Christmas. Since I immediately got a Kindle for my birthday, I knew it was going to suck buying a book again, but I didn't want it to go to waste. It's not like I wouldn't read them. I've read like 6 books in 3 months.

I picked out 2 books, which I proceeded to buy. But then spotted the "nooks" and their covers. I wondered if the covers would fit my Kindle. Lucky for me I keep it in my purse at all times. (Maybe that's why my purse could double as an anchor?)

Let me just say that I've been eyeing on Amazon the Kate Spade Kindle covers. Tehy are $69.99 + shipping. I just can't bring myself to pay that for them. Even though they are discounted from the original $85, that is still a lot, even for designer. I just couldn't do it.

WELL, B&N had them on sale. For 75% off. AND THEY FIT MY KINDLE!!!!! I stewed over it through the night. And all day. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Guess where I went on my way home from work?!

A new 'do

2011-03-16T18:42:00.002-05:00

I got a new haircut almost a month ago. Maybe it has been a month? Who knows. I can't keep my weeks straight anymore. Which is sad, considering I look at a calendar daily. Is it possible to get "old-timer's" in your late-twenties/early-thirties?

Where has the time gone?

2011-01-16T22:17:00.002-06:00

Whelp, I've been successful at not updating the blog the past quarter. I got plently of pictures of Christmas and NYE; however, I JUST loaded them to the computer. I still haven't had any prints made. I did upload some pictures to Facebook tonight, but I don't think I will load any to the blog. If you disagree with that decision, send me a nastygram and I will update. :)

Title color?...and randoms...

2010-12-29T22:09:00.004-06:00

I'm so sorry that my title is so hard to read. I felt compelled to change my blog background, but not so compelled to make a pretty banner :) AND I've had a brainfart and can't, for the life of me, remember (or figure out how to) change the font color of the title! It's driving me nuts! But not so nuts that I'm willing to piddle at it and lose sleep over it.

If you feel so compelled as to leave me a comment reminding me how to fix it, that would be most appreciated. :) Until then, it shall remain yellow!

Now that I have that out there, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know we did. I'm gearing up for a Near Year's Eve party at my house on Friday. If you can call it a party. We are just having family over for dinner and some firecracky. I've realized that I'm getting to the point that I can't handle being around large crowds. I've found myself following behind people picking up leaves on the floor behind them, or just whatever may have been dropped or spilled. It's bad. If I didn't mind taking meds I would say I needed to be medicated for OCD. :/

If you've ever seen Gene Simmons "Family Jewels", sometimes I feel like his wife. She will hide in their bedroom when people are in their house and scream "Gene, get these people out of my house!" HAHA! I can relate. Really, I can. I'm scared of how I will react when we have kids and their messes. EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee...

I hope you have a Happy New Year and hopefully soon after I will be able update with some pictures from the holidays.

Here comes Santa Claus, errr...

2010-12-22T22:32:00.003-06:00

Santa must have already dropped by!

I have been so busy wrapping gifts. My back hurts from sitting. I'm so glad I'm done. What am I going to do when I have kids and have that many more gifts to wrap? I tell you what, I'm going to LOVE it! My problem this year was that I swear I used all my creativity at work and had problems figuring out what to buy everyone. (side note: Did you know that shopping can make you physically AND MENTALLY exhausted? I didn't. Not until this year.) So I wrap the gifts I've already bought and then decide I don't like what I've gotten, so I go back and buy more. And have to wrap more. But that's ok. It makes my trees look pretty :)

Seeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Christmas yummies

2010-12-22T22:23:00.004-06:00

I was super busy this past weekend. Baking. As if I needed anything else to keep me busy. Luckily, there were no disasters. Except for EXTREMELY gooey 'gooey butter cake'. I guess that's where the name comes from, eh? But seriously, it's never been that gooey. Perhaps I should have left it in the oven a tad bit longer? Oh well, the boys at the office have not cared ONE BIT! They asked me to bring more. :)

Here's the proof.

The gooey butter cake (see how I was deceived?? It does NOT look gooey!)

THE best of the yummies:

The finished products: peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, chewy chocolate chip, spritz, gooey butter cake, and cinnamon candy!!

Kephart's Celebration

2010-12-05T19:43:00.005-06:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we were so lucky to get to celebrate with Trey's grandparents, Addie and Kep, their 60th wedding anniversary! They had a big party at Walden Country Club on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Since the country club was only open for a couple of hours, Trey and I hosted his family at our home to keep the party going as there were so many out-of-towners for the occasion. We didn't want to just send everyone back home or to their hotel. We wanted to visit!
The happy couple:

Leslie giving her speech:

Leslie and Trey: (obvious mother and son? I think so!)

Ashley and Andrew:

Trey and Amy:

Their getaway car!

Oh My Deer!

2010-11-14T22:24:00.004-06:00

This weekend, 11/11 - 11/14, Trey and I went to our deer lease in South Texas. It was the only weekend that I actually did not have anything planned between the weekend bow season opened and the first weekend of December, so we jumped at the chance for me to go. Especially since Trey goes pretty much every week.

I have prided myself on being able to say that I have never killed a big game animal with a rifle (only the bobcat which was my first kill ever that made me switch to bow hunting). Unfortunately, I can no longer say this. :( Here's the story:

Trey has had a particular 8 point buck picked out (and approved by the lease manager) for me to hunt and kill. He had him patterned and this guy was coming into the feeder every evening just before the feeder went off, waiting for it, and almost every morning. We sat in the stand, bow in hand - Friday morning, Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night - ALL of which came and went. A few deer came in and out, but not any that we were allowed to kill and certainly not the one that I was allowed to kill. Sunday morning, as a last resort, we got in the rifle stand, with the rifle, and corned the road. Prepared to take a long shot if I had to, I sat. Sure enough. There he is. We got him in to about 180 yards. I pulled the trigger. Twice. I can't say I've only killed large game animals with a bow anymore, but at least I have a good story to tell. :)

I used a Remington 6mm at 180 yards. He scored 115. 8pt. 190 pounds. And he broke the wench on the jeep. :D

Randoms...

2010-11-14T22:17:00.003-06:00

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I won't back date the few events that have passed that I have a couple of pics from (ie: the Renaissance Festival and the hockey game) - I only have a couple of pictures anyway. I'll just apologize for being shoddy with my blogging lately and promise to try and be better in the near future. Especially because I'm contemplating not doing a Christmas card this year.

I'm starting my new job at PetroHawk tomorrow and things are going to be go, go, go for the next few weeks, so I'm just afraid I won't have time to get it done. (Now come the excuses..) I still need to clean my house and decorate. Maybe once I decorate it will put me in the Christmas spirit and I'll actually get around to a card - but no promises. :)

Best Friends....

2010-10-17T19:48:00.002-05:00

Dad and Trey have become quite the best of friends. They've gone hunting countless times this year. Here is a picture from one of their dove hunting trips. Notice the gun. He's lucky he still has a foot! :D

some of Trey's work...

2010-10-17T19:44:00.004-05:00

So, Trey's ALWAYS out of town working...and you never get to see any of the work. I BEGGED him to send me some pictures that I could post for y'all to see. Just for proof that he actually does work on occassion, if nothing else. :)

This is a playground:

they are becoming quite popular this year...

Cassi's Hitched...Mr. & Mrs. James Holmon!

2010-10-17T18:47:00.003-05:00

YAY! Cassi and James got hitched! It was beautiful..even though we were late. Because Cassi gives crappy directions. :D
first dance as hubby and wife:

me & Trey:

me, Cassi & Laura:

me & Laura:

Lisa's baby shower

2010-10-17T18:42:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple pictures from Lisa's baby shower from a while back. I forgot to post the pictures.
Baby Gavin is due in November :)
The cake is beautiful and was made by our friend Christy and her mom. Turns out Christy had a major allergic reaction to the fondant :(

a night out with the girls....

2010-10-17T18:31:00.003-05:00

So I haven't updated in a LONG time. And last weekend I had a fun night out with the girl's for my friend Cassi's last hoo-rah before gettin' hitched yesterday, Saturday, October 16th - her batcherlorette party at Howl at the Moon. It was a blast!

Some proof:
I didn't realize I was tugging on her veil....HAHHAHA...she looks so distraught. :) I love it.

Me and Cassi:

The whole group:

"playing" with our drink...

This is after deciding to "crash" the batchelor party. James was passed out, so Cassi decided to violate him. It appears as if she has just discovered something.

Trey's new toy

2010-09-25T21:40:00.005-05:00

First off, I'd like to make it known that I'm not diggin' the uploading of videos process. The last 2 times I've tried, it's not worked. :(

So now for our big news. Nothing too exciting, so don't get your panties in a twist. NO babies - yet. But Trey traded up trucks. Ya know how boys are about their toys. :D

He's been wanting a deisel for a LONG time. He was debating on whether it be a Dodge or Ford F250. He finally found the perfect one in an F250 4x4. It's used, a 2008, but only had 25k miles on it, had all the options he wanted and the price was right.

So here's the beast!!:

gettin' the lease ready...

2010-09-06T15:27:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Trey and I went to the lease in La Pryor to get another stand up so the deer can get ready for it. We took dad with us and thought we might get another hog on the ground while we were there. I didn't feel like hunting, but dad and Trey took every opportunity they could.

We got there super late on Friday night, Trey spotted a cougar stalking the bunkhouses as he was unloading the truck (luckily I was already in bed). Saturday morning Dad and Trey got up and hunted (saw lots of deer, but no pigs). They came back and got me, went and got breakfast tacos, came back and we put up the stand. Then we went and took a dip in the Nueces River. Gosh that felt so good after being out in the blistering hot sun. :)

These prickly pears don't taste so good....blech..

This stand is Trey's most recent creation. It's a 6x6 gun/bow blind. It's stationed about 20 yards from the feeder with the intention of being a bow blind. He welded it all together but has a turf floor lining. We spray painted the camo on the outside ourselves. Can you tell?

This is the 360' rifle stand Trey's dad built out of scaffolding. It's pretty cool.

This was a stand that Trey built. He built the base out of steel and tied down a pop-up ground blind to it.

The Nueces River was nice and refreshing... :)

Our huntin' buggy... Dad and I used it as a stand for the evening hunt on Saturday. We sat in the top seats and still didn't see any pigs. Didn't see any deer either. We did see a family of pheasants. They were cute :)

Sunday morning Dad and Trey had another unsuccessful hunt and then we went home.

it's been a while...

2010-09-06T15:08:00.003-05:00

I really don't have anything to post about. Trey's been busy working/playing. I've been busy working.

I came home from work one day as Trey was coming in the house from welding. He was DIRTY...I had to take a picture because it reminded me of Steve Martin in "The Jerk" and he would always say "I was boooorn a pooor black child..."

Sadly, this picture really doesn't even do the dirtiness any justice. LOL.

I've been bugging him to let me load the pictures he's taken of his jobs onto my computer so I could put them on the blog to show off, but there are SOOOOO many pictures on his camera that I just don't want on my computer (like pics from his trail cams for example) so it's going to be a while before I get those loaded on here. I'll have to wait until I have the patience to sit and select the individual pictures I want to load. :)

zoom zoom

2010-08-11T20:07:00.004-05:00

Sunday funday!
With me working in recruiting at Schlumberger, I get LOTS of perks ;) Including getting to participate in the group activity that we scheduled for the interns wrap up session at MSR Houston, which is over powered go karts. OHHHHH YEAAAAH. Trey was in HEAAAAA-VEN! (said in a high pitched screechy-type voice) He texted me on Monday and said "Courtney, I had dreams of go-karting!!!"

These bad boys had seats that conformed to your body so that you didn't wear seat belts. They went 50mph. You were required to wear a helmet and it was impossible to flip them. Trust me. I tried (not intentionally of course - I'm safe). I did do-nuts and got stuck and had to be pulled off the "warning strips" because I was high-centered on them. :D
WE HAD FUUUUUUUUN!

This was the slowest car I had. It had nothing to do with it being my first drive and me knowing NOTHING about how to drive the kart or manuever the track. :)

By this time, I was a pro! My lap times went from 1:24 to 1:12 :D And I was not driving in the grass anymore! Yay me. Time for a race car!

Aunt Marie turns 100

2010-08-11T19:51:00.007-05:00

Trey and I had a VERY busy weekend. We went to the "Hunter's Exravaganza" for a couple of hours before heading to Trey's great Aunt Marie's 100th birthday party at the Marriott Galleria. It was a pretty amazing event.

We saw some, uhm, unique (to say the least) stuff at the huntin' show...
some ticked off rattlesnakes:

some deer butts that a taxidermist turned into oddball faces:

Kaila found some airvents along the windows that she liked playing on...think Marilyn Monroe:

4 generations of Crawford's:

all the Crawford's...old and new :)

So this is Aunt Marie and there's a funny story behind it. Kinda. I guess you had to be there, but I'm gonna tell it anyway :D
Kaila insisted on taking pictures with my camera. I did NOT want her up in MY face taking pictures so I told her to go take one of Aunt Marie. She runs off for a while and comes back with this: LOL

I LOVE these of Amy & Oscar! (& Kaila)

When does she NOT want to wear my bracelets? I think subconciously I wear them FOR her ;) It's what a good aunt does, right?

Loggia's

2010-08-10T22:42:00.010-05:00

Friday night after work our recruiting department at work had an "intern wrap up outing" to celebrate the wrap up of our summer intern experience. We went to a place called Loggia's. It was really neat. In the early evening it's a sports bar atmosphere and at around 10pm, they open all the door-sized windows and it becomes a bar setting.

Me, Chris (field engineer recruiting manager) and Christina:

Me and Kaya:

a good chunk of the recruiting department:

**Stay tuned as there were a TON of events this past weekend I will be posting :)

Jason Boland

2010-08-01T20:36:00.009-05:00

Friday night, Jason Boland was playin' at the Firehouse Saloon on Fountainview and 59. Trey and I decided that we hadn't been social in a long time and he's one of our favorite's for Texas country, so we asked our friends Cliff & Julie to go see him with us. We had a good time & I'm glad we went! Thanks guys, for going with us!

A weekend with my girls...

2010-08-01T17:08:00.014-05:00

I met my friends Cacy and Mandy (with a couple of their friends, Jordan and Laura-all from Midland) in San Antonio last weekend (7/23rd-25th) for Cacy's birthday. I hadn't seen Cacy in eons (minus the week she was in Houston in June for a teaching workshop) so we figured her birthday was just as good a time as any for an excuse to get together! We had a blast!
We stayed on the Riverwalk in the Hilton Homewood Suites hotel and did A LOT of walking, shopping and hanging out.

The Midland girls all arrived on Thursday night, but I couldn't meet there until I got off work on Friday. :( So when I got there, we got ready, went to dinner at Ibiza on the Riverwalk, had a couple drinks and got Cacy a dessert and a song. They sang to her and gave her a hat. It was cute :)

We went back to the hotel to touch up our make-up and have a couple "free" drinks. We headed back out to "Tabu" to get our dance on. This dance club was fun! They had some go-go dancers that sure could dance. We really just liked to stand and stare. We were jealous of their skills. It was a 2-story bar, and eventually, they let us go upstairs, where we finished up our night.
This is me, Mandy & Cacy:

me, Laura, Jordan, Mandy, & Cacy:

SATURDAY:
We went shopping at La Cantera mall. It was awesome. A very beautiful outdoor mall with all you could imagine. WOW. :D
After shopping, we went to "Howl at the Moon." It's a piano bar. We stood in line FOREVER. We got there at like 9:30-10:00 thinking that would be plenty of time. WRONG! We were in line for about an hour. It was a lot of fun though. I'd go back if I am in the area again! Tabu was right across the street and we did end up there again by the end of the night. We just couldn't resist. It was that much fun :)

But, while in line at HATM, Jordan made friends with the Air Force boys behind us, Lucas and Justin, and somehow convinced Lucas to trade shoes with her once we got into the bar. It was a cute picture. :)

More Fun with Family & Friends

2010-07-18T17:40:00.004-05:00

Saturday we went to Fairfield with my parents and Danielle's in-laws. They have a family ranch with a cookhouse where they made dinner for everyone and popped firecracky over the lake for our own little family fourth of July celebration. It was a nice get-together and it was a priveledge to be a part of.

Thanks Phillips' for inviting us!

Narnie and I were SO over smiling for pictures. Especially when dad is the photographer. :D

Fun with family & friends..

2010-07-18T17:21:00.004-05:00

Friday night we went to a Quincinera.

Our friend Leticia, who was 4cm dilated in her pregnancy *yipes*, invited us to her little sister, Daniela's Quincinera on Friday night. Trey and his mom have taught Dani and her brother swim lessons (& have worked with Letty at the swim school in the past) for years. It was a beautiful party and it was nice to see everyone again. Kaila enjoyed seeing and taking pictures with "the princess".
Oma & Kaila

Trey, Kaila, Leticia, & me

Kaila took this picture of Oscar & Amy. I did no cropping!

Coco & Kaila

Houston Zoo

2010-07-18T17:08:00.007-05:00

Tuesday was zoo-day. It was hot. It was muggy. I was exhausted. It was the zoo. Not really much to say. It was the day after 2 giraffes died (momma died after giving birth to baby, who died shortly after birth), yet there was no sort of drama going on, so you'd never have known it.
Aubrey liked it, she just pointed and babbled. If only we knew what she was really thinking. :/
These monkeys cracked me up because the 2 on the ground dug up a little worm and the one on the left started to play with it before eating it. The other 2 then started to pick a fight with him over it. It turned into a big hoopla over this little worm.

This bird was SOOOO weird! It was called a "shoe billed stork" and Matt said he would buy me one of my own!! :D

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey's Circus

2010-07-18T16:15:00.005-05:00

Sunday we went to the circus. I haven't been to the circus since I was a little girl. I remember it being a show of animals. And clowns. Which is why I haven't been since. I HATE clowns. Since it was in town while Danielle and family was here, we all went. It was NOTHING as I remember it. Mostly, it was an overpriced, BAD Cirque du Soleil with a few zoo animals thrown in. The elephants and tigers (which we waited the ENTIRE show for were good, but they were the only part worth seeing).

The concept of cotton candy was confusing to Aubrey, so Danielle did get her finger bitten. HARD. Aubrey wanted something to eat. Not something that melted in her mouth! :)

Phillips' visit!!

2010-07-18T13:51:00.003-05:00

Danielle, Matt & Aubrey's visit consisted of so many fun events I'm going to have to make multiple posts or there will just be way too many pictures at once. The first day was just spent relaxing at Mom & Dad's (Grammy & PaPaw's) for the evening. We didn't do much other than let Aubrey play and go eat dinner.
Just some random cuteness:

Are you Courtney Mack?

2010-07-18T13:40:00.003-05:00

When I was in high school, and AIM was all the rage, because of my screenname, I got a random one. It said "are you Courtney Mack?" Of course I'm not, but a conversation developed from it. From that conversation, a friendship developed. Her name is Janet. We have talked via phone, email and special occasion cards for the past 10 years. Janet is my long lost "twin" in life. Everything about us is "no way?! me too!!" While she lives in Blue Springs, MO with her boyfriend and 8 year old son, her family lives in Dallas/McKinney, TX, so she was visiting them for the 4th of July week when her sister was having a baby. She decided to take a slight detour and come down to Houston to see me. :) It was wayyyy too short, but it was so nice to actually see her and meet her in person.

Blog Background..

2010-07-07T21:16:00.002-05:00

So it's not my favorite...but it'll do for now. I worked too long on the header to not use it. :/ ah well. Maybe in another 6 months I'll feel the desire to play with it again. BAHAhahahahahaha.

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-05T17:44:00.003-05:00

Though we spent the entire day with both of our families...lunch with Trey's mom (Leslie), grandparents (Addie & Kep), sister, brother-in-law, and neice (Amy, Oscar & Kaila) at his grandparents house swimming and BBQ-ing and then dinner with mom and dad at their house and then the church for a nifty firecracky display, it was more relaxing than I expected it would be. My camera was dead as a doornail, so I didn't get any pictures :( So, I robbed this one off the net of a nice little firecracky. :)

Hope you all had a great 4th!

Happy Father's Day...kinda late.

2010-06-26T20:04:00.006-05:00

For Father's day, Trey and I took Dad to the hunting lease just outside of Uvalde. I took Friday off work and we headed out there Friday morning to have a bit of a long weekend. When we arrived on Friday afternoon, Dad and Trey did some "landscaping" (weedeating and mowing) around the trailer park area that the leasers stay in when out there since its so far away from town. Trey neglected to tell Dad to stay away from the trailer next door with the weedeater. It was infested with bees. And Dad COULD NOT get away from them. I think when he FINALLY got the swarm away, well enough to come in the trailer to cool off and settle down, I pulled at least a dozen stingers out of him. I felt horrible. The positive is that we now know that he is NOT allergic to bees. :) He cooled down and took a nap and we were able to get out in "the stand" for an evening hunt, and he even shot a hog. But sadly, there was so much brush, we never found it. The buzzards did on Saturday though. :(

Our makeshift stand: (the cows LOVE laying on the tarp during the day!)

Dad's scopin' it out...because we were so far away...

...we were about 33 yards from our feeder.. :)

checkin' it out through the scope..

a roadrunner...found out some interesting stuff on them thanks to boredom and Google :)

some pretty cacti

Trey and Dad puttin' some feeders together...thought they looked funny :)

a day at the pool..

2010-06-26T19:52:00.003-05:00

Kaila LOVES to go swimming. We were able to make a "family" day out of it a couple weeks ago :) (iPhone pics don't come out the best, I see, so please forgive me)

Rocks...

2010-05-03T15:13:00.004-05:00

I must vent out my hatred of landscaping.

I HATE IT!

This project has taken well over 3 weekends to complete. Looking at it, sure, looks easy enough. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT. >:-I Oh no, the area is bigger than it looks. I had to GO BACK and get MORE rocks 2 times! Then, breaking them up to make them "fit" was LOADS of fun. On top of alllllll that, I SWEAR a snake (or a lizard-only saw the tail) was crawling back under the deck as I was sittin' on my happy butt shoveling (with a fuddy) crushed granite into the TEENY TINY cracks. Yes, most are teeny tiny, even though there is a mess of dirt around all of them. You ask how I KNOW this was a snake? Well, when we first moved in, Trey called me screaming that there was a HUGE snake going in and out from under the deck and he insisted that if I didn't come home and kill it (as he is petrified of snakes), then it would get under and into the house. BAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. He eventually caught it out from under the deck long enough to get boots on and a kayak paddle to beat the life out of it. (Imagine, boy in boxers and cowboy boots with a kayak paddle beatin at a snake..)

So, my rock project.

Derricks and Diamonds

2010-05-03T13:17:00.004-05:00

Schlumberger is one of the major sponsors of an annual softball benefit tournament for Texas Children's Hospital and the Snowdrop Foundation. This raises funds and donations for the cancer unit of the hospital. They ask that you bring hats (since the children lose their hair and are very self-concious of themselves) and other things such as games and magazines/books to keep in the play area.

Trey and I cleaned out all of our hats that we didn't want anymore, but decided that it would be special if some kiddos were able to get brand new hats that they would want. Not just hand-me-downs. So we went to Academy and asked a couple kids to pick out a hat that they would want to wear so that we could buy it and donate it. We ended up getting 2 hats for a little girl and 2 for a little boy.

This tournament takes place in League City at "big league field of dreams". This field is incredible. There are 10 fields, all named after major baseball stadiums and built to look like the one it's named after. They are technically baseball fields, but it's all turf, so it wasn't much different than playing on dirt, other than the rug burn vs. just a regular, good ol' strawberry.

Here are some photos of the fun times:
This field had everything. Batting cages (Mountasia style), 2 restaurants, playgrounds, an indoor soccer field, beach volleyball courts..."if you build it they will come", right?

Trey was our pitcher all weekend. He did a great job!

Me, Heather and Lee

Trey and JD

Sam's warmin' up for his big hit...

Hostess with the mostess

2010-05-03T12:58:00.007-05:00

On Sunday, April 25th I threw a baby shower for my friend Lindsey. She is due to have a little girl, Rylie Marie, towards the end of May. I definitely think the shower was a success. :)
Lisndsey and all of her booty.

ALLLLL THAT FOOOOD!

My first (and hopefully last) diaper cake!

The cake. I had to make it myself (sorry Taryn, ran outta budget)...but I can't take credit for the blocks. You see, when I discovered I had to make it myself, I thought I'd get some blocks to put on top. Pastel blocks. That way they matched the cake and she'd have some blocks for Rylie in the future. COULD NOT find any in pastels. So Narnie says "make some!" OK! She's the creative one of the bunch, so I told her "YOU make them!".....she did. And they are beautiful!

April

2010-04-10T19:10:00.002-05:00

Mom and Dad had a little dove make a nest and lay eggs in the eaves of the back porch last year in April, therefore naming her "April". They noticed that she is back again this April, in the exact same place. :)
Time to hang the feeder back up!

Isn't she cute?!

confetti eggs & "chubby bunnies"...

2010-04-10T19:00:00.004-05:00

We spent Easter at Leslie's house. (Trey's mom, for those of you who don't know) All of his mom's side of the family was there and my parents and Mimi were able to join us. PawPaw wasn't feeling too hot. :/ We had confetti eggs and a "chubby bunny" contest. Again, for those of you who haven't heard about it, the contest is all about stuffing Peeps in your mouth, one at a time, and saying "chubby bunny". After each time you say it audibly, you do it again. The one who can fit the most Peeps in their mouth at the same time while being able to say it, wins. It has an ability to make one yarf. It picked me. I only got 3 in my mouth and lost it. I believe Oscar won with like 8 and Trey had 7? Maybe vice versa. Kaila had no idea what was going on, other than she got to eat LOTS of "junk". She really liked the confetti eggs! And a clip of Kaila breaking a confetti egg on one's head.

Amanda...

2010-04-10T18:56:00.003-05:00

One of my college bestest friends (Amanda) was in town for Easter to visit her mom, lucky for me I live very close to her mom! It meant she was mine for an evening! Not enough time, but I'll take it! We took a tour of the casa, went to dinner at Pappasito's, got pedicures...and then it was time to take her to mom's. :(

silly Boy...

2010-04-10T18:51:00.003-05:00

One evening, Trey and I were watching TV. We have started letting the cats in the house when we are home if they want to be in. We heard this noise coming from the kitchen....we walk in and find this....

Apparently he likes Mom's apple cake :)

As we took him outside, we found this....

Livestock Show and Rodeo

2010-03-14T17:06:00.005-05:00

Trey and I went to the rodeo on Saturday to see my boyfriend, Blake Shelton. (yes Danielle, he's MY boyfriend :D) I'm not sure whether I was more excited to see the concert or to see my new favorite rodeo event - Mutton Bustin'. (description about it above the video) We did some shopping - not much of course because that would take money, and we sure don't have much. But it was fun looking around. We saw some border collies herding sheep and a majority of the livestock. There were some very cute animals doing cute things and also some VERY impressive animals. Made me want to live on a farm and raise animals...one day maybe...(there were wayyyy too many pics of the animals to choose from, so here are only a few) As is the case with any event in which the entire city attends, there is always bound to be people wearing things that 1) some people should NOT be allowed to wear and 2) just shouldn't be allowed. Period. Trey and I ready to rodeo! Here is the score board from the bull riding. Three and only three riders actually made it the full 8 seconds. There were some tough bulls! A BADASS Lambourghini. Poor guy (gal?) was sleepy. The border collie herding the sheep. This was a rather fun event to watch. Clearly this guy was not having any fun.. My boyfriend...Blake. ANNNND...they're off! I have never seen a cow milked by one of these things...but it was cool!
Mutton Bustin'. The cutest thing ever. The object is to have a lineup of several 4-6 year olds put on the vest and helmet that a bull rider wears (kid sized of course). These kids wrap themselves as tightly as possible around a big, fluffy sheep. The open the gate and the sheep takes off. The kid has to hang on as long as possible in order to win. They are scored based on their performance, but the winner is always the longest time. This video does NOT EVEN do it justice!

Aero's game

2010-03-14T16:56:00.003-05:00

Friday night Trey and I went to the Aero's game with Leslie and Kaila. Although the Aero's lost, we still had fun. Kaila enjoyed being a hairstylist (to my hair of course).

Our Day at the Park

2010-03-06T10:59:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I baby-sat Kaila. We went to the park and the mall to the Build-A-Bear workshop.
This was Kaila's favorite. It was the beginning of the day and went back to multiple times.

The first time she made it all the way up! The second time she got to the top and freaked out!

This was the funniest thing. She was digging and digging and digging with dirt/mulch flying EVERYWHERE! I asked her what she was looking for.
K: "my squirrel, Adada, help me, Coco...you look for Abu"
C: "Who's Abu?"
K: "a monkey".
At this point I realize that "Adada" is most likely supposed to be "Prince Ali ABABUA" from Aladdin..it is her latest obsession. Now where she came up with him being a squirrel is beyond me. Unless she's confusing a squirrel with a "street rat" (as he is commonly called in the movie)

Sorry...

2010-02-27T23:20:00.002-06:00

I'm sorry ya'll. I've been negligent to my blog. I've been totally wiped out since I started my new job. I love it, don't get me wrong. But the drive, UGH! I work flex hours (7:30-4:30) and I still hit traffic some days. Other days I drive right to and from. Those days are NICE. I cherish them.
Now, for my job. I've gotten everything down and under control. I actually really got the hang of everything at the end of my first week. But by the end of this past week, I was bored. I'd worked myself into boredom. I didn't think there would ever be an end in sight, so I just worked and worked and worked fast! Hopefully this week will be less boring. I have to learn Joanna's job because she's going out on maternity leave in August (perhaps sooner as she's having twins) and we want me to have it down pat. No questions. Easy cheesy. So we'll start that on Monday. :)

I have another post from last weekend...I just have yet to load the pics. As soon as I get a free moment, I'll do so.

First Day..

2010-02-15T21:13:00.001-06:00

Today was my first day of work. I should say it's the beginning of my career. Finally! I like the co-workers that I have met so far. There are rooms with 2 cubicles per room, therefore giving me a roommate. Her name is Joanna and I really like her. She's my age, so it will be fun! And the job itself, well, it'll take some learning. Once I get it down I'll be good though. It's my kind of OCD organization :)

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T20:58:00.003-06:00

Valentine's day has had a new meaning for the Crawford family for 3 years now. It was the day of the birth of our neice, Kaila. So needless to say, we haven't REALLY been celebrating Valentine's day. It's been Kaila's birthday. We have to do our celebrating a day or 2 before.

At Kaila's birthday party, the big hits were the "Barbie" jeep from Pop Bill ( I put Barbie in quotes because that's the type of jeep it is, but Amy doesn't do Barbie. So really it's a pink jeep with flower stickers on it) and "Sir Topham Hat" (or as Kaila calls him "Sir Top and Hat") for her Thomas the train set. She got the train set for Christmas and has since insisted that she couldn't play with it because Thomas didn't have any friends. So NOW, she has no excuse as she has about 5 of his friends now.

The cake was Kaila's choice. Oma was going through a cake magazine with her to get idea's for her cake as she wanted a "princess party" and she stumbled across this castle that she just HAD to have. Leslie (Oma, my mother-in-law) made it! Isn't it incredible?

R.I.P.

2010-02-06T18:53:00.005-06:00

We lost one of our kittens yesterday. It had to be one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever had to go through.

Here's the story:
We found him (MiniMau) crouched up in the front yard as we were heading out for a celebratory dinner on Thursday evening. It was odd when we walked up to him because he didn't get up. Normally he will get up and walk around our feet. So I picked him up and pet him for a bit and when I set him back down, he wobbled all drunk-like. I picked him up again, realizing that something wasn't right. We inspected all of his bones to make sure he hadn't gotten hit by a car. There were no broken bones. So we put him in his bed while we went to dinner. When we got home and checked on him, he hadn't moved. When we picked him up to love on him he would make this awful cry if we laid him on his back or in any position that really stretched out his tummy. (Like if we were cradling him and he leaned over the edges of our arm). There was a little blood coming from his "wenis", which was really just bloody urine. We looked up online what it could possibly be. He fit every symptom of "feline urological disorder", which is prevalent in males. (Symptoms include: bloody urine, vomitting, excessive crouching or straining, lethargy, and a couple others I can't recall.)

We decided to wait until morning to see what his condition was before doing anything drastic. He ended up being worse that next morning. Trey found him over by the 4-wheeler with vomit all around him. He was in so much pain, and couldn't hold his head up; there was just nothing we could do. He was too far gone to get him treated. It just hit him like a ton of bricks. Showed no signs of any problems up until that moment on the yard. He had been running and playing with the other 2 like 30 mins before that. He could barely look at us long enough to let us know that he was ready to go.

Trey dug a grave for him in the backyard and laid his towel in the hole, and laid MiniMau on the towel. He arranged him so that he was confortable and had his tail curled up and tucked under his chin. Next he had to do the hardest thing he could ever have to do. I had to take the truck and go to Starbucks so I didn't hear it. We were both so torn up about it that we cried all day. I am comforted in knowing that he is now in a better place.

The part that made me most sad, was that since we intended on adopting him out (both adoptions fell through), we didn't have a collar and name tag for him like we did Mau and Boy. And even though he knew that we were his home and family, he wasn't "included in ownership" with a collar and tag. I went and had one made to hang on his headstone that Trey is working on welding up.

Rest In Peace our little one. 9/29/09-02/05/10

Wooooo Hooooo!

2010-02-06T18:48:00.002-06:00

We know one of the recruiters for Schlumberger who has been working on getting me a job with them since before I got laid off. (Of course I wanted a new job, but I wanted to do it on my terms! So it was quite stressful having to bug Daryl about it every other day; because now, I no longer WANTED a new job but NEEDED it!) Finally, last Friday I got a call to interview on Monday. Did that. It went GREAT! I've never left an interview more confident! I got a call back that same day to come in for a second interview on Thursday. Did that. It went great as well. Left feeling confident again. That very day I was called with an offer! I went back down and did the paperwork and went to have my drug test. I won't know when I start as it will be dependent on the results of the drug test. (No worries, just have to prove it!) I will most likely be starting on the 15th.

Not only did I get a job this past week, but so did my mother-in-law, Trey got a few contracts signed to keep him busy, and my brother-in-law was given a promotion! It was a fantastic week for us all financially!

Marshmallows are fuuuuuun...

2010-02-02T16:19:00.003-06:00

Last night, Trey and I were watching our normal, Monday night shows. Ya know, "How I Met Your Mother", "Accidentally On Purpose", "2 and a Half Men", and "Big Bang Theory". (By the way, these are the only shows worth watching on Monday nights :) ...and they are GREAT for those of you who are clueless) While watching them, Trey got the munchies. Low and behold, what does he decide to "munch" on? MARSHMALLOWS! Seriously? Who looks in the pantry and says "I'm hungry, I want some marshmallows"?????? Besides the point...He likes to sit in front of the ottoman to watch TV if he's eating anything. So he sat there with the dogs' UNDIVIDED attention. He thought it would be fun to throw a couple around for them to chase after. I think 2/3 of the bag of marshmallows went to our entertainment of watching the dogs with them. Here are some pics and a video.

Visit with the Casey's

2010-02-02T16:10:00.004-06:00

Our good friends' Tom and Jocelyn Casey came over on Saturday to introduce us to their little boy, Ethan. It turns out that Ethan was born on Saturday, January 2, 2010 @ 2:34pm. Now, I was born on Saturday, January 2, 1982 @ 2:33pm. WEIRD! Anyway, Ethan is adorable. Noxious, but adorable! ;)
I got to feed him :)

Jocelyn and me

The finished product...

2010-01-23T10:23:00.003-06:00

A couple of posts back I mentioned (& showed) that Trey has diligently been working on some welding projects. He has since painted them and we are VERY proud of the outcome!

The DP can on top is to give a reference as to the size, again. :)

Mom & Dad's New Baby...

2010-01-23T10:12:00.003-06:00

A girl I used to work (Erin) with had a distant family member who had 2 pugs. Chip and Marla. They just decided they didn't want them anymore and started neglecting them. So she and her sister took it into their hands to adopt them out to loving homes. One family took Chip right away. So poor Marla needed a home. I asked mom & dad and got an instant "YES!", only to find out that another family reluctantly agreed to take her before I could tell Erin we wanted her. :( She said to keep in touch about it because she just didn't have a good feeling that it would work out.

About a week later I got a call from Erin, "do you still want Marla?", she said. Of course we know how I responded. I had Dad go with me to pick her up and we surprised Mom with her. She couldn't have been happier.

Marla needed to be spayed and in the process of getting her looked at, we discovered she was about 5-6 years old and was missing (or needed to be missing) nearly half of her teeth :( (poor thing) So Dad had her spayed and her teeth cleaned (& pulled) on Thursday. Here are some pictures of woozy Marla. She's so tiny compared to Fonna (26ish lbs) while Marla is 14.2 lbs!

And of course we cannot forget about Fonna :)

My husband the genius...

2010-01-19T13:30:00.002-06:00

Trey has been welding. And welding. And welding. Anything that can be welded, is welded. It's his crack. He can't stop! He went this past weekend up to Palestine where his friend's company builds 18 wheeler trailers. They had a lot of scrap steel they said he could have. Anything he wanted. No strings attached. TREY WAS IN HEAVEN! He came home with $2k in steel and they still had a TON left. He didn't want to "wear out his welcome" per say, so he just took "a little" *rolls eyes*. Additionally, he's had these 2 small air compressor tanks that he said "eh, I'll make a couple small little smokers out of those for when it's just us rather than fire up the big pit". OMG, it's adorable! The first pic is of his first piece of work. Just a big pit. Still not what he wants though, so he's selling it. He's going to make and sell make and sell until he gets exactly the one that's perfect for him. He will probably sell this little one and make us one as well. He's so stinkin' talented I can't believe it. You put something in his hands and he will figure out what to do with it (and for you preverts out there, cut it out!).

My New Baby!

2010-01-19T12:54:00.003-06:00

Since my having been laid off, we decided that I need a vehicle with a much lower car payment as well as much better gas mileage. So yesterday we went on an adventure to do just that. We went to CarMax to see how much we could get for the Tahoe. We got about what we were looking for so we starting shopping. We initially wanted something in the 10K range. But in looking at cars in that range, decided that we'd rather go an extra 5k and get something we wouldn't be embarassed to have sitting in our driveway. We looked at Nissan Altima's and the SAAB. I NEVER in a million years would have said "oh, lets go to a SAAB dealer and check out what they have". BUT, after comparing the options, mileage and price between the 2, we decided to test drive the SAAB first. Same options (fully loaded), same price, more miles on the Nissan's. Plus the SAAB is a foreign car, therefore it will last longer and have better trade-in value. And the SAAB is quite a bit classier. So after test driving it (they let us drive it back to our house to get the back seats that we'd forgotten, so we could complete our sale with no glitches) lol. It rode sooooo smooth, and had a good amount of get up and go (it's a turbo) and it was just perfect. Didn't test drive anything else, so here's my baby!

Sadly...

2010-01-17T15:40:00.002-06:00

On Friday I received the news that I was one of 10 layoffs my company was doing. I never in a million years thought that it would happen to me. I really thought my job was important enough to be safe. Well, Courtney, think again. So I am actively on a job hunt...applying to multiple jobs a day. If you hear or know of anything, please let me know! I'd really appreciate it.

First Fire

2010-01-17T15:37:00.002-06:00

I guess it was last weekend that decided to have our first fire ever in our fireplace since moving into our home. The house still kind of has the "fire" smell in it but I kinda like it!

Uhm...

2010-01-12T19:40:00.002-06:00

Well, I don't really have anything to post about, but I feel obligated to say SOMETHING since it's been a couple weeks.

I am attempting this new diet/exercise routine by trainer Leandro Carvalho which is called the "Brazil Butt Lift". Let me tell you....THIS IS INTENSE! I cannot yet keep up with the workouts and the diet is killer. The first week is 1,000 calorie limit. DO I NEED TO TELL YOU HOW STARVING I AM?! I'm gonna try and stay pretty close to that for the first 2 weeks, then after that just portion control. The program is 4 weeks, with an additional 4 week workout of a different type, then they just encourage you to mix 'em up. It's a 5 day per week work out. So by golly, I better have a butt lift like the Brazilians!!!!!!

Last Day with Narnie...

2010-01-03T11:06:00.003-06:00

I realized I had no pictures of me with Aubrey. So we had to get a few in on their last night here. Aubrey was not a happy baby that night, so we had to squeeze 'em in here and there. I'm VERY disappointed that I have no pictures of me & Narnie from this trip :(

She seems to be quite happy after her bath. She loves bath time. However, what SEEMS is no longer applicable once her jammies are on. :/

Aubrey is happy with mommy...and Mimi and PawPaw.

FINALLY got a good one!

Christmas at "Pop Bill's"

2009-12-27T00:46:00.009-06:00

It is tradition to go to Trey's dad's house on Christmas day to enjoy time there. He raises longhorns and Kaila always likes to go feed them. We discovered that they like their nuggets much better than carrots. She was so excited to get going and laughing at Trey and Oscar being silly with the carrots.

This is my favorite cow. She's beautiful.

This is Fernando, one of the steers. His horns are frikkin huge. Oscar experienced how they feel first hand. Fernando did NOT want the carrot.

Francis. The only bull.

Spook. The only one of her kind.

I FINALLY figured out how to halfway ride Oscar's RipStick. (yes, be proud) On my best run at it, Butterball (Bill's lab mix whom you can see at the bottom of the picture), decided that she wanted to ride WITH me. I was unaware of this until it set me off balance and sent me straight to my butt.

Christmas at Mom & Dad's

2009-12-27T00:27:00.005-06:00

We enjoyed our Christmas with my side of the family on 12/22. It was a great time with everyone and watching the excitement Aubrey showed in "opening" her gifts. She LOVED the rocking chair that has been passed down again and again. It was PawPaw's to begin with and of course it has been re-finised at least once, because guaranteed, he was NOT into Strawberry Shortcake!

Mom knows how much I LOVE goofy hats and found this one for me. Looks kinda like a Jamaican deal. In addition, she was given this bamboo nativity set. The camel (what we think is the camel anyway), we joked, looked like a crack pipe. Went perfect with my hat! And notice that Mom's plant in the background happens to look like pot! BAAAHAHAHAHaahha

Finished Product...

2009-12-26T10:54:00.005-06:00

So the cinnamon candy that Danielle was SUPPOSED to help me with (due to my anxiety of never making it before and being scared to death I would severely injure myself) actually worked for me. And the only thing that occurred was a runny nose and watery eyes! (due to the strength of the cinnamon oil!)

This is the tray of goodies I took to work for all to enjoy my hard work (there were actually 2 trays).

Christmas Goodies...

2009-12-18T21:57:00.004-06:00

I started nbaking last Sunday. I have made thus far chocolate chewy, chocolate chip, spritz, and peanut butter cookies; as well as mint thins, peanut butter "patties", and "puppy chow". This weekend when Narnie gets here (Yay!), I...I mean WE will make cinnamon candy. I am petrified of making it myself and causing a disaster. It has me stressed out. :D
Here are some photos of my venture.

I don't think it actually produced as many cookies as it should have...you see, my lunch was cookie dough! :D

TAAAA-DAAAAAA!

Rudolph, the red-nosed....

2009-12-18T21:43:00.003-06:00

TAHOE! Yes. I jumped on the car costume bandwagon. Only for Christmas. I swear!
The pictures really don't need commentary as they speak for themselves :D

However, at the end is a lovely picture of our Christmas lights!

Let the parties begin...

2009-12-11T22:09:00.007-06:00

Our Mann Eye Christmas party was supposed to be last Friday. Us wussy Texas folk apparently can't handle a TEEEENY bit of snow so it was rescheduled to this evening. It was a lovely time. I did NOT win a door prize, yet again *big surprise*, there was a girl fight (over what? I really don't know), drinking, dancing, and being merry. My carpool and I chose not to stay the whole time (things were getting a little crazy*Lisa being out of control crying drunk*haha, you know I love you)...but here are a few pictures of our grand ol' time.

me and my friend Jani

Cheers!! (Dina, Lisa, Christy, & me)

me and Dr. Baumohl

Silly girls

Me, Lindsey and Dina

my creation...

2009-12-04T14:43:00.003-06:00

I decided I didn't like any of the wreaths I'd seen last year. I made this one last year for the inside of the back door (french doors from the living room). I also decided that the one on my front door was cheesy and not worthy of being hung for all to see, so in the garbage it went. I made another "ball" wreath. Opposite colors this time, for the front door. I am much happier to show off our ugly front door with this one. :)
Of course Danielle wanted one too, so she has one anxiously awaiting its new owner.

PRRETTTTTTY!

O' Tannenbaum, O'Tannenbaum...

2009-12-04T14:30:00.005-06:00

Oh. My. Gosh. Our tree. It's ENORMOUS!
Here goes the story of the Crawford Christmas tree.
Our friend, Steve, has a Christmas tree farm. Neat. We get a free tree. The weekend we had planned to up and pick one out, cut it down (do all the fun things involved in a real tree), Steve tells us "Oh, you can't come up this weekend, it's family weekend and I didn't know that when I told you it was a good weekend." We ask if he can bring one back for us (first mistake).
Steve: "Suuuuure! What size would you like?"
Trey: "Eh, 6 foot, MAYBE 7 foot."
Steve: "Sure, no problem."
Steve gets back from the "farm" with our beloved tree.
Steve: "Well we had a big storm up there this year, so all the trees were leaning on each other which made for a bad side."
Courtney: "Perfect! That would be great to put in the corner!"
Steve: "Well, I dug around through them all and found the one that looked the best, which happened to be on the end, so it's NICE!"
We unload it from his truck, put it in ours, get home and put it in the stand on the driveway (second mistake).
Courtney: "Wow, we're going to have to trim this thing a lot!"
Trey: "I told him 6-7 feet tall...not TEN!" (No lie, the thing was the size of my Tahoe...Steve will NOT be picking our tree out next year!)
So we trimmed it up and decided that it should stay on the driveway overnight until the next evening to put it in the house so that all the sap could kinda "dry up". (3rd mistake) GUESS WHAT! It rained the next day. And not only did it rain, but it effing poured! So it stayed out another night. We drug it in the house the NEXT day. Sap, pine needles, leaves, you name it...EVERYWHERE. You ask, "do vacuum cleaners like sappy pine needles?" NO! THEY DO NOT! That was another disaster in itself. Being the size that it was, in comparison to our fake one last year, I have like 1/3 the ornaments the sucker needs. Ya know how every year there's some ornaments that just don't make the cut? Well, even those made it this year. And no, a tree topper does not fit. Here is a photo of our lovely tree.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2009-12-04T14:22:00.006-06:00

Welp, Houston has set another weather record this December. Our first, and possibly only, snowfall was today, 12/4/09. Last year our first (and only if I remember correctly) was on 12/10/08. I'd have to say that this years' "blizzard" was a bit worse than last year's. Here are a few pictures...

This is what I drove home in. (and the light had JUST turned green...I was NOT being dangerous!)

This is the house looking from the street.

This is the backyard standing at the back door.

Here I am "covered" in snow!

This little guy had the dogs all riled up on our walk tonight. The neighbors down the street built him. Isn't he cute?!