Saturday, April 18, 2009

Our Middle Name Is Emergency Room ....

So, Dad got to come home on Good Friday and spend it and Saturday with us. It was a very beautiful day (a little windy) so we decided to grab some KFC - the normal picnic fare - and go to Freestone Park. We finished lunch, played on the toys, and then decided to go ride the train. On the way to the train, the boys, that includes Dad, needed to have a race up one of the hills. At some point in the race feet got stepped on and tripped over, and there was an enormous wreck of bodies. Poor Liam got smashed somewhere in it all. He sat down on the curb and whimpered that his arm hurt. We knew it was bad when he didn't want to ride the train. We took him to urgent care, and they told us that it wasn't broken but severely dislocated, and they couldn't do anything about it. They told us we would need to go to the ER instead. So, here is Liam in the ER. It turned out to only be a sprain - thank heaven for that!

Naughty Daddy! Don't you know it's illegal to blow up the latex gloves?! Seriously though, after a $75 co-pay and $750 deductible, I think a dumb blown up latex glove is ok!


It makes me sad to see a little body in a big hospital bed! I'm so grateful it was only sprained!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Our 3rd Season! What a Star!

I bet you can't guess which one is Lex! This is his 3rd season of soccer, but it is a new team. The other 2 seasons he was a Lightning Bolt. Now he's a Dragon. He's a very ferocious dragon, isn't he? He is doing so well and having a lot of fun. Last season he would sit in the corner of the field and eat grass, but this season he is really in the game, making all kinds of rocket and growly sounds as he runs. I think it helps that this team is made up of school and church friends. He makes us laugh! Lex told us that he really wants to score a goal this season. So Cort told him that if he makes one, we will buy him a horn for his bike (Liam got one for his birthday. There was a little bit of horn envy going on when this deal was made). If he makes 2 goals, we'll buy him a siren. I'm not sure how we'll mount a siren on his bike ....

Monday, April 13, 2009

The big 4!!!!

Liam turned 4 this year! So, every 4 years our kids get a gigantic, enormous, ridiculous birthday party. This year was Liam's Big One. And it was FUN!!!

This is Liam's pose for his birthday invitations. He's told me that this is his "nice smile."


His actual birthday fell on a Thursday. So we did presents and confetti that morning before Lex went to school.


He has grown like a weed and grew out of his bike! He has been riding without training wheels for a while, and his little bike was just keeping him from rocket warp speeds. This one is bigger and very fast.




Liam decided that he didn't want the traditional birthday cake for his birthday. He wanted birthday doughnuts.

And here's the pinata!!!! It is not a party if there's not a pinata!!! This Spider-Man is taller than Liam. It was seriously the coolest thing EVER!!! The thing itself weighed a good 10 pounds, and then we added 10 more pounds of candy. Liam could hardly wait to start beating him up. I think that should worry me ....

The building of the cake!!! Dad is pure genius! He made a train cake because trains are Liam's most favorite thing in the universe. Dad used Kit Kat bars for the railroad ties and Twizzlers for the tracks. He stabbed Rolos with a toothpick, which became the wheels with axles. Then he placed each individually decorated cake on top. They were so cute!




My sweet Lily enjoying the food.


Here is the Bounceoline (pronounced like trampoline) and Uncle Timmy coming down the slide. It's fun for all ages!

And here's Uncle Stephen having a turn! Silly little kids!


McKina and Bodin's mom with baby McCade.


Uncle Brent and Aunt Amy


What's a party without cotton candy?!?!



The line for the cotton candy. At least they're waiting patiently! It was good stuff!


It was surprisingly cool for April, so here's Papa Crandall keeping warm by the BBQ. It was still warm from the cooking of the hotdogs and brats.


Presents are so fun!


Rustin, Randon, Riley, and Reese's mom and dad.


Is it Rustin or Randon? I never can remember, but he sure is a cute kid! He's getting ready for a piece of cake!



Every party needs a clown too! We were lucky to get several. These 3 decided to take their own silly clown pictures when the camera became available. Silly, silly ladies! Did you really think I would keep these secret?!? (Michelle, Helena, and Jennie - My good, good friends)



Oh yeah!!! The beating of Spider-Man! He had it coming, you know. He was hanging outside the whole time, taunting anyone who walked by. Here is the birthday boy giving Spider-Man his long awaited beating. This looked like a good shot!


Heidi got some air in this shot! She was scary! I think her two older brothers taught her well!


The first lost extremity. He didn't need that arm anyway! He's Spider-Man!


Lex going for it. He was actually the one who loosened Spider-Man's arm. Lex was very excited about that.


And here's Connor! He broke the stick! Luckily we saved him and a couple of the other bigger boys for last. The poor stick really didn't have a chance.


Not to worry though! We had a much stronger, thicker curtain rod to use instead! Here is Bryan finishing the dirty work. He took Spider-Man down right through the middle. When it was done, we let the kids go nuts picking up the candy, but Bryan stood by, cool and collected. He was the man who took down Spider-Man! This one will go down in all history!

The candy gathering frenzy.


Getting ready to blow out the candles on the cake!

Oops! The candles did get blown out, but not by Liam! I love that Liam just stood there and watched as Gavin blew out his candles! That is hilarious!


And here is sweet Lily again, enjoying her food! She's very proficient at eating!


We had an incredible time! There was food coming out our ears, screaming, chaos, crying, only a little bit of blood. It was the best day EVER! We are extremely grateful to everyone who came and made this day this fun! Even though pinatas, bounceolines, and cotton candy are all great, they aren't as fun without so many people to share them with!

Best Friends

I love these little Monsters!!!!!!!




Lex and Liam playing some kind of super hero game. Liam's getting the arm laser beam. Watch out for those - they're pretty bad! I love that they play together and are best friends!

The Queen's Birthday Party

Well, pictures of us eating birthday cake is better than nothing! It was the first day of Spring Break and Mom's birthday - if those aren't good enough reasons to celebrate, I don't know what is! Cortney and me made a yummy dinner of pork and potatoes, and then it was the normal chaos that accompanies any Crandall get-together!



We make the birthday person their very own cake so when they blow out their candles their spit is contained to their own piece!



I love you Mom!

Dress Up

I was downstairs when I heard Lily having a fit in her room. I went up to check on her and realized that all she wanted were her black Sunday shoes. So as I was getting them down, she ran to her closet and wanted one of her "pree" (pretty) dresses. Actually, she wanted her Easter dress, but I wasn't about to let her prance around the house in that. So I got down her Halloween costume. She actually cheered and clapped her hands. I put it on her and her little black shoes. She was in heaven. These pictures are of her posing for the camera, showing her shoes and her pree dress.





These just crack me up! She was running around actually doing "fighting moves" and making "fighting sounds".


"The things that are hard to bear, are sweet to remember."

~Lucious Annaeus Seneca

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

~Mark Twain