...not so glamorous

Levi was a cuddler all day today, that should have been my first clue that something was up. But instead I enjoyed every minute. We lounged all day and didn check off a single item on the "to-do" list. Tonight I found myself scrubbing barf off floors, stools, benches, little boys and little girls. (Now I was wishing I had gotten a little further on today's laundry). So goes life! After getting Levi cleaned up and set up for the night. Trevin announced that he wasn't feeling good either. Looks like this stomach bug is starting round two at our house. Hopefully it won't be as bad this time around.

I love being a mom, even the not so glamorous parts.... the cleaning up throw up and sanitizing, then re-sanitizing, just to start the process all over again parts. With 2 down and out I can only guess that it is going to be a long night and still I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Boys are just trouble!

Today Levi, my barely one year old, got stuck in the bathroom. My only guess... He crawled in there, looked behind the door, accidentally closed it by leaning on it. He didn't worry about it and moved on to his favorite bathroom activity. Brushing his teeth. (This requires climbing onto the step stool and hanging on to the counter for dear life!) Next,  he opened the drawer to find his toothbrush (and Chapstick, combs, floss, etc). 

This is when the problems started. He can't get off the stool, he usually whines for help. I heard him whine, went to the bathroom and couldn't open the door, even though it was obviously not locked. I pushed harder, nothing.  Then I pushed really hard, nothing! I knew exactly what the problem was...  When the bathroom drawer is open the door can't open!  I tried telling him to close the drawer, which was pointless. When the crying got louder I tried yelling at him to close the drawer, which was even more pointless! I looked under the door and couldn't see his feet, which is how I knew he was on the stool. Then I tried pushing the door really hard to try to see in. I caught a small glimpse of his hands clinging to the counter and to his tooth brush. I tried everything I could think of, no luck. With reinforcements on the way, I was seriously considering having to break the door, but couldn't figure out how to make sure Levi would be out of the way. Then our miracle happened... After 35 minutes of him screaming,  multiple phone calls, treats and colorful cards shoved under the door (to encourage him to get off the stool),  a yard stick, 2 marshmallow guns reassembled, a Swiffer handle, video taken under the door to assess the situation and absolutely no progress. Levi closed the drawer and I was able to go in and comfort my traumatized one year old. 

Oh what a morning! Glad he is safe and seems to have gotten over it... after all he was back at the counter again this afternoon! 

Crazy dreams

Gage has been anticipating the day that Trevin would be old enough to appreciate Star Wars. Yesterday was the day. Gage and Trevin hunkered down on the couch and popped in Star Wars #4 (on VHS). Trevin was glued to his seat and had lots of questions. Is Chewbacca a bear? What are those light swords? Why are they talking like that? Did the bad guy really win? It was all very entertaining from my perspective!  When the movie got over, we quickly got ready for bed and tucked the kids in.
By 1:00am Trevin was waking me up to see if he could sleep in my bed. I let him climb in and he proceeded to tell me, " I had a dream about a dragon, at the end he bit my head off, but it's ok because that's just what dragons do, and it was just a dream." Poor kid. I feel right to sleep but apparently he didn't. Next thing I know he is waking up Gage to see if there really are "things" on our ceiling fan. (I talked to Trevin this morning and he said the "things were flying fish!).  We tried to reassure Trevin that there wasn't anything on the fan. But, pretty soon Trevin decided he should probably just go back to his bed.(I'm sure he was worried that fish would fall on him is he stayed in our bed!)
 I thought that would be the end of it. I was wrong. Next, I woke up to Trevin waking up Gage, telling him that their were monkeys under his bed! He climbed into bed next to Gage this time, but again never fell asleep. He kept asking, "Dad, can you see the monkeys under my bed?" Gage told him no and he tried to help Trevin understand and teach him "Sometimes at night we think things are real, but they aren't really real." It didn't help. Trevin suggested that they get a flashlight and just go check. Gage continued to explain that there weren't any monkeys. Trevin was persistent. After about the 6th time of suggesting the flashlight check, Gage finally gave in. The climbed out of bed, got a flashlight. Trevin turned it on... then he wouldn't walk past our doorway. He shined the light into his room and said, "I don't see them." Gage encouraged Trevin that they should get closer to look. They did and Trevin came back to report. "We didn't see any monkeys with the flashlight, but when I looked with just my eyes they were there! I saw the red lights! their eyes!"   Trevin wanted to sleep next to Gage. "Dad you will keep me safe." Gage promised he would and we finally all got settled, except Trevin. He decided it would be better if he slept in the middle of the bed. So we rearranged and Trevin had one more request. "Will you hold me tight with both arms?" Poor kid! I held him tight with both arms! He still didn't fall asleep, but apparently I did, which resulted in loosening my hold. He would wake me up and remind me to hold tight. He also woke Gage up regularly to ask, "Dad are you still keeping me safe?" and reminding him "Sometimes things aren't really real huh!" Eventually he did fall asleep. When he woke up this morning he looked around and said, "Whew, It's finally morning!"
I'm not sure if this is a result of Star Wars and all of the crazy characters... or maybe it's the treasure maps we made yesterday. (We made up all kinds of obstacles to pass though like Snake Forest, Mighty Monster Land, and Pirates in Alligator water.) Either way, I think we'll tone down the imagination toady so hopefully everyone can get some sleep tonight!

Christmas Letter 2012

Merry Christmas! We hope that you are enjoying the spirit of the Holidays and surviving the hustle and bustle of this time of year. 2012 has brought great times and memories at our home. We enjoy the happy chaos that can always be found here. We find ourselves constantly moving, running errands, working on projects, or going to the park to play.

Gage comes home late most nights. It feels likes he always makes it home right after I’ve completed the bedtime routine and have the kids nestled away. Of course, that is just in time for them to jump out of bed and get all riled up. (I wouldn’t have it any other way!)

I love staying home with the kids. I’ve tried to be more organized; it’s a work in progress. Through it, I’ve managed to complete a couple of bucket list projects. One was a quilt, which went together a lot easier than I had anticipated. I was almost done and thinking that I might do another, when I sewed through my thumb. Ouch, maybe I’ll wait a few years!

Trevin loves to be active and outside. After a few very comical falls during the summer, he has become an expert bike rider. Images of him hitting the back end of a parked car, trying to go up a curb, and trying to go off the curb will be lasting memories. He also learned that you can’t look behind you while riding if you want to stay upright! All of that along with his first season of soccer has really toughened him up.  Did you know that soccer players are not allowed to cry? It’s fantastic! This year Trevin also discovered that he loves demolition derbies, pie and football!

Cheyenne is our little trouble maker and we deserve every bit of what she dishes out! After all, we did start calling her “Cheyennigan” before she even started crawling. In 2012, she cut her own hair, stuck a small ball up her nose and decided to “just throw away” all of the house rules! “If we throw them away we can do whatever we want.” We are not sure what kind of animal lives in our basement, but we keep finding empty milk and juice boxes tucked away in various places in our storage room.  We love her and she truly makes us laugh everyday! Cheyenne has surprised us with how fast she can memorize lyrics for songs and she deploys incredibly creative problem solving techniques.

Levi is the best baby. He sleeps great, he eats great, and he only cries when he is hungry. He just mastered the stairs.  He can go up, down and turn around at the top! He now has full run of the house!  Grandma recently showed him how to play the piano, and now if anyone tickles the ivory, Levi is there within seconds to pound out his own tune. If at any time we haven’t seen him crawling around, it means he has planted himself in his room playing with matchbox cars. He loves those little cars.  It’s fun to see his personality develop.

We are grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can correct the many mistakes we make. We know that life is a journey that is meant to be enjoyed. We strive everyday to express our gratitude for our many blessings. We are very blessed. We hope that you feel the love of the Savior in your lives this season! Merry Christmas!

Love, The Crabtrees

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Happy thanksgiving, I am so thankful for the life that I have. For my amazing Husband, who is my best friend and a wonderful father. For my kids that can be a handful, but make my life wonderfully busy. I am grateful for a Savior that died for me, so that I can repent as a strive daily to become a better person. I am grrateful for all the family I have that are always willing to help out!

 I hope your day was as wonderful as ours! Wednesday I spent ALL DAY baking. I made 5 pies and over 100 rolls. Yikes, our house smelled so fantastic. Levi helped me by standing guard by the flour and the sugar! Trevin has been learnign Thanksgiving songs at preschool which he come home and teaches to Chey and they love to sing them! It's pretty cute. 

 Thursday Gage spent the morning playing in the ward turkey bowl and came home just in time to help me get the kids ready. I lounged in the morning and watch the Thanksgivings Day Parade on TV with the kids. They loved the big balloons  especially Hello Kitty and Spider Man. We ate lunch with my side of the family and it was delicious. Around 4 we headed to the Crabtrees and played a couple games before calling it a night. Well, some of us called it a night. Cassidy, Lindsay, Janae and I actually left home around 9 pm and hit the stores. It's been years since I've done black Friday shopping with the crowds because I always worked Thanksgiving night. We had so much fun and didn't make it home until 5:30 am. I hope we do it again next year.

Friday morning Gage and I dropped kids off at Grandmas house and we headed of on a weekend get-away!  We went to Island Park with Justin and Heather and stayed for 3 days. We rented an awesome cabin that had a private hot tub. It was a fun couples get away. Gage brought up the projector which made for great movie nights. We played games, ate great food, talked lots, explored the lake, went shooting, and discovered that rocks make an awesome chirping noise if you skip them across a frozen lake! We even woke up to snow Sunday morning. The picture above is what the roads looked like on the way to church. We had a great, relaxing weekend away from the kids and the kids had a great time at Sugar's and Grandma's and didn't miss us at all.  I'll add pics if I ever get them off of Gage's phone. 

10 months

 Ten months old. It is amazing how much they change in a month. Levi is a pro at crawling and has just started to walk along the furniture. He is always on the go and is fast! He has started to "run" away from you if you chase him, which is funny because he gets so excited. No matter where you leave him in the house he eventually always makes his way back to the same spot. In his room playing with the cars! He loves them! He says DADADA now but not as consistently as Gage would like, BABABA just started and usually means bottle. His newest.... AHHDAA, translation is "ALL DONE". 

He is getting harder to manage at church sand we very rarely make it through all 3 hrs. I have resorted to tying him to the bench in sacrament meeting a couple of times because it makes him happier. I think he doesn't like being held in one spot, but if he thinks he is sitting on his own then it's ok. He has done great with sleeping and this is his favorite position! 

Oh I think that looks so uncomfortable, and I always pull his legs out from under him, but he always curls right back up. It is so funny the places this kid will fall asleep. Like at the top of the stairs, Or laying his head on the bottom stair, under his crib, when he decides he is tired, he just gives in. He already has 3 teeth, which he likes to grind! erg. Hopefully he'll grow out of that quick. He eats everything we eat, just blended up. I haven't bought any baby food with Levi, I did have about a weeks worth given to me. But other than that I have made all of his food. It was way easier than I expected and I think he has gotten a better variety, plus the food doesn't stink.  His favorite foods right now are oatmeal (instant), noodles, french toast, yogurt, cheese, and his bottle.