Baby, Slow Down

Just when you've caught one-half of a breath following the flurry of a Crawford Christmas, the 27th brings around the anniversary of Grace Caroline's birth...five years ago our last angel (of destruction?) descended and rounded out our happy crew, so why not gather with the extended fam to have a belated Christmas dinner, gift exchange and a My Pretty Pony birthday cake while watching the Broncs let another one slip through those orange fingers? Why not, indeed!
Grandma K knows a way to a girl's heart...Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Cafe! We can only thank the public library for supplying us with what seems to be an unending variety of the little red-headed girl's videos ("Straw-buh-buh-buh-berry, so extraordinary!") and a previously undiscovered outlet for Grace's already-teeming imagination.
She also received the Snow White DVD, Snow White and her Seven Dwarves dolls, (are you with me on this? It's not 'dwarves'. It's 'dorfs.' Right?) and, drum roll please:

The beloved new bike, received by all Crawfords upon their 5th birthdays! This one is princessed-out: a plastic holder for, I guess, holding things, and a water bottle! This spring, Gracie rocks Candleglow Street! Lock up your small children and animals!

How can you describe Gracie? She's such a girly-girl: all ribbons and bows and pink fluff. A pure cuddle-cake, with a belly laugh/snort laugh like Gloria's on Madagascar 2: irresistible.

She's I Corinthians 13: 4-5: as the caboose, she suffereth long through many practices, games, meets, concerts, recitals, and there's nothing trivial about it: Grace is kind. She envieth not, but is usually content with her own little corner of the universe, and would love it if everyone would join her and just be happy.

Grace doesn't behave herself unseemly (usually!), seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. She strongly dislikes being the butt of a joke, receiving undue attention, and dealing with people who don't share.

Grace came to me after a playdate and informed me, incredulously, that her friend "didn't even know what a 'diva' is." And though the obvious joke is to say that after meeting her, he surely has a firm grasp on the term's meaning, it's not even true. On her worst day, Grace is welcoming and friendly, sugar 'n spice and everything nice, but if you equip her with pom-poms and a nice house soundtrack, nothin' but fierce!

With apologies to Andy Williams, Whitney Houston, et. al.

In a Crawford Christmas, not a lot of night wind, little lambs, shepherd boys, mighty kings or even people everywhere...but the question still stands: Do you hear what I hear?

"A child, a child, donning a red nose. She is waiting for the curtain to close."

Gracie was a reluctant Rudolph for the Adventure Club Pre-K holiday program, but on the precious scale, this kid and her peers went to 11 (for all my Spinal Tap-types).

Do you see what I see?

"A child, a child. Assaulting a kid named Cole. Guessing how many M&M's were in the jar was his only goal."

Met it, too. A mere 200+ M&M's off, but did the bragging and wonderment and pride cease, even to this day? Nay, indeed. You'd think he'd won the Nobel Prize. Apparently, it's just this easy. Ahem.

Do you know what I know?

"A child. A child, with his huge blue eyes. Slapped some google-eyes on his Snowman just after he won the prize."

Necessity is the mother of invention: the huge eyes wouldn't stick to the chenille stem wrapped around the candy cane to make a reindeer, so...

No more verses. But, as always, more children and pictures to caption than any number of stanzas allow.

Evie, with Cooper and Aubrey, busily constructing their sugar-cube igloo with chopsticks. Cooper turned into a major liability, and was banned from the table due to his constant knocking and collapsing of said igloo. What a punk.
Belly and her powdered-sugar-donut-hole-with-peppermint-patty-and-Hershey's-kiss-hat-held-together-with-green-icing-sporting-mini-chocolate-chips-for-a-face-and/or-buttons-edible-snowman-craft-project. That took positively forever to type.

Shaney, Carter, Taj and Gerardo, preppin' to "read." Obviously.

Nothin' like those Crawford eyes, I'll tell ya what...

Shaney Ro's holiday party consisted of a ridiculously bountiful breakfast (cookies! yee-haw!) and opportunity to present the parents the contents of the construction-paper suitcase housing their passports and projects representing several countries and their respective holiday traditions. He especially enjoyed the cut-and-paste project from Australia: a kangaroo and a surfer. Nothing says Christmas like...a kangaroo...and...a surfer. Is what I always say.

The good stuff: Ty's Bear den creation for the holidays that he keeps not for himself, or his buddies, or his mom (best mom in the world," thank you very much), but his other main girl.

Belly-Boo, holiday concert, violin. Again with the praises for Clear Sky Elementary, Douglas County School District, and the administrators who fight for these programs in the face of severe budget cuts. It takes courage to hold that belief that school should enrich and teach the whole child and to do more than pay lip service to the concept that the arts are for all kids, not just the advantaged that can afford private lessons. May I paraphrase Dumbledore? We live in perilous times, Harry. It's tempting to do the easy thing. We need more people who do the right thing.

Welcome Christmas, come this way!

Shane 'n Dane, watching Polar Express 3-D at our little annual Young Women's Santa's Workshop babysitting service, first Tuesday in December.

That's good stuff, right there. Jealous much?
Clear Sky Choir's blondest and most beautiful soloist. Can't say it enough: what a blessing to live in a community where our kids are treated to the arts as part of their curriculum, and that within that curriculum are offered music of both sacred and secular traditions. They also belted out "Dealing with the Reindeer", a rap in which it was painfully obvious that for all its strengths, Douglas County ain't a hotbed of diversity. Hearing those kids say 'Yo!' was nothing shy of painful.

Grandma K's great holiday treat is to take her grandkids to Disney's ice shows, one of my own favorite memories from when I was at least Grace's age. Pre-show they had a Princess gown display, and my ladies got a nice sneak-preview of Tiana and all the Princess and the Frog madness that undoubtedly will hit our house in the coming weeks.

Ariel and Eric. Awwwww...

Mick and Min. Awwww...

Cousin Colette, Grandma K, Eve and Grace at the outdoor mall Northfield @ Stapleton, where they offer an amazing outdoor light display of moving lights set to the music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra arrangements. Even more amazing to me: all this Christmas merriment at a place where for most of my life only existed landing strips for the airport. Nothin' changes but the changes, baby.

Gracie's newest ornament: only took a moment before she broke one of Cinderelly's arms.

Only one other thing could be more perfect: competitive swimming Barbie. Maybe next year.

The fellas, Qui-Gon, Darth Maul and Obi Wan. Holy Star Wars!

Just a Plain Good Time

If you're gonna study Native American cultures, eastern Colorado's your place. Clear Sky's 3rd graders descended upon the Plains Conservation Center in Aurora (mama's old stomping grounds, boo-yah!) to study all manner of culture on a ridiculously cold and snowy day.
Game face. He takes the Cheyenne tribe and all its accoutrements VERY seriously.
A replica of what home would have been for these folks...when I really want to scare myself and the kids on a cold day, I utter the magic three words: "Crossing the plains." If that thought wasn't sobering enough, imagine these folks, who aren't 'going' anywhere. This is where they were back in the day. By choice. Until they were driven off. Wow.

Bob the tour guide, who was informative and entertaining and noteworthy in every way. So impressed with the kids that they could properly identify the animal pictured behind him as a bison, then was crestfallen to learn it wasn't the product of good education, just brainwashing: Clear Sky's students are all Bison, and not a little proud of it.

Building a tee-pee. Tysie does this multiple times a year with scouts, I'm thinking his fellow teammates don't enjoy that advantage. Gratifying to see my boy take the helm in every group and activity, I think I've got a born leader on my hands. Must be daddy's genes.

This Tiger Didn't Get His Windshield Shattered

Our Tiger earns a Bobcat...love how Pack 780 makes this into such an event: they dim the lights, have all the adult leaders chant around a huge Native American drum, and as they pound, they give the boys their war paint, lead them in a few pledges (I'm pretty sure I promised to give up our Swiss bank account numbers, but I couldn't swear to it), and usher them onto the path to Eagle. Apparently I'm supposed to help in that endeavor. Hm.

Given our family's discomfort with fundraising, it's hard to believe that Shaney finished third in his den with popcorn sales. Nearly impossible to believe, come to think of it.
And just because it was such a great shot: the only solution to keeping an entitled chocolate lab away from your Happy Meal.

It's Christmas, All Over Again

The Crawford yuletide season begins here: historic downtown Castle Rock's 74th Annual Starlighting...our third year participating in small-town Americana, one of the big selling points of this community.
Live nativity, hot chocolate, carolers, horse-drawn carriage rides (see last year's Starlighting entry regarding our avoidance of that epic line, even though it was lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with...them?). Dang this economy! Budget cuts means no fireworks this year, but I'll take out the thinned crowds anytime.
But, baby, it's cold outside...

After what seems like oodles of posts featuring "normal" shots, may I present Shane, back in true form? I have no idea how this is even physically possible.

The blessed event (a daytime pic would be more instructive of how cute that star looks perched on Castle Rock, but would entirely miss the point).

Matt still can't believe he spent a Saturday afternoon bundled up on Wilcox Street just to watch someone flip a switch, but it's all good: it gives me eighteen kinds of goosebumps to live in a town where you can still have a civic ceremony wherein someone offers a prayer, carols are sung, and regardless of your level of belief in the traditional trappings of Christmas, you respect others' rights to honor those traditions. Model it, America. It's our only hope.

Decking our halls: Gracie, donning a holly berry wreath as a crown. She's rarely without one.

Trimmin' the tree...we sprung for a live one this year (we didn't get our act together in enough time to procure a permit to cut our own tree at a state park nearby, but Lowe's is scenic, right?). Thanks to many, many years of Grandma K's raiding of Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments and bringing them to us each Thanksgiving dinner, we have more flair than any tree can possibly hold. Each of those ornaments is a special story and memory, and I get overly sentimental and (don't tell anyone!) not a little snippy when one is dropped. Watch your back when you come near my tree, people.

Evie placing the traditional U2 disc on the top of the tree...how the kids wished we did something more traditional and predictable. They've come to the wrong house for that, now, haven't they?

All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go...

All Hallow's Eve.
Halloween is a mere notch beneath Christmas in this hacienda...we nabbed the crew on this gorgeous late October afternoon many hours after the 7 a.m. warm-up for Eve's far-away swim meet, and immediately before we put socks on Shane and headed up the street to a neighborhood open house. Hated to blow them off early, but it must needs be that we race home for our traditional mummy dogs and orange soda floats, and the usual wrangling over whether or not their candy buckets were sufficient for their needs. Daddy did the honors this year, while I stayed home, doling out candy to hardly anybody at all. Hmph.
The boys suffered the worst indignity possible this holiday: mom ordered the wrong costume size for the coveted Clone Trooper WITH FULL HELMET costume , and were forced to wear last year's gear. By the purest of miracles, they woke up alive and socially acceptable the very next morning and every day thereafter.

The mammoth snowstorm three days prior to Halloween held all of Denver hostage, which isn't a bad thing: school cancellations, loads of sledding and hour upon hour of movies, popcorn, homemade cookies and computer games kept us delightfully behind the eight-ball with holiday prep. The ward Trunk-or-Treat went off without a hitch, and even provided these great snow piles for our goblins' lounging pleasure. I'm sure they were every bit as comfortable as they looked.

Alice, walking through her Wonderland with all the other Pre-K students in their custume parade.

Officially THE cutest Halloween party craft idea I've ever seen, and I've worked quite a few soirees in my time. I'm horrified to acknowledge that it wasn't of my making. But is it cute enough to birth another child, just so I could use it at their Halloween party someday? I didn't think so, either.

Finished product: two carved, two painted, all cute.

Shaney-Shaney-Bo-Baney-Banana-Fana-Fo-Faney-Me-Mi-Mo-Maney...

October 30, 2002. Lovely day to deliver a boy. So I did. Seven years later, he guts pumpkins. It's like we've come full circle.
Our boy Shane...the only words that do him justice are "irrepressible" and "uninhibited". Myriad adjectives apply and all, but will inevitably fall short when describing my super-bright, energetic, single-minded, perfectionistic angel baby, pictured here with his current love in life: the Power Miners (cue dramatic music and strobe lights here).
Mrs. Yoshioka's first grade classroom has proven to be a whirlwind of delight: little man can't wait to bound out of bed, inhale an Olympic-sized amount of breakfast, and head off to Clear Sky to run and giggle and push all the boundaries the way only Shane can. I've mentioned before that kindergarten was not his favorite experience, and to watch him blossom in this environment has done all of us a world of good.
Shane just wrapped up his fall soccer season, and has been wowing all comers in his swim stroke clinics (still has a backstroke that'll knock you out!)...and when you're an athlete at this level, your nutritional needs can be best met by this sample lunch: four (4) chocolate-chip cookies, apple juice, Starburst, Smarties, two (2) Tootsie Pops, and a couple of fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls.
When he blows out the candles on that birthday cake, here's my wish: that he always holds that unbridled enthusiasm, joy of discovery, tenderness and confidence. I love this kid like crazy cakes, and I dare you to resist him.