Blue and Gold, in Two Parts

Pack 780's Blue & Gold Banquet was held at New Hope Lutheran this year, in mid-blizzard; upon moving here, my boys were certain that if the Star Wars cast were to show up in Castle Rock on a Sunday, they'd head to New Hope for services. Imagine how honored they were to be invited into that beloved sanctuary to eat a potluck and sit through a 2-hour-plus ceremony honoring them and the several others who give their time to scouting. As always, the catch is that by the time the boys are all honored, none of them are paying attention.

One of these young men doing their duty to God and country just happens to be Shane. To date, our only clue to his identity is that he's one of the several Tiger cubs wearing an orange neckerchief.
The scouts aren't the only ones self-entertaining themselves. There's a whole raft of siblings wreaking havoc in the back of the room...Matt and I are the mean parents who make them sit with us in an effort to curb the wrestling, screaming, impromptu games of tag, etc.

More self-entertaining. But of all the pictures I have of Shane to this point, this is the most representative.

Pack 764's Blue and Gold was held in the church cultural hall, featuring, as you will readily detect, loads of spaghetti. Apparently, the Crawford kids don't use utensils at their house.

Ever.

My Funny Valentines

Sweets for the sweet.

The fifth graders are the very definiton of fun...what a fantastic age for parties and social interaction in general. One of Eve's classmates asked me if I had yet mounted the picture I took of him at the holiday party and hung it over our mantel.
Attention, 5th grade boys! When you want this reaction from a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, all you have to do is...
let the air out of this. Several times. Mickey knows all the tools of the trade.

No school on party day, so Gracie's the delighted tag-along to all manner of Valentine celebration and mayhem. We start 'em early...Eve's donut-laden extravaganza began at 9:30.

Shane's valentine exchange and eat-o-rama didn't begin until 3:00, but an hour is plenty of time to eat yourself sick.

I don't know what the deal is with this face, but I get it more and more these days. Can it pass for a smile? Smirk? Other?

The clandestine shot of a child enjoying a valentine card. Fabulous.

A boy and his stash.

The picture of 3rd grade bliss.

We have no pictures of the sugar crash because the flashing lights from the emergency vehicles ruined the effect.

The obligatory decorating of the Valentine bag...Gracie's always got Eve at her back to help with design and foam-letter placement.

Speedy delivery! So much easier when you don't individually address them! It only took me 4 kids and 10+ years to figure it out, not a second too soon.

Let's Get Ready to Ruuuuuuuuuuumble...

Of the approximately 80 pictures I've taken of Ty's 2009-2010 Bobcat Basketball season, only 5 are presentable. And when I say "presentable", I'm using the broadest definition possible.

That handsome blonde boy, also known as "T-Craw", has really ramped up his game: scrappy and aggressive, steady ball-handling, stellar shot selection and everything else.
Ty and his Assistant Coach. Students of the game, if nothing else.

He's taking it down...always love watching my boy play any game, but this season has just been fun: you no longer console yourself with thoughts that it's just their first season and that their confusion and lack of skill is understandable. They're actually running plays, helping each other out, passing, and not blinking back tears every time a whistle blows.

My only decent shots are from the back or while he's standing. Work with me. Pretend this is impressive.

The Bobcats have come a LONG way, and here's the proof that it's been a blast: when we mention the upcomng end-of-season party, Ty actually groaned.

A Tribe Called Quest, Kinda

Diarama-rama!

Ty's a paper-shover; he owns plenty of folders, but has a fundamental ideological dispute with actually using them. Papers are meant to be randomly crammed into the Clone Wars backpack, never to be seen again.

So when, by happenstance, one runs into one's teacher while leaving a Wednesday evening basketball practice and said teacher casually mentions that even if you are done with your Native American project, you shouldn't bring it in any earlier than Friday morning, you aren't even phased, because you aren't even aware that there IS a Native American project.

That's when you and mom run like bats outta you-know-where and scour the very dregs of Michael's diarama inventory and present this gorgeous thing, put together in just under two hours.

The third-graders held a Native American celebration, each classroom representing a geographical representation of the Native Americans found there...this nifty T-shirt, as I understand, is fairly representative of a Plains Indian's casual Friday wardrobe.
Seminole Indians (can I say that without being Archie Bunker?) crafted these pouches out of leather, if you can believe it. What did people do before they had felt and yarn?

Tee-pee...tortillas, toothpicks, puffy paint. This is authentic. Honest.

Tysie took a polite pass on the facepaint, but is this the face of a fearsome warrior or what?

Kissing Would Be Nice, Yes?

Gracie's 5th birthday party, a purple and green and blue delight in Crawford Bayou. Packing nowhere near the drama of last year's extravaganza, we are, nevertheless, Princess and the Frog-ged out. Who would have ever guessed that 8 little girls would not take more than 5 minutes to glitter up their goody bags? I demand to know who! 'Cause they could've tipped me off. Last year the crowns took about 40 minutes. The ever-popular Freeze Dance as special guest Desi played the piano...

there's just something magical about that 5th year: everyone understands the concept of "party" and "enjoy." Very few guests are puzzled by the concept of leaving their mother's side in order to be one of a mass of giggly girls. And, truthfully, we could have spent the entire 2 hours Freeze Dancing because, baby, the best things in life ARE free.

As ever, the cake was the highlight...such good manners, these little ones. And, score! After everyone had daintily picked at their portions, the piglets who live on Candleglow Street had more than half of the cake to devour their own selves. Tee-hee.

Next to pictures of kids shoving pieces of unnaturally-colored cake into their mouths, my favorite party pix are always of pinata time. The sun never quite broke out behind the clouds, the tykes were all a-shiver, but busting open a paper-mache frog is always a major draw. They'll endure anything for a chance of beating it into a pulp.

The free-for-all!

And so ends what may very well be the last at-home birthday party the Crawfords ever throw: are we just getting old? Inordiately busy? 'Cause even the most basic of celebrations seems to be all that we can handle, and more. Remember the old days of 20+ kids running around our tiny California backyard for Eve, Ty, and Shane? We thank our lucky stars for our Gracie, but she's gonna get that short end of the stick, no fault of her own.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

'Tis the season for pinewood blocks, wheels, weights, graphite and the best engineering known to mankind...Derby, baby! This year's edition featured 3 generations of Crawford testerone determined to smoke that track...

Shane raced with Pack 780 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds facility, and suffered the gravest injustice: killer car, the fastest car in the trials, which he managed to drop in line to be weighed in. You just can't doctor a car with scientific precision in primitive circumstances. That's our story, we're stickin' to it.
Primed to take all comers. And he kinda did. Second in every heat. When you're racing against 70+ cars, it just didn't stack up. Gosh fetch.
After the Tigers had raced, and the legion of other cars were taking their sweet time, some nameless fellas were reduced to entertaining themselves with duct tape. Probably the highlight of the day. And no complaints.

Ty raced with the church pack in yet another Crawford-engineered marvel...the very picture of heat, ain't it?

The future stewards of the vineyard, folks. Pray vigilantly.

The best action shot we could offer. And as far as you know, Ty's car is first.

Shane's compensation: out of the two entrants in the sibling category, Shane's was the clear winner, which is more telling than you know: see little Abby there next to him? That girl ROCKS, and won the same competition the year before, handily. I didn't ask her how it felt to be nudged out by a 7-year-old. It could've gotten ugly.

All certified and ribboned, my Derby boys. You can't read that fine print? Oh, no need to squint. First place. First place. Coolest car design. Best looking participants. You know the drill.

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!