I'll never forget

Dear Jack-
A monumental moment happened in my life the other day... a moment I will cherish forever. And it was all thanks to YOU.  You've brightened my life from the moment I met you, and expanded my heart. In turn this has made me more emotional, fearful, and vulnerable than I have ever felt.  My Mom and Dad tried to explain these emotions to me my whole life... and the day you were born they all made sense.
The other day, as we attended a wedding, I had a parenting moment I wish never to forget...  It went something like this:

Jack "what are they doing?"
Adam "they are getting Married"
Jack "I want to get married"
Adam "do you know what it means to get married?"
Jack "no"
Adam "  when you grow up and find a woman that you LOVE SO MUCH that you wan to spend the rest of your life with her, you get married."

Jack... long thoughtful pause... "Daddy, I want to Marry Mommy" followed by a tight hug, and kiss on my cheek.

ME    tears of joy 

Thank you, Jack, for loving me so much. Thank you for calling me your "best friend" when Daddy isn't around.  I'll try not to cling to you forever, I know someday I will have to let you go. But for now, the feelings are mutual. You can stay with me and Daddy forever.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH,
your mommy

Family Pictures

"What are you doing?"

I have made it a priority since Jack was born to take family pictures each year. We usually take them in the Fall around Jack's birthday, which works out well for Christmas cards.  NonaJane started sitting independently before she was 6 months old,  which made it even easier to get some great pictures this year.  Don't be concerned by her overly serious facial expressions, she tends to "think" and be very serious anytime she is in a new or interesting environment. You can make silly faces and try to get her to smile, but then she only looks at you like your crazy.  So although she may look grumpy, she is actually a very happy little girl!

He is a BEAUTIFUL boy :)

yum yum... "you again?"

Adam trying to elicit a smile from our serious little one

All packed up and ready to go

The Nona Monster

The Nona Monster in action

NonaJane is an awesome baby.  She cracks me up... and keeps us on our toes.  I swear she is the most mischievous little girl! If there is something dangerous in the room, she will zone in on it and be-line for it.  when Jack was a baby I laughed at all the baby proofing products because we never needed them! He was sweet, calm, content, and happy to follow all the rules. Jack also didn't crawl until he was 8 months and 3 weeks old, but NonaJane started crawling at 6 months and 3 weeks!  She is SO happy about it, and has taken her reign as "in-charge."  We started giving her the endearing name of "Nona Monster" when she took to the fun activity of attacking and destroying anything that Jack is trying to play with.  Now don't pity Jack just yet, he isn't afraid to push her down, sit on her, or pull her by her arms to protect himself. But what cracks me up, is that NonaJane seems to think even that is funny. I can't tell you how many times I have come into the room to find Jack riding Nona like a horse, and she is SMILING! What??? I yell at him anyways... but who am I to interrupt their sibling play.

Their favorite "toy" the ipad

I will admit that i was expecting my second baby to be much like my first, and have ultimately decided that so far my two children are polar opposites.  Jack was an amazing sleeper and hated to eat... NonaJane thinks sleeping is over-rated and will eat ANYTHING with a smile on her face.  I wonder if she will be a perfectionist like Jack and I, or if she will take a more carefree approach to life like Adam???
So much fun to watch them grow... but can I just keep them small like this for awhile? (except for the sleeping thing, that sucks... )

Things I've learned from HGTV...

 I've heard it's a girl thing, not sure if it's true. Sometimes I just get a crazy whim, and get the NEED to change things up around the house. Perhaps I'll paint the kitchen blue while Adam is sleeping, or re-arrange the living room furniture while he's at work.  Was the old arrangement bad? Could I not live with the paint colors as is? I don't know why I torture myself with these household projects. I always have it in my head that it won't take that long, or that it won't be that hard.  I also manage to convince myself that I can do the projects "all by myself" but usually end up roping Adam into them for his manly skills.  How would I feel if he continually started projects and roped me into them? I would feel annoyed. So here is my acknowledgement to Adam for helping me fulfill my HGTV and pinterest dreams,  I am very aware that I am quite pitiful on my own :)

So anyhoo, I had been spending a lot of time in our room nursing NonaJane, which meant I had nothing to do but sit, think, ponder, and stare at the ugliness of our room. Our room has been ugly for years, and for some reason, with little to no warning, I decided to do something about it.  I texted Adam at work "How mad would you be if  I sell our bedroom furniture?" "Whatever you wanna do." Was his reply.  So I posted the furniture on Craigslist, and it was gone by 9AM the next morning.  I vowed to use ONLY the money from selling the furniture to do a complete makeover on the room- in true HGTV style.  This gave me $875. I started by vacuuming the shocking amount of dust, random items and hairballs found under the old furniture (ick.. apparently under our bed was the cat's grooming zone). Then I dragged Adam and the kids to JoAnn's fabrics.  Picking out fabric turned out to be extremely overwhelming. Textures, patterns, colors, styles... before I knew it I was sweating and slightly panicked.  I received a pep talk from Adam, a few rude comments from the worker who could tell I obviously did not belong in a fabric store, and we made it out alive.  It was then on to the Home Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond.  A fun filled day of domestic torture for Adam and the kids. Then at home the endless hours of painting,  building, and sewing begun.  The project that was supposed to take a day or two (they do it on HGTV, but they are full of crap) ended up taking the better part of two weeks.  Adam built the headboard, and recovered the ottoman (turns out I am fearful of the staplegun... and every other type of powered tool). I even ended up begging my mom to come over and help with the kids while I painted (and she ended up helping me sew the zippers into my new pillow covers). I purchased some "antique" dressers and a nightstand off craigslist.

 (Adam feels they would be better classified as "old and crappy.")  I wanted to put new hardware on them, but had hit the top of my budget. So instead I used ribbon (as seen on pinterest) and think it turned out pretty nice! In the end I still went slightly over budget, by about $50, but absolutely love our new room! It truly was a complete overhaul. I have yet to paint the ceiling and recessed portion of the walls and also plan to finish some art/decor projects including silhouettes of the kids. But for now I am burnt out. So those ideas will have to wait for another day, when I get another crazy whim. You never know when it's coming...

Good Old Family Fun

The Thanksgiving Turkey!

The past 3 Thanksgivings have been some of my favorites by far.  Perhaps this is because we have added Jack and NonaJane to the family and have so much to be thankful for... or it's because the whole Crabb clan has gathered for good old "family fun" at my brother's house.  This year we again invaded Mark and Katie's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.  The last two years we  road tripped to Ft. Dodge Iowa where they were living. This summer, however, they moved to Fond Du Lac Wisconsin. (it means "foot of the Lake" and apparently I pronounce it quite wrong. It sounds like a dirty word to me, but is actually a very pleasant place!)

The boys enjoyed the car ride

Loading up and heading West.. well NorthWest

 Anyhoo. Fond Du Lac is a 9-10 hour drive from Kansas City. My parents, Adam, Jack, Michael, Ethan, and Henry road tripped it both ways. Julie, Luella, NonaJane, and I flew to Wisconsin, but then Nona and I joined the boys and road tripped back home. Flying with Nona was a bit easier than entertaining her in the car for 9 hours, but either way we made it safe and sound. For that we are thankful!

And the girls enjoyed their flight

But back to Thanksgiving. My sister in law, Katie, opens her home and hosts our entire family for 3 days. I honestly don't know how she does it. Imagine children with sticky fingers, 5 young potty trained boys peeing in your bathrooms, and toy explosions in every room of their house. Toys were strewn and mismatched in a way that they may never find their matching pieces again... ever!  This year there were 8 children under the age of 7, and 8 adults spreading the holiday cheer. Despite the dishes, the mess, the noise, and hard work Katie remains delightful. She bakes, cooks, offers alcohol, entertains us with fun outings, and stays up late filling our evenings with games and cheer.  Not a minute of the day goes by when there isn't some sort of delicious and fattening dessert, snack or meal available (kind of like when you are on a cruise). Michael, Mark, Dad, and Katie sample various holiday ales ( reading between the lines, my brothers drink a whole lot of beer) and the rest of us enjoy some wine. My Dad drinks enough that he is actually willing to partake in family games such as "telestrations" or "sherades" which is a huge feat because my Dad has always refused to play any kind of social game.

Nolan says "you taking pictures of me?"

Growing up he always claimed they weren't any fun... but he sure seemed to be enjoying himself! Then once my brothers are nicely intoxicated we dance like idiots to "Just Dance 4". Except for Katie, somehow she manages to look really good when dancing... we can only assume that she rehearses
thru out the year. Anyhoo as the nights get rolling, the time seems to go by faster and then I end up getting mooned by my oldest brother (this should not surprise those of you who know Michael). So I know it's time to go to bed.  But a restful night is not likely. Babies thru out the house wake up in intervals just to make sure that those of us with MOM ears won't get any sleep at all.  My daughter decides this is a nice time to teeth and actually manages to stay awake for the majority of the night.  Lovely.
3 days later we have gained weight, lost sleep, and had an absolutely awesome time together as a family.  I am so thankful that we have an excuse to all stay together in the same house, and really spend 3 days together. The kids played non-stop, we even got to watch "Christmas Vacation" (a family favorite), drove thru the town's Christmas light display, went bowling, and enjoyed each others company.
 Thank you Mark and Katie for hosting, sorry for some additional stains to your carpets, a heap of trash for trash day, some dirty bathrooms, and a pile of laundry.  Hope you are looking forward to seeing us all again next year!!!
We LOVE you !!!
 

All things Fall

Fall snuck by without the adequate blog post.  So here is an assortment of pictures from the last month that include all things fall.  We visited the Louisburg Cider Mill, Powell Pumpkin Patch, and a farmstead up by my parents new house on Weatherby Lake.  Not sure it happened in that order// it all seems to be a blur right now! I do know we had a good time, and made the most of the great weather we had!

Jack watching Henry make his way thru the hay bales

posing with the pumpkins

Jack and his cousin Luella

Adam and Jack at the pumpkin patch

Jack driving Papa's boat

NonaJane found the perfect one :)

Jack's shoe found a not so perfect one

oops

Halloween

It's Trick or Treat time!

Jack enjoys being a pirate any time :)

Halloween was a blast this year. Especially since Jack was willing to wear a random assortment of clothing and costume items that we already had :) He was more than happy to parade up and down our street as a glow in the dark skeleton pirate.  I think he looked pretty cool myself :)  He got the pirate stuff last Christmas from his grandparents. Complete with hat, swords, gold doubloons, and an eye patch! He topped off the look with a nice snarl and the saying "give me candy or walk the plank!"  He also quickly picked up on the song "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear!" However this was just an act because he promised he was a NICE pirate and was very polite at every door. He sweetly stated "trick or treat" thanked the people, and let them ooh and aah over his neat costume.  Personally I think the glow in the dark skeleton (pajama top) shirt was a nice touch.  Made him look like one of the pirates from the Pirates of the Carribean movie.  Plus the boy is SO DARN CUTE!
But lets not forget it was NonaJane's first Halloween! I picked her up a cute little monkey jacket at the kids consignment sale for $5 (reference my post on being a consignment sale junky).  She was an adorable monkey, but I figured I better girl it up a bit or I'd surely get some flack from someone.  Luckily our neighbors had recently given her this adorable strawberry outfit complete with tights and a pink tutu. So of course we threw that on under the coat and now she was a girly, tutu wearing monkey! Couldn't be better. She rode around in the wagon, and did not exactly trick or treat. Though many people did offer to give her candy. I should have let them, would have been more for me :)

NonaJane wearing the cute hat that Jack made her

My pilgrims... or are they supposed to be Indians... I dunno

the time our house fell apart

Our home after the repairs...

 The other day our house fell apart.  So we have been busy. As surprising as this statement sounds... we actually knew the problem was there.  A small amount of water had been entering thru our dining room window since we moved in  (5 years ago). Yes, the responsible homeowner might have addressed this water issue 5 years ago. But no, not us. We hoped it would go away when we had some wood rot repaired, then we hoped it would go away when we got a new roof, then we hoped it would go away when we had the whole house caulked and repainted. But no, it steadily got worse. Over labor day weekend I had to use old crappy bath towels to absorb the waterfall that was pouring in our window.  So I added "fix window leak" to our "To Do List." It was right next to "buy more peanut butter" no less or more important really. So Adam tore the window casing off only to find mold, rotted wood, and a giant problem. Surprise, surprise, surprise!!! I think a little mold in your house is good for the lungs, right? Okay maybe not this much mold... or any mold at all.

The pesky water dripping in from our window

Just a tid-bit of the mold that covered the inside of two walls in our home

After tearing down two walls we discovered the water was entering from upstairs around the shutters, running thru the walls and slowly dripping out our dining room window. We actually were able to make an insurance claim to help cover a portion of the repairs, but being the frugal/cheap person that I am we still did a large portion of the work ourselves.  Thus we have been crazy busy. We did finally get both rooms put back together, and in working order. Having the two rooms back after a month of them being quarantined makes our house feel HUGE!  I'm sure that feeling will wear off soon enough.  Anyhoo, the old dining room is now a "den" we like to say. A "den" that happens to be full of toys. But we don't call it the "toy room" or "play room" because the illusion of a "den" sounds much more sophisticated and makes Adam and I feel like we still run the show around here.

The things we said we would never do...

Dear Adam
Remember all those things we swore we would never do??? Well it seems we have started down a slippery slope, and it is a VERY slippery slope indeed!   I'm sure it all started by doing one tiny little insignificant thing that we said we would never do... so insignificant that I can't even remember what it was. I'm sure we brushed it off and said "no big deal, we're still cool." But oh Adam... let us count the ways that we have BROKEN our own rules (and lets try not to place any blame here...)
1. We will never let our kids sleep in our bed
2. We will never let our child yell at us
3. We will never buy our child something to get them to behave

4. We will never let our kids get food and smudgy fingerprints all over our house
5. We will never let our kids have so many toys that they over-rule our garage
6. We will never devote a room in our house to our kids "play room"
7. We will never let our kids toys clutter up our yard
8. We will never listen to stupid kid songs in the car
9. We will never let our kids dictate what we watch on TV
10. We will never let our children's nap schedule dictate our lives

Nona found the perfect pumpkin

11. We will never let our kids have control over what they want to eat
12. We will never let our kids deter us from traveling and having adventures
13. We will never put our children before each other
AND
14. we said we would never drive a mini-van, BUT now we are coveting one.  We are planning and saving to purchase one. One with automatic doors, DVD's, and STORAGE.

So serious...

We may have fallen off our high horse Adam, but I think we are loving every minute of it.  These little boogers of ours are bending our rules, making us uncomfortable, taking our time, money, and energy.  But their love is unconditional, our family is happy and blessed. I am so thankful for YOU, Jack-Jack and baby NonaJane. Even if you don't FEEL like you are my # 1... you will always be my man. We have each other for the long haul my dear... so for now, let's just keep bending the rules :)

With ALL MY LOVE
your wife
Kelly Lyn

I'm already scared of a 'teenage' NonaJane... ha! look at this face!!!

The Best moment of the day :)

the small stuff

Jack showing NonaJane his computer games

A moment of sweetness

When I started this blog, I thought I would cherish it for capturing all the BIG moments in our lives. Like birthdays and holidays..  but I am realizing that the amazing part of this blog is catching the small things, the sweet moments, and the frustrating times.  The moments that may otherwise go forgotten. Lately we have scaled back on our crazy schedule and actually spent a few weekends at home. It has been quiet, calm, and heavenly which means Adam has been bored out of his mind. Anyhoo... we had our first COLD night which is why Nonajane is dressed in an assortment of non-matching clothing items. I still can't give the girl a blanket, so instead I layered her like crazy. 
Big things have been going on in her little 5 month old world as well! She can now roll across the room and get herself stuck in the weirdest of places. Half under the ottoman, legs under the crib, wrapped around furniture etc. She grabs and scratches at everything and I swear she has a death grip. She likes to grab hold of the flesh on my neck which does NOT feel good.  I didn't realize I had that much skin on my neck... should i be self-conscious?
The other day I tried setting her up in her boppy pillow, and discovered that she can SIT! Who knew?? She can sit in there for a long time without a hitch. I tried letting her sit without any support and she lasted about 10 seconds. Longer than I thought :)

"This is no big thing Mom"

Jack and her are getting along much better now. She thinks everything he does is funny. Even when he is smothering her, licking her, and screaming in her ear. These are all things that he seems to do on a daily basis. On the plus side Nona is developing and extreme tolerance for annoying behavior :)  But we have also been catching Jack in random acts of sweetness. He holds her hand, kisses her, and will cuddle up next to her.  Grandma jokingly asked him if she could have Nonajane. Jack answered seriously "NO!" when Grandma asked why he replied "because i LOVE her." and my heart melted :)

Preparing for the Broncos game

 Jack continues to get smarter and cuter everyday. He can play computer games by himself (and I think he would play them ALL day long if he could). I was watching him play some this morning, and he was correctly answering math questions like "if Clifford had 4 donuts and ate 1, how many are left?"  ummmm AMAZING!  He is also in AWANAS at church this year and is memorizing bible versus.  He already has 5 under his belt.  He really loves going to school, and seems to be quite the rule abiding student. He tells me all about walking in line, and waiting his turn, and how he colors in the lines.  He makes me sooooooooo proud! At night he helps me sing to nonajane and I only wish I could capture his sweet little voice forever.

Family fun night :)

 We went bowling the other night. Jack's perfectionism did rare its head, but overall a good time was had. Jack honestly beat me. I really was trying. But in my defense he had bumpers and I didn't. Nona was a very good observer.

 We recently offered Nonajane some of those wagon wheel baby munchy foods to try. She nearly ripped em outa my hands and knew exactly what to do with them! I let her play with a few while we eat our meals. The other day she was munching away, and Jack was eating a pig-in-a-blanket (pancake wrapped around sausage on a stick).  Jack's blanket kept falling of his pig.. and he was all distraught and screaming about it. Nonajane kept dropping her wagon wheel and shrieking until I would give her a new one.  Luckily Adam was at work.  Frustration tolerance is not my children's strong point (nor is it mine).

yumm

A perfectionist raising a perfectionist...

Jack flying a kite with Daddy

Adam has a great personality.  He likes to do a good job, he puts effort into his work and somehow he manages to do so without becoming an overachieving maniac.  I on the other hand have been known to stomp my feet, curse, throw things, and even smack myself (can you believe I am admitting this?? Perhaps this is the first step to curing my crazy. That or Two Rivers Hospital.) It seems that Jack may be taking a BIT more after me with his personality, or at least his frustration tolerance...
 Luckily I understand HOW he feels, but unfortunately I don't know how to really help him.  We started noticing it before he could even walk.  He used to pick toys of matching color. You could actually watch him scan the pile of blocks searching for the other matching blue one. He loves to organize and line up his hot wheels, pennies, toys etc. When he was learning to ride his 4 wheeler he would bounce up and down in frustration if he couldn't maneuver it smoothly enough. If his sandwich, granola bar, biscuit etc. would crumble or break in half he was devastated. Now when he colors he screams if he goes outside the lines.  He expects to be able to DRAW perfect pictures and cries "it's NOT good" if his people don't turn out just right. The other day he was hitting baseballs off the T and yelled "ahhh, it wasn't good" when his ball didn't go far enough to his liking. Today his play doh creation lost its arm, Jack lost his cool, and I came to the realization that Jack's perfectionism is wide spread and SEVERE. 

The kite is wayyyyy up there. Right over his shoulder

Adam and I do our best to respond consistently. "It's all right Jack.  It's still good, and you can either keep playing/eating/etc. or you need to go take a break/time-out on the stairs."  He usually consoles fairly well, and will continue to practice his skills with determination.  This is why he has mastered every puzzle he owns. He has an amazing amount of determination to complete any task set before him.  As PROUD and amazed as Adam and I are of Jack... I worry about his ability to use his perfectionism to his benefit rather than his demise.  If we are able to teach Jack how to manage his desire to do everything perfectly, and instead turn it into a healthy desire to do his best.... but aggghh! Who am I kidding! All we can do is support him , love him, and encourage him to keep on keeping on. right??  Meanwhile my Mom and Dad are surely enjoying this... thinking back in fond memories of the times I made us late because the stripes on my socks weren't perfectly aligned... oh dear. I do think it got better with age...

Trying on the fire fighter gear at a car show in Joplin MO

Riding a pedal cart at the "WildWest Show"