Memorial Day Weekend

Aunt Julie, Jack (3 yrs), Henry (4 yrs), Luella (2 yrs), Keeper (6 years), Hudson (5 yrs) Everett (3 yrs) 

Mark, Katie and the boys were in town this past week which meant family fun time!  There were a lot of cousins (mostly boys) and a WHOLE lot of pretend ninja's with super powers. Unfortunately this came along with some teasing, taunting, and tears.  Which is a new experience for our family seeing as the boys are just now getting to be school age, and old enough to gang up on each other.  I think us mother's (or at least myself) were definitely on edge listening to the boys "No, your super power doesn't work against mine. You can't have fire power cause I have ice power balls to defeat you!" etc. etc... The Dad's informed me that boys will be boys and to just stay out of it.  So for the most part we did.  Luckily Jack is still a little young, and since he doesn't have a big brother he tended to just stay out of it.  But I know our time is coming...

Pontoon ride with Ethan (7 yrs) Hudson, Everett, Henry, Jack and Luella

Anyhoo, we really enjoyed the visit with Mark and Katie. As promised we had our annual easter 'egg smash', and easter egg hunt.  Jack did not participate in the easter egg hunt, because he broke into tears within the first 5 seconds stating "they are TOO fast, I can't keep up! I saw an egg and they got it before I could get there!"  He spent the next 30 minutes in a melt down.. which I figure is pay back because I think I cried EVERY year during the easter egg hunt myself.  I am pretty sure there is video tape proof of this.
It was fun having everyone at Mema and Papa's new house for the first time.  It is definitely a bit overwhelming having 8 children under the age of 8... every year we say "next year will be easier because they won't be (fill in the blank: nursing, napping, etc. etc.). But now I am not so sure... I think every year it might just get LOUDER, and crazier, and messier!
I may get overwhelmed at times, but there is ONE thing I am sure of... these are the memories in the making. I am so thankful that all the cousins get these times together.  That Mema and Papa have a home that is so conducive to family gatherings and family fun.  I love my brothers, am thankful for wonderful sister in laws (whom I also love), 5 amazing nephews and one beautiful little niece.
I am so PROUD to be a Crabb (and a Schwatken at the same time :))

Weatherby Lake Beach

Mema and Michael on the kayak

NonaJane 12 months

Papa and NonaJane

Ethan, Luella, Julie, Keeper, Henry and Everett. Everett making a good "smash" on Henry's head!

The party down on Mema and Papa's deck

A new favorite picture of NonaJane and Mema

The Monster Bash

The invites... handmade Thank you very much!

Some of the Monster decor for the Monster Bash

The Beautiful girl herself

NonaJane's first birthday turned out beautifully. The weather was gorgeous (finally, seeing as it snowed last weekend we were very happy with the 70 degree weather for the party).  NonaJane and I unfortunately were sick with head colds the whole week leading up to her birthday as well.  I seem to have a history of getting sick before all events that I am excited and looking forward to (like my wedding, vacations, etc..) anyhoo... Adam's whole family was wonderful enough to travel in for the party. We had Grandma and Grandpa, Mema and Papa, the Aunts, Uncles and all the Cousins (minus my brother's family who live in Wisconsin.. so they had a valid excuse).  We also had several close friends make it to the party including babysitters, some fellow babies, and long-time friends.

Some of the monster guests

NonaJane and Jack's Characture

Adam's co-worker, Darryl, does character drawings as a side job. We hired him to come out and draw some charactures of the kids as their party favors.  In my mind he would draw them as cute monsters like "Monster Inc." style... instead we got some pretty scary monster drawings... but it was fun all the same. Not sure too many moms will be hanging these as beloved artworks in their children's rooms (unless they want to encourage nightmares).  Darryl was very talented, and I am pretty sure that in his mind these Monsters were 'toned down' and 'cute'.  Anyhoo, I had him do a non-monsterfied drawing of Adam and I and the kids as well. I think these turned out very sweet, and am brainstorming ways to display them.  Maybe the 'monsterfied' ones will make an appearance during Halloween each year?!

Her audience

NonaJane was cute as a button with her cake.  As soon as she realized that we were all watching and laughing at her, she REALLY started to ham it up. She would squeal, toss some cake, and then belly laugh for good measure.  Then she woke up at 2 a.m with some diarhhea and I got to squeal, strip a stinky baby, and change a crib sheet AGAIN ( have I mentioned that changing crib sheets it the WORST chore ever?)

Her guests really spoiled her with some great gifts : toys, clothes, books and a baby doll.  She is one lucky girl... loved by a lot of family and some great friends.
THANK YOU to all who came to help us celebrate. It was a BIG moment in our lives.. and memories we will cherish.

NonaJane and her Grandma's

Jack getting in on the cake action

NonaJane and her friend Makayla

Taking time to read her cards

The morning after... guess she partied too hard! Look at that hair!

NonaJane breaking the 2 rules of the sandbox. 1: Don't eat the sand. 2. Don't throw the sand OUT of the box.

Her little, tiny, beautiful self

NonaJane got a new bedroom.  I was bit by that random 'redecorate' bug again. Maybe I was brainwashed by subliminal messages on HGTV... but I blame pinterest.  I typed "little girl's room'  into the search engine on pinterest and up popped all these amazing elegant rooms.  And it was decided... NonaJane NEEDS a room like that for her birthday.  A "big" girl room to suit her little, tiny, beautiful, self.  So I started hunting on the Mom Swap and Shop sites for the pieces I needed. I scored on some white shelves for $10, pottery barn curtains for $20, an old decorative window for $10, and pottery barn bedding from a dear friend.  I painted over all the sweet murals we had done for Jack-Jack...and gave NonaJane something new. Something I did just for HER.  Many have asked if it was hard for me to paint over Jack's nursery... but it really wasn't.  We've already given Jack a new room, one that we put a lot of love and care into.  It felt like I hadn't done anything like that for NonaJane, and it felt good to put hard work into something that would show how special SHE is to us too.  Jack enjoyed the process and affirmed that the new room was "GOOD" and just right for his baby sister.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl, may you enjoy your room and feel like a little princess every time you step into it :)

The Birthday Girl

The old window.. added some dry erase messages and craft paper.. voila!

Birthday sign that Jack helped me make. He cut some of the circles and helped with the glueing!

NonaJane in her new room

NonaJane enjoying the liberties of walking.
 All my old Carebears in the background (they don't spend much time on their shelf)

Jack and NonaJane on the morning of her birthday

The sweetest picture of Nona and Mema. I just love her little hand hugging her!

Meow Mix

Well, I realize I have done a dis-justice to my family blog.  I have failed to mention that we have a pet. Her name is Ginny. She is a cat. I adopted Ginny from Pet's Mart about 7 years ago... which is crazy to think about. 7 years??? Anyhoo, it was just Ginny, myself and a suitcase who showed up at my parents door on April 1st 2007 (but that's a 'whole nother' can of worms that we don't really need to open up in this blog post :))  But the point is that Ginny has been with me since BEFORE I met Adam and BEFORE Jack and NonaJane existed. Thus she deserves some props.

Ginny giving me the stink eye at 19 weeks pregnant with Jack in 2009

Back in 2009, shortly after finding out I was pregnant with Jack, Ginny became deathly ill. (in hind-site we are pretty sure she electrocuted herself by chewing on an electrical cord.  This continues to be one of her favorite activities. So surely cats do have 9 lives... and they don't get any smarter with each life.)  Weather I was crazy on hormones, or just extremely grateful to Ginny for being my best friend thru some tough times... we ended up pouring over $1,000 bucks into saving her 9 lives.  In my defense we did not know it would end up costing this much.  Ginny pulled thru and came back home. Adam then spent the next several weeks giving Ginny shots, and feeding her thru a syringe.  One giant gold star to my husband for that one.  I think the point I am trying to get across here is that Ginny was my baby... and I was willing to bend over backwards (or at least to make Adam bend over backwards) to ensure that she was happy and healthy.

This seems to be the turning point where she decided she would have nothing to do with our children

This picture was taken the week that Jack came home from the hospital... I searched thru our thousands of pictures and literally could not find one since... so I took one tonight :( that makes me a very BAD pet owner...

Fast forward 4 years... and I seem to have forgotten I have a cat. Ouch.  Unfortunately it turns out Ginny has a thing against little people. She only socializes with adults, and spends the majority of her life hiding from Jack and NonaJane.  She has no apparent reason to do so. Jack has zero interest in her, and NonaJane isn't fast enough to catch her.  Perhaps Ginny is holding a grudge against these little impostors who have stolen her spot?  Nevertheless she still sleeps on top of me, rudely wakes me up by pounding on the door to be fed, and meows relentlessly to be let out... only then to meow relentlessly to be let back in. Apparently she is confused, sleepy, and a bit spiteful. But that is neither here nor there.  The point of this post is supposed to be MEOW MIX.

Ginny tonight... looking forlorn

A few years ago, Ginny started to have weird bald spots on her head. I thought she was getting old. But then thought "wait, 4 years isn't old for a cat." So I took her to the vet. Allergies she said. She needs to be on special food.  So we started to feed her IAMS sensitive skin food.  It costs more, so I knew I was doing the right thing. Ginny continued to have weird sneezing fits, had bald spots on her ears and head, and even started getting weird scabs on her back. eewwww... gross... I know. But who has time to worry about scabs on their cat when you're busy with keeping your daughter from playing in the toilet (which she did AGAIN tonight. So I suck at that too.)  So poor Ginny just lived with her allergies.. and I kept buying stupid expensive food.
THEN, our new neighbors across the street brought us a bag of MEOW MIX. His dad works for the company and gives them several bags a month. Too much for their cat.  Handily, we were out of cat food... so I tried it.  Completely expecting Ginny to yack the food up on our bed in the middle of the night (because that is the BEST place to yack your food up in the middle of the night.)  INSTEAD, her scabs went away, she stopped sneezing, and she now has the thickest, softest, shiniest coat of fur.  Adam says she is even acting crazy again in the middle of the night. Attacking the kids's toys, and sprinting aimlessly thru the house.  Who knew??? Good ole "I want chicken, I want liver, Meow Mix, Meow Mix Please Deliver"  just saved the day!!!
Thankfully, my neighbor has agreed to be our cat food supplier of FREE MEOW MIX.  So although Ginny goes ignored most of the time. Spending the days hiding and doing who knows what... she can at least do it allergy free.
But in all honesty... I do love my kitty. She has spunk. She has pizazz. She is also annoying, rude, and stubborn... and that's what makes her kind of fun:)