Spider Wars

Olivia was in the bathroom tonight getting ready for bed.  Suddenly the door opened.  "Daddy!" came the hoarse whisper. "Bring me a shoe!" Obligingly, Ben took Olivia my sandal.

"Man, it got away," Olivia said a moment later. "It crawled under the vanity."

A few minutes later I tucked Olivia into bed and she confessed her concern. "Mom, I'm kind of freaked out because I don't know where it is." After assuring her that it wasn't coming into her room that night because she didn't have food or water, I left the room and put it out of my mind.

Thirty minutes later, Olivia had to get up to use the restroom again. She cautiously opened the door, reached in to turn on the light, and scoped out the room like a she was "clearing" it as part of a special forces team. Seeing that the coast was clear, she went in and closed the door.

A few minutes  later, we heard a SMACK! and a "Ha!"

I think it's safe to assume the spider is dead now.

Anything You Can Do...

Last week we had our 2nd ever Crews Family Reunion in Dallas.  As part of our reunion festivities, we had a talent show.  It's one of the funnest (and funniest) things that we do.  This video was taken of Olivia and Kelsey's "practice run" for their talent.  Enjoy!

Bittersweet

Kelsey & Olivia driving a covered wagon in the rain
 (at the Mormon Battlian History Center)



Tonight the girls and I are packing up to leave California.  It's been a tiring, yet wonderful week.  My family has been scattered across 3 states.  Ben was at home working, taking care of the dog, doing some projects around the house, and enjoying the silence.  Connor and Maddox have been partying with their Aunt Gwen and Uncle Richard in Texas.  The girls and I have been from San Diego to Sacramento in the past 7 days, and have been visting my mother one last time on her mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).  We've seen the Pacific Ocean, the Mormon Battalion History site, Sequoia trees, extended family, Old Sacramento, orange trees, snow, sunshine, and rain.  We've even climbed a mountain and ridden on a commuter train.  We are exhausted.  And as wonderful as it has been, I am ready to fly back to my baby boys tomorrow and drive home to my fantastic husband.

It's got me thinking about this word: bittersweet.  We don't break it down very much, but that is exactly what this is.  It's bitter to leave my mother and other family here, and yet so sweet to come home to my family and friends in Edmond.  I'm grateful for the internet, telephones, and blogs that keep me in touch with many of you despite the hundreds of miles that separate us.

I'll be posting about our escapades this past week once I get home and upload my pictures, but I will finish my reminiscing with another Kelsey anecdote.  (She's just full of them, have you noticed?)

As we were driving through the California country on Wednesday, we were passing countless groves of trees, vineyards, and other crops.  I was commenting to my mother about how amazed I was at the number of things that grow in California - not just the fruit trees and crops, but the gorgeous variety of flowers and plants that are all over the place.  In the middle of this, Kelsey piped up: "You know what else California grows?  It grows rocks!"

I've got to hand it to her - she's not that far off.  We've seen huge boulders everywhere!

My Personality(Olivia's second secret post)

This is Olivia, and this is the perfect thing to decribe my personality: I know I'm not perfect but I'm so close it scares me. This does not come from anyone in my family. It's my gift from God to help me survive my crazy family (Mom, Dad, Kelsey, and maybe Connor. Maddox is not crazy only cute, and Connor is only crazy while playing.)

This is me on my very first plane ride.

Lovely

Olivia had to dress up for her first real middle school choir concert.  Isn't she lovely?  She's so grown up these days.

I took this one to get another angle, and a little imp appeared over Olivia's shoulder.  You know how some cartoons have a character with a little devil on one shoulder and an angel on the right?  (Think Looney Tunes and the character Kronk in the Emperor's New Groove)  Which shoulder is usually the "devil shoulder"?  And which should is Kelsey peeking over?

Coincidence?  I think not.

Extreme Home Makeover

I am kicking myself because I didn't really get a good "before" picture.  But remember this carpet?

Not only was it coming up in the hallway, but it smelled like old people.

And it really need to be replaced.

So did the kitchen laminate.

So...

I convinced Ben I could do it with his help.

He's such a good husband.

D-Day was Friday, Feb. 17th.  We got the walls mostly painted beforehand late at night, but that day is when the younger kids went to Aunt Gwen's for a few days.  She's a gem, isn't she?

Once Ben and the kids got on the road, I took out the laminate in the kitchen.  Then I started pulling up the carpet.  Guess what I found underneath in the dining room and kitchen area?

3 more layers of flooring.

That makes 4 layers to come out, total.

The linoleum across the top of the picture was the top layer, then the speckled stuff at the bottom of the picture was the next.  Then on the bottom we had the wonderful asbestos tile from the early 60's.  The black stuff along the right is the adhesive they used to stick it down - the tile itself is stuck on the green paper underside of the linoleum above it.  Lovely.

Ben had a little trouble finding his way home, so by Friday night, I had only gotten the flooring up in the kitchen/dining area and the hallway.

Note the tack strips along the walls for the carpet.  I hate them.  They are a pain in the neck to get up and leave craters in your floor when the nails come out.

And here is my rearranged kitchen/dining area.  All the appliances got moved around for this one.  At least we were able to keep the fridge plugged in!

And this picture shows where Olivia spent Friday evening: watching movies on the pushed-together couches.  You can see the cement floor on the bottom left side, and the carpet we hadn't got out yet adjacent.

In fact, Olivia was so comfortable that she asked to sleep there overnight.  We let her do it.  And Trixie.  Special occasions call for special privileges, right?

Saturday morning found us at Panera for breakfast, then back to the house to finish prepping and cleaning the floor.

Just for the record: carpet is disgusting.  And so is everything under it.

Finally, around lunchtime, I started laying the floor.  Since it's a floating floor where the pieces adhere together, I didn't even have to line it up with the walls right away.

And it kept growing...

And growing...

And growing.

By 11:52 p.m. on Saturday night, we had gotten the kitchen, diningroom, and most of the livingroom done.

That just left us the foyer, hallway, and laundry room.  Of course, I hadn't pulled the floor out of the laundry room yet...

We finished up all but the laundry room on Monday, and Ben and I picked out an area rug. Well, Ben picked it out.  I'm officially deficient in the decorating area.  I think Trixie was the most excited.  She made herself comfortable and wouldn't move.

Look at that tail go!

By the time the kids came back on Wednesday night, we had the floor down, most of the baseboards in, half of them caulked, and a bunch of the trim painted.  We still have more to do, but I needed to take a week off to give my hands a chance to recover.  (I forget I have carpal tunnel until I overdo it.)

We have been enjoying the makeover, though.  What do you think?

This one was taken at night.  Hence the overpowering lamp.

Can't forget the hallway, but someone did forget to turn the hall light on when he took the picture...

And after a week of being lived in, it sure shows the signs!

Down to every last hand print.

Next year I'm going to tackle the kitchen...

One Fine Day

A day or two after our last (and this winter's only) snowfall, it was so nice and sunny outside we just couldn't resist getting out there to soak it in.

Kelsey spent the time performing "surgery" on her giant snow/dirt ball.

She used a stick for the operation.

Her friend Eva was riding her scooter.

Connor hung around messing with sticks, mostly.

And Maddox?

He climbed into the stroller.

He loves playing with the handle.

It's so amazing to me how focused he gets on things - very intense.

I went to snap some pictures of Kelsey, and realized Connor had disappeared.  It didn't take long to find his hiding place.

Though he really wasn't too keen on having his picture taken.

And that's when Maddox discovered that getting in the stroller is a whole lot easier than getting out.

Since Maddox was getting restless, I took him back inside to find our missing family member.  She was huddled inside with her new addiction: the Eragon series.  And she was NOT happy that I insisted on taking her picture.

You see, I had taken her picture as soon as she walked in the door after school.  I realized I haven't gotten a lot of pictures of her lately because she's in school, and I wanted to include her.  She didn't want to be included.

Even so, it was a lovely afternoon.

You Know It's Time To Catch Up On Blogging When...

...you upload 176 pictures from your camera.

...some of those pictures have snow in them, and it's going to be 80 degrees on Thursday.

...you've done home renovations that no one has seen.

...3 of your kids have new haircuts.


More to come, folks!

Mother-Daughter Tea

Our homeschool group has an annual Mother-Daughter Tea that the girls and I like to attend.  This was our second year.  This year, we were asked to "host" a table, which really just means that we decorated it and brought the dishes.  They also had live entertainment by some of the various daughters in attendance.  Here are few pictures from the event.

Our table theme was "Lighthouse", and the girls came up with most of the ideas.  It turned out really nice.

Me and the girls.  Note the girls dressed to match the table.

Olivia's talent was playing "Ode to Joy" on the piano.

We didn't get a picture of Kelsey's talent because I was helping her.  What did she do, you ask?  

She told jokes.

There was a nifty craft table set up for the kids during the tea. It was already cleaned up by the time this picture was taken, but the girls were hanging out with their friends doing some extras while they waited.

Another picture with their friends!

And in closing, Kelsey would like to share her favorite joke of her performance with you.

How do you make a tissue dance?

How?

Put a little boogie in it.

How do you make a piece of toast dance?

How?

Give it some jam.

My Talented Sister

See what Gwen made for Olivia?

She's so talented.

p.s. Olivia is the one who picked out the horse patch.  Gwen did the rest.

Camera Upload

I really should upload the pictures from my camera more often.  I would blog more.  I uploaded numerous pics and videos today.  Here are a few random ones from our lives over the past few weeks.

Connor has a few fetishes.

1. A shoe fetish.  Especially my shoes.  Especially if I leave them out - though he HAS been known to raid my closet for high heels). 
2. A boot fetish.  Snow boots, rain boots, cowboy boots, work boots - you name it.  
3. A glove fetish.  I bought him his own, but he still insists on wearing mine.  It's very inconvenient when he leaves them all over the house and I can't find them. 

I happened to catch him indulging all three fetishes at once.  Wish it was a better picture, but he wouldn't stop moving!

Since Christmas I have finally organized a "craft closet" for the girls.  It makes my life so much easier when they are bored and wanting to watch TV.  Rather than caving in, now I can say, "Why don't you go craft for a while?"  Olivia has been re-discovering the wonders of Play-Doh.  This looks almost good enough to eat!

Kelsey made a colloid the other day.  What's a colloid?

colloid (kol'oid) [key][Gr.,=gluelike], a mixture in which one substance is divided into minute particles (called colloidal particles) and dispersed throughout a second substance. The mixture is also called a colloidal system, colloidal solution, or colloidal dispersion. Familiar colloids include fog, smoke, homogenized milk, and ruby-colored glass.

In this case, we made it with water, food coloring, and corn starch and called it "Blue Goo".

The other day I was desperate to distract Maddox so I stuck a Christmas bow on his head.  He loved it and we played with it for quite a while.

Kelsey found another place to put it.  She said he was a bunny.

And speaking of Kelsey, she was busy doing tricks.

And where was Connor?  Let's just say it was one of those days... (Notice how he's eating snacks from Maddox's baby snack holder thingy?)