This week at the Cranes...

 Three cute boys playing with legos on the top bunk.

Well, this week has just been crazy.  We've been trying to get the house ready to show and really had to step it up in the middle of the week when we found that we had a showing for Saturday morning (which turned into two showings).  In fact, I'm exhausted.  I don't think we've cleaned our house like this since we've lived here.  It is crazy awesome clean.  Hopefully the people who saw it today fell in love with it like we did 6 years ago.

After our cleaning spree we took the boys to Target, the bookstore and--since the weather was perfectly spring-like--Mitch Park (our favorite).  We really wore them (and ourselves!) out. (Seriously though... I can't believe how wonderful the weather has been this week!  60s and 70s in January?  I told Rich, "This is the winter I'm used to!  I loved it!  Too bad it is freezing today... oh well, it was great while it lasted!)


In other news... we had our ultrasound appointment on Wednesday and I just haven't had time to sit down and tell you what we found out!  First, I'd like to thank the 75% of you who chose "girl."  I appreciate all your girl thoughts coming my way. A month ago I went to my doc and he did an ultrasound in his office.  He is always telling me "three girls now, right?"  Right before the ultrasound he made a similar comment of "it's a girl this time?"  However, as he was checking everything out he let out an "Oh crap.  I think I saw something!"  but then tried reassuring me that one day I would have a bunch of cute daughters-in-law and that it still could be a girl since it was still too early to tell. But once again the minority was right.  We are adding yet another BOY to our clan.  The boys are super excited.  On the way to school William almost changed his guess to "girl" because he "didn't want to be wrong again" like he was with Alexander... but he decided to stick with boy "because I really want it to be a boy."  They just think it's so funny that I'm the only girl.

My mom always told me that I'd be a good mom of boys.  I guess I'm meant to stay part of the "all boys club"... doesn't look like I'm leaving anytime soon!  I just love my little boys!

And then there were FOUR...

... children, that is.  Yes, that's right, we are expecting! We are so excited to be adding another member to our family in July. I thought I should let  you in our little secret since we're having the ultrasound this week and it was so much fun to see your guesses when I was expecting Alexander.  So go ahead look on my sidebar and make a little guess as to the gender of this baby.




ps. We've also put our home on the market in order to buy a bigger one for our growing family.  Any advice for first time home sellers?

This morning James, Alex and I attended "Wildcat Wakeup" at William's elementary school.  You see, William was be recognized for his awesome skills and becoming a member of the "5 star club."  This is a club exclusive to kindergarteners and to become a member they must demonstrate 5 skills independently:

*Tie your shoes

*Fasten your coat

*Say your address

*Say your phone number

*Say your birth date

To be honest, William has been doing these for quite a while.  I was surprised how many of the kindergartners weren't recognized.  But that's okay.  My child is rather exceptional.

Today was also William's first day back since receiving his awful fat lip.  He got sick over the long weekend and then there was a snow day yesterday.  Apparently he's become popular in his absence...  several people asked "what is that black thing?" (his tooth) and he also informed me today that a second grader who had seen him get pushed talked to him today and asked his name.  

Pretty impressive day.

Fat Lip

Friday my wonderful mother-in-law came over to watch James and Alexander while I went shopping alone.  Just as I was finishing up I got a call on my cell phone.  The caller ID indicated that it was William's Kindergarten teacher.  I had sent a few loaves of chocolate chip banana bread for their special "b food" snacks with their bears so I thought she might be calling to thank me... because she's nice like that.  However, when I answered the call it was the principal's voice that I heard.  She informed me that William had fallen on the playground and hurt his lip and possibly his teeth--I would need to pick him up from school.  When I arrived at the nurses office he wouldn't even let me take a look but kept the icepack firmly over his mouth.  I brought him home and found that he looked like this:

I'm pretty sure that he bit his upper lip as he fell.  By evening it looked even worse.  Thank goodness the bleeding stopped eventually.  He loose front tooth is much more loose now... I'd pull it if he would let me touch his mouth.  His gums look pretty beat up and his lip is still swollen.  Luckily mouth's tend to heal quickly and every morning it looks better.  Aahhh, the life of a mom with boys.

Christmas Wrap-up

So, I have been a horrible blogger lately and I'm sure that there are many events from the last month that were blog-worthy that are now gone from my memory.  But now that the last of the Christmas decorations are stored away for another year, the laundry is caught up (to a manageable state), and my house is starting to look more orderly I feel that I can sit down to blog again.  During that whirlwind of activity last month I also neglected my picture taking duties... so not much on that end either!
One afternoon, while William was on his Christmas break, we met Rich up at work during his lunch hour.  His new job is right next to North Pole City so we took a short trip over there.  The boys love going and looking at all the decorations.  Recently they've been obsessed with nutcrackers (a lady from church gave them some that they just love!)  So we had to get a picture next to this huge nutcracker.

During the day on Christmas Eve Rich took the boys to see Tron while I stayed home, relaxed and started our dinner for the night.  After our big dinner we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and acted it out.  James decided to be Joseph this year while William and Alex were shepherds.

We then read our bedtime stories by the fire and got the kids in bed nice and early!

Christmas morning (thankfully) didn't start too early at our house.  We told William and James that they couldn't come into the living room until everyone was up... and that they weren't allowed to wake up Alexander.  So when they woke up around 7:00 I had them go into the playroom, put on a show, and went back to bed until 8:00 when Alex woke up.

William could not make up his mind on what he wanted from Santa this year.  He was changing his mind up to the very last second.  At that point he decided he wanted one of those new Lego games.  Have you seen them?  The board is made from Legos and you assemble it yourself.  He gave me his top 3 choices but emphasized that he really wanted the Harry Potter Lego game.  When Rich and I went to get it there were no more... so we got the next choice.  I explained to William that Santa's elves might not be able to make the one he wanted in time since he changed his mind so close to Christmas.  He still had his hopes up and promised not to be sad if he got another Lego game.  Well, just a few days before Christmas, Rich found the coveted Harry Potter game!  It was a Christmas miracle!  William was so  excited on Christmas morning when he found that sitting next to his stocking! He just knew Santa's elves would make it in time.  I told him that he must have been very good.  (In fact, the week leading up to Christmas he really was wonderful and wouldn't even flinch when his brothers did something to bother or hurt him.) James was thrilled as well to find not one but two Kung Zhu's for him (which he kindly offered to share with William)... and Alex has loved playing with his new bristle blocks (much easier for him to maneuver on his own as opposed to lego-type blocks.)

These are the only pictures I got from Christmas morning (and most of the day).  I decided, that instead of worrying about documenting the event I would just sit back and enjoy it!

While we waited for Alexander to wake up from his nap before heading to Grandma's, we built a fort using their new fort kit.  Big hit.

After lots of presents and lots of food at Grandma's most of the grandkids hopped into the tub and played with shaving cream.  Turned into more of a foamy bath rather than one with water.  Yuck!

I feel there is so  much that I left out... but this will have to do for now.

Stay tuned: Our week with some great guests coming up next!

Christmas Visitors

This post is long overdue... since I'm writing it in August and it all happened in December and January!  Better late than never I supposed.  I would have just directed everyone over to Elise's blog... but it's private so most of you wouldn't get to see our fun!

Back in December Elise and Austin came to visit for a bit over the Christmas break.  They arrived at our house on the night of Christmas... where we told each other some exciting news--we were both expecting!  And due only a few weeks apart!  (Elise is due any day now.)

To be honest I can't even remember in what order these events happened!  It was kind of a crazy time... I was on the Stake Nativity/Cantata committee which occurred the weekend before Christmas! Plus, I was still early on in my pregnancy and didn't have a ton of energy.  My house was a disaster the entire time... I'm sure that Austin will never want to visit again!

So in no particular order here are some of the fun things we did with our great visitors!

We went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

While we were downtown Rich wanted to donate blood so he could get some free Thunder tickets.  They had other fun things going on as well.  The boys really liked the bounce house.

We then showed them around Bricktown.

And then we went to dinner.  The boys behaved themselves pretty well.

That was a fun-filled, exhausting day!  Most other days we took it pretty easy and hung around the house.  Hopefully Elise and Austin weren't too bored with us!

There were lots of light saber fights, 

Legos,

toasts with pink {strawberry} milk,

and puzzles. 

Thanks Rachelle for the puzzle!  The boys love it!

The boys even helped Austin with his studying. {He's a dental student}

One night we left the kids at home while we headed to a Thunder game!  (Our poor babysitter had to deal with gross throw up from Alex... I felt so bad!)  We had a great time!

Another night Rich watched the boys so that Elise, Austin and I could head to the temple.

Don't you just love this nativity?

I believe it was on New Year's Eve that we headed down to Norman. We showed them the town, where we used to live, and then headed to the Natural History Museum.  We've never taken the boys there so everyone had a great time.  Too bad we didn't find the children's area until the very end.  That was the best part!

And you can't have a visit from your {future} dentist uncle without getting new toothbrushes!  The boys were actually really excited!

The very last night we stayed up way too late (especially since they had a really early flight).  Elise and I worked on a craft while Austin and Rich watched a basketball game.

Aren't we cute in our matching jammies?

We are so glad that Elise and Austin came to visit us!  We can't wait to see them again!