and off he goes!

James has been walking for several months now but just this week he has really gotten the hang of it. He walks more than he crawls now. In fact, today he walked down the entire hallway. Here is James showing off his walking skills.

movie night

A few days back William took an unauthorized late afternoon nap. Since he has a 6:30 bedtime this usually causes a problem. But this time, instead of spending 30 minutes trying to wake the sleeping beauty I decided to have a movie night! Part of this decision was also based on the fact that I had just bought Enchanted and was so excited to watch it again. Once Rich got home he and William made us a "comfy, cozy bed" to sit on. I think that they used just about every blanket and pillow in the house. It was such a fun, relaxing evening spent at home... some might call it enchanted. I think we should make this a monthly tradition...

and then the festivities were over

Finally! With two birthdays and two holidays all in the span of a week I'm ready to be done! We keep birthdays pretty low-key here in the Crane household. My sister-in-law gave birth to my newest niece (and first Crane granddaughter), Anna,

on Sunday March 16th (which I totally predicted) so we thought we'd keep James' birthday celebrations to just the immediate family.

Actually, Grandma Crane, Aunt Lisa, and cousin Ben came over for lunch... along with birthday presents. Thanks guys! William enjoyed "helping" James open his presents. I think William and James appreciated all the gifts equally (since William thinks that they are his). Here is James talking on his new phone. Now he can use his own instead of trying to grab mine all the time--he gets really excited each time he hears the phone ring!

And then we had cake. Mmm... At first James was more concerned about keeping William away from the cake. He gave William more than one warning glare (look at the first picture). He had a good time "messing his cake" (as William kept telling us).

And then we had more egg hunts than we could handle! Friday afternoon we went to an egg hunt at Rich's work. On Saturday morning we had a ward Easter egg hunt... and then our very own Easter Bunny came with eggs and baskets on Saturday afternoon! William was in heaven and thought it was so cool to find all the eggs.

This year we dyed eggs as well. William was really into it and would tell us that the eggs were diving into the color. One year in college we dyed eggs with Kool-aid which was so fun that I decided to do the same again this year. William loved to smell the different colors and tell us what they smelled like. (Green smelled like leaves... even though it was lemon-lime.) Our egg dying was a hit with William which equals success.

Easter Sunday we tried to remember the real meaning of the holiday and I even got William to watch The Testaments before church instead of the usual--Veggietales. (If you want to read some great thoughts on Easter click here.)

We also celebrated Rich's birthday.

Look at all that smoke!

His mom made a great cake and I made some chocolate mousse. I think he had a pretty good day.

I am glad that all the celebrating is over for a while now though. It will be nice to relax and enjoy the beautiful spring weather!

one year older and wiser too...

... happy birthday to you! I know that today is Easter and I should be posting about that... but it also happens to be the birthdays of some pretty special people.

First is this guy: He's pretty fabulous. Not only is he husband of the year but he is also a fantastic dad and top-notch employee. Plus he's hot and pretty dang hilarious. I don't know what I'd do without him. He is turning 30 today... but shhhh! I didn't tell you!

And next is this girl:

Isn't she beautiful!? This is my awesome youngest sister. She is super talented and smart. (And when she and Rich get together they think they're pretty funny.) I can't believe that she is 18 now!

Happy Birthday Rich and Rachelle!

And a Happy Birthday to Michelle as well!

you've had a birthday shout HOORAY!

It's hard to believe that a year ago we were here...

And now James, you are my big boy! You are my little koala and love to snuggle up with your head on my shoulder--that is, when you are not moving! You are constantly on the go and have so much energy. Whatever William is doing you want to be part of it... from playing cars and balls to making music and messes. The two of you just make each other laugh and laugh--I love it!

Curiosity drives much of what you do--opening cupboards, pulling out trash, and climbing up step stools. Most of the time you know when you are causing trouble because you'll look back at us before you head right into it (the fireplace, for instance). And when you aren't making messes then you are helping to pick them up. You are a wonderful little helper.

You just love food and are willing to try anything once--although you often have to take it out of your mouth to examine just what exactly was placed there. And if anyone else is eating you definitely want to try some of whatever they are having.

I absolutely adore that the only word you've said so far is "momma." I feel so blessed that you are a part of our family. I love you!

Happy Birthday James!

march

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! Hope your day is very... green. As much fun as dying our food green is, this time of the year brings another fun event in the lives of the Cranes... march madness! Although I don't really follow sports (although Jeff was often impressed with the football conversations that Amy and I shared on Sunday afternoons) I fill out a bracket every year. It makes the whole tournament more exciting... and then I don't mind so much when that's all Rich wants to watch. So without further ado, here are our brackets for 2008.
And one more thing... even though I don't follow sports I tend to beat the Cranes nearly every year at this. I hope I didn't jinx myself...

Rockin' with the Burrs

Friday night we got the chance to hang out with the Burrs. Rich and Bob went to high school with Brady and Brandon. We always love getting together with them. William and Josh have a great time together, the guys have a fun time making fun of each other, and the girls love chattin' it up. Ben Sam, Jacob, and James are bound to be good friends too. Brandon got a Rock 'n' Roll trivia game for his birthday so we played that for a bit... It's almost sick how much all those guys know about rock music!

In high school the guys had a band called Space Ghost. I like to think that James and Jacob are have band practice here in preparation for Space Ghost 2.

I'm slowly losing my mind

So a few days ago I was getting ready for the day. I was talking with William and put some astringent on a cotton ball. I had wiped the entire left side of my face when I thought, "This smells a whole lot stronger than usual." I looked down at the counter and saw my purple nail polish remover sitting there next to the witch hazel. Oh no. Glancing down at the cotton ball I realized that it was purple. I totally freaked out and washed my face off! Luckily it didn't give me a rash or anything!

I have got to get some sleep!

"I can breathe in a small town"

Population: 6000

Area: 43 square miles

Traffic lights: 0

Schools: 5

Churches: 6

Gas Stations: 2

Grocery Stores: 0

I went to a high school whose student body almost equals the population of our entire town. That would bother some people... but not me. There are some things that drive me crazy (couldn't we get just one grocery store here?) but for the most part I have come to really enjoy small town life. I will go into more of those reasons later. Today I want to brag about our library. It's small (perhaps the size of our home) and fairly new (less than 5 years old) but it is awesome. Our librarian, Rhonda, is so creative and is always planning things that will help the community.

Every Tuesday morning she holds a wonderful story time filled with stories (of course), dancing, snacks, and crafts. A few months ago we learned all about colors. For the craft all the children got to put their hands in paint and make a handprint on a quilt square. And what did she do with those?

Well, there is a quilting group that meets at the library every Friday morning. They made these adorable curtains for the children's section of the library. Cute idea? She's full of them! Even better? William is on all three curtains. Here are some close ups:

1. William's handprint 2. William and his buddies, Beckham and Stoddard, reading their books quietly on the rocking bench (note: it's amazing that these boy are sitting still. Normally they are terrorizing the library. This is probably why Rhonda took the picture.) 3. William is in the foreground in the red jacket. This is a music and movement class that they hold once a month... so fun! 4. William in the orange shirt during summer story time.

I just thought this was a wonderful way to combine story time, quilters group, and beautify the library!

And here are some cute pictures of my boys playing at the library... for your viewing enjoyment. (Which is another great thing about our library... we can go at certain times and no one else will be there... love it.)

... more to come on small town life...

...where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

It has been incredibly windy here! (We even had a tornado warning last night!) Saturday was such a nice day (albeit, windy) that we took the boys to magical Mitch Park. For whatever reason I don't think that we've ever brought William--and he had a blast! He thought that the bridge on the jogging trail was really cool.James had a great time swinging--although he was a little wary when William started to push him. (And I think he's checking out the cute little girl swinging next to him.)

We were so happy to have such a beautiful day--especially now that the weather has gone back to being cold and gray! We can't wait for another day like it (but maybe just a little less windy!)