wait wait... don't tell me!

I like to listen to podcasts while I drive around running my errands. One of my favorites is Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! It's a little bit informative and a LOT funny. I rarely listen to "kid music" while in the car--and if so, it's always primary songs or scripture scouts... something I can tolerate. Sometimes I feel bad about that. But my boys are such good travelers that I feel I don't have to entertain them in the car. Besides, I figure, one day they will have an opinion about what we listen to so I should live it up while I can. Well, that day has come much too soon.

Recently, if I turn anything on James throws a fit and says, "No, No, NO!" over and over again until I turn the sound off. At first I thought he wanted to listen to music instead of talk, so I turned some music on. But that elicited the same response, "No, No, NO!" It was driving me crazy to drive around with nothing to listen to (especially when I have to drive 20 minutes to get to a store!) Finally, I figured it out! He wanted to listen to Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! Seriously! If I turn on anything else James will throw a fit.... unless it's that show! Both William and James get so happy when they hear it come on. They cheer and clap when the audience cheers and laugh at all the jokes (even though they don't get any of them!) And they really listen because William picks up when he hears them say "Star Wars." Or, the other day when they played a clip of "Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting" he got so excited and said, "Mom!! Did you know they had Kung Fu Panda on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!?"

It's really too bad that it's only a weekly podcast! But we decided that we are going to save up a bunch to listen to when we drive up to Colorado this summer... that should keep the whole family entertained.

What do you (and your kids) like to listen to in the car?

what to do?

Date nights are taken seriously at the Crane house. Friday night we go on a date--no questions. Even William knows that Friday night = date night. Just last Friday he said, "I want to go on a date to Grandma's house." (Translation: "I want you and Dad to go on a date so that James and I can go to Grandma's without you.") We are lucky that Rich's parents live nearby so we have free babysitters. But even if they are unavailable for the night we still go--with the boys in tow. Lately though, it seems like we are stuck in a rut. We do the same things over and over. Going out to eat (usually without the boys), window shopping, going to the bookstore, walking around Mitch Park... Obviously we like these things but we rarely change it up. Has our creativity gone the way of the wind? Are we just a boring old couple now? Or do we just need some new ideas? I like to think it's the last option. Which leads me to the question...

What do YOU do for date night?

christmas recap

We had too much fun this Christmas. Not only did we have fun looking at Christmas lights, attending Christmas parties, going to the stake Christmas creche exhibit, watching Christmas movies, and reading Christmas books... but we also:

Made snowflake candy necklaces:

William had a blast making these... and making a blue mess while he ate them!

Visited Santa Claus (or attempted to):

The boys would not see Santa Claus. At the ward party William wouldn't even go into the same room! James squirmed out of Santa's arms. So we decided to go to the mall for a second try. William hid behind my legs the entire time. James warmed up a little... but neither would sit on the jolly old man's lap.

Opened way, way, way too many presents (thank you!)

This picture is for my dad. He gave James an ice cream scoop (all the grandchildren get them... feeding their need for ice cream early on). James decided that he needed to eat something with it immediately... so he had some Froot Loops.

And even with all the hustle and bustle we remembered the reason we celebrate it all. William is quick to tell you that "Christmas is about Jesus." Hope you all had a good one!

lost and found

According to William, yesterday was a bad day. James probably would have told you the same thing too. You see, James lost his blankie. Yes, the blankie. The one that goes with him everywhere. The one that must be in his hand while he sucks his thumb. The one that he cannot sleep without. The one that is getting so tattered that it has a hole where he can slip his wrist in while his hands are busy holding other things.

For a year now I've been telling myself to buy a back-up. But I didn't. And then yesterday tragedy struck. We were loading in the car to head to storytime (one of our absolutely necessary weekly adventures) when I realized that James wasn't holding his blanket. I ran in the house (the boys were buckled in the car) to find it. I can always find a missing blankie in less than 2 minutes. I searched the house for over 5 minutes and couldn't find it. So we headed to the library sans blanket. I thought for sure we'd come home and William or James would immediately find it. Nope. I put James down for a nap anyway. He screamed and cried like someone was torturing him.... so we looked again. William and I pretended we were detectives. The fridge. The pots and pans. Under the bed. The washer. Everywhere. I guess we weren't very good detectives.

No one is happy when James misses his nap, so we headed to the store for a new blankie.Upon our arrival back home I put a tired James in his bed with his new lovey. It worked! Hurray. He must have been really tired to let it fly though because when he woke up he was furious with the impostor! He wanted nothing to do with it. If William tried handing it to him he'd fling it away as though it contained some disease!

And then this morning the three of us were sitting on the couch watching William's favorite--Sid the Science Kid--when James got up from the couch. I heard him in the kitchen shutting the lid to the breadmaker. Nothing unusual... the boys love to put toys in there. Finally he came back to the couch looking so proud and there in his little hand was the blankie! I couldn't believe it! Of all the obscure places that I searched I overlooked that one!

All is now well at the Crane's and James is peacefully napping with both of his blankies.

food storage

I don't know about you... but one of my many goals for the year is to get all our food storage taken care of. Our church encourages every family to have a three-month supply of food. I just heard about this great site: http://funwithfoodstorage.net/. This week they are doing a ton of great giveaways so check it out! What are your tips for getting your food storage together? What about your emergency kits (check out this site)? (another one of my goals)

oh baby!

James has recently started to carry around a bear, treating it as though it's his baby. He feeds it:

Lays it down on the bed, covers it with his blankie, and shuts the door so it can take a nap:

And mostly, he loves his "baby" a whole lot:

Sometimes he even wants to change the "baby's" diaper. I asked James if he was going to be such a helper when we have a real baby and he told me 'uh-huh.' I'm sure that he will.