When did this sweet, little baby...

...become this adorable little boy?

December 24, 2011

Dear Carson,

What a delight this past year has been; you have grown and developed into such a wonderful little boy. We count ourselves very lucky to be your parents. You are a fantastic big brother and son. You are a good example to all of us. You are headstrong, but use that to fight for what is right. We can always count on you. Some of our favorite things from this past year have been:

-learning how to read a little by sounding out letters and words

-drawing very good pictures of people

-your imagination

-your love of making up funny words and fun games

- learning to say very cute, thoughtful prayers

- participating in your first primary program. You memorized your part so well

- watching you in swim lessons. What a fish you became!

- observing your phenomenal memory – you don’t forget a thing!

- how nicely you play with your brothers. You will take care of the baby without being asked, even if he is fussy

- listening to your well thought out family home evening lessons

- how much you love to play! You really love the park, water, friends, or just any attention. You make everything fun

- your zest for life. You have been so excited for your birthday today, you could hardly contain yourself. You even woke up at 5:30

- your desire to dress yourself each and every morning. You always pick out your own clothes and are very particular about what you want

- how much you like a clean house. You will clean and organize willingly, and often without being asked

- you make your own bed, and often Drakes too

- how well you communicate

We know we are very blessed to have you in our family, and especially as our first born. You have a strong spirit. Thank you for choosing to be a part of our family. We love you so very much.

Love,

Mom & Dad

The Christmas Story...Crockett Style

For FHE this month we have told and retold the Christmas story. I like being able to dedicate 4 out of 52 FHEs a year to the awesome and miraculous birth of the Savior. That being said, here is how it went:

And Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be taxed. And she brought forth her third born son and laid him in a clothes basket with blankets because she was trying to teach her crazy kids about the birth of the Savior...

...and there were two really adorable wise men...When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. (even though it was made of paper and extremely lopsided)

...These little wisemen were very serious about their job. They went and got Christmas gifts from under the tree to give to the baby in the manger...

...the little wisemen were high on Christmas Spirit...very high...

...nevertheless, they were able to deliver their gifts...

...then they got a little tired and the poor baby Jesus was kicked out of his manger...

...looks comfy, huh...

...at least we tried!

Sweet Little Prayer

Carson was assigned last week to say the prayer in Primary yesterday.
We prepped him as usual. "You get to say the prayer in Primary next week! How exciting!" I exclaimed to him last Sunday.
"Yep!" Was about all I heard back from him.
As the week went on, I would remind him on occasion. As the reminders continued he declared to us, "I don't need any help."
"Are you sure?" I asked
"Yeah, I can do it by myself," he confidently stated.
Thinking his story might change, I leaned over at the end of sacrament meeting yesterday to tell him this was the big moment.
He wasn't phased in the least, nor did his story change.
Dave and I stood in the back of the Primary room waiting for opening exercises to begin. We sang the opening song, then it was Carson's turn. He walked right up the podium, and stepped confidently up on the step.
"Do you need help?" he was asked.
"No, I can do it," he whispered back.
He folded his arms, bowed his head, closed his eyes, spoke clearly into the microphone and so sweetly delivered this little prayer:

"Dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this day. We thank thee that we can be at church. Help us to sing in Primary. We thank thee for our blessings. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

We were proud.

Brooks' Head

Remember when I left my wallet at the store and didn't discover it till I was checking in at the Children's Hospital? Yeah, me too.
I wanted to document that appointment because as we all know by now, my brain is no good. As I mentioned previously, Brooks head is a bit lopsided. I carry my babies deep and tight and sometimes their little noggins get a bit squished. The nurse noticed right away and told us he has "overlapping sutures".
His pediatrician has been monitoring his skull pretty closely. At two months she was convinced it would resolve itself rather quickly. At four months she wasn't so sure and told us that if there wasn't significant enough improvement at 6 months then she wold refer us.
She referred us to the Neurosurgery center at Children's Hospital. We met with Dr. Winston and Dr. French, and Neurosurgeon and Plastic surgeon.
They walked into the room, measured, palpated, and examined. "Well, the good news is, he doesn't need surgery." Dr. French said first, shortly confirmed by Dr. Winston.
In my mind I was a bit taken aback. I never actually thought he did, but that was clearly what they thought I was there for.
"Well, good!" I responded (not really sure what to say). "So, if he doesn't need surgery, does he need a helmet?" I asked. I was thinking I was pretty clever guiding them to the real reason I was there anyway.
"Bah! Helmet...NO!" Was essentially the response I was given. And that was that.
Both doctors were under the impression that helmets don't really do much; and that the end result is ultimately the same, you just save yourself a lot of money by not doing them.
"The only thing a helmet would do would be to get the skull to the proper point sooner," explained Dr. French.
"If that?!" scoffed Dr. Winston "Save yourself the money!"
I know there are differing opinions out there, but these two felt quite strongly. We are now doing our best to get Brooks to lay on his right side while sleeping, as that will possibly help round out his head a bit. For now, we wait.

Previous Post Pictures

The Avenging, Toast Eating, Toe Lover

My boys are crack-ups. Just for fun, I grabbed a piece of paper this morning and wrote each boys name down. As the day has gone on (it is only 2:30), I have written something about each one of them. Just in the last 8 hours:

Carson - told quite the tall tale at lunch involving Dora, Boots, and the Avengers. All I can say is, poor Dora and Boots. And yes, he had each avenger playing a key role; Thor, The Hulk, Captain America, and Ironman.

Drake - rubbed his toast all over his face and head (with the buttered side) this morning. I wish this is the first time this had happened, alas, it not.

Brooks - has an infatuation with my feet. He sits on my lap and leans as far as he can to get a good view of my toes moving. Once he's locked in on them, there is no breaking his focus. If he can't see them, he will lunge, and wiggle until he can. It's amazing how long he stays occupied while watching them.

As for Dave and I - today Dave looks like a C.R.E.E.P. - O. They had an ugly sweater contest at work, and Dave went ALL out. I will definitely post a picture later.
Me, I'm just going bald (for the third time).

Please be on the lookout for my brain...

...it's gone missing.
I don't know what is wrong with me lately but being such a ding-a-ling is exhausting! Here is a sampling:
Yesterday morning I took Brooks to a Neuro and Plastic Surgery consultation. His head is a bit lopsided and his Pediatrician had referred us.
"Do you have your insurance card?" the peppy receptionist chirped.
I started digging through my "black hole" as Dave calls it; aka my purse. I continued digging and digging and digging...
no wallet.
Gut punch.
I had NO clue where my wallet was, usually I know when my purse has been tampered with but there was nothing unusual and I was certain my wallet should be in it.
After much searching and panicking and a couple of phone calls I finally learned I had left it at Sprouts the day before. Awesome.
Then, yesterday evening I was in charge of the YM/YW joint activity and we were caroling at a Nursing home for those suffering from Dementia diseases and Alzheimers. I piled a number of people in my car (including poor, sweet Carson) and enjoyed singing my little heart out for the cute elderly people. One adorable little man kept shuffling back and forth in front of us and wouldn't sit down so eventually was sent to his room. Another sweet woman was warbling along with us for all she was worth. It was seriously heart-warming. Another just sat and cried. When all was said and done we meandered out to the cars to go home. I realized quickly that I wasn't carrying my purse and must have left it in one of the three building we caroled at. Feeling silly already because these buildings required a code AND a key card to get in and out of (due to the large numbers of attempted escapees on a daily basis), I followed a worker around to each building only to come up empty handed. I am sure I drover her bonkers by the number of times I squeaked, "I am so sorry! Merry Christmas!"
I hobbled quickly back to the car and peered in the windows. There it sat, right on the floor between the driver and passenger seats. My purse.
Phone calls, youth shuffling, and many apologies later, my friend (and other counselor) Melanie, Carson and I stood out in the cold waiting for my knight in shining armor to come deliver the keys.
I sent Carson with Dave who was headed straight back home, and drove back to the church with Mel. Even though there were only two turns required...yes, just two; I managed to take a wrong one. Go me.
We finally arrived at the church I dropped her off, convinced her I wasn't pregnant even though I wish I had an excuse for my brain, apologized yet again and went home.
Ten minutes later I snuck into Carson's room to give him a hug and kiss goodnight when he sat up and said,
"Mommy, you drove away with the hymn book on top of your car but that's ok because daddy and I picked it up for you"...

Monkey see, monkey do...

...is a term we use often around here. Drake adores Carson and mimics every little thing he does. It's a good thing that Carson is such a good example; he (mostly) teaches Drake good things.

I found them in their room like this one morning.

The Proud Pooper #2

I think potty training this little stud is MUCH closer than I originally anticipated. He is requesting to poop and pee in the "witto potty" quite often.

Snow Day!

The boys and Dave fashioned a sled out of our garbage can lid and some rope. They played long and hard out in the freezing snow, and they had a blast!!

Look what our trash compactor threw up

Gee, I can't wait to see what else we find from 27 years ago...

What do YOU do when it's 40 degress outside and sunny??

We sunbathe around here

Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We spent the day with our dear friends the Bishops. Chrissy and I made quite the spread of good food. The day consisted of football, good food, singing around the piano, and games!!

I am bummed we didn't take a picture all together, thus the candid shot of Chrissy.

This is Brinton; the Bishop's handsome little guy.

Lastly, all the football pictures. Dave was in charge of not only the ward Turkey Bowl, but the first annual Crockett Turkey Bowl as well. We were going to get matching shirts, but went shopping a little too late to find something good and had to result to making paper name/number cards instead. Don't let the pictures fool you, it was a cut-throat, intense, blood thirsty game.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite as competitive as I said...or even at all. BUT it was WAY fun and the boys were soooooo cute playin' their little hearts out.

Meet Ryan...

This is Katie and her boyfriend Ryan. They came to visit for four days before Thanksgiving. It. Was. A. Blast.
Let me tell you what a good host I was. Whilst here, I "allowed" them to babysit my children (much of which included abuse at the hands of my offspring), do all my dishes, clean my house, rake my leaves, endure hours of interrogation, and patch holes in my ceiling and walls. Poor Katie even had to sleep under Carson's bed. Yes, you read that right, under. The rest of the time I kept them chained in the basement with no food or water. Below are the pictures of them retexturing the awesome popcorn ceiling we have. It was a messy process.

Lovely Katie, just lovely.

Makes you wanna come visit us, huh?

Bouncing Baby Brooks

Brooks is 6 months old now and cute as can be. He is my sweetest and crankiest baby. Good times are really good, and bad times are really bad. Fortunately, the good DEFINITELY outweighs the bad. He currently has two teeth (and has since four months) which he likes to play around with, thus, the crooked smile we often see. None of us can seem to get enough of this adorable baby.

*Just after posting this I noticed little Brooks has cut the very edge of his third tooth

Telescoping

I'm assuming that's a verb... Nate let us come over one night to look into his cool telescope. We got to see Jupiter, the moon, and some other stars. It was fun for the kids.

The Lion King

Mel and I got to go see the Lion King on Wednesday. Mel was gorgeous and the show was great. We had a great time. Thanks to our wonderful babysitter Debbie Salt!

The highlight of the show for me was Rafiki. She was awesome.

Thankful

Isn't this just the BEST time of year?! I want to have gratitude; always. In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to reflect on some of what I am grateful for. I would like to think that the list could go on, and on, but I am gonna stick with 100. I challenge you do to this too...

1. A loving Heavenly Father
2. His Son Jesus Christ
3. The gospel
4. My perfect husband
5. Sweet Carson
6. Spunky Drake
7. Innocent Brooks
8. Contacts and glasses
9. My home
10. My mini-van (NEVER thought I would say that...EVER)
11. My Vacuum
12. My bed
13. Hot showers
14. Food & feeding my family healthy things (grateful for the knowledge)
15. Trials
16. Sacrifice - I'm learning this one...thank you, children
17. Chapstick
18. Date night with my hubby
19. A good pair of walking shoes
20. Some wicked-awesome tenacity
21. My height
22. Good friends - I have had a few near and dear friends come into my life. Makes me realize I was really missing out when I didn't put the effort in to be a good friend to those when I was younger.
23. My sewing machine
24. My strollers
25. Food storage
26. Tupperware
27. Blogging - I love to express my feelings
28. Good conversations
29. Everyone who is smarter than I. I love learning from others
30. A good feather pillow
31. My cell phone...aka lifeline to my family
32. A garage to park in
33. Generous people
34. The ability to bear and rear children
35. Hairbands - big time
36. A good book
37. Humor - I LOVE to laugh
38. Beautiful music
39. Music that makes you want to dance
40. My family - all of them
41. My bathrobe. It's pink
42. Make-up. I am not addicted to it, but I really do need mascara.
43. Q-tips
44. New York & Company - FINALLY a store I KNOW I can by pants in that will be long enough and won't break the bank
45. My razor
46. My toothbrush
47. Fun Games - my favorite two being Pinochle and Guesstures. If you EVER want to play PLEEEEASE call me!
48. The YW in my ward - my current calling is with them
49. Visiting Teaching - I know, I am a dork
50. The nice animal control people
51. The shopping carts and wal-mart...you know, the ones made to hold like 6 kids
52. My grandparents (I know this goes along with family, but they deserve an extra big shout-out)
53. Thermal curtains
54. Working air conditioning and heating
55. Those of you who read my blog - again, dorky, I know. It SERIOUSLY makes my day when I find out someone reads it though whom I didn't expect. I also love my "regulars". Writing for myself, but giving others insights into our lives is truly the best combination in my mind.
56. Grass - ours is currently being groomed. We seeded a couple of months ago. Can't wait to lay on it with the kiddos and look at the clouds.
57. Volleyball
58. My piano...one of my best friends
59. A musical husband - we love to "jam"
60. Hand sanitizer
61. Icecream - it's my go-to. Everything else I can pass up.
62. A strong body
63. My education
64. The shows Dave and I watch together (Bones, Mentalist, Leverage) it's really fun to hunker down and decompress with him after a long day.
65. POPCORN!!!!
66. Braces
65. Dove soap
66. Dave's "Astros" sweatshirt. I wear it ALLLLLL the time
67. Refrigerators
68. Rain
69. Holidays
70. Musicals - we are going to see the Lion King tonight!
71. Lilac bushes
72. Daylight/Sunlight - isn't it ironic that my birthday fall on the longest day of the year?? (as far as sunlight is concerned)
73. Clear night skies - on occasion, Dave and I will sneak out our bedroom window and lay on the roof that is over the garage and just gaze up into the sky...
74. periods. I do this....way...too...much...and...I...know...it...but...I...don't...care...
75. Love letters
76. BACK SCRATCHES!!!! - NOT back rubs
77. Toilet paper...and toilets for that matter
78. My scale - strange, I know
79. My teeth
80. Green eyes - not many people have them; it's kinda fun
81. My scriptures
82. All the parks around here
83. Water - clean water at my disposal - wow
84. Dave's job
85. My job - tiny as it is, I am grateful for it (I work for my mom like 3 hours a week)
86. My computer
87. Fingernail clippers
88. Opportunities to serve
89. Good memories - I have SOOOOOOO many stories to share
90. My wedding ring. I love it
91. Deodorant - I have the ability to be one STINKY girl
92. Trampolines
93. Sunglasses
94. Duct tape
95. Plastic wrap and aluminum foil
96. Garlic and onions - hhhhhhi! hhhhhhhhhhhow are yooooooooou?
97. Scrapbooks (my blog is included in this)
98. External hard drives
99. Sleeping babies - they are so beautiful and peaceful
100. The temple

Dogs & Scammer Udpates

DOGS
I want to give a big shout out to those who helped give me ideas on my canine conquests. Here is what I have come up with:
1. I now walk a different route on my walk. I leave my street and cut across a nearby field over to the business area by by neighborhood. I feel substantially safer. There are a lot less cars too.
2. I will be carrying wasp spray. I have received that recommendation a couple of times now. It has the same effect as the mace spray but shoots a lot farther.
3. I am seriously contemplating carrying a "walking stick" aka golf club.

SCAMMER
Shortly after returning back from Trick-or-Treating on Halloween we got a call from Geico. Thinking it was yet another sales call (we get like 5 a day), I didn't answer. They proceeded to leave a message, "Hello this is ??? from Geico. I am calling regarding such and such claim involving an unoccupied vehicle..."
"Hello! Hello!" I quickly picked up the phone. The nice lady and I had a long conversation about the "incident". Turns out the accuser did in fact write down my license plate number. I explained to her what had (or had not) happened. She gave her two cents saying it was odd the claim hadn't been called in until that day. And after much deliberation the claim was flagged and to be further investigated.
That night and the next day I made a gazillion phone calls to various insurance workers both with Geico and my own. Some people were helpful, some were not. I learned that Geico has filed a claim, and my own insurance has to file a separate one. I have kept my agent abreast of the situation and hope he is taking care of it (he already has the note left and a document I typed up immediately after the occurrence with every single objective thing I can remember). Regardless, I now sit and wait.

Halloween

This is not a preview for the new Avengers movie coming out. Carson enjoyed dressing up the most, and was very energetic about trick or treating. Drake was tired and could barely lift his pumpkin. Everybody had a lot of fun.

Sweet, Baby Brooks

We all adore him...sometimes too much :)

I Want You!

If this picture doesn't capture Drake's current personality, I don't know what does...