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