Eight is Great!

Jackson, this post is for you. I'm sorry that it is November 22nd, and I'm just now getting this post written. I waited until after your baptism so I would have more to post. You know, pictures and the like. And then, I realize that I am not the mom I wish I was. Because, I didn't take hardly any pictures of your baptism. It's not because I don't love you and want to preserve that memory for you. Life just gets in the way and that day, at your baptism, things got busy. It's interesting how my family means more than anything to me, but somehow it's all the little things that distract me from you. What I would have wanted more than anything was to spend time with you at the church, taking pictures and capturing the moment. Instead, there are 10 people that stop me to talk and before I know it, the moment is gone. I missed getting pictures of you in your white clothes. I missed giving you that one more kiss or hug before the whole thing started, letting you know that indeed I am so proud of you. Those moments got filled with small things of little significance that I cannot now remember. I'm sorry I let those things get in the way. I promise to try harder in the future. I promise to tell that well intentioned well-wisher to please "Hold that thought" because I need to be with my son. I promise to prioritize the moments in life that will be important forever. I guess this is just my way of saying "I love you", even though I don't have much to show for it.

Okay, with that out of the way, I want to share with you what makes you great! Here are my 8 favorite things about you:


1. You're such a great big brother. You have so much patience when it comes to Addie. When you get home in the afternoon, the first thing you want to do is find Addison, and if she is asleep, you are bummed. You make breakfast for Delaney in the morning and help unbuckle her car seat. You sit in the third row of the car without complaining and you watch Tinkerbell to make your sister happy.

2. You amaze me at how well you build things. I can't believe the Lego sets you are able to do. You're much better at it than me. Your teacher says Math is your best subject and you do your homework most nights with very little complaining. I love how you enjoy learning and I hope you always have that thirst for more.

3. You were beaming at your baptism. Several people commented to me about that. I am proud of the decisions you've made. I can tell you are trying hard to make the right choices. You are proud to be one of Heavenly Father's children and you work hard to let Him know that.


4. You've never met a stranger. You can talk to anyone, anywhere, at anytime, for any length of time! You don't have a shy bone in your body. Last summer when you flew by yourself to visit Grandma and Grandpa Clark, when you got off the plane, everyone leaving the gate kept saying, "Bye, Jackson". It was apparent that you'd gotten to know many people on the flight.

5. You love your family. All of your extended family. You want to know what is going on with who. You are the oldest cousin on my side and all those little boys look up to you. You also have some little boy cousins on Dad's side. I hope you continue to set good examples for them.

6. I love that when the sun is shining, there is no where you'd rather be than outside. Riding your bike, playing at the park, golfing, baseball, you name it. There are so many things to entertain you on the inside of a house, I'm so glad that you still choose to be outside. Now that it is getting cold again, you even love to be outside in the snow. Grandma and Grandpa Critt gave you some ski gloves for your birthday and I love that you ask everyday if you can wear them, even though we haven't gotten any snow yet. Wishful thinking! You definitely don't get that from me, your dad is the one who loves the cold and snow!

7. You are a loyal friend. You and Steven are such a pair. One hardly exists without the other. I think most visitors to our home have met Steven on at least one occasion. I love the friendship you have and hope that it lasts forever. Your very first best buddy was Corbin. He called you on your baptism day. And you two talked for quite a while. How great that you have a friendship with so much history. It's not easy to find great friends, so when you do, I hope that you put in the work that it takes to keep them. I hope you always remember that a good friend is one who makes you a better person, not one who expects or allows your worst.

8. You are patient and sensitive with your mom. Yep, me. Last year for your seventh birthday, I was newly pregnant with Addison and super sick. So, I forgot to send treats to school on your birthday. When you came home and told me, I felt awful. I started to cry. And then you were the one consoling me, letting me know that the package of Red Vines that Mr. Cronin gave you to share with the class was sufficient. (For the record, I remembered this year!). Not too long ago I sent you to school on a field trip day without a sack lunch. You ended up having to eat hot lunch with the Kindergartners once you got back. Again, I felt terrible that I forgot. But once again, it was you telling me why it was alright. And then, when you went on your field trip to the flag factory last week, you were nice to remind me to send a sack lunch.

I can't believe I've been your mom for 8 years. I don't feel old enough to have an 8 year old! I don't know how I feel about you now being accountable for your actions. Some days I'd rather take the "blame" and let you go on - free of accountability. But then I remember that's not how it's supposed to be. I know I joke that I'm going to make you eat nothing but junk food and not let you sleep at night so you won't grow any bigger. But, deep down, that's not what I really want. I have loved every second of the past 8 years, and I can't wait to see what the next 8 hold!

Happy Birthday, Friend. I love you.

Mom.

Wise men

I've started to get Christmas out. Yes, I realize it's early. I've actually never gotten Christmas out this early, but we're going to Florida all next week, so I thought I'd get a head start. Plus, since I was sick and preggo last Christmas, all I did was the bare minimum. We're lucky the tree was up and I had the kids decorate it, so there were no ornaments above 3 feet, except on the side where they could stand on the arm of the couch and reach higher (yes, I let my kids stand on the couch). Anyways, I feel like it's been two years since I've gotten any decorations out, so I started early this year.

We have this Fisher Price Little People Nativity that I love because the kids can play til their heart's content and I don't have to worry about them ruining it.

Tonight Delaney was playing with it and one of the wise men fell on the ground.

Jeff says, "Delaney, you dropped your king."

I said, "That's not a king, it's a wise man."

Delaney then picks up another wise man off the table and asks, "Is this the foolish man, then?".

Love it.

And the winners are...

Kerry S. and Vicki L.!! Kerry, I am going to send you the red and pink one and Vicki, I will send you the yellow one.

Kerry, I have your address, but Vicki, I don't have your new one. Will you email me with it?

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Jackson is getting baptized, so family is starting to trickle in already. I'll post about it once the weekend is over.

Crafting

This week I've been busy gearing up for Super Saturday. For those of you unfamiliar with this Mormon term, it usually refers to an entire day of crafting. However, growing up, it is what we called stake dances, so maybe us Mormons just love the title "Super Saturday". It references something big and exciting (or that's what the planners of said event would have you believe). And it always involves refreshments. Yesterday was our Super Saturday (the craft kind), complete with crock-pot soups and more dessert bars and cookies than you can imagine. I taught two classes, the first one were these daisy pie pin cushions:

I also taught these Christmas pillows - a pattern copied from Hillary (Yes, the same Hillary with the great salad recipe. I aspire to be like her when I grow up!).

I love to do crafts in my spare time, and my sewing machine is running at least 4 days a week. However, I only do straight lines. If a project involves anything more than a straight line, you've lost me. I don't like patterns because I'm not a perfectionist, so they never come out right. However, I saw a child's smock that was so cute on Etsy, but the seller wanted $40+ for it, and I wasn't about to spend that for Delaney. I'd found some fabric that I thought would be perfect so... I made up a pattern.

Can you believe it? I can't either.

It's reversible as well, with the argyle on bottom and flowers on top. But, as you can see I made it too big. I'd like to say I learned a lot from designing my first pattern, but I didn't really, and am still confused as to how it ended up so big. However, I'm happy with the concept.

When it came out too big for D, I made Jackson try it on (yes, he was mortified). It fit him perfectly, so it is going to my baby cousin Alli, who is 8 as well.

Now, at the end of a busy craft week, I realize, why let Alli have all the craft fun? Why not share the love with my blog friends? I already have many darling pincushions (thanks to Rach and Spence for the newest addition to my collection). I don't need the samples I made for Super Saturday. So, I'm doing a giveaway! If you would like either of the pincushions pictured above, please leave a comment. I will then pick two commenters at random (thanks to random.org) and send the commenter some pincushion love! So comment away! I will close the giveaway and choose the two winners at midnight on Thursday.

Halloween

Yep, I'm late. Every single blog I read has long since had their fall/Halloween pictures up. Well, better late than never. I actually started composing this on Tuesday of last week, but between kids being sick, church responsibilities, and getting ready for a Super Saturday craft day, it's been a crazy week. So, here is it, a week+ late!

We went to the pumpkin patch the day before Halloween. When you wait that close to Halloween, it's deserted there. So, we had the place to ourselves and all the lopsided pumpkins we'd possibly want to choose from.

Yes, it was seriously deserted. Usually those fields are full of people, but I suppose no one decided to wait as long as us. Their loss...I held out for a nice day and sure enough it was sunny at 65 degrees, so it was worth the wait! Here are Jackson and Delaney, all alone on the tractor train.
Miss Addie waiting patiently in the stroller as brother and sister enjoy the afternoon.

Once they picked their pumpkins, it was a quick run by the Mac store for dinner, and then onto carving. Here are their pumpkins, sketched out by them and executed with much help from Dad. (Note to those who know about Jackson's weak stomach...he didn't disappoint this year either. Once the top was off and the guts were out, he gagged.) Delaney's is on the left, Jackson's on the right. Addison did have a small pumpkin, but when we went to carve it, it was rotten:(.

Grandpa Critt sent his traditional Halloween treat this year in the form of chocolate pumpkins. Delaney is wearing the twirly skirt I made for her.

And it didn't disappoint. Boy, does it twirl!!

Illinois has strange trick-or-treating hours. Here, they trick-or-treat from 4-6 pm. So, never in the dark. Which kind of takes away some of the fun, in my opinion. Here is Indiana Jones, complete with a tattoo from the school Halloween party that says "Gimme Candy". Classy, right? We're nothin', if not classy!

And, little Miss Addison in her Halloween outfit from her Great Auntie Carno.

Here's our very own Sleeping Beauty. She's the favorite princess because she's the pink one (this coming from the girl who will only eat Strawberry yogurt because it's pink). Yikes, look at that spider web in the corner of the house! There was a time I wouldn't have posted this picture because of it. But let's be real, how often does sweeping the outside of my house come to the top of my priority list??

Here are all three as they headed out the door. Can you believe that here in the Arctic Midwest it was actually 78 degrees that day? In fact, as they headed off at 5:00 to start trick-or-treating, I checked the weather and it was 72 degrees. No coats required! In fact, the only reason D is wearing a shirt under hers is because it itched. I don't think we'll get many more Halloweens like it, but we'll take it!

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween! We're still drowning under loads of candy. This morning Delaney was begging Jackson for a lollipop from his bag of candy. He kept telling her no (gotta love siblings!) and she was getting more and more upset. I walked in to try to call a truce, only to discover the lollipops she wanted were actually in her bag of candy. They have so much of it, they don't even know whose is whose.