i was overcome

So, a few weeks ago I made a list of things I would like Maddie to get for Christmas.

Let me stop right here and tell you something about myself. Hello, my name is Brandy and I am addicted to lists. If they had meetings for this sort of thing, I would be there. I would also create a list of the meeting days and the different people I wanted to get to know and something about them to help me remember their names. You can laugh because I am being serious. And that is something to laugh at!

Okay, back to my original thought. My plan was to share this list with the different family members who would be buying gifts so that 1) gifts weren't duplicated and 2) she would get gifts I knew she wanted/needed (okay, so she's not even two so what I really mean is the gifts I wanted her to want or knew that she needed -- you totally called me out on that). Jonathan and I have asked for a DVD player for the car (which is really for Maddie too but I guess that happens to you once you become a parent) so I wrote down a couple of titles that I wouldn't mind watching 1200 times. Two of them happened to be Disney. A few days later I was out Christmas shopping (from the list) and thought I would go ahead and pick up one or two for her stocking from me and Jonathan. Cinderella and Little Mermaid. Simple, right?

WRONG!

Who knew about the Disney vault? Well, I will admit that I had heard of it. But really always just thought it was some scam to get people to run out and buy a newly released DVD. Which I am sure it totally is still that but what I learned is that they really do disappear. Once the first store told me, "it's in the vault", I kind of laughed and was like, yeah, right. I'll find it. About 14 stores later I am no longer laughing. I am now panicking. What??? NO, this can't be happening...my 'not even' two year old needs to see Cinderella....she needs to sing Under the Sea...her life will be incomplete without these two things. I am overcome with this intense feeling of desperation. Y'all, stop laughing. I really was. Yes, I realize how stupid it all is now but in the moment...desperation. So, I went to the web. First, I went to my go to for advice from other moms -- Facebook -- got several good suggestions. Then I perused Craig's list, Ebay and Amazon. I found brand new copies of each at all three but felt the safest buying from Amazon. However, the cost??? Not what you would typically pay for a DVD. Why? Because they are locked in the vault and won't be released until something like 2018 which at that point Maddie would be 10 and all of her friends would make fun of her for not knowing the words to Under the Sea. So, vendors know they can charge $38 for a copy of Cinderella and some sap (ME) would call her husband, explain the seriousness of the issue and talk him into agreeing to spend nearly $70 of our Christmas budget on two DVD's. Did I mention that our Christmas budget is tiny?

Maddie isn't even two yet. What was I thinking?

I guess I really wasn't. I guess I let the Disney monster get to me. I guess I saw a challenge and said "ha, can't get it? watch me". I guess...well, I guess I should stop making excuses. I did, at least, stop short of buying Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan b/c they are locked in the vault too. What Maddie not get interested in them for a year or so...that would just be what I deserved:)

So, if you are in my family and usually get a nice gift from us and this year get home made cookies...just come on over and watch Cinderella because really, it's a gift for the whole family.

I love the holidays -- shopping for other people, giving to those I can, celebrating my savior, spending quality time with my family and friends -- and now, I can add "going on a Disney hunt" to the list.

a weekend with the Camp's!

This past weekend, we FINALLY got to go spend some quality time with some of my favorite people -- the Camp's! Candice, Rusty and Jameson have special places in my heart and they are my family!

The bad part of the weekend was that I was sick. I don't get really sick often and thought I could fight it off. But by Saturday, I was a mess, very weak and just laid around. We still had a great time though. Maddie and Jameson played really well together. Maddie loved all the 'boy toys'. She especially loved being outdoors. Candice and Rusty have an amazing piece of property and we got to ride out to pet/feed the cows; we let the kiddos sit up on a tractor (Maddie LOVED that); Rusty even let them ride on a little John Deere he is trying to bring back to life.

We ended up leaving Saturday afternoon. I just felt worse and worse and went to the doctor Monday. I have bronchitis. Maddie started coughing so we took her too just in case and she has an ear infection and now Jonathan is feeling bad. Oh, well. I would rather us all get it now than drag it out for weeks.

Here are a few pictures of our weekend. It was so fun and I have some funny stories but still not feeling great -- which means I have no creative energy today. But enjoy these gorgeous pictures -- we have great kiddos!

I thought it would be a cute picture to get them in their PJ's -- they just wanted to climb up the stairs.

Awww...that's better!

Here they are on the tractor. Jameson is teaching Maddie how it's done!

Here we are getting ready to go find the cows....This is Maddie digging in the cow 'snacks'. She liked to throw them at the cows -- she really didn't like it when they tried to get them out of her hands.Look at these two cuties!They both wanted to drive it:)

a letter

Dear Maddie,

It's the holidays and in case you haven't figured it out yet in the 21 months you been outside my belly, I do LOVE the holidays. Strangely, my holiday obsession starts with Halloween. It heightens at Thanksgiving (fueled the entire month of December because one local radio station starts their Christmas music Nov. 1st). Then, the day after Thanksgiving -- WAM! It's Christmas time. We put up our decorations, we listen to Christmas music daily, we drink lots of hot chocolate, etc. And this year, we are even more excited because your at such a fun age for Christmas. I have all these ideas and traditions I want to start from Birthday cake for Jesus to Christmas morning breakfast -- even leaving gifts from Santa out, unwrapped -- because Santa doesn't have time to wrap gifts.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because I need you to get with it. I need you to let me listen to Christmas music in the car and stop asking to "listen to Froggy". That Froggy CD gets on my nerves - it doesn't even have Jingle Bells on it. And in the evenings, when you ask to watch "Elmo Christmas" -- Thank you for that! It so makes me happy. However, please watch more than the opening song before asking for "words" (your favorite Baby Enstein video) or "another one". And when I get so excited to watch a fun Christmas movie like "Elf" -- please please enjoy it with me instead of standing in the middle of the floor, yelling "nofun, nofun, nofun" (which we have decoded to mean either no thank you, or another one) -- because this it is no fun for mommy.

Now, Thanksgiving is next week and we have lots to look forward to. We are going to eat lots of good food; spend time with lots of family; play games; meet Santa and take our picture; we are going to give your Christmas wishes to family; we are going to watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music; we are going to look at Christmas lights. We are going to have so much fun! And none of it involves "listen to Froggy"...Okay??

Here you are at Christmas last year. Look how excited you were. You will love the holiday season just like Mommy and Daddy -- and that includes Christmas music:)

Thank you Pica (this is one of your many nicknames your daddy has given you)!

I love you more than you will ever know!

Sincerely,

Mommy

updates, updates, updates

So. How have you been?


Me? Fine. Thank you so much for asking!


I know, I know. I keep making these promises to get back to my biweekly posts and then go weeks without anything...not even a picture. And for that, I really do apologize!


Our life - well...it's crazy to say the least. And whether you believe this or not, I do sensor some things on the blog -- for privacy. Not necessarily mine because I'm not really a private person but I have family that read this and in the past, I have said too much. I don't ever want to embarrass or upset anyone (the people pleaser in me) so since then, I have censored some things. So, while I have written down lots of things to blog about really, they all end up being censored. Anyway, I didn't mean to get into all that. Just know that life is happening. It's hard at times. But we are surviving! And life isn't all doom and gloom. We are still having fun times, laughing and playing. I mean, hey, we are Crumly's!


Okay, so some updates. Hmmm....


For the past two or three months, my entire professional life has been consumed with planning a huge black tie event for our major donors at work. The entire event is my responsibility (of course, I have great co-workers who helped me out)...which basically means if anything goes wrong, it's all my fault. This was my first time to plan this particular event and I stressed myself out...every.single.day. I was in a whole new world -- I had to pick out elegant food, wine, decor. Yall, that isn't easy! First of all, I don't drink. Second, I don't eat elegant food. I have no idea about decor. But, oh-my-goodness, the night was so great! It all came together and I have had lots of compliments about how it all looked effortless (it wasn't but nice to know it looked like that). Hopefully, this means I get to keep my job:)


These two ladies are my BFF's at work. They kept me calm, relaxed and laughing the week of the party. They worked ridiculously long hours for me and they kept me supplied with diet cokes, pretzels and words of encouragement. They helped me with any job I needed -- didn't matter how small or big. So a big 'ole thank you goes to Maryhelen and Jessica -- couldn't do life here without you!

On the home front (where in the world am I pulling my phrases from today?), we've been busy too. Jonathan has got lots of energy so he has been doing some projects around the house for me. For many many months, I have wanted to turn our breakfast nook into a play area for Maddie. This would get all of the toys in one place -- still in our viewing -- but out of my living room. Jonathan took apart our breakfast table (who really needs two tables anyway?) and stored it in the attic. He raised the chandelier (and will replace with a standard light fixture soon), and put these foam play mats down. Maddie LOVES it!!

Here are Jonathan and his girl the night he completed it -- it is all full of toys and books now -- but this was before we moved the toys in. Maddie has been given lots of clothes lately. For some reason, when Jonathan first lost his job, I panicked about the small things...like "how am I going to buy winter clothes for Maddie". Such a small thing to worry about in the scheme of things but that's the silly thing my mind went too. Anyway, there was nothing to worry about. Deb, aka Nana (Jonathan's mom), took Maddie on a big Target shopping spree (I love Target -- don't you?) and bought her tons of cute stuff; my friend from work Kevin, has gifted us with a bag full of cute stuff from her niece; and my friend Kristen has dropped off a total of three boxes of clothes, shoes, and jackets in the last few weeks. Kristen's little girl is exactly one year older than Maddie so the season and sizes work well! I finally got everything washed and hung up and now her closet is stuffed full again. Love my friends and family!

Here are a cute pair of PJ's that Kevin gave Maddie. Such a cutie!

What else? Oh! With the help of my sister, Kristy, we were able to pull Maddie's hair up into a side ponytail. I know that hardly seems like news to share. But it is! Maddie's hair is so fine, I struggle to do much of anything with it. Deb had bought her these adorable bows at Christmas Village and I wanted her to wear them. Kristy came over before we were heading to a friends birthday party and was able to do it. I had to use some hairspray on her but the girl was gorgeous! This is really the only picture that you can see how cute it was and it doesn't do it justice. She does still like to love on her mommy and we still take our weekly pictures (where I hold the camera in front of us to take it). Sometimes this is the only way she likes to have her picture taken...which can completely frustrate you.Don't you just love this CHEESE face? Now, I do love it. Don't get me wrong. But I have been trying to teach her to do a little 'softer' of a smile. It's not really working.This weekend, we are going to visit my VBF Candice -- and we are actually staying the night so we will be able to spend some real time together! Hopefully, we will have great weather and Jameson can teach Maddie all about the tractor and the cows and how to love the outdoors. I am so looking forward to time with this girl:Well, that's it for now. I know -- your thinking, that's it -- that was a whole book! It's okay. I'm wordy. I know it.

I do hope to post again soon! I know how you all are riveted by my daily life -- it is so exciting. Input sarcasm here.

I do have some "I poopy-ied" stories that are hilarious if anyone cares to read about them!

Halloween!!

On Halloween, we invited several friends and family over for chilli, grilled cheese and trick or treating. We had so much fun! We are sure this will become an annual tradition. We had a whole host of costumes that included the cutest little ladybug ever. I mean, really? Who is cuter than this little thing:

Well...maybe him?

Or him? (this is "baby Rayden" as Maddie says)Or these two little guys??Of course, Abby was there -- recovering from having her appendix taken out on Thursday -- so she didn't get as active as I'm sure she would have liked. She was such a pretty witch though and I swear that girl is going to be a knockout! Here are two of the best shots of all the kids together. It was really harder than I thought it would be to get them all to sit still and look at the camera. But oh, my goodness, it was so fun! Wouldn't trade it for an "adult party" at all!
Me, Abby and Kristy:Maddie and Jameson (or J man as she calls him -- and asked for him when she woke up from nap on Sunday):

We had such a great night and are so glad we had friends to share it with. We loved getting to know some of our neighbors more too and are looking forward to hanging out more! Hint, hint Lauren!

Carving pumkins

We absolutely love this time of year! It just sort of kicks off our holiday season. We invited Kristy and Abby over to carve the pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch -- Jonathan did all the hard work (gutting the pumpkins) and took pictures for me so this time, he isn't in too many of the pictures. He was there and we appreciated him doing the 'dirty' work for us.

Here are Jonathan and Abby playing with the guts:)

Here we are, all hard at work:

Here is my gorgeous sister...she's single, you know. Just letting you know that...wink wink!

Our finished products! Minus the two Jonathan did (I can't get that one to upload for some reason)

Can't wait for you to see my little lady bug!

a good day

Yesterday, our sweet family had so much fun. Jonathan's parents took us to the pumpkin patch where their church was having a fall picnic. We were gearing up for it all week. I talked to Maddie several times a day about going to pick out a real pumpkin and all the fun things we were going to do and see. Selfishly, I was hoping that she would be too excited about everything to throw one of her very dramatic fits.

At bed time last night, she was still wired from the day and did not want to fall asleep right away. She was crying out for me in the sweetest voice - so I broke down and went to her room. As I picked her up from her crib and got settled in the rocker, I talked to her to try to soothe her. We recounted our day at the pumkin patch. Who we saw. What we did. The animals we patted. And I whispered into her ear, "it was a good day".

And it was. It was a good day.

It was the old me and the old Jonathan. The old "us" - but with a new purpose - Maddie and making a memory for her.

It was the us before job loss, before foreclouse discussions, before job promotions and debt.

For one glorious afternoon, we didn't think about our problems. We didn't fight. We didn't bicker. We didn't make sacastic comments to one another. Instead - we laughed. We played. We picked out pumkins that Maddie liked. We were not weighed down with the pressures of our normal life. This was God, whispering in my ear.

Yes, we are in one heck of a storm season right now. But today, I am thankful. Because it really was a good day.

Here are a few pictures from the day. Maddie was not in the mood to take pictures so we really don't have any good ones of her or us as a family. I wanted to get some of her in front of all the pumkins set up like I did last year but she would have nothing to do with. She did however, try to take every pumpkin she saw along the way. She just didn't understand why she couldn't have them.