Fun in the Leaves

Jeff spent Saturday afternoon with the kids raking up leaves while I was at a baby shower. The kids had so much fun. Jeff got some good shots of them and the joy on their faces as they jumped into a huge pile of leaves. Oh to be a kid again! What pure fun they have with something so simple.

After all the fun they helped gather the leaves into bags and now we have a leaf free yard. Since it is now winter and no more leaves are fallin it will stay that way! Yea!

Thanksgiving

Here is Jackie showing off our yummy Thanksgiving dinner (minus the Turkey, it was being carved at the time). We had a very relaxing, enjoyable Thanksgiving Day. Jeff was able to play Football in the morning, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Although, he paid for it all week with a sore body, but he said it was well worth it. We had a tasty turkey that he had smoked. If you have never had a smoked turkey you are missing out! It is delicious! We realized how blessed and grateful we need to be. I am glad that there is a specific holiday and time set apart to be Thankful. We are Thankful. Here are our happy kids enjoying some Turkey!

And here is the gravy maker and turkey carver. We couldn't have Thanksgiving Dinner without him. The gravy was so delicious too, with the drippings from the Turkey, yumm that is the best.

Here is the meal and the meal maker. It was fun to prepare a whole Thanksgiving Dinner for just our little family. We would have loved to spend it with Family or Friends, but it didn't work out this year. It was nice to have our own family to spend it with though.

Jackie is FIVE!

Wow, my first child is now 5! She is such a big girl. She was so excited for her birhtday this year. We had a party on Saturday with some friends, Jackie had a great time. Today we had asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she really wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese. We have never gone to Chuck-E-Cheese, but Grandma and Granpa took her there and she remember how much fun it was. It was really cute to hear her explain to Dallin what would be there, and all the fun games he could do. She thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, and amazingly they all ate pretty good too.

I showed Jackie a bunch of cakes online that I could make for her. Her favorite was a princess, with the cake being her dress. I bought a beautiful princess barbie to put inside, but when I made the cake it turned out a bit smaller than I had anticipated. Luckily she just got this cute Strawberry Shortcake doll from her friend Hannah for her birthday, and it happend to be just the right size. So we made a Strawberry Shortcake cake. Jackie was so excited to decorate it, she wanted to use every kind of sprinkles we had, so it turned out VERY SPRINKLY. She thought it was GORGEOES, and since it is her birthday, that is all that matters.

Jackie also wanted to dress like a princess today. She has a cute little princess outfit that she wanted to wear. I explained that it probablly wouldn't work to go to Chuck-E-Cheese. But I could make her hair into a beautiful crown. She liked that idea and held very still while I braided her hair all the way around her head. Afterward, I held the mirror up so she could see the back, she was in awe....and I was pretty amazed myself. That was the first time I have attempted that type of a braid. My Mom used to do it to my hair and I always felt so beautiful. We would call it the Princess Leah braid. Jackie is our beautiful five year old Princess.

Beautiful Day

Wow today was gorgeous! I think it has actaully been warm and beautiful all week, but we haven't been able to enjoy it, until today. We have been one sick family -Yuck! But I think we are now over it.

We spent last weekend in Utah. We just took a quick trip, Thur-Sun. My little bro. had surgury on his foot and was getting out of Shriners so we surprised him and my Parents by "stopping by". He is a quiete the sport, all smiles, what a trooper. We also got to see and visit with my Brother Matt's family and Jeffs brother Kelly's family, it was great to see and be with family. The downside was that Jackie got sick on the trip and then Brea got it the morning we were leaving and threw-up all the way home, poor thing. She got it the worst, she was sick for about three days. Dallin and Jeff and I all got a bit of it yesterday. But today is a Beautiful day.

I woke up with energy and cleaned all morning. It was wonderful, I can't believe how much I take for granted having a healthy body. Being sick is really difficult as a Mother. Our bodies are really amazing, I am so grateful to have mine healthy and functioning. It makes me want to go and do all I can. It was a great morning we didn't even turn on the TV (which is unusual for our mornings). I even got ambitious and took down Dallins bed/crib. He has been using his crib sense he wa a baby, it turned into a toddler bed. The problem is, because it is so little, it is easy (for Dallin) to take everything off. He is always taking off all the blankets, then he takes the mattress off the bed and has even figured out how to pull the stuffing out of the mattress (not a happy site for Mama). Then he takes the spring board off the base and plays inside the bed. Yes, he is a creative one. Actually I can't give him all the credit, he has a powerful assistant - Jackie.

So today, while the kids were "supposedly" cleaning Dallins room, the bed got taken apart. I decided today was a good day to pack it up. We had been talking about getting Dallin a new one. Now his room is so clean and fun, it is just a "play room" not a "bed room".

So back to the beautiful day, taking down the bed is not the reason this day is beautiful. We were able to go outside and enjoy the day. Both Jeff and I love being out doors. Now our kids as well, love being outside. We have a great back yard for the kids. Jeff has put a lot of work into it, and we spend most of the warm days there. We also have always had a jogger stroller. First we had a single, then a double, and we just now purchased one that is a jogger/bike trailer. The kids think the bike trailer is the greatest, especially when Dad is driving because they know he will go FAST. Anyway, so we like to spend time outdoors and today was a warm, gorgeous day - especially for mid-Novebmer. So I took the kids to the Library and park. We live within walking distance, so of course we walked. Most of the trees have lost there leaves, but there were few yellow leaves hanging on, so of course I got a few pics. Here are the cute kids on this beautiful day.

Hair Donation

Our Young Women have been saving and growing their hair to donate to Pantene for Great Lengths. We finally made the big cut last month and we collected an amazing 210 inches. AWESOME! Our goal was 100 inches, so we double what we anticiapted. Everyone looks so cute with their SHORT hair cuts.

Now, through our donation wigs will be made for women and children that have to undergo chemotherapy and will lose their hair. It was neat to participate, even though I cut my hair a bit early. I didn't make it through to the big night, but I saved it to donate.

Most of my life I have had long hair, and I really prefer it that way. But, my sweet husband really likes short hair . I actaully cut it when I was in Utah for Womens Conference in May as a "gift" to him for staying hom with the kids for 3 days so I could attend the Conference. He was really surprised and He loved it!

It has been about 6 months now and I think I am ready to grow it out, but he keeps reminding me how much he likes it. So we will see. There are days I enjoy it (like the days I actually do it). But there are times I really wish I could just pull it into a pony tail. It was worth it for this cause though, and I would do it again if the opportunity arose.

HALLOWEEN!

Here are our Cramer Animals - A Bunny, a Tiger, and a cute cuddly bear. They were so excited for Halloween this year. We got to celebrate a lot with a ward halloween party and then trick or treating.

Brea was thrilled to see all the candy. We had the kids dump their bags out when we got home, so we could check it out and divide it evenly. She grabbed handlfuls of candy. She kept bringing them to us and would grunt (her way of talking) to let us know she wanted it opened up.

Jackie was probablly the most excited. We told her she could get ready after she ate dinner. That girl ate so fast, I don't know if she even tasted it! She really enjoyed going from house to house was so sad when I said it was time to go in. But then she discovered how fun it was to have trick or treaters come to our house.

Dallin chose to be a Tiger this year because he is so in awe of Tigers right now. He loves to pretend that he is a Tiger and ROARS at everyone. This Tiger costume had a button in the middle that roared, which he thought was awesome. He also enjoyed giving out the candy and we had a lot of candy to pass out - a huge bucket. Well, we got a lot of trick or treaters and our big bucket became bare. I told the kids we woul have to turn off or light because we were out of candy. Dallin said "No Mom, I will give them mine" and he did. He passed out all but three peices (which he wanted to save). He was so excited that he could give them his candy, what a sweetie.

Pumpkin Carving

Carving pumpkins with three chrildren under the age of 4 is no easy task! We had a good time though, and lots of good laughs. As the kids dug into their pumpkins they squirmed when they felt the gooey inards. Poor Dallin does not like his hands to be dirty. He would wipe his hand on the towel every time he pulled some slimy pumpkin seeds out. Eventually he came up with a better plan...he held the wet washcloth in his hand as he dug out the seeds. He was so proud of himself, he said "look Mom, now I don't get my hands yucky", clever kid eh.

Jackie had a lot of fun, especially at the end when we turned every light off in the house and lit the Jack-O-Laterns - that was exciting. Brea was mainly curious about what was going on, she wanted to be in the middle of it all, although she was good not to "get her hands dirty".

I just love Holidays, it gives us an excuse to have some fun with family and friends. The kids look forward to even the littlest things, like carving pumpkins. Happy Haloween!

Brea is Walking!

Honestly the reason I had to start this blog today was that Brea started walking - Finally! She is just barely 15 months and has not had any desire to walk. She does an awesome bear crawl, and get from point A to point B in no time flat. But tonight she decided she would walk. It was different from are other kids, she just decided to walk and took about ten steps perfectly. It is as if she wanted to wait until she could do it with perfect balance, she needed to be sure of herself. Well, we are just thrilled she has decided to take the step. Our baby is growing up!

Hello Blogging...Here we go!

As you can see, we are new to this whole BLOG thing! We think it is a great way to stay in contact, and a fun way to record the life of us Cramers. What a fun time to start with all the holidays coming. Haloween is almost upon us and our kids are sooo excited - be prepared for pictures of a bunny, tiger, and bear coming soon.