Anna Maria's New Fabrics

Arn't her new fabrics just delicious!!!
**I have her link down on my "I Spy" Menu... and if you are reading my blog, you would probably like reading hers :) Maybe I should learn to sew. Strike that, I could have someone sew for me. I see little summer dresses for Sophia. Maybe I could do it! We could all do one for our girls, any takers??

Ramblings on 30...

I turned 30 in October... wow. I can remember when my mom was 30! She gave me the "gift" of looking young. Now I used to think it was a curse; since I did gymnastics I was really small-- Like 4'3" in high school if I remember right (Yes people used to think I was in the wrong school and ask me how is the weather down there) I remember on several occasions going out to dinner and being handed a children's menu when I was like 16 years old.... and getting so upset. But NOW it is good, right? They said I would be thankful one day :)

Maybe like me you are getting older, had a few kids... do you wonder if you're staying cool?? I hope I don't get busy and "let myself go" haha. I have been getting in touch with people from high school days on facebook. Oh my!- not seeing people for ten years it is funny to see how everyone has changed. So here's to doing my hair more often, not wearing comfy jeans all the time, and updating my wardrobe! I want to be a cool mom, inside and out!

*** Oh and on the gymnastics note... Luke was invited to a school friends "gymnastics party" tomorrow! I am so excited to see what he thinks of it. Especially since it was all I did growing up. Maybe he has some talent, stay tuned!

My Jumper

Right after Christmas Sweeters was just too bored with the Little Einstein Exersaucer, so we sold it on craigslist and swapped for this Rainforest Jumperoo-- and she LOVES to jump!



I wish I could do a little video of her... she will jump like a ballerina with her feet :)

Close to My Heart

Before I had children, I remember seeing this lady who had a beautiful necklace with each child's photo in a little silver square. And I found Firefly Photo Jewelry and had this made...

I love it so much! Each square is two sided with their name on the back of the picture. It is so special for me to wear. Love my babies!!! Now they can always be close to my heart.

Random Picture Challenge

Join in Britt's Fun... August 2007, 30th Picture!

This is a little after August, I didn't have any for that month. But here we have Luke on the Throne at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. That was such a fun trip! Luke got his own passport before we went. A seasoned travelor, he has been to Paris and Spain (in my tummy), Cabo San Lucas as a one year old, florida several places, michigan, pennsylvania, south carolina. This trip I was just a little pregnant with Sophia... I remember the morning sickness while we were there, yuck! Maybe if our ship comes in we can have another trip like this next year!!!

Another Chance...

Didn't win Mckmama's Canon Rebel XS ??? (me neither, I was so sad).... well my new bloggy friend Leslie just pointed out another place you can try to win! Shelley is having a raffle for one as she raises money to help adopt a baby from Korea. Check it out at A Sister for the Bean!

** In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE giveaways and I LOVE giving to worthy mom causes!!!!

My New Night Life

Well I just finished my 4th night shift at the hospital (7pm to 7:30am) . My job is as a Nursing Care Partner so I assist the RN with patient vital signs, blood draws and labs, patient care, pottying. The patients I care for are a mixture of stroke, and step down medical people. Many are at the end of life, some are detoxing off alcohol, some don't have their right mind. Like Forrest Gump would say... "you never know what your goin to get". It had been a long time since I had worked on the hospital floor, so it was a bit of an adjustment getting comfortable being around sicky people again. I remember feeling that way when I started cardiac rehab for open heart patients back in 2000 at St. Joseph's Baptist in Tampa. I think I cried the first two days b/c I didn't like to see people in such bad shape. But it definately is an opportunity to serve people. I have the "nice" gift; I can be sweet and some of the agitated patients will let me take tests that they wouldn't for other nurses :) That was a compliment.

It is a long shift, but manageable so far. Just reminding myself that it is only 6 months, then I start nursing school. I can do anything for that long, right? Who knows, maybe I'll be a night nurse when I graduate b/c I like it so much haha. I guess having sleepless babies kind of prepared me since I already felt like I had been up all night for the past 3 years. So a thank you goes out to Luke Crosby- for breaking me in for the night shift.

I'll post a picture of me in my scrubs... ok dad?? :)

Look Mom, One Hand!

Lil Sweeters continues to be highly advanced :) She has had strong legs from the get go... if I held her hands she could stand up from like 3 months. She has this new thing that she only wants to stand up- no sitting. If you go to set her on her bottom, she goes stiff as a board and won't sit. So funny. She also has been acting like she wants to pull up on furniture, so I let her give it a go yesterday....

TA-DAA!

Of course I can stand all by myself mama!
And she is doing this wide open mouth smiling and laughing a lot. When I pick her up she opens her mouth and says "ahhhhhhh" and grabs at my face. Gotta watch the claw fingers though, she got my nose the other day!

And silly Luke has been diving in the hamper everyday. I keep telling him not to do that... but I think it is pretty funny too. He dives in and can't get out, then calls me "mama heeeeelp!!!" so I can rescue him :)

Love my kiddos.

Snow (?) Day

Well, here in Virginia it rarely snows. Yesterday they kept saying on the news it was snowing... and lo and behold just because of the imminent threat of snow, the public schools actually closed school today- which means Luke's school is also closed. And so far today--- not even a snowflake. Isn't that funny? I grew up in Michigan where there is snow and below zero temps for many months, and we hardly ever got a snow day! And good old Virginia has one and it doesn't even snow.

So we are having a good day- the kids and I. I swept and mopped all the floors, hoo-ra. Heading over to my friend Erica's for a play date later this afternoon.

Drumroll Please...

Since Erica, Rebekah, and Leslie all commented about their mutual love of Macaroni and cheese... I have decided to bless you all with the coveted mama Crosby recipe for Mac 'n Cheese. My sis Jess just asked me for it last week (by the way her blog is soon to be coming!) Now remember this is NOT healthy, but as Paula Dean would say- "Honey, I'm your chef- Not your Doctor" haha.

Nanny's Mac 'n Cheese:

Boil water and cook 1 1/2 cups of macaroni as box directs. Put the cooked noodles in a baking dish. Shred by hand a block of cheddar cheese and stir this in the roni. Take a Stick of butter (yes the whole stick) and cut slices about the roni and cheese. Grind on some salt and pep.

Blend in blender: 6 eggs (yes you read that right), and a can of evaporated milk.

Pour this mixture over the dish. Bake at 350 for 45-60 min. When is it done-- "WHEN IT'S DONE! " as my Grandma Betty would say. It should be fluffy and ooooo so good.

There you have it! Now you can be an addict like I am.

Help Me Hear!

Who is this mighty handsome man? , you ask...


Why, this is sweet Seth! I started reading his mom El's blog a ways back and am quite endeared to this little guy. You see he was born profoundly deaf, and there is a surgery he needs to get in May so he can have a cochlear implant done and be able to hear! Please give a little... $5 donated gets you a bracelet like Seth is sporting in the picture. Just follow the link above to Profoundly Seth and you can donate on the sidebar. And spread the word about this dear little man and let's help him hear!!!

Comfort Food

Growing up and through my college years I was a big fan of grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch... and still am! Amy's Organic has an amazing tomato soup. Actually tastes like real tomatoes (not that I don't like good old Campbell's once in a while)... I LOVE it! And I make my grilled cheese with one piece kraft and a sprinkle of mozarella. What is your fav comfort meal?

My Hands are Holding You

This song has been playing on Klove and the words are Strong... By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

Heartbreaker

I drop Luke at school around 9am and all the kids are mostly there already. We are putting his coat up and I see Lilliana and Meg with goofy grins, snickering and one says "he is MY boyfwend", then the other "he is MY boyfremb"... "I am going to Mawy him"--- WHAT? Did I hear them correctly fighting over who was marrying my Luke? Yes, he is already a heartbreaker :)

We happened to be leaving the same time Meg's dad was also picking her up. He told me she talks about Luke all the time at home... then she told her dad "he is my boyfremb"... and then they embraced and he gave her a kiss on the head.

Awwww....

Random Photo Challenge

Here is my "May" photo for Britt's Challenge... which this is may 2007 when Luke was not quite 2... while we were on a visit to see my fam in Michigan!

Wearing his blue crocs from his first trip to Disney World, with the jibbits of nemo and stitch! I took this pic b/c there are some infamous shots of me at the same age sticking my face into my grandmas flowers :)
He still had no hair (poor Sophia is likely to follow in these footsteps, poor sweeters). Jess gave him his first haircut on that trip, here is a picture of that for reminiscing fun since I didn't blog back then...
(can you imagine NO blogging ?!?)

Wasn't he the cutest little guy??

Wordless Wednesday

I see other's do this Wordless Wednesday. Don't know where it came from, let me know if you do! But everyone seems to write anyway haha.
Just in case you missed seeing our "Sweeters" :) Here she is in her pink stripey sweater from Aunt Jess... so very stylin' of course. (and maybe the same as 4littlemen's Liza and Nolia???... totally cutey twins). Sis is just SO sweet. I think she is making up for all that colic crying from the first 2 months of her life! We went to cousin Kyle's basketball game last night... and she smiled at everyone making lots of friends the whole time. Luke already knows EVERYONE. He gets all the girls to carry him around; and plays with the big guy varsity team guys too. Cracks me up. He doesn't stop the whole time we are there. The "Mayor" in full effect.

Not Me!

Did you have a funny week? Join in Mckmama's Not Me Monday! and know you are not alone! Why do we post on this?

"Well, for one, because it's just plain fun to pretend that we really did not do the things that we actually so did do. And, two, because reading through great tales of other people's Not Me! Mondays each week is a great way to level the playing field. We're all human, we all take embarrassing shortcuts, and so we may as well show each other that we're all in good company!"

Here we go!

* I did not email the director of Luke's school thursday to take him out of school, only to realize this morning that there was NO WAY I could do everything I needed to do and still care for him--- so I called them up and renigged on the cancel. (Of course they love him so much they took him right back excitedly! )

* Our new year did not start with one of our tenants leaving their keys on our steps--- and a home left vacated needing tons of rehab which I am now scrambling to complete so the house can go on the awesome real estate market. Not Me!

* I did not go to Home Depot THREE times today with an infant in her car seat carrier. I did not push her along inside the one bright orange cart, while dragging another cart, while talking on my cell phone about my closing tomorrow, AND picking up 40 lb. tubs of paint. Can one person do all that at the same time??

* I did not try on scrubs for like a half hour tonight and feel totally goofy when I looked in the mirror. Do I really wear these to work??? Start my new hospital job tomorrow! Wish me Luck!!!

Help is on the Way

My wonderful mother gave a gift in my honor to Medical Teams International for the new year... what a sweet thing to do mom. That so touched my heart. This organization brings care and lifesaving support to women and children.

Great Organization to Support!!

Two Thousand Nine

Happy New Year Everyone! We went to bed early. I don't think I've seen the ball drop in a few years... maybe next year :)

Here's to a new year! I am glad 2008 is over. Hard year. With Wayne getting laid off, and the real estate market diving- everything seems up in the air. Get's stressful. I miss my tropical vacations; Palmilla , Villa Caletas please return to me. So my goal is to take it one day at a time. Be thankful for my many blessings. And pray for the best! Does that sound depressing?

January is bringing some big changes for us. Luke is coming out of school. I will be staying home more during the day, and starting a nursing assistant position at the hospital 3 nights a week. "Nights"? You say! Yes nights. I am giving it a try... if it doesn't work I can try something else. Wayne will be working hard on selling. In the meantime we will be working a few residential sales. So if you know anyone in the Virginia Beach area that needs to buy/sell... HELP a sister out!!!

I am going to reflect today on some goals for the year... would love to hear yours!