COCONUT AWARD 2010

Just to keep everyone up to date on the latest Crabtree Coconut award winners.

Here are the 2010 winners...Mike (being accepted by Colin), Gage, and Alex. The abbreviated stories...

Mikey got his wife a fur for her birthday, turns out he got her road kill!

Gage's coconut is shaved... he over prepared for surgery.

Alex learned how to use her emergency brake, TWICE!

That's all you get! Thanks for all the laughs these three provided this year!

Trevin is 3

We have a monthly birthday party at my Mom's house each month. This month Lindsay convinced us to have it at Chuck E Cheese's. It was so much fun, we celebrated Rai Rai and Trevin's birthday and all the kids had a blast! We got 80 tokens for all the kids to split and they lasted forever! The kids had fun, but I think the adults had more fun, especially Gage and Kyle.WE played for a while then we ate pizza and got to meet Chuck E Cheese, then we played some more. Trevin loved the driving and shooting games and he won lots of tickets with some help from dad.
We finally rounded up all the kids for cake and presents! I got to make the cake and had lots of fun. I let the kids pick what kind of cake they want, Raigen asked for an Ariel mermaid cake and Trevin asked for a Buzz lightyear cake. I was stumped on how to please both of them for a while, but this is what I came up with...
They both loved it! and it tasted yummy too!

Meeting Santa

I worked the night of Thanksgiving, as usual. Then stayed up a few more hours and joined the rest of the crazies for some Black Friday shopping. When I got home Gage and the Kids were just getting ready to put of the Christmas tree. The kids loved helping dad "build a tree." This was lots of fun and really kicked of the Christmas season at our house.

We meet Santa a few time this year... once at the ward Christmas party, then at the mall too! Trevin was so excited, he stood patiently in line with the rest of the kids and then jumped right onto Santa's lap. To our surprise he had a wish list for Santa. "Thomas the train, a gray remote and cranky."

Cheyenne on the other hand was very excited to stand in the line to see "Jesus" but wasn't very fond of sitting on his lap.

The second time meeting Santa went a lot smoother. You can't tell in the picture but she was really excited to sit on his lap and even asked for "books."

Trevin convinced Santa to come watch the reindeer show with him for a couple minutes. After that Trevin thought Santa was awesome!

A favorite Christmas Song

We love this song at our house. I hope you take a couple of minutes and listen to it.

Merry Christmas from the Crabtree Family!

FOR CHASE AND RAIGEN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAIGEN!

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS

After we met Santa for the first time last year, Trevin talked about him all the time, one day when we were at the store Trevin saw the Santa hats and got way excited. We ended up buying one and he loved to wear it around. The next day Trevin insisted on wearing a red shirt with his Santa hat. Next he pulled out a bag of his blocks and went to Cheyenne and asked "What you meed for Christmas, a green block or a blue block?" Next was my turn. We read 'The Night Before Christmas' a lot at our house and Trevin noticed a few other accessories that Santa had like gloves and a black belt. He asked for his belt one morning so I helped him put it in through all of his belt loops, after I finished he wasn't very happy. He told me,"It goes here over a shirt." Before long Trevin had his outfit down. And the outfit had to have everything, a long sleeve red shirt, red mittens, the black belt that goes over his shirt, his hat, and don't forget the bag of toys! It was so funny, he would tell everyone that he was Santa and ask what they wanted for Christmas. By the time Christmas came around he even made people sit on his lap.

Trevin was sure he was the real deal, he would tell you about his "reindeers" that could fly and how he was gunna go through the chimneys. In fact on day we were driving to SLC and Trevin started talking in the back seat. He was saying "I going to that one and that one and that one and all of those roofs." I asked him what he was saying and he told me "I'm Santa and I'm going to all of those roofs to take them presents!" I think one day he'll be a great Santa!

The... The... THE GRINCH!

Trevin and Chey love "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" we borrowed it from my mom and we haven't been able to return it. They watch it once and sometimes twice a day! Chey gets upset when Cindy Lou falls into the present sorter, but then is excited when the Grinch pulls her out. She always says "Grinch a nice." Trevin hides from the monkey that bangs on the Grinch's head. The favorite line, the one we hear all the time, from both of them is... "the.. the... THE GRINCH! From when Cindy Lou runs into him at the post office. We had one of our Christmas Family Parties yesterday and the invitation said... "A special guest that you won't want to miss." Can you guess who it was?

THE GRINCH!!!

My kids were so excited! He had a bag full of present and the kids waited patiently for their turn to sit on the Grinch's lap. Trevin loved it and loved the little motorcycle he got(you can see it in the last picture.)
Cheyenne was super excited when she say him walk in, and couldn't stop looking at every one and saying" the GRINCH!" She kept walking closer and closer to him... then they called her name and she wanted nothing to do with sitting on his lap, but we made her. She too loves her present, a goggly alien that lights up.
We all got to take our turns getting pictures! What a fun memory!
Merry CHRISTmas! I hope we can all remember what the Grinch learned... "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

WINTER FUN!

We love to watch it snow at our house! The kids are so amazed and I love the excitement on their faces. This fall we got our snow bags ready (a backpack with each kids snow clothes so we can grab them on the go if we need to and know that everything is there). Trevin has been waiting since then to use his "packpack." So now that it has snowed we've played outside a few times, but with the powder it is impossible to build anything! But not today. We got bundled up and went out to finally build a snowman.

We had so much fun making snowballs and rolling them until they were "huge" according to Cheyenne. I was surprised that Chey wanted to help, she didn't like touching the snow before.

The balls ended up so big that Mom couldn't pick up the middle one to build the snowman, oops. But they had fun climbing on them instead. Next we built a fort, to hid in and throw snowballs from. Trevin immediately started plotting an attack on dad, for when he got home and of course mom supported it!Cheyenne thought the fort was awesome and liked to try to make and throw snowballs. She would sit down and then jump up and say "boo" and just laugh! I was way cute. I love to see here imagination come out!
Here's Trevin trying to hit me with a snow ball, most of the time he throws it and the snow ball falls out of his glove behind him, so funny, but I run away and scream and he thinks it's fun. Casie stopped by for lunch Casie stopped by for lunch and Trevin was so excited to see her, well maybe just to see her truck and he wanted to climb on it and take a picture... Boys will be boys!

With a second set of hands we finally got to build our snowman. The kids were super excited and Chey kept yelling "A noman! A noman" Trevin told us is it was "Super tall" and "Awesome!" We

We had so much fun and can't wait til it snows again!

Hiding in the fort.

A drawing worth entering!

I love to find a good deal, or even a chance at a good deal! Here is my latest find. This is from Alex, the person that I trust to do my hair. I was so excited to see it and thought I would pass it along to all of you! ( I'm not sure why I do this, I always seem to lose to someone that I told.) Anyway good luck! Go to Alex's Blog and leave a comment with your name and email. She works at Onyx on 25th street in Ogden. You have until the 24th of December to enter!

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

It was my birthday and I got spoiled. Trevin and Cheyenne let me sleep in until 9am this morning and I truly loved every single minute! We stopped by the shop to see Dad in the middle of the day and ate lunch, which is always fun. That night we ate pizza (which I loved 'cause there aren't any dishes!) and Gage and Trevin made me a cake. I don't think that I've had my very own cake for a long time... I always get one at the family birthday parties, but it was cool that Gage made one at our house. It was the first cake he has ever made by himself and it was even a double layer cake. IMPRESSIVE! We had to get pictures in fast cause Trevin was blowing out the candles. Here is the fake blow, that wasn't so fake.
Then the smiling picture that doesn't have candle lit because Trevin is really good a blowing them out. For my birthday I got rock climbing gear!!! YAHOO! I love it and have used it a couple of times and can't wait to use it again in the spring. Gage also go me a webcam so I can "skype" all of my family that lives out of state, I just need to get Kami hooked up then life would be great! I also got my own "10 key Printing Calculator" don't laugh, I really need the practice using it! It was a great day!

My mom took me out to lunch the next day, Red Robin and it was delicious! She also completed my set of "The Work and The Glory" I read them in Jr. High and really liked them, so she started buying them for me, but we decided to buy them all 2nd hand and see how little we could spend on the full set. She has been awesome and I've gotten one for Christmas or my birthday every year. Vol 9 has been elusive on the 2nd hand market, but leave it to her to find it! Thanks!

The Crabtrees got me a cuttlebug (scrapbooking embossing/diecut machine) but were unable to find one, so I got an "IOU", to my shock Sherry showed up the next day to deliver it. I think she tracked down the last one in Utah! I can't wait to use it.

THANKS FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!

A little privacy...

Trevin is so much fun, he has done great with the potty. He has only had a couple of accidents and they are always in the bathroom when he can't get his pants off fast enough. He is so upset when this happens. Anyway the point is he has become so independent in taking himself to the bathroom, if he goes in and forgets to close the door and you walk in to check on him he says "Can you give me some privacy?" or "I meed some privacy." Leaving isn't enough you have to close the door. Can't blame the kid, who doesn't like some privacy!

OUR ALMOST BLIZZARD

Tuesday Utah had it's first official "Blizzard Warning" since 2001. Stores closed early, College campuses cancelled classes. Warnings all over the radio and tv. Gage said I could go out that morning as long as I was home by 4pm. I was super excited, I had no where I had to be and made plans to stay home and make cinnamon rolls. I got this great idea to take a couple of pictures to document the occasion.

5:07PM Bright and Sunny still...

5:30... It started, I was planning on taking all of these from the front porch but since I was in the kitchen you get to see out the back window.
5:49... Starting to stick.
6:25 ...It was pretty windy.
7:21... This might get exciting.
8:01 Gage got home and decided to shovel the drive way so it wouldn't take so long in the morning.
Trevin got in his snow clothes and went out to help.
By 8:30 the snow stopped and we didn't get any more, so our blizzard produced about 1.5 -2 inches of snow! Either way it was fun and the cinnamon rolls were yummy! I put my recipe on the side of my blog if your interested.

She was tired.

Monday I spent the morning cleaning for a class I was having at my house that evening. The kids had been playing hard in the basement, when I finally got everything clean it was time for lunch. I don't know how everyone else's kids are but when mine eat they make a huge mess. So I opted to buy lunchables at the store and let them eat in the car (Does that make me an awful parent?) We made it to the store, bought everything we needed and got back in the car. I opened their lunchables and let them eat while I made a couple of stops on the way home. This is what I found when I opened the truck door to get Cheyenne out.She must have been too tired to finish eating!

HERO'S IN A HALF SHELL...

TURTLE POWER!!!

About 1 month before Halloween we started thinking about costumes, I thought it would be a lot of fun for Trevin to be Frankenstein, so I found a picture of a costume and showed him. He told me no. So, I asked him what he wanted to be. He told me a minja Tuwtle, a blue one. So that's what he was Leonardo the blue ninja turtle, with swords!Next up Cheyenne's costume I found a super cute little pirate or I thought about a fairy, but Trevin had other plans he was looking at the costumes with me and said "No... Cheyenne be's a purple one!" I immediately thought it would be fun and I knew Cheyenne wouldn't care either way. She was Donatello, the purple turtle with a stick.
I think that Cheyenne was more into the role than Trevin, he wasn't too crazy about the mask, but Cheyenne loved hers! She loved to be serious and Swing her stick and crouch down and pretend to fight. Trevin loved his sword and shell and always made sure we didn't forget his belt and letter.
To make the set complete I decided that Gage and I would join in the fun and dress up as turtles too. Gage requested to be Raphael, the red turtle with Sai (little hand swords). That left Michelangelo, the orange turtle with nunchux, for me.
Once Dad dressed up Trevin liked his costume a lot more and even wanted to wear the mask. The three of my turtle buddies loved to wrestle and fight with their weapons.

Trick or treating was a blast. Trevin figured out that you can only go to the houses with lights on and was hard to keep from running to house to house! Cheyenne figured out that if you say trick or treat when they open the door, you'll get candy. She was very possessive of her bucket, once it had candy in it, she wouldn't even let us hang it on the stroller... it HAD to be in her hands. They had so much fun and once again I think passing out candy at house was almost as fun as trick or treating... It's just to bad that we don't get very many trick or treater's on our street.

This year we didn't have any inside Halloween parties to go to, we had fun showing off our costumes and grandparent's houses, but I missed the carnival type party. Maybe next year we'll throw one ourselves! Stay posted if we do you're all invited!

Hero's in a half shell...TURTLE POWER!!!

MORE HALLOWEEN FUN!

With Ryan and Alex, the COWBOY and INDIAN. I wish I had gotten a better picture of just these two. I loved their costumes. I don't think this picture shows of Alex's mohawk enough. I missed getting picture with my side of the family in their costume's. We usually stop by my aunt and uncle's for a movie after trick or treating but this year I had to work at 9pm, so no party, but Sierra and her husband had some fun costumes, I'll be adding pictures to this post, when I get them.

Pumpkin Carving...

Everyone working hard cleaning out their pumpkins.

At first Cheyenne wasn't too sure about this. She like that she got to stand up at the table.

Then after watching every one start digging in she got a little braver and stuck her hands in...

Then she decided it was more fun to just play in the pumpkin guts and skip pulling it out of the pumpkin!

Trevin loved carving pumpkins this year. He was a little hesitant to reach in the first time, but then did a pretty good job of cleaning out his pumpkin, with only a little help from mom.

"Look at dat huge pile of pumpkin guts, I like pumpkin guts."

That actual carving was the best part! Trevin picked circle eyes, a square nose and a scary mouth. Perfecting the carving.

He was so proud of his pumpkin!

Gage was the master carver this year. He carved both of our huge pumpkins that Trevin picked out with a little bit of help from Chey.

His pumpkins, I like that the candle in the evil one ended up being so bright!

I did a "goofy" pumpkin. It was broken before I finished, but I still took a picture.

Trevin loved lighting the candles inside the pumpkin each night, but not for the reason you might think... he loved that is meant that before he went to bed he got to "blow out a wishing candles!" What can I say, we have a lot of October birthdays in the family!