Thanksgiving!

The four of us at Drew's 1st birthday celebration.

Grandma Helen with the boys.

Cake!!!

Bryce smothers Elsa.

Grammy & Papa with the brood.

Since Christmas is only two days away, it's probably time to post about our fun Thanksgiving trip! We spent the holiday in Missoula, and we were able to celebrate with my parents, Betsy, Kennet, & Elsa, Brittany & Cameron, my aunt Dede, my grandmother, and my aunt Carol & Uncle Gary. Drew celebrated his 1st birthday, and we helped my dad celebrate his 60th. It was COLD in Missoula while we were there, but that didn't stop my dad, Stu, Kennet, and Dede from braving the weather to attend a Grizzly playoff game. The Griz lost a close game, but they had fun anyway. It was wonderful to see all of my family in the same place! We're so excited that Britt & Cam are moving to Polson in January, since we'll get to see them more often now.

Needless to say, Bryce can hardly wait for Santa to get here. His Houston cousins arrive today, so at least he'll have Thomas & Jillian to keep him busy for the next couple of days. We're hoping to take the Texans sledding, since they don't get much of the white stuff in their neck of the woods! :)

Happy Holidays to all of our cherished friends and family. All our best for a wonderful 2008!

Almost not a baby anymore!

The attached video is the undeniable evidence. Becky and I (and the cats) are about to be in some real trouble. Drew is now getting up by himself and walking pretty much wherever he wants. Couple that with his ingenuity in using large toys or boxes to attain table tops, and I see stitches in our future.

Note: this video is too big for a dial-up connection. Does anyone still have those?

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Halloween Fun!

Drew dressed as a Halloween Chicken.
Buzz Lightyear and Super Chicken to the rescue!
Bryce & Drew before trick-or-treating with their good buddies Bryson (Skeleton) and Carson (Lion) Chavez.

Happy Halloween to all of you! Here's hoping you got loads of loot trick-or-treating. Bryce really "got" the concept this year...we could hardly keep up with he and Bryson as they tore through the neighborhood. Drew and Carson were content to ride in the wagon and watch their big brothers run like mad. Bryce especially liked the houses that just put out a big bowl of candy and let you help yourself. Halloween is now officially one of his favorite days of the year.

November has started out pretty well...we've managed to complete our big "home improvement" projects, and we are planning to list the house when we return from Montana for Thanksgiving. We're not looking forward to maintaining a perfect home with two busy little guys, but we're optimistic that we'll be able to sell in a few months. Keep your fingers crossed!

Stu just finished serving on a jury for a criminal trial in state district court. It was an eye-opening experience for him. The case involved the incest of a young girl, and the details made me feel sick. The defendant was convicted, and Stu felt that the overall outcome was positive. It certainly opens your eyes to what some kids live with every day.

We're thankful this year that our boys are happy and healthy, and we're looking forward to traveling to Missoula next week for Thanksgiving. We'll get to see Betsy, Kennet, & Elsa, Brittany & Cameron, my grandmother, and aunts, uncles, and cousins. Brittany and Cameron recently found out that they'll be moving back to Montana in January, as Cameron has been chosen as the new Assistant Pro at the Mission Bay Golf Course in Polson. We're so proud of him, and thrilled that they'll be close by when we get to visit Montana.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Remember to take a minute to count all of the blessings in your lives. And, of course, let's be careful out there.

What a month!

Here are a couple of pictures of Drew that I took today...his 11-month birthday!

Here's Drew chillin' in the hammock on an absolutely perfect fall day in New Mexico.


A view of some of the "Special Shapes" balloons as they inflate for a Balloon Glow at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

More balloons at the Glow.


Stu and Bryce enjoying the Glow.


My personal favorite...Arabelle the Cow.

Bryce got to meet a Storm Trooper at the Darth Vader balloon. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but it was a very cool balloon.

Well, we've almost made it through October! Sometimes I'm not sure how! The month started out benignly enough...we made plans to attend the Balloon Fiesta, as usual, and enjoyed the amazing weather we've had for the past month or so.

As we posted last time, we have decided to build a new home in Rio Rancho, and we realized that we had better get in gear and start getting this one ready to go on the market. We made a list of "projects", and despite our best efforts, it sometimes seems never-ending! We're painting, organizing, purging, replacing windows and countertops, and still trying to run a household (somewhat sanely) for a family of four. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I decided last summer that October would be a great month to have some surgery. More on that later.

As we got started on all of the home improvements, of course the boys got sick. We've had ear infections, stomach viruses, and now it seems that Drew has developed some as yet undetermined food allergies. Mid-month, I had my thyroid gland removed, because it's had a nodule growing on it for about 8 years. It was a fairly minor surgery (only one night in the hospital) but it still meant leaving Stu on his own with the boys overnight. He did great, and we can't neglect to thank both Karen and my mom, because they both helped us out immensely. What would we do without grandmas?

Now it's almost Halloween, and we're looking forward to finishing up our major projects and getting this house sold! We're also very much looking forward to going to Montana for Thanksgiving. We'll finally get to meet our new niece, Elsa. We can't wait.

Here's hoping everyone has a fun, SAFE Halloween. Enjoy all of that yummy candy. We'll post more soon...let's be careful out there! :)

Birthday Boy!

Bryce shows off his new Transformers t-shirt and his special "Birthday Boy" seat at the party.

Bryce & Drew loved the gym time at the party!

Grandma gives Drew a hand. Love the look on his face!

Bryce successfully blew out all 4 candles on his Transformers cake.

The Crane family on the future site of Casa de Crane!

Bryce is 4! We had a wonderful time celebrating with him at The Little Gym. Bryce invited about 10 of his friends to play at the gym and eat pizza & cake. This was the first birthday party he's had at somewhere other than our home, and it was a hit with Bryce, Mom, & Dad. No clean up! :)

The other big development of the past few weeks is our decision to build a new home. We've been eyeing a new development in Rio Rancho (the city where the Intel plant is located) for the past couple of years, and when sales opened up recently, we decided to take the plunge. We're very excited about the new house, although the first item on our agenda will be selling our current home. The market has slowed a bit in Albuquerque, but we're optimistic that we'll be able to sell before our new house is completed. We'll send out information about our new address, etc. as our move approaches, but the current estimate for the completion isn't until May. We'll definitely update the blog with the construction progress. Stay tuned...

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is happening this week, and we're planning to attend a "Balloon Glow" this evening with the boys. If you've never had the chance to get to the Fiesta, you should plan to visit our new house next October! It's truly an amazing experience. We'll try to post some pictures of this year's Fiesta soon.

We hope October has been a good month for everyone so far! Until next time, let's be careful out there!

Disneyland!

Bryce checks out the "Candy Corn Crop" being harvested at Disney's California Adventure. We knew California was an agricultural wonder, but seriously...now kids everywhere are going to be begging to plant candy corn at home!

Jillian (red shirt on the left), Thomas (next to Bryce), and Bryce show us their best dance moves at California Adventure's Block Party.

Bryce models his new "Pumpkin Ears"!
Brittany and Bryce hug it out with Mickey!
Drew poses by fake rocks.
What a ham! He loves to have his picture taken!
Bryce meets one of his Disney idols...Lightning McQueen!

Well, we made it! Our first trip to Disneyland as a "party of 4" was a success! We had a great time, and Bryce turned 4 at the "Happiest Place on Earth." Not only that, the annual unveiling of the Halloween decorations occured on his birthday, so that was pretty cool. The Haunted House is redone with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme, and that was awesome! We tried some new rides, including the new and improved Pirates of the Caribbean (complete with Jack Sparrow) and the brand-new Nemo Submarine ride. Not my personal favorite, as I'm a bit claustrophobic, but still pretty neat.

Kudos to our nephew, Thomas, who is the King of California Screamin'! It's a great roller coaster at California Adventure, and Thomas rode it more than anyone else in our group! He, Jillian, and Bryce were real troopers! They rode tons of things and held up very well without a lot of down time. We loved having the Sommer family, Grandpa Jim & Grandma Karen, and Aunt Brittany along on our trip!

Drew had fun crawling through the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. He did not have fun sleeping in the hotel room, and thus, neither did we.

On Saturday, our group was lucky enough to win "Dream Fastpasses" as we left Mickey's house in Toon Town. These are given away to a number of guests every day as part of Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign. They allowed us to walk onto a bunch of popular rides without standing in line, and they were great! It made it much easier for us "big kids" to ride some things that our little ones couldn't. Plus, we felt super cool walking around all day wearing them around our necks.

All in all, a fantastic vacation! We can't wait for Drew to get bigger, so that we can head back and scare the pants off him on some rides. By the way, Bryce is a champ...Big Thunder Mountain Railtoad was one of his favorite rides! We can't wait to get him on some real coasters in a few years!

Bryce's 4th birthday party is this afternoon, so we'll post again in a day or two with pictures and details from that. We also have a bunch of video we took at Disney that we plan to edit and post. I have to leave that up to Stu, however, beacuse that far outreaches my technical abilites (or lack thereof.) Take care everybody, and let's be careful out there!

The saga begins...

As the seasons change and a new school year begins, it seems like a good time to get this blog started. We are excited to have a place to share some of the highlights of our life here in New Mexico with family and friends. Stu received a wonderful video camera for his birthday last month, so we plan to share some short videos of the boys and their many adventures.

Bryce started preschool this week...he's in his second year at a fantastic preschool co-op near our home. He has a phenomenal teacher named Mrs. Lindsey, and he thoroughly enjoys his time at school. He's also started a "Sports Skills" class at the Little Gym, and is currently learning the ins and outs of soccer. He's VERY eagerly anticipating his 4th birthday in a few weeks, and is equally excited about our upcoming trip to Disneyland.

For those of you who don't know, I won a trip for 4 to Disneyland on the radio earlier this summer, and we're taking the boys for Bryce's birthday! Grandpa Jim & Grandma Karen are coming along, and we're meeting Aunt Brittany, Aunt Paige, Uncle Rich, Thomas, and Jillian there. We can't wait! We will of course share details of our trip when we get back.

Drew is now 9 months old, and is changing daily. He can "Army crawl" (he prefers to drag his belly on the floor as he goes), pull himself to a standing position, and babble. He smiles and laughs, and generally tries to keep up with his big brother. He has two teeth, and there seem to be some more coming any time now. He started a Parent & Infant class at the Little Gym today, and had a blast. He's a social butterfly, and always has a smile for the ladies!

Some other exciting news...we have a new niece! Betsy & Kennet welcomed Elsa Barbara on Aug. 26th! She was 7 lb. 10 oz., and 21.5" long. (A full inch and a half longer than either of her cousins!) We are thrilled, and can't wait to meet her in person!

That seems like a pretty good synopsis of life for today, but we'll post again soon! Let's be careful out there, everybody! :)

Becky