Crockett Family

Kate had her first soccer game on Saturday. Her team is the Gophers.  She has had it marked on her calendar for weeks and has been counting down the days. She thought that she was going to be on TV.  Because she had a game, in her mind that meant that people could watch her on TV like when Daddy watches sports games.  I felt horrible breaking the news to her that sport broadcasters were not going to be at her game, but that I would video tape it instead and we could watch it on the TV. That seemed to help lessen the blow for her.

Kate was awesome! John and I were so impressed. I embarrassed John by being a little too loud with my cheering from the sidelines, but I was one proud mama! We thought she would be chatty and not even realize that a game was going on around her. Instead, she was aggressive, and kept up with the ball. She passed the ball to her teammates and even scored the first and only goal for her team! (We just won’t mention all the other goals the other team scored).  Go Gophers!

On Sunday we celebrated Tyler’s birthday as a family. I have been asking him what he wanted for his birthday meals. He had simple requests. Breakfast: Cereal and milk.  Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly and pears. Dinner: Pizza. I wanted him to have a Sunday nap so I told him we could open presents after nap time thinking he would go right down. At almost 4:00 he finally goes down. We have been home from church since noon. Luckily we still had some daylight left for him to enjoy some of his surprises!

Tyler is a natural on his new bike John and I gave him. We are guessing by the end of summer the training wheels will be off!

Thanks Meme and Dude! I couldn’t wipe that smile off my face! 

Last week Tyler turned 3! In preparation to this grand event, I had been asking Tyler what kind of party he wanted. He was deciding between an alien and a robot party. He has a pair of alien pj’s that Meme bought him and that was the extent of his alien exposure really. What mattered most to him was the cake and that was how he made the decision. There was everything BUT alien party stuff at the stores (lots of robot things on clearance, but Tyler’s mind was made up) so we had to get creative. I found lots of great ideas at Family Fun and Parents online and then added my own touch to it.  He informed me that he wanted a “boys only” party and that I WAS NOT invited, although Kate and Ellie could come. Nice. He finally consented a day before the party that I could come.  Good thing, because I was always planning on it!   The highlight for me was seeing the excitement on Tyler’s face when each friend arrived. To say he was excited to see them would be an understatement! This was the first time that it was all about Tyler. He enjoyed every minute of it! We all agreed that it was a fun, successful party.

Fall Harvest at Lakefront in October 2011- Tyler wouldn’t even ride the pony. I made John put him on so I could snap a picture. He was so scared and mad at us for torturing him. Notice Kate in the background having a jolly o’ ride.

Six months later, Tyler realized what he was missing out on. Look at him beaming and riding like a pro. He was so proud of himself for not being scared. Here he is waving to Kate as she is passing by on another pony. He definitely had a hard time wiping that smile of his face! it’s funny what time can do.

Today is Ellie’s 8 month birthday. (Can you believe it?) As a way to celebrate, the kids helped introduce Ellie to apple juice. More importantly, the sippy cup. It seemed to be a sussessful lesson!

 We are headed off to Utah for Christmas this year. We are excited that we will be able to spend time with both extended families and see some of you. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

You can tell Ty is trying to be brave, but you can still see the fear in his eyes. . .

Tonight we bundled up the kids (each wearing at least 3 layers of clothing) and braved the cold single digit temperature outside to go see Santa. Every year without fail the festivities seem to be on a night when it is miserably cold outside. But we have gone to see the man in red each year since we moved here. Sitting on Santa’s lap in snowsuits just seems fitting for a Minnesota tradition.

Last year Tyler wanted nothing to do with Santa. He wouldn’t sit on his lap or get semi close to him. This year he freaked out while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. When they announced that Santa was coming up next, he started to cry and demanded that I held him. I couldn’t figure out why all of a sudden his mood changed and then I realized he was scared of Santa. Apparently that boy has bottled up his fear for that man for over a year. John and I showed Ty on the TV what a non-scary, happy man Santa was. We explained that he was the one that gives him presents on Christmas if he is a good boy. He’s kind and jolly! He’s magical! Needless to say, we thought we calmed him and talked him through his Santa fears. And we did for the time being.

We told Tyler in order to get what he wants for Christmas he needed to tell Santa what he wanted. While we were waiting in the cold, we asked him what he was going to ask for. He said, “A shooty gun, soccer ball and a scooter.” Apparently he has given this a lot of thought. The closer we got to the front of the line the more Tyler had second thoughts about sitting on his lap. He started getting nervous and demanded to be held. We decided to see Santa all together as a family to prevent a Tyler melt down. Plus it was freezing outside, so it seemed better this way since it would be quicker. There wasn’t any room on Santa’s lap for Tyler since Santa’s arms were already full from holding Kate and Ellie, so Tyler let me hold him next to Santa. (This was quite the improvement from last year.) Right away Tyler spits out, “Soccer ball.” It was hilarious, because Santa hadn’t even asked him yet. Ty just wanted to let Santa know ASAP so he could get out of there. Santa asks him, “Oh, you want a soccer ball?” Then he asks Kate what she wanted for Christmas and she replies that she wants a fancy doll. (Who knew?) Santa replies, “Well you know what you need to do right? You need to make sure that you go to bed early, listen to your parents and be kind to your sister and brother.” We reminded Kate and Tyler what Santa said tonight when we put them to bed. I added, “That includes staying in bed too.” Tyler usually has multiple excuses why he is out of bed each night and why he can’t sleep, but neither one of them got out of bed tonight. Ahhh. . . . Heavenly. Thanks Santa!

Fall is over. We have been pretty lucky with an awesomely warm fall.  The kids have been anxiously awaiting the snow while I have been in denial that winter is here. We had our first snow on Saturday. The kids had fun making their first snowman all by themselves and having a “snowball fight” today. I took pictures from the dining room window and got stuff done around the house while Ellie was napping.