Grayson's marathon!

This year I was asked/volunteered to run the Crocker Cruiser program at the kids elementary school. Kenna and Grayson both loved it so much I couldn't let it phase out when the head of it last year moved on to middle school! It is a ton of work, but so rewarding! The kids just love running at recess and earning charms. The goal is to run a marathon by the end of the year. At the halfway point we have over 30 kids who have finished! Such a great way to teach goal setting, fitness and a fun program to expend some energy to focus on school! I've introduced an air horn this year which has been quite a hit for those that have finished! Grayson finished today and I was so lucky to be there to celebrate with him!!

Inside Out Halloween

This may be our last year of family Halloween themes. As the kids get older they have their own opinions about dressing up - Kenna wanted to be scarier, so did Zach...may need to get my creative juices flowing to come up with family themed scary idea!

BUT, all that being said this was really fun costume theme! I made Kenna's dress out of 3 tshirts and a potato stamp. It turned out really well I think! Most of the other clothes we owned with the exception if the ties and vests! The face paint went on well and actually didn't get all over the place. This was definitely our coldest year ever....it was like 32 degrees and windy! The kids only made it about an hour and people were dumping their candy in the kids bags because of so few trick or treaters...to say they made a haul is an understatement! We had fun, and Grayson was super excited and unphased by the cold whatsoever....so cute to watch him running up and down driveways "trick or treat, smell my feet..."

Black Belt Exam

Kenna had a very busy weekend. On Friday she was invited to her very first solo costume party. She had a great time. Chloe and Abby threw it at Abby's house. Sounds like they had crafts and games and a dance party! She almost didn't go because she has been SO SO SO stressed about her black belt testing. This poor kiddo has her mom's worry genes. A few weeks ago she started getting really nervous as it got closer. She planned meals leading up to it, and did great in the pre-exams.

On Saturday morning she woke up at 6 and we gathered all of her already laid out items to drive to the DMACC pond. There she did a 2 mile run and finished over 10 hours of testing. She had physical endurance drills, hours of sparring and katas, recited creeds and pretty much just worked her body to the bone. She could barely move the next day! We are anxiously awaiting her results and should know my mid week if she made it! 

I cannot tell you how proud I am of her. Not only her discipline, but her dedication over the last 6 years to really bettering herself. She has had her eye on this prize since she was 5 years old. She rarely complained and overcame a few hiccups along the way that made her stronger...she is an inspiration to me!

Grayson's Writing

I just LOVE Grayson's writing....and apparently he loves that we make him food and that I run Crocker Cruisers :)

Kitchen Remodel

10/16/17

We are in the midst of crazy kitchen remodel - going on week 5 with no dishwasher, no oven, no real counter space....

The journey all started because I didn't like how our cherry cabinets looked after we stained all the oak trim a walnut color...the redish hue didn't match the new Gray/dark brown theme we seemed to have adopted in our house. So, I got a quote on what it would cost to paint them. It was about 20% of the cost of new cabinets. That seemed reasonable, but we had a cabinet person come in just to see what they had to say. He said that our cabinets were nice, but definitely pointed out a few things that we could do to make them more efficient, and I have always dreamed of having a big island....so we started dreaming and scheming and worked with our new BFF Alex the designer and had something worked up!

In the process of this Josh came up with the idea to reconfigure the entry way from our garage, that would make the kitchen longer (more island friendly) and allow us a much needed place to hang all the coats and kid crap! I have no vision, but now that the wall is done I love it!

I spent the entire weekend painting the newly textured ceiling, walls, pantry, new mud area....6 gallons of paint later and it looks fabulous!

Some fun memories from this journey:

- We sold the cabinets to a really nice couple that is refurbishing a school house in Creston Iowa....would be amazing to have a gym IN your house!!

- During Demo we also found the heart that was left for us by Kathy the last time we did this!

- We about broke josh's back trying to scrape off the crazy amount of quickset we used with the last tile!

- I learned to make an entire hot breakfast at once on the griddle!

- Penny and Colin brought us a tray of food because they knew we were down a kitchen, mom made us multiple dinners and had us over, and Stone's invited us over for dinner...so much kindness!

- I sold the cabinets, stove, barstools and microwave in relatively little time...thank you Craigslist!

- The damn counter took us (and by us I mean Josh) literally smashing the tiles with a hammer to get it dislodged! Jon Bellis had to come and help us carry the monstrousity out of our house with sink still attached!