12 year Anniversary!

We were able to enjoy a night out for our anniversary and went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It was FABULOUS!!!! (as a matter of fact just looking at the picture makes me hungry.) We are very thankful for God's kindness He has shown us not just this year, but the past 12.




"Mmmmmmm, steak good!"

The kids and some of their favorite presents.

Claire's favorite present was pretty much anything wrapped and handed to her.

Abby with her custom made balance beam. (thanks Grandpa Croft)

Samuel and his new bike!

Isabelle with Clara (her my twin doll, and yes they have matching outfits!)

Merry Christmas From The Croft Family!!

The celebration has begun! Since we open presents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our extended families we have developed the tradition of opening our presents a little early. We start with reading about the birth of Jesus, have a time of prayer, open presents and then drive around and look at Christmas lights. It is a great way to start off time of celebration with our families. So Merry Christmas Everybody!

Baby showers, Staff/Pastor dinner, oh yeah and it's Christmas

Some random pictures since our week has been so crazy. Oh yeah, and it has nothing to do with the kids! (though abby did take the group photo for us!)
The group below are our pastor's, staff and wives. We enjoyed a nice, kid free evening (though our were in the basement with my dad and Tinkerbell the dog not the fairy.). Menu: Beef Stroganoff- yummy! (Here is where I thank my mother-in-law for the recipe because it is always a hit!)
We also hosted a baby shower this week for our friend Sarah. It all went well, but boy am I whipped!

Video from competition- Bardstown 12-7-2008

Here is the video from yesterday's gymnastics action. Enjoy!
Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

Second- that pretty much sums it up!

Abby's third competition today went well. We got up early, drove to Bardstown, and had a great meet. She was 2nd on bar, beam, and vault, and third on floor. She was also 2nd all-around for her age group. Needless to say she was very excited and you can hear her clanging wherever she goes (because of the medals she won't take off.). We'll post the video a little later.

Bye bye to the crib.

Ok Kate, Will, are you going to join us?

"Jump on it, make sure it is broken in."

"Look under it, nope no monsters."

"Finally, sleep in it." (well, only after making mommy think you might never stay in it long enough to sleep!)

Samuel's check up

For those interested (and not on facebook), Samuel had his nine year old check up this week. Current stats:
57 inches tall
87 pounds

If he continues on the pattern he has been on he is projected to be about 6'5". Brian and I are now trying to decide exactly how we are going to continue to feed him.

Happy Birthday Samuel!!

We are so thankful to celebrate Samuel's birthday. It is hard to believe he is already 9 years old, the time really has gone fast. Samuel continues to have a sweet kindness about him. At 9 years old now he loves people and easily makes friends no matter where we are. We are so thankful for our son and for every year God has given us with him. Happy Birthday sweet Samuel, we love you very much!


8 years old

7 years old

6 years old

5 years old

3 years old

Claire's boo-boo....

Claire, in her excitement to be able to be in Samuel's room, ran into the corner of Samuel's desk. It resulted in a gash in her forehead, ALOT of bleeding, one distraught mommy, a few calls to a certain father-in-law, and a daddy who knows how to use a butterfly bandage. Fortunately the gash is small, deep, but small.

Thanksgiving in D.C.

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with Brian's family in Washington D.C. this year. Our trip was wonderful and included LOTS of eating and playing. We are thankful for family willing to open up their homes for our crew to stay in. Samuel has waited so long for a boy cousin that he really enjoyed his time with Will. (and Will loved Samuel as well.) Thanks again to everybody for a wonderful week.

Thanksgiving Continued...

While in D.C. we had a chance to see several sites with Samuel and Abby. We were able to have a tour of the capitol and also visit Arlington to see the changing of the guards. Thanks Rachel for watching Isabelle and Claire so we could have some big kid fun.

Competition Results.

Due to needing to unpack and repack, kind of like Mae does all the time, here is the quick update on Abby's competition. She did well, though she was a little disappointed she didn't do better. However, she still won 4th place for bars and beam, and when we looked at her last scores and these scores, almost all of her scores went up. So, in the end, she is ok with everything but more motivated to keep working! I don't have time to post pictures or video, but will do it when we get back home! Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Love, The Crofts

Look what came in the mail today.....

"Ok, let's see visit the what? Hmmm."

"Oh, uh huh, uh huh...."

"hmmm, but how do I...."

"...wow I didn't expect that!"

"Alright who's sick?"

Story time with Samuel.