Poor Chloe

Poor Chloe! She went outside to play Wednesday and came in with so many mosquito bites. She says she itches and hurts. I even caught her using a washcloth to rub/scratch them this morning. Anna Catherine has allergic reactions to mosquito bites so I keep mosquito wipes to put on the kids before they go outside. I haven't used them yet this year but I will definitely start now. Chloe seems to be allergic to as well.

There are several bites on her neck under her hair that I couldn't get a picture of them. I am giving her benadryl and put Cortisone-10 on the bites. Cortisone-10 is a roll-on anti-itch liquid. Has anyone ever used this medicine? This is my first time to try it but I thought the roll-on would be easier to use than a cream or lotion.

And to top it off, Chloe was running last night and fell on the sidewalk. Both of her little knees are all scraped up. She already has too many scars from all of her boo-boos.

Poor Chloe! She has such sensitive skin...just like her mama.

Cast #3

April 17, 2009---Anna Catherine had a great check-up at the ortho today. Her arm is healing nicely so they removed the blue above-the-elbow cast. Anna Catherine said it tickled. When they removed her cast, her arm was a yellow-green hue and smelled terrible. We eagerly washed her arm with soap and water but it still had an odor. She said her arm was itchy and I meant to put lotion on it before Dr. Robbins but cast#3 on but I forgot. Hope the itching isn't too bad :)

It was replaced with a below-the-elbow waterproof cast. Dr. Robbins needed an extra set of hands and AC was happy to help.

This time AC opted for a glow-in-the-dark cast. It appears to be a yellowy white but glows a green color in the dark. Did I mention the cast is waterproof too?!?!?! She can take showers on her own and not worry about it. So awesome!!!!!!

After her doctor's appointment we drove to Pontotoc so the kids could stay at Grandmother's house while Rick and I had a kid-free weekend with friends in Oxford. The kids went to a cousin's birthday party on Saturday and AC was able to have this cast signed by family members.

Hopefully she'll only have to wear this one for two weeks.

Good Night Chloe

These pictures are the way Chloe's room looks when she goes to bed:

This is what happens when she's not sleepy and takes out revenge for putting her behind the gate. Seriously, one night's wrath:

Easter 2009

April 12, 2009---Easter morning in the Crawford house started out very quiet. The kids were still exhausted from the crawfish boil and had decided to sleep in. Time didn't allow for snoozing so Rick and I woke them up (that always puts them in a terrible mood) so they could see their baskets, hunt eggs, eat breakfast, and get ready for church. We had to start moving quickly!!



AC was thrilled with her Operation SpongeBob game, several headbands, erasers, a monkey journal, and a chocolate bunny.

Jackson was almost in tears because he was so happy with his bounty of goodies from the Easter Bunny---a new BBC movie "Walking With Prehistoric Beasts", three new dino/prehistoric animals (wooly mammoth, andrewsarchus, and smilodon), several jungle animals, and a chocolate bunny.

Chloe's basket had a chocolate bunny, the Elefun game, and a purse filled with pretend make-up and nail polish, sunglasses, a cell phone, etc.

Hunting for eggs that the Easter Bunny hid in the house:

Remembering that the eggs she had found yesterday had candy in them, Chloe started opening eggs and got into the chocolate early. Luckily she hadn't gotten dressed yet!:

all dressed up for church:

Jackson couldn't have his picture taken or go to church without his new andrewsarchus (prehistoric animal in his hand):

not sure why they decided to tilt their heads:

After church we had a lazy Sunday---lunch, naps, played the new games, watched the new movie, and dinner....such a nice day....

Crawfish Boil

April 11, 2009---Rick had been in the moods for mudbugs earlier this week. Being a Louisiana boy, I know he misses the scrumptious Cajun cooking he was so used to growing up. To try to ease his cravings (and give me a night off in the kitchen) we went to a local restaurant on Thursday night for crawfish, shrimp, potatoes, and corn. It was divine!!! Their po-boy's looked fantastic too, so...guess where we'll be going the next time Mama boycotts the kitchen!! We had only been home less than an hour when we received a call inviting us to a neighbor's crawfish boil on Saturday. Are you kidding me?!?! A chance to have crawfish twice in three days!! You can imagine we jumped at the offer!!



Craig, a long-time friend and now neighbor, had been given 150 pounds of crawfish---you read that correctly---150 pounds. Five couples and their children met at the Tanner's home for a down-home crawfish boil---crawfish, onions, garlic, mushrooms, sausage, potatoes, and corn. There was also fried catfish and fries for any non-mudbug fans. I made Julie's yummy chocolate cake/heath bar/chocolate syrup/cool whip dessert. There was not a bite left! There were five couples plus their children in attendance. As you can imagine, there was a lot left over. Rick thinks he peeled 50 pounds himself. We brought home a 9x13 deep aluminum pan filled with tail meat. I can't wait to make some crawfish spaghetti or crawfish monica or gumbo or bisque...oooohhhh the possibilites are endless!!







My girls were the only girl's there for quite a while but there was an abundance of boys! We didn't allow Jackson to take any of his dinosaurs (a rare occurrence) in hopes that he would play with the other kids rather than sitting alone have dinosaur wars. He is such a loner and we want him to be more social. We were amazed that he jumped right in with the other kids and had a blast! He played with the live crawfish, played on the swing set/play fort, and played baseball. We were pleased that he was doing "boy stuff".

We had an awesome time and can't wait for our next get together with the Farmers, Tanners, Williamses, and Dons!!!

CrestKids Easter Egg Hunt

April 11, 2009---We attended our church's Easter egg hunt Saturday morning. The kids were super excited. The dad's took all of the eggs and hid them while the mom's stayed in the activities center with the eager hunters watching "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie".

AC trying her best not to smile:

Upon being given instructions, the kids ran to their designated hunting ground based on their ages (0-2 years, 3 years-kindergarten, and 1st-5th grade). Rick was waiting outside so I took Chloe to him. I took AC and Jackson to their area but by the time we got to their area, there were literally two eggs left. They each got one egg. With their heads hung low, we walked over to Chloe's area and there were many, many eggs left to be found. The babies had lost interest in hunting. Anna Catherine and Jackson were allowed to take any of the remaining eggs. They were thrilled to have another chance at finding eggs and Chloe wasn't giving up until every egg had been found!

Afterwards, we went back to the activities center and enjoyed ice cream sundaes and the remainder of the VeggieTales movie. We emptied the candy from all of our eggs and put the empty eggs one of three buckets at the front of the room. Well, Chloe had caught on to the whole "there's candy in the eggs" concept and couldn't understand why no one had claimed this big bucket of eggs. She thought she had hit the motherload!!

The kids convinced us to let them play on the playground for a while but them we had to go home to eat lunch and take naps before going to a neighbor's crawfish boil...

arm update

April 10, 2009---Anna Catherine had a follow-up appointment with her ortho doctor today and she got a good report. The bones had not shifted (YAY!!!...no rebreaking of the bones was necessary) and the hot pink cast was removed. I took one last picture of it because her friends at school had signed it.

The hot pink cast was replaced with a blue fiberglass cast that she must wear for one week. On Friday we will go back for another check-up and hopefully get a below the elbow water-proof cast.

AC's Class Easter Egg Hunt

April 9, 2009--- All kindergarten classes at MAE had an Easter egg hunt and play day at a local park. Each class had a section of the park roped off for their picnic and egg hunt. Chloe and I arrived just before the buses were pulled in (Anna Catherine was excited about the bus since the only time she gets to ride one is for a field trip). She and her BFF Marie found us immediately and they took Chloe to play on the playground. The kids enjoyed the egg hunt, picnic, and playtime. ***Jackson missed out on the fun because he was at preschool.***