Crouch's Conundrums

Wind Damage

The Crouch Christmas Vacation

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday with family and friends in Mayfield.  We are blessed beyond measure and treasure the many memories with immediate and extended family!  It was a joy celebrating the birth of Jesus with everyone.

As many of you know, Andy and I planned a surprise family vacation for the boys for the week between Christmas and New Year's!  The boys 'discovered' the news about the trip by uncovering clues on Christmas morning!  The first clue led them to the van (yes, outside in the cold) to discover a puzzle piece in the shape of the State of Georgia.  A second clue led them to the freezer in the kitchen where they found a penguin on ice!  A third clue sent them to the basement in search of a warm place where they located a second puzzle piece shaped as the State of Florida.  The last clue led them to the back patio to find a Lego Palm Tree and Beach. 

After explaining the travel agenda, the boys were beaming with joy and ready to start packing!  Yep, we had to pack all of the Christmas items plus the luggage and head to Florida!  First stop - Atlanta!  We decided to split the long drive and spent the night in Atlanta, so that we could take the boys to the Georgia Aquarium.  It was definitely a hit.  There are several pictures in the photo album, so be sure to take a peek!

Next stop - Winter Haven, Florida - home of Legoland!  The park just opened in October, but it was filled with tons of life-sized lego statues, animals, and characters!  The boys loved the rides, and Momma really liked Miniland.  It took over 100 Lego engineers and over 30 million lego bricks to create all of the sites in Miniland.  

And, yes, the band members did march!

After 1 1/2 days at Legoland, we loaded up the van and headed to Venice, Florida!  We met up with Mim an Pop and toured the RRR and met some of their buddies!  We enjoyed Shark Tooth hunting at Caspersen Beach, ice cream at the Nokomis Grove, and swimming at the RV park!

Note: Collin always prefers an ice cream cone, but will not eat the cone!  Too funny!

We ended the week with a final visit to the beach.  Collin's only request of the week was to build a sandcastle, so Momma got two buckets on Friday morning!  And, with the help of a new friend, they finished Collin's first sand castle!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Blessings

We enjoyed an extended stay in Mayfield for our Thanksgiving holiday this year!  It was such a blessing to spend extra time with the family this year.  We are truly blessed for each and every one, and especially thankful that we were able to celebrate another Thanksgiving with Nana!  I LOVE this photo!  Yes, I even got Papa John to agree to a picture :0)

And, the cousins enjoyed some movie time.....

The boys and LJ were Mim's big helpers in getting her tree up before we headed back to Louisville (minus two ornaments).....

Don't you just LJ's new skirt!!  :-)

 

October Happenings

Did I mention that the Crouch household LOVES fall!!  We love it so much, that we have something every weekend in October :-) 

For the first time, our family visited Bernheim Forest last weekend.  They were celebrating "Colorfest", and it was a fun time learning about bees, caterpillars, and enjoying the fall leaves all around.  One of the highlights was the hay maze!  Check out the photo album for more pics!

(Yes, those are matching skeleton shirts and they glow in the dark!!)

We cannot have a true falll without a trek to the Louisville Zoo for the World's Largest Halloween Party!  Last weekend was busting at the seams with soccer games, Colorfest at Bernheim, and the Zoo!

This week, we were very busy getting ready for the Annual Halloween Party at our house.  This has been a tradition since Cooper was three.  This year, the theme was a Pirate Party.  We had a blast with this one!

We had pirate grub for all:  Pirate Hot Dogs, Jewels (Grapes), Pot of Gold (cheese cubes), Pirate Booty (white cheddar cheese puffs), other treasures (carrot sticks and pirate dip), and some awesome Pirate Oreo Pops (thanks to the ever talented Aunt Lolo!) 

We also enjoyed some pumpkin decorating - pirate style!

Be sure to take a peek at the photo album for more pics!

 

 

 

 

Fall Has Arrived!

And, it has been a fun fall so far!  We celebrated the end of summer with a day at Holiday World on Labor Day.  It was a chilly day, but perfect for riding rides all day!

Check out the photo album for more pics!

September is also the start of Fall Soccer!  After sitting out during the Spring season, Collin decided that he wanted to play soccer again!  He has had a great start to the season!  Cooper has also had a fantastic start with 2 goals during his second game and 1 goal and 1 assist last week!!

We also attended their school open house at Farmer last week.  They were so excited to show us their classrooms and see their projects!  We are very thankful for their awesome teachers!  They have been working hard!!  Be sure to check out the photo album to see some of their hard work!

 

 

Back to School!

Cooper and Collin officially started school this week!  Collin has been so excited all summer about attending preschool at "Coopa's school".  He was very excited up to about one week ago when he informed us that he was only going to Cooper's class!   Thankfully, he had a change of mind on Tuesday night after they picked out the same color uniform shirts to wear on Wednesday.  They were up, dressed, and ready to go by 7:00 a.m. with plenty of time for Momma to snap some pictures! 

Cooper - 2nd Grade and Collin - Preschool

Drop Off at School

 

First Cast....

Well, it finally happened...our first broken bone.  Fortunately, the break did not require surgery, but it did involve a short cast on the right arm.  Last Thursday, Cooper took a tumble at the skating rink.  On Friday, Momma thought we better have the doctor look at it.  After a review of the x-ray, the doctor confirmed a break in the right arm above the wrist.  Cooper was holding up well until the doctor pulled out the soft splint and sling.  A complete breakdown with major tears quickly followed.   

So, when the time came to put on the hard cast, Momma enlisted Daddy and Collin to cheer him on.  Luckily, Cooper was able to get a waterproof cast.  He even got to pick out the color...in case you were wondering, it is red with glow in the dark stripes!!

Both boys think it is way cool...so much so that Collin wants a glow in the dark cast on his arm so they can play swords!

 

 

 

The Red Carpet

was rolled out today for the Farmer First Graders as they showcased all of their achievements from the school year!  Cooper was so excited about the Academy Awards, and he knew exactly what he wanted to wear...three days before the event!  He was bound and determined to wear a jacket like Uncle Clay did when he got married to Aunt Lolo!  Now, the fun part...finding a sports jacket for a seven year old that does not cost an arm and a leg in less than 2 days!  After several phone calls, I decided to make one last stop the night before the big day.  And, to my surprise, I found a black suit jacket in Cooper's size.  The smile on his face when I got home...priceless!

I think he looks like a pro walking down the red carpet!

He received a reading and math achievement award along with the SUPER SCIENTIST award, awarded by his fellow classmates!  His teacher also put together a wonderful video of their first grade year to include baby photos!!  It was an exciting morning!

May has been a fun-filled month with a birthday party every weekend!  We even got to celebrate LJ's 1 1/2 birthday party on Saturday!  The boys sure do love their cousin!

And the boys love acting goofy too!

 

Collin's Birthday Celebration!

We love to celebrate birthdays!  Seven days ago, we began celebrating Collin's birthday with chocolate milk of course!  On Saturday morning, the sun was shining bright with a slight breeze...it was a beautiful day!  We set up the bouncey and had lots of bubbles!

After some play time outside, we headed inside to celebrate in "bat" style!

 

After celebrating all morning, we headed to Cooper's soccer game and then to the Louisville Zoo!  It was a fun day indeed!

Happy Birthday, Collin!  We love you!

Birthday Celebration!

We take birthday celebrations very seriously around here, and we have been celebrating Cooper's 7th birthday for an entire week!  Last Saturday, Cooper and 8 of his buddies bounced their little hearts out at Pump It Up.  We enjoyed Scooby Doo cake and ice cream! 

On the day of his birthday, we had a special family breakfast before school and Cooper got a surprise present...a new bike! 

We even had planned to take Cooper out to dinner that night to celebrate with more ice cream.  However, we found out that only grown ups celebrate birthdays at sit down restaurants!  LOL  We did end up going out, but Cooper REALLY  just wanted to stay home, eat fishsticks, and play Wii!!

On Friday, we surprised Cooper and Collin with an overnight road trip to Great Wolf Lodge!  This weekend also kicks off Cooper's Spring Break, so we decided it was a nice finale to a birthday week / beginning of Spring Break Week!  We had an absolute blast!

We are very blessed to have two healthy and fun loving boys!  We enjoy celebrating their birthdays with them even though the Momma feels a bit sad that they are growing up so fast!