Christmas at the Cruthirds

Okay, so I know this is a little late, but I'm finally finding just a few minutes to post. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so nice and relaxing. This is the first time in almost 10 years of marriage that we have not had to rush and be somewhere on Christmas Day. We slept until almost 8:00 and then opened presents with the kids. They were so precious and had a blast. It's so much fun to watch them get excited........what a joy to experience Christmas through the eyes of your children. I wasn't sure how they would react because they never really asked for anything for Christmas - I know it sounds crazy, but we just didn't play up Santa brings you lots of presents.....we tried to keep it simple and stay focused on Why we celebrate Christmas. After we opened our gifts, which took awhile because Santa wrapped EVERYTHING and we tried to open one at a time, Andy made us breakfast and then we spent the rest of the day lounging in our pjs, playing with all of the kids new toys, and snacking on all the "goodies" we had made. We had celebrated Christmas dinner 3 times in the past few days so we skipped the traditional Christmas lunch and I made corn chowder instead.....yummy!! I think we finally got dressed around 3:00 and then headed to the movies to see The Chipmunks.....it's too cute and if you haven't seen it you really should. We then went to my Moms and finished off all of the Christmas dinner leftovers. It was definitely a fun day for us all!


Sunday Church Service


The Cruthirds Family - Christmas 2007


Wow! What's in this Stocking?

Opening Presents



Help me open this, Please!

I think he likes it!

Hudson's favorite - a Saints Helmet


Is this one for me?

Thanks, Daddy, for helping me!

Are there any more presents around here?

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & Blessed New Year!

Brady's Christmas Party

Christmas Carols

Brady saying a prayer before we eat!

Mrs. Bass opening her Christmas Card

Silly Abby

Look, Mom, more Candy!

My sweet nephew, Jacob

Thanks Mrs. Bass

The Ornament

Brady's class had their Christmas Party at school yesterday. The kids suprised the parents with christmas carols and a special ornament they had made for us. The ornament was a glass ball with either a Christmas tree or Baby Jesus in the manger and was created using their fingerprints - mine was baby jesus. Brady was so excited to give Andy & I our ornament....his little face was beaming while we were opening it. Brady's in a christian school and they have been learning why we celebrate Christmas. I think he really understands the true meaning of Christmas this year. Whenever we talk about Christmas or what he wants for Christmas he says, "Mom, you know it's really all about baby Jesus and his birthday". I can't believe he really gets it. He really hasn't asked for anything for Christmas and tells me Santa just comes around to help us celebrate Jesus' birthday! WOW!!! That's pretty powerful especially coming from a 5 year old!

Christmas in Chicago

Erin & Brad


Watertower on Michigan Avenue

The view from the ladies room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building

Okay, so maybe we weren't there celebrating Christmas with anyone, but the Christmas spirit was definitely alive in Chicago. This was our first trip to Chicago and what a great time of year to experience Chicago. It's such a beautiful city. Even though it was freezing cold, I'm so glad we went when we did. It had just snowed the day before we got there so everything was covered in snow and still covered this morning when we left.....we even got to see some snow flurries while we were there. Hey, I can almost say I've experienced a "white christmas". The city was decorated in all of its Christmas decor, which was beautiful. Our friends Brad and Erin were the best host and hostess. We hit a museum, hockey game, shopping on Michigan Avenue and some of the "tourist" hotspots. But thanks to them we also got to experience some of the places where the "locals" go. We ate a fantastic dinner on Thursday night at Joe's Stonecrab (which was fabulous) then went to a local pub on Friday night - of course I can't remember the name. We also ate some of the best pizza ever at Uno's. Andy was excited to have his first Chicago hot dog from Wrigleyville dogs - I think thats correct.....it was actually pretty good! Needless to say we had a blast and although it's nice to be back home where it is much warmer (78) we cannot wait to for our next trip back. Thanks Erin & Brad for your wonderful hospitality.....you guys were so much fun! We can't wait to meet up with you in February at Disney World.

Chicago Bound!

Andy & I are leaving early in the morning flying to Chicago! We're going to visit some friends and of course we would choose to go when it's freezing cold and they just got their first snow - 7 inches I think! I'm excited about going to Chicago, but not sure how I'm going to do in the freezing cold, wind, and 7 inches of snow!!! Please pray for safe travels and that we are NOT snowed in.....I'm so nervous I'm going to be stuck in the airport and unable to get home to my babies!!

Christmas in Canton

Brady's K4 class took a field trip to Christmas in Canton last week. He was so excited to get to ride the school bus. I think, at first, he was more excited about riding the bus than he was the actual field trip. It was fun watching Brady get excited about riding the train, carousel, and viewing the animation museums. It was a great field trip and my heart just overflowed with joy as I watched him play with his friends and get so excited about the train ride, the carousel, and the animation museums. Much to my surprise he really enjoyed the animation museums. It was also very cute to watch Brady experience his first crush. He sits by a little girl named Meghan and talks about her from time to time, but I've never thought much about it until the field trip. Brady & Meghan were inseparable. They rode together on the train & carousel and then were right next to each other through all of the museum tours. When it was time to head back to school I was just going to let Brady ride back with me, but oh no he had other plans. I asked him if he was ready to go and he looked over at Meghan and said "Are you riding the bus back?" She said yes, so he looked at me and said, "you go ahead mom, I'm riding the bus with Meghan." WHAT!!! I got shunned for a little girl....this isn't suppose to happen this early????

Loading the bus!

Mommy & Brady riding the train

Brady & Meghan

Mrs. Bass K4 class

Madi, Brady, & Meghan

Taking a ride on the carousel

Does this count as our first date?

The Elf on the Shelf

Our family has started a new tradition this year and I wanted to pass it along. It's called The Elf on the Shelf. Have you ever wondered just how does Santa know if you've been naughty or nice? It's all because of the Elf on the Shelf! I don't want to give too much of this book away, but if you have kids I highly recommend this precious book. It's about a magic elf who comes to live with you during Christmas time and magically flies to Santa every night to give him a report on whether you've been good or bad. The elf then magically flies back home before you awake. He can see you and hear you, but you cannot touch him. We named our elf Snowflake and every morning my kids run to see just where Snowflake landed this morning. They get so excited when they find him. So far, he's landed in a different spot, but I told them he's sure to find a favorite spot and may land there a few times. He's also helped with discipline at our house because Brady & Hudson know Snowflake is watching them and they want him to report good things to Santa. I bought our book at Mistletoe Marketplace and the author was there signing the books as you purchased them, but you can order it online. My kids think the book is from Santa and that he wrote a special message to them...it's really cute. I had no idea this book would bring sooo much fun to our house....it's definitely worth the $30 bucks. Click here to get your very own copy of The Elf on the Shelf.....I promise you won't be disappointed!!!

Ella's 1st Piggy Tails!

Ella's hair is getting fairly long so I thought I'd try to see if we had enough hair for piggy tails. Much to my surprise we did!! This was my first attempt at "piggy tails" and ,well, as you can tell from the pictures a squiggly 17 month old and an unexperienced hair dresser don't mesh so well. I took a few pictures of our first try and then redid them....she wasn't having a third try....she definitely does not enjoy playing "salon". I thought the second try turned out okay, especially for someone who is terrible at fixing hair! I can't believe our baby is now 17 months old and big enough for "piggy tails". The little things I that I just couldn't wait for are happening way too fast!


My very 1st "piggy tails" on top of my head

Am I cute or what??

Our 2nd try - more like "piggy tails"


Post nap "piggy tails"

Trip to the Zoo

The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so we decided to take our three little "monkeys" to the zoo! The kids had so much fun. They were very interested in all of the animals and the sounds that they made. I really thought they would loose interest very quickly, but much to my surprise they wanted to see every exhibit. It was soo cute the way they would ask us what the animal was and then try to repeat it....Hudson was the funniest....we would tell him what type of animal we were looking at and he would then tell all of the other spectators as if he were the zoo keeper or something. It was too cute. Once we finished all of the animal exhibits we headed over to the train station for a train ride around the zoo.....my kids love trains! It was so nice to just have some fun, stress free time with the family.