Thursday, September 23, 2010

Vacation!

We leave in in 2 days for vacation!

I am sooo excited. It has been almost a year since we have had a vacation as a family and more than 6 months since Josh and I have had a vacation just the two of us.

We are headed to hubby's grandparents cabin in Georgia. So I cannot wait to feel the cooler air and hopefully some leaves will be changing.

So anyway, I need to be off the computer and cleaning house, folding clothes, and packing....

Tonight I am going to post a new craft I learned a couple of days ago. It is so cute! Can't wait to share. :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It's Getting Messy

This day has NOT started out very well. We own two homes right now and the renters of our first home have decided that they aren't going to pay anymore. They are two months behind and were supposed to pay today and catch up. Of course, this news comes on the eve of the HUGE production we are doing at FBC starting tonight. The thing that has made me a single mom the past 2 months as my husband worked 70+ hours a week to get everything ready for this day. (Its going to be awesome, by the way. I am so proud of the team that has invested their lives in this production. I have never been a part of something so life-changing.)

I know that I am not the only one in the midst of stressful, awful, heart breaking situations. And I can't help think of Chris Tomlin's song, Our God. Our God is greater than these things we are facing. Our God is stronger than satan who is trying to distract us from what He is doing. And if our God is for us, there is nothing anyone can do to defeat us.

So, I am drying up my tears, straightening my shoulders, and relying wholly and completely on God to lead us through this messy life. Because it is not pretty right now. Who knows where the next mortgage payment is coming from, if we can find new renters, if the old renters will pay us the almost $3000 they owe us, if we will have enough money to pay our bills this month, if I can find a part-time job to alleviate some financial burden... all these questions, but I have the answer:

My God is for me.

And that is all I need to know.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Ballerina Beauty

Madi started ballet lessons last week. She loves it. She really had no idea what it would entail, but when I told her a couple weeks ago she was going to be starting classes, she promptly informed everyone she came in contact with, "Im going to be a ballerina!" And I mean everyone - the furniture delivery men, the cashier at publix, a little girl at the playground, etc. Madi was really excited.

When it came to the day of classes, she couldn't contain her excitement. It was all I could do to get her to take a nap. However, precisely upon wakening, it was time to get dressed. Now, I was the one who purchased all the necessities - a "ballet pink" leotard, pink tights, and pink ballet shoes. But I was completely unprepared for how she would look when dressed. Where did my baby girl go? Who is this grown up pre-preschooler that stood before me?

See what I mean?


I am not usually a crier, but the sight of her dressed in her ballet outfit, brought tears to my eyes.
It seems like just yesterday she looked like this, still wearing footie pajamas and needing a paci:


Its just hard to process that your children do grow up and before you know it they won't need you like they did before. Anyway, lets not get all sentimental.

Madi LOVED her ballet class. I wasn't allowed to stay in the studio with her for very long. Just long enough to get her settled, and then the moms were kicked out. But I got a few pictures of her class. THEY ARE SOOO CUTE! Something about little girls dressed in pink running around the room. PRECIOUS.

She didn't want to sit next to me. She wanted to sit by the teacher. (By the way, I blurred out the faces of her classmates and teachers to maintain their privacy.)



Aren't they adorable?


She was really into it.



After class, she was worn out. She asked for water immediately. Haha. But she had a blast. As far as I can tell, they practiced walking in a line around the perimeter of the room and worked on their bows. She is so cute when she does it. Over-exaggerating every movement.

I just can't wait until its time for her recital. But that is all the way in June of next year. So hopefully I will get a preview before then! :)

I will keep you updated on the explorations of ballet.

Never a dull moment in the Cranor household.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Toy Story 3 On Ice! :)

We were blessed to have some dear friends give us tickets to go see Toy Story 3 on ice. Madi and I went for the afternoon show.... and to say Madi had a blast would be the biggest understatement in the history of mankind. From the second we arrived, she was captivated. Of course, mommy bought her an official Jessie hat, binoculars from the movie (Lennie), and a slushy in a Jessie mug. Call me a pushover, I couldn't help it. The excitement just drew out my debit card.

Anyway, I think I was just as excited as Madi. I love shows on ice and remember many fond memories from my childhood watching the various performances. At first she wasn't quite sure what we were going to see, I think she thought it was going to be in a movie theatre, but the second the little army men (well, they were actually adult-size) came out, she was enraptured. She said, "momma, they are skating!" The show was very well done and brought back scenes from the first two movies as well.

I only embarrassed myself a couple of times, which isn't anything unusual. Well, I kind of have to blame Madi for one incident... she knocked her slushy over and it fell on top of the shoe belonging to the lady behind us. It wouldn't have been too bad except her poor tennis shoe was white and the slushy (by that time) was a nice purple color. She wasn't too happy, but when I turned around to start mopping it off of her with Madi's jacket (I didn't have any more napkins) she said, "Its ok, I can just wash it." I am pretty sure that translated to, "Get up off my shoe, woman!"

The other incident was purely my fault. And of course it involved the family mentioned above. When we were getting ready to leave, I was trying to gather up all our paraphernalia and knocked my purse into the path of a lady trying to exit her row carrying a small child. Needless to say, after almost tripping her and her baby, she didn't give me the kindest look. It was an accident!!

Oh well, the show was awesome in spite of the mishaps. :) And here are some pictures to share with you.

Madi is ready to watch the show!

The slushy we do not speak of.

Gotta love Rex and Madi's favorite, Jessie.

My favorite. She tells me, "I wanna be Jessie for trick or treat!"

We had a great time and definitely made many memories (some I would rather pretend didn't happen). :)