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. :)

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.

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.

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). :)

I'm Just Not Cut Out For Farmin'

Whoever said ignorance is bliss never tried to grow squash.

Remember when I showed you the pictures of my cute little squashes? Yeah well, here they are now:

(pulled out of the garden, thrown on the grass)

And this is why:



And this:



And this:




Trying to garden organically is not easy! And it is made especially more difficult when you have no idea what you are doing. And before I could get a handle on it, these bugs went crazy, and I just couldn't get it back under control. So I am not going to grow squash or zucchini for a while, if ever again.

On another note, my green peppers are doing really well. And I don't see any weird bugs trying to get close.

Madi and Cinderella - Then and Now

We have been blessed to have season passes to Disney World for the last year, but unfortunately they end tomorrow. I am sad to see them go, but I won't be any worse for the wear. However, it will be pretty difficult to explain to Madi why we can't just pop on over to Disney whenever we want anymore. She doesn't quite understand its a theme park, she kind of thinks its her second home. In fact, she refers to the castle as "hers" and the princesses as "her friends." I thought it would be fun to compare the times we first started coming to Disney to now, a year later.

Not only is Madi a whole year older, but she is almost an entirely different person. This is last November:



Character greeting was pretty interesting. She would beg and beg to go meet the characters and be laughing and jumping up and down and smiling while waiting in line, then, the second she stood next to the character it was a serious face. She wouldn't crack a smile for anything and was very serious. It was like a switch was flipped. Then, after we were done taking pictures with the characters, she would laugh and talk about it like it was the highlight of her day. Completely hilarious.

NOW - my little bundle of energy can't wait to meet the characters, but instead of becoming a silent fan, she practically mobs these characters. She gets a running start and then almost jumps into their arms. When you ask her what she is doing she says, "Im with my friend, Cinderella." (or insert appropriate character name) Its adorable.




My little baby is turning into a rambunctious, yet adorable preschooler and I just can't believe it. Our journey through the past year can be bookmarked with our photos and memories of Disney and it has really been a special time. Children really do grow up so quickly and its so easy to take for granted the time that we have with them. So, I try to not let the little things bug me and get so aggravated when she is acting like the little girl she is - when she won't fall asleep for her nap or spills her cereal all over the dining room - because I know that before I know it she will be in school and then grown up before my very eyes.

And I really don't want to miss a moment.

Madi helps wash the car.

So, because I prefer to keep my outdoor chores to a minimum (yeah, that must be why I planted a garden this year), I ALWAYS take my van to the car wash when it needs a good scrub. In fact, for all the cars I have owned over the last 10 years, I can probably count on two hands the number of times that I have actually washed it myself. It helps that there is a mom special at the local car wash and they will was it for $3 on Wednesdays.

Needless to say, Madi has never washed the car before. This past weekend Josh decided he wanted to wash it, in between all the rain clouds, and he volunteered to have Madi help! Of course I didn't say no. When daddy offers to help on his own with no prompting, you NEVER say no. But of course, since this was her first time helping, I had to go out with the camera. I couldn't spend those precious minutes by myself.

The fruit of her labor resulting in a soapy mommy (thankfully not camera), soaked daddy, and a Madi both soaked and soapy. But a fun and memorable time was had by all.


Its very exciting to throw the sponge in the bucket to create a bubble volcano.



She was having a great time, but refused to look at the camera when smiling. I don't know where that stubborness comes from.



She was doing a pretty good job too, but really just wanted to wash in one spot the whole time.



Showing me all her bubbles.



I love this kid.