Merry Christmas!

Some of our Christmas Day highlights: 

exactly what a floor should look like Christmas morning. 

window sill playtime in the pi's followed by: 

disco ball karaoke in our pi's! 

getting silly and sillier at Grandma and Grandpas!

And, it just isn't Christmas with the Crowleys until everybody is wearing a paper hat! 

Merry Christmas everbody!

November and December

They boys woke up early, ready for Christmas Eve, so I figured I ought to take advantage of the extra time and update this here blog!  Sorry for the long absences.  Things get a bit hectic, you know...

So, here is our end of the year, in photos:

trip to the Central Park Zoo!

In the classroom after the school's Thanksgiving performance.  Jude is so proud to be at "kindergarten" with his brother.

getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

talking with Santa.

decorating the tree.

visiting Bryant Park in Manhattan.  We take a trip every year, it's more and more fun as the boys get older.

The tree at Rockefeller Center!!

Meeting the 'real' Buzz Lightyear in the middle of Manhattan.

our very exciting first trip on the subway system!

We also had a chance to see The Nutcracker along with lots of celebrating with friends.  And, now we are ready for Christmas!! It's a long wait to open all those presents when you are a little person! 

October!

October was quite the month for us, it started out pretty much like every other October....we gained some footing on a bicycle bit by bit,  

visited a local farm to pick our pumpkins, 

then we got to carve our pumpkins. 

we went to the town Halloween party the weekend before Halloween..

and then we got hit by an historic Hurricane, it rocked our tree like a cradle and tore apart parts of the tri-state area, many of which are still recovering.  Halloween was officially cancelled as most of our town struggled to get back electricity.  We lost power for a little while and when we got it back we hosted friends for meals and conversation that were still in the cold and dark.  School was cancelled for a week and the kids bounced off the wall!  

But, eventually, Halloween was declared to be the Monday after and everyone came out in full spirit.  Including these two...isn't that a terrifying dragon!? And, what a spooky ghost, huh? 

It ended up being a great time.

But, now it's November.  And, lots of people are still displaced and many have lost everything.  It's a sobering thought going into the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.  But, we certainly have had the opportunity to remember what we are thankful for. 

The sliver

This summer we had an incident.  Cal hurt his finger and we knew that it was hurt badly but we thought it was simply bruised.  He was reluctant to show it to us, so we didn't have a very clear look.  We cleaned it and bandaged it and he treated it gingerly but we hoped it would get better.  

Two days later it was clear it wasn't feeling better and we started to suspect that it was still hurting pretty badly (but our boy was awfully stoic about the whole thing).  So, we went to the doctor who immediately sent us to Urgent Care.  After a terribly traumatic appointment the (completely horrible) Urgent Care doctor pulled this sliver out from under his fingernail!! It ran the length of his nail from tip to base and it must have hurt so bad.  A month later and he still hasn't grown back the whole nail (the doctor had to remove about 1/3 of the nail to get the sliver). 

We Are Rocking Kindergarten

Seems like just yesterday but it was a few weeks back when Kindergarten started and we are loving it. Here are the boys on the first day...Cal headed to Kindy and J ready for his first day at Montessori without Cal by his side.  

To be quite front, Mama was the one emotional and nervous on that first day.  A few weeks in and we've had some minor bumps but we also seem to love it and love our new friends at school.

It's all about Music

Both boys are crazy about music but this little cutie literally cannot get enough.  He has begged us for a banjo for so long and we resisted for a long time but when he made one from a tambourine and a drum stick we found it such a sad substitute that we finally caved and found one on-line that will hopefully turn out to be child-appropriate.  He's been asking about it for days.  He sings in the morning and he sings in the bath and it's a wonder that he isn't hoarse.

It's Been Hot.

The record breaking heat has made it almost impossible to be outside without being wet. We've been wearing holes (literally...duct tape is a wonder) in our kiddie pool and enjoying a local 'spray ground', which is a playground with water everywhere.  

It's All About Games

Cal is just crazy about games these days...playing games and making up games.  Many mornings we wake up and he heads over to the art table to draw a game that we must immediately play with him.  Sometimes it a little tricky to really figure out exactly how the game is played and the rules do seem to shift around a bit. (wink). 

But, he loves a good game and really doesn't mind losing.  We've been enjoying Go Fish and Bingo a lot these days and he can really handle it when he doesn't win though he's pretty excited when he does win.  Below we are playing a fun storytelling game that we got here and is great because everyone can play it.  In general, it's a fun stage for everyone but especially Mama who is already a huge lover of board games.  

Father's Day (a little catch up)

Ah, with the boys getting older it seems to be harder and harder to keep this little blog up to date.  So, this week I'm going to try some catch up.  And, I'm starting with Father's Day. 

We had a great time making a 'special day' for papa starting with a nice breakfast and a dinner outside.  The boys delighted in letting Papa sleep in and helping me make a garland outside. 

The garland was strung on a tree and included pictures of Papa being a Papa and also quotes from the boys about how they feel about Papa, all of which were really adorable including "Kieran is a lucky man we have for a dad." There is more about that project here on mama's crafty website.

The City and Sea Vacation

Ah, vacation!  We are back now but I swear that there is a little sand still stuck in the crevices of the shoes that once walked on the beach.  We did a little city-sea thing splitting time between Washington D.C. and a beautiful little town at the very bottom tip of New Jersey called Cape May.  We had a great time (with one big exception called 'being separated in the D.C. metro', ask me about it sometime and I will give you an earful).  Here is the photographic proof of the whole shebang: