Good bye 2007....Hello 2008

It's been another wonderful year ~ being able to spend more time with all the little ones in my life...those close to home (Gabriela, Isabela, Maya & Samantha) and those we wish lived closer (Cierra & Bobby). We had 3 different Christmas celebrations this year ~ a first for the Crews clan ~ so I need to download all the pics and organize to add to the blog. (pics to be posted later)

I remain so thankful that I have been blessed with wonderful siblings, who allow me to share sweet time with their little ones and build deeper, love-filled relationships with each one of them. It has been a true joy to be a part of their every-day lives again this year, and I look forward to many more stories, moments, pictures, videos, laughter, besos and hugs in the new year to come. To Cierra, Bobby, Gabriela, Isabela, Maya & Samantha...I love each and every one of you, just for you who are. Thank you for loving me and Uncle. We love you soooooo much!

Happy New Year everybody! Don't forget to check back often...as I'm sure 2008 will bring many more postings to the blog :)

5 years old and already a cookie critic

A conversation with Isabela

Silly Maya and her cookies

Merry Christmas from Maya!

Merry Christmas from Isabela!

Merry Christmas from Gabriela!

This weekend with the girls....

3 girls and a pizza place....the girls love to watch the guys at Double Dave's throw the pizza.

Enjoying candy canes picked from our tree

Silly girls "working-in" all the stuffed animals in our nursery (not sure if you can see it or not...but all the girls are in the PJ's, red rain boots, wind breakers and un-brushed hair! Gotta love it :)


Merry Christmas from Uncle, CC, Gabriela, Isabela & Maya!

Isabela, Gabriela & Maya with Uncle

Maya, Gabriela & Isabela with CC

We all made our own Christmas cookies....according to Gabriela, they were the best cookies she's ever had! Yummy!

A must....after all the cookies!

Look, CC ~ all clean!

Yet another weekend filled with lifelong memories. CC loves you soooo much!

In case you ever wondered.....

if we really had a bragging spot in our house or not.......

I'm tired....

I'm back from watching the girls this weekend and boy am I tired. We had plenty of fun and I took lots of pictures....but....I am too tired to blog the stories or post the pics. So, I will have to do that tomorrow.



It's now time to enjoy a few hours of resting in my comfy bed with my hubby and pup, watching all the hours of TV I have recorded on my DVR, before starting another busy week at work.

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving weekend....my days off from work seemed to have flown by WAY too quickly.

Weekend with the girls

I'm just about ready to walk out the door to go over to the girls' house for the rest of the weekend. Ash & Ed are off to a wedding out of town, so CC & Uncle are watching them this weekend. We already have an agenda planned (thanks to Uncle & Gabriela) that includes: Christmas crafts, Christmas cookies, a Gingerbread House, movies and lots of laughter. It's going to be an inside day, as I have no desire to take 3 little ones out in the freezing rain today, much to their dismay!

Check back in a day or so to see pics and read the stories of what I'm sure is to be another memorable time.

By the way, I'm totally exhausted from all the Thanksgiving festivities, Christmas decorating and shopping yesterday.....my mom told me ~ ahhhhh....well, get used to it! I guess this weekend will prove just that.

Love to you all!

Gymnastic shots.....

Here are a few shots that I took of the girls last week ~ hanging out after their gymnastics' class.

Highlights of the Target disaster

A few weekends ago, while watching the girls, we treked out to Target. Needless to say, it was NOT an enjoyable experience (most of them are). In lieu of the long-drawn out re-inactment of the evening, I just thought I'd share some highlights....

1. Mistake # 1....allowing the girls to convince me to use the "fun" kid cart....you know the one I'm talking about....the one that looks like a car (or some other addition). Now, some of you might think ~ well, what's so wrong with that? Three kids....two seats....do the math!

2. Mistake # 2....actually believing the girls could rotate the seats nicely and not cause a fuss.

3. "Oh, look at that....3 little girls...how cute" Yeah! Real cute....NOT right now, they're not. You obviously haven't seen me giving the stern looks and repeatedly saying "no", "stop", "sit down", "be quiet", "hold it", "one more time", "Gabriela", "Isabela", "Maya", "we're out of here"......

4. Gabriela throwing a temper tantrum because I didn't let her take everything out of the cart and place it on the checkout belt.

5. All girls buckled up in the carseats and the van running but not moving. 1....2....3....4....5....6....7....8.....9.....10. Breathe, CC...breathe.

6. "Girls - I want you to sit still, do not move, do not make a sound...not one peep.....all the way home. Otherwise you will go straight to bed. Not one word. Sit there and be thinking about how you acted in Target.

7. Ahhhh....silence IS golden! I'm actually in shock that they are so quiet....they are still with me, right?! Check.....

8. Three girls file out of the car and sit on the couch. Isabela, then Gabriela, then Maya.

Conversation on the couch:

CC: Now, girls ~ What were you thinking about in the car? What do you want to say to CC?
~ silence ~ then I see a little hand raised.

CC: Yes, Isabela (I'm trying very hard not to laugh) What were you thinking about on the way home?

Isabela: "Well, CC, I was thinking.....I was thinking that I better be thinking of something!"

~ go ahead and laugh...that's what I did. I couldn't help it! It was just so darn cute.

CC: "Ok, Isabela, but what were you thinking about?"
Isabela: "Me no listen"
Gabriela chimes in: " That's right girls. We did NOT listen to CC. We were not acting right in Target and we know that we are supposed to listen to CC. CC likes to take us with her but if we keep acting like that, she will just stop. Isn't that right, CC?"
CC: "yes, that's right"
Isabela raises her hand again and once called upon says: "Me love you whole bunches, CC"
ooooohhhh man......
CC: "I love you too, Isabela"

After 3 apologies, 3 hugs and 3 I love yous.....all was right with the world again.

Now, I only share this story b/c I love those 3 little ones. Most times, I share all the good/positive stories, and for the most part they are. However, in all fairness to my sister, she of all people would love you to know that her 3 little angels are not perfect....and as much as we love them, they are challenging at times. While I am not a mother (yet!), I've had the privilege of being a big part of Gabriela, Isabela & Maya's lives. They have been my surrogate kiddos and have taught me so much about love , patience, and forgiveness. I am blessed to have such sweet and unconditional love from three beauties....and I sure do treasure the hugs, besos and "I love you's".

Gabriela's 1st Tooth

Gabriela has been "playing" with that loose tooth for weeks now. It finally came out!

I just couldn't resist posting these.....priceless!

Friday night with the girls

I watched the girls on Friday night....silly, crazy girls. We had fun ~ proof below :)

3 Super Girls....Halloween 2007

The Butterfly.....Halloween 2007

Halloween 2007.....

Pictures of the 3 Super Girls and 1 cute butterfly to be posted shortly. Come back soon & see the beauties in all their glory :)

Look at these faces.....

......if you owned a Chick-Fil-A, wouldn't you want these as your mascots?!?!

Another day at Gymnastics

Isabela wasn't feeling well on Saturday, so I took Gabriela & Maya to their gymnastics class. They're really enjoying their classes, love Coach Megan and love that CC was there to watch them.

Gabriela showing off some of her new moves.....

and Maya too.....

Me & the girls....

Mrs. Potato Head

Nana found the neatest things at Target this year....Mrs. Potato Head Pumpkin Kits! Soooo much easier than carving, right?! WRONG! It's a good thing we had 4 adults for 4 children's pumpkins! Man, was it tough to get those pieces into the pumpkin!

We handed out the pumpkin kits and without even thinking about it, this is who each girl got.....

Gabriela ~ Princess Potato Head

Isabela ~ Angel Potato Head

Maya ~ Diva Potato Head

(Samantha also had an angel potato head but she's wasn't much into getting her picture taken this day.)

Rather fitting...don't you think?!

Pumpkin Patch 2007

Just me and Maya

It was finally Maya's turn to go shopping with CC. I watched her gymnastics class and when finished, we wisked off on the great adventure.

First stop....TARGET. And what do you think her first request was? Classic Salazar child: ICEE and POPCORN! And classic CC response....of course :)

After a run through Target, Maya tagged along through Ulta 3, where thankfully the polish bottle that broke and spilled all over the floor was NOT caused by my darling niece. We then went to Bath & Body Works, where Maya was the officially tester of the scents. Where "yucky" was her common response. She did like the Cinnamon Stick oil fragrance, so I went with that one. Next stop...Wobby Wobby (aka Hobby Lobby), where Maya kept saying....is this glass, CC? Is that glass? Is THAT glass? Interpretation.....I know not to touch but was just curious anyway. She was engrossed in all the Christmas lights, ornaments and especially the trees. She even requested one for her room. Sadly enough, I don't believe that a 7 foot tree will fit in the girls' room.

Our final stop....Chick-a-Lafe ~ and don't say, Chick-Fil-A or you will be quickly corrected by Isabela & Maya :) We ate our small chicken nuggets (Maya eats the small nuggets, Isabela & Gabriela will only eat the big strips), had a few fries and enjoyed the "memonaid". Then away she went to the wonderful world of sliding. This time was different. Maya came back quickly saying that the boys inside were being mean, not letting any of the kids slide down the slide and were yelling at her. She was quite upset. So, I did what any aunt would do......I went in there to beat up those boys (well, not really) but I did go in and ask them to leave or play nice. These boys were probably 11 years old and honestly had no business being in there with other 3, 4, and 5 year old kids. I have no idea of where their parents were either....shocker! The boys just looked at me in disbelief and continued on their way of terrorizing the kids in the play area. I told Maya to try again, and she did; and back she was saying "I give up, CC. They're just too mean."

We shared some icecream and chatted a bit. After about 10 minutes, Maya proclaimed...."I think I'm going to give it another try, CC." Another try she did and to both of our liking, those 2 boys were gone.....and squeals of laughter were ringing through the play area again.

All in all, it was a great but somewhat tiring day. Maya is a sweetie and I look forward to many more shopping sprees together.

1st day of gymnastics

I went to see Isabela & Maya's first gymnastics class. Unfortunately, my camera's batteries died....but not before I was able to get at least one snapshot! And a good one at that :)

The girls have PLENTY of energy to burn and Coach Megan has lots of patience!

Gabriela is also taking gymnastics, but I will have to add pictures of her next time (when the batteries are fully charged)

Update on Isabela

Here's an update from my sister, Ashley on Isabela ~ thanks for your continued prayers!
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Thanks to all of you who have asked and prayed! Just wanted to let you know about Isabela's appointment today. Dr. Cleary said that Isabela looked great! Although it is not typical for ones with PFAPA to stop for such a long time with fever episodes, he still feels confident with his diagnosis. He said since nothing else has changed and she's not showing any other signs or symptoms he really doesn't feel that we need to explore other things. We talked about long term affects and some odd characteristics of PFAPA and he was great to explain a little more about it, so we feel more knowledgeable about it. So overall, his news was good. We did discuss our 3 options...1)continue to treat with motrin and hope that this too will phase out, 2)we can start the steroids, which isn't something he recommended because of long term effects of steroid usage or 3)remove her tonsils. As odd as this may sound, there have been studies that have proven that removing childrens' tonsils out "cures" PFAPA. He said there is no explanation for this, but in studies it has proven to be 100% effective. This is strange because PFAPA has nothing to do with tonsils, but for whatever reason works. So, after discussing these with him, we have decided to wait it out for a little bit. Maybe the next few months will tell us more. If her fever episodes persist, than we'll probably go forward with removing her tonsils. So, continue to pray for Isabela, and for me. Although this is not fun for her, it is so draining for me. Of course you always worry about your little ones and never want to see them sick! We'll keep you updated as the next few months hopefully will tell us more. Ashley

Maya & Isabela's 1st day of school

Maya & Isabela are now in preschool two days a week. This is the first time that they've really been separated, as they are in different classes. They both seem to be enjoying it (and I believe Ashley is enjoying having a few moments to herself as well!) Here are a few snapshots of their first day of school.....

Pray for Isabela

Many of you know that Isabela suffered recurrent high fevers that would occur at regular intervals for no apparent reason. As one doctor predicted, these fevers did come to a halt, and she was fever free for an entire year! But they have returned, coming at regular intervals as before. Baffling and worrisome. She will see the infectious disease doctor here Oct. 11. Pray for wisdom, insight, and most all, healing for her. At three years old, this is a lot for a little one to bear. She sure is a cutie-pie!

Another Sam's encounter

In the past month or so, every time I go to Sam's, I run into Ashley and the girls. Kinda funny really. Sunday's visit was no different.

As I was going down the middle aisle, heading towards the checkout, I hear "CC! CC!" Sure enough, Ash & Ed were there with the girls. Gabriela came running up to me, while Isabela & Maya were in the cart. I was greeted with big smiling faces and questions like "What are you doing here? What are you buying? When did you get here? Did you know I was going to be here? Can I go home with you?" I think you get the picture.

However, here's a little conversation I had with Gabriela:

G: "CC, I was looking down the store and I thought I saw you, but then I said to myself, no, that's not CC. Then I look up again and there you were again and I said to myself, yes, that is CC!"

CC: "Well, I'm glad that you saw me."
G: "CC, remember the last time we came to Sams we saw you then too?"
CC: "Yes, I remember"
G: "And you know what, CC? I'm pretty sure you were wearing the same outfit that day too!"
CC: laughingly...."Well you're probably right....aren't you lucky to have seen me wear this twice!?"

A little while later, we went our separate ways but ended up standing next to each other in line.

G: "CC, look at my new lipstick. I just bought it at Walmart."
CC: "Wow, that's really pretty. I was just at Walmart too!"
G: "What? You were at Walmart too? Whoa.... You know what, CC? I think we might be following you on accident!"

These are the types of accidents I don't mind having :)

Just me and Isabela

Today was a first....it was just me and Isabela. I have been promising the girls for a while now that we'd start to take turns on who gets to go shopping with CC. Gabriela has had more than her share of shopping trips, and assumes that she will join me on all my trips, including today. Now that Isabela & Maya can sit in the booster seat, it's much easier to take one of them with me. Today was Isabela's turn. She was soooo excited. She got all dressed up and her hair in the cutest pigtails, all ready to go when I got there. Maya was quick to say "Me go next time myself with you, CC?" Interpretation: Yes, Maya, you will go with me next time, all by yourself. She was happy and on her way. Gabriela, on the other hand, was not. A slight meltdown occurred when I actually left with just Isabela in the car. When I later dropped Isabela off, Gabriela said, so, after you take Maya next time, it will be my turn, right? Yes, Gabriela, after Maya, you'll go next. OK, CC...so when are you taking Maya? Ahhhh...the timing begins :)

Isabela and I had such a wonderful time together. We trekked off to IKEA (about 25 minute drive) and we talked the entire way there. It's amazing what a 3 year old can bring up in conversation ~ anything from her new school and teachers, to what she had for dinner last night, to singing her ABCs, to making animal sounds, to reciting each person's name in the family, to requesting music on the radio. It brought back memories of my car ride conversations with Gabriela a few years back.

"CC, can you put in Rassal Fatts?" (for those of you who don't know what she's referring to.....it's Rascal Flatts) and away we went to singing the songs together.

Isabela was just fascinated with IKEA. She wanted to sit in every room and try out every couch, chair, etc. She thought every room was just "sooooo pretty". She was quite the trooper; not one complaint. She stood by me the entire time, held my hand, looked and didn't touch and did all of that on her own, without being told. (what a concept!)

Isabela has such a sweet, tender heart. She is such a lover. I lost count of how many times she looked at me and said, "CC, I love you so much." And when I would tell her "I love you, too, Isabela." she would respond, "thank you."

Thank you, Isabela for loving CC so much and for spending the day with me. It'll be your turn again soon.

CC ~ the brave one :)

Yes, I braved it today.....I took Gabriela, Isabela & Maya to The Potter's Wheel to paint their own pottery today. Gabriela and I did this a few weeks back and we needed to pick up her finished pony and cross that she painted. She had such a great time and I knew that Isabela & Maya would like it too....so.....I decided to brave it up, take the plunge and enjoy the adventure.

There were a few rules discussed before entering The Potter's Wheel:

1. You must sit in your chair at all times.
2. You cannot touch anything in the store (ceramic and plaster everywhere!!)
3. You can only paint one item.
4. You can only put paint on your item.
5. You cannot put paint on anything else. You cannot paint your face. You cannot paint your hands. You cannot paint your clothes. You cannot paint on anyone else's piece of pottery.
6. You cannot touch anyone else's paint.
7. Repeat at least two times :)

I gave the girls a few options of what they could choose to paint. Gabriela chose a sugar bowl from a tea set so that she could put some of her jewelry in it. Isabela chose a cute blowfish and Maya chose a daisy flower.

They all chose to paint in their favorite colors of pink, purple, yellow and blue.

Maya was so concerned about the painting rules ~ and she should've been, since she's the one who always likes to paint everything but what she should be painting! She's a free spirit for sure. Every now and then, Maya would say ~ "CC, I'm doing really good over here....I listened." Indeed!

The bribery worked and the reward for good behavior was a trip to Chick Fil A for lunch. Just a few snapshots of 2 very sweet but silly girls...

Yet another fun filled day with the girls; yet another wonderful memory made.