Weekend Warriors

Last weekend was a busy one. Mary drove 13 hours each way to Carlsbad NM to attend her high school best friend Nicole's wedding. She picked up her mom along the way and they had a good time catching up, listening to books on cd and eating a TON of junk food. Raegan spent the night with her Grandma Suzan, whom she loves so much, in fact she told Mary "I don't think I'm going to miss you, I'll be staying with Grandma Suzan, I'll just be way too busy to think about it." And, Zach and Mike went to Scout Day Camp at the Werley Mines in Nelson Nevada. Here are some pictures of them working on Zach's Webelos activities. Zachary invited is good friend Christian along, who was stoked because he will be able to pass off these things too. Oh and kudos to Mike for coming in first place (by one second) in our ward on the obstacle course.

Well Traveled

One of the many blessings we have in regards to our kids is that they travel well. In part due to technology, we have a portable dvd player we use exclusively for road trips, in an effort to keep the experience a novelty. Here is Zach with his Nintendo DS, we didn't hear a single "Are we there yet? while he was plugged in.
Raegan is always prepared when she travels, pillow, blanket, stuffed animal and a hat to cover her face. We were traveling to Disneyland and she was adamant about trying to rest up so she had energy the following day at the park. We are maybe 20 miles out of Vegas at this point. :-)

Habitat Happenings

Raegan had to do a report on seals for school. Here is an impressive habitat she made to go along with her report. She made the seals from salt dough. I made one seal and she made the rest. it was her idea to make them look like they were swimming in the water. Rae is such a talent and really knows how to use her imagination and make it happen.
Although, I have to admit I did shoot down the walkie talkie idea when she told me she needed a car battery, two cell phones and cable wire! When I told her I couldnt afford these things and she would have to invent something with what we had, she was so disapointed she hung her drawn out plans on the wall with a big X through them and a picture of herself being sad saying "TOO BAD, NO WALKIE TALKIES!" I shouldve taken a picture.

Newsies "Read all about it!"

One of Mike's pleasures in life is reading the newspaper. Well he has managed to pass it on to the kids. And its a good thing!

Rae loves the funnies of course and Zach , the sports page "What else!"

Recital Reminiscing

Back in December Zachary and Raegan had their first piano recital. Raegan was the first student to play as she was the newest and youngest. She played "Jingle Bells" which was beyond her level and "Old Mac Donald" (which she played 4 times in a row, she said there are more than one animal on a farm so she couldnt just play it one time through)

Zachary had been taking lessons for about 9 months. He really is a natural. His teacher Brittany (a shy young lady from our ward) says he has amazing fluidity for his age. Zach played "Ode to Joy" and "The Indian Song". His fingers do impress me, he can even type correctly. Did I mention I failed typewriting in high school..

This whole piano thing started a few years back when we were visiting Grandpa Teddy and Grandma Kathy. They had a beautiful old (Im talking 100 years old) piano that Zach couldnt keep his hands off, not to mention a guitar. They said if Zach ever wanted to learn he could have the piano. Well he really really wants to learn to play the guitar, but the piano comes easy to him. Mary has sought advice from the many musicians she works with about how old Zach should be before learning the guitar. The advice is the same time and time again, "Have him learn the piano first!" Grandpa Teddy delived the piano to Zachary about a year ago. So Grandma Kathy and Aunt Frannie came to the piano recital, it was very small and quaint, but we were so happy to have them with us, since they were an instrument in the whole piano thing.

Ballet days

Raegan is taking ballet this year. Mom decided she needed to work on her form. This is taken on parents observation day. She came home last week upset because her ballet teacher cracked down on the class, the recital is only 6 weeks away. I explained to her that is normal. Quite frankly I thought her ballet teacher was way too leinient on parents day. My ballet teacher was a bear...

At home with the Crabtrees

I just uploaded months of pictures off my camera. So, I figured i would play catch up here. Here we have Miss Rae donning her domestic garb. I asked her to help me clean up the kitchen and she replied, "Sure, I'll get ready!" And boy did she. She looks like Poor Cinderella to me here, the singing really added to the moment.Zachary and Mike have bonded over football. Here they are resuming their game watching positions, and not real happy about who is winning.. Zach is particularly invested in the game. I call this image "Football Blues".