My Alter Ego

Some friends of ours, Bill and Ingra Norton asked me about 4 years ago if I would help them out with promoting Gilbert Constitution Week by dressing up as Abigail Adams (John Adam's wife) and travel to several schools in Gilbert to teach the fifth grade classes about the constitution.  They needed help because Ingra, the original Abigail, was quite pregnant and couldn't fit in her beautiful blue dress her mother had made.  I couldn't pass up on the chance to play dress-up and teacher at the same time.  I have helped them out almost every year since and it is so much fun.  I usually travel to about 5 different schools, one per week, and give a 30 minute presentation.  I start by asking them to guess who I am and why I am there.  The first guess is almost ALWAYS "Cinderella" or another princess.  Then I tell them I am real and I was born in 1744, and the next guess is either Martha Washington or Betsy Ross.  After a brief chat about me, Abigail, and what my life was like growing up when our nation was young, I talk to them about rules and why they are important.  I ask them where their classroom rules are and what life would be like without rules.  After joking around a bit, they admit they are glad to have rules and then I transition into when we needed laws and rules for our country, known as the constitution.  In my little suitcase I have all sorts of props, a hammer, a candle, an umbrella, a replica key for the door of Independence Hall and more, that help me tell the story of the Continental Congress and the birth of the constitution.  The kids are so great and have so many fun and funny comments when I am teaching.  I also usually go and give a quick 5 minute promotion to the 6th graders.  Another Constitution character, sometimes Betsy Ross or George Washington, will go and give quick promo's to the 1st-4th graders.  On or around Sept. 17, the actual anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, we have our big Constitution fair.  It is the biggest constitution celebration in the whole country!!!  We now call it Constitution Week USA. It's an outdoor event with food, games, activities, booths, free stuff, and great show (always ending in fireworks) Last year we had an amazing performer, Michael Israel, who painted beautiful giant murals with his brushes and hands.  He did this to music as he danced around and spun the painting around, working on it upside down at times.  It was cool to see how this seemingly randomness turned into a great work of art before your eyes.  He ends up totally covered in paint head to toe, some of the audience might too.  His original paintings sell for BIG bucks.  This year the very musically talented family, the Lowe family, is performing for us. They are a big family that has their own show in Branson Missouri where they sing, dance and play all sorts of musical instruments.  They are changing their show and making it unique for our constitution week. Can't wait.  The constitution characters, like me, are all dressed up at the fair and pass out trading cards to the kids.  This has become a much anticipated tradition and I am usually swarmed the whole night.  It's fun to see the kids that I taught who remember me.  Some will even take pictures with me.  You can see why I volunteer year after year!   

Girls Camp 2008

Girls camp this year was amazing!  We stayed (for free) in Show Low at Moylen's Pond.  It was a great old ranch with two big ponds and horses roaming free.  

Tess, Amanda, Penelope, and Mckaylee (Sandy's there too)

had so much fun petting and taking pictures of the horses! 

 

This is only one out of about 200 pictures that they took.  The named most of the horses too.  "Grandpa" was my favorite.

The beginning of day two (Thurs.) we played a bunch of friendship building games.  I LOVE GAMES and some of these were new to me but all of them were fun!  We had a great group that we rotated in; Janell, Tess, Tiffany, Chrystal, Courtney S., Jaimee, Brooke L. and more.

  

In this picture we are playing the "Ha" game where you try not to laugh.  Tess and Tiffany were very good at this one.  Very serious.

This is a great action shot of me running from Janell in a winking version of "duck, duck, goose."  Lots of grass stains after that one.

My favorite game is one where you had a chair for everyone except who was it.  They stand in the middle of the circle and try to snag an empty seat when those in the circle switch places.  Very fun and rowdy!

The two ponds were pretty bid.  Tess, Amanda and Kira are making their way around the bigger pond.  It was the only one we swam or canoed in.

Charlie (short for Charlotte) the dog has been at the last two girls camps and is so fun to play with.  She is a champion dock jumer and is loving swimming with Tess in the pond.

This is Tess's group during the Treasure Hunt.  They are at my station about the Holy Ghost.  They had to direct a blindfolded team member to puzzle pieces around the pond and try not to lead them into the water.  Bro. Robinson stayed right behind them and saved them from getting wet.  

Here they are putting the puzzle together before the run off to complete their next challenge.

These crazy swings were one of the best parts of girls camp.  Someone was always swinging and falling into the water on occasion.  There was another set that was on dry land.  You could really get flying on these if you had someone who could push you hard enough!  Other great memories were the Hike- me losing my camera (memorable but not great) HOT POCKETS, creatures that swam in the pond at night called the "La jo la" or something, tricking Brittany into drinking pickle juice, getting pickles put in my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, teaching songs (Titanic) around the campfire, running to Sonic and Wal-mart for certain "needs"  and much much more!

Chloe's Photography

Chloe loves to take pictures with our camera and here is a sampling of my little artist's work.

Good Dogs

I don't know if there are two dogs on Earth 

who are loved more than Jake and Nellie-

 at least not photographed more!

They must know how beautiful they are.

Jake and Nellie Posing in June of 2005, about one and a half years old

Bad Dog Nellie!

Nell-bell wearing Rustin's tie

She is squinting!  I love this little girl.

Jake is such a lazy bum, I don't know how he stays so skinny!

They are four years old now and are a big part of the family.  They get so excited when Russ gets home from work and the kids get home from school, it's great. What a life.

Shaq Attack!

Look who came to visit?  Yes, that is Shaquille O'neal at our church car wash!

Tess, Chloe and I (I'm 2nd from right, chloe is wearing a black shirt and Tess is right behind her to the left) were at the church washing cars and raising money for girls camp when this black car pulls up with flashing red and blue lights that are inside the very black tinted windows.  A few girls walked up to the car when it slowed and the window rolled down.  The man inside was wearing a black t-shirt that said "Police" on it.  He gave Cortney $200 and said he didn't need his car washed, just wanted to make a donation.  She walks back to us a little stunned and says "That policeman looks just like Shaquille O'neal"  Then it dawns on us that it is Shaquille O'neal. Meanwhile he had pulled to the back of the parking lot and was turning around and coming toward us.  I walked up to his window with some more girls and shook his hand and said thanks!  The girls asked if we could take a picture with him, he said sure!  Then after smiling, shaking hands and making us all feel special, he hopped in his car a drove away!  We started screaming and yelling, "Oh my gosh, we just met Shaq!!"  Thanks for donating to girls camp big guy!

Yeah, Fireworks are Legal!

We Crawfords love FIREWORKS and when you get a bunch of Crawfords together in Washington where they are actually legal, you get a whole lot of bang for a whole lot of bucks!

Liv in love with the crazy one she picked out!

Uncle Jim teaching the kids how to light them without blowing their fingers off.

Russ looking proudly over a small fraction of his stash.

Things are getting a little smokey for Sophie, Rustin and Jim.

Tess and McKenna getting into the action too. After all, they are the oldest Crawford grandkids!

Volleyball Crawford Style

Our summer vacation this year was to visit the "Washington Crawfords" and the Straights.  It was a fun and jam-packed trip. One of the best parts was our volleyball extravaganza.  After buying mucho fireworks on the 4th of July we had to kill some time until nightfall.  It was the perfect time and place to try out our rusty volleyball skills.  We played for hours and it soon became clear whose skills were most corroded.  Names will not be mentioned because I might be one of them!!

Russ's skills and reaction times were impressive (for someone in their forties!) Notice how beautiful the Jim and Marisa's back yard is in these pictures.  

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching the kids get into it.  Rustin would have played all day.  He practically did. We had fun just practicing setting it over the net, back-and-forth, until our necks and fingers ached.  Let's not forget Grandpa Crawford who played so hard that he could barely walk the next day his knees hurt so bad!

Chloe even hung in there for quite a while considering how skinny those little forearms and fingers are!

All 6 feet 4 inches of P.J.'s stature was greatly needed at the net.  Here he takes on Jim, an awesome player, in an epic battle.

Poor Marisa takes one for the team!  

It wouldn't have been the same without Jami, the little sis, "practicing" her serve and making us laugh our heads off!

What would a game be without an audience? We had a great one.  Grandma giving lots of love to little tired Riley while keeping score.

Me making faces at Tess who was our awesome photographer for all these pictures and more!

Chloe Crawford

     chloe's  memories

   When we were in washington, we went on a hike to puget sound. At first there was a little trail that went to this one place with all these crabs. There were really big crabs, medium sized crabs, and small crabs. I wouldn't dare touch any crabs unless they were less than one inch big.

   After we were done with the crabs we went on this path of huge rocks. They were hard to find your footing on. We had our camera with us and everything was  so beautiful I had to take a picture of everything. And duh I took like twenty pictures of me! This is one of my faves but all of them were cute. I scrapbooked this one and put it here. I hope you like it.

The Eagle has Landed

What parts of motherhood do women dread the most? Childbirth? Potty-training? Eagle projects? Well I am happy to say, I am done with all of them! 

On June 25, 2008 Rustin finished his eagle project!  A big thanks to my hard working son and highly motivational husband (and the fact that I only have one son).  

Rustin wanted to do a project for the Riparian Preserve near our home and that's just what he did. Scott Anderson asked Rustin to make benches inside an archeological dig site where they hold classes and dig for artifacts etc. Naturally, it was harder than we thought and we had to buy some last minute supplies (giant cardboard tubes to hold the cement). We couldn't have done it without the scouts and their leaders, family and friends. A big thanks to Russ's parents who eliminated the need for any fundraising :)  

Not only are the benches made and installed, but Rustin has written everything up and turned it all in! He is working on his last merit badge and then he is an eagle scout! Phew!

What would we do without an awesome dad, good friends (Bro. Barrett and Bro. Blaser) and big augers?! 

Box City, AZ

Check this out Sheriff Joe... Box City! 

 I have always loved making forts as a kid and remember when Dad would bring home huge computer boxes from  work and we would play with them for days.  Sometimes they were forts and sometimes they were torture chambers.  We would fill them with leaves and then climb down in while someone else shook us up like Shake-n-bake chicken!  I started swiping couch and refrigerator boxes from unsuspecting furniture companies when my kids were little and now it's become our summer tradition.  This year I crammed 8 huge refrigerator boxes into Russ's truck and 6 of them were used for the city.  Two each for Rustin, Chloe and Olivia. 

 As soon as the kid's staked their claims in the living room we started cutting windows and doors.  Then the fun of filling them with sleeping bags, blankets, bean bags, pillows, DVD players, karaoke machines, lamps, and of course- stuffed animals galore!

  They slept in them every night for almost a month. I'm not sure how they fit in there with all their stuff.  This year they decided to make them into little businesses.  We had a radio station where you could make song requests and "shout-outs" and a newspaper that really published a periodical called "Crawford's Daily."  Rustin mostly watched "The Office" in his and it was much less cluttered, except he kept cutting up the walls to make swords and daggers, then just shredded the walls because it was fun and looked scary.

After about a month I usually start going crazy with the house being taken over by cardboard and stuffed animals so we demolish the city.  As soon as the room is clean, Olivia starts asking how soon it will be until we get the boxes again!  Give me a few months at least!

The Great Boat Regatta

Every summer we make a city out of big refrigerator boxes but this year Tess wanted to make hers into a boat instead and have a boat regatta (race) like they did in jr high, so we gave it a shot. About 6 rolls of duct tape and a few hours later Team Tessivia (Tess and Olivia) and Team Rustoe (Rustin and Chloe) were ready to battle.  The contest had two parts, who could get from one side of the pool to the other the fastest and whose boat stayed afloat the longest.  Rustoe's boat was the first to the other side of the pool, thanks to sleek design and good rowing, but Tessivia's boat lasted almost 25 minutes longer, 65 minutes total! She might have had superior duct taping skills and was definitely good at not rocking her perishable boat.  It was fun watching them slowly soak through, bubble and then finally sink. Enjoy the pictures and look for pictures of our "Box City" in a posting soon.

The upside of peer pressure

Sometimes giving in to peer pressure can be a good thing.  Today while my friends and I were washing windows at Janell's house (she's moving to Tennessee tomorrow-boo hoo) we started talking about keeping in touch with each other and they were all like... "Read my blog...Do you have a blog?... You should totally make your own blog... It's sooo easy."  Okay, okay, I give in and here I am.  Since my scrapbooking- digital and otherwise- has been severely lacking, I figured it really is time for me to try some new-age record keeping, plus I love reading my little sister, Katie's blog. With kids in high school, junior high and grade school it is bound to be a crazy year, it would be a shame not to share.  I hope you will enjoy keeping in touch with us as I chronicle the Crawfords. Please leave comments and link us to your family blogs so we can keep in touch with you too. Here we go...