10 AmAzInG "things"

For those of you that don't know me very well. Here's a "Crystal fact": I'm kind of a hot or cold person. I'm learning to have warm and cool, but even as I get older (read: more mature), I find that hot or cold works for me. Black or white. Love or hate. A lot or none at all. Do you get the drift? Some people have called me passionate, some call me rage, but really my favorite word anyone ever called me was "vivacious" - this might sum up the whole of me and I'm ok with that.

In this blog post I have been challenged to show, with pictures (from my iphone, don't mock), the whole wide world, my FAVORITE things and as the month of LOVE wraps up, I think it is most fitting.... so here we go!

My first favorite thing is this:

 My amazing Benjamin. 

This picture perfectly displays why I love him. 

We are in a donut shop, drinking coffee, the sun is pouring in, he is wearing his warm up outfit and he is unashamedly kissing our youngest boy. Does it get any sweeter than this?

Thank you Donut Parade for this forever memory

#2
I LOVE RUNNING
I HATE RUNNING
I LOVE RUNNING
I HATE RUNNING

OMG, it's Em and Mrs. Bee!

 #3

Really, I love Alena because I honestly feel like she loved me first...
I don't know how or why, I simply feel she showed up loving me;
Following me with her eyes and wrapping her tiny little fingers around mine,
we were both, in the same instant perhaps, wrecked by love.
It's a beautiful thing really, mother-daughter relationships. It's fire and ice at it's finest.
For her birthday she asked for fake glasses so she could wear hers when I wear mine (melt...)

Seriously? Adorbs.

#4

We take our kids to the library, on average, once a week.

I so desire for them to love books like I do. 

To spend whole days wrapped up on the couch just to procrastinate a little longer finish a book.

Send me your favorite book titles! I want to read them!

(Mom, honesty moment, I may have faked sick a few days so I could finish Babysitters Club Books)

(ok, not a few, a lot)

5 of my favorites

#5

One thing I have NEVER mentioned on this here blog is that I. Love. Muscles.

See the muscles,  not the cluttered fridge. Mmmmkthanks.

Purposely, number 6 is Hazel. Our cat.
It's a complicated relationship, mine and Hazel's.

Much to my demise, I have to inform my followers (all 6 of you) that I have still been battling mice.

UGH.

I hate mice. 

(See the first paragraph if you have any questions about the word HATE here)

They were found again this month scavenging in my van.
Hazel spent the afternoon in the van.
And even though she found none, she is the picture of a mouse-free world to me. That is all.

She's a hunter at heart, I can see it

#7

Wine
Cabernet Sauvignon
Sing to yourself, "Red, red wiiii-iii-iiiiine." It's ok, just do it.
If, and when, you have four children, you will know why this made it to the top 10.
(Also, please read #6 and then, don't judge)
I am not too proud for two-buck chuck either. Paired with string cheese, it is delicious.

Yes, I'll take the Cab

#8
I adore kids who sleep. Is that bad? Should I want my kids to be awake and looking in my eyes and asking me endless questions and putting sticky fingers all over my fridge and running through mud and then through my kitchen and then begging for a snack and then a drink and then whining about dinner and then throwing a fit and then declaring that they are not tired?? For heaven's sake NO!
I love kids who sleep!!!

New big boy bed! Sleeps in it like a champ!!

 #9
Coffee - does this need an explanation? If it does, please don't follow this blog any more.

ShOuT oUt to KEURIG! For making coffee easy!

Last and certainly not least,
I love, adore, amore (say that with a French accent please),
worship, regard, respect, esteem, appreciate and revere
JESUS.
He turned my life upside down when I least expected it and I certainly did not deserve it.
He truly did unconditionally love me first and He rocked my world with that kind of love.
I was a lonely, sad, angry, fearful, anorexic chump and as His love has changed me..
He has blessed me with a new life and so much more...I could only list 10 things here,
hopefully over time, I will list many, many blessings on this blog...
Amazing Grace.

xoxo - Crystal


For more lists of amazing things my friends love, check out:
Em's Front Porch
Mrs. Bee in the 253

Love Songs

The month of love. February. Hearts. Dates. Kisses and hugs. Love. love. LOVE.

L-O-V-E

love love love


So readers, my dear friends and I are doing a challenge: 3 blog posts a month. First post - Love Song.

The person who thought of this post is a genius. Seriously.

Here's the deal. Ben and I got married at a crazy time in our lives. How do I say this without sounding too weird....we were...what's the word...hmmmmm....zealous.

So.. you know how you have a "First Dance Song" at your wedding? Well ours was "My Redeemer Lives". Ok, I know, it was about Jesus, so it gets some points but it's never been much of a re-live-the-moment-and-dance-in-the-living-room type of song. So we've been spending the last ten years playing Pandora - Love Songs on the Radio. And seeing if we can find one.

Here's some we've tried...for a time... but they didn't stick:

* LeAnn Rimes- How Do I Live
* Boys2Men- I'll Make Love to You
* Peter Cetera- Glory of Love (Theme from the Karate Kid)
* Shania Twain- From This Moment
* The Police - Every Breath You Take
* Zach Brown Band - Whatever It Is

There are many more - But over the years it seems we always return to this one....

I know, before you even see it and read the lyrics; I must be a country girl at heart. I'm proud.


Garth Brooks-  You Move Me
This is how it seems to me
Life is only therapy
Real expensive
And no guarantee
So I lie here on the couch
With my heart hanging out
Frozen solid with fear
Like a rock in the ground
But you move me
You give me courage I didn’t
know I had
You move me on
I can’t go with you
And stay where I am
So you move me on
This is how love was to me
I could look and not see
Going through the emotions
Not knowin’ what they mean
And it scared me so much
That I just wouldn’t budge
I might have stayed there forever
If not for your touch
Oh but you move me
Out of myself and into the fire
You move me
Now I’m burning with love
And with hope and desire
How you move me
You go whistling in the dark
Making light of it
Making light of it
And I follow with my heart
Laughing all the way
Oh ‘cause you move me
You get me dancing and you
make me sing
You move me
Now I’m taking delight
In every little thing
How you move me

I love you Ben Cochran, you move me.

If you want more gushy love stories or at least a funny story about a love song... check out my dear friends links!!

Some Things Never Get Old

Some things never get old...but some things do...

Like going to the dentist, it gets old. It's kind of like, come on already, didn't I JUST get my teeth cleaned? And now I'm getting this little postcard again, with a picture of Hawaii on it, reminding me to schedule ANOTHER appointment. That gets old. HELLO dental clinic, don't put Hawaii on the front of your postcard. Coming to the dentist is NOTHING like Hawaii.

But receiving flowers, that never gets old.  Ben got me flowers on Valentines day. When I couldn't find a vase, I think he made a comment under his breath, something like, "I should get you flowers more often, geez, if you can't even find a vase.." I thought, "Yes, getting flowers never gets old." (On a side note, he often brings me coffee, joy, time by myself...all things that make me not upset that I haven't had flowers in a couple months).

Vacuuming when you have 4 kids. That gets old. This is how it happens in our house. I vacuum at 10am. Ben gets home and after dinner he pulls out the vacuum to bless me because seriously the floors need it...again.

Some movies never get old. Some movie lines never get old. Like A Few Good Men. "You can't handle the truth!" Nemo. "Keep on swimming, keep on swimming." Facing the Giants. -The scene where he makes the kid do the bear crawl across the whole field.- I cry. Every. Single. Time. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Never gets old! RUDY. Ben loves it, never gets old. Barney Goes to the Zoo. Now that one gets old.

People get old. It's SOOOOO hard to think of my kids as little people...but they are, they are people and they are getting older. Alena turns 6 tomorrow and WOW! Seriously she is such a JOY! Ben and I vividly remember her day of birth and telling the story never gets old. She was born around 7am and the sun was coming right through our window at Tacoma General Hospital (which as we all know in February is a rarity). This is how she got the name Alena, it means light. And boy howdy, did we get that one right! She is like a fire. Bright and smart and heart warming. Seriously, she makes snacks for me and brings them to me just becasue she was making one for herself. THAT never gets old. She cleans her room without being asked. Never gets old. She is kind and patient beyond belif with Titus. She remembers stuff when I forget. All of this never gets old! Yet... she does.

One thing that will NEVER, ever get old about Alena is this. She LOVES to sing. For Chrsitmas she got a karaoke machine. She oftens asks, "Can I go sing my heart out?" Always the answer is yes. She sings and sings and sings. Ben made her  CD and it includes the song, 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.' Listening to her sing that never gets old... an old-y but a good-y. She sings 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree', that one gets a little old, not her sweet voice just the Christmas song, when it's not Christmas thing. She sings Amazing Grace, that one doesn't get old. Really though, music doesn't get old. But that's another post for another time... for now I have 2 dozen cupcakes to make.

Good night and Happy Birthday to my generous, loving, bright shining light, Alena.