Who Needs Cable?

G1 came up with a new game a couple nights ago. It was very entertaining to watch! G1 likes bumping down the hill and G2 likes crashing into the woods at the edge of our backyard. Good times!

G1's Recital Video Part Two

G1's Recital Video Part One

Here's a video of G1's dance to the song "Come to Jesus." It was very sweet - many of the ladies around me were wiping tears (including this lady). It's not the best quality video. We actually taped the dress rehearsal with our video camera but G1 had a bit of meltdown before it was her turn to go on stage so needless to say, her heart wasn't really in it. And we weren't supposed to video during the actual performance but I was able to obtain this bootleg copy :o)

G1's Dance Recital

These are a few of my favorite pics from G1's dance recital last weekend. She took ballet this year with a dance company called Leap of Faith. They not only teach the kids to dance, but more importantly they teach them how to worship Jesus through their dancing. Very awesome! G1 sings and dances to worship music around our living room on a daily basis so it has been great for her (and me because I love to watch her - when she doesn't know it or she'll stop!) I will try to post a video of her dancing. So far I haven't been able to get it to upload.


Dad brought her flowers after the performance - very sweet!



Gotta love the twirly skirt!

Mother's Day

Can anyone help me get my kids to just smile normally for a photo? There dad has definitely influenced them in that department! Notice the snazzy red porch swing Curt made me for my birthday (and the funky pillows were a gift from Stacy). I've wanted a porch swing for a long time so I was very excited!

April Showers Bring Birthday Flowers

Rainy days are definitely more fun with these umbrellas! And the beautiful flowers were a birthday gift from Erin - which brightened up my rainy birthday. Thanks, Erin!

Car Wash Mania

G2 is very into car washes these days. He asks me to pull into gas stations that have car washes so we can sit and watch the cars go through. It was quite a find when we spotted this toy for all his little cars. He kept saying "thank you" to me over and over after we bought it. He also finds creative ways to make them - like the fringe from Beppe's throw.

MEGA Blog

Well, it is time again for our bi-monthly blog update. Here are a few of the highlights from the past couple months. The first photo was taken on a trip to Pake and Beppe's house for G1's spring break from school. They couldn't wait to mess up Pake's hair!

Beppe made a visit to our house for Grandparent's Day at G1's school. G1 is a VERY competitive Sorry player and she even got Beppe (who normally wants nothing to do with games) to play with her!

Picnic in the Park (sort of)

We are very ready here at the Cranium house for winter to be over and spring to arrive. G1, G2 and I tried to bring some spring inside the other day and have a picnic in the living room. They thought it was great and asked to do it again the next day.

G2's New "Crib"

I have had fun over the last few months painting some of the rooms in our new home. Most of the walls were white when we moved in so I have my work cut out for me. But I enjoy doing it so it doesn't feel like work to me. The latest room we did was G2's. He really likes it. Not only does he have a newly decorated "crib" but we also took the side off his other crib and made it into a toddler bed. He thinks it's very cool that he can climb in and out of it all by himself.

The Great Frog Experiment

G1 and G2 received a very fun Valentine's package from cousin T. One of the things inside was a plastic frog that when placed in water would grow up to 3 times its' original size. So we put him in a bucket in the kitchen and watched him grow over the next few days. G1 and G2 would check it first thing each morning to see what had happened during the night. We have since taken green frog out and he has shrunk back to his original size. Cool!

Curt's New Girlfriend

This past Thursday was a very exciting day in the Cranium house - our new boat arrived all the way from Nevada! This is something Curt has been dreaming about since he was in college. We joke that the boat's name should be called "New Girlfriend" because we know Curt will be spending as much time with it as he can. But really we are very much looking forward to all the fun family memories that will be created on it. (As a side note, I did spend my Valentine's Day afternoon scrubbing boat seat cushions :0) G1 and G2 had fun playing in it while we worked. How many days until summer?!!!!

Goofy Glasses!

Here is a couple shots of G1 and G2 wearing some funny spectacles. One shot was taken during the Super Bowl. The other is from last week when G1 celebrated her 100th day of Kindergarten at school.

Puddle Time

This past weekend, the weather finally warmed up and we were able to get outside. G1 had fun helping Dad wash all the muck of the cars and G2 had a great time splashing in the puddles they made.

Cool Dude!

This past Sunday, I was getting G2 dressed for church and we tried on some "new to us" clothes we got from cousin T. We are thankful to have a boy cousin that is year older than G2, especially one with such a cool wardrobe that we refer to as the "T Clothing Line." Anyways, when I put this on G2 he said, "OOOO, dis is coooool!" Thanks, T, for sharing your clothes with us.

Winter Fun

I can't believe it's been almost a month already since Christmas. We had a great time in Chicago with everyone and made lots of fun memories. Since then, we've been enjoying some good winter weather. We bundled up one evening and headed to the Columbus Zoo to check out the cool light display. G1 and G2 commented many times on how much their cousin T would have liked all the lights! We actually got a good amount of snow for Ohio so we romped around in it as much as we could. And then it was fun to come inside and warm up by the fire. G1 and G2 got new sleeping bags for Christmas from Pake and Beppe and have had a great time pretending to camp out in our living room. Isn't winter great?!