Lily

Can't believe our sweet girl is going to be in Kindergarten next year!! Here is her preschool picture from this year. She's the best girl ever. If we could duplicate her, we'd have 1,000 more kids! ;)

8 Is Great!

Brent was baptized two weeks ago. It was a special day. We love this boy so much. He is wise beyond his 8 years!! He is so kind, loving, and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. I can't wait to see what he becomes!

 

Updates

Here are just some random pictures from the past month or so! We've had a really warm February and went to the beach last week over the Presidents Day Weekend. Sitting at the beach in February makes me thankful to live where we live! Kendall was a maniac and I spent the entire time chasing her- she ran STRAIGHT into the ocean and could care less that the water was freezing. She would scream and get mad when I would pull her out of the water and I'd haul her off to our beach chairs. She'd stay there for a few seconds only to take off RUNNING back towards the water again. Her new favorite word (and one of her only words) is "doggie". Any animal is a doggie. When she wasn't running into the ocean, she was yelling "DOGGIE!!!" at all the seagulls. She's so darn cute

Speaking of Kendall, here's a few more pictures just because she's the current family favorite..

This was an old outfit of mine that my Mom gave me. She held on to it for 30 years and it was fun to dress Kendall in it!

My neighbor, who is a photographer, snapped this of Kendall. I love it!

Sophie started gymnastics a month ago and is really loving it. It's fun to see her love something so much. Her coach has approached us about wanting her to be on the competitive team.. not sure yet what we think about that so for now, we're just letting her have fun.

Brent recently won the 2nd grade math challenge. Basically a few kids are selected from each class and they all go up against the kids from the other 2nd grade classes. It's the math version of a spelling bee; he was so excited and came home saying, "Mom- it's so weird! The answers just come into my head like this (as he snaps his fingers). It's like I hear the question and then BOOM! There is is." He's such a fun guy. He's excited to get baptized in a few months.. can't believe I'll almost have an 8 year old. He loves to come home and give me a play by play of everything Sophie does on the playground at school, which often involves her chasing around his friends which drives him crazy. He needs to get used to it.. I have a feeling she'll be chasing after his friends for years to come. That's what happens when your little sister is only 15 months younger!

Lily is just being cute and sweet as usual. She loves preschool and we love her laid back, happy personality. She truly always just goes with the flow. We think we will put her in kinder next year (as opposed to keeping her back an extra year) and I can't imagine her tiny body with a backpack on. It'll be the same size she is.

It randomly snowed in southern California last month. It was the craziest thing ever!! Of course it snowed everywhere BUT in Menifee. I threw the kids in the car in their pajamas and we drove down to Grandmas house 10 minutes away and the kids had fun playing in the snow. So crazy!

Last picture... Leah's boys next door got nerf guns for Christmas so they've been having a lot of nerf gun wars in the culdesac. They mean serious business. This picture makes me laugh because Sophie is right in the middle of those boys, looking fierce as ever! Don't mess with them! ;)

Life is GOOD! Crazy but good! I got called to be YW president and I'm in school full time once again (getting my teaching credential / masters degree). It seems that anytime I go back to school I get a crazy calling. I suppose it's Heavenly Father's way of making sure I manage my time correctly! Scott spends his days making all of us happy. He's the best Dad and husband ever.

Hopefully I don't take 2 more months to update... ;)

Family Pictures

My friend Leah took pictures for us. I love this family of mine!

Halloween 2014

It's a little late, but here are our Halloween pictures from this year! Lily was Elsa from "Frozen" (along with every other 4 year old girl in the United States), Sophie wanted to be a Cowgirl (she also specified that she wanted to be a cowgirl that also happened to be a sheriff), and Brent was
Steve from Minecraft. Kendall opted out of Halloween this year because she pitched a fit every time I attempted to put a costume out of her. If I've learned anything by my 4th kid, it's that forcing a 12 month old in a Halloween costume just isn't a battle I'm willing to fight. So Kendall just hung out on Halloween as her cute usual self. :)

Kendall is 1

Our baby is officially not a baby anymore. It makes me so sad but I'm excited to keep watching her grow. She's a fun little girl and we all just ooh and ahh over her all day, ever day. After we brought her home from the hospital, I wondered how long the honeymoon phase would last with the older kids. I thought their obsession with her would fade away, but a year later, it's still going strong. They fight over who gets to go talk to her in the morning when she wakes up, fight over who gets to hold her while she drinks a bottle, and they all hover over her all day. Sophie is a little mother and I rely on her so much! It's awesome- she is always happy to go find her or be on baby duty while I take a shower. This was the fastest year of my life but we've just enjoyed having this little strong spirit in our home!! She can definitely hold her own and is already proving to be a bit scrappy; if the kids come towards her to try and pick her up and she doesn't want them to, as soon as she sees them approaching her, she will scream at the top of her lungs and start flailing her arms to swat them away. It's too funny. She plays peek-a-boo ALL DAY LONG. As soon as you go to get her from her crib in the morning, she immediately covers her eyes to play. When you say, "How big is Kendall?" She throws her arms up in the air. She points to her tummy and feet when you ask her where they are, she starts licking and smacking her lips when she's hungry, and says "mama-mama-mama" and "da da da".

What's happening around the Crabtree casa

I thought I'd give an overdue update! Life is- as always- CRAZY! But I wouldn't trade it for the world. October has been the craziest month for us. I got released as Primary President a few months ago. It had almost been 3 years and I knew it was time; however, it was still hard to let it go, which is how it should be when you've invested so much of your time and whole heart into something for so long. I'm now playing the organ once a month and laying low. :) Kendall is growing like a weed and is SOOOOO busy. Scott and I think she is the busiest of all our kids. She is into everything, puts everything in her mouth, and is a quick little crawler: she can disappear in a matter of seconds! :) The other kids are happy and healthy. Brent is loving school and has now been promoted to playing in the front yard alone. :) HE is begging me to let him walk home from school with his friends but I'm not quite there yet. He is on a mission to run 100 miles before the end of school and it's only October and he's already run 50! miles. He LOVES running. He's not so coordinated so Scott and I joke that he may end up like Forrest Gump- when all he has to do is RUN, well, he can handle that! When you start throwing basketballs, baseball bats, and catching footballs in the mix, then he gets a little discombobulated. But running? He's got it in the bag. Sophie is playing soccer and is quite the little defender. Everything she does when it comes to sports is easy for her and she is a fast little runner. She wants to do gymnastics...we'll see about that. Lily loves preschool and is still going to speech twice a week. She announced the other day that her teacher is a "Grandma teacher!!" and she thought it was the coolest thing ever. (Her preschool teacher just had a grandbaby last year and it's hard for Lily to wrap her head around the fact that she can be both a grandma AND a preschool teacher!) I started teaching piano lessons (because I'm not crazy and busy enough apparently) and I start school again in November for my masters degree / teaching credential. I'm looking forward to that! Scott is still chugging along with work and is our rock. We love that man! Here are some recent pictures from the other day!

Sophie doing her best "SPOOKY" face!