Thursday, April 30, 2009

$12 Box of Memories












As Jana mentioned the other day, I recently decided to pick up an old hobby that I haven't had anything to do with for years. To be completely honest, prior to this week, I cannot even begin to remember when I last tore open a $12 box of potential. However, this week as I once again began spending an hour or two every evening carefully assembling each piece within this kit, I was overcome with many wonderful memories of similar times in years past spent with my grandpa.
Huddled around the kitchen table with grandma busy in the background, I can vividly remember my eight yeard old eyes watching his skill and his patience on full display. As we worked together to create and capture a moment of WW2 history. I didn't realize it at the time, but there under the dinning room lights so many years ago, my grandpa wasn't simply building a model airplane, he was building me.

It's hard to believe that the memories that I have of riding my 10-speed down main street to their house in great anticipation are now almost 20 years old. It's harder to believe that we said goodbye to grandpa almost 3 years ago. I wish despretly that he could now see the results of his investment in my life. Sure, I would like to show him this model so that we could laugh again about times spent and memories shared. But more than that, I would like to share with him the details of my life: the joy that only Hannah knows how to delivery, the anticipation of Charlie's upcoming debut in August, the frustrations of my job, and the thrills of flying cross country. He was a friend to the man, and a hero to the boy. He was my grandpa, and he is deeply missed.
I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed putting this airplane together!





Wednesday, April 29, 2009

much to my dismay, we have been unable to locate our camera :-(. This is unfortunate, because we have enjoyed some good times together, difficult times notwithstanding. so pretending we did have a camera, here's what i would have shown you pictures of
  1. hannah at the fair. let's just say it was not a pretty sight. she was in a sketch mood to begin with, and we put her on the train by herself, there were no other kids. she had a complete breakdown, it was terrible. and the 'ride technician' wouldn't let me run across the tracks, as it was, to go get her, so we had to wait until it slowed down and she came back around. the poor thing was hysterical. we felt so bad. he gave us our tickets back. long story short, complete waste of time. not so much money, because we resold all our tickets, thankfully. she wouldn't even do the carousel, which she loves. i just stood there holding her, feeling silly. oh well. that's what it's all about, i guess. better luck next year!
  2. big girl panties! yes, ladies and gentlemen, we bought some. but they're going kind of like the pottie: we have them, we tried using them, and said this is too much work, we'll come back to it later. patrick was really motivated to potty train until she had an accident and he cleaned it up :-). she still pulls off her diaper, so we put her in zip up footed pjs for her naps too, which helps. but i know she'll be ready soon.
  3. these i wouldn't have pictures of, and i'm sure she wouldn't do it on video, but they are the most important. she prayed. and i cried. in that order :-). well, ok, i may be exaggerating. since patrick's been home, we've eaten more meals together. the other day, she folded her hands first, then we did, and before you know it, she just busts out with "dear God. . . amen." that was it. but it was the most beautiful prayer i'd ever heard.
  4. she can now do the majority of the alphabet! in order, even. just today she got the last half. and she does it ALL THE TIME. she loves to sing anything. we often sing from the hymnal when i'm putting her to bed, and today she was walking around hugging the hymnal singing her own song.
  5. in lieu of the garden i left in alabama, we bought an honourary tomato plant. two, actually, in a pot. they're doing really well. i'm very excited about my token plant. the farmers market opens saturday, so that'll be fun too.
  6. if i could get a picture of all the times patrick's been taking care of hannah, i'd love to show you. i've been doing alot of hours at the church, and he's really taken up the slack. some times go better than others, but no matter what i'm so grateful for his help.
  7. patrick's picked up a new (or an old) hobby, since we ended our 3 seasons of lost that's kept us busy since christmas. he is working on model airplanes again, and it's so neat to see the progress. i think this first one looks great, but he says it's more of a practice run, so i'll take pictures later. if i ever find the camera, of course. it takes alot of time and focus, which makes the end result really special. i'm excited to see what he can do!
  8. we got new wheels, too. yes, i am a girl, because we've had the thing for a few weeks and i can't remember what kind it is. it's a silver van, with lots of room! at first hannah wasn't too sure about it, i didn't realize she could tell a difference in cars. but now we're all very attached to our new family member :-).

that's enough for now. we are really trying to make things work here, with premier. patrick is doing everything he can, and he has some potential things coming up. we are trying to be obedient, and waiting expectantly on the Lord, while working as hard as we can to do our part. thanks for your prayers. remember to wash your hands these days!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

hannah news and other happenings

the primary purpose of this post is to give a detailed update on what hannah's up to these days. so if that doesn't interest you, you can skip this one! first of all, patrick and i are not biased at all, and we are completely convinced that hannah is the smartest, most beautiful, happiest little girl in the world. she brings so much joy to our lives. so bright and full of energy. she often just breaks out a happy dance just for the fun of it. or a daddy dance. or a snack dance. or anything else. she loves music, and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes when i turn on praise music and we dance around together while she supplements with her cymbals or recorder or something. (yes, i know i sound like your mom. anybody's mom. you can roll your eyes!). we like listening to kids music, and she now has favourites such as the itsby bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, deep and wide, and the abcs.
she is very active, which is great until i need to go to the bank or the post office, at which point she becomes an incontrollable tornado of upsetness because i'm trying to contain her. she is getting much better at the park, and now likes to hang on the monkey bars (for a few seconds) and swing. she is learning to climb, but only goes one monkey bar before getting me to rescue her. she is still very independent, but is becoming more affectionate. we can occasionally get a kiss out of her, if she's in the right mood. she loves to kiss inanimate objects, like her books and even pictures on the wall. or the cellphone, if she's 'talking' to someone. she still would rather play with non toys, like carrying extra bags around. she likes the sandbox but wont' keep the sand in the box, preferring instead to bring pailfuls of it inside and dump it in our shoes.
i think she will be very passionate about life, and this manifests itself through the occasional meltdown when something doesn't go as planned. like her piece of zucchini bread falling apart. she's definitely a toddler!

she talks and talks and talks! i've stopped keeping track of individual words now that she's putting sentences together. she doesn't say I much, normally just Hannah. as in, Hannah washes toes. Hannah wants peekaboo book. Hannah zips up pjs. Patrick told me she said "i love shoes", which i believe, because the girl does like shoes! she recognizes lots of animals, but no colors. she can sing the first few letters of the abcs, then throws random ones in there for the rest of it. she can count to three, but only when she feels like it. she's very perceptive, and will bring up things you only said once. we told her we had to go to the grocery store to get some yummy food, and now every time we drive by that particular grocery store, she says nummy food, nummy food. she's normally a good eater, but can be very persistent if you mention something you're not giving her that she wants, like cheese, her favourite food. she occasionally says "hannah loves you", but only if you say it first. she loves going to church and seeing other 'kiddos'. there is no way to put her personality and everything into words, she is just so cute and expressive and fun. all those people who told me the baby bug would pass once your child got old enough to throw tantrums or be difficult were way wrong. i cannot wait to have another baby. except the whole waking up all night part.

she has definitely been the bright spot in a difficult month or so at the crisp household. we were very excited and hopeful when we made the move here, thinking that we would stay for a while and be somewhat settled. i hate to use it as an excuse because we've all heard way too much complaining about it already, but truthfully, the economy has made it impossible for certain industries, aircraft sales among them, to survive. Patrick's company recently told us they would be unable to pay any salaries at all any more, but really wanted us to stay anyways in hopes things soon improve. we considered that, and tried for a while, but decided to move on. right now we are pursuing other opportunities, even outside of aviation maybe. we haven't talked about it much because we dont' have anything to say yet. things are kind of up in the air for a while. we appreciate your prayers, and will keep you posted when we make a decision. moving again is not our first preference, but neither are we refusing to consider it, if the right job becomes available.

I would like to make two shout outs that really deserve their own posts.
first, Grandma Jan started chemo last Wednesday. We are so proud of her for being brave and strong and beginning this process. we wish we could be there, and are planning on visiting memorial day. it will be an every other week thing for 4 or 5 mos, i think. we love you!

next, Lara is running the boston marathon tomorrow! crazy, i know! she said tonight she wishes i could be there running with her, and i was like, uh, how bout the after party only route? she hasn't been training as long as some people, so she's worked twice as hard in half the time. lots of huge nasty blisters and other things. it's supposed to be really cold tomorrow too. I can't be there when she crosses the finish line, but i will be getting updates on her progress. technology these days. anyways, some people move to africa, some people run marathons, i guess. i happen to think africa is much easier than a marathon, so way to go, Lar. we're cheering for you!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

tourist for the day


we had such a great time with mom and bob we decided to keep them here :-). actually, we started out their trip with an afternoon at the stockyards. we saw a cattle drive, among other neat things. and hannah definitely got spoiled with things like a pony (above) ride and a real longhorn ride.


she was definitely a hit with the cowboys. something about those boots! and blonde hair and blue eyes: who could resist?








we tried to get her in our picture, but let's just say she doesn't like to participate in pictures.




the next day we hit canton trade days, which happens one weekend a month and draws thousands upon thousands of people. you need a few days to really see everything. all kinds of stuff. and of course, food. this was bob's first turkey leg. he also had his first margarita here, but i forgot the camera in the car. i'm 1/2 way thru the pregnancy, and starting to miss margaritas!

so i dont' do serious very well, it's actually scary! hannah and daddy chillin at our picnic lunch.
we also hit the dallas arboretum, which was quite spectacular. wednesday was buy one get one free! it was a gorgeous day, and we walked around for hours.
i started out with hannah in the stroller, but the vast majority of the time this is what we saw as we chased her around. very adventurous. and slightly rebellious :-)

in addition to the flowers they have all kinds of parks and fountains and ponds and stone gardens, and things like these deer that hannah liked.



so they also had all kinds of houses and boats and play structures from various children's books. this was hansel and gretel. the only way we could get her to sit still was bribery with a cracker. at least she was willing to share.
it was a welcome relief to find this little fountain oasis, where the kids (and others, i guess :) can take off their shoes and jump around in puddles. four giant frogs spray up in the air, and hannah had a great time.
alas, this moment didn't last long enough! this bench was at the top of stone steps, surrounded by little gardens. i told patrick if he ever wants to propose again, that would be the place.
next was a little period outdoor museum, sort of interactive. we were all pretty tired and dirty by then, but it was really neat. a history of settlers in texas, complete with teepees and wagon trains.
long day!
as these current economic times don't seem particularly conducive to economic sales, we are considering all our options. perhaps we'll take up farming like patrick's previous generations.



we fit in a great trip to central market, patrick's softball game, and a few drs appointments. one of which was our sonogram, as you may have noticed. we are expectantly awaiting a new little boy, who appears to be strong and healthy and on the big size! at night when i'm going to sleep (or trying to) i can feel him move quite a bit now. it's so special to share that with him, even though he'll never remember. i sure do.
happy easter folks. He Is Risen!

Thursday, April 09, 2009


Thursday, April 02, 2009

the new and slightly improved version


ok, we're back for a quick runthrough. had a good time in nc, especially with grandma rosenburgh. it was so good for hannah to meet her and my uncle mike and aunt cheryl. i got a very much needed update on that side of my family!



hannah did really well with baby emerson. who is the absolute cutest, btw. so smiley!

as usual, had a great time with the cousins. sometimes kennedy and parker like to tease her by not letting her get her toys. thankfully she hasnt gotten that upset, unless it's babou. they have some much cooler toys than we do, like this tractor deal of parker's :-)



helping grandma put on her shoes, and showing off her boots to uncle mike.



we had a little easter egg hunt. once they realized there were animal crackers inside, it went alot more slowly because they had to stop and eat them.



checking out the tulips.

hannah sharing her wooden, yet apparently edible, breakfast with kennedy.

grandma and emerson. stuffing eggs for our hunt.

this was our little munchkin at six am, having been woken up at 4.30. bright eyed, bushy tailed, and full of energy. (the left is from the second flight, we didn't change her pjs till our layover.)


it has been unseasonably cold, but last saturday was definitely a record. it was still in the 30's when we had a community easter egg hunt. i felt like we were still in canada.
not that anyone cares other than me, but you can sometimes see the floor in the playroom!
our very first alfresco meal this year. before it got cold again! it was wonderful to share that with my beautiful little family.
we are having a great time with mom and bob, that i have interrupted just so i can come and finish this. so i have to go, we'll keep you posted! happy easter. celebrate life.