Supper Club

We had Supper Club tonight. The spaghetti was yummy and then we took all of the kids to the pool. That always insures easy bedtimes. : ) A good time was had by all!

"Wooby" is home!

What an exciting 24 hours it has been at the McCraw house. After finding out that the rabbit is a girl, we named her Ruby, of course. (For all of you non-"Max and Ruby" fans, it's a rabbit cartoon that the boys LOVE.)
She spent all night in the backyard. We checked on her when we got up this morning and she was sitting by the back door. Noah ate breakfast and went back out and she was gone. She had found a low place under the fence. We thought we had covered them all. We found her under the neighbor's car, one of her favorite hiding places from yesterday. We proceeded to spend over an hour chasing the silly girl from our yard, to our neighbor's yard, to our other neighbor's yard, and back again. She was so scared and so fast. Robby finally threw in the towel and had to go to school. Well, she spent all day under a car. She went from car to car. It poured most of the day, which I think was a blessing because she didn't want to run away.

Soooo....at 5:30 tonight, our neighbor helped Robby catch her and she is back in the backyard. Jonah exclaimed, "Wooby...you came home!" The boys are just so in love with her. We are going first thing in the morning to buy a hutch, water bottle, food, etc. I guess I have a 4th child now. Not quite what I had in mind. She really is very sweet and must have been a good pet for someone. I'd like to know her story, but she's not talking. Robby and I sat outside with her tonight and petted her for a long time. She reminds me of a coat I had when I was a kid. : )

Our new family member

When we opened the door to go to church this morning, this was sitting on our front porch. After the boys chased it away, I told them if it was here when we get home, they could give it a carrot, thinking SURELY it would be gone. Well, it wasn't. Right now, it's living in the backyard, but I'm not sure where we're going from here.

Zack

Zack is the only boy (so far!) amongst 3 girls, so we have lots of "boy fun" when we play with him. He loves to play with "boys" as he calls Noah, Luke, and Jonah.

Friends

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful circle of friends in our Sunday School class. We got together for dinner/ice cream/playtime. I don't know who was more worn out----the kids or the parents. When 3 of our families get together, we have 9 children total. Never a dull moment!

I could easily put Faith (on the left) in my pocket and take her home with me. What a cutie and she can say my name too--"Ahh-mee".
Katie (on the left in the 2nd picture) and Jillian are two peas in a pod. They look like they are rocking peacefully and eating their ice cream. This was captured just moments before Jillian rocked over backwards off the porch!

Gracie

Gracie is 1 of "the 9" we hang out with often. She will be a 1st grader at Noah's school next year. She and Noah play great together and he gets giddy every time we get to see her. I think there's love in the air! She is a sweetie pie and we can only hope that our Gracie will be just as precious!:)

Jonah's Italian Concert

No, Jonah can't sing in Italian (yeah, he's smart, but we're not bilingual yet).

Tonight, after a yummy spaghetti meal, he went through his repertoire of songs. This is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", the lullaby Daddy sings to him.
I know he's mine, but that boy is a cutie pie! : )

Birthday Bash!

We had a joint b-day party with our family for Noah and Luke. I wonder how long they will allow me to continue to combine their birthdays. With them only being 6 days apart, the idea of two separate parties is daunting. We had a baseball/birthday party. All of our family (we pretty much took up the entire set of bleachers at the Anna ballpark!) came for Noah's game and then we grilled burgers and had cake afterwards. I really thought I was going to get away with making just one cake, but Luke demanded a froggie cake. It was easier than I thought it would be. Noah's was very easy---I just baked it in a bowl.
Until next year....

Luke is 3 (again!)

Luke turns 4 today, but he's refusing to accept it. He gets irate if you talk about it and says, "I not four, I fwee!" I've even used the "You Can't Go to School if You're Not 4" argument, but that's fine with him. He doesn't have any interest in going anyway.
It seems like in just the past couple of weeks, he has become a little sponge as far as academics goes. He started identifying letters, writing letters, and spelling his name in just a few short days. Thanks, Tad! Tad is the frog with the LeapFrog learning system and it's quite educational.
Happy 4th (ok, third, again) Birthday, Luke!

My Baby is 7!

How can it be? Our baby is 7 today. Well, okay, he's not our baby anymore, but he was our first and like I tell him, he'll always be my baby. Here's a pic of the mighty Melissa Cardinal. Baseball rules our lives right now, but he's having a blast. School is out May 9th and he's ready for summer.
Happy Birthday, Noah!

Ethiopia

Here is the video that our missions minister made about this summer's mission trip. How can we not go? We are called to care for the orphans and widows, which is exactly what we will be doing in Axum, Ethiopia.

Get some tissues and watch it here!

Laugh of the Day!

Background info: Luke's best 3 year-old joke lately is to say, "You know what?" Then, he waits for you to say, "What?" and then he says, "You're a ______!" Insert any animal or household object here. Then, he laughs and laughs. Of course, little brother listens to everything, even when you don't think he's listening.

Saturday morning, Jonah got in bed with us and said, "Daddy, oo (you) know ut(what)?" Robby said, "What?" and Jonah said, "Oo a pig! Oo a puhple (purple) pig!" Then, he just cackled in his cute, little 2 year-old laugh. I think what made it even funnier (besides the fact that he came up with purple pig all on his own at 7 in the morning) is that it wasn't that long ago that Jonah was just putting 2 words together ("gink (drink) pees (please)!"). Now, he's telling jokes! He's a little comedian....

Here are a few of his recent glamour shots! : )

The biggest flakes I've ever seen!

Ok, I've lived in Texas all my life and never seen snowflakes this big. The movie doesn't do them justice, but I had to share. The boys are climbing the WALLS wanting to go out in it. 5-6 inches are predicted. Looks like a lonnnnng weekend in the house! I had to run out in the sleet to retrieve our snowman accessories from our snowman earlier this week. Only in TX does it snow only twice in the winter and both times are in March! Like they say, if you don't like the weather here, wait 15 minutes.

Ready

Finally, the boots that Luke wears every day came in handy for our snow day. I guess he thought boots and underwear were all that were needed for snowman building!

Snow Day!

I've said before that I feel like I do more by 9 AM than most people do all day. Well, today was definitely one of those days. The boys went to bed last night (after 10!) knowing that snow would be on the ground when they woke up. Well, they were up with the sun and outside before most people's alarms even went off! We built a snow "mountain" man. We couldn't really get the snow into balls. Memories were made and now I have lots of wet laundry to do!

Today's Laugh of the Day

Luke was playing in the backyard and came to the door with his pants around his ankles. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I tee teed on your house!"
Sure enough, I glanced over and there were yellow drops falling from the siding.
Never a dull moment here....

Axum Ethiopia

I am going to try to post on here more. Time just slips away. It seems I never think to post unless I have a cute picture to share. I want our blog to be more of a "what's going on in our house" than just a picture album.


The big news of the week is that our church is going on a mission trip to Axum, Ethiopia this summer. We are about 95% sure we're going! As most of you know, we went to Zambia last year and it changed us forever and just whet our appetites for more Africa!!!! Click on the link and check it out. We'll be ministering in an orphanage, which will be so rewarding, but heartbreaking at the same time. More details to come...

Lunch time!

After all of that treasure hunting, we were hungry! Thanks to Nana D. and Poppy, we had a great lunch, complete with ice cream cones, at Culver's---the boys' favorite place to eat!

"Cheeeeese!"

Luke actually took this picture! He is our little photographer. : )

"Got the GPS....never need a map again!"

I gave Robby a GPS for Christmas with the idea that he and Noah could start a new hobby of geocaching. (Check out www.geocaching.com, if you've never heard of it.) Basically, it's using coordinates to hunt for treasures. I'm not sure who has more fun--Robby or Noah. This weekend, we went on our first family hunt. Even though we didn't find the treasure we were looking for, it was still fun to be out in nature with our boys. They LOVE being outside. Luke has even composed a song about "treasure hunting". We have video!

Happy Birthday to Jonah!

Jonah is 2 today! Mama, Da-da, Noah, and Luke helped him celebrate. I planned to make him an Elmo cake, but he kept telling everyone he was having a "Go Go" (Diego) cake. So, I baked the cake in the Elmo pan, turned it upside down and made it Diego. It actually turned out pretty good, but all that mattered was that he was happy. He LOVED it! I can't believe our baby is 2. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and there are no diapers there. Wow....I can't imagine.

Sweet boy!

Jonah has really started talking in conversations in the past few weeks. He is just the sweetest boy you will ever meet and he tells you that. "I seet boy" ("I am a sweet boy"). If I say, "Whose boy are you?" He smiles real big and says, "Mama boy". But if Da-da or Nana asks him the same question, he knows to tailor his answer to make them happy. What a charmer!

Monkey help

Noah and Luke had a very hard time with the fact that this was not their birthday. They have always shared birthdays and it's hard when baby brother gets all of the attention. Everybody was excited at present-opening time, but there were tears shed when Jonah wanted his toys all to himself. O the joys of brothers!

Yum-O!

After we sang to him, he just dug in with the spoon! I had to wash chocolate frosting out of his ear canal by the time we were all done. What a happy birthday!

4400 Sycamore Road

This is our new house!!! Yes, really.....this is it. I know we've said this before, but this time our signatures are on the dotted lines, we've paid money, and we're moving in 3 weeks!!! We are beyond excited. God is so good. He has blessed us with more than we ever imagined. We are moving to 4400 Sycamore Rd. in Melissa, TX. Melissa is a small town about 15 minutes north of McKinney. Our new neighborhood, North Creek, is in the middle of cow pastures,which will be full of houses some day. But, right now, it's very quiet and secluded. For a while, we will "pretend" we're living in the country. We have a swimming pool, playground, club house, soccer field, and basketball court 2 streets over and the boys are thrilled about all of that fun. Thank you to everyone who has prayed with us for so long for this. It has been a long time coming, but we knew all along that God's timing is perfect. Come see us!

Run, boys, run!!!

This is the backyard---not huge, but big enough for a swingset and a deck.

Don't I look relaxed?

This is me in my new garden tub!!! Ahhhhh.....what a great end to my monkey days. : )

Just a glimpse....

Here's just a glimpse of our mission trip to Zambia. So much to tell, so little time to type. : )

We've entered the Wi-Fi World!

I know, I know....I haven't posted since March! Many of you have given me grief about it saying things like, "I thought since you had been to Africa, you'd post something about it!" Well, with a "slow as molasses" dial-up internet connection, I barely checked email every few days. Today is a new and exciting day at our house----we have entered the Wi-Fi world. I am typing on our laptop with my feet up and no phone wires! Woo-hoo! So, check back often and maybe you'll see more of our family!

What's up with the McCraws?

Just an update on all that's going on with our family.
We had to cancel the contract on the house posted below. We were sad to see it go, but we have not sold our house, yet. It's still on the market and we've had several showings. We know that it's all in God's perfect timing and that "His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways". Even though we were disappointed to let that huge backyard go, it's exciting to think about what God has for us and how much BETTER it's going to be. : )

In other exciting news, Robby and I are planning a trip to Zambia this summer. We are going on a 10 day mission trip with our church to minister to villages there. Some of them have never even seen white people! We will also be helping start the groundwork to build a new hospital on the Kafue River. We are VERY excited. We are obeying God's call to go, not knowing how the funds will be provided, but confident that He will take care of all of that. He has already shown his faithfulness in providing for our deposit that we had to make last Sunday. We will keep you posted on the details. Oh, by the way, the boys need a place to stay for 10 days in June. Any volunteers? You can get on the schedule!

In even more exciting news, we found out this week that we're going to be Uncle Robby and Aunt Amy! Robby's sister, Amy, and her husband, Carl, are pregnant! We are SOOOO excited! I've never been an aunt before and I'm already making big plans. We will spoil that baby rotten. They are due in late November.

Ok, I think that catches you up on what's going on here. The boys are great. We're in the midst of the BIG birthday bash planning. Noah will turn 6 and Luke will turn 3 in April. They're having a combined swimming party and they're both counting the days. Jonah continues to be the happy-go-lucky third child. He is 15 months old now and never stops smiling.

Keep in touch! We love hearing from our friends and family!

Good news!

We have GREAT news! We got a new house!!!! Yea!!!! We will be moving to Melissa (small town about 10 minutes north of McKinney). The house has 4 bedrooms and a HUGE backyard (the most important part with 3 boys!). It's a HUD foreclosure, so we got a really good deal. After bidding on more than 5 (I lost count!), we are so excited to finally get one. The house is in a neighborhood with a park and pool and it's only about 3 minutes from Noah's school.
Now, the faith part comes..... please pray that we can put our house on the market and sell it quickly. We close on our new house in 45 days.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

Rub-a-Dub-Dub
3 monkeys in a tub!

Mail call!

Noah is having a blast in Kindergarten. This week, his class did a Community Helper project. Each student had to dress as a community helper, do a 1-2 min. presentation in front of the class. and build a "building" for their community called "Kinderville". With help from Goodwill and the local post office, this is our mailman. : ) The post office is pretty cool, too (a diaroma made from a shoe box).

What a pretty boy!

Jonah is 10 months old now. Where has the time gone? I feel like we just blinked and he isn't a tiny baby anymore. He thinks he's just as big as his brothers and is always right in the middle of wrestling, car racing, or trouble. With each boy, we've had a new adventure. Our adventure this week included a trip to the pediatric dentist (never knew such a character existed). Jonah has a strong aversion to diaper changes (no time to slow down!) and tried to bail off the changing table. He knocked his left front tooth loose. I thought we were going to lose the tooth and have a snaggle-tooth boy for the next 5 years. Even though it's loose, the dentist seems to think it will tighten again. It did move forward a bit, though. We call him "Buck" now. Always an adventure with these monkeys!

Ahoy matey!

Noah and Luke modeling their Happy Meal treasures!

Yum!

I have pictures of all 3 boys eating lasagna at 9 months. I think Jonah is the cleanest!

Too cool for school!

Luke and Jonah wait patiently while Mommy snaps lots of photos on Noah's first day.

Ready to go!

Each day begins with the whole school meeting in chapel. They say the pledges, practice their memory verse, and have a Bible story. At the end, they sing and then it's off to class!

Noah's classroom

There are 11 kids in Noah's class. His teacher, Ms. Penny, likes to play games and he is very excited about that!

First Day!

Today is Noah's first day of Kindergarten! He looks like an executive businessman in his school uniform---complete with khakis, polo shirt, and a new big boy belt "just like Daddy's". He was so excited!