Thursday, December 29, 2011

Small Life, Big God!


As this year is nearing an end I am reminded of how awesome our God really is! When I write a post I don't usually look at the title of my blog, but tonight I was looking through some of the new things that have been added to Blogger and I read the title in my head and just focused on it for just a little bit. As I think back over the past 4 years, I realize that God is so much bigger than my small little life. He made me and he loves me and he cares for me in the big stuff and in the small stuff. When I was at the deepest, darkest time of my whole life, he lifted me up and carried me through. Now, during the small stuff, he is walking with me every step of the way and building me up. I am so thankful that my parents raised me to have faith and believe that God is in control! I'm also thankful that God brought Josh and I together! He has blessed me with a loving family and extended family, two beautiful children, a roof over my head, a dependable car to drive and lots of great friends. This has been a great year and I can't wait to see what BIG things God is going to do in 2012!
Until next time...

Croswell Family Christmas Picture



From the top: Larry, Tara (and baby Rush), Michael, Maren, Susan, Alex, Mamoo, Jude, Ashby, Josh, Me, Max, Tracie and Steve

Lazy Days

How many of you are enjoying some lazy days before the new year? I know we are at the Croswell house! For the past week we have definitely been lazy and not getting much of anything done. Although it has been fun, this is all about to change. It's always nice to have lazy days, but at some point you start to feel like a slob and you just have to get up and do something. How many of you feel the same way?
We have a pile of boxes in our dining room that have been there for over a year and something has to be done with them. Most of them are boxes of Boomer's things that I really need to go through. Part of me wants to go through them and part of me doesn't. Josh and I decided that tomorrow is the day and we will be going through them and keeping a few things, but donating a bunch of it to Goodwill. God tells us that his love is sufficient and we know his grace is enough to make even the worst of days good! 
Until next time...

Monday, December 26, 2011

Our Crazy Christmas!


We are finally back home! Christmas for us started a week ago when we left here Wednesday night (or Thursday morning) at 3am to head to Frisco. We arrived to sleepy hugs and smiles from Steve, Tracie and Susan and we were so happy to be with our family! I will take too long to tell you everything that we did so I'll just hit some highlights. On Thursday we did a little last minute shopping, went downtown Frisco to see the musical lights, got caught in traffic by a really cool house, drove through Deer Field, and sang Christmas carols as loud as we could in the truck! On Friday we hung out and enjoyed visiting with each other, ate fajitas from LaHa, played minute to win it (thanks Tracie and Steve), listened to Josh read the Christmas story, opened gifts, and watched Christmas Vacation. Then on Saturday we just spent time talking and letting the kids play and then it was back home because Santa Claus was on his way!
We got home around 6pm and made a pallet in the living room floor, popped some popcorn, made some hot chocolate and watched The Polar Express. As soon as it went off, Ashby and Mamoo went to bed so that Santa would come. On Sunday morning, Ashby was sooooooo excited about what Santa brought! We opened the rest of the gifts and then were off to church. We had an awesome worship service with no electricity and then it was time for round 2.
We got to Overton around 3pm and the fun began. Noey and Jennifer and their kids were there and we opened gifts and then mom and dad sent the kids in the bedroom to see the bicycles they had bought for them. This was followed by screams for about 5 minutes. They finally got outside and rode their bikes on the porch because of the rain. One of the highlights in Overton was Christmas caroling around town. We went to 5 houses of friends and family and it was a blast! Monday and Tuesday were spent hanging out, riding bicycles, visiting with Granny, playing games, staying up late, eating, and laughing!
We arrived back home last night around 6pm and were in bed by 9:30! For the past 3 years Christmas has been really hard, but this year, Christmas was great! Not saying that I didn't think about Boomer or that I'm perfectly fine, but this was just the first year that I wasn't totally consumed in thoughts about him not being here with us. God is good and he always provides exactly what we need. 
I hope that everyone of you had a great Christmas too and were able to spend time with your family and do all the things you wanted to do!
Until next time...
Minute to Win It! (Josh won)
Tara and Alex
Ashby and her 4 Wheeler from Santa
Dad reading the Christmas story
Ashby and her new bicycle!

Jude's Masterpiece!   


Friday, December 23, 2011

Frisco Lights :)

Last night we decided to get out and enjoy the sights and sounds of downtown Frisco at Christmas time. The whole downtown is lit up with lights that are synchronized to music. There's just something about Christmas lights and Christmas music that make you feel like a kid all over again.
Here are some of the things we saw last night...
Ashby, Alex and Jude
This was one of the houses in DeerField

 Ashby was getting really tired

If I can figure out how to post a video I will be posting it soon.
Until next time...




Thursday, December 22, 2011

Peanut Butter Balls :)

Mixing the peanut butter...
Rolling the peanut butter...
She was trying to make a square...
 The finished product! She was so proud of herself!

Christmas Baking!

I'm finished with school for the semester, Ashby's done with MDO and the kitchen was calling my name today. I've never really been much of a baker, but since Ashby loves it so much I thought we would spend the whole day baking cookies and making goodies for our family. We started off making peanut butter balls. Ashby rolled out about 30! Then we moved on to chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. I really don't think I've ever done this much baking at my house since me and Josh have been married, but it was a lot of fun and I'm so glad we did it! The recipe I used for my sugar cookies is my Grandma Brown's and every time I eat them it brings back great memories of her house. I hope that when Ashby gets older and makes these cookies at her house it will bring back great memories of these fun baking days!
Until next time...
(I will try to post pics of the baking soon)