Sorry for the quality of the photo here, but all I had was my phone at the time and I didn't want to leave little man out there by himself whilst I ran in to get our camera. The kids were all playing on the trampoline and I told them to make a silly face. No, Ethan does not have some kind of palsy...maybe this is his pirate face! Arg!

Nonetheless, spring has sprung! WOOHOO! I was so tired of rainy, drizzly snowy days. Granted, I am sure we will get some flurries at some point, at least we are on the tail end of them. The past few days have hit the 70's. On Monday, the thermometer said 78. So the kids stayed outside for the majority of the day and ended up in their swim suits playing with the water hose.

Ethan started basketball team this week at the local YMCA and he loved it! He is pretty decent making baskets, but we haven't worked with him on dribbling soooo we will need to do that. Ella will start soccer in a few weeks and she is very excited about that.

We had some thunderstorms this week that were pretty loud and they were scaring Ella a little bit. I told her what any honest mother tells their kids... God and Jesus were just up in heaven having a good time at a bowling alley! Later in the day, Ethan, unprompted, asked me if Jesus lived in our hearts. Before I could answer, Ella replied, "no, Ethan, Jesus is just bowling today." Ethan took her word and said, "okay"....and ran off to play. The things they say sometimes are priceless.

Gracious, it is sure dreary here in Indiana and we are ready for some sunshine! The kids are getting anxious to be able to go outside and get some free play in without their fingers getting frost bitten! We have found other ways to let the kids get their energy out. We found this new indoor playground at Trader's Point Christian Church and it is awesome. The kids have a blast there and are exhausted when we leave...which is just the way I like the to be!
Not to much new this month with our family. Ethan is flourishing with his pre-reading skills. He is starting to sound out words and his small motor skills are getting better each time he sits down to practice his writing. He must be in a growing spurt because he is hungry all the time. Most of jeans are too small now, but we will see if we can make them last until it's shorts weather. Ella is still as sweet...and as devilish as ever. Last night she woke up in the middle of the night crying and I went into her room and asked her why she was crying. She never told me and went back to sleep. A few hours later, she woke up again crying and again I went into her room to check on her and I asked her why she was crying. She said, "why do you always ask me questions, mom?" So funny. Evan is crawling and pulling up to stand and can walk along furniture now. He seems to be reaching milestones every day! We are so in love with him and I just melt when I come home and he smiles and reaches for me. He still doesn't sleep through the night, but I am not so concerned with that. If he were my first born, I would be so worked up about that. But I am much more laid back now and maybe it's because I have pretty much not slept through a night in 4 years.

Last weekend we had a long time friend of mine take some pictures of the kids. She is trying to start up a new little photograpy company: erikabanichphotography.com
I'll leave you with a few pictures of the kiddos that she took!

Almost 4 years have passed since I wrote that first blog and then never kept up with it. So, here goes at another attempt to keeping our family blog. Why am I trying again, you ask? Well, I fam failing miserably at keeping up or making baby books for our children. I figure maybe if I can log on here and update occasionally it can function as a baby book of sorts. Anyhow, Alot has changed, so I will try to catch everyone up. It might take a few entries to get caught up, but I'll do my best. I will go into more detail later, but the short version about Adrian and I: we have been married 7 years now, we are more in love now than we were 7 years ago. I can't even begin to imagine what my life would be like without him nor do I want to. We now have 3 beautiful, spirited children that keep us busy day and night. Some days, I feel like a beat dog by the time my body falls into bed. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. Our children nourish my soul and just when I feel like I don't have an ounce of patience left, they lift me up and show me the love that I should be showing them. So, lets start with our Ethan:

Our first born, Ethan is now 4 years old- he has the most beautiful brown eyes, is learning to write his name, is a little whinny at times, but still has the most infectious laugh (and has laughed like that since 16 weeks of age) of any human being. He loves pretending to be a super hero while protecting his sister (who plays the princess).

Ethan was a ring bearer

in a wedding this summer.

Isn't he so handsome?!

In the ocean at Siesta Key. JOY!

Our daughter, Ella, is 3 years old-she loves to give hugs and kisses, cannot listen to music without dancing, never forgets anything, loves to be my helper and she LOVES to find things.

Creek stomping this summer

Ella was a gorgeous

flower girl!

Our sweet Evan is 7 months old and has brought immeasurable amounts of joy into our lives. He has Adrian's blue eyes and features, and is a rolling, army crawling, "puff" loving, mild mannered little angel. He is clearly saying "mama" now and it instantly makes my day to hear him babble that word.

In the hospital, the day

after Evan was born.


I am looking forward to sharing our lives with you...whomever you may be....and maybe by typing the memories that make our life so sweet, it will help me to remember them. Until next time.....

Welcome to our Blog!

Well, we have decided to join the crowd and create a blog so that we can share pictures and stories about our family with all of you. We are the Crane's....Adrian, Emily, Ethan, Becka, and "baby Crane". Adrian and I fell in love back in high school and were married on November 1st, 2003, which still remains the best day of my life. Our next addition to the family was Becka, an Australian shephard and only the best dog in the whole world. A very close second "best day of my life" would be on August 9th, 2006, the day our Ethan was born. He arrived 9 days late, but ready to take on the world right from the beginning. Over the past year, we have gotten more joy from watching Ethan grow from a newborn precious baby to the babbling, walking, hugging, kissing, sweet not-so-little toddler that he is today. His first birthday, last Thursday, was such a bitter-sweet day for us, because as those of you who have children know, the past year has gone by at warp speep and we can't believe how much Ethan has changed. But, as fast as last year flew by, I know this this year will be full of surprises as well....starting with our first surprise...another baby! We are pregnant with our second child, which should make it's appearance around the 26th of December...yes, a Christmas baby. We have decided to let this baby be a surprise (as we did with Ethan), and we will not know what the sex of the baby is until we see our baby face-to-face. Needless to say, we are very excited to watch our family grow and for Ethan to have a play mate....although Becka keeps him pretty entertained. So, there you have it...our story. We will post pictures and updates monthly about Ethan and baby Crane, since we know most of you are just here to see our sweet babies! Until next time.....