Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Santa came to our house this morning. John and Drew came to our bedroom at 6:50 and said the tree lights are on! Can we go downstairs? (That's our rule... if the tree lights are on its go) My timer was set for 7:00. It was a little off. They were excited! They got a lot of surprises. The big gift was from Mommy and Daddy. All John asked for was a four wheeler or surprises. Well he liked the Georgia vs. Auburn black out print Santa brought him. Patrick decided to sleep in this morning. How often does that happen? Finally John and Drew wanted to go wake him once they were done with their stuff. They just wanted to play with his too. So at 7:40 off we went to get Patrick up. He didn't want to get up.

Preschool Christmas Program

Monday night was Patricks preschool Christmas program. He was very excited and had been singing his songs for weeks. When I dropped him off in his class before the program he was not happy. Screaming! It was different being left with Daddy and brothers and Bob with us. His teacher took him by the arm as he was reaching for me. She said he finally calmed down after kicking off his shoes and throwing a fit. You would have never known it when he walked out to sing. I was sitting down on the floor in front of where he was. He just waved at me. Mrs. Ashley told me about the shoes being kicked off and she had told him he'd rather deal with her than his mommy. He was so proud of himself afterwards and had even told his teachers that his Bob had come.

Lunch with Santa

Lunch with Santa Sunday. The boys were excited to see Santa again. Drew of course wondering what he had told him before. Patrick knew he wanted Golf clubs and golf balls. John knew he wanted a four wheeler and if he couldn't have that just bring him some surprises. Its fun. We've done every since John was little. Every year the chief makes a display out of food. It's wonderful and neat to see. This year it was gingerbread houses. And the children were able to help decorate this year. The big one is the Martha Berry Museum.

Family Christmas Weekend Getaway

Our second annual Christmas weekend getaway. This year we choose to visit the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN. Some good friends moved to Nashville this past May, we were able to visit and see them during our stay. Friday night after checking in our hotel we went to their house and the boys played with Katie and Andrew. Then we went out to dinner. The kids had a blast getting to visit with friends. Saturday we went to the "ICE" The theme this year was How the Grinch Stole Christmas! That was a lot of FUN but COLD. The boys had fun with Katie and Andrew Dovan sliding down the ice slides. It was about 10 degrees in there. We later had dinner reservations at The Pam Tillis Christmas Dinner Party. The boys were great! It wasn't very entertaining for them as she and her band performed a medley of Christmas songs and her number one hits. It was great but after sitting for an hour and a half we were impressed on how well all three behaved. We did tell them if they didn't have to be spoken to once then we'd go on the boat ride in the hotel afterwards. It was a river that ran through part of the hotel. Sunday we took our time and went to the Opry Mills Mall and met my brother and his wife for lunch at the Aquarium restaurant. That was neat. The boys liked watching the fish swim around as we ate. We had a great weekend. Its fun to go look at all the Christmas lights and decorations during this wonderful time of the year. Below are a few pictures from the weekend.

Kindergarten perform during PTO

Kindergarten performed last Thursday evening during the PTO at school. Drew was excited to have all his family come see him. (m)(d)(j)(p)(n) & (b) He went down the list. He did a good job.

Happy 8th Birhtday John!

Today is the day John was born 8 years ago. WOW! It doesn't seem like he's been with us 8 years. How they grow up so fast. Diapers, Feedings (many), Learning to talk to talking all the time, and now playing sports. Tonight John had basketball evaluation to see the different skills each player had. We were impressed with John since he has never played basketball. He didn't have a "birthday party". We stopped having a big party after the 5th birthday, and told them they could have a "big" party every other year. This is an off year! So he had a friend come home with him last Friday after school to spend the night. He had not had no one spend the night with him before. He wanted a "Big" cookie instead of a cake and we all went to Sumo's Japanese Steak House for dinner. (His favorite place to eat) His friend had never been before. Then we took John, his friend and Drew to see the New movie "Fred Clause" which by the way was pretty good. Nana and Bob were so nice to keep Patrick at home after dinner so he didn't have to go to the movie. That was best for everyone. John loved it.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a good Halloween. It was exciting around our house. We had Nana, Bob and some friends over for hot dogs, chili and a hayride around the neighborhood so the children could trick or treat. It was fun. Nana and Bob held the house down. The boys had gotten enough candy at school that we didn't even need to go anywhere. But I know... It's fun! We even had a few more trick or treaters at our house this year. I still have a lot of candy left over and I'm on my way to make a donation somewhere today with it. The kids have enough to last months. I'm sure it will gradually disappear with the help of mom.

Wild West Day at Preschool

Sorry about the delay of my posting. There really hasn't been much going on around our house. The usually every day errands. We did take the boys to Burts pumpkin farm but... Well I forgot my camera. I'm sure you've seen those pictures before from the past years so it wouldn't have been any different. Ha. Drew's kindergarten class went on a field trip to the Adairsville pumpkin patch and again on a hayride. Patrick joined us and had a great time. I didn't post any from that trip. It was short, sweet so Patrick and I went shopping afterwards. Drew had to ride the bus back to school. O'well. We were already by the Calhoun outlets and just couldn't pass up an hour or so of shopping. Besides Patrick needed some socks. They have great socks at Old Navy. So that leads us to today and the Wild West Day at Preschool. Patrick was so excited about riding the pony. I didn't think he would ride but we couldn't get on it fast enough. They had a hayride too. He dressed up as a COWBOY! We don't own any boots so just don't look at his shoes. Ha. It was fun and he left school early to eat lunch with mommy. That was great! Stay tuned for Halloween costumes...

Finished Product!

The Field 2007

Today Chris paints the football field as Patrick looks on. Go Bama!

Rolllll Tide Roll!

I'm trying to get one of these boys to

cheer for the RIGHT team!

Just like any boy, Patrick takes his time on the potty so his daddy yesterday yelled at me to take his picture and gave him a roll of toilet paper. All three of the boys yesterday had on a football jersey as their daddy watched the different games. John even at one time had them layered for the next game.

Lots of Fun

Lots of fun around our house. Patrick has started sleeping and napping in his "big boy" bed. He does have a mind of his own. Now if he'll let his teachers at preschool take him to the potty. He says my mommy take me at Mommy's house. I saw his teacher Saturday at Kroger and she said he's getting better. At least last Thursday he went in the bathroom on his own but told her he didn't have to potty. Drew is doing better and getting around the house much better with his new cast on. His doctors visit went well last Tuesday. He did not like the saw they used to cut the big cast off. It took him a little while to get over that. I'll have to say it was loud. The x-rays didn't show a lot of new bone growth but the doctor said it will take time. From the look at his x-ray it was still completely broke to me. I try to keep reminding Drew of that and have him drink lots of milk. I tried to get him to get a red cast this time but he said NO. He went with green and said its Green Bay Packers. He goes back to the doctor Sept. 18th. Hopefully by that time it will look much better on his x-rays too. As you can see below its Friday night football time at the Cromers house. We went to the local football game.

Chris' grandmother called after Drew broke his leg and want to help but didn't know what help she would be. "I can't get around much and I can't go up and down stairs" Well, I thought about it and she can help me a lot. She started coming over on Tuesday and Thursdays (Patricks preschool days) to sit with him (while he's taking a nap) so I can go pick up the other boys from school. They would be going to after school on these days so Patrick could get his nap. It makes a long day for him after preschool. I just go pick Nonnie up after picking up Patrick and let them play for about 20 min. before I lay him down. That's really enough time for her too. I don't want Drew to go to after school until his cast are off. I think Nonnie has enjoyed it just as much as the boys. Of course Thursday I turned by back to find her in the floor with Patrick playing cars. It took her a while but she did get up without my help. She wouldn't let me help. We all load up in the car when Patrick gets up which is usually after snack time and homework is completed for John and Drew and take Nonnie home. It is soooo much help for me.

Drew finds a new way to travel

Now that we have finally gotten all the new ways to travel around with Drew down pat, tomorrow he goes back to the doctor. Hopefully things will be looking good and we can get a new and smaller cast on this leg. The first week went by and he really didn't feel well. All the great gifts from friends and family cheered him up and gave him something to do. His coloring and drawing has really improved! This past week he's gotten tired of asking can I, will you, take me... He seems to be getting around himself without asking for any help. I found him climbing my parents stairs this weekend. Dragging his leg. He is ready to run and play with his brothers.

Pediatric walker (He is to small for cruches)

Pediatric wheelchair has been a blessing at school and

getting him from point A to point B

Back to Preschool for Patrick

Today was his actual first day back to preschool. He was excited about going and had his book bag ready. But when it came to getting him out of the van, he wasn't going. He held on to anything and everything as the teacher tried to get him out of the van. I pulled up to check on him and the teacher said he had calmed down by the time they made it to the classroom. He came home with a necklace that read "I survived my first day of preschool" with a note that read "A Good Day"

My loving two year old teachers. Ms. Rhonda and Ms. Ashley

Patrick met them Monday on Tea Party Day. They told him they would see him today and he said NO. I wanted to take a picture with his teachers and even though I told him he wasn't staying on Monday he wasn't happy about sitting and taking a picture.

Update on Drew

Drew is doing better and as you can see, we saw an orthopaedic doctor yesterday. He put a cast "full cast" on his left leg. Drew asked for blue and orange but they only had blue. It was painful to cast it but so much better. He got a shower last night which I think that made him feel good. I'm trying to back off the pain medicine today a little and he seems fine. John has been very helpful and loving with him too. When John came in from school yesterday he made him a place beside Drew and they sat and watched TV together.

This is the place Drew will be for a few weeks. Of course he's feeling good here.

Big brother John was the first to sign his cast.