Random Crowell Happenings

There are so many random things that have happened in the last few days and so I am just going to list them out. Here goes:

1. Olivia started soccer last week and had her first practice. She spent more time worrying about her outfit and if everything matched than really getting her head ready for soccer. She had a blast and has her first game this weekend. Should be interesting since Olivia struggles with coordination. She might surprise us... who knows. We are just hoping that this year she puts the ball in the right goal!

2. On Sunday I had a bridal shower for my cousin Jessica. We had about 40 people at our house for brunch and everything turned out beautiful. Jessie is such a sweet, sweet girl so it was a pleasure to host her shower for her. Jessie and her fiance Justin are college sweethearts and Mizzou grads so they remind me a lot of Aaron and I. The shower was of course eventful since during the shower Olivia fell and knocked out one of her teeth (a baby tooth thank God!) and then Sonny's paw got stuck in Olivia's hem of her dress. He let out some pretty loud cries so we knew he was in pain. It took us a while to untangle him. You could tell the animal lovers in the crowd since they panicked and flew upstairs. He actually split one of his nails...poor buddy! Always something interesting going on at our house!

3. Thursday night after the girls went to bed I went upstairs to check on everyone and noticed that Jordan's hamster didn't have much food so I filled up his bowl. This is the first time I have looked at that hamster in months! Jordan pleaded with us to get this little rodent and I was not a supporter but lucky for her she convinced her dad to take her to the store to just "look" and low and behold came home from the pet store with a new friend. I have vowed that I will not take care of another breathing thing in this house! Well anyway, I must not have closed his cage all the way and the next morning Jordan came downstairs in tears saying that "Squirt" was gone! We looked EVERYWHERE but since he is a dwarf hamster and extremely little we were unable to fine his whereabouts. I envisioned "Squirt" jumping on my Aunt Barb's head during the shower and pure pandemonium breaking out. And so after more than 24 hours of the missing rodent...Aaron decided to put his cage on the ground in her room and open the door. I knew Squirt's chances were dwindling and that he couldn't survive much longer without water. We knew for sure that he was not in Jordan's room since we completely took everything apart. We went to dinner with some friends on Friday night and when we got home Aaron went upstairs to check and shockingly Squirt had found his way home and was back in the cage! Unbelievable to say the least! Jordan was spending the night with a friend so we called her with the good news the next morning. The funniest part was when Olivia saw him in the cage she said "He looks different!" I thought for sure we had caught a mouse but Jordan confirmed that it was her beloved "Squirt".

4. Rachel and Madison are officially taller than me! We did a back to back test and sure enough they are at least an inch taller! This is a very weird feeling to look up at my 12 year olds but I knew it wouldn't be long. The twins started track yesterday and ran over 3 miles at practice. Physical exertion is not one of their strong points and when they got into the car after practice you would have thought they had been working the fields in sweltering Africa from the looks of them. They all but crawled to the car! They have practice again tonight and I could have sworn I saw them doing a rain dance outside this morning. :)

5. We are quickly making summer plans and have decided to embark on a new territory. Our family is going on a family mission trip in July to South Dakota. We will be working in a youth center on a Sioux Indian Reservation for a week. We are all so excited about this since this is a mission trip that our whole family can participate in. We have talked to the girls about the conditions at the reservation as well as safety issues. We have explained that these are very poor children with very little supervision and that their lives are very different than our girls' lives. I am praying for an eye opening, life changing experience. Keep you posted!