Meme and Papa in Charlotte! And my precious Timmy...

A few months ago Tim's computer died. We were bummed, but thought we would wait to get him one later since I still had my laptop working well. He started saving his money - we have a small amount budgeted each month as "fun money" and we can do whatever we want with it. Anyhew..he had been saving all his fun money for months. He almost had enough when Meme and Papa came to visit. They took us to Target and kept buying us stuff, which was so much fun. I really always feel so loved by them. Well, Tim wasn't picking out anything and he just kept saying he didn't need anything. I remembered his laptop and told Meme and Papa about how he had been saving for it. Papa said, "well, let's go to Best Buy!" Tim was so excited..and of course I was too. He never asks for anything. So, Tim had a lot saved, but Meme and Papa made up the difference. It was so sweet. Then a few days later when Tim had his new computer all set up like he wanted he asked if I wanted to see it. So as I was going over to look at it he turned it around. It had my screen saver picture of Tim and IO on it. I said, oh, that is my picture. He said, yes, are you ready to see your new computer? I was confused...what? He said it again and I realized that he was wanting to give me the new one. I said Tim...no, you saved so long and you deserve this new one. He then told me that he had been planning ever since he started saving to give me the new one and he would take my old one. Can you believe it? How precious is my husband Timothy Charles? I always tell him that he is the most giving person I know...and now he proves it again. Just so you know, I tried for many minutes...through my tears to tell him that I was not going to take his new computer, but he had his mind made up. So, I am writing from my brand new computer...courtesy of my tech guy and the cutest guy I know..Tim Crowder.

Announcing...Quincey Grace Hamilton

On March 9, Jennifer and Chad Hamilton welcomed this precious little one into our lives. She is muy preciouso. I will get to see her for the first time in about a month...I can't wait! She is little..only 6.8lbs and growing. She has J's nose and Chad's feet and hands. No doubt she is a beautiful little girl.

I love this picture of her getting her first hair washing. Love the slicked back look.

Grammy D and Papa D were there soon after she was born to love on her and help out mom and dad at home.

Chad as a proud dad. Chad, you look so happy with your little bundle.

I love this picture of Papa D and Quincey just spending some quality time together. No doubt dad was singing "The Froggy Went a Courtin...and He Didn't Ride Uh huh"

you got served...i mean tagged!

8 things I'm passionate about:

1. Tim Crowder...my one true love!
2. Ioneous P Crowder...aka I.O. (our precious pup that i'm really crazy about)
3. Family (sorry to put you all in one category and IO in her own - no order here)
4. Connecting with people
5. Jesus...He is not just the reason for the season...He is the reason for it all!
6. Persecuted people - especially those made to be trafficked slaves (this is what i did my grad thesis on)
7. Friends ( i have the best ones ever)
8. Laughing really hard. It is the best medicine and I would love a good laugh right now!

8 things I say often:

1. Babe (Tim) Amy and Courtney know how funny this is, since it really annoyed me when they would only call their "babes" by that name. Call me crazy...i'm babelicious
2. Ioneous...Ioneous Penelope Trowder (in the key of E)
3. Call me crazy
4. Forward slash or back slash (these can be thrown into most sentences)
5. oh no you did'nt
6. What do you think?
7. I love you
8. Hey mom, this is Cindy

8 Artists I never tire of listening to:

1. Counting Crows
2. James Taylor
3. Mercy Me - the hymns album
4. Nickle Creek
5. Colbie Caillat
6. Tim Crowder...i love it when he sings to me
7. Plain Seam
8. NPR - this is actually what i listen to in the car

8 things that attract me to my friends:

1. People that don't get mad if you don't call them right back
2. True love of Jesus
3. Laid back attitude
4. Funniness
5. People who can ask good questions and actually listen
6. Adventurers
7. Transparency...I can deal with the truth
8. Genuine love and passion for others and causes

8 Things I learned in 2007:

1. How to love Tim better every day
2. I really enjoy teaching - Leadership Development
3. My sister is having a baby...it made me cry, I'm so excited for them
4. Trusting God is hard to actually do
5. I'm not a good blogger
6. I have fallen arches :(
7. I love being a listener and advice giver
8. I spend a lot of time talking to Ioneous

8 Movies or TV shows I have watched recently:

1. Juno
2. While you were out - it's on right now
3. Travel the Road - a christian reality series...so good
4. Little People Big World
5. Inventing the Abbots (reminds me of the schulte girls)
6. The Kite Runner
7. High School Musical
8. True Life - I live in the Projects
   

surprise...i'm not a good blogger!

ok, for all you who think i'm not good at this. thank you, and i'm am aware. i have such a hard time sitting down at the computer and writing. don't know why. well, right now the reason is that i'm in sunny florida and i'm heading out to the pool. yes, i got sun yesturday and i'm going to get more today. lovin it! tim is here for work and i'm on my own throughout the day. i am reading a very interesting book called Three Cups of Tea. excited to get back to that! my face is a little sunkissed and i love that!!!

peace out. i'm having a hard time getting my pics off my camera, but there are some good ones. i have been to cincinnati...fallen down the stairs...my parents came to visit charlotte...and now we are in florida. so much going on.

love to all, cindy

Lots to catch up on...

Here are a couple of my creative Christmas gifts. I decided to make mosaics for my sister and for Tim's parents. I had a fun time with this and just figured it out as I went.



Here is the one that I did for Tim's dad. It was a great picture of 3 generations at Tim's brother Scott's wedding. There is Papa Crowder in the middle. I love you very much Papa!




On the theme of Creative gifts. Every year, we choose someones name and you have to make something for that person. We were so excited to learn a couple weeks before Christmas that Uncle Jerry and Aunt Margaret would join us. This little "sculpture" was Greg using his creative skills to put (with ducktape) a few different statues and their random body parts together as one masterpiece. Many of my mom's sculptures broke in the big ice storm that Tulsa had a few weeks ago. We all have a running joke that you don't want Greg to get your name for the creative gift because these are the types of great things he comes up with every year!

All the girls...we all took days to cook and it worked out well. This helped my mom to not have to plan every meal and gave her some relaxation! I think we will do this from now on.

Greg and Dyan
A gift from Toad...(Derek) for IO. This is her very own Cardinal...de los St. Louis. D, she loves it...she loves that it squeeks. She is so cute with it.
IO Got a hold of this dolphin and it has become one of her best friends.

Cuties...Brittany and April. I love these beauties. Britt just turned 18 and April will be 15 in January.

Visiting with Meme and Papa and Tim's mom in Siloam. It was a lot of fun. Everyone came together for a special dinner and we loved it!

For New Years Eve we headed to OKC to see Josh, Amy and Silas Bottomly. They got a Wii for Christmas and it was a hit. Here is Amy in a serious Tennis match.
My first time to meet Silas. He is a precious little one. We had such a great time with our dear friends that we miss so much.
Tim and Silas, doesn't Tim have that fatherly touch already...;)
The beautiful Bottomly's. What a precious family!!

Jake with full pads on running from couch to couch catching the football.

This is my parents house in the newly designed media room. It is so beautiful. This became the favorite place to hang. My mom did the curtains...the are so cute and perfect in this room.
J and Chad are having a little one in March and she did a precious thing for her creative gift. She had drawn my dad's name for Christmas for creative gift. She gave him a letter. As he read the letter to the family, we were all so touched. To give you just a small portion..she said, Dad you have always been the one to announce me as all of my life I was the princess coming into the room for a performance. Now, I would like for you to announce our baby. They had not found out what they were having but asked the doctor to write it and seal it in an envelope. So, that envelope was in this card for my dad to read aloud to the family. It was so special we all got to find out together with J and Chad! Well...it is a GIRL! So exciting! It was a precious moment and so fun that we could all share it.



This is a bottle of Coffee Creamer that I have that has the birth date of little girl hamilton on it. I just thought that was fun!

Here is Tim tracking Santa Claus online with Olivia. O was afraid Santa wouldn't have time to get from Guatamala where he was when they were watching...and get to Oklahoma. This was super cute. Once again, uncle Tim scores with his mad technology skills.



Back to North Carolina. My birthday is January 7 and Tim made my day...a weekend celebration. Then on Sunday night he took me to The Melting Pot where he had roses and a card waiting at our table. Oh, this is so cute. As I was almost ready to leave I heard the doorbell ring. I was like...what? I almost yelled to Tim and asked if he would get it, but I just went to get it myself. Io was barking and as I opened the door, there was Tim. He was there to pick me up for our date. It was so much fun. I would highly recommend this restaurant. We were there for 3 hours and had such a special time together!

I was laughing at the end of our meat and veggie course. This was all that was left...and no...we couldn't finish it. We had to save room for the chocolate!

I know it has been so long since my last post, but this one is a doozie....sorry, I'm just not one of those amazing bloggers.. deal with it!

Did someone say Luby's...for Thanksgiving?

First of all, for all of you who do not know...Tim's favorite restaurant is Luby's. Can you imagine his excitement when we found out we were all going there for Thanksgiving dinner!!! As you can see...he is gleaming.

Here is the whole group...minus the photographer. We had a great lunch and I must say, that is the easy way of doing Thanksgiving Dinner. With my family, the guys would have been in the kitchen for hours after the meal cleaning up and complaining most of the way through it...or making up dances whilst singing the latest "Brother Love" track.

Me and Lexie at the rehearsal dinner for Scott and Amanda's wedding. We went to Dave & Busters. We had a lot of fun!

The cutest...Papa and Meme..aka Davey Crockett rangling his longhorn with his gorgeous mistress by his side!

This is San Antonio Riverwalk. I was expecting fun, but this was over the top. The Riverwalk was so much better than I imagined...I want to go back when it is warmer. We had a really good time and ate lunch with the fam in a cute little mexican restaurant.

Tim and Scott - the groom. I'll take the one in black and brown please!

Tim's friend Todd and his family picked us up in San Antonio on Sunday morning. Helen and I had a great time in the back seat with the camera. Here we are being cheerleaders. Go Fight Win!

Jack, Cindy and Helen
Both sides of Tim's family with the lovely Bride and Groom.

Me and Papa at the wedding. I love you Papa! - Hurricane (this is my nickname from papa...hurricane cindy came through when tim and i were first dating and papa gave me the nickname. i think i have been a hurrican in tim's life, but one of those hurricane's that you really love)

Riding the train at a cute park in downtown Houston.
This is Henry. He is 1 and was really excited to be in the car. I have a burst eardrum to prove it..
A weird little "beaver - look alike" that we saw at the park.
I don't know if you can get the perspective from this picture, but the squirrels were huge. They looked in the 17 lb. range. Yikes.

Todd, Kim, Jack, Helen and Henry Elgie. We had a good time with them and they very warmly opened up their house to us!

Good trip, good to be home. We missed IO a lot. She stayed with some of our dear friends here in Charlotte. Bobby and Tabitha Hoffman were so kind to watch io along with their own two dogs Daisy and Joey. They are both big dogs and Tab said that within a couple days IO was ruling the house. She has been at home all day with me today and she seems down. I think she misses her new friends. They said that IO and Joey were inseperable. So cute.