2013

Well it's 2 am on Christmas Eve day and probably not the best time to start writing. But there never seems to be a best time. You ever notice that? There's always some injured child that needs attention, food that's burning...facebook postings that need to be read...something. Okay maybe there are better times but never best times ;)

 I think I must be getting old because I have to go back on my google calendar to remember what happened this year; it seems to have flown by so quickly. I'm not going to call this a summary of the year because by the time I'm done with it I'm sure it won't be for the faint of heart. So please-please don't continue reading this if you have important things to do. (This is coming from someone who rarely reads past headlines so trust me, I won't be offended if you stop now.) Most of this is for my own record...

James in his fantasy chocolate land

Best tiramisu!

Mmm meat

I was starting to come out of the 'baby fog' in January so that's when some memories start to come back to me...hm...nope. Guess there's no data till February. Fyi if you're not included in this post, please forgive me as my memory truly is horrible and I'm sure we had wonderful times together. Are we good? Okay. Moving on.

James and I celebrated our ten year anniversary in February and went down to hangout in San Diego for a weekend...with a baby. A high maintenance baby. A baby that broke out in an allergic reaction rash at lunch in Laguna Hills before we even got on the freeway to head south. And then when we finally got there she spontaneously puked all over the hotel bathroom. A short while later we had some romantic time in that same bathroom as James was using that torturous nose sucker thing on the baby, exclaiming how incredible the pile of snot was that he was shooting into the sink. Talk about a second honeymoon! Oy vay. Anyway, we laugh about the whole weekend now and of course we adore our baby firebird. We did see a neat chocolate exhibit at a museum (for those of you who know my hubby this was basically porn to him...lol) and we made a point to eat at almost every Man vs Food recommended location in the San Diego area and had a blast.

The grand graduates!

Phoenix's new friend :)

In spring James was awesome enough to watch the three big kids so I could see my big brother Elijah get his masters degree over in Boston. My sis-in-law Stacie was also getting hers but from a different school on the following weekend. Seriously proud of both of them. Such an accomplishment. And it was really fun to see where they live, meet who they hangout with and see the two of them in their 'natural habitat' ;). We even got to see Stacie's dad for a bit, who Phoenix was enthralled by. For those of you that know her, she's a very particular baby and her affection usually has to be bought with much invested time and effort (or a lollipop; the girl's one weakness). So even though Phoenix slept through most of the graduation ceremony, she did make friends with Stacie's dad so hopefully that counts for something. Boston's spring was in full bloom so my mom was in gardener heaven. It was breathtaking...but my mom is much better at stopping to smell the roses than I am so sometimes we just hung out/slept on the ground while she snapped millions of pictures... :)

Phoenix, Grandma and part of my finger

End of spring we found out that the kids had got into a public charter we'd applied for (it was a lottery pick). So I took a deep breath, let out somewhat of a sigh of relief and we finished our last bit of homeschooling. We then prepped all summer so they'd be fresh and ready for fifth grade and Kindergarten...ha...just kidding. That was my plan of course. But other plans happened instead. Lots of big birthdays.

My mom had her 60th in March and we got to go on the most amazing
whale watching tour (granted it was the first one I'd ever been on where I actually saw a whale). At one point we must have had hundreds of dolphins swimming next to the boat; seriously, it was surreal and I felt all giddy like a little kid. We saw multiple whales and they totally flipped their tails for us and everything (I forget what the special word is for that-footprinting...?). Both my mom and I felt like it was such a special treat from God. One of those moments in time when it feels like God gives you a squeeze and whispers in your ear how much He loves you. Since we moved in with my mom two years ago there have definitely been trying times on our relationship so it really was a blessing to have a few hours away just the two of us.

Studly soccer player

Our little Squishy (Dax) turned 5 in June. He still has stunning blue eyes and a gorgeous mop of hair but now he can jump higher and draw fiery rocketships. Such a fun age when they're independent but still want snuggle time and kisses. Phoenix our firebird turned 1 in July. She is extremely opinionated and assertive like her big sis. Totally fearless. Well except for when it comes to Christmas tinsel or unpredictable mechanical hamsters. I think we all spoil her so...one might say we've created our own monster. But hey, she's really cute and I'd bet my money on her any day in a toddler demolition derby. Twins A & B aka Cyrus and Jade turned 10 in August. Ten! That means only six more years until they start driving-crazy, right?! As much as that scares us, we already long for the day when they take over the chauffeuring.

Cyrus is quite tech savvy, knows way too many big words, and can officially outrun me. I'm pretty sure he's thinking all the time. He often has a deep, pondering look on his face; not sure if I'll ever have that kid figured out. Sensitive and sweet, as well as very discerning. Jade is a sweet mini mommy to Phoenix and a great helper at home. She always gets assigned the organizing chores and knows how to pay attention to detail. She has a flair for the dramatic and loves writing and illustrating her own stories. As much as I struggle with figuring out how to raise her, I am proud of how confident and strong she is. It's interesting how different it is raising boys and girls. I know each child is unique in the temperaments and interests God gives them but sometimes I do believe males and females must be different species!

This year we also welcomed Maverick Lightning McCrory into our home. He was a tiny little guy when we got him from our friends in May...now as you can see he's more of an awkward gangly teenager that eats us out of house and home as much as the human children do. He's quite social though and cracks us up. What's one more mouth to feed anyway, right?

Rehearsal time!

James' sister Jessica got married in August so that was a main event of summer. I'm not super sappy on weddings but it was a beautiful day and the entire family was so happy for the two of them. Short and sweet ceremony, great food at the reception and truly genuine toasts from the main peeps.
 

 Now that there is a good wedding in a nutshell! It was so cool to talk to countless guests at the wedding who had been praying for God to bring just the right person into each of their lives and we all got to witness the sweetness of God's answer to prayer. All in His timing :)

After the wedding we packed in as much fun as we could into the last couple weeks of summer with Boomers, the fair, Adventure City, the twins' first youth group camp away from home (which they loved because our church is awesome!), lots of trips to the pool at the Y and a camping trip up in northern Cali.

Beautiful California

Grandpa and Phoenix

crab-fishing with Uncle Elijah & Aunt Stacie

OC Fair with the minions

Lake fun while camping

Boomers

Can't believe they're big enough to kayak on their own!

Our nasty feet after we got home from camping...yummy

Phoenix collecting one of many sticks while camping...
and sporting an anti-bug anklet 

Phoenix expressing my attitude
most of the camping trip...lol

We made a detour over to Santa Barbara to visit my Uncle Sam and Aunt Della Rae as my aunt was getting treatments for cancer there. There wasn't much we could do for my aunt besides pray and let her rest. One day we did get to steal away with my uncle for a few hours to the Santa Barbara Zoo and it was nice to hangout with him, relax and enjoy the beautiful area.


 I am so thankful that God allowed us to spend a bit of time with my aunt. We had no idea she was going to be with the Lord less than 48 hours after we said goodbye to continue our travels. She was an incredibly hard-working and God-fearing woman who I looked up to. She and my uncle were always incredibly hospitable to my family, both growing up and when I brought my own family out to South Dakota more recently. As much as it pained me to see her (and my uncle) fighting that battle with cancer, I was increasingly thankful that her confidence was in Christ. Philippians 3:20 says "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." My aunt clearly lived for Christ in her daily life and I'm sure everyone who came into contact with her would agree. Verses that reaffirm this for me even more are in Proverbs 31:

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

My aunt and uncle have an amazing family that are definitely fruits of their labors. They also have used part of their property for hosting summer Bible camps for I don't even know how many years. I know my aunt was not a perfect saint and I loved to hear her and my uncle bantering back and forth...lol...she always stopped my uncle from picking on me and my city slicker attitude ;)... but boy did she run the good race for what really matters. 2 Timothy 4:7

So the end of summer was bittersweet with mixed feelings. As fall began, we transitioned into full-time 'real' school and life picked up its pace full force. I'm still not sure what is more work; homeschooling or public school. There are benefits and disadvantages with either...as a whole for our family it has been a good change but there are definitely days when I miss homeschooling. 

Last day of homeschooling

Day one at new school

Selfishly I have loved getting to be in more ministry at church. We have a mom's group that I have desired to be a part of for many years but the timing was never right before. It has been amazing getting to know ladies in our community, share the gospel with them and support them in the challenging roles of wife and mother. Since both of those roles forced me on my knees before God, my heart aches to throw out that life-line to others who are drowning without eternal hope. I'm learning so much in this ministry, chiefly that God is the one who saves, not me. It's so incredibly cool though that God allows us to be the messengers, the ones who tell others about Him. He could just strike everyone He wants to save with lightning. I mean, He's God, right? But no, we get to share about the Love that is impossible to comprehend! For so much of my life I missed out on the learning, growing, excitement and joy that comes from talking to others about God. I used the excuse that my actions/good works would be a 'light' by themselves. Talk is cheap, right? But in actuality how would any of us Christians know about the Savior of the world if someone hadn't told us about Him?! I mean, it's not rocket science. I'm damn happy that Jesus' disciples didn't just travel around the world doing good works and never saying a word about the God-man that changed everything for all mankind. Of course, faith without works is dead, as the book of James tells us, but please don't use your works as an excuse to not want to shout praises of the Creator of the universe from the mountaintops. Give credit where credit is due. If one is all about good works, it might be good to check and see if those good works are actually about God, or if they're just about them. I've been there. And I still have to check my motives constantly. It's easy to fool ourselves. 

Phoenix missing her siblings while they're at school

Okay I'll get off my soap box now...totally off on a tangent. Where was I? Ah...fall changes...so James and I are trying to maneuver this whole school thing, balance ministry and home life and figure out how to keep these four little people so they don't kill each other every day...let's just say there's never a dull moment ;). Thankfully, God led us to a small group that meets to talk about our church's weekend sermon (Say what? I have to actually apply Biblical truths to my everyday life?! ;) ) and I'm very appreciative of the friendships and accountability that we've been blessed by in this. 

My field trip date to the SD Zoo

On the outside I think our McCrory lives seem pretty basic and typical. I'm barefoot in the kitchen 23 hours of the day (okay more like in the car 23 hours a day), we have a bunch of kids that eat double their weight every day and James goes to work Monday through Friday with a predictable schedule of 7:30-5, eating pbj's almost every day (bless his heart, poor guy). But in actuality we have pretty cool lives.  James is amazing at what he does, he's using the gifts God has given him, and God has provided faithfully for our family in crazy ways over the last ten years through his hard work. As much as my kids drive me crazy and I'm exhausted by about 10 a.m. every morning, they are stinkin hilarious. And smart. Even though I long for moments of quiet by myself, I'm totally in love with the chaos that is our home. Well, maybe not when I'm stepping on Legos and cursing quietly to myself...and maybe not when we're scraping our toddler's poop off the wall on Christmas morning (another story for another time...this post is already way too long)...but MOST of the time I am very thankful for the year that God gave us in 2013. 

Cyrus' 1st Turkey Trot...and he beat me

Turkey Trot with my awesome bros and their lovely girlfriends

So when you ask how I'm doing and I always just reply "Good", there is more to the story but I'm probably just too lazy or tired to go into it...which is probably how it is for most people, eh?

Construction of Gingerbread House 2013

Daddy feeding Phoenix's frosting addiction

Completed Project

About 3 minutes after completion...
apparently we didn't comply to building regulations

snuggle time

first awkward pigtails

Happy New Year!