Like Father Like Son!

Mike received his flight suit and gear and Andrew wanted to be just like him! Well last Christmas Uncle Steve and Aunt Theresa got Andrew a leather jacket and it happens to look just like daddy's new flight jacket! So Andrew was so excited to look just like his daddy! Here are some pictures of their photo shoot!

The Blue Angels!!!!!!!

Living in Pensacola has one cool thing and that is the blue angels! Pensacola is the home of the blue angels and therefore they practice here at least twice a week during the week. They then travel the country performing at air shows throughout the country. Well we live very close to the NAS and they practice over our house tuesdays and wednesday at 8:30 in the morning. It is extremely loud and they are literally over our house. Andrew LOVES the blue angels in-fact is obsessed with them, however he does not enjoy them 10 feet over our house and he says they are too loud!!! We can smell the jet fuel as they fly over it is a wild experience. Anyhow this morning I took some pictures of the practice session and I tried to get some video as well.





And yes we are still in our pjs at 8:30 in the morning so we watch in our jammies!

Where do I start?

So I have not posted in a while and since I am such a procrastinator and there is so much to write about it has been hard to just sit down and do it but I think I have a minute so here I go...
The first bit of news is that I am pregnant with baby #3 and I am due Jan. 21 we find out on friday if we are having a boy or girl! Sydney and Andrew are soooooo excited! Sydney wants a girl and she wants to name the baby Sparkle. Andrew wants a boy and I think he might actually understand what is going on but I think he is excited all the same!!!! Mike and I too are excited and I am pretty sure it is going to be a girl based on the miserable first 3 months. I was super sick just like I was with Sydney so that is what I am basing my prediction on. I felt the first kicks yesterday and that is my favorite part of pregnancy so I excited to move onto that stage!!!!
Now onto the second big news in our life...We have moved to Pensacola Florida for Mike to attend Flight Surgery school. Now while it sounds like he is going to be doing surgery on a plane this is not the case. He is actually attending flight school and is going to have 6 months of helicopter and fixed wing aircraft training. Yes that is right he is going to learn how to fly! Then after we complete this then we will be assigned to a flight squadron somewhere in the world where he will be the doctor for that flight squad! So he has to learn to fly so that he can learn what it is like and be able to clear them to fly and make sure they are healthy. Now I did say somewhere in the world this is also true there are many opportunities in Japan and Spain and Italy. There are also plenty of spots in America including Hawaii so we will find out that piece sometime in Dec I believe.
Now how do I feel about living in Pensacola? Well get to map and look and see where we are exactly...it is in the pan handle and we are on the Gulf of Mexico. We are in the deep south and surrounded but red necks and all kinds of culture! It is hotter than H*!%!!! The humidity is awful and we spend our days indoors in air conditioning from our house to Wal Mart! Yes that is the only place we have to shop is Wal Mart!!! I HATE WAL MART!!!!!!!!!!! It is a super wal mart but still I hate it!!!! Anyway I am getting over it and while I am still not ever going to love wal mart I guess I can live with it for a little while!
So there you go that is what has been going on with the Crandalls these past few months! Sorry I don't have any pictures yet but I will try to get some soon!!!! Hopefully not in 2 months either!!!!
Oh and Tropical Storm Fay that could have been a hurricane is not going to hit us so that is another positive.

Locks of Love

So Sydney has been telling me that she doesn't like long hair and she wants to cut it all off. It has been about a month or so that this has been going on, well I got fed up with doing her hair and so we talked about locks of love. She said this is what she wanted to do so we did it and it is so cute. The hair cut is great and she loved every second of it and felt so grown up. We are going to send the pictures with the hair and Sydney said she wants to write a letter to the little girl who is going to get her hair! Anyway here are the pictures and it was an overall great experience!!!!

ELLEN!!!!

So yesterday a few girlfriends and I attended a taping of the ellen show! It was a BLAST!!! We were on standby and we ended opting to stay for a later taping so that our chances would be better of getting in! We had a day we met Andy Garcia at a restaurant while waiting he was super nice and took a picture with us on my cell phone. I will try and get that on this blog and then we made it into the show which was awesome and totally fun. The show airs tomorrow and Steve Carrell is going to be a guest but he taped a few weeks ago so we actually did not get to see him but we did see Steve Straight who is the star of 10,000 BC. He was a cutie. Then we went to dinner in Beverly Hills and say David Spade. We did not talk to David Spade but we did get hit on by a lot of old guys it was hilarious and we got drinks and appetizers paid for so that was a plus!!! Anyway it was an awesome day and tons of fun! I will try and get that picture up soon!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

I just wanted to write a little post and say Happy Valentines Day! It is stormy and rainy and gloomy but I am still happy because I get to tell all the important people in my life that I love them! Mike is amazing and was pretty sneaky today with his gift and Sydney spent all morning writing her name on all of her valentines for preschool and Andrew is well naughty but he is still my little buddy and makes me laugh! I love my family and I am so grateful for them! I fell loved and that is all that I need! To all of my family and friends that I am not with today I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Valentines Day!

Orange Brownies

Sydney took this picture and it is how I am feeling today!!!

Okay so I made orange brownies today and they turned out so good I am going to post about them! These are Mikes favorite. I got the recipe from Paula Dean. Right now they are cooling and I cannot wait to eat one. I will put the recipe below but I have to warn you they are super good and the whole pan will disappear in one sitting if you are not careful. They are not cholatey so the name is deceiving but they are delicious all the same! I hope yours turn out as good as mine! Happy Brownies!

Orange Brownies
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
I've had the opportunity to make so many new friends in the restaurant. Robin Wilson from Altamonte Springs, Florida, is one of those. Robin recently was one of a hundred finalists in the 39th Pillsbury Bake-off, where she won a side-by-side refrigerator and a trip to San Francisco. As she and her husband were enjoying lunch at The Lady and Sons, she mentioned her Orange Brownies, and she was happy to share the recipe. Thanks, Robin, and good luck to ya in your next bake-off! Get that gold, girl!
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure orange extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest and beat with a handheld electric mixer until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven and pierce top of entire cake with a fork.

Glaze:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Pour glaze over cake. Cool cake and cut into squares.