the Cromartie's Life Updated

          Well a lot has happened since my last post. I have started a new job and our newest son Kole was born. The new job has really been in the making for over a year. I just had to wait out the process of Ferguson finding and remolding a new shop. Believe you me it was well worth the wait. I never thought i would have the opportunity to work for such a large company. So far i love it. It has a small company feel with a large company drive and desire. I actually want to get out of be and come to work. Towards the end of my tenure at the old place Idreaded going to work. I really liked the people Iworked with and that played a role in my uneasiness about leaving. But all in all I'm glad Idid.
          Now for the other major change in our lives. Kole Dunham Cromartie was born at 5:30 on October 21st. A mere 45 minutes after our arrival at the hospital. I almost had to make delivery on NASA RD1. That would have really hurt the resale value of my truck. Not to mention the things Iwould have had to see and do. Thank GOD that didn't happen. Poor Elizabeth did not have time to get an epidural. There just wasn't enough time. The birth of Kole was one of the craziest moments of our short time together. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time. Kade absolutely loves being a big brother. He calls Kole HIS baby. I can tell these two boys are going to be the cause of my grey hair. I cannot wait for the day that all three of us are on baseball field. I know it will be here before I know it and Iwill wish we were back here. I feel for Elizabeth with three boys (sometimes i am a man) running around the house.
          Well that is enough rambling for now. I will update throughout the holidays.


Philip

Pittsburgh 2011

       Well we went to Pittsburgh this past weekend for a family reunion. It was certainly fun but too short. We left our house at 6:15 a.m to go pick up Elizabeth's parents. We made it to the airport and zoomed through security because we were traveling with a kid plus Allan was in a wheel chair so that helped also. After an hour of Kade claiming all of the airplanes were his we finally got on out flight. He was really excited about it.

His favorite part was the take off because we went fast. Then about an hour (and 1 screwdriver for daddy) we turned on CARS on the DVD player. Almost immediately he fell asleep. Which is rare when CARS is on. I thought he would sleep until we landed. Well he did wake up on our approach and wanted to get up and walk around. He couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed. So he switched seats with Mommy and got to look outside so he was content. Well we made it to Pittsburgh about 2:00 local time and went over to the hotel. Aunt Patty and Nikki (Keith Stone) and Allison put some Pirates shirts and a blow up Transformer chair for Kade in our rooms. Kade absolutely loved the chair and sat on it most of the weekend. Saturday was spent North of Pittsburgh at the family reunion. There was a pool so Kade and I were in that for much of the time. Sunday was the day to get out and about. We left the hotel about 11:00 a.m and went downtown to begin the festivites. As you can tell by my picture here I just love fanny packs. They can hold everthing i need for the day.We shopped around a little and finally found a Pirate hat that we bought Kade.

He seems to like it. But he kept calling it his 'Astros Hat". I just let him believe it was an Astros hat. Well if you know me then you know I like to have a few adult beverages while taking in a ball game. Well you could say I had a few. Here is a picture of Nikki (Keith Stone), Allison, Elizabeth and I. See where they put me?

It was probably for the better. We met up with the rest of the family after the Pirates got whopped. We went to eat at Primanti Bros. This is the place where they put the french fries on the sandwiches. It was good but the best part was seeing Coach Cowher there. We were leaving and I said' That guy looks a lot like Coach Cowher?'. Uncle Al notified me that it was indeed Coach Cowher. So that was kind of cool.

We went back over to the Montouro's house and Kade got to play with his cousins in the sprinkler. Which he always loves. After we got him out of the spinkler we let him run around in his diaper (I know, I know). But when you look like this

you kind a get what you want. All in all we had a blast and the weekend went by way too fast. We wish we lived closer. We made it home on Monday and then Elizabteh's Yukonfacebook.com broke down. It figures now that it is paid off. But i digress. That story is for another day.


Philip "Pirata" Cromartie

Week Of FNO

           Well this is the week we ( the guys) have all been looking forward to all year. The FNO is upon us again. This years veteran list of performers include: Tank, Me, Shawn Moore, Joe Rod, Steve Rophail, Corey Teague, Casey Teague, Jason Keefer, Tim Lesak, Huey, and two other fellows I don't know. It should be fun. I hope this year i can finally win one of these. I have been second more times than anyone i believe. I definitely will update the shenanigans nest week.

Kade is a minor celebrity (like his dad). He was on the 6-8 am morning news this past weekend. his picture was anyway. Elizabeth sent in the picture from July 4th of him eating an ice cream on the beach. They showed while they were doing a weather segment. it was pretty cool. Hopefully the first of many TV appearance's. That's all for now. Be sure to check back for pictures of the FNO 2011.

Philip

Fourth of July weekend.

We were invited to a beachhouse by The Teague's for the long weekend. The Lesak's and The C Teagues joined as well. We were excited to get to Crystal Beach and just relax. Kade enjoyed his first boat ride.

We finally made it to the house and unloaded ALL of our stuff. It amazes me how much stuff Liz can pack. Oh well, i guess you never know what you might need. After a quick bite we joind everyone down at the beach. Kade was skeptical about the water at first but eventually we couldnt get him out of it. Around 2:00 the ice cream truck comes around and all the kids went nuts wanting ice cream. This is what they all looked like.

Saturday morning all the guys went fishing on Tim's boat. We all caught some fish but none to really write about. Much of Saturday afternoon was spent napping (by the guys). After dinner that night Kade (the second youngest) was chasing the Three oldest kids around the house acting like a monster. It was pretty funny to see. Once the kids went to sleep is when the adults got to relax and have a drink or seven.  i was drinking Rumple and taking pulls off of some Boone's Farm 2001 Strawberry Hill. Disgusting I know. Saturday I found out that Bolivar Peninsula was covered with Pine Trees. Tim brought that to my attention. Sunday was spent much of the same as Saturday. Beach, fishing, castle building and of course napping. But no ice cream because the ice cream didn't stop for the kids. Not sure who was more upset, Kade or Tim. Well Sunday after the kids went to bed may have been the funniest night. It all started with Casey going to bed before all the kids. Corey then falling out of his chair and my premonition of it happening. Before i knew it I was the only guy in a circle of woman. We were having girl talk and I didn't even realize it. Some of they things that were said are etched into my memory forever. I was firmly inserted into the 'trust tree'. That is a scary place for one man to be. I felt like the guys left me behind. Oh well it was quite amusing. Hopefully we started a tradition for many years to come. The kids all had a blast and so did the parents.

Philip

Father's Day 2011

         Father's Day couldn't have been better. I got to sleep in a little bit. Kade came to wake me up and told 'Happy Birthday'. Not real sure he knows the difference quite yet. We went to Brunch at South Shore Harbour with Elizabeth's family. The food was pretty good and Kade got to look at the boats whichmade his day. We then traveled all the way to Pearland to hang with my family. Kade seemed to really like his cousin Nicole. He running around and basically flirting with her all afternoon. It was pretty funny.
         All in all I had a really great Father's Day. Thanks to Elizabeth and Kade for making it special.

Philip

2 year old pictures with Jenna. She is a great photographer

Life update

I guess I will jump on this personal blog bandwagon. It has only taken me a couple of years. To catch everyone up we are expecting our second child in late October, the 30th to be exact. We are extactic about the new edition. Kade is starting to ask about the new baby. He points to Mommys stomach and talks to the baby, saying goodnight and that he loves he/she. That brings me to the point that we are not going to find out the sex of the baby. I know a lot of you might think we are crazy but we feel that this will be a nice little surprise. We (I) have my boy to carry on the Cromartie last name so as long as the new baby is healty that is all that really matters to us.
        Kade has really taken to playing "catch". That is what he calls baseball. So we play catch every night before/after dinner. He even has trained his mom to play before school. He sleeps with his glove,bat or Astros hat atleast three times a week. We all went to his first Astros game last Friday. Of course he loved it but the main thing he took from the game was the train in left field. We stayed a few innings until he said it was time to go. That usually means he wants to watch Cars or Toy Story on the way home.
        Yesterday we finalized our family trip to Pittsburgh in August. We are going with MiMi and Apa for his family reunion. We are excited about seeing that side of the family and building relationships with them. hopefully Uncle Nick and Christina can join us.
        We have been spending a lot of time at Grandma and Granddaddy's lake house on Lake Livingston. It is nice to get away and do a little fishing and BBQing. We have been doing a little fixing up and it all is starting to come together as a nice little get away. Cell phones don't work up there and that is probably the best part about.
        I guess that is all for now. I will try and update this blog as often as possible. Stay tuned!