We have several exciting announcements....

Wow...I'm not sure how I'm going to post everything in order. I have so many pictures that you all will have to scroll all the way down. We have had such an eventful summer! Austin started attending middle school this year at Margaret Brent.
I have to say he was very nervous his first day. Things went great and he loves school. We started tackle football and drum lessons. Austin is #78. We are quite busy during the week. Anthony has started ETSU. We are so super excited for him. He really likes school and worked hard to get there. Anthony was able to come to meet his baby sister and pin his dad. I wish we lived closer to him. We welcomed the newest member of our family on 8-28-08. Katelyn Renee Croucher was born at 8:32am she was 6lb 15.7oz and 19.6 in long. We had her at Malcomn Grow on Andrews AFB. We found out her cord was wrapped around her neck 3 times. I was so thankful to know she was a very healthy baby. My brother Skip came to help with everything and I want to thank him! I want to thank everyone again for the wonderful gifts we recieved. My parents came for the birth and Scott's parents came shortly after. We are so happy everyone could make it. I know they wouldn't miss it for the world! We arrived home and started recovering slowly. We tried breast feeding for about 5 days and had to stop. Katelyn had lost 7% of her body weight. We really wanted it to work out. I think she is happy with the bottles and now everyone can take turns feeding her. I don't know what I would have done had her grandmas not been here. I am proud to report she is a happy baby. She likes to sit in her boppy(thanks Kim)and watch everything. We took her to her first football game and she has been to a crab dinner. I can't believe how alert and strong she is. I love the cute faces she makes. When things get back to normal my plan is to post every other day if not daily. Now....I have awesome news....Scott was pinned on 9-20-08!!!!! We are SOOOOO proud of him! It has been a trying, long, exhausting summer.....worth every second of it. I can't explain in words the feeling I had when I saw him for the first time in his Khaki uniform. I know he was exhausted and overwhelmed, but elated and proud at the same time. I want to thank Stacey Allen (our sponsor) for being there for us. We will never be able to repay you. I also want to thank Wes (Scott's brother) I am so glad you were able to make it. I know it meant the world to Scott. I will treasure the whole summer and will never forget it. I know Scott CAN'T ever forget it. I really have so much more to say but my daughter is hungry. I will give more detail later. I will close with this...Grandpas.....You both looked amazing and HOO YAH NAVY!!! They will know what that means....

Taking it one day at a time!

Hello all. I know I know..... I didn't update in July. We have been crazy busy! Our summer has been great. We received some wonderful news.....Scott made Chief! We are soooo proud of him. I am beyond excited for him. We met when he was an E-1 and have had a long journey. Just to know he has acheived a goal we have worked so hard toward makes me so happy. Congratulations honey! As you would guess we are very busy and are planning so much in the next month or 2. Hmmm..... where should I start??? Anthony has completed his summer job at Dollywood. We are still trying to finish all the paperwork for admission to ETSU. Cross your fingers! On the 8th he is headed our way to visit. i am so happy to see him. I wish he could stay longer he has to leave on the 12th. Overall he is doing well and still loving Younglife. Austin has started drum lessons and is really good. We found a used drum set for the time being. We hope to get a nicer one for Christmas. We sent him to New orleans for 3 weeks to visit grandma and grandpa. Skip took Austin and Nick to Saints camp to watch them practice. He was in hog heaven! He got home on the 5th and started Tackle football on the 7th. Man oh man is he loving it. We went to his 1st practice yesterday and let me just say he is really sore. They will will practice 3 days a week for 2 hrs. So between football, drums, and school he will be a very busy kid. We did get some bad news while he was in N.O. My dad went into the hospital. He has been there 7 days now and I am really concerned. They diagnosed him with Pneumonia finally. However they also discovered a carotid artery. The doctor wants to do surgery versus a stint. We are praying he will be well soon. By the way if you talk to him don't let him fool you....lol...he says he is just fine. I know he wants out of that hospital. I can't really blame him. I just want him better. If all goes well my brother will be driving up very soon to help me out around here. We have sceduled the c-section for August 28th. Her birthday will be 8-28-08. Which leads me to my next topic....obviously I can't have a traditional shower. So we decided on a virtual shower. Due to recent events we are slower at getting the word out. I'm sure everyone understands. Most of you will be receiving an email with information. I wish I could see everyone and will as soon as I come to visit. We are registered at www.target.com and www.babiesrus.com . Just type my name in and it should come up. We are looking forward to the due date. I can't wait to meet her. She is so active in my belly. I couldn't believe she had the hiccups the other day. I am ok for the most part. I get the usual aches and pains. We are expecting my mom and dad on or around the 23rd. I can't wait to see them. I know they are counting down the days. If things go as planned mom and Skip will head back in early Sept and dad will stay for Scott's pinning ceremony. Mom and dad Croucher will head this way to meet their grand baby on Sept 15th and stay through Oct 16th. And of course be here for the pinning ceremony. I know they have been going to the doc quite a bit. Mom had a Basel cell cancer removed from her leg for the second time. It really hurt, but at least it came back ok. Dad also has a corroded artery and will have surgery on the 21st. Recovery time is 3 weeks so it should work out ok. I wish everyone could snap their fingers and make all the bad stuff go away. We were hoping Donna and Brittany would make it up here. I know she is so busy I'm not sure that they will. We have been having horrible car trouble and think we are going to have to get new car in Sept. It really stinks we just paid the truck off. Angie....if you see this email me please. You sent an email to scott, he forwarded to me and now I don't have a way to reply to you. Miss you. Robin.... thank you for the kind words....I wish I could see you guys. I'm sure I left somethings out. I will update as soon as I can. Take care!
Of course I forgot to mention I haven't been able to take pictures lately. If you could send me pics I would love it! I can copy them to the blog. Just email me whatever you would like to share. I also want to say thank you to everyone who is trying so hard to make the arrival of the baby so special. Mom, Nan, Aunt Linda, mom and dad Croucher.... I love you!!! I received an email from my mom this morning in regards to my dad. I copied it and will paste it below so you will have the whole story.......


I'm sorry for this being slow to get to everyone but have been busy with my little part time job and evenings at the hospital.
Sunday a week ago Lee went to bed with a cold and pretty much stayed there for the next two days. He was hardly eating or drinking but continued his med's and was taking Alka Selzer Cold Plus. Tuesday night I heard a thump turned on the light and found him on the floor. He kept telling me he was alright. He still does not remember falling. The morning after he fell I called the Doctor, they spoke to him and determined I should call 911. He was transferred to St. Tammany Hospital and began a barrage of tests. They were giving him antibiotics, breathing treatments, did several X-rays, blood work and any thing else they could think of to isolate the problem. It was determined that he has 75% to 80% on left side and about 60% in the right. They did a CT scan and found the pneumonia in a quadrant not visible on X-ray. His med's were changed and appear to be working. They need to do surgery on his neck but have to wait until the pneumonia was cleared before surgery. Yesterday morning he started having chest pains. They applied Nitro patches, gave him some new medicine in his IV and last night a Doctor told us he would be going home today. I asked about the pains and he kind of blew it off. Today the Cardiac Doctor told him he had a mild heart attack yesterday morning and would not be going home. Since he had eaten this am they could only do half of a stress test and will do the other half tomorrow. He is really down knowing his stay will be at least a couple of days longer. We had been preparing to go to Maryland for the birth of our grand-daughter on 08-28-08 and now have everyting on hold. The test will determine the next course of action. Any prayers will surely be appreciated.

Love, Dee


July Birthdays.....

July 11th......Nick Gilbert
July 13th......Skip Sutton
Wes Croucher
July 26th......Julie Gilbert


August Birthdays....

August 1st.....Joe "Honey" Gilbert
August 9th.....Eddie Croucher
August 15th....Elena Croucher
August 16th....Ryan Carroll

Anniversary's....

August 30th....Maw Maw and Paw Paw (we miss you!)

Belated....... Happy Father's Day!!!!

Good morning! Hope everyone is well. I hope all the fathers had a great day! I know my dad took it easy and fortunately Skip was there with him. Dad....thank you for everything you do and I love you! Scott's dad is in Libby, MT and I hope he took it easy. I know they have Harry and Bobby (chris's brother-sister in law) visiting so I know there is never a dull moment. I think Gary and Edie Kotner are there as well. I'm sure the dads had a great day. Scott has been working ALL the time now. He was in Las Vegas for Fathers day. Hmmm....I wonder if he planned that....lol. Anyway, we finally got to celebrate it yesterday. We took him to King's Dominion and had a wonderful day! We have season passes and they allow you front of line privileges on Wednesdays. It was great. Scott and Austin rode every coaster and some even twice. I on the other hand smartened up this time and brought my book and camera. The weather was fantastic! I can't believe Austin is riding all the rides that he is. Our first visit he swore he wasn't going on any coasters. He tried a more gentle coaster first and let me tell you.....he is hooked! I was shocked to see him go on the Drop! I will update more very soon. Have a great day! I also wanted everyone to know the birthday list I posted above is from January-June only. I plan on updating each month now and will post b-days for that month then. I would love for Angie....to email me!

I will try to do better.....

Hi everyone! I will try to do better as far as updating our blog. I have so much to catch up on. I'll try to fit everything in. Taking you back to December.....We had a wonderful surprise. My mom, dad, Skip, and Anthony came up to spend Christmas with us. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was. We visited, shopped, went to the farmers market, and just enjoyed each other. Then on Dec 23 we received a call no one in the world wants to get. We found out Scott's oldest brother Donal was in a car accident and did not survive. It was devastating news and my heart hurt. There is no way to put into words what we felt and went through during that time. We cut our visit short and flew to Montana for the services. Services were held at 11:00am on Monday, December 31, 2007. I can't describe the love and warmth we felt. I know we will never forget. We will miss you Don. We love you! My dad stayed behind with Austin while we attended and when we got back we got to do some sightseeing in DC. We also found out on Dec 24th that we are having a baby! I truly believe Don gave us this gift of life. I will be forever grateful. We are due Sept 1st. We found out we are having a GIRL!!! I am soooo excited! I get to buy pink stuff and do her hair! I have felt pretty good this pregnancy. I am just now feeling the back aches and heartburn. Austin has begun flag football. His team is the Cowboys. We love the team and the coach is great! Coach tries to switch up positions and Austin has been Quarter back for the last 3 games. I'm blown away we have won the last 3 games...woohoo! Play offs are this weekend....Wish us luck! I want to keep him busy this summer so we will be taking guitar lessons as well as drum lessons. I wish you could hear him play he has a talent with music. He will start tackle football in August and I want to send him to a camp for a week where kids learn to work on the farm. We will see how that goes. The local vets office offers a program for kids Austins age to volunteer with the animals. I think he will love it. The kids clean the cages, walk the dogs, and wash the pets. I will let ya'll know. His last day of school is Friday, June 6th. Anthony is at Dollywood again this summer. He leaves for camp the evening of the 6th and will return to work at Dollywood around the 17th. I know he really enjoys his time there. I am so proud of his commitment to his kids. Once he returns to Johnson City he will enroll in school. Yay!!! All in all he is loving it in Tennessee. Austin and I got to visit him briefly in March. We had a nice time. Anthony is the only person that does not want to know the sex of the baby. I told him not to read this..lol. In March Scott's mom and dad came to visit. We had a wonderful time. We went sightseeing and shopping. We always stay busy. They are not traveling right now. They are spending the summer in Libby. I say good for them with gas prices the way they are and they have a diesel truck. The plans are cleaning up and getting rid of whats not needed. It's lots of work, but worth it. My mom and dad FINALLY found a house! We were so excited. Though I think Nanny and Honey were even more excited. It is in Covington near Aunt Linda, aunt Max, Nanny, and well most of the family. I know they are happy to be settled and thank goodness everyone came out to help move them. I want to say Thank you!!!!!!! Dad has a new riding mower and mom has her scrapbook spot....life is good. Today was Austin's 5th grade graduation ceremony. I am so proud of him. I had to giggle he told a complete stranger in McDonalds that was is now a 6th grader. I took a lot of pictures and will post them. I am still trying to figure out how to put a link so you can see all my pictures. I do have a few announcements.....

Birthdays.....From January-June.....

Jan 4th----Scott Croucher
Jan 9th----Ashley and Hailey Bender
Jan 15th---Sydney Croucher
Feb 2nd----Anthony
Feb 6th----Paw Paw
Feb 10th---Chase Miller
Feb 11th---Tana Croucher
Mar 2nd----Donna Meissner
Mar 3rd----Becky Dow(Hewitt)
Mar 3rd----Casey Lambert
Mar 7th----Joe Bender
Mar 9th----Paula
Mar 16th---Aunt Linda
Mar 18th---Austin
Mar 18th---Kevin Gilbert(why oh why)
Mar 21st---Gabrielle Gilbert
Apr 5th----Me
Apr 5th----Ed Croucher
Apr 15th---Lee Sutton
May 3rd----Brittany Meissner
June 11th--Maw Maw
June 13th--Kim Lambert
June 15th--Robin Miller( You are Beautiful!!!! )
June 25th--Aunt Karen

Anniversary.....

Jan 8th---Joe and Shana Bender
Feb 4th---Scott and me (1st)
Feb 25th--Mom and dad
Mar 26th--Nan and Honey

Grads....

Dezarae V. Dodd----Libby Senior High School
Taylor Renee Lambert----Mandeville High School
Austin Croucher-----Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary
Racheal Croucher
Congrats!!!!!!!!!!

Baby news...
Scott and I
Delila and Mark Bruno

I really should keep up with these updates. My fingers are killing me. Scott has been busy. I am so proud of him. He loves the new command and is working very hard to get all of his qualifications. He received Sailor of the Quarter the 1st quarter he was there. He is working toward QAR and Instructor. Both are not easy and time consuming. I have to say he is getting his hands dirty and loves it. He is flying a lot now. The commute is not fun as I explained in a previous blog. I would say that is his biggest complaint. We are hoping to get lots of visitors this summer. I am hoping to see Donna and Brittany. My mom, dad, and Skip will be here for the arrival of the baby. Scott's mom and dad will be here shortly after. I'm not sure if anyone else is coming. Also I am going to start a baby registry at Target and we are thinking a virtual baby shower will have to work. I'm sure someone will keep you posted. I hope I remembered all announcements and will write again soon. We love and miss everyone!!!!

We have arrived!!!

We finally made it! We have Internet...life is good! We had a wonderful cross country trip! We saw so many beautiful places. We got to see everyone we love and missed. I have so many pictures I have to figure out how to post them all. We arrived here in the DC area around Oct 26th. We stayed with the Benders (thank god) while we were house hunting. After almost 3 weeks of relentless searching, long days, tears, frustration, and confusion we decided to rent for a year to give us a chance to look. We moved into a beautiful 4 bdr 3 bath house on Nov 23rd the day after Thanksgiving. Whew! Our house hold goods came the same day. We live in a small town named Mechanicsville. We live on 15.106 acre property, however we are allowed 3.36 of it. Scott is in hog heaven...we can hunt and fish on the property! Paulie is loving the freedom and squirrels. The owner has said we can use what we want though. Austin rides his motorbike everyday now and has made a few friends. We had to put Austin in a temp school for 5 days and now he is in his permanent school Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School. I am happy to say he loves it. I drop him off at the bus stop by 8:30 and pick him up at 4:15. It is so different in Hawaii school was 7:50 -2:10 and on Wed 1:10. It gets dark at 5:30 which leaves him an hour of light after school. We are all adjusting. We are house hunting with Ron Harris (our realtor) who is amazing and will get serious in a few months. Anthony is doing great. We got to spend more time with him on the trip and we had so much fun. I love the area he lives in and all of his friends are great. I was bummed he said we couldn't live there with him! lol...he loves his job at the bank and is so busy with Younglife. I got a call the other day from him telling me someone hit and ran his new jeep. I was so upset about that. Life lessons...right? Well we officially hit Winter! We had our first snow yesterday! I actually drove in snow!!!! Can you believe it!!! I really didn't have a choice I was at the store and had to get home. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Scott surprised me with a 10ft Christmas tree and a beautiful live Poinsettia! It really feels like Christmas. It snowed most of the night. I got some pics of Austin making snow angels and sledding. Well trying to sled with a wave board...lol...hey why not. Scott and I get up at 4:30 because he has an hour drive to work. We have to live far from Andrews AFB to get the good schools and peace of mind. as long as he is on the road by 5:35 he is good to go. If you leave at 6:00 am you will be late. The traffic is the worst I have ever seen! Crazy! So far he likes VR-48. Everyone is nice and he is learning the ropes. We have the squadron Christmas party this weekend and tonight he is working the Redskins game. The stand makes lots of money for MWR. I have a feeling we will be working lots of games. I am still unpacking and cleaning. I should be done in a week or so. We can't wait to venture out and see some sights. I have been as far as Camp Springs. We did drop Skip at Baltimore International. I want to see the monuments and museums. We want to see the White house and Lincoln memorial. Hopefully we can take trips to New york, Philly, Williamsburg, and many more. Mom and dad have also been house hunting and have made an offer on a house on the North Shore. Cross your fingers they get it. Keep them crossed that they will make it here for Christmas. I know mom and nanny love being retired and I am so happy they are! Mom and dad Croucher are in Arizona selling Christmas trees. They work long days and are ready to get on the road. Thank goodness Don goes down and helps out. I will start updating again. I'm sure I left a lot out and will post if I remember something. I love and miss everyone...take care!

Ahhh...the big move!

Hello Peeps! I am sorry for not updating. As you all know we have been quite busy and it will only get worse. We are officially leaving the island on Sept 30th. Let me catch everyone up. Anthony has moved to Tennessee. I am so sad I missed watching him arrive and move into his first apartment! I know he loves the area and has a wonderful roommate. I'm so thankful for that. The job and school is soon to come. When I talk to him he sounds so happy and he has made some new friends. The complex he lives in has many Younglife leaders residing there too. I know he is comfortable and will do well. Austin's final game is this Saturday and his team party is Sunday. I am so glad he got to join and play football. We are taking him out of school on Wed the 26th. I am worried he will be out of school for a month. We are going to ask his teacher to send work with us. Everyone is so sad we are leaving. I don't think I will have a dry eye the whole last week we are here. Our plans have changed again. Our cross country trip will be:

Fly out Sept 30th in the PM. Arrive in Seattle, WA the morning of the 1st. We will visit Wes (Scott's brother), Susie, and Desi (Scott's cousin's)for 3 days. We leave out the morning of the 4th and head to Montana. We will visit with Mom and dad Croucher. Can't wait to see Aunt Louise and uncle Chuck! We all leave on the morning of the 7th. Mom and dad head down to Arizona to sell pumpkins. We head over to Mount Rushmore. I can't wait! Mind you Paulie (our dog) will be with us. Yikes! We leave from there the morning of the 10th and stop in St Louis for the night. Finally on to New Orleans...I know mom is dying to see Austin! We should arrive about the 12th? We will stay for about 4-5 days (let's see how Paulie does) and off to Tennessee the morning of the 16th or 17th to visit with Anthony. We will stay there about 2 days. I can't wait to put shelf paper in his kitchen cabinets! So hopefully on the morning of the 20th or 21st we will drive to Maryland. I am not really sure of the dates. We will be staying with some friends (The Benders) we met here. This will give us time to house hunt and find a school. I shipped the truck off 2 days ago. We have the mazda to drive the remainder of the time here. Scott left on a trip Tuesday morning (same morning I shipped the truck) and will be gone through the 11th. The 12th the movers come and pack us out. Pack out is 12th-14th. Scott leaves again on the 16th-22nd. My 1st inspection is the 18th. I have to get a cert. of health for Paulie to fly on the 25th. Our final inspection is the 26th. While Scott is gone I have to separate what stays and what goes, empty deep freezer, clean clean clean! I want to have a garage sale somewhere in there. The 27th is Scott's going away at work. We are trying to get into the cabins on base the 26th-30th. I love them! I have begged, bribed, and groveled to get a cabin. So far they only have the night of the 27th :(. I will not stop til I get it. We will spend each night at friend's houses visiting and saying good bye. I know I left some things out, but you get the picture. I am excited and nervous. I can't wait to see everyone. I wish more could have made it out to Hawaii. It truly was a one in a lifetime experience. The culture and the food is amazing. The beaches and hikes are breathtaking. The people we have met here have become our family. I can say I don't take any of it for granted. Each morning driving Austin to school, I look out at the view coming down the hill and think...wow! I will miss it so much. It's the little things. Me being able to walk down to the ocean and sit, watching the waves crash on shore. Passing the landscapers who are at the tippy top of a coconut tree grooming it. You don't see that everyday. Closing your eyes while just your feet are at the edge of the water smelling the sea air. Looking out at the water and seeing every color of blue you can imagine. Ya'll are gonna laugh at me. Now I will tell you what I won't miss. The darn Centipedes, Roaches, and Ants! The sand in my bathing suit, sand in the truck, sand in the house....you get the idea! Hmmmm now that I think about it...things I can't wait to see are Squirrels, Snakes, and signs welcoming you to a new state. Ahhh....the little things. I have attached lots of pictures of people we love. You will have to look on right side and scroll down to see them all. I put quite a few. I almost forgot...Birthdays! Kim's b-day is the 23rd and Mom's is the 30th. Happy Birthday!!!! Last, but not least......Mom is retiring!!!!! Yay! Long awaited and very much so due. I am so happy for her. Her last day of work is Sept 30th! This will be the best birthday present she will ever have! You deserve it mom. Congrats! I want to sayn congrats to Nanny too. Nanny will be retiring as well. Look out garden here she comes!

Austin is center....catches and scores