Month: October 2008

A couple of people have asked what Sundays are like at our house now. Adam and I both feel that our Sundays are even better. We get home from church around 12:30 and eat some lunch straight away. After lunch, the kids scurry off to their rooms for quiet time. We have each child in a separate room and they love their own personal time. The kids don’t have to sleep, but they have to stay in their rooms until we come and get them, which is usually around 3:00. (although two out of the four regularly fall asleep anyway) That give Adam and I two whole hours together. We nap, we talk, we read, we snuggle, we catch up on shows we haven’t seen during the week. Mostly we just enjoy the quiet.

Once the kids are up, we either go outside or watch a movie usually. This past Sunday Adam taught the children to play a new game. Danny caught on right away. Ezzy had no clue what she was doing. And the two younger ones followed their brother. I also broke out our Cocoamotion, and taught the kids how to make hot chocolate. Nikky and Juan P. stared at the maker the whole time–they could not believe their eyes. 

After a couple of hours of family time, we have dinner and then the kids get ready for bed. That usually lands us around 7:00 or so. And the kids go to bed at 8:00. I thought Sundays would possibly be extra “work” for me, but I have found the opposite to be true. It is mostly relaxing and low-key. As long as we get the kids an hour or so of activity they are pretty awesome the whole day. I love Sundays!!!

We have had a fun-filled October so far, and it just keeps going. The past two weekends were filled with excitement and laughter. On the weekend of the 11th, we hosted a Halloween party here at the house. Don’t ask me why I had the bright idea before we were fully moved into the house, but we pulled it off. In fact, the pressure helped us get more shelves put together and hung. Our family room truly looks like one. I had drapes made for our front room. Our loft finally has bookshelves for the plethora of kids’ books we possess. And there are only a few boxes scattered throughout the house left to unpack.

The party itself was a blast. We probably had about 40 people total. Some new friends, some old friends, some neighbors, and tons of kids. Adam inflated our little bounce house, which was a huge hit in our backyard. We decorated sugar cookies (thanks Val for taking charge) and let’s just say the McCracken kids were completely enthralled. When Valerie mixed the food coloring into the icing, Danny’s eyes got really big and he said his classic, “oh, wow!” They could not believe the icing was changing color. It really blew them away when she mixed yellow and blue together to make green. Each kid frosted a cookie for the daddy who was hard at work carving a pumpkin in the other room. I am not sure how many toppings they used, but Adam had enough sugar to last him through the holidays at least.

In addition, we had pumpkin carving, a coloring corner, and an all around good time. Oh yeah, we made my sister’s famous Chili in a Pumpkin, which was the hit of the party. Everyone loved it, Jaimee!!! All in all, the kids had a blast. They are figuring out what Halloween is all about from friends at school. So now they are totally excited to dress up and trick-or-treat next weekend. We will be spending that holiday in Logan, UT. We have many friends and family there who are anxious to meet the children. So off we go on Thursday. It will be fun for the kids to experience a real fall as well. Although Logan is more like winter temps right now. :) Regardless, we are excited to see everyone.

A few more pics can be found here!