Twinkle Light Parade

 She waved the entire parade without stopping

It is hard to see but its a car that was made to look like a train. 

Twinkle Twinkle

I finally have some time to update the blog!! The tiny teething monster is snoozing right now and the little bug is playing :)

We, as a family, can finally breath a little easier now that the semester is over!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!! It has been a pretty ruff one. It was my last semester for a while, so hopefully that makes everything easier.

We have been chugging along with our normal Christmas/holiday traditions. We were a tad late putting up lights (which has become a continuous project) and our tree because we all came down with a bug for Thanksgiving :( We took the kids to see the Twinkle Light Parade, which has become a tradition for us. We haven't made it to see the Bugg light display yet, but plan to this weekend or next.

ho ho ho

Happy Holidays

It’s that time of year again when we gather together to enjoy the holiday spirit and spend time with family. This is also a wonderful time to reflect back on the past year and remember our joys and all that we are thankful for.

We began our year by being sealed together as a family on January 2^nd. It was a wonderful experience and we were blessed to have so many come and partake of our joy.

On February 24^th we were blessed with our 2^nd child, a little boy named Maximus Myers McCracken. He has been a wonderful blessing to our family. He is now walking all around and waves hello. He enjoys following his sister around and doing everything she is doing.

Lana turned 3 this year. She has really become a big girl in the last year. She is a wonderful big sister and a big help around the house. She is full of life and energy and has recently put it all to use with dance classes. She really wants to be a ballerina. She is also very excited to start school this coming January.

Larry is busy with school working as hard as he can to graduate by next December. He was accepted to the University of New Mexico and is pursing his degree in Nutrition/Dietetics.  He became a certified personal trainer during the fall semester. He fills his spare time playing pranks and going to the gym.

Nina has been busy with school and work. She also became certified as a personal trainer in May. She has worked as a trainer at a few gyms here in town. She also watched a few kids over the year; one being Lana’s best friend Emma. She keeps busy with everyone’s activities and has started doing baking and crafts with Lana.

All in all our year has been a busy one with a lot of people we love. We look forward to the coming year and all it has to bring to us. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from our family to yours. 

Up, up and away

Since we are the poor college students were we skip events that require any type of payment. This includes the International Balloon Fiesta. Every year we find a place close enough to watch the balloons take off or wait for them to come over the neighborhood.

This year was no different. We waited for balloons to com e into the neighborhood and did our annual chase the balloon until it lands.We saw one balloon crash thanks to power lines and then we found the hot spot at the food stamp and SSN office's parking lot We watched 5 balloons land.

The kids each got a balloon card and a balloon pin. They had a good time. Once again I was in sweatpants and slippers for the events,

And he's off!!!!!!!!!

Little man has been cruising around for a few weeks now by holding onto the walls. In last last couple of weeks he has been doing it freely. We were able to capture this awesome moment on camera!!

So we will soon have a toddler on our hands.......... Now I can't wait to finish school!!!!!!!!!!

very over due post

So it has been a while since I lasted posted. I need to make more time for myself :) It's been a crazy summer with school, work and kids. For most of the summer we had an extra 3 kids (awesome kids I might add). I went back to work and my first gym closed :( but they placed me at another gym that was far away. I worked both gyms for a couple of weeks (I'm slightly crazy I suppose). I have recently got a job at a really great gym here in town as a trainer. The schedule is flexible enough that I don't miss out on being mom :)

Larry and I started school again. Larry is splitting his time between CNM and UNM. We are getting closer and closer to Larry being done!!!!!! WHOO HOOO!!! I am only taking two classes since my life is already fairly full.

The kids are doing great! Lana loves Go Diego Go and Dora the Explorer. I swear those shows have taught her things I wouldn't think to teach her. She knows a little bit of Spanish from it and has taking a love of helping/sitting with me for my Spanish homework. Lana tells us all the time she needs to do homework and will get out a notebook and pen. She is a sweetie and we love her a ton. She has been such a great big sister.

Maximus is a cruiser these days. He started holding on to furniture or objects and pulling himself up and walks all around. he even holds the walls and gets around. He has been doing this for a few weeks. Here in the last couple of weeks he has decided to start crawling. I figured he stared this so he could get from one point to another and then walk again. He really loves his sister. He wants to be anywhere his sister is. He follows her everywhere!!!

  The one handed stand man.

Summer fun somethings begun

So this summer has kept us all very busy. A good busy though. I have learned that I can in deed handle 6 kids varying in age. My oldest nephew is keeping us on our toes with normal teenager stuff. My other nephew is a home body, who I discovered has a love for baking. So far this summer, Wyatt, Lana and I have made bread, a cake and some whole wheat Spenda mini M&M cookies. Wyatt has been so happy and excited about each project. It really made Larry's and my day when he was telling his dad about everything. Here are some pictures of our end products. Note: the cake has two different types of frosting on it. lana did the pecan side and Wyatt did the cream cheese side.

Each treat was delicious and brought two wonderful smiles. I love being a mom and an auntie. Now to have Wyatt makes something else.

Here comes the summer.....

        So it has been a while since I have last blogged and their is a good reason for this. I have not just been busy, I have been overloaded. Yes I have (and Larry) done it again. We have piled as much as possible upon ourselves. It's what we are good at and we succeed at it :) So for many people summer is a time of fun in the sun, vacations and down time, for us McCrackens it means complete as much as you would in a semester in less time. We love it though and it keeps us going and gets us to sleep at night, many times in mid sentence.

       Larry is transferring to UNM this fall but is already into his major work. He has a little over a year left (I can't wait!!). He is going for a major in Nutrition (a fav. topic in our house) and is thinking of a minor in chemistry. They go along really well together and the nutrition program requires a ton of chemistry classes. He is loving his classes this semester, 3 classes and 2 labs. They are each keeping him busy. I am finishing up my Social Work degree this December (hallelujah!), although I may continue on to Highlands Univ. for more schooling but I don't know. My classes this summer are a little overwhelming but do able. I am taking 5 classes and a lab. EEK! Three of my classes are on campus. Last month I took my personal training certification test and passed. WHOO HOO! I am a certified personal trainer now. I had been working on that while I was going to school and working. I am slowly chipping away at my goals. I plan to take a fitness nutrition program here in the near future as well. Larry is working on his personal training as well. He should be finished here in a month or so.

           So not only are we going to school, we have our two little angels. They are also keeping us busy as well. Lana has a trampoline and a swing set that she has really enjoyed and she got a new puppy. His name is Scooby Doo and he has kept us pretty busy so far. Now I am sure you are telling yourself, man that's a lot but I am not through :) On top of our two little angels we have three other angels that we watch. My nephews (who arrive at 5:30 AM) are here for the summer, which I thought 13 and 12 year olds didn't need much watching. LOL. Although they are independent they still need to be reffed. We also watch our friend's daughter aka Lana's best friend Emma. Lana and Emma really know how to keep a house busy :) It's a ton of fun though. Thankfully Larry is here to tag team with me.

        Since Larry and I have our schedules worked out pretty well there is even some time for the gym. Oh what a wonderful bliss hour it is. I love the gym, there is nothing like lifting weights to clear the mind and strengthen the body. My weights have gone down since I stopped lifting about 3 months into this last pregnancy. Larry and I have also been riding our bikes to school. That is some nice alone time as well. Somehow we achieve all of this, plus our mini projects and somehow get our homework done. Mini project= 1994 5.0 Mustang. We also have a 1968 Cougar (Vicky you may remember this machine cruising our neighborhood). Both are at a stand still until we are completely fixed on a good schedule.

     I can't wait until we are done with school, but I have no clue what we will do with the extra time. We are hoping to put Lana in ballet this November. She really wants to dance and we are putting the word out that a wonderful present would be a month of dance lessons for her. That means less stuff in our home and our pickle can live her dream.

   Thankfully Larry did some housework while I was at school today, kids are down for naps and I could finally write! I hope to have some pictures sometime soon!! If I am MIA for a while that means this semester got crazy.

Amen

Tonight was a huge milestone in Buggies life. I asked her who she wanted to say the night night prayer and she was a being a weirdo. So finally I asked her if she would like to say it and she agreed. So I began telling her to start :Dear Heavenly Father:, well she repeated it which was wonderful bad thing is she felt the need to scream it. The whole prayer she screamed. Even Amen...... now I am glad she is saying her prayers but hopefully next time she can say it in a quiet indoor voice. I didn't even know she had started the prayer until Larry said something. Our sweet princess is growing on up.

one step, two step, more steps

So Larry and I celebrated our 3 year mark being married on April 21st. I am very grateful to have such a loving and caring husband, who is also a wonderful father. For those that don't know it has been a long road for us and many many years of friendship to get to where we are today. Those that have stayed by our sides: we are indebted to your kindness and support. I know many people have had to listen to me over the years yap my mouth over the "cute boy". I still feel sixteen around home, and I think I may feel like an eternal teenager because of him.

Now for a condensed version of our "courtship":

I first met Larry at youth way back in late 1996. My friend Ruth was talking to his buddy Mike, who let the cat out of the bag that Larry liked me. Well once that knowledge was made known to Ruth she did everything she could to set us up. Luckily Larry and I really hit it off on the phone, and soon he was tying up my parents phone lines for hours on end. We went on our first "date" sometime in March of 1997 to see Grease when it was released in the theaters. I say "date" because I wasn't 14 yet and my mom dropped me off and two friends went with me.
We dated for some time then broke up. We stayed good friends for the next couple of years, but grew apart in social activities and drifted away from our friendship.I would call him occasionally to check in on him and he would do the same to me. So for the last couple of years of high school it was a phone call here and there. I did see his buddy Mike's mom at church and she would keep me updated on how the two were doing.
After I graduated high school he started contacting me again and I would occasionally receive the phones calls. More of the time my roommate got the calls. We started talking more once I started college in the fall of 2002. By Thanksgiving of 2002 we had finally saw each other again. The last time I had seen him before that was probably sometime in 2000. We met up and instantly hit it off again. We dated once again this time for a short 3 or 4 months before he pulled a disappearing act on me. He did give me a promise ring and promised that when the time was right he would marry me :( I had to wait for him for a different type of mission then most girls. He needed time to figure himself out and wanted to protect me.
After the break up I was pretty devastated and it took me a while to move on and be okay. We both went our separate way for a short amount of time. I made my mistakes and he did his. We lived and learned what we needed. I had moved away for a short period of time and came home to visit my family when you wouldn't believe it, I ran into him. I happened to be going to get my dad for a lunch date and saw a small care accident and it was him! I was excited, scared and frustrated all at the same time. I told my dad about the run in and he asked why I didn't stop to say hello (my parents are old school and make small talk with anyone they know). As I was re-telling the story to my younger brother the house phone rang. After all the years he still remembered my parents number! First thing he did was apologize. Seems as though he didn't want to hurt my standards or pull me down and felt that it wasn't the right time for us. So it took him a little more then 2 years it happened. We began talking on the phone again in May 2005. Since then we have done a lot of talking. From May 2005- January 2007 we saw each other twice, but talked on the phone contently. I must have been his New Years resolution because we have talked and been together since then.

This is very condensed because so much has happened to us. I love him with all my heart and I know I can trust him with my life. It has been an uphill battle to get to where we are today but I am grateful for every moment of it. I have learned a lot about myself, the atonement, forgiveness, laughter, forgetting, and living because of him. I look forward to the next 60+ years with him and some more kiddos.

Now for the cools, as we say. We spent our anniversary being fairly boring. Larry went to school I hung out with the kids. Larry did come home early from school to spend time together though. His mom came over and watched the kids while we went out. We took the motorcycle for a cruise down to El Pinto restaurant, which was very nice.  We had a nice meal and a good time. It was nice to get out. We then cruised around some and then went up to the temple. We sat for a bit and talked. It was very windy that day so our ride down to El Pinto was, needless to say, exciting. We then came home and cuddled our munchkins and went to bed. Even though the date was simple it was very enjoyable and relaxing. It is something we need to do more often.

Mommy-hood and more

So our new edition to the family has been one heck of a hit!! Lana absolutely loves her baby brother. She will be a great big sister. She is always wanting to help with diaper changes, getting him in his car seat, giving him his blanket and pacifier and she likes to cuddle while he eats. She is always kissing him and hugging him. The poor little guy doesn't get much sleep thanks to his big sis. She is more then ready to have him up and playing. Although we have explained many times he isn't big enough to play yet, she still insists on dancing with him.

Since she has been such a wonderful sister we treated her to a trip to the Natural History museum. It was Maximus' first big trip out of the house. I was pretty tired and sore after carrying him the whole time but it was worth it :)

We have really enjoyed being a family of four. It has been a little more work then before but worth every moment. Lana is a ton of help. Two-three days a week I watch Lana best buddy and they keep each other fairly occupied and busy. Two toddler/preschoolers are busy people! This summer Larry and I are also anticipating our two nephews to be with us as well. Those two are a huge help with the smaller ones :) We have discovered we can handle 6 or so children but we don't know if we want that many yet........Over spring break we finally painted our house, and had more then just our two kids here :) I can multi-task which is great.

Our house is no longer the ugly turquoise house any longer!! We have a nice brown normal New Mexican home :) It makes me very happy. It was a ton of work and Larry and I were both very tried after all the work. We had some help from Robert and Stone.

This is from when it was primes. I will blog another day about the painting. Right now Mr. Maximus is cranky and mad because his sister decided to jump on him...............

Maximus Myers

We welcomes Maximus Myers McCracken on February 24th at 11:47AM. He was 21 1/4 inches and the hospital said he weighed 5lbs 15oz (which later was determined as a mistake). He actually weighed 7lbs and closer to 12 or 15 oz. He was a big boy :) He left the hospital at 7lbs 5oz. The labor was fairly easy and went quickly. I stayed home for most of the laboring which made it easier to relax. 

                                             

Unfortunately the little guy decided to go potty while he was inside and the NICU team had to be called in case he swallowed the meconium. Not only did he swallow it but he swallowed too much amniotic fluid as well. The poor little guy spent the first couple of days in the NICU getting everything out of his lungs. Thankfully the staff at the Lovelace Women's Hospital is amazing and he was well taken care of. The staff at the hospital really impressed us and really kept us informed. We were able to bring little Maximus home on the 27th. He seems to be doing pretty good. He had a few respiratory problems while he was in the hospital but we haven't seen anything yet at home.                                                                                                  

We are so happy to have him home with us. Lana has loved having her brother home and spends much of her time giving him kisses and wanting to just give him loves. She is always asking if she can hold him and likes to climb into the recliner with me while I feed him. She decided the other day she would suck on my arm. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was hungry. Apparently I leak milk everywhere. :)

Almost there!!!

It's been a long time since I have updated the blog. Well I am super pregnant and ready to pop :) We are both ready to have our little guy join our family and move on to the next chapter of this adventure. We had waited until the last couple of weeks to get Maximus' room prepared but now we have it and are waiting on him. We thought he would surely join us weeks ago. I dropped about 3 or so weeks ago and have been graced with the Braxton Hicks.
Here we are trucking along at 39 weeks and almost 1/2 weeks. The contractions are coming more often then they were so it can't be too much longer! Lana is pretty excited about the baby and tells us all the time stuff is for the "little baby".

To eternity and beyond !!!

We made it!!! Larry, Lana and I were sealed together on January 2nd in the Albuquerque, New Mexico LDS temple. It was such a wonderful and beautiful experience. It was worth every moment in our lives that lead up to getting there! Larry and I did our endowments the same day as the sealing. Although it was a long day it was worth it and the time seemed to fly. Both events were beautiful and worth all the work it has taken to get there!

        Larry and I were lucky enough to have two wonderful people who have impacted our lives in many ways, go threw with us as our escorts. We appreciate the love and support Vicky and Sebastian have for us and for their wonderful spouses who allowed us to stealing them away for the morning. We feel so grateful for them being there with us. We are grateful for all the people who attended the endowment and the sealing. Having that support there is priceless.

We have spent so much of our life together dreaming of this moment. It is the one thing I wanted more

then anything since I was a little kid. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful and loving man in my life that I have been able to share this great experience with! He is one terrific guy who I love more the anything!         

We were even more grateful for our little angel! She is the cutest little angel ever! She was so well behaved and calm while she was with us. Although we only saw her briefly, she was being so good. She looked so beautiful in her little dress. I loved even more that the first words out of her mouth when they opened the door was "mama". What wonderful words!! She didn't want to leave when it was time, which really touched my heart :) She loved playing outside and looking at the "waterfall". She is a cutie pie. We take occasional strolls at the temple and she loves it!                          

I was so excited and thrilled to have my childhood best friend come down to be with me on this journey. I kept crying all the way up to her arrival because of how grateful I was for her being there.

We are so happy for our little family. This was an experience worth everything we have worked for. Its an experience that we can only agree with Spencer W. Kimball on when he said "It wouldn't be far to crawl if one knew what he was getting and what he was missing if he didn't go." What a blessing to our life! We love our life and only want to continue changing for the good.