The Kracinski Family

Luke Pictures

2010-03-09T14:39:00.002-06:00

Luke Edward Kracinski

2010-03-05T10:36:00.001-06:00

Baby Luke was born February 12, 7:33 pm. He weighed in at 9lbs. 8oz. and was 21 inches long. Labor was induced and lasted 13 1/2 hours. I got the epidural early so it was fine up until the end and then I felt a lot of pain with the contractions. Mamaw Cheryl was able to come up and be there for the delivery. She was an awesome help for us. She did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and took care of Jake and Jordan too. I'll admit, I cried when she left. Grandma Pat has also been a big help in taking the kids to school when I couldn't drive, and doing laundry and cleaning.
Luke is 3 weeks old today and it is getting easier. He is a very good baby, easy to console for the most part (except for when he has a tummy ache). Aunt Holly came up to visit last week also. I'm so grateful for friends who have delivered meals to us and come by to visit. We are so blessed!

Myrtle Beach 2009

2009-07-14T11:16:00.002-05:00

We had an awesome time in Myrtle Beach. We left Friday the 3rd and drove to Knoxville. Saturday the 4th we got to Myrtle Beach in the afternoon. Jake was able to bring up Kaleb and Slater on Tuesday the 7th. The kids loved playing together in the ocean and the lazy river. The weather was pretty cloudy most of the time and on Thursday it rained all day and was chilly. At night we would go out to eat, get ice cream, play miniature golf and go to Alligator Adventure (not every night of course). Dee and Eric golfed 2 of the days. Hunter and her friend went parasailing. The kids were content to swim all day. We had a great time and hope to go back next year! Friday everyone left and we went to a plantation a couple of hours away. Eric and I love history and always try to fit something like that in. I'll have to post those pics on a different blog since I can only get so many per blog.

Spring Getaway

2009-05-03T18:29:00.004-05:00

Wow it's been a long time! I guess I'm terrible at keeping up with this. Anyway, last week we spent 4 days down at Mom's in West Baden Springs. Friday we went to Spring Mill State Park and had a picnic and then walked on the 2-mile "rugged" trail that took us back to Pioneer Village. It's an old village from sometime in the 1800's (it's terrible that I can't remember exactly). We got to go in the old houses, tavern, drugstore, mercantile, mill, blacksmith shop etc. I'm fascinated with the way people lived back then. Saturday we went to Lake Patoka and tried to walk on more trails, but weren't successful. The trail got smaller and smaller and then disappeared altogether, and we were tired of brushing ticks off. Sunday Eric and I stayed at our favorite hotel and took the historical tour. Everyday we were there was sunny and in the mid 80's. It was gorgeous with the purple dogwood trees and the leaves just coming out (I'm sounding too much like my mom now!) We came home Monday to a torrential downpour and jury duty on Tuesday...back to reality. It's so nice to get away from time to time.

A new pair of old shoes

2009-01-27T08:32:00.002-06:00

Eric went to small group last Thursday night by himself since I was working. He said at the end they were going around the room and praying individually. The man who went first was Mike. He's an older guy, a security guard who works nights, and he's a little different. So he prayed and when he was done, got up, crossed the room, and headed upstairs. Eric thought it was strange because everyone else was still praying, but he thought "whatever". Then he heard him rustling around upstairs and the front door opening and closing. So Mike left group a little early. So when they were ALL done praying, Eric said his goodbyes and headed upstairs to find...his shoes were missing. Mike had taken Eric's shoes and left his! The funny part is, they don't even wear the same size! Mike's shoes are a good 1/2 size bigger than Eric's. So Eric wore home an old pair of big shoes that weren't his. I cracked up when he told me the story. He still doesn't have his shoes back.

It's Frickin Freezing!

2009-01-17T07:03:00.002-06:00

Thursday school was cancelled due to dangerously cold temperatures. The highest I saw the temp. get without the windchill was -7. Friday was the same thing although by the time I left work it was 0 and I could tell it was warmer! Crazy. This morning Eric is getting up to go to work and discovers we have a leak in the basement from frozen pipes. It happens to be in the crawl space where the duct work is for the air conditioning. So in order to even fix it, someone has to remove the ducts! So off he goes to work and here we are with no water. Stuff like this always happens when he's at work! I'm frustrated.

2009-01-14T17:14:00.002-06:00

Today Jake told me that I was on the computer (facebook) too much and that it is my weakness. He said I need to quit letting my weakness shine. He's right! Although I haven't even been on the computer since Friday and today is Wednesday so I don't think that's too terribly bad. I had to work the last 2 days and so I guess I felt like I was just catching up. He says the funniest things. Yesterday when I was at work I was talking to him on the phone and he said "did you make any friends today Mom?" Cute.

A Visit to Santa and the Reindeer Poinsettia

2008-12-21T16:43:00.005-06:00

The first Saturday in December Grandma Pat and I take the kids to see Santa. He is at a nursery and it's pretty chilly! You're supposed to let them know if you're coming and they will have gifts for the kids to unwrap. After we stand in line and the kids get their pictures taken, then we go outside to see the real reindeer. It's really neat and the kids love it.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

2008-12-09T08:39:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving this year was at Aunt Marilyn and Uncle John's in Indianapolis. We went down Wednesday and stayed at Dee and Holly's. We had dinner and then the cousins went looking for a house to break into. It's become a tradition. We either look for a house that's being built, or an old abandoned one. We don't actually break in, we only go in if it's not locked. My sister found this really old one that was huge and empty a couple of years ago. Then one year I wasn't there they found a huge house, mansion, from the eighties that was empty. This year came up kinda empty so I had to settle for an abandoned house across the street that was disgusting. It has been for sale but not surprisingly hasn't sold. It was dirty and moldy and what in the world is wrong with us? I don't know what our fascination is with empty houses, but I can't wait to do it again next year! The kids had a ball playing with Madison and Mallory, Austin and Hunter. Jake even lost his tooth that night when he hit his tooth on Austin's leg playing. We also played Balderdash with Uncle John and some more cousins. Friday Holly and I went shopping at Circle Centre Mall. It wasn't too bad. Friday night I had dinner with Brittany. Then Saturday we came home. We all had a great time except for Jordan getting sick and puking and pooping all night Friday.

Daddy's Butty Butt Sitter

2008-11-16T09:50:00.003-06:00

TRICK OR TREAT

2008-11-11T07:33:00.005-06:00

Halloween this year was unseasonably warm and beautiful. Kids started coming to the door around 3:30. The kids had their costumes on and couldn't wait to get out there themselves. Jake loved passing out the candy. We were waiting for Grandma and Papa to get there so they could see the kids trick or treat. Jake went as Darth Vader and Jordan surprisingly went as Curious George! She always wants to dress up as a princess so I was teasing her and told her she would be a monkey for Halloween and then that's what she decided to be. Up here people go all out decorating for all holidays, Halloween especially.

More Hotel Pictures

2008-11-09T07:41:00.002-06:00

I forgot to post the inside of the atrium in this hotel. It has a glass ceiling and it looks like you're outside. It's just something you would have to see yourself to appreciate.

Anniversary Getaway

2008-11-08T07:50:00.002-06:00

This blog is frustrating me! I just typed a huge blog about what we've done in anniversaries past and what we did this year and suddenly it disappeared! So I guess I will paraphrase this time. We just stayed at the West Baden Springs Hotel in West Baden Springs, Indiana. My mom watched the kids for the night so we could getaway. This old hotel was built in the 1800's and was known for it's mineral springs. Movie stars, politicians, and other wealthy folk would stay there to bathe in and drink the mineral springs. It also has a casino. The springs aren't the big draw anymore, but they still sell the bottled mineral water and they have a spa with all kinds of services using the water. The hotel was closed during the great depression and didn't reopen as a hotel until the late 1990s. It sat empty for many years. Eric and I went to the casino but didn't stay long. Neither of us wanted to sit and feed money into a slot machine and just watch it disappear. In the morning I had a manicure and pedicure at the spa and it was the best one I've ever had. I can't wait to go back!

Jakey's Birthday!

2008-11-02T16:25:00.004-06:00

I'm so far behind! Jake's birthday was October 19th and he turned 6. We celebrated on the 18th at the JumpZone in Mokena, Illinois. We invited his kindergarten class and of course our friends the Laneys and Melvilles. My Mom was there also. He had a blast. It's an awesome place to have a birthday party for kids. They have huge inflatables for the kids to jump in, climb up, slide down etc. We had that room for 1 1/2 hours and then moved into the party room where we had pizza and his ice cream cake. They do all the setting up and cleaning up which is great. The only problem was we only had that room for 1/2 hour I think, so there wasn't time to open his presents. We had to do that at home. He didn't mind but some of the kids wanted to see his reaction to their gifts. He loved everything and got too much! Jordan is looking forward to having her party there in May, and she's already asked for a Spiderman party! I have 6 months to change her mind.

The Children's Farm

2008-10-31T07:49:00.004-05:00

Saturday the 18th when my Mom was here we went to the Children's Farm in Palos Park. The kids were able to pet ducks, rabbits, a donkey, pony and horses, goats, pigs, cows, sheep and chickens. Then we took a hayride back to the pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins. It started out a beautiful day and then quickly clouded up and got cold!

Grandparent's Day

2008-10-16T17:04:00.006-05:00

Today was Grandparent's Day at Jake and Jordan's school. My Mom came up last night so she could go and Eric's Mom was also there. This is the first year they've actually had grandparents there. Last year Eric went just so they would have someone there. We started off at Calvin Church across the street and preschool through 8th grade each took turns on stage singing and a couple of bands also played. Last time Jordan was on stage she would not sing. Once she caught our eyes, she stared straight ahead and became a zombie. This year we tried not to make eye contact and she ended up singing the last 2 songs. Jake on the other hand has never been shy and I'm pretty sure he talked throughout the entire thing. After the "concert" we went to the school and spent time in each of their classrooms. The kids loved having both grandmas there!

Random Stuff

2008-10-01T20:04:00.005-05:00

I haven't updated in over a week. I'm slipping further and further behind. Well I was out of town for the weekend and I've been studying for ACLS recertification which I take this Friday. That's advanced cardiovascular life support. Anyway, I'm just putting up some random pictures. The apple is one we got at the orchard, and what can I say? Jordan is going to start ballet and tap in November and we went ahead and bought her leotard and ballet and tap shoes. The kids are also both playing soccer on the same team. They both love it. Jake has made all the goals for his team (although Jordan insists she made one that we didn't see). Today though Jake came off the field with a scowl and a bad attitude. I asked him what was wrong and he said "I'm tired of them telling me what to do. They're so bossy!" Oh brother.

Living Passionately

2008-09-23T13:05:00.003-05:00

Eric told me Facebook has replaced my blog so I thought I'd update. This week in our series on One Month To Live we're focusing on living passionately. If we knew we had one month to live, we would experience crystal clarity about how to prioritize our time. If you waste your time, you waste your life because time is your life. So this week I have committed to spending more time with my kids. Not just for this week, I hope I will keep it up. I did play dolls with Jordan, and read books with both of them. We rode bikes and did homework. I am making a conscious effort to listen to them when they're trying to tell me something and remember that they are so much more important than Facebook, the internet, TV, my ipod. It feels so much better to cut out so many things that just aren't important that consumed so much of my time. I have to say that I'm not just doing this by my own willpower. By staying connected to God and keeping a strong relationship with Him I'm able to keep up the changes I'm making. I really recommend One Month To Live - Thirty Days to A No-Regrets Life by Kerry and Chris Shook.

Living the Dash

2008-09-16T18:40:00.004-05:00

Ugggghhhh! I just typed a really long blog and went to add a picture and lost it! Anyway, we started a new series at church called One Month To Live - Living the Dash. It was so good and so thought provoking. The dash by the way is what comes between your birthdate and your date of death on your headstone. The dash represents our life. So I'm getting a little deep here but it really gave me a new perspective on living. If I knew I only had one month to live I would live so differently. To look at one aspect, I would spend more time with my kids actually playing with them and letting them know I enjoy being with them. So much of my day is just dashing to live instead of living the dash. If I'm not at work, I'm running here and there and basically looking forward each day to getting the kids to bed so I have time to myself. I feel bad saying that. If I were laying on my death bed though I know I would regret not spending more time with them. Of course there are other ways I would live differently if I only had one month to live, but right now I want to focus on changing the way I spend time with my kids. I want to play dolls with Jordan when she asks and read books with Jake, take them to the park and ride bikes. I've been told over and over how fast kids grow up and before you know it, they're teenagers and not interested in being with Mom and Dad so much. How true that is. In one month we'll be celebrating Jake's 6th birthday! I'm rambling on and this is really different from what I wrote before. Oh well. Psalm 39:4-5 says "Lord remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered. How fleeting my life is. You've made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire life-time is just a moment to you. At best each of us is but a breath." It's good to keep that in perspective and live the dash!

Fall Fest and Apple Orchard

2008-09-07T16:49:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we went to the Frankfort Fall Fest with our friends the Laneys. It sure didn't feel like fall though. Technically it's still summer. It was in the 90's and very hot. There was a carnival that the kids loved, a parade, and lots of craft booths that the kids did not love! (Or the husbands). I would have loved to shop more had it not been for the heat, the crowd, and the kids and men wanting to eat. As we were leaving, we stopped by a tent that was spraying water to cool you off. Ever since I took a picture of Jordan all wet, she has been asking when am I going to put it on the computer. So here she is!

Yesterday we went to Kuiper's Family Farm and Apple Orchard in Maple Park, Illinois. That was the only weekend day we had off together to go this month. Unfortunately it was too early for the pumpkin farm to be open so we just picked apples and went to the gift shop. They have the most delicious apple cider donuts! Grandma and Papa went with us and I think they wondered why we drove for nearly an hour just to pick apples! Jake had gone on a field trip the day before with school to a different apple orchard so we are set for the year. Our whole refrigerator is stocked full of apples. Even though we each picked our own bags, I still had to buy my favorite - Honeycrisp in the gift shop.

Spiderman

2008-09-04T21:11:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated in awhile. I discovered Facebook and have become quite addicted. It's so much fun. I think I have 11 friends on there now and some who haven't yet responded including Hunter Dane! I thought I would put a couple of pictures up from earlier this year. In February we took the kids to Navy Pier to see Spiderman, one of Jake's favorite superheroes. He got called up on stage and had to close his eyes and answer what colors were in Spiderman's uniform. Then he got a prize. He was so excited. I will get around to downloading (uploading?) more pictures soon.

School Time

2008-08-29T16:29:00.005-05:00

Wednesday was the first day of school for both Jake and Jordan. As you can see in the picture though, only Jordan is dressed. Jake on his first official day of school, his first day of kindergarten, had strep throat! I was in denial and quite upset that he would be missing his first day of his school career. I was determined he was going to go. He gets fevers every so often and no other symptoms so I thought that was what this was. We went to open house on Tuesday night and the whole time he complained that he just wanted to go home. After still having a pretty high temp. Wednesday morning I gave in to the fact that he just couldn't go to school. What kind of Mom would that have made me? So I took him to the Doctor where it was determined he did have strep throat. Poor thing. He never even complained of a sore throat. He was still not well enough to go on Thursday, so today was his official first day of Kindergarten! Jordan loves preschool as well. She goes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Smells at the Gym

2008-08-26T13:33:00.004-05:00

Hi Amanda. I'm pretty sure you're the only one who reads this so I'm just writing to you. Today I was at the gym on the treadmill and this older fellow was next to me. We pretty much started at the same time. Well maybe a good 15 minutes into it when he had worked up a good sweat, it started to really smell like a pig farm. This has happened to me several times now and I always knew there was some older man next to me but today he was right next to me. My plan was to walk for 45 minutes which turned out to be his plan too. Today I got a good look at him and I will strategically pick my treadmill next time. I am not kidding or exaggerating when I say a pig farm. I was getting madder by the minute because this keeps happening and I can't breathe. I had to turn my face the other direction and cover one nostril. I nearly cut my walk short but since I keep gaining weight (17 pounds and counting), I pressed on. One day I was next to a constant farter which thoroughly irritated me. You're on the treadmill, working out, taking in all this extra oxygen and someone's disgusting gas along with it! So on another note, at the beginning of the year I weighed in at 110. As of today....127. I wouldn't care about that except that I can't fit into a lot of my clothes now. I used to do weights for 1 hour, then cardio for 35 minutes. Now I decided to flip that and do weights for 30 minutes and cardio for 1 hour. Any suggestions?

Mean Girls

2008-08-25T16:55:00.003-05:00

I'm hesitant to blog if I don't have a picture to go along with it, but there's not always a picture to go with every story I guess. Anyway, I was helping out in Kid's Church Saturday night. I love going to church on Saturday nights! I happened to be in the 4-yr-old room with Jordan. It was me and another lady who had never helped out before and we had 20 4-yr-olds! One of which was autistic and another one was physically handicapped. It wasn't easy, but I really enjoyed it. There were however some very cliquey girls. I didn't know girls could be stuck-up at the age of 4, but they can! There are 2 little girls who will only play together and will exclude everyone else. They brought in a 3rd girl on this particular night though. (This is the 4th time I've done kids church so I know it's not an isolated incident.) They were playing with a play kitchen and wouldn't let any of the other kids play there at all. I felt so bad for the autistic boy who attempted to play there and was yelled at. The poor boy doesn't speak as it is. Jordan clung to me all night. I asked her why she didn't play with any of the other kids and she said "because they don't be my friend." I felt so bad for her. She is shy just like me. I hope she won't have a hard time making friends because of it. I want to protect her and Jake both from ever getting their feelings hurt but I know that's impossible. Jake on the other hand doesn't have a shy bone in his body. He is very sensitive though and gets hurt easily. I think a lot of times he comes on too strong for most kids. Okay I seem to be rambling and don't know where I'm going with this blog. Next time I'll look for a picture.

2008-08-17T13:59:00.004-05:00

Today is my birthday! It's hard to believe how old I am. I don't feel 35. I was telling Eric I remember so clearly being 15 and going into my sophomore year in high school. We had just moved to Fishers and I was going to be starting at Hamilton Southeastern. It just doesn't seem that long ago! Certainly not 20 years. That's ridiculous. So if those 20 years went by that fast, next thing I know I'm going to be celebrating my 55th birthday and remembering my 35th like it was yesterday. Today Eric is working so we celebrated yesterday. He and the kids made me dinner and a cake. Then they sang happy birthday. It was a really good day. This morning Jake woke me up and wished me happy birthday then he told Jordan she could have a chocolate donut if she did the same.

Fire Stuff and a Toothbrush

2008-08-14T17:24:00.004-05:00

So Eric asked me a while back if I put any pictures on here of him. So here he is at one of his fires. He loves it when they get a big fire. He'll come home and put his head in my face and ask me if his hair smells like smoke. He does this several times throughout the day.

On a different subject, today I was reading my cousin's blog and she said as she was brushing her teeth this morning, her 3-year-old told her with a straight face, " I put that in my booty". She said "WHAT, WHY?" and her little girl said because it was scratchy. She headed promptly to Wal-Mart for a new toothbrush. I can't stop laughing. The little girl in the picture with Jordan on the left is the toothbrush vandal.

Marengo Cave

2008-08-09T15:28:00.003-05:00

This past week we went down to my Mom's in southern Indiana. On Wednesday we went to Marengo Cave. The tour was about 40 minutes. It was really cool. None of us had ever been in a cave before. We were told by the tour guide that this particular cave was discovered in 1883 by a 15-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother. They had discovered a sinkhole in the woods and snuck out of the house with candles and went exploring. Jake could not get to sleep that night for thinking of that young girl and her brother sneaking out of the house without telling their mom where they were going. My mom has a Scarlett O'Hara doll and he was afraid the doll was going to come to life and ask him to go explore a cave. The things that scare them!

VBS

2008-07-31T18:26:00.003-05:00

This week was VBS. It started Sunday night and ended last night. It was awesome, but good grief was it late. The kids had to be there at 6:00 and it didn't let out until 9:30! Normally the kids are in bed by 8:00 so they've been extra crabby. They had 900 kids attend this year from preschool to junior high age. Junior high kids did their own thing, but preschool to 5th grade each went up on stage to sing one song they had learned. I had to drag Jordan up there and then run down the steps. When I turned to look at her she was standing right in front crying. She ended up coming down the steps and then eventually going back up there when she got a little braver and finished the song with some dance moves and all. Of course Jake had no problems being on stage at all.

By Cracky

2008-07-27T13:56:00.003-05:00

This is an old picture of Jake. This is early on when he was potty training. Eric happened to walk by the bathroom and saw this. In case you can't see it, there's toilet paper sticking out of his crack! Cracked me up.

1st Post

2008-07-25T21:21:00.004-05:00

This is my first post. I don't know who will read or want to read what I write, but I like reading Amanda's blog so why not? Amanda does such a good job of downloading pictures and videos and writing and I want to do that too. It also makes me feel more connected to her and Dan and the girls since I hardly ever get to see them.
So Eric and I saw the Dark Knight tonight. It was really good, but a little too long for me. I usually would not want to see a Batman movie, but everyone I talked to said it was awesome so I wanted to see it. Eric loved it too.
I wanted to try to upload a picture, but I don't know how yet.