Sunday at the Crabtrees

A typical Sunday at the Crabtrees:

Getting Up and Eating:
The kids will wake up around 7, although it usually takes a concerted effort by either Tiff or Todd to get Weiland to commit to opening his eyes. They all eat breakfast with Mom. (Often it is only Quinton who eats, Ellie plays with her food and taunts the boys, and Wei just sits at the table in a daze.)

Getting Dressed:
Then Quinton gets dressed, mostly by himself, and then shows Mom how great he looks, waiting for Mom to say, "Look at my handsome boy!" He then runs around the house with a smile.

By then, often accompanied by threats and/or cajoling, Weiland is ready to get dressed. Usually he complains about not wanting to go to church. Once dressed he shows Mom his clothes and Mom says, "Look at my other handsome boy!"

While Quinton and Wei are getting dressed, Ellie and Mom are putting on Ellie's dress and doing her hair. When done, she comes to show Dad her dress and Dad always tells her, "You look so pretty. I like your pretty dress." Ellie smiles and tells Mom that Dad liked her dress.

Off to Church:
By this time, Tiff and Todd are scrambling to get finished dressing and the church bag packed and we load the car and head for church twenty minutes before it begins to get a good parking space and bench.

Sacrament Meeting:
Sacrament meeting always includes a fight over a toy, Ellie complaining about many things, and three separate attempts at a potty break. Today Ellie was so upset, she yelled, pushed off the back of the bench, fell off, and then threw herself forward and hit her face on the song book holder. Todd had to take her out at that point.

Primary Time:
They then go to class; Quinton to CTR 6, which he loves; Weiland to Sunbeams, which he does not love; and Ellie to Nursery. Lately, Ellie's teacher will say when we pick her up, "Ellie was so good today. She played with others, shared toys, and didn't hit anyone." Although that is nice to hear, it makes us wonder what she does on the days they don't say anything... Weiland is often brought to one of us during Sunday School because he refuses to cooperate during sharing time. Quinton loves to run through the halls shouting what he learned in class. One day it was, "Mom! Dad! I want to be a peacemaker!" That is great. We need more of those in our home.

After Church:
When we arrive home, it is changing time and lunch time. As you can see from the picture, it is usually run-around-in-underwear-and-not-pick-up-your-clothes-time.






By now, Mom needs a nap and the kids are sent off to entertain themselves for a while. If the weather is nice, we will take a walk around the neighborhood and the kids will play outside until the hose is turned on, kids are covered in gooey mud, or they are throwing rocks into the basement window wells (and sometimes all three.)

The rest of the day is filled with game playing, sometimes Play-Doh (but not very often because it is such a huge mess to clean up), reading stories to kids, and them playing and fighting downstairs until dinner.

All in all, it is a busy day and not very restful. But just like any other day, it is really what you make of it. Tiff and Todd do their best by putting the kids to bed and playing games with friends at 8. We do what we can to keep sane.