Griffin's Conversation:

On the way up the driveway from the bus stop, this was my conversation with the eldest of the bunch:
Griffin: Hey Mom!! I asked Coleman today if his mom was going crazy because she had this PTA stuff tonight just like you?

Me: Oh, yea, what did Coleman say?

Griffin: Yea, He said Ms. Andrea is going crazy too!

Me: Yep, 'Tis the season for us ALL to be going crazy!

If only the 8 year olds understood that it's not TONIGHT that's driving us crazy. Tonight includes dinner with a couple of girl friends after the PTA stuff! It's the rest of the days between now and May 21st! But there is reassurance in knowing that other people's children think their own mothers are "going crazy" just as mine think i am! Much better to know i'm not the only one!

The Fairy Came -

In my last post i mentioned how nice it would be if the "sore throat fairy" came and visited and took my sore throat away. . .
Well, i don't know about any fairies, but i do know the double-dose of zyrtec i took on Tuesday night had some effect on kicking the butt of my sore throat. YAHOO! No time for that right now.

Now Camden is another story - he's just been holding on to his yuckiness for too long. He sounds like a smoker now. The doctor called in an antibiotic since the steroid didn't give us a long-term fix. Usually my kids take the steroid an within 48 hours they are fine and dandy. This wasn't the case for sweet Camden. Might have something to do with the 3 trips to the ballfield over the weekend and not sleeping in his bed much during naptimes, BUT i'd like to just say that it was the croup not getting better and we needed an antibiotic. Then i can blame the germs, not myself. He can blame me years from now when i am helping him pay for therapy to deal with all his issues of being the 3rd baby!

Anyhow, we're trucking right along. As for the list, i've crossed off one set of 100 t-shirts, one slideshow, three embroidery orders, one meeting, and about 200 emails that needed to be sent. Oh yea, have crossed off one baseball game and one paying the babysitter too. Jeff is working on crossing off getting the yard mowed and the backyard landscaped, but. . . well. . . . truth be told, he was too busy helping me with all the above mentioned items to do that! So, we have weeds and needs-to-be-cut grass, and i'm sure the neighbors would like to file a complaint with the basically non-existent homeowner's association, but too bad. Jeff was president of one of those things one time, and we know how they really work ;-) It always pays to know the ins and outs of things!!

Off to catch up a little bit more. I've got some digitizing for projects to do and some emails to send and two orders to place. Camden is sleeping!! IN HIS BED! Maybe i should write that in the babybook??? "April 23: Mommy was at home and you were able to sleep in your bed for naptime!" That would look good in a few years, huh?

BUT, on top of all the good things being crossed off THE LIST . . .maybe i could add here that the weather is BEAUTIFUL!!! I LOVE today's weather! Tomorrow might even be HOT???? If only the embroidery machine were mobile and i could do my work outside. What's that you say??? Why don't YOU cut the grass since the weather is so nice??? Ummmm, wish i had a comeback, but all i can say is, "That AIN'T gonna happen!" We are quite the non-sex-biased family in our house . . . all chores are equal. I can bag up garbage, Jeff can iron, but grass??? NOPE ONLY MEN are allowed to cut grass! Women can work the leaf blower, the weed eater (although i don't think i ever have) but not the lawn mower - - - or at least not for the front yard -- have you seen our front yard??? NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
Enjoy your day!

Ahhhh, the end of school

I've made THE LIST. THE LIST of all the things that must happen between now and May 20th! YIKES!!!!! I've also hired THE BABYSITTER!! She will be my saving grace! SO THANKFUL FOR THE BABYSITTER!

Meetings, programs, elections, trophies,heat pressing, slideshows, gifts to embroider, more gifts ordered, t-shirt orders, baseball and soccer games, carnival, work, gifts to select, luncheon and picnic to host(on the same day) oh yea, don't forget the meeting that day, field days, pizza parties, cash & carry, graduation, well baby checkup, another luncheon to attend, mother's day, team parties. . . .

Believe me, THE LIST is in no specific order here & i'm sure not complete.
The last day of school is May 20th. I have vowed that May 21st will be STAY IN YOUR PJ DAY at the McCreary house. If you don't want to see me in my pj's, please don't come over on the 21st of May! I have not informed the Bigs about this plan as i'm sure they will want to have OTHER plans on their first day of summer vacation. The plans will be this . . . STAY IN YOUR PJ's . . . ALL DAY!!! If you'd like to rent a movie, so be it, but it will have to be pay-per-view. I am living for May 21st!!

Oh yea - Let me mention, i do LOVE my life, and my kids, and ALL my activities and projects. I just don't like how they ALL culminate between April 15th and May 20th!!
Not sure how often i'll be posting between now and May 2oth, so forgive me if you're here to find out what is happening with the Mc family. I WILL finish spring break journal, and i will post the end of the year, it might just have to wait though until PJ DAY!!!
Hope you all are enjoying the end of the school year too!

One up-to-the minute update for now . . .Camden has had croup ALL weekend, and he sounded worse today than when i took him to the doctor on Friday to get the steroids he needed. Say a little prayer that his little body will start to heal. My throat is sore tonight, so say a little prayer that the sore throat fairy visits and takes it away! I'd take time to make a pillow if i knew it was a sure-thing like the tooth fairy!

Spring Break . . . the First 3 Days!

Here's my attempt to chronicle a little of what we did . . .Beware, there are lots of pictures and lots to read, but if you're interested, here's our online and only scrapbook . . .

Saturday, April 3, 2009

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny and an Easter Egg Hunt at the Club at Deaton Creek.They hunted until the very end . . . determined to find the deeply hidden eggs. Their persistence paid off - Molly found the "silver" egg - with a dollar inside. They both left with a basket full of goodies.After touring the model homes, Camden was taking in the scenery. On Saturday, he was just starting to walk and definitely wanted a hand to hold on to.

Saturday night we loaded up with Duncan and tennis racquets and headed to the Club again. We taught Molly and Grif a little about tennis, played with Duncan at the dog park, and played on the playground. They were exausted at bedtime!

Molly learning a little. . . she loved it!Griffin after about 45 minutes on the court. Like the stroller?

SUNDAY, APRIL 5th, 2009

We packed up the car and headed to Chattanooga for an overnight. For those of you that haven't known us long, Molly had severe carsickness from the age of 18 months until her ear tubes fell out when she was 4. We re-lived the "good old days" on the way to Chattanooga. Jeff and I don't like Burger King, but decided we'd let the kids indulge since we were "on vacation." When the car stopped for the first time since leaving home at the Calhoun Burger King, Molly proceeded to puke ALL OVER her handmade Elmo Blanket that she was curled up in. Actually, i was thankful she had the blanket, can you imagine what the car would have looked like if we wouldn't have had the blanket?? Sorry, i had to post this . . . POOR ELMO!!!

Molly immediately after vomiting!!!
Who looks this pretty after being sick?

Posting this one because when Jeff saw it, he said, "Holy Crap!" It startled me he said it so loud and i wasn't sure what was wrong. . . was there a ding in the bumper i had never seen?? Was the door sprung?? NOPE! Jeff saw the top of his head for the first time in a long time, and saw a LOT of SCALP!! Rogaine, anyone??When we arrived in Chattanooga, we checked in to the hotel and picked up our tickets for the children's museum, aquarium and IMAX (we had a package deal). Well, if you know Camden at all, you know that he can not sit through an entire movie. So, we took turns going to the movie . . .Griffin and Jeff went to the first showing at 4, Molly and Heather went to the 5pm show. When we weren't watching the movie, we walked down to the river and just walked around.
Here's Molly wearing her 3D glasses. . .After the IMAX, we went back to the hotel so the kids could go for a quick swim at the indoor pool. Then headed off to dinner. They have a Cheeburger Cheeburger in Chattanooga. . . a favorite burger-joint from our Auburn days! So, we took the kids there. They loved the diner-like feel of the restaurant, and the kids meals were served in little boxes that were cardboard replicas of "oldie" cars. But their favorite part was getting to drink 3 sodas at one time! Wait - - - as i type that, i realize it makes it sound like they each HAD 3 sodas of their own. Not so. Jeff ordered a "chocolate soda" (don't ask, he's nasty like that) and the kids each had rootbeer, me too. They thought it would be cool (wrong again, GRIFFIN thought it would be cool) to drink 3 at one time, so Molly had to try it too! Oh, also just noticed, if you look closely at the bottom left of this picture, you can see a part of molly's "car" that her food was served in.

This looks like he's practicing for a talent show or something! HA!
Monday, April 6th, 2009

Monday morning we started our day at the Chattanooga Children's Discovery Museum! It is really a neat place. The first part you enter is an entire section of water-play. Building dams and levies and letting boats pass thru whatever you create. They provide water-proof aprons if you choose to wear one. It was so cool, even the adults were taking part. The rest was an array of musical/arts department, archaeology (dinosaurs), sound, art/drawing, housing around the world, and then on the roof they had pulleys and levers . . . really cool stuff. The kids had a great time.

Griffin attempting to build a dam to see if he let the water rise enough if it would overflow. Thankfully, the museum had prepared for children like Griffin and had created secret little "drains" that allowed the water to pass and not overflow!

On the top of the building in the "crows nest" - this overlooks all of Chattanooga. It was a spiraling staircase all the way up . . . kind of like the Statue of Liberty, just shorter. BUT, my thighs were still shaking when we go to the top! Three picture of this, and in every one, SOMEONE had their eyes closed. This is the best of the 3.

Griffin on the rooftop, pulling himself up in a pulley-seat.Molly inspecting some bugs in the bug/dinosaur area. Even though they were tightly caged with no way to escape, she was a little timid to stick her face up to the window and really look.Even our sweet Camden managed to have a little fun!After the children's museum, we headed over to the aquarium for a tour. . .

There are now 2 parts to the aquarium, the first side focusing on the tennessee river aquatic life -
River's Journey:
Touch tank of Sturgeon Fish
Notice what rule-followers i have . . . the sign said to ONLY touch with two fingers, look closely below at how prepared they were. . .

Molly with Scuba Steve

Freshwater Stingrays. . . who knew there was such a thing?
Camden LOVED the fish . . . ask him next time you see him, "what does a fish say?"

After the river's journey, we crossed the street for lunch at Mellow Mushroom, then headed back to go to
Ocean's Journey:

First stop: a Stingray Touch Tank
Then, a Butterfly Garden

Poor Camden just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. A belly full of pizza and a warm butterfly garden. . . who wouldn't want to take a nap?
After the butterflies, we headed to another floor to see penguins, sharks and fish, fish, fish. Camden was asleep, so we poked around until he woke up and did it all over again. We were so glad we waited, because he LOVED the penguins!

Molly "kissing" a penguin
Molly and Grif "swimming with the sharks"
I told you they were "with the sharks"
A HUGE fish with beautiful colors. He was almost glowing.
And would you believe, that the camera battery died as we tried to take pictures of Camden with the penguins. Jeff was able to capture one with my cell phone, but this is as good as it gets -

Camden brought home a stuffed penguin, and to this day, hugs it like it's his favorite. It is absolutely precious. Guess we'll talk about this trip for years to come!

That's it. We had the car packed up from earlier in the morning when we checked out and we strolled through town and climbed aboard the McCreary express to head back to Atlanta. Home just in time for bedtime.

Are you tired yet? This was just the first 3 days of spring break! I'll add the rest soon. But Chattanooga is a great little getaway from Atlanta! It was a super-fun trip. We stayed at a great hotel, so if you ever plan to go, ask us for our recommendation!

Where oh where

has my baby girl gone???

I ran across this tonight while i'm trying to clean up my computer a little. My desktop was hideous and to the point that i couldn't find documents i had saved. I HAD to tidy-up!

This is July 16, 2005. Molly was a month and a half away from turning 3. We were celebrating my mom's birthday (in Ocala) and she was surely enjoying the cake!

Chore Charts . . .

Thanks to another blog out there in the blogosphere. . . i found this website today and created some awesome online chore charts for the kids . . .
http://www.goalforit.com/

It's so easy to set them up and the kids get to log on each day and select online "stickers" to place on their chart for each activity they complete. They earn points for their chores and then go to the "moolah bank" to trade "moolah" for activities that I, the parent, put in there for trading! And I set the moolah value of each item!! LOVE IT! Check it out if your kids love the computer and you need a "reminder" for them of the things they should be helping you do!

My kids are already loving it. Molly unloaded the dishwasher in a SNAP!

HAPPY EASTER!

What a glorious day! A wonderful celebration and beautiful, no . . . .absolutely gorgeous weather to help us enjoy the celebration. I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as our family enjoyed ours! Happy Easter!

I promise i will catch up the blog very soon. We've had so much fun during spring break, i am very sad that it is over! We've been to Chattanooga, had friends spend the night, gone to Mayfield for ice cream, gone roller skating, gone to the American Girl store for a special purchase, visited a Japanese steakhouse, gone to the Atlanta History Center, eaten at an Atlanta favorite restaurant, completed all the steps in Sheep to Shawl, and lastly, spent a wonderful Easter day with family!

But until then, here's a little taste . . .A picture from my dad's camera . . . Camden at the "historic" Atlanta restaurant. Really, this restaurant doesn't have high chairs???? WHY did we go there?? I suppose because the food was incredible and the service was great, so we looked past the fact that Camden had to sit in a $15 booster seat, that was not strapped to anything, so he was wiggling all over the place. Finally, to save the meal, we gave him a plate full of ketchup to dip his array of choices in. . . notice the french fry in one hand and the green bean in the other. And YES, they have both been in the ketchup . . .multiple times!

He is soooooooooooooo proud of himself for getting his own plate and own ketchup, with very little supervision of what he did with the ketchup.

I am wondering how come the bib around his neck looks so clean??? These pictures must have been taken pretty early on. On a side note . . . I was embarassed to have to walk out of the restaurant. . . 4 times Camden reached over with his COVERED in ketchup hands, and wiped them on me. My right sleeve and entire torso of my shirt was total sludge from the ketchup wipes he had shared with me! You know you look bad when you are embarassed to walk in wal-mart. I'm sure anyone who noticed it was wondering what kind of SLOB i am??? I wish now that i had taken a picture of the shirt to post here too. And i'm wondering if we could sell these pictures to Heinz for some sort of advertisement??? Anyone know how to get in touch with Teresa Heinz-Kerry???

Happy Easter! Look for more fun from our spring break coming soon!

Friendly Fun

Last night the kids each had a friend over to spend the night and pass the time - part of our staycation for spring break. The two that came over are actually brother and sister, same age as Griffin and Molly! They all go to school and church together! GREAT friends who we have a LOT in common with! And boy, do these four know how to have fun.

I should have known when Griffin came to the pantry and said the boys needed "art supplies" that something was happening, as Griffin does NOT do art projects. But i just wrote it off that Coleman was being a good influence and encouraging Griffin to be artistic! HA HA HA HA HA!! Two boys, artistic . . . not gonna happen!

This is how they appeared about 5 minutes later . . .

Quite innocent, right? Well, Carolyn and Molly took one look at this and got ideas for themselves, and this is what happened while i cooked dinner, proof that kids will feed off each other and make matters MUCH worse all on their own . . . i will mention, that after the meager painting shown above, i did verify that they were all using WASHABLE crayola markers instead of NONwashable. For those of you not-knowing - washable will come off with baby wipes. NONwashable, do not!!

The Gang . . . Final Product

Griffin

Coleman

Carolyn

Molly

I will also note that after these pictures were taken and before we started UNfacepainting everyone, the girls did, in fact, add to what you see here. All 4 ended up having to take a bath and scrub with wash cloths because 25 babywipes each, just simply did not do the job.

BUT, another great way to pass the time . . . put on your bathing suits and shower and take a bath together. That's what the poor-folk who can't afford a pool just yet do!

All children were in bed by 9:45. Asleep by 11pm. I thought the boys might have to be separated as they just couldn't settle down, but hey, it's spring break, so who cares! This is what memories are made of!

Camden's Morning!

Playing with Q-Tips. . . among other things from the bathroom cabinet. . .isn't that every child's idea of a fun morning? Poor Camden, it always stinks to be him if mom doesn't get her shower before he wakes! FYI DFCS. . . .there is nothing harmful to children found under this sink and the child was monitored at all times!

Headlines???

So i just logged on to check the weather before i head out and this is what i find - as the HEADLINE!!! Really, is there nothing better than this happening in Georgia today?

Clayton Co. Coffee Houses Raided; 21 Arrested

Lake City police say two coffee houses weren't serving coffee at all -- and the alleged illegal activity was happening right across the street from the police station. Full Story ››

Read the story, but really, the police station should be embarrased if they were "right across the street" and it took investigators THREE MONTHS to figure this one out!!! And THAT'S why we pay taxes? I would have been happy to "solve the mystery" within 24 hours, i'm pretty sure!