Really, It's February?

Where Oh Where did January go?
We had lots of fun in January, including an entire week with no school, unexpectedly, and now we're battling through what feels like really long weeks, although we are just really back in a "normal" schedule. A few pics from our snow days and fun times last month!

Camden and his best friend, Gracie!
SNOW cones. . . Literally:
Just so we remember how big they were in Jan. 2011 when we had 6 inches of snow!
And of course, to remember how beautiful everything looked. I love a snow covered yard and house! Now, the driveway . . . that was another story. Took days for it to be truly serviceable again!
We had a great week! We ventured out, slowly, a couple of times; watched lots of movies; burned enough firewood that now we need to restock, and had a great week just together as a family!

June 2010

We kicked off June with lots of fun. Jeff had the camera, so i have no pictures of Molly and myself, but Griffin and Jeff went to Auburn for two games of the College World Series. They saw Auburn vs. Jacksonville State and Clemson vs. Southern Miss. Griffin got two autographs of guys that signed with the major leagues the week after the world series! Camden stayed with Khaki and Papa and Molly and I went to the cabin - thanks to the Brauns! Jeff and Griffin picked up Camden and met us at the cabin when they were done with their overnight in Auburn. .. when Griffin naps, you know he MUST be tired!
Taking the field:

(Griff and Jeff had purchased tickets to both games, but did a little spiritwear shopping when they arrived in Auburn). While at J&M Bookstore, the girl working the register asked if they had tickets to which Jeff replied yes. She then told them that was too bad because the owner had been given tickets, but also had a tee time he didn't want to miss, so he had 2nd row seats to Clemson game! She was kind enough to "exchange" their tickets for the better seats and what a thrill that was to sit right the Clemson dugout!
Camden is just like the rest of the men in this family and L-O-V-E-S ribs! TASTY!
BIG BITE!
As i mentioned in a previous post . . . we love spring/summer fruit! Taking a bite out of our first watermelon of the season!
Camden has already learned how to enjoy every last DROP!
Jeff has to travel just a few times each year, so we kept busy while he was in Seattle for business. We visited the new Babyland General and met some new friends:

The doll in the blue and white dress sitting next to Molly is my doll that i "adopted" in 1981! I was only 5 years old. She is one of the "original" dolls. If you visit, check out the cases in the lobby of "originals" and you'll see why Molly is not allowed to play with Pauline very often!
Griffin despised having to visit with all those babydolls, but he found a special place "all his own" so we had to stop for a photo-op!After Babyland and a little further in the car, we made it to Unicoi State Park! We have a favorite swimming hole and picnic area that we try to visit a few times each year and we always take pictures so we can see how the kids grow! Doesn't matter what time of year it is, or how old they are, they (we) still love the creek! Lots of memories are held in this small section of the creek! Birthday celebrations, father's days, and just trips just for fun!!!
Shew, doesn't matter if it's winter or the dead of summer - the water is still C-O-L-D!
Skipping rocks!
As of these pictures, we felt like summer had just started, but now that it's the middle of July, i can't believe summer is so close to being over! Makes me so very sad! We WILL make the most of these last three weeks!

May 2010

Completely out of order (I am so frustrated with how blogger is loading pictures), but at least you'll be able to see what happened in May.

May 25th: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!! YAY! We can't wait for summer to start - can't you tell by Griffin's face?

I hosted a few luncheons, picnics, receptions, etc in the month of may. This is a pic of all the supplies i purchased (and thankfully was reimbursed for) during the month of May! A hot dog lunch for 100+ 4 and 5 year olds, a school-wide picnic for 240 children and their families, a retirement reception, and a team party/cookout (oh yea, wasn't reimbursed for that one though), and supplies for a graduation for 100+ 4 and 5 year olds!

Griffin accepting his trophy from "the coach" after a great spring baseball season! This is our back deck!
Batting during a travel-ball game! No trophies involved here, just F-U-N!
After the pool was kind-of finished:
Jeff enjoying the fruits of his labor:
A dance recital and two precious friends (visit this one here) enjoying their rewards for a great performance!
WHY was spongebob squarepants the theme song for Molly's recital dance? My LEAST favorite cartoon of just about anything on TV! And yellow - not her best color!
Teacher appreciation/Mother's Day gifts! Bird feeders that we made out of bowls, saucers, and spoons. They must be "covered" or refilled after rain or else, but darn, aren't they cute?
Just a little taste of one of the many construction issues we faced during pool construction! And as i post all these pictures, i will say, we were told and promised that our pool would be FINISHED by May 27th - "at the latest" and it is July 18th and it is still not finished! Can you say FRUSTRATED???

April 2010

It's April which means FRESH FRUIT! We love spring and summer in our house for all the yummy things it brings to our table! We avoid vegetables at all costs if we can get our 5 with fruit only! Washington Farms is a short drive from here, so we visited them on several occasions and picked our own strawberries! They are absolutely the best in the world to go straight from the vine to our mouths. There's even a few animals to visit when you're done picking!

A baby cow that tried her best to lick Camden some kisses!: Camden broke all rules (as usual) and ate as many strawberries as he picked! The fields are huge and it wasn't crowded anytime we went, so he'd tromp up and down the rows and just snack away!
Hidden by vines! Gotta love that toe-head!
Evidence of the crime:
A little trip to American Girl to spend some money she had saved since Christmas! A Just Like Me Doll was the selection of the day! (Sorry the pics are out of order. Drives me crazy, but the loading process isn't cooperating so great tonight!)

Griffin and his loot! He thoroughly enjoyed this!
Molly and her prize pick! She loved the long stem!
Concentrating hard on which one is just-ripe!
"Whadya think mom?"

Griffin Overheard

Griffin LOVES to play on our cell phones. He loves all the many apps that Jeff has on his phone. One such app, that tends to be a favorite is a movie trailer app that you can view upcoming trailers for movies that are coming out soon. Well, apparently there is new trailer for a movie that starts months from now, called "Resident Evil."
G: Dad, did you see this new movie called Resident Evil?
J: Nope, haven't seen it.
G: Can I watch the preview?
J: No, you don't need to watch that.
G: I bet it's a movie about Barack Obama!
J: ---uncontrollable laughter---
We have decided that Grif is either one of two things: brainwashed or really intelligent!

Happy Half Birthday, Griffin!

Griffin is never in school for his real birthday, so in 1st grade we started celebrating his 1/2 birthday at school. Cupcakes in 1st grade, cookie cake in 2nd grade, and this year he requested cookie cake again, but due to a lack of time to order a cake, we agreed on double doozies . . .made by mom! Check out these YUMMY treats that are going to school with Griffin tomorrow:

Chocolate, white chocolate chip doozies!

Life With Griffin!

Since i made a post just for our Molly, now it's Griffin's turn. He and a friend are in the keeping room playing Guitar Hero World Tour. I hate video games. I LOVE this video game. Every song - i love, from years ago . . . all captured right here, while i'm cooking i can sing, sing, sing! Here's the conversation i hear as the two boys start dueling with a new song:

G: Man, Dude, We're at a maternity party!

Me: A WHAT?? A maternity party??? What are you talking about?

G: You know, whatever that thing Daddy was in . . . ??

Me: You mean, "FRATERNITY!!!!!"

LOL!

Speech Therapy

So, Camden is 22 months old and we're still working on building his vocabulary. He definitely has a delay, but he's #3, so we're sure with our prior experience of speech therapy times 2, we can help him along for a few more months.

So tonight at dinner, Griffin (who is completely exhausted) is fussing and just plain whiny at the dinner table. So i say, "Camden, when Griffin is fussing, say waaa, waaaa, waaaa!" Camden looks him square in the eye after the next word out of Griffin's mouth and says, clear as day, "Waaaaaaa, waaaaaaa, waaaaaaa!"

Griffin couldn't help but cheer up!

More Creativity!!

Once again, it's 1am and i've just finished the creative project du jour! Special thanks to Andrea for the fabric. . . i truly did not have time to go to Hobby Lobby today and stand in line for approximately 10 inches of fabric. So Andrea let me raid her stash of fabric scraps instead! You're a lifesaver, and quite honestly, have almost as much fabric as Hobby Lobby!

Here is what i created - a whole set of mickey and minnie shirts. From the littlest peep, all the way to the big dude!

For CLM:

For MGM:

For GMM:

And a closeup of Minnie. . .

Sorry for the blurry pictures. . .it's late and i wanted to post these before we leave. The boys' shirts are red with black mickey. MGM's shirt is black with checked minnie and red bow! I'll take good ones the day they wear them!

From the Mouths of Babes

Today, Jeff is attending a memorial service for a dear lady he knew grewing up and has also worked with in recent years. When Griffin and Molly woke up, he was already in suit pants (side note: if you don't see us daily, Jeff is business casual at the office, never more than khakis and a button down). So as Griffin watched Jeff put on a dress shirt and tie, this is the conversation that ensued. . .
Grif: "Dad, WHY are you wearing THAT?"
Jeff: "Grif, Do you remember me talking about Ann Allen? She passed away and I'm going to her funeral. I worked with her at Bellsouth and she is the nice lady that made the curtains in the keeping room for us."
Grif: "Why would she invite you to her funeral?"
Jeff: "ummmmmm. . . ."

Needless to say, our children have not yet experienced death and the process of funerals and events that follow the death of a person near and dear to them. Guess we'll have THAT conversation tonight or in the near future. Invitations to funerals. . . that could be something new.

So Thankful!

Griffin has been trying his best to grow his hair out to a long "shag" type of cut that is so popular. If you know Griffin, you know he has one of the largest heads imaginable for a child (was born in the 90th percentile and has always stayed there). When he was 3 years old and begged for a cowboy hat, none of the "toy" hats fit and we had to spend 30bucks at the horse and tack store for a hat that would fit. And, to add fury to the fire, he has VERY thick, GOOD hair. However, thick/good hair isn't always the best for every style.

Anyhow, he's been very patient (as have I) in letting his hair get longer and longer. It was so bushy, Jeff scheduled an appointment to let our dear friend Tina, the magic hair stylist, work some of her magic to make it look, at the least, a little better. On the way out the door Griffin announced he was cutting it short! You say, "Big Deal!" Well, this is a HUGE deal as every time we have mentioned a hair cut, he has pleaded not to go, pleaded to let him grow it out, no way was he even going to trim it.

And here we are, the day before Thanksgiving, the week before our big Disney trip (where i'm sure no fewer than a thousand pictures will be taken) and just before the holidays, and low and behold, he is cutting it SHORT!!! SHORT I SAY!! Can you hear me??? SO THANKFUL! I love my Gip with short hair! I did not encourage this. In fact, i think i DIScouraged it just a little because he was halfway to long, and it's never fun to start over. I fear he will just want to start over! He did this all on his own. Now, Jeff drove him to the hair appointment, so perhaps there are secret money exchanges i will never know about; for example, "Hey Grif, if you cut your hair short, i will give you a 20 dollar bill, but you can't tell mom!" But, i'm hoping that's not the case. I do in fact, strongly support bribery of children, when necessary, but this wasn't necessary. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't too bad. Anyhow, he did it, here's the proof. . .

A few "in process" pictures!

I think i even see a little bit of a grin on his face as those clippers work. It looks like shearing a sheep there is so much coming off!

Almost done . . .

And here's the final product. . . That's my boy! I think it looks drastically short, simply because it started out so long! (And side note. . . i think that is my least favorite shirt ever). But, i love my Grif! He's cute long haired or short! And has a great personality and sense of sarcasm (that i really appreciate)!

Tater Tots!

A true delicacy in the McCreary household. . . i put some tater tots on a plate for two of my children to "share." And, because i know my children so well, i drew a line down the middle so each would know which tater tots were his/hers and avoid all fighting and bickering about "she ate more than i ate." "NO, he did!" Can you guess which side of the plate belongs to which child?

Made My Day!!!

I have had a really crappy day! A good day at work, but for whatever reason, maybe even multiple reasons and stress, i am foul-mood-Fred today! I am grumpy and not a happy camper. Well. . . wash my worries away! I just picked the bigs up from school and Griffin was eager for me to read his "reflections entry." FYI - Reflections is a national literary competition sponsored by PTA. Every school is encouraged to have students participate with literature entries, composition, art, music, etc, etc. Well, Griffin's class had a substitute teacher yesterday and one of their assignments was to write something for the Reflections 2009 theme. This year's theme is: BEAUTY IS . . .
Here is what Griffin wrote (and because i love him despite his lack of spelling ability, i am going to include HIS spelling of words, not mine):

"BUDDEY (Beauty) IS. . . .

If you are looking for something buddiful, look at my mom. She is buddey at any time. She is buddey when she talks and when she sleeps. She is so cute. If you see her you will fall in love with her. That's how my dad fell in love with her. If you wanted to get her, two bad so sad. She has one. She prble (probably) is to hot for you. Get your oney (own)!"

HOW LOVELY IS THIS??? I can't quit smiling now! I know you all wish you were as BEAUTIFUL as ME!!!

All Star Pictures!

Griffin has played his heart out these last two years of baseball! He has debated choosing another sport to play, but just can't seem to bear the thought of missing a season of baseball. Last year, when selected to play allstars we were so hopeful and excited. Our bubble was busted when it turned out to be a less-than-fair and less-than-fun experience. When Griffin was nominated this year, we honestly had to talk him into accepting the nomination and playing again. We promised that the experience (and coaching) would be different, and thankfully, it was MUCH different. Coach Jay was absolutely the best for Griffin, as well as the other 3 coaches. It was nice for Jeff to get to watch games, instead of coach games! And although we spent our life savings paying the babysitter so we wouldn't have to chase Camden around the ballfield, it was worth every penny to be able to enjoy Griffin in his prime!


I have more pictures, but here's just two to show you the boy enjoying every minute. He is a catcher, just like his dad and granddads, and enjoys it to the fullest! Because of the heatwave in Atlanta, he and the other catcher rotated out every inning and it made Griffin mad that he wasn't allowed to play EVERY inning! I truly believe he could have/would have done it, despite the heat, but it just wasn't a good choice for an 8 year old. Look at all the gear (don't miss the helmet that's been thrown to the ground to make the catch) . . .can you imagine all that, plus the regular uniform when it is 97 degrees and humidity of about 80% everyday??? How he does it, i'll never know, because on any given day he will complain about just playing outside when it is hot! I suppose it's the LOVE FOR THE GAME!