Celebrating 2 years!

The birthday party was a success. We couldn't have asked for a better day for a Birthday party. We were missing some family members due to miscommunication (Chris I am going to continue to give you Mom grief about that :) ), but all in all we had a good turn out for how last minute it was.



Addison was shy for the first part of the party. This was the extent of her interaction with the crowd for the first half hour of the party.




The stinking adorable cake that Leslie made for Anthony.



Anthony loved his cake but he was still looking for an exit in case it came to life and decided to eat him instead.




Although the icing didn't make the trip very well, this flip flop that she made for Addison was perfect for my shoe loving daughter.



The birthday boy and girl taking a ride on Papaw Mack's scooter with Paw Paw. Anthony loved the horn a little too much and we all pretty much had a headache by the end of the ride.



Me with my kiddos. I was exhausted from wrestling them to get them both to sit down at the same time. We had to give them each a Q-Tip to hold to keep them occupied.

Can't go wrong with the Kentucky State Fair

Gotta love the fair! A decent selection of fried food that you can carry on a stick and mullets galore! There is no better people watching than the KSF. Here are some pics of our day.


Around nap time Addison wrapped herself up in her blanket and rode around in the stroller like ET in the basket of the bike.



Anthony loved the fireman hat that he got, although he wore it backwards all day long.

Now THAT is some funny stuff!

Yesterday's video proved to be just as funny as I thought it was. Anthony got a glimpse of himself face planting into the camera while I was showing Mom the video. He giggled from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. I also love the desk smacking. Growing up way to fast!

Ice cream headache!

New routine around here in the Craig house. Victoria goes to school and I have the Ice Cream Social! Addison LOVES Victoria's bottom drawer in her room. It is filled with plastic play food. Many times I have found Victoria's door closed and Addison nowhere to be found. I say the words "Drop the cone!" about 20 times before 9am.

Note Anthony running head on into the camera not once, but twice! Goofy kid!

Highlights of a typical day

Mom came to help us get to the grocery store, and run some errands. We hit the library, JCPenney's (for the awesome sale that they had for winter clothes for the upcoming birthdays) The hair supply store, Wendy's, and Walmart. Here are the key points to those 4 hours.

-Library was packed. We signed up the twins for the Imagination library club. Anthony fell backwards off a bench onto his head and my big toe. Anthony was screaming LOUD and I was limping outside. You know the most appropriate place to scream.

-While in the library we got to listen to story time. It was one of the cutest things that I have seen in a while. The little grandma that was doing it was singing playing guitar and telling the stories. She was great! During one song where she sang about the Farmer trying to get a turnip out of the ground (basically the farmer and the Dell) Victoria was picked to be the Turnip. Anthony and Addison got a kick out of watching everyone pull on sissy's hair trying to get the "turnip" out of the ground. After clapping Addison got up and gave the turnip a hug! Precious.

-During the song Addison got up and started shaking her stuff. She was sitting in my lap while I was sitting Indian style. She leaned over put her hands on the ground and started pumping her buttocks in air. She looked like she was in a rap video. Everyone was laughing at us including the story telling Grandma. I promise I didn't show her that move! LOL

-While Addison was doing her "move" I noticed an aroma -Explosive diaper #1

-Then off to JC Penny Addison was not having it! Anthony was tired and was trying to rest his head on her shoulder. Addison screamed until I took her out of the stroller and let her wander free. Addison Marie explosive diaper #2. Thanks Grandma for handling that so that I could continue shopping.

-Off to Wendy's....Grandma gave Anthony a chunk of chicken nugget that was straight out of the fryer. When I approached the table Anthony was trying with everything that he had to finish while shaking and eyes tearing up. I went in after the nugget with my finger which started the siren. His loud pitch building scream her reserves for when he is really good and ticked off. I swear I saw people pull over in their cars checking their rear view mirror looking for a fire truck.

-Anthony in his anger over the nugget situation pushed the tray on our table and knocked mom's drink over on her. Thank God the lid was on it. She did get wet though.

-Anthony finished his meal with a Jr. Frosty. He left with his teeth chattering. That is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

-Leaving Wendy's Explosive diaper #3

-Walmart Mom and I part ways each with a child. While in the far corner of the store Victoria and I look at each other and we were both in agreement. "That is Addison screaming!" We took off following the sound. They were in the middle of the store about 10-15 aisles over looking for us. Well Addison wasn't but Grandma sure was. Addison was not happy and for the first time, no dirty diaper. Mom grabbed my car keys and she spent the rest of our shopping trip in my car with Mrs. Siren. We did get her calmed down. She does not like to be sitting still. The car, stroller, cart whatever she is in has to be moving for her to be happy. Don't really understand it but as soon as I started the car and we backed up she was fine.

Church followed and that went pretty much according to plan. James still isn't home. We are hoping that he will be home about midnight tonight. Lord, I hope so. I need some relief, and some snuggling.

First full week over!

Victoria has completed her first full week of Kindergarten. She is still in love with school and comes home daily with stories that make me laugh. I try to get to the computer to get them down before they fall out of my brain, but most fall out.

In working on her homework last night we were working on equal parts. They showed people sitting at a table and 3 different plates of food. We had to pick the one with the amount of food that would give the people equal parts, you get the idea.

The first one was easy. 3 people 3 scrambled eggs. Then we got a little more complicated......3 people and the correct answer was 6 cookies. Victoria looked at the page baffled. There wasn't an option with 3 things on a plate so she was stumped. I tried my best to help her figure it out. About 5 minutes of explaination of 3 items not being the only answer I tried to get her to think about the situation. It went a little something like this...

Me: "OK Victoria, listen, There are 3 people right? They all want more than one cookie. What would THAT mean?" (thinking this would lead her to her saying they want 2 cookies!)

Victoria: "Well, it would mean that they were still hungry after they ate their first cookie."

My hats off to teachers. I don't know how you do it all day long. I am frustrated after 5 minutes of Kindergarten homework. You are under underpaid!

Cheapest option

Anthony, after two days of no fever, started to develop a rash. It was very similar to how the rash started when they had their allergic reaction to the antibiotics. I decided to take him in sooner than later. The allergic reaction rash that happened a while back developed VERY quickly. I didn't think another ER visit was in our budget.

Doc says it is just a viral rash. His body will take care of it on it's own, he is no longer contagious and to rest easy. Not my favorite thing going to the doctor, especially with 3 kids, but at least I know that it is nothing serious.

And to the who?

Victoria came home VERY proud today because she is now able to say the Pledge of Allegiance. It goes a little something like this....

Picture her standing very tall with her hand over her heart, taking a deep breath and then..."and to the preplulic and which we stand to the flags of the United States of America."

A nice clean kitchen!

I have some of the best friends in the world. My friend Jill got a hold of me on Facebook this morning and told me that she was bringing me dinner. I happily accepted the offer because, MAN THE GIRL CAN COOK! She didn't let me down one bit. She made me this yummy Mexican casserole. I am waiting on the recipe. She also made us some cookie brownies. I almost cried when I took a bite, so good. I decided to save it all (except maybe one or two brownies) till dinner time when Victoria got home. She had seconds! I think she was trying to impress me because I told her that if she ate her dinner without me having to coach her that there would be a very special surprise after dinner. Her eyes lit up when the brownies came out, so did Anthony and Addison. Thanks so much Jill!!

Let's hop on out of here.

Anthony is doing much better. He still is running a very low grade fever but no blisters are showing up on him and that is a good thing. Having trouble getting him to eat but mashed potatoes fixed that right up. I had to do that myself, I feel like I am swallowing glass.

Victoria's teacher has a really neat blog that she keeps for her parents. I am not sure if this is normal for Kindergarten teachers but it is great! She will remind us of homework assignments that "should" make their way home and other tidbits of the day. She has been keeping us informed on a special friend that she purchased for her classroom. Her room is decorated in frogs ( A woman after my own heart ) and she had ordered an albino frog for a classroom pet.

I saw the look on Victoria's face when she got off of the bus and knew that I was about to hear something funny. She opened up the car door and said "APPARENTLY, our surprise hopped off!". I checked the blog to find that Mrs. Anderson put the frog in her classroom last night and it escaped the cage before the kids came in the morning and is nowhere to be found.

On a different note. I am not going to be touching any bottles any time soon. After my mishap with the fabric softener, I gave all of the kids a bath (with my rubber gloved, blistered hands) and was doing Victoria's hair. I had my bottle of BED HEAD Creative Genius tipped over and was squeezing it in my hand when the entire bottle shattered in my hand. I had hair gel, let me rephrase that, super strong hold hair gel on my vanity, bathtub, shirt, pants, feet, mirror, wall, hairdryer, basket of clean towel, and carpet. If anyone needs me you will find me hiding under my bed till my husband comes home. LOL! No really, I am surviving just putting one foot in front of the other.

It hurts to talk so I will type the long version.

After coming home from Mom and Dad's house Anthony started running a fever. It peaked at 103.2 around bedtime. I doped him up on some Motrin and kept an eye on him. At 10 he woke up screaming, you know that high pitch, something is wrong scream. I ran down the hall and found him standing up wringing wet, and trembling all over his body. His fever had finally broke and he was just startled by the wet sheets. He immediately went back to bed after I nuzzled him for a bit and changed his clothes and sheet.

This morning I decided to take his temp again. He was back up to 102 so I called the doc. Got him an appointment and Grandma came down to take Addison to lunch. Doc swabbed for Strep, came back negative, and decided that it is probably Adenovirus. She also looked at my throat while I was there and said I should probably get check out too.

No meds, and a short trip to meet Grandma at the mall later I was walking around Dillard's with a corn dog I ordered for Anthony but he refused to eat. I noticed that I was getting more of the tiny little blisters on my hands like the one that I found earlier that morning. I thought that maybe I had burned it and didn't realize it. By 2pm I had about 15 on my hands, something was going on. I left mom and headed over to the Immediate Care. Had a quick, and confusing meeting with mom about what kids each of us were taking and what she was going to do because at this time Victoria was about to get out of school. I walked back into the waiting room for Immediate care and filled out paperwork to find that Norton was out of network for Anthem Insurance.

A little research later thanks to Mom being on Charlestown Rd, found an Urgent Care that indeed takes my insurance. Mom took off to grab Victoria from the bus stop for me and after a short office visit, found out that I have hand foot and mouth disease. This is basically a virus that adults typically don't catch, but lucky me I did. The doc told me that my feet were more than likely to be next to get the blisters, after seeing how my throat, and tongue have gotten the worse of it.

I head back home after a trip to Walmart to grab a box of rubber gloves, rubbing alcohol, and Lysol wipes. Mom takes off to get away from the germs and I start to disinfect my house. I had the pleasure of knocking over a full size bottle of fabric softener onto my kitchen floor that I finally got a chance to mop a day earlier. I am now on my hands and knees with my rubber gloves on wiping up my mess.

I continue my rubber glove evening trying not to get Victoria sick or Addison. They both have runny noses but I would like to just keep it at that, ya know? Anthony's fever is 104.1 at 11:00 and we are off to the ER. Thanks again to Grandma for coming back out to watch kids at home. I fully expected her to have a gas mask on when she walked back in my house.

Four hours, and many nurse girlfriends later Anthony had no more answers than we did earlier at his Pediatrician's visit. They gave him a very expensive dose of Tylenol, and I am sure that he could have left with phone numbers. For having such a high temp he was really turning on the charm with the nurses, that is until they had to take his temperature. LOL!

We arrived back home at 2:15am and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I am now seeing the cons of Victoria being in school. 7 is going to come REALLY early.

Naked baby sprinkler butts

Mom and Dad invited us over today to help ease the loneliness of James not being home. She was mowing and I took the kids to the backyard and hooked up the sprinkler. The kids loved it, well Victoria, Addison and I loved it while Anthony clung to Paw Paw for dear life. After he warmed up to the idea he was splashing around with the rest of us. His diaper was getting really full so I went to change him. I thought to myself, "What is he going to do poop in the yard?" so I let him and Addison go commando in the sprinkler, wearing nothing but a smile and their water shoes. I really wish I brought my camera for the event, not just to blackmail them in later years it but it was one of the absolutely cutest things I have ever seen. They loved it. Grandma rounded the corner with the lawn mower and about fell off in laughter when she saw the bouncing butt cheeks running around her back yard. Addison took off running to Grandma and ended up taking a naked lap with Grandma on the lawn mower. I was wrong naked baby sprinkler butts have nothing on naked butt cheeks on Grandma's thigh while driving away on the lawn mower now that takes the cake.

"Semi" depressed

I was all for James buying a semi. It has definitely been an adventure. We are pretty much at a brand new semi with all of the stuff that we have had to fix on it. James is in North Carolina, I believe, with it broke down unable to come home. It sucks, is sucks real bad. Church just isn't the same without his arm around me and trying to corral 3 kids through the weekend is more than I can handle at times. After Large Group tonight I grabbed the kids and headed to the lobby where they serve food. They have really good food and it is all a dollar. Fresh fruit salad, baked spaghetti, and all kinds of yumminess. Addison was NOT having it waiting in line and Anthony was determined to make her scream louder. Everyone in the lobby was staring at us, and we eventually left. I know I am not the first person to have screaming children but I was so embarrassed. I tried to let Addison out of the stroller and she still couldn't calm down. She is cutting her canine teeth and has been uncomfortable to say the least the past few days, plus she fell asleep in her class and got woken up when they put her in the stroller. She HATES to be woken up, HATES. I really missed James at that moment. His "Honey take a breath" just was too far away. At least he is safe, and has a hotel room. Love and miss you honey! Can't wait till you get back home.

The first note sent home.

Victoria ran off of the bus today with a full folder. I opened it up to find her school papers, school newsletter and a sealed envelope with "To the parents of Victoria Craig" written on it. Here we go.....

Victoria looked like a deer in headlights when she saw the envelope. I held it in my hand and asked her "Before I open this is there anything that you need to tell me?" She squirmed in her seat and said falling all over herself, "Um I kept asking the teacher over and over if it was snack time, when she had already answered me." I started to open the envelope, and asked again "Is there anything else that I need to know?" More fumbling........"Um the teacher kept having to get onto me for getting out of my seat. I am sorry."

I opened the envelope and took out the letter. It was a note from the nurse about a missing vaccination. LOL. I am proud of her for telling me the truth. Now if we can just get a note sent home from the nurse every week I will know of how her school behavior is going.

She LOVES it!

I had been waiting on Grant Line Rd for quite some time when the bus arrived 20 minutes late. Anthony thought we were at a parade and started waving to the cars as they drove past. Victoria's bus stopped and Victoria didn't get off. I yelled at the bus driver that I thought that my child was still on there. He yelled back "This is High Schoolers". OK let me explain myself..when you are a country bumpkin like myself everyone that went to our school from Kindergarten to Seniors rode the bus together. There were, I believe 97 kids in my graduating class. This was such a foriegn concept to me that one age level release and then after those children were dropped off they would go to the next school. It freaked me out but after one of the parents waiting in a car said that they too were waiting for a Grant Line child, I knew Victoria wasn't wandering around somewhere alone. Shew!

The bus arrived. Victoria flew off with her bus necklace around her neck to identify her as a Kindergartener that needs a little help to find her way around. She was beaming and before she even got to me to give me the biggest hug she was asking if she could go back to school tomorrow. She told me of helping another little girl that was crying on the bus because she missed her mommy. She told me of recess, and the songs that she sung, her PB & J "pie" ( I am assuming that it was an Uncrustable) and how she got to go to music class today. She said that all of the other kids were just banging on the piano but her teacher said she was doing a really good job playing softly. She was in heaven.

I am really going to like her teacher. She sent home a letter with Victoria that went to all of the parents with a kleenex, tea bag, and cotton ball enclosed in a bag stapled to the letter. The Kleenex to dry our tears, the cotton ball to remember our child's gentle spirit (she should have sent me a jumping bean :) ) and tea to kick our feet up and relax. Such a sweet gesture.

Victoria is already planning her outfit for tomorrow.

Victoria's first day of school..

One last good bye to Daddy over the phone before the big day began.



Walking to the bus stop.



I had to post this one so that you could see Anthony's face. He looked like this pretty much the whole time we were standing on the main road waiting for the bus. Complete confusion.

It didn't take more than one try to get Victoria to get out of bed. First thing an early morning bath to insure that she had a fabulous hair day and backpack ready to go. I fixed cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs, I was running ahead of schedule I was proud of myself.

I grabbed the stroller out of the truck and packed up the kids and made our way on foot to Grant Line Rd. where she was to be picked up. A couple of phone calls to Daddy and Grandma Harb and we were there, Victoria in her newest duds and Anthony, Addison and I in our pj's standing on Grant Line. Then it happened, we saw the big yellow bus coming down the road. It pulled over and Victoria started jumping. The bus doors opened and Victoria took off running. Apparently it wasn't her bus but a bus for another school that has a child in The Pines. Quite funny. Victoria was trembling at this point with excitement. I thought she was going to have a stroke by the time her bus came. The door opened and she turned for a quick kiss and then it happened, my little girl stepped on the bus, turned and waved, and I had tears streaming down my face. She looked so big, so proud, and so ready to start her life in Kindergarten. Broke my heart. I hope she has a blast!



Tears starting......



and now we are crying. Look at the face. How excited does she look?

The night long nap!

Today Victoria and I went through her school stuff one more time to make sure that her name was on what it needed to be on and her "perfect outfit" was laid out for the morning. I asked her to take one last little nap (I was about to fall over and the twins were asleep) before dinner. About 20 minutes I was up and making some Chicken nuggets, or as Addison calls them "Ssshicken". I went into Victoria's room and gave her a shake and told her it was time to get up. By the time she came out of her room I was standing in the kitchen putting her dinner plate on the table. She came out rubbing her eyes and asked me "You want me to get dressed first?" I looked at her puzzled as she stood in front of me with her play clothes on. After repeating herself I finally got that she thought it was morning and she needed to put her school clothes that we laid out on. I don't believe that she is going to have any trouble waking up in the morning and getting ready. She is quite excited.

The "official" tour

Victoria and I went today to her school to see her classroom and get our tour. Her teacher is SUPER nice! I believe her and Victoria are going to get along just fine. Victoria and I went on a scavenger hunt of the school. We had to find the toilet, cafeteria, water fountain and other things that will be important to know in her school. I thought it was a really cute idea. When we finished our assignment Victoria got a gift bag with all of these items and this letter:

Dear Little Frog,
Welcome to Kindergarten! I am so happy that you re int my class this year. You are officially a part of the new school family at Grant Line Elementary School. This is a special care package I made just for you! This is what each item means:

1. Starburst- You are a star in my class!
2. Eraser-Remember it is OK to make mistakes. Even grown-ups learn from our mistakes.
3. Smarties-You are going to get even smarter this year!
4. Hug-We all need a hug sometimes. If you need one at school, I'll always have one waiting just for you.
5. Sticker-To remind you that we all stick together in Room 7!
6. Lifesavers-To help you remember that you can come to any adult in our school family if you need someone to talk to.
7. Cotton ball-So you know Kindergarten is a warm, cozy place!
8. Tissue-To let you know that I will always dry your tears if you need me to!
9. Ribbon-To remind you that friendship ties our hearts together and we are all friends in Kindergarten.
10. Gummy bears-Because Kindergarten is like you Beary Nice!
11. Kindergarten Pencil-Because I am so glad you are here!

I thought that was so cute. We left her classroom and did a walk through of her morning 3 times to make sure that she is familiar with where to go and how to find her classroom. I am very proud of her. I am very excited for her and I have to admit for myself too. 2 more days!!!

Last night of Bible study and Victoria's rainbow

I was so sad to see tonight end. This was our last night of our bible study on Discerning the voice of God. I have been on such a journey through this book. We have had such a good table this time around with such good nuggets of wisdom.

Our storm hit right in the middle of it. It got quite wild but ended with a little sunshine and a double rainbow. When I spotted the rainbow I flew down the hallway at church to grab Victoria. This has always been one of our things to find a rainbow after a rainstorm. Many days we would grab our flip flops and head to our corner to see if we could find one. The other day Victoria mentioned that we hadn't seen one in a long time, so that added to the excitement I had running full speed to get her.

When I arrived at her room she was jumping up and down and pointing outside to the rainbow. She had beat me to the punch and spotted it herself. On the way home she told me that God gave her that rainbow. She said that the night that she mentioned the lack of rainbows lately that she prayed to God "God you haven't given me a rainbow in a whole lot of days. Can you please give us one for all of the little children to see?"

"Its like a heatwave!"

Wow what heat we had this weekend. It is was much hotter not having air conditioning in the house. Friday night our air conditioner unit started leaking water out onto our carpet in the hallway. James told me to turn it off and we opened up the windows to keep the house cool at night. Saturday morning James was supposed to be home and we were to meet my mom and aunt at the zoo. I hopped into the car and started to head out early in the morning to meet them. My car's engine light appeared and my car started sputtering and shaking. I turned around and headed back home and called mom in a pool of tears with my hot house and broken car while I waited on my husband to get home. Not a good start to a weekend, especially with family in from out of town. We have everything fixed now and James's hot, crabby wife has left the building. LOL. Broken air conditioning is not conducive to a happy marriage. ;)

Sesame Street in on quite a bit here in our home. I was watching the "new" Sesame Street and while I enjoy the new regular skits such a Murray had a little lamb (that lamb is hilarious!) I took a trip back to my childhood on UTube and found this gem. I remember this one although I had completely forgotten about it. I believe the red headed puppet is a good depiction of me in alone in social situations after being cooped up in the house with the kiddos for too long. I have received that same head shake from James when we go out. ;0) Enjoy!

Hooray Aunt-a Kathy and Mucle Howard are here!!

So much fun!! I just love when they visit. Victoria got a real kick out of meeting them. She said "Aunt Kathy is WILD just like I am when I am going to the zoo!" So cute. We met Grandma for lunch at McDonalds and then off to the hotel where they are staying. We got to see them drive off of the Interstate in their hot rod. We were all jumping and screaming. The car looks great, and we are glad that they made the trip all the way from California to Kentucky safely.

After a trip home for a nap, we met them at Crackle Barrel for dinner. Anthony and Addison were really putting on a show for them. This was the first time they got to meet the kids. Anthony is COMPLETELY smitten with Muncle Howard. He calls him Pa Pa. Anyone that is a male and older than Daddy is Pa Pa apparently. Howard got a kick out of it, although I am sure that his back was killing him by the end of the night toting him around. He doesn't have a grandson so I think he enjoyed having a baby boy to hold. Jill watch out, you are going to feel pressure. LOL!

We are heading out bright and early tomorrow to meet them again for breakfast for my sister's Birthday. I am anxious to see her too! It is going to be great to get to celebrate with her and everyone. I believe we are heading off to the car show afterwards and maybe the zoo. I am not sure. When Aunt Kathy is in town you just strap on your seatbelt and hang on you never know what the day holds. I love it!

Well.......

-The backwards diaper isn't working, but our washing machine is. :) I have resorted to using the duct tape again and it doesn't seem to break him out anymore. I just have to make sure that the tape isn't touching his skin. He still looks at me like I am nuts when I change his diaper.

-Victoria has her school supplies. Disney princess backpack and it is full of markers, crayons, glue sticks and a folder. She is very proud and excited about the fact that her backpack matches her princess lunchbox that Aunt Punkin bought her for her birthday last year. Her list of school supplies stated on the bottom to not put your child's name on the school supplies, because all of the children will be sharing them in their tubs. (Insert James telling an Obama socialist joke here)

-My "Aunt-a" Kathy and "Muncle" Howard are almost here! I am very excited. They are driving all the way from California in their Hot Rod for the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville. I can't wait to see them and introduce them to the twins. It is going to be a ball!