Introducing . . . Elaina Joy McCrary . . . the Gold Medalist in All Sporting Events . . . for the 2024 Olympics!

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we have been thoroughly enjoying the 2008 Summer Olympics. Our television has been on at 8:00 p.m. each night, and we've been staying up ridiculously late watching it all. It has been so much fun because Elaina is so into it. She absolutely loves watching the Olympics, and to hear her even pronounce the word is so much fun in itself. She has been staying up way past her bedtime, too, but it's been worth it because of the laughter and joy she's brought to us through these Games. She does not like it at all when a commercial comes on. She's going to miss the Olympics for sure when they're over, but Jeff recorded some of it on Thursday night, so we can always have her watch that.

She has proven herself to be an all around athlete! She participates in all sports to her maximum ability and with such determination and grace. We just want the world to know that she's the one to watch for the 2024 Olympics. Her strong point is definitely gymnastics, but she is also very strong in diving, track and field, and beach volleyball. Look out, World! Elaina Joy McCrary will be coming home to the USA decorated in Gold in 2024!

(DISCLAIMER: By the way, please know that we are not the type of parents who would really be truly serious about any of the content in the above paragraph. We are not training our 2 1/2 year old for the Olympics in 2024 nor do we seriously think she's a superstar at age 2 1/2. Well, she's a superstar in our eyes though . . . superstar in the drama department!)

One of Elaina's gymnastic moves

Dismount

Elaina - the tack and field Gold Medalist. "I run fast like those boys on the Olympics!"

Elaina serving an ace in beach volleyball

Standing on the podium waving to the crowd after accepting her gold medals

A Long Week Missing Daddy

This week was the official start of the school year, so Jeff was back to work full swing. He was usually out of the house by 6:30 a.m. and not home until 5:30 p.m. and one night it was almost 8:00 p.m. We were once again reminded that teachers definitely deserve their summer "vacation." Needless to say, we missed him greatly! The first day, the girls were up when Jeff left because he didn't have to be there so early. When he told the girls that he was leaving, Emily went to the other room, grabbed her shoes, and came running back with them to hand to Jeff. They watched him from the door as he left. It was a heart breaker for sure.

With Jeff being so busy with school, it was just me and the girls. Jeff helps out so much when he's home, and I've had him home for two months, so this week was a definite adjustment for me too. I'm exhausted. Usually, I take a nap when the girls nap, but this week I was busy working on my new ministry area at church. I am now the Nursery Coordinator, and I'm really excited about it! Jeff and I prayed about this before I committed to doing it, and we're both certain that this is a where God wants me serving right now. It's taking a lot of time here at the beginning, but in the end it will be well worth it when things are up and running the way I hope that they will. We've also been staying up way too late watching the Olympics. We can't stay away from the TV from 8 p.m. on. The Olympics are so great, and we've really been enjoying them.

One evening, Jeff wasn't home yet, and it was time to get dinner going. I popped in a Veggie Tales DVD for Elaina and hoped that Emily would entertain herself while I fixed dinner in the kitchen. Well, Elaina loves her Veggie Tales DVD, so she was fine. I heard some terrible piano playing as I was working on dinner. Elaina loves to sit on the piano bench and play the piano, and Emily will tap a key here or there as she walks by it. As I was listening to the piano being played, I just assumed that Elaina was taking a break from her DVD to play the piano instead. When I looked over, it was Emily who had climbed up on the piano bench to start playing. She was having so much fun and looked so sweet sitting there playing the piano. It wasn't terrible piano playing at all, it was beautiful piano playing because it was my baby girl having a great time!

It is Friday evening as I write this post, and the Olympics are on the television. Jeff is relaxing on the couch. We are so glad it's Friday!

A Weekend with Papa Calvin

Papa Calvin came to Indiana to visit with my parents for a week, so we went up this last weekend and spent more time with family. Papa Calvin is a preacher in Eden, NC. My parents were members of his church while they lived there, and my dad made the decision to go into the ministry under the guidance of Papa Calvin. All of my grandparents had passed away by the time I was six years old, so Papa Calvin was, what I call, "my adopted grandpa." I have many special memories with Papa Calvin. One memory I have is that he taught me how to drive when he was out here for a visit. He'll never forget that either. Papa Calvin usually visits once a year, and many times, he's able to make it out to Indiana twice a year. We had a great time visiting with him.

On Saturday, Papa Calvin took us all out to eat. We ate at Hollyhock Hill Restaurant in Indianapolis. It's a family style restaurant and is a great place for you to have an enjoyable meal with a large group. After dinner, we went back to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Carmel to visit. The girls had a great time playing with their cousins. They always have a great time with them. Elaina usually laughs and giggles the entire time they're together.

On Sunday, we went to church at my dad's church and played in the afternoon. I took the girls for a ride on the riding lawnmower, and we played at the playground. We always eat way too much food when we're at MeMe and Poppy's house! It was so yummy.

There is a lot of property where we grew up. The house I grew up in, where my mom and dad still live, and the church are both on the property. My dad has planted a tree for each of the grandkids after they have been born. Emily and Elaina both have a Japanese Crab apple tree. My dad planted them in front of the wooden cross on the front of the church. He hopes when they grow that they will frame the wooden cross. I'm sure that they will be beautiful. Those trees mean a lot to my dad, and it means even more that he was able to plant them on the property.

We wish we could have stayed longer, but we really needed to get home. Jeff went back to a regular full work schedule on Monday, and he has a lot to do. Also, we still haven't been home very long since we returned from vacation, and I have a lot of house things to catch up on. It's time to get back into a routine now that Daddy's back to work. It was a great summer! I'm sad that it's come to an end.

A baseball game with the kids

Crazy Cousins - Seth, Luke, and Elaina

Papa Calvin and his "adopted grandkids" and Jeff to help keep them all in the picture. (Unfortunately, Shelbi wasn't there.)

Baby Thad

Emily playing at MeMe and Poppy's

Elaina singing and dancing on the stage at the playground at MeMe and Poppy's church.

MeMe and Poppy have the BEST playground!

Elaina picking a tomato for Mommy from Poppy's tomato garden.

Poppy, Elaina, and Elaina's tree

Poppy, Emily, and Emily's tree

The girls and their trees in front of Poppy's church.

We Love our Hooded Bath Towels! Thanks, Rachel!

When Elaina was born, Rachel (one of the girls in our 6th grade youth group at the time) made Elaina a hooded bath towel. It was too big for her to use as a newborn because this towel is made with an oversized large bath towel and oversized washcloth. When Elaina grew out of her newborn hooded towels, we started using the one that Rachel made. Two years later, Elaina is still using it, and she really loves it, too. In fact, if it is in the laundry, she doesn't like to have to use a normal towel. She's a bit particular . . . I wonder where she gets that from?

Emily has grown out of her baby hooded towels too, so I asked Rachel if she could get with her grandmother and I would pay her to make us two more towels. Rachel and her grandmother work on these towels together. When we got back from vacation this weekend, Rachel was at church with the new hooded towels. I was so excited! She made one for Emily as a gift, which was really sweet of her to do. One of the towels she made this time is a bright blue, and Elaina LOVES it! Elaina's favorite color is blue, and Rachel had no idea, so it worked out perfectly! For those of you who have toddlers, these towels are the BEST! They are big enough to wrap your toddler up in and snuggle with them for a few minutes when they get out of the bathtub, and the hood is perfect for keeping their head warm and drying their hair when they get out of the tub, too. I think it's really neat that Rachel and her grandmother do this together.

Thanks, Rachel! We love our towels, and whenever another McCrary baby comes along, we'll have to call on you again!

Missing our Friends!

It didn't take long after we were home for us to start wanting to head over to see some of our friends. Elaina pleaded all morning on Saturday to go see "my Hannah" and "my Jill." In fact, Elaina fell on Saturday. It was no big deal - she just triped in the living room. You would have thought the world had ended. She was screaming! She wasn't hurt at all. Nothing seemed to help, so finally out of somewhat frustration, I asked her what she needed. She replied, "I NEED MY JILL!!" with big tears streaming down her face.

The Ruddle family got a new puppy, Mac, while we were gone, so Elaina was very excited to go see Mac and give him the ball she picked out for him. Elaina is TERRIFIED of dogs, so we weren't sure how this would go. We're very excited that they got a dog because we are at their house so much, and we're hoping that it will help calm her fears a bit. She loved meeting Mac! We had a great lunch with the Ruddles.

We got to catch up with more of our friends Sunday at church and again Sunday evening out at the Bright farm. It was so wonderful to see everyone. We had a wonderful Sunday, and the girls really enjoyed playing with their friends.

We've made a lot of girl plans this week to hang out with friends, which is very exciting. The girls will be spending time with their MawMaw and PawPaw this week, too. There are so many people that we want to see. I feel like we were gone much longer than two weeks.

Here are some pictures that the Ruddle family took of their new puppy, Mac. He is a Newfoundland and is just stinkin' adorable!

Mac and Hannah

Mr. Mac Ruddle

Miss B - New Hampshire Trip - Day 15

I had to make this last post about our trip. When I was a little girl, I had a lovey named Miss B. She was a bunny rabbit hand puppet blanket thingy. Anyway, I took her everywhere, so she actually made many New Hampshire trips. One year, when we got to New Hampshire, we couldn't find Miss B. My mom tells me that I cried and cried and cried. Mom was afraid we had left Miss B in Connecticut at my aunt and uncle's house. She was fearful of what our time in New Hampshire would be like with me not having my lovey. Fortunately, my mom found Miss B, and it was a very happy ending.

Well, 28 years later, Miss B is still making the New Hampshire trip. When I was pregnant with Elaina, I washed up Miss B just in case we had a baby girl. Well, we did, but Elaina really never got attached to a lovey. I was a little disappointed, but I knew Elaina would have other special things that she gets to have passed down to her from me. So, I set it aside and saved it for possibly another baby girl. Then, Emily was born! Emily attached to Miss B right away and snuggles with Miss B at every nap and every bedtime. Miss B went on our trip with us, and she made it safely home, too. Emily loves her Miss B!

Emily and Miss B

Miss B - age 28

On the Road Again . . . Tetanus Shot Arby's Playground . . . 2650 Miles . . . We're Home! - New Hampshire Trip - Day 15

We left Connecticut at 6:30 Friday morning, and pulled into our driveway at 11:30 Friday night. It was such a long day, but the weather was perfect, and we didn't run into any major traffic. It was a great day to travel.

Our total mileage for our trip was 2,650 miles! It was well worth it! We had such an amazing time. It was so special to have my parents with us for this trip, too. I know it mean a lot to them.

I was so glad that I was able to share all of my special places with the girls and Jeff. I know we'll get back up there someday, but it won't be for a long time.

I'm glad that I was able to keep up with my posting so that the girls will have these written memories years from now to look back on. Elaina learned so much on our trip, and I'm sure Emily had great experiences that helped her grow, too.

For lunch, we stopped somewhere in PA at an Arby's. We had to laugh because it was such an old Arby's. It had one of those playgrounds that I like to call "tetanus shot playgrounds." You know, the old metal ones. Well, Elaina decided to discover the metal curly slide. She's fearless. She got to the top, and went down. She did somersaults the whole way down banging her head. She was screaming and crying as she got to the bottom. But, of course, she dried her tears and asked to go down it again! I made Jeff go down it with her the second time. She's so brave. She was not happy that I made Jeff go down it with her. She wanted to do it again all by herself.

Well, we're home, and we're exhausted. We're trying to catch up on two weeks worth of mail and newspapers. It feels good to be home, but it was sad to have our vacation end. Thanks to all who prayed for us along the way. To my family on the East Coast - you are much loved by us out here in Indiana. Thank you for a wonderful two weeks and many special memories. You're the best!

Elaina playing "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" at a Cracker Barrel pit stop. Elaina and her Poppy play this game together. It's really special.

The Tetanus Shot Arby's Playground somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania