Greenville Reunion

This past weekend, I got to go to a dear high school friend's baby shower thrown by several of my hometown gals. We had a wonderful time catching up and meeting each other's children. It reminded me how old I was, but also made me so thankful for how lucky we all are to be so blessed with such beautiful families and kids!

Where the Wild Thing Is

Right here in Georgia!!! I was so excited the other day when I heard that one of my favorite books was coming to the big screen this fall. Too bad OUR wild thing won't even sit still for one millisecond of a Baby Einstein movie. Don't think we'll be taking him to the opening night of this flick!

Hairdo courtesy of Stylist Todd Hartley--hope they don't put you in charge of your beautiful bride's hair on yall's wedding day!

Twilight 5K

Since Jack and I have joined bootcamp 3+ weeks ago, I have been very curious to see if I could run a race. This is something I've been wanting to try for several years now, but never had the nerve. Friday night while we were at the Twilight Criterium in downtown Athens, the alcohol I'd had for dinner got the best of me (not really). so I signed up (didn't hurt that there was a cute t-shirt involved) and showed up bright and early Saturday morning ready to run. Other that being clueless about what to do with my car keys while I ran, everything went smoothly despite my being scared to death! But I finished strong and didn't end up 250th and had a wonderful suprise waiting for me at the finish line cheering me on.

Job Perks

Being a middle school teacher has a zillion job perks! This is one of them. I felt like a rock star as I pulled up to Five Guys Burgers and Fries in a stretch Expedition limo full of 11-year-old boys. I have never turned so many heads! Ha! Yesterday was our fundraiser reward party and since 7th grade planning period overlaps with lunch, I was one of the fortunate chaperones of the trip. Only 4 more weeks until summer!!!

A few funnies from the kids this week--one night, Kinsey and I were playing "I'm thinking of something" and it was her turn. I should start by saying that until recently, we have played this game describing animals. Anyways, she says "I'm thinking of a person who bites her nails and says 'What do you want for breakfast Kinsey'". I guess I now know my true role in Kinsey's eyes now--the fixer of breakfast and nothing more! Another sweet thing was today, Kinsey's school had an early Father's Day party and one of her "gifts" to her daddy was a certificate that said "If I could do anything with my Daddy it would be..." and Kinsey's response had been "bowling". Aww!

Picnic in the Park

So yesterday, I pulled a muscle in my upper back. Last night, after the rodeo, it was a little sore and I had some prescription muscle relaxer from a previous injury. I thought this was a good idea. I didn't realize it was almost midnight before I took the pill and went to bed. Also, I thought I'd go ahead and take a whole pill instead of the half that the RX recommeded. I did not wake up until noon today. Granted I did GET up and eat some breakfast, but I don't remember anything really before noon. After Max's and my morning naps, we decided to pack a picnic lunch and go to the State Garden and pay frisbee and take some pictures. The picture taking part didn't turn out like I wanted, but what a beautiful day it is today in Georgia!

Cowgirls Night Out

So tonight was Ladies Night in the Patrick household and Kinsey and I decided to take another trip to the rodeo, this time "Max-less". We got all dolled up for a fancy dinner at Chick-Fil-A, and then off to the UGA Great Southland Stampede Rodeo. This is the same rodeo that Jack and I used to help put together close to ten years ago. Kinsey picked up two men while we were out (we met up with John Scott and Jacob at the rodeo). She really enjoyed the little petting zoo, which we visited twice, but most of all, her favorite was the clown.

Fun Relay Day

After a long week of standardized testing at my school, our Relay for Life team along with Jr. Beta Club kids helped sponsor a Relay Day, with other local businesses and churches. Snow cones, bounce houses, pony rides and face painting was enough to get the Patrick clan involved! So Max enjoyed his first try at being a cowboy on cousin Amanda's sweet little Shetland pony named Dusty. And Kinsey's highlight was pretending she was thirteen hanging out with a bunch of my precious students.




In other news this week, completed our second week of Work Out Warriors Boot Camp. We go to an hour of intense exercise from 5:30 to 6:30, me on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, and Jack on Teusday-Thursday. So far, I've been pretty please with my results and plan to continue through May. No immediate plans for a triathalon just yet, though. We also went to the UGA Great Southland Stampede Rodeo Thursday night. Forunately, we took two cars, because Max only lasted 45 minutes since it didn't start until 8:00. Im looking forward to Ladies Night tonight when I'm taking Kinsey back while the boys stay home. Hopefully, I will have some pictures to post tomorrow.

Princesses, Pirates, and Pixies

If you've never been to the Georgia Renaissance Festival, this is something you ought to try at least once. I have never had any desire to go to this event near the Atlanta airport until last night, when I learned it was "buy-one-get-one-free" weekend. So we made the hour-and-a-half trip to Fairburn for a very entertaining afternoon.


Here are some things that I found very interesting: all the rides we powered by man, not electricity. The swing ride was driven by two men pushing the center piece in circles, the pirate ships were powered by a pulley-system that the rider had to manuever. The crafts they sold were all handmade--no plastic! The wooden swords and shields and fairy wands and wings made of ribbons and wire. The Lipizzan stallions were beautiful to watch and the costumes were all so detailed. The petting zoo had some really cool animals both Kinsey ad Max enjoyed. But my very favorite thing of all was Mother Goose, who actually lets you hold her and pet her.



Here are some things that I found, uh, interesting: I realized that all the people in the parking lot who were dressed up were NOT workers of the festival. I did not know that pirates, beasts and fairies were all considered "renaissance". Also, some of the costumes were scary. There were elf ears, little goat horns, and very big women stuffed in teeny tiny corsets! We actually bought tickets to go back again, believe it or not!!!

Birthday Day

This afternoon, we enjoyed two birthday parties. The first was neighbor Turner's sports bash and second was the Griner boys' pirate party. Both kids had a great time and are were both out cold before the sun went down (thank goodness)! I was a proud mommy when Kinsey tried out her basketball talent (not bad) and Max just had fun carrying around a ball that was almost as big as him. The big boys were nice enough to let Kinsey have a turn batting and they pretended she hit a homerun which was cute. Being the only girl at this party, I thought it was fitting when she skipped around all the bases back to home plate. At the swashbuckling party, the kids loved digging in the sand for buried treasure, walking the plank, and especially listening to the pirate storyteller.







The birthday boys truly enjoyed themselves in their pirate attire and all the guests, kids and adult alike, enjoyed some amazing Buccaneer baked goods. Check it out...

Into EVERYTHING!!!

This is the only way to portray how--um, how shall I say--curious Max is these days. I turn around to pick up the dish towels that he pulls out of the drawer and he pulls all the pots out of the cabinet. I'm putting the pots up, and I turn around and he's in the magazine basket. UGHHHHHH!

Play Date with Nan

Yesterday, Kinsey's Nan picked her up from school as she usually does on Tuesdays. This day was different, though. This was the first Tuesday since Pop-Pop died that she had school and a visit to him was on their list of things to do every Tuesday. So, as expected, Kinsey asked if they could go visit him and promised she would be good (sometimes she gets a little silly there I hear). Anyway, Nan was a little nervous about having to explain where Pop was and driving passed his home, but Kinsey has a way of making the situation a little better. When Nan told she was sorry, but Pop was no longer there, Kinsey said "Where is he Nan? Did he go to PRISON?" She was very serious about his whereabouts! She explained that he was NOT in prison, but in fact living in Heaven with Jesus, and Kinsey seemed satisfied with that response. Don't ask me where she learned about prison...it's not like it's a hot topic in our house or anything?!?

Anyway, here are a few shots of their trip to the playground after their lunch date at their "Secret Place" that she thinks I don't know about!

Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from our friend Harrison's 4th birthday party at the Athens firehouse. Everyone had a blast playing on the trucks! Thanks for the great pictures, Mary!

Word Cloud

Here's a cool little thing I snagged from someone else's website. If you go to this link and type in your blog address, it'll scan your site and make this cloud with the most common words in your blog. They also make t-shirts and stuff.

http://snapshirts.com/custom.php?sid=1pgbaj7n0863046i5jlsb7t5u1

Another Flashback...

This was always one of my favorite pics of Kinsey when she was one, so I made sure to get max's photo in the same bright adirondack chair at the beach house.

Spring Break 2008

So, my friend Mary recently posted on her blog that spring break must be made for the teachers. Ha. Ha, ha...hahahahahahaha (imagine maniacal laughter, bloodshot eyes, and wild hair here). Here's the short story--13 hours in the car, 2 of which were peaceful. 6 days at Myrtle Beach, 3 HOURS of which were warm enough and dry enough to set foot outside. Three children under 4, one stomach bug and a whole bunch of cabin fever!!! No really, a bad day at the beach still beats a good day at work (or sitting at home for that matter). We did have a nice trip. We got to meet one of my closest cousin, Emily's, baby, Colin. We also had a cousin's night out, which is a rarity. We went to the Myrtle Beach Aquarium, and indoor playground called KidZone (great idea, really), lots of seafood, a few bundled walks on the beach, and some outlet shopping. We had a half day of gorgeous weather and saw two dolphins, too. I AM glad to be home though. I worry about what Max will be like on our travels this summer. El diablo--yikes!!!