The McMillins

Gretchen's parents flew in last night. We picked them up at the airport and then stayed up until midnight. Then, we had to get up early so we could show Gretchen's parents this house that is for sale. They are looking at possibly moving down here in the future. So, we were all tired today.
We took Gretchen's parents out to McAlister's for lunch. While we were out we went to "Ross" and Gretchen did some more Christmas shopping. She's almost done all our Christmas shopping! Then, we had to pick up Zach's birthday cake and balloons. We came home and Gretchen had to finish making the crab dip for the party. Corey had to marinate the baby back ribs and get those ready to put in the oven for the afternoon. Gretchen's mom had to do the goody bags for the kids for the party and Gretchen's Dad just kept Zach occupied. We got everything done and Zach had a good birthday party. We think he really enjoyed all the attention.
After everyone left, Gretchen cleaned everything up and finished cooking dinner for her parents and then we just relaxed the rest of the evening. It was a VERY busy day! Corey has to work tomorrow so hopefully the day will go a little slower. :)

Gretchen was up until 2 A.M. last night making breakfast for her Bible Study for this morning. Zach woke her up at 5:30 A.M. this morning. So, she's pretty tired today.
Corey just got off of night work this morning. He had his Bible study at our house this morning after getting off work. So, Corey kept Zach at the house while Gretchen ran the food over to her Bible Study. She figured the other women wouldn't appreciate bringing a sick child to be around their kids. (I know we wouldn't like it)
Zach didn't want to take a nap today, even though he REALLY needed one today since he went to bed last night at 10:30 p.m. (b/c of being sick) and woke up at 5:30 a.m. So, she told him to lay down in his bed while we watched the Disney Channel. She rubbed his back and he was asleep within 5 minutes. He really needs his rest.
Nothing is really going on. Corey has been working a LOT of overtime the past 2 weeks. He's back on schedule now, though. Gretchen and Zach have only seen Corey 2 days in the past 2 weeks. It's been tough but we made it. Gretchen has been going Christmas shopping trying to get that out of the way so we can all enjoy the holidays. Plus, she wants to make sure she has plenty of time to do lots of baking and crafts! :)

Gretchen took Zach to school this morning. It's been so nice that she can have some time to herself and get things done. She went to the gym and then did some Christmas shopping and a little bit of birthday shopping. She's trying to find Diego party supplies so she doesn't have to order them online but it looks like she's going to have to.

She's been going to AC Moore almost everyday b/c she has these coupons that she can get scrapbooking supplies fairly cheap. She's doing a MARINE CORPS scrapbook for Corey. She's really gotten into scrapbooking... and cooking! Can you believe that? Plus, she wants to start sewing. Can you believe this is the same woman? lol

Today was Corey's second day off, but felt like the first day since he had to sleep yesterday from coming off of night shift. He had Bible Study this morning while Gretchen took Zach to preschool for the first day. She's been really excited about Zach going. He's so smart and he really needs the socialization. It'll be good for him. It's at a christian preschool, which is even better.

The preschool is about 20 minutes away. So, Gretchen went shopping at AC Moore to look at scrapbooking stuff. She also got to do some birthday shopping for Zach, since his birthday is coming up and also did some Christmas shopping. It was nice to be able to do that alone. Tomorrow, Corey and Gretchen will be taking Zach to preschool which will give us some time alone.

When Gretchen and Zach got home this afternoon, we all had lunch together. Then, Zach and Corey took a nap. When they got up from their naps, the two of them went to go get a drink from the gas station together. Corey loves his Arizona Green Tea w/ Ginseng & Honey. They don't sell it at the grocery store so Corey has to go to the gas station to get it.

Yesterday, Corey turned 31!! Gretchen made his favorite muffins, banana w/ caramel on top, and made his favorite homemade mocha coffee that he likes. His Bible Study group came over to the house and they shared this breakfast with him and then had a good bible study. It started raining during their bible study and then it ended up pouring all day long. It was an answer to Corey's prayer b/c he always talks about how it NEVER rains. He likes his yard to look nice and green. Then, Corey got to play his video game all day long and then Gretchen and Corey studied Matthew 24 together for 2 hours.

Gretchen had made plans to go to dinner with our friends, Doug and Leslie and their 2 kids. So, we went to dinner at 4:30 p.m. Then, they were going to come back to our house and we were going to have some cake and ice cream. Well, Gretchen forgot the ice cream. So, Doug and Corey went to go get ice cream while Leslie and Gretchen went back to the house. While they were getting ice cream, Gretchen had secretly gotten his other friends and our neighbor to come over to the house for a surprise party for Corey's birthday. He was soooo surprised! He absolutely LOVED it!

Gretchen has been sick for the past week. She's had a lot of sinus pressure, headache and some coughing... not to mention the congestion. Zach has been sick as well with a really bad cough. Fortunately, they are both getting better now. Gretchen felt absolutely horrible and couldn't do anything with Zach. Zach was allowed to watch TV all day b/c all Gretchen could do is lay down. Corey did very well in helping with breakfast and trying to take care of Zach as much as he could even though he had to work. He also made dinner for everyone before he went to work. Gretchen felt some relief knowing that she didn't have to do some of those things and could just lay down.

Gretchen thought she was doing better and decided to help Corey wash/ clean the truck. (both inside and outside) After vaccuming the inside and cleaning everything inside, Gretchen didn't feel very good and had to lay down. Sometimes, we think we're better than we really are.

Corey had Bible Study at the house yesterday. Max decided to spray on the couch 15 minutes before everyone came over. So, Gretchen had to clean that up while Corey was finishing up edging the yard so that the guys would notice how nice the yard looked. lol Later in the afternoon, we watched "Left Behind III: World at War". It was really good!

Sorry there aren't any pictures. The website won't let us download them. We're contacting someone to find out what's wrong. :)