Yes, I still live...

...although I am not sure how I have survived the last 4 weeks somedays. It has been a terribly busy and stressful time at our house so blogging has taken a backseat. Not that bloggable stuff hasn't happened--it definitely has. It unfortunately has happened over and over and over again, while in the meantime not giving me any time to really get it all down. I will do it in list form so that I can get it out. I will not go into too much detail, but hopefully this will get me back on my blogging track. I hate that everyone is missing out on our family's lives. So here it is...4 weeks in a nutshell:

1. We attended my cousin John's wedding in Longboat Key, FL the weekend before Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. We stayed the week of Thanksgiving in Holiday, FL at the newlywed couple's house while they were on their honeymoon. My other cousin Robert and his fiance Kayla live 2 doors down from the house and we got the pleasure of hanging out with them a lot. We took over their house in the morning because John and Mary didn't have a coffee pot! Poor things...and let's just say that they got more than a taste of what it was like to have children in the house!! We had a great time with them. My Aunt Nancy lives about 15 minutes away from their so we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with her and Bill, as well as Grandma and Uncle John and Toni (who were all in town for the wedding and Thanksgiving, too!). Robert and John's youngest brother, Stephen, was in town for the wedding on leave from the Army for the occasion. It was great to see him--we are all SO proud!

While in Holiday, we were also very blessed that Roger's Aunt Doris lived literally about 2 blocks away from John and Robert! This allowed us the great pleasure of spending some time with Doris and I finally got to meet Roger's cousins, Spike, Tony, and Michael. I had heard a lot about these guys, but had never met them before. What a great group of people! We had such a good time and even got some adult time together with Tony and his girlfriend while Robert and Kayla took the boys for a few hours. We spent Thanksgiving dinner with them as well. Which leads me to number 2.

2. "Hey Roger, do you want to play flag football tomorrow morning? I know some guys who are getting together." "Sure, sounds great." This conversation has come to haunt me. Roger did play flag football with Robert, and did well from what I understand. Unfortunately, I was not able to see him do well because on my way to the game with the boys (so that they could watch their daddy play football) I received this phone call. "I need you to bring me some ice. I hurt my knee." I said ok, and stopped at Starbucks to get coffee and a bag of ice while my brain was screaming "Oh, crap." Little did I know.

We spent the day in the ER getting X-rays. Happy Thanksgiving. Roger had broken his tibial plateau (look it up, it's too much to explain on here) with displacement and fragments. Oh, lovely. Surgery here we come. We spent the evening at Doris' house for Thanksgiving with Roger staying in one place because he couldn't move. He was miserable, but trying to have a good time with his cousins that he hadn't seen in a while. When we got home, we had to prepare for the 10 hour return drive to SC so that we could try to plan for his surgery. It was a super long day and I won't go into details, but we were so glad to get home!

3. ER visit number 2. Roger was losing feeling in his foot so we decided to get to the hospital and see if we could get it better taken care of and possibly get in with an orthopedic surgeon. Of course no one was going to operate on the holiday weekend, so we got a prescription to call the office Monday. Thanks for nothing. He had been broken for 5 days by the time we got to the doctor's office. They scheduled the surgery for Wednesday, he came home Thursday evening. No weight bearing for up to 12 weeks. Crutches and a wheel chair. Pain, pain, pain. The first day home was terrifying. My strong husband was struggling so much and it hurt me deeply to see it. Thank God my mother in law was here! She stayed through till the next Thursday morning and was a God sent Angel!

4. I have discovered that when my life is out of control, that I obsessively clean my kitchen. I can't control Roger's pain, his recovery, or the stress that comes with that. I am stressed about the kids, it was Christmas, the dog is dying (more on that later, too), and the only one who can do anything is me. When my life feels crazy, I clean the kitchen. I never had the desire to clean the kitchen like I do now. But, I guess it's always clean, right? Now, if I don't keel over from the fumes of this obsessive cleaning, we will be in business.

5. Justice and I have made several trips to the vet in the last couple of weeks. Each visit was sad and anticipatory of saying goodbye to him for the last time. He is still here, but we are on our last treatment option and we know that it's temporary. He made it through the holidays and we are just sort of waiting now. Please pray for us that the goodbye is painless for him (and us). It's hard on all of us.

6. Last, but not least, I have a 4.5 year old and a 1.5 year old who both miss their daddy and for at least the first week seemed mad at Mommy because of it. They are adjusting to Daddy's boo-boo now, so we are getting better. We made it through Christmas (pictures to come, I promise) even though there were no Christmas cards this year. They will be super late, but will get there, so bear with me. They are growing like weeds and are both so funny. Colin is coming into his own and starting to enjoy learning to read. Nothing major yet, but it is so awesome to see his wheels turning. Christopher is at that hilarious age where the things he says are so funny either because he is repeating something that he has heard or just jibber jabbering to himself. His latest is if you ask him a question that he doesn't know that answer to, he replies "Ohhhh. Nutning." (Oh, nothing). He is always ready with a grin for you and you can't help but smile back. These boys, while driving me insane have the uncanny ability to keep me sane. It's the oddest thing. I love them so much and this has brought me to tears more than once in recent weeks!

So that is it in a nutshell. I am sure there is more to tell and I will try to be better about sharing, but for now just know that I am doing my best here and sometimes it will make it into the blogosphere and sometimes it won't.

Oh yeah...HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that everyone has a very successful and fulfilling 2010!

Halloween

Our Halloween was fun but became overrun with me getting sick and pouring down rain while trick or treating. The funniest thing about it is that Colin will not take off his costume. He loves being Spiderman! Christopher was Superman and had already had enough after like 2 houses so he spent most of his time in his stroller, covered by the umbrella! Anyway, here are the pictures of the cutest superheroes ever!

Going green

Nope, not environmentally. That's not the green I'm talking about at all. I am talking about Colin and his frequency of green cards. He has been doing AWESOME at school and is 5 cards away from earning his special treat. For his treat he has chosen to go to a movie with the family...all 4 of us. My sweet boy loves his family! So I just wanted everyone to know how well Colin is doing at school. I am super proud!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

The wind is blowing ever so gently and the leaves are turning colors. I see bright oranges, reds, and yellows everywhere that I look. The breeze is cool and comforting, whether it is coming in through the windows or I am outside enjoying it with my boys. It is a time of chili and beef stew for dinner, and coffee on all day with mint creamer in it (not that the coffee thing is new, but the creamer is). Football is on the TV all day and Roger and I each pull out our NFL jerseys to wear in support of our favorite players--AJ Hawk (Packers) for him, and Peyton Manning (Indianapolis) for me. Oddly enough, neither of them play for the two teams that we mostly claim as our own. Weird. Anyway, fall is the best time of year for all of these reasons, today being one that reminds me.

Colin is forever asking me to play cars with him and today is no different. I generally do not enjoy playing cars because it requires me to get into a character and it is my least favorite thing to do. I prefer just to push them around and race them. Since today is so gorgeous outside, I had the bright idea to take his cars outside and race them down our driveway because it has a downward slope towards the garage. That way we played cars and got out into the beautiful weather all at the same time! It was a total blast! He tired of cars after about 25 minutes and then Christopher came out to join us after waking up from his nap and eating some lunch. He was content to sit on my lap in the driveway and watch as Colin ran all over the yard, tagging the curve sign, the tree, the lamppost, the bush, the fence and whatever else I told him to. Colin ran super fast and Christopher's smile spoke volumes.

When we headed inside, Colin's nurturing side came out in full force, almost bringing tears to my eyes. He grabbed Christopher's hand to help him in through the garage, navigating him around the car tire, the trash bags that are waiting to go out to the trash can, and up the step. His gentle words were so kind and loving. I thought it was over and then I asked Christopher if he wanted me to take his jacket off. Immediately and without even thinking about it, Colin jumped up and walked over to where Christopher was standing. He unzipped his jacket, helped him pull the sleeves off, and put the jacket up on the table for me. It's these times that remind me of why I became a mom. The absolute bursting of my heart when I see them do something so kind and utterly innocent makes every tantrum, every frustration, every scolding worth it because I know that he is becoming a loving, caring, responsible person. I am so proud to be his mom! Even though I don't have pictures for this post, the ones that are in my head will never leave.

Grandma Sue rocks!

After writing my previous post, I realized that I did have something pretty un-boring to talk about!

My awesome mother-in-law, Sue, came and hung out with us on Columbus Day weekend and it was anything but boring. Relaxed, yes. Boring, no.

Sue is everything that I could have put together on my own in a perfect 2nd mom. She loves me as her own, is silly, funny, calming--well, motherly. I love her very much and feel extremely blessed to have been accepted so fully into her family.

While she was here, we did a number of things. Saturday we spent the day at the Greenville Children's Museum, which was really quite awesome. It has been under construction since we moved down here, and it finally opened this year. Never have I seen so much hands-on opportunity for the kids. Both of them had plenty that they could do and they enjoyed it very much. I think we will be heading back there in the future for sure!

Sunday we had chili and watched some football. Sue is NOT a Redskins fan and made sure to let me know how she felt about them! It was quite funny to hear her--sweet Grandma Sue--cheering whenever something went wrong for them (which as any of you football fans know has been more often than not this season, but that is a whole other post). Then, horror of all horrors, she cheered for the Cowboys! Ah jeez, as if Roger being a Cowboys fan wasn't bad enough, I was stuck in my living room with two of them! I love being able to tease each other and know it is all fun. After the football "fun" was done, Roger and I were able to get some time together and went to a movie. We saw "Couples Retreat" and it was absolutely hilarious. It was really nice knowing that the kids were having some fun with their grandma and were being spoiled appropriately while we were gone. Sue is wonderful about playing cars, superheroes, trains, and whatever else Colin wants to do--over and over and over again. She is much better at it than me, and Colin eats it up. They had a great time and Roger and I appreciated the chance to be adults only for a couple of hours.

Also while Sue was here, we bought a puzzle to complete. I love puzzles and usually don't have them sitting on the kitchen table to work on because that doesn't make much sense since that is where we eat. Sue and I bond over puzzling. The last couple of times she has come to visit, we have worked on puzzles. We talk about a lot while focusing on where those blasted pieces go. We get serious, we get silly, we laugh. It's truly a great time for me. I hope she enjoys it, too!

So there you have it, my un-boring weekend with Grandma Sue, topped off with a trip to Target so that Sue could buy each of the boys a toy. Colin wanted a Transformer, and Christopher ended up with a K'nex Police Elmo. Overall, everyone got what they wanted--except maybe more time for Sue to stay. Colin didn't want to say goodbye and was very sad when he left for school on Tuesday knowing that Sue wouldn't be here when we got home. Thanks for a great weekend, Sue! Can't wait for our next one!

I will post pictures soon...I have to get them from the camera. One thing at a time!

Blog free lifestyle

I have been reading up on my friends' blogs and have come to a conclusion or two.

One, I live a very boring life. Yes, things happen in my daily life that could make a blog, but I don't always think people need to know about the daily details. At this point, those details just entail Christopher's diaper rash and driving Colin back and forth to school. Not the most exciting news ever.

Two, I have had no desire to write down the simple things lately. My life with my kids and Roger is absolutely wonderful. Lately, however, I don't feel any push to take the time to sit down and make a witty story out of it. I just want to live in it and enjoy it all, even when I'm not always enjoying it. If I stopped and shared every event, every cute smile, and every cute/funny saying I would be too concentrated on my grammar and spelling of the event and not on the event itself. That's no way to share things.

Having said all of that, I am going to try and do better at sharing the funny stories and the not so funny stories as well because they are all important to me. This is my life, boring as it may be sometimes, and I love it. That's what makes it worth sharing. Diaper rash and car rides here we come!

Randomness

It's been a while, so I will just throw a bunch of stuff at you with no real purpose. :)

Christopher is really coming into his own lately and is discovering that he can make us laugh pretty easily. This either means that he is really funny or we are easily amused. I haven't figured out which one it is yet, though. He has become pretty fascinated with going potty, or "otty" in his words. Any time that anyone goes in the bathroom or if he pees he starts chanting "otty, otty, otty!" The other day he had an uncomfortable look on his face and he said, "Otty." I asked him if he went potty and he stopped in the middle of the kitchen and nodded his head while wiggling his hips around in a circle "adjusting!" It bugs him a lot more than it ever did Colin to be wet. He often will tell me when he needs a change. He'll say "poo" (which sounds more like boo) and point or "pee" and point. He's brilliant.

He is in a stage now when he will just randomly walk through the house and babble. He is usually aping something that Colin has done previously, and it's really cute to watch. He has taken to being Spiderman like Colin and points his finger and shoots the webs while making the "sheeeeu sheeeu" sound.

He is doing very well with walking and most of the time does great, but still falls pretty often. He gets frustrated and yells at his feet. He falls down, shakes his feet while yelling "tee, tee!!" (feet, in Christopher speak). It's pretty humorous. He has also taken to showing his muscles for everyone. He puts both arms up and growls. Needless to say this impresses all the ladies and goes along with his flirtatious behavior at the--well, wherever we are. We are loving this time of his life that is so full of discovery and growth.

Colin has been enjoying his preschool and we often hear stories of playing superhero on the playground, who is favorite friends are, and who got in trouble that day. Of course he isn't so forthcoming with the other stuff. Such as when he has a yellow day. Green cards are a good day. Yellow is the warning day, meaning he doesn't get a sticker for the day, putting off his pick from the treasure box. He has had a number of these yellow days in the last couple of weeks. Mostly for wild behavior mixed with some kicking and disrespect of the teacher. Aaaaaaahhhh! My kid can't be the problem child! Noooooooo! I talked to the teacher and she assures me that he is just doing age-appropriate things and not to worry too much, but to really praise his good behavior. I agree with her wholeheartedly, but I also think that it is my job to nip it in the bud. He gets a separate punishment at home on these non-green days, and I have also implemented a smile chart for him to work towards a special treat from us. He earns a smile on his chart for every green day. Once he fills up the chart with smiles he gets a special treat. So far it is working great...although it's only been two days since implementation, but we have two smileys so we are off to a great start.

The other day we were heading out to the garage to get in the car. I went ahead of the kids so that I could get my armfuls of stuff into the car before having to pick up kids to put them in. I leaned out of the car just in time to hear Colin saying "Come on, Christopher, I'll help you" and simultaneously leaning down, wrapping his arms around him, and assisting him down the step into the garage. It was so sweet that I teared up. It's a welcome change from him knocking him over for moving. :)

On a whole other note, we have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster the last couple of weeks with Justice (one of our dogs for those of you who don't know). He was diagnosed with cancer in March or around that time period. Well, in the last few weeks, he has stopped eating, lost a ton of weight, and started vomiting at night. We changed his food, which seems to have helped for a short time, but it seems to be starting again. It is totally heartbreaking to watch, and we are preparing ourselves for the time that we have to make the difficult decision to give up. He is 11 years old and it is obvious what is coming. Please say some prayers for Roger as this is his baby. He is a wonderful dog and a true part of the family.

One baby pot band + 1 brother= AWESOME

I have a picture of Colin around Christopher's age playing my pots and pans like drums. Of course I had to allow Christopher the same opportunity. Unfortunately, it is now a daily occurrence while I make dinner. A very loud occurrence. He just loves it, and Colin likes to join in. That's when the fun really starts...

This is Colin.

This is Christopher.

This is the two of them doing a duet.

Mr. Creative

Colin has been playing a lot with his trains, cars, legos, and blocks lately and here are some of his creations. The kid might have a future in engineering or architecture. His brain surprises me with the intricate details that he can visualize in his building of things. I know all kids have imagination and creativity, but it is still impressive to me.

I dare you to not be impressed by this train track! He did it with no help.

This is a picture of a block city he built...I can't recall what everything was, but he told me.

This is a Lego monster truck. It has a giant lift. Ugh, we must really live in the south.

Exercising my life away

As many of you may know, I am a certified personal trainer. I exercise at least 5 days a week and watch my diet the vast majority of the time. I think it's important, I think it's good for me, I want to keep losing baby weight and toning up, and I actually enjoy it. I thought I was pretty fit.

Apparently not as fit as I thought.

Roger and I started the P90X program (www.beachbody.com, look it up) together 3 weeks ago.

Holy. Crap.

Intense doesn't even begin to describe this program. It is a mixture of strength, cardio, diet, flexibility, core, etc. that is reminiscent of some of my preseason days. The first night that we did it, we did chest and back and ab ripper x. I woke myself up my abs hurt so bad that night.

As the three weeks have gone on, I have learned a few things. 1) I was not as fit as I thought, 2) Yoga X sucks total balls 3)Diet and exercise really are the only way to improve your health and meet your weight/body goals and I don't need ice cream every night. I am seeing results after this short time, and am thoroughly impressed with the program. I am noticing that each workout gets easier, while remaining hard. I will kick ab ripper x's butt, I will. I can't wait to post some pictures, but right now I am still just a bit too embarrassed of the before ones. I will post them together when we are done with the program.

If you have reached a point in your working out that you need something new and different, this might be what you need. It is definitely not for beginners though, so be warned!

Colin's first day of K-4

Colin started his K-4 (known in most places as preschool, but for some reason here, it's considered Kindergarten 4--welcome to SC) last Monday. He goes 4 days a week from 9am to 1pm. He is doing great already, although his stubbornness was a problem on day 1. He didn't want to do anything the teacher wanted him to do. After a little talk with me after school about how important it is for him to listen to his teacher, he didn't have another problem all week. He learned all of the routines right away (kiss me goodbye, go in, hang up his backpack, put his lunch box in his cubby, put on his name tag, put his monkey on the tree (it's a system for taking roll), and go sit at his table. I am so proud that he can do this by himself! I want nothing more than for him to be as independent as possible when he is away from me. He had 4 green days and that meant that he was able to pick a treat from the treasure box on Thursday. He was very cute in his excitement of wanting to show me what he got. As crazy as he makes me, I love that kid!

Things are a bit different for him this year as instead of 8 kids in his class, there are 20! Instead of 1 teacher, there are 3. He seems to be adjusting fairly well, although I think I need to find a way for him to blow off some steam every day when he gets home. I will work on that. Here is a picture of him on his first day.

Atlanta Zoo

I had the joy and pleasure of meeting an old soccer friend from my high school years at the Atlanta Zoo (actually called Zoo Atlanta, but that irritates me so I changed it). She moved to Arizona when I was about 16, and I hadn't seen her since. We have caught back up on Facebook and it turns out that our children (she has two boys) are months apart. Colin is a couple of months older than Kegan, and Christopher is 1 month older than Kamden. It was a blast to hang out with them together and they got along really well. I enjoyed meeting Autumn's husband, Travis, as well. I only wish that Roger had been able to join us, as that would have made it even more perfect. Here are some pictures from our time there. Hopefully we will make some plans in the coming years to travel to Arizona to visit!

Colin kept us all informed of where we were and were going the entire day by using his map. He really did a great job following it!

Colin and Kegan with the lion statue.

Colin and Kegan on the gorilla statue with the sign behind them that says do not climb on statue. Oops.

Looking at the sleeping panda.

Christopher and Kamden driving the school bus. Aren't they cute?

Anniversary to remember

He looks innocent, doesn't he???

So as I said yesterday, we celebrated our anniversary. We didn't have a babysitter so we took the kids with us to dinner. It was fun and Roger and I deviated from our clean eating and enjoyed a Greek dinner at The Olympian. Yummy.

Then, just to add to the fun of the anniversary, we headed to Lowe's to search for glue to install our new hardwood flooring. Of course Lowe's didn't have it. This means an extra trip to Simpsonville (about 25 minutes away) to Lumber Liquidators. This also means an extra week before we can get it done. Oh well. Such is life.

After our trip to Lowe's (where the kids were angelic) we headed to Wal Mart--just to cap off the night. Living large, we are! Unfortunately, our angelic 4-year-old became possessed while we were there and threw the fit to end all fits all because I took him to the bathroom. Needless to say he had to go badly enough that he was doing the pee pee dance, because in his world that is irrelevant. If I didn't know that he was my child and I had seen this event as a bystander, I would have thought that the child was being abducted. I was carrying him by this point because he refused to walk and he is screaming "DAAAADDDDYYYY!!! I WANT MY DAAAADDY! NO, NO, NO!!!!" I was mortified, but determined that he was going to go to the bathroom. Oh yes, this 31-year-old will win the fight with the 4-year-old. Little did I know that he had more defiance left in him. Great. In the bathroom it took 10 more minutes of him screaming that he didn't want to be in there, for him to finally go to the bathroom. Which, by the way, sounded like a hose in a pool of water--nope, he didn't have to go at all.

I thought it was over, but no such luck. We went back to where we had left Roger, and he wasn't there. Meltdown number 2. I actually sat him in the middle of the floor in Wal Mart for a time out. Then I told him that I was no longer speaking to him and that he was going to be quiet while we walked around looking for Daddy because I was pretty upset with him. Did he want to do that? Nope. Oh well, he can trail behind me whining and complaining until we find him. And he did. A lot. We finish our shopping (with Colin now under Roger's care, and Christopher with me in the cart) and head to the truck to leave. Meltdown number 3. "I'm not getting in the truck!" I picked him up and placed him ever so lovingly in his car seat and started to buckle him...again the screaming started. "STOP IT! STOP DOING THAT!!!!!! STOOOOOOOOOP!" I gently...ok, not exactly gently, shut his door and told him to buckle himself.

Then we fought with him after we got home because he was going straight to bed--missing out on his dessert, a story, and special routine with us at bedtime. Two hours later, he was asleep.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. Aw, thanks, Colin.


I love that Colin is so much like me. Most of the time. His stubborn streak doesn't mesh well with my stubborn streak. It's a good thing we love each other. Sometimes I think that if given the chance, that he would trade me in for a newer, cooler, nicer model. Until then, he is stuck with me...the one who loves him the most, no matter what.

As a side note, Christopher was in the mood of a lifetime throughout all of this. Giggly, talking, and laughing.

5 years!

Happy Anniversary to us! August 28, 2004 was a beautiful, sunny day and everything about it was perfect. Well, that is excluding the small fight I had with the florist for forgetting a boutonniere, but that is minor and was fixed immediately after a short, not so patient phone call from me!

The wedding ceremony was very simple and so much fun! Not one tear, but tons of laughs! Roger smiled through the entire ceremony, which made me smile (and giggle like a school girl). Every time that the pastor took a pause, Roger said "I do." It was funny--he couldn't wait to be Mr. Angela Snyder...uh, I mean to make me Mrs. Roger Miller. :)

We had such a wonderful time there that we decided to continue it on into the reception. We had a great time and (BONUS!) only one fire! One of the candles that was around the cake fell over during our dance and started a fire on the table cloth. Luckily my sister-in-law Elizabeth was able to get to it before it got bad. My 2.5-year-old niece, Danielle, gets the shout out for seeing it first! There was dancing, some drinks, and lots of food, and then it was on to the Tiki Bar in Virginia Beach for a party with more friends. We had our own section of the place because we knew the owners and it was wonderful to see those who didn't get to come to the reception, but were able to come hang out with us anyway.

We have had a wonderful 5 years together and I look forward to many more.

Our crazy little boys...

Here is a really cute picture of Christopher sitting with Roger at the computer and "borrowing" his headphones. For some reason, Christopher is fascinated by these things and can often be found pulling them out of Roger's computer bag and attempting to put them on his head. This generally results in him wrapping the cord around himself, but short of the lack of oxygen, it's pretty funny. OK, he hasn't ever gotten to that point...we do watch our kids. Except when they are eating earrings, picking up blocks, I am shutting the car doors, etc. Details, details.

Anyway, there is also a little video of Colin running through our newly painted hall. This is a daily occurrence because he has to show me how fast he is. I love the way his arms pump so feverishly and he is so proud of himself. One of these days we will be running together and I will have to show him that I am faster than he is. That's right, I will compete with my kid. He has to know who's boss. That includes in the running world. Until he can beat me and then my work is done!

The house be painted!

We got the painters out to the house last week and in 3 days our foyer, upstairs hallway, and living room were transformed from white (with lots of fingerprints and dog marks, as well as some beautiful artwork by Colin) to Golden Fleece (foyer and hallway) and Compatible Cream (living room). I think that I want to be the one to name paint colors. I could come up with a fewlovely ones, I'm sure. I would normally have been happy (well, willing, anyway) to paing my own walls, but as you can see we have GIANT ceilings and neither Roger nor myself were getting up on a ladder to paint these walls. It was totally worth paying someone else! Anyway, here are the pictures. It is such a relief to have it finished! Now I just have to figure out how to decorate. Help!

Indianana

Yes, I understand that I spelled Indiana wrong. But that is where Colin said that we went and I like it. So you did not get me in a spelling error. Nice try, Amy.

We left for Indiana on July 4, early in the morning. Fortunately, it was a beautiful drive and even ended up being only 7.5 hours of driving instead of the 10 we were expecting. It was definitely different than when Christopher was only 8 weeks old! We were going to go and see some fireworks in downtown Indianapolis, but we got there and it POURED. It had been going all day, and I think the fireworks were even cancelled, so there were no "ooooohs" or "aaaaaaaahs" for us. Maybe next year.

Christopher and Nancy--he was tuckered out!

We did have a very full week: building a porch for Aunt Nancy, Children's Museum, building a porch for Aunt Nancy, the pool, a day of swim lessons for Colin, building a porch for Aunt Nancy, the Train Museum, trip to Urgent care, saw the Ice Age movie with Rita, and did I mention that we built a porch for Aunt Nancy?

Looking up into the glass sculpture at the Children's Museum.

Colin talking Ms. Jackie's ear off about something before his lesson.

He seemed to enjoy his time on the kick board.

Colin liked the caboose.

Roger and Christopher on the caboose...Christopher wasn't quite so enchanted by the trains as Colin!

Colin on the dining car at the Train Museum.

We also got to see "the house." This is the house that Roger's dad and his sisters grew up in that his grandparents had built (well, had built for them) in the 1950's or 60's (sorry if I don't know the exact dates). In 2007, Roger's family took a big hit losing Grandma, Grandpa, and Mike (Roger's dad) during the summer. After this, Rita was able to take over the house and had it fully renovated. We hadn't seen it since because it wasn't ready last summer while we were there. It is absolutely beautiful, while still maintaining a lot of major parts of Grandma and Grandpa Miller. Great job, Rita!!

We built the porch for Aunt Nancy on Monday, Tuesday, and finished Wednesday. She was expanding an existing 7x7 porch to a 12x12. If only it had been as easy as placing some more paving stones down. Nope, we had to level the ground first. Wonderful. What did Nancy provide for the leveling agent? Cow crap. Yep, cow manure. Lots and lots of bags of cow poo were spread. Super fun times. Luckily it didn't smell as bad as you would think, but it still grossed me out. We went to the store about 769 different times to get more materials because some calculation somewhere had been off. Finally, we got to Wednesday and were rolling right along, spreading poop, adding a little paving dirt, placing a paving stone, and on to the next one. We could see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Then Colin decided to show us how strong he was.

He picked up one of the 20+ pound paving stones that was in a stack (we weren't using these and they were going to be returned) off to the side of the porch (that he had been told not to touch already) and promptly dropped it right back on his fingers. I heard, "Mommy! Look how strong I...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Before Roger or I could get there to pick it up off of his finger (incidentally the same finger I had smashed in the car door last fall), he had ripped his hands out and there was blood pouring down his hand. Now remember, Roger and I have been elbow deep in crap all day, so there wasn't a clean hand, so I grabbed him on the elbows holding a hand under the dripping blood and rushed him into the bathroom so I could wash hands (his and mine). It was bad. He had split his finger open and ripped a bunch of skin off of it in a different spot. I got it covered up with band aids (they must have been from the 70's because the paper just about disintegrated in my hand when I was opening it) and some gauze and we ran out the door to the Urgent care center. There we had quite a traumatic time with x-rays (no broken bones), the doctor's examining of the finger and deciding that steri-strips covered with gauze was the best solution, and a lot of screaming ("EVERYBODY GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!!!!!"). By the end, he was all wrapped up and in an OK mood. The doctor said something to the effect of "It hurts, doesn't it?" to which Colin replied "Duh." Ha ha ha. Overall, it was awful, though, and I hated seeing him in that pain. No more swimming lessons for him because he couldn't get it wet. So much for that idea.

Colin displaying his boo-boos.

The finished porch. Isn't it great?

Nancy, Colin, and Jerry at Nancy's birthday dinner. She is REALLY happy that it's her birthday! :)

Christopher was having a good time, too!

Christopher demanding some of the ice cream cake for Nancy's birthday.

The best part of the entire trip for me was spending so much time with Roger's family. I love just sitting around with them. Generally there is a puzzle going on at Nancy's at any given time. I completed one with some help from Rita, and then I started another. I did it all by myself. So proud.

We also played lots of Guitar Hero with Jerry (Nancy's boyfriend) and Roger tested out his vocal skills and we had a good laugh at some of the most ridiculous lyrics that we have ever heard. I laughed so hard I was crying. Hysterical. The time that we got to just hang out was fantastic and those are the memories that I will always hang on to the most. It was a wonderful vacation--even if Nancy did make us work. And no, I will NOT help you build a porch!! If she ever says, "I've got a small project for you guys" again, I am running away!

Scattered Memories

As you all know, I have been putting off writing my blogs. Not because I don't want to, I do, but I have not had the motivation to upload the hundreds of photos and video from my camera. I finally bit the bullet and did the upload. This post is a compilation of random pictures from the summer. One exciting event is that Christopher is taking his first steps. He is getting more and more comfortable on his feet and is standing all alone more often. He takes quite a bit of coaxing to actually move his feet, though. I figure he will go when he's ready and then I better watch out! I can see him taking off at a run right out of the gate. Anyway, here are some of the random photos.

Colin doing a rare academic activity.

They adore each other when they aren't trying to beat the other up.

Enjoying some mini oreos.

Another tender big brother moment. They are looking out the window.

Christopher digs some ravioli!!!

Drama, drama, drama...

OK, so barring all of the other things I have to blog about, I am deciding to write about something seemed to cause some confusion for those on my facebook page. I had set my status to say something about the past needs to remain in the past, it's over, move on, blah, blah, blah. Melodie and Amy were curious and suggested that I should blog about it. At first I wasn't so sure, because it is stuff that no one really cares about, but then I thought about it in terms of blogging. Isn't that what blogging is supposed to be for? Yes, it's great for the stories and photos and fun times, but isn't it also a way to burn off some frustration and get thoughts out? So here we go.

I started playing travel soccer at age 9 on a team called the Sterling Blast. This would be the team I stayed on until graduating high school. It was a GIANT part of my life and I am still in contact with many of the girls that I played with back then. The coach of the team and I were very close from the time I made the team. He taught me all sorts of skills and encouraged me to get better and try new things on the field. He became a sort of father figure through the years, and I was close to his family as well. As those years went on, he left our team and moved on. I was upset at first, but I maintained close contact and even helped him coach his little girls team once in a while. Then it all changed. I went to college and on one trip home, my mom sat me down and told me that my coach was leaving his wife and he was not only leaving, but was "seeing" someone. Someone that was only 3 years older than me and I had played high school soccer with. Someone who had dated his son and referred to the coach as "Pa." I was shocked and disgusted immediately. I was also hurt, and my vision of this person shattered. I mourned the loss of the person I had known and decided that I just didn't want anything to do with him anymore. I remained a part of his wife's life, as well as his son and daughter, avoiding any sort of conversation about him. There was a time in my freshmen year of college that I spoke to him on the phone and told him how I felt about it. It didn't go over well, and his attitude was pretty much, "I don't care what you think or feel." That was the end of it.

Until yesterday.

Facebook is wonderful and terrible for many reasons. You can find people that you want to find. Old friends, relatives, and acquaintances that you have previously lost touch with come out of the woodwork. I have rekindled some very special friendships because of facebook (right, Robin?). Then there is the downside, with people being able to find you, too. People you thought were no longer a part of your life and you didn't want back in. You don't even have to be "friends" with someone for them to be able to contact you. I have run in to this now twice.

Yesterday I received an email message from my old coach through facebook. It made me angry. Not because he emailed me, but because of the attitude he gave me in the email. "Still mad at me after it has lasted 13 years?" That is how he started it. As though I had done something wrong when I was 18 years old by being hurt by someone I had previously admired. So I wrote him back and pretty much told him that no I wasn't angry, because I didn't care about him or his relationship, and that I never thought of him at all, but the fact that he felt he needed to justify it to me was interesting. This is a 60+ year old man and he apparently still worries about what I think of him. Sad. He seems more worried about my opinion of him than he did of his own family 13 years ago. It still grosses me out.

So for those of you who were wondering what the drama was about yesterday, this is it. It's really not a big deal, but it was to me when it was going on a while back.

Lazy blogger

Ok, I have tons to blog about...but no desire to do it right now. I have to upload some pictures from Indy, as well as others of the kids. I just don't want to. So forgive me, but I will catch up soon. Maybe tonight. Maybe not. It will happen though. Someday.

June has come and gone...

What a crazy month June was! My boys both had birthdays, my sister tied the knot, family visited, and we slipped into July. I know I promised pictures of Alicia's big day, and I am still working on it, I promise. For some reason when I try to post them, they come out as tiny little thumbnails. I want you to actually be able to SEE them, so I have not put them up yet.

I do, however, have some recent snapshots of the boys and some of the visitors we have had in recent weeks. Roger's brother and his family came for a long weekend and it was a GREAT time. We always have fun together and Colin got to spend some real quality playtime with his cousin, Danielle (who is getting more grown up by the hour). They got to go to a Father's Day baseball game and both ended up with foul balls! Unfortunately I was home with a very sick Christopher who had a high fever due to his 4 molars coming in (although if you ask a pediatrician, they will tell you that teething doesn't cause fevers...they are lying). I hated to miss it, especially after seeing the pictures of the very fun day!

Here are the pictures we have taken this summer. I have a beautiful family. Every last one of us is striking. :)

Angela and Alicia before the wedding.

Roger and Colin on the bridge in downtown Greenville.

Colin and Emily at their birthday party at the park. It was hot and they had been playing hard!

Danielle and Colin playing in our pool.

Christopher playing in the jump-o-lene.

Danielle and Christopher playing.

Danielle and Colin at the baseball game with their foul balls.

Roger, Colin, Danielle, and Bobby at the game.

What Christopher did while they were at the game. Poor thing.