The National Weather Channel says

"The tropics remain relatively quiet. A disturbance in the central Pacific is being watched."

Good thing we are going to the Atlantic!! :)
Our vacation usually falls during #1) Hurricane season and #2) The Discovery Channel's Shark Week. This year, I think it is officially safe to say we are avoiding both!! No major hurricanes are in sight and Shark Week starts August 2nd.

Thank goodness!

A boy after my own heart

When I picked Levi up from school yesterday, he said "Oh Momma, I love your pretty shoes!" :)

Getting ready for vacation

What is it about the week before vacation? Maybe it’s my desire to be an organized person. I’ve made three lists now: Things to pack, Things to buy, Things to do. Under “Things to pack”, I have written down stupid things – underwear, sunscreen, camera…please tell me why these things need to go on a list? We are going on vacation to the beach. The beach…aren’t sunscreen and the camera a given?? And underwear, come’on! Who doesn’t pack underwear?

Anyways, we are 4 days away from leaving. I’m excited, overwhelmed and a little antsy. Here come my thoughts: Someone’s going to get sick; I don’t want to travel 12 hours with a 3 year old (or a 34 year old! Ha); Do I have our money budgeted right?; I’m so glad we don’t have to board our dog this year; I wonder if Jill will water my flowers; I need to use up the food in the fridge; Oil changed? Check. Tires rotated? Check.; Why the heck is gas so expensive?; Schedule a pedicure; Oh, I forgot we need toilet paper at home (put that on the “Things to buy” list – but not for vacation – Oh my, do I need another list?); Should I pack a small sewing kit? Okay, so yes, I’m weird when it comes to vacation. My mind goes on overload.

Oh yeah, I remember why I make “stupid” lists. The first year we went on vacation – to the BEACH – I forgot to pack Eric’s swim trunks. That’s why I have to have lists! :)

My whole point to this post: I asked Levi what he wanted to take on “bacation” and he said “My John Deere Tractor book”. I thought you’d enjoy that, Dad!! :)

Happy Anniversary, Babe!

Eric, I love you. I fell in love with you quickly and easily over 10 years ago!

I’m dedicating this post to my sweet husband! Here’s a brief little story about how we met:
I was involved in the Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) at college. One morning, my friend, Jennifer and I were sitting in the office and made plans to go to lunch. Eric was in there…I didn’t know who he was, but he knew Jennifer. We were going to go to the Spaghetti Shoppe. Eric said “Hey, that sounds good. Can I go?” I was like – UM, WEIRDO! So, he came along with us. It was really fun! I remember Eric talking about his niece and all the fun things they did together. I told him “you are going to make a really great dad one day!” The rest is history. :) We began to hang out together and became inseparable. After 5 months of dating, we got engaged and 13 months later were married. Today celebrates our 9th wedding anniversary and I couldn’t be prouder!

Here are some things that I love about you:

You have a passion for Christ that is always growing and changing. Your spiritual walk has been an amazing journey and I’m so blessed to be a part of it.

You help to balance me when I’m having “off” days and vice versa.

You love me and your family unconditionally.

You share my love for Praise & Worship music.

You are a hot drummer!

You are incredibly sexy when you drive a motorcycle. :)

You make me laugh so hard that I start snorting.

It’s funny that people call you the mayor – you can’t go anywhere without seeing at least 2 people you know.

You are passionate about your job and safety for children.

You make great French toast.

Your knowledge about Revelation and the end times intrigues me.

Sometimes you are the life of the party and other times you are just very reflective and laid back. I love both sides.

You love all things gummy – gummy worms, gummy bears, sour patch kids…

I love watching football with you – especially when the Colts are playing!

You are always learning – whether it’s watching the History channel, Do it Yourself channel, reading a book or reading the Bible, you try to gain as much information as possible.

You keep me humble.

You share the most awesome responsibility with me – raising our son. I will eternally be grateful to God and to you for giving me Levi. Your love for God is apparent in the way that you love Levi. You are gentle, yet firm; you are the disciplinarian, but also sit and giggle with him. You have taken “fatherhood” and made it your own. That little boy adores you and so do I. Thank you for being an incredible husband and father. I’m looking forward to the rest of our lives together! I love you.

The pack rat

Last night, I was doing a few things around the house and Levi wanted to play outside. I let him play in the garage and driveway where I could keep an eye on him. When I went out to check on him, this is what I found:
I asked what he was doing and he said "I packed the van for us to go camping tomorrow. Okay?" He had worked like a little mad man putting all of this stuff in the back of the van. He had his motorcycle big wheel, John Deere tractor, bike helmet & gloves, side walk chalk, bug spray (hilarious) a shovel and his stroller (not sure how he got that up there by himself!)...
I was cracking up! What a precious child with a wonderful imagination. :)

A couple of funnies...

Levi found his way to our bed Saturday night about 2:30 a.m. Usually I walk him back to his bed, but I was so tired, I just threw him in the middle of Eric & me. We have a smoke/carbon monoxide detector above our bed and it has a small green light on it. After a few minutes, Levi said "Look at the star, Daddy. It's bright." :)

*********************************

Tonight, the 3 of us went to Target. Levi & I were in the restroom and after Levi pottied, I told him to stay in the stall with me while I pottied. Loudly, he says "Momma, you gotta go poo poo?"
"No, just potty."
"You sure, Momma?"
"I'm sure, Levi."
"Bend over, hands on feet, Momma, I wipe you."
Then, I start to hear chuckles from the other stalls. Oh boy - life with a 3 year old!

GNO

I forgot to post about our fun Girls Night Out on Saturday! I didn't take any pictures, but we had a really nice time. We met at Martini's for dinner (over at the Summit). Wowzers, it was really great food! After dinner, Melanie had money to spend on a new shirt. We found her two for the price of one at The Loft. It's fun to spend other peoples money!! They looked adorable on her. :) After some shopping around, we headed to Cheddar's and split two cookie monsters. If you haven't had a cookie monster from Cheddar's, you must try one! A huge chocolate chip cookie baked fresh and brought out on a skillet with scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and nuts! YUM!

Thanks girls for a great evening. Can't wait until August!! ;)

Father's Day Fun!

What a good day! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and family. :)
Levi gave Eric his father's day present this morning. We got him a "muscle" shirt for vacation and a bag of his favorites: Chips Ahoy, Twizzlers, Mike & Ikes, Reese Pieces and some gum. Fun snacks for vacation :)

We spent this evening at my parent's house. Today is my Dad's birthday as well as Father's Day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, again, Dad!! Hope you had a great day. :) Dad cooked out for everyone and then the kids spent the rest of the evening in the pool. What fun. Enjoy the pictures!!

Everyone getting ready for dinner: hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, smoked sausages, pork chops, potato salad, coleslaw and chips - way too much food and so yummy!!

Dad and Bailey open his birthday & father's day cards

Eric sporting his lovely attitude! ;) Kidding! Love you Babe!

*disclaimer: that is root beer!

Emily lovin' on Aunt Tricia

Singing "Happy Birthday to Papa" Levi, Griffin, Bailey & Casey all crowding around to help blow out the candles

Great Papa Miller is holding Emmy while the other yahoos are acting crazy!

My little darling with green icing all over! Notice his little red eye? He has a busted blood vessel. It looks pitiful!!

Everyone in the pool! Dad (sitting on the side) Levi, Eric, Casey, Tricia, Travis & Emmy

Griffin showing his muscles

Emmy in her cute donut swimsuit! What a doll. :)

Travis trying to go down the slide...I think he got stuck!

Bailey

Griffin

Eric & Levi - my two studs

Casey Grace Eric & Levi clowning around

Emily & Aunt Tricia

Mom & Jenny - the 3 of us opted out of swimming tonight! :)

After swimming, all the kids were goofing around in Grammy & Papa's bed in their pj's. :)

Emily, Bailey, Griffin, Levi & Casey

Good times! Hope everyone had a blessed day. :)

14 days...

...until I'm here...

...and here...
...and here...

...and here...

...oh, and here.

DAY OFF

I took the day off to spend at home with my favorite fella! :) Levi has been going to VBS at Grammy's church this week. It's the first time I've put him in any "program" during the week. As a working Mom, my evenings are precious to me and I don't like to be away from Levi. He heard Grammy talking about it on Sunday at lunch and said he wanted to go. So, we tried it on Monday night and he loved it! He got to be in the 4 year old class with his cousin, Griffin (you get special privileges like that when your Grammy is the director!) I guess I can't be upset about him being away when he's having fun and learning even more about Jesus! I've missed him like crazy and just felt the need to stay home with him today.

We started out by making pancakes! Yum Yum!! Levi loves using the KitchenAid mixer. :)
Levi called and bribed Daddy to come home for pancakes. Here they are bonding on the couch. Don't know what they were talking about but both of them were giggling!

It's raining outside, so we'll see what the rest of the day holds!

Still sleepy...

Sundays are kind of hard because our routine gets out of whack! Levi usually doesn't go down for a nap until around 2, which means I have to wake him by 4 or he won't go back to sleep at night. He's a GREAT napper...most days naps 3 to 3 1/2 hours. On Sunday, he just didn't want to get up from his nap. We turned around and found him here...

Poor baby! I love him to pieces! :)

Rockin' it out

Levi loves kickin' it on Eric's drums. :) The pictures aren't that clear, but he sure is cute!

Saturday Fun

Saturday morning, we went to Borden Valley Day Festival. It kind of reminded me of Sellersburg Celebrates, but on a smaller scale. They had a small parade and then some booths set up in the park. Levi had a really good time. :)

Daddy & Levi waiting for the parade to start
Levi & me

Here was a crazy car that did wheelies and circles

and what parade would be complete without a John Deere tractor?!

FYI

Okay, okay, I get the hint! :)
The restaurant was Chili's. OMG. Can't believe I am releasing the confidential information!!!

*Disclaimer: The food at Chili's was excellent! I'd go back to a Chili's again....
just not that one! ;)

New toy

I love yard sales!! We went to some yard sales on Saturday morning and I got Levi some really cute clothes. I spent about $21 and got 3 Ralph Lauren shirts, 3 GAP shirts, 1 pair of GAP swim trunks, 2 pair of Polo shorts, an outfit from Gymboree and some winter shirts from GAP. They are in really great condition. It sure pays to shop second hand!! :)

Levi also got a new toy! He loves it. Uncle Travis found it at a yard sale out in Southeast Asia (Greenville)!

The zoo...and then some!

The weather was gorgeous today, so Eric and I decided that after work, we'd pick Levi up from "school" and take him to the zoo. I called and invited Jill & Bob to meet us there. This was one of their "extended hour" nights, so they were open until 8pm. We got to see a lot of the animals up close tonight, which was pretty cool.

Levi calling the "giraffies" to come to him

Levi up close with the "geesies" aka ostrich; he also called the gazelles "deer"
And, here's Levi and his "friend" the hippo having a conversation
Reece, Janie & Levi playing at the playground in the zoo
Levi climbing while I'm beside him in the "Be Careful!" mode...
Janie, Reece & Levi waiting on the tram at the end of the evening
After the zoo, we headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I won't name the name to protect the innocent. The experience at dinner was, um, interesting to say the least. We waited, and waited and waited all evening. We finally got our appetizer and drinks. The kids were very restless and starting to act out. Of course, it didn't help that we weren't eating dinner until 7:30 at night, but that's besides the point! :) Dinner arrived...that is, except for Jill's. Her plate didn't come for a full 20 minutes after we all had eaten our meals. We complained and couldn't seem to get anywhere. We asked for the manager numerous times and he was a no show. Finally, her food arrived and she scarfed it down because the kids were going bonkers! The manager showed up and was quite rude. He did say he would take half off the bill and offered dessert. Jill and I took the kids outside while the guys paid. About 15 minutes after that, Bob & Eric walked out the doors and said "Let's go" and were walking fast. They didn't pay for dinner! OMG. Okay, so maybe they weren't walking fast, but I felt like Bonnie & Clyde. Or some cheapscate that doesn't pay for their food. NO ONE would wait on them. The manager disappeared never to come back and they kept asking the waiter for the ticket. Finally, they'd had enough. Halfway through the parking lot, the manager came out after us. OMG. I almost puked. I thought Eric was going to get in a fist fight. Kidding. They had some words and the manager was less than professional. We left. Just like that, we were fugitives. We fled back to Indiana (whew!) and were watching for sirens & lights the whole way. We were now headed for the Pie Kitchen.
Here's our cute kid on the way there:
As if that wasn't enough excitement, when we were eating our treats, a firetruck pulled up.
Had they come to take us away? Did they know we were fugitives? Were our pictures posted all over the news and internet?
BREAKING NEWS...THE BOBSEY TWINS FOUND AT THE PIE KITCHEN..... Don't worry. All is well. The firemen saw the kids sitting there and asked them if they wanted to see the firetruck. Very sweet. Levi was a bit scared (terrified to be exact) but Reece got up in the driver's seat.
To end our evening, someone was nice enough to do a firework show for us! Yes, once again, my son was terrified, but it was pretty while it lasted.
We are all safe at home. No one is being arrested tonight. :) It was a great evening of lots of fun. Thanks, neighbors for sharing in our exciting evening! Oh, and by the way, Jill - Eric said you can never pick the restaurant again! ;) Maybe we can find some more trouble to get into tomorrow.