special visitor

We opened the door yesterday morning to head to the bus and saw this:

Papa was on duty and came to watch Levi get on the bus!!! He was patrolling in our area. Excitement city around our house! ;)

ironman

I'm having a MAJOR proud sister day!! I could not wait to do this post. There are so many things that I want to say and share and I hope I remember them all. So, in case words get lost in the shuffle, bottom line first: My brother, Travis is a machine - and is now an Ironman.

This is my account of the day that has been a long time in the making.

My alarm went off at 4:50 am and I jumped right up because I was so excited to get to downtown Louisville! I knew that my brother and Jenny had planned on going down around 4 am. Ouch. That is stinkin' early!!! My sister and I drove over together and followed my parents and our aunt and uncle that came in from Indy. We were all sleepy eyed, but very excited! Now, to those of you who are new to the Ironman lingo, like I was, here is the breakdown: Each athlete swims 2.4 miles, bikes 112 miles and runs 26.2 miles. Travis had 2 goals...to finish and to finish in under 15 hours. {Yes, 15 hours of constant exercise.}

After we parked, we walked what seemed like forever to get to the starting line. We had a great view of where the athletes would jump in. The countdown clock was running and the excitement was thick!!! After hearing My Old Kentucky Home and The National Anthem, they blew the horn and the line of athletes took off. One by one they started jumping in the water. I did not know that so many people would be participating! 2800 people!

Now, I have to tell you about this next picture. After watching for a few minutes, we turned around and realized that the athletes were coming down a hill RIGHT BEHIND US. Had NO clue that they were there!! We hoped that we hadn't missed Trav!! So, we kept looking for him and then I spotted him. As soon as he rounded the corner, we all screamed his name. He raised his hand and then saw us. He cut out of line and ran over and hugged my mom. They were both crying. {Yes, I can say that about him because he is an Ironman now! Ha!}

Then, he went on through the line and was headed to see Jenny who was at the bottom of the hill right before he would jump in.

Here he is on the platform...second green hat from the bottom. {Funny tidbit...as we were watching for him, mom, trying to help, said "I think he is wearing black swim trunks." Good, a man, with black trunks and a green swim cap. We'll find him easily! ha!}

Once he jumped in, we left and headed for the first transition where he would get on his bike. He thought the swim would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours. He did it in an hour and 17 minutes!!! Woot!

Saw this shirt.

I totally missed getting a good picture of him on his bike because I was too busy screaming my head off! We were right behind the barricades and when he heard us, he looked over, gave us a smile and a nod and we could tell he was off to a strong start!!

The day seemed to be flying by already. I don't know what this means exactly, but everyone kept commenting on how good his bike splits were. I guess that meant he was going pretty fast. I just nodded and acted like I knew what they were talking about! Ha!! {Insert about 6 hours here where I went home, ate, played with the kids, took a nap - yes, I napped for about an hour and a half!!! I got up EARLY people! - and ate again.} Eric and I headed back out for his run. He had been running for about 3 hours when we got there. Let me say that again. He had been running for about 3 hours when we got there. Insanity. We were there just in time to see him pass by for the 10.5 mm. I love this next picture because it shows his great attitude.

He stopped briefly, shook hands with all of us, cut up a little, asked me not to spit on him, gave Jenny a kiss and was off again. We wouldn't see him again until he passed back by at around mile 17 or 18. What I love about Jenny is that we still stood there the whole time, rang our cowbells, clapped and cheered for all the other athletes. She was there, not only for Travis, but for everyone else too!

Coming back around, I think about 90 minutes later. Still running. Looking strong.

And I love the next picture, too! Elizabeth (one of his friends) took this and caught the moment beautifully! Gimme a kiss and get your rear to the finish line!!!!!!!!!

And we were off! We headed to 4th Street Live to wait and cheer him on there. Travis had a lot of friends there to support him. Some of them were in the streets and on their bikes. They would "report" to Jenny when they saw him and update her on his status. I remember "22" and waiting. He was struggling. Then what seemed like FOREVER {I'm sure forever + eternity to him!} "24". My legs were hurting. ;) Person after person after person kept crossing the finish line and bursts of cheers would ring out around us. One girl passed that had a bike wreck and she had made a homemade sling for her right arm. One man passed that was 69 years old. One man passed and walked over and put his metal around his little boys neck. The anticipation was killing us! Then we heard "one mile left". The cameras were ready and we were watching on the big screen for a man in lime green.

And there he was. We heard the announcer "Travis Miller, YOU are an Ironman." He did it. He was incredible. He finished and beat his goal by 15 minutes!

If you are friends with my sister, check out the video she posted on facebook of him as soon as he crossed the finish line. It was priceless. There were lots of tears, a few moments of him looking like he might pass out from exhaustion, but mostly just lots of smiles, hugs and high fives!

Here is the whole gang - I think I can speak for everyone in saying it was an honor to support Travis!!

Proud sisters!

Super proud parents!

And one awesome Team Miller!

This was probably one of the most exciting things that our family has been a part of. I am so proud of my brother and I know he is an inspiration to so many!! I do have to say that my brother texted me today to see how I was doing, since my legs were hurting yesterday from walking and standing. ;) Such a good big brother! He also thanked me again for not spitting on him. In all seriousness, Travis - you rock. I'm so happy for you!! Congratulations, Ironman.

friday night

Yes, people, I got to go out. I mean like -take a shower-fix my hair-put makeup on-wear clothes other than sweat pants- out!! {Watching kids from 7:30 to 5:30 doesn't allow me much time to get dolled up and go anywhere!!} My niece came over and took the kids to Sellersburg Celebrates for us and all of a sudden, the house was completely quiet. Eric and I just kind of stared at each other because our house is NEVER quiet! We left for dinner and met our friends Matt & Melanie. I MISS THEM!! BK (before kids), we used to hang with them all.the.time. During the week, we'd take turns picking up dinner and head to each others houses and veg and watch tv. Or we'd meet up really late on the weekends and do dessert and watch (horrible!) movies that Matt would pick out. Yawn. ;) Kids do change those times, but it makes the little time you do spend together that much sweeter!!

We met at a steak place and saw several couples that were a blast from the past!! {I have to give a shout out to our old neighbor, Jennifer, and her hubby Dave!! Guys, it was SO good to see you! Jennifer told me she reads the blog - I had no clue!! So, I'm glad she can keep in touch with us. :-)} Dinner was really good (minus the waiter forgetting to put Matt's order in. Boo. So, we had to wait for a while!) and we had fun talking about all our Gatlinburg trips! We've gone to Gatlinburg each year since we've been married up until two years ago. Due to babies and money we just haven't been able to go. BUT....drumroll please....we've declaired 2012 the year of the comeback. We will be going back and hitting all our little local faves!!! Woot!!

After dinner, we headed to a new frozen yogurt joint. It is called Sweet & Swirley and it was really cute!! Melanie (and child...she is expecting baby #3 in Dec!) and me.
Matt & Eric...when these two get together, it is serious trouble!!

So, here's the deal...you pick your yogurt flavor and then top it with ANYTHING you want! They had the normal sprinkles, oreos, m&ms, fruit and then they had some off the wall stuff like trail mix, trix, mike & ikes, captain crunch, raisins...eww! Here is Eric filling his cup with fun stuff :)

And Matt's bowl full of gross stuff: gummy bears, fruit, granola, coconut...looks like a science project gone bad.

Such a fun night hanging with our friends! I love coming home after good food & good convo to our sleeping kids....so sweet!

crushes

Ok, peeps, I'm spilling out all my heart and soul here. ;) This blog off is about crushes...past or present. I'm going way back. Does anyone remember a movie called "The Lost Boys"?? Oh my. I think I watched it about 1,546,229 times! I had a seriously insane crush on Corey Haim. It was ridiculous. I had every cut out of him I could find and would stick them in picture frames and pretend like it was my real life BF!! I would pledge my love to him each night before bed. Ahhhh.

I also had a huge passion for Jordan Knight from NKOTB. I mean, who wouldn't love this hair??

I loved Jordan, but just not as much as Corey. ;)

My next crush was a guy that worked at a gas station. Um, yes, I said a guy that worked at a gas station. Awkward. I don't even remember his name, but I was madly in love!! LOL. My friend, Jill and I would go in there almost every day to fill up the tank, buy candy, or get a drink. Um, we weren't obvious or anything! {Insert embarrassing story: I had just gotten my car and I wanted to stop and show him...yes he was quite a flirt! Jill and I went in the store and I told him I got a new car. He went over to look at it and said "I don't see a car." I said, "Uh yeah...its the red one parked right there." But when I turned around...it was gone!!! I had forgotten to put it in park and it rolled out to the median. Oy. I don't think our affair lasted much longer after that! LOL

I do have a modern day BF. He is wonderful. :-) My husband even allows me to have this crush, just as long as I never run off with him!! Ha!

I heart Peyton Manning!!! I love his dry sense of humor and how he has that "good ol' boy" personality. He makes me giggle! I like his goofy commercials and the outtakes they do on SoundFX...when he told two little kids they made the best orange koolaid he ever tasted. So cute! Most of all, I like how he leads his team and is upstanding on the field.

I'm sure I had many more crushes along the way, but these are the ones that stood the test of time. :-)

to bite or not to bite...that is the question

Ok, folks...other blog mommies...or friends of mommies...or friends who know of people who have kids...or if you have ever been a kid...I need your advice!!!

I do not like biting (unless your name happens to be Edward - but we won't go there!). When I was in elementary school there was a kid named Bert (yes, Bert) who would threaten to bite me if I didn't play with him at recess time. He scared the poopie out of me!! Of course, because I was a follower and very naive, I would play with him so I didn't get bitten.

Fast forward about 30 years and I have a daughter who bites. It breaks.my.heart. :( Yes, she is only 15 months old, but she has bitten several people including her brother, her friend Addi and two kids at daycare. When someone takes something from her, or won't share with her, she gets angry, her face gets bright red (sometimes she screams!) and then she bites. I know this is her way of communicating that she is mad, but it is making Mommy very upset!! I've tried sitting her in time out (that doesn't work so well yet for one that little!!) and I have popped her in the mouth (please don't call CPS - I don't have time to deal with them!!). We always go through "No, no, Maggie. That is bad. That hurts! Say your sorry." Other suggestions? I have heard that some people "bite back" to teach them how it hurts. It makes me way to sad to think of biting my child to teach a lesson.... :( Maybe I should just go away to a little island, have some drinks with umbrellas in them and soak up some sun until this problem goes away!

craziest dream to date

Do you ever have weird, crazy dreams and you wake up thinking things like "am I really pregnant?" or "is that man really chasing me" or "did I really just spit in my brother's mouth" ???


Ok, let me back up a little.



Last night, Jami texted me wanting to know where we got our shirts made for the IronMan.

I texted Jenny and she told me where. They made them off of Jenny's design. Way to go Sis-in-law!! Can't wait to wear it. Anyways, we had a little text convo that kind of wigged me out!! I asked her if Travis was nervous {the big day is SUNDAY...less than a week now!} and this is what she said {I hope it is okay if I share this! If not, only about 7 people will read it! Ha}:

"Getting there. He got on the website last week. It said for the run portion the only locomotion allowed is running, walking & crawling. The crawling part freaked him out a bit. :) There is no assistance allowed from spectators or it is an automatic disqualification. Not even to give him a drink or anything else."

For some reason, that made me really sad!! To think of my brother swimming, biking and then running and we can't even give him a drink of water! I guess I was dwelling on it a little too much last night because I had a really ODD dream. I dreamt we were at the competition and I was laying on the side of the road (out of exhaustion from watching??? Who knows! Ha!) and we were all yelling "Go Trav!!" and as he ran by, I could tell he was struggling so....I SPIT! What the heck?!! Yes, I spit up in the air so he could catch it and it wouldn't be like he was taking a drink from me and would get disqualified. Yes, people, I am disturbed. ;) Anyone have a dream that can top that?? Beuler?

If that won't start your Monday off with a laugh, then maybe this will!!!!!

i'm a soccer mom

Literally. My sister-in-law, Jenny said she will never drive a minivan because she doesn't want to look like a soccer mom. Guess what...I am that mom! :-) Levi had his first official soccer practice today and it was A-DORABLE!!! I was a little (a LOT) concerned because when we told him we signed him up for soccer, he cried. I've mentioned before that he does NOT like the unknown and is intimidated to try something new. He gets it honest from his Momma! But, we forced him to go today and I'm so glad we did!!!

Here he is...in the red.
And, this is his coach, Oliver. Doesn't he just look like a cool soccer coach??!

Of course, little miss thang was there rooting him on...or eating crackers and drinking water, whatever floats her boat!

Levi kicking the ball with Coach Oliver. Too cute!

Daddy and Josh...I think they just ended up chatting the whole time. Josh's son, Ian is on Levi's team. They are good buddies! Yay!

And, look who zonked out before we even left the parking lot. :-)

Such a fun day! After practice, we headed to eat at Texas Roadhouse - YUM - and to get Levi some new cleats, shin guards and a soccer ball. (We had to make sure he wanted to go back!!) SOCCER is all he can talk about tonight. I'm so happy that he liked it and I can't wait to see the little kids play!

snubnose? really?

Tonight was an unexpected, but much welcomed surprise! Eric got to be home with us!! YAY! I seriously have come to treasure our family nights together. The sad news is that there was a bus wreck (everyone is okay!!!), so Eric had to be at the scene of the accident. Because of this, he missed a test at school. I'm grateful that his prof is nice and is allowing him to take it Monday. So, we had some fun family time. We met my parents for dinner and then headed to.....{drum roll please...} get Levi a new bike!!! A big thanks to my wonderful sis-in-law who texted and asked if we were interested in a hand-me-down bike from a friend of hers who had two. Levi was thrilled! We let him take a practice ride when we got home. Oh, this is where snub nose comes in. Eric had to fix the handlebars for Levi. So, he says, "Tra, hand me a snub nose Phillips." Whaaa? I just stared at him. Sorry, but that means nothing to me. If he would have said "hand me the Coach clutch" or "give me the silver hoop earrings", then we would have been in business. "Um, what?", I replied. "Seriously, Tracey, a Phillips, a stubby." Again, a blank stare. "Is that the cross one or the straight line?" Ok, I honestly cannot remember which one is a Phillips and which one is...whatever the other one is called. Yes, I am a screw driver loser. Come to find out, a snub nose Phillips (in case you are ever in the same predicament) is a short Phillips screw driver. So, needless to say, Levi loves his new bike, the kids were in Heaven that Daddy was here and I get to spend the evening watching Top Shot, Pawn Shop and One Man Army. Yawn. But, I will take it if I get to spend time vegging with my main squeeze! ;)

i wasn't *really* worried...

wink, wink, nudge, nudge. ;)

Ok, so, yes, I was having a mini heart attack last night before bed. My baby boy was heading off to Kindergarten. The thought of him leaving at 7:10 am and not hearing anything from him until 3:15 pm did not settle well with me!!! We had a pretty rough "night before Kindergarten"! Levi had a bike wreck. He scraped up his arm and thumb pretty bad. As I was doctoring him up, he started to get really pale and his body was shaking. I took him home and laid him on the couch. I don't know if the blood was making him queasy or if he was having a sugar low. I gave him apple juice and it seemed to perk him up a little. I had to be careful and watch what I said because if I mentioned going to school, he would start crying. :( That made me so sad. Levi is so shy and the unknown just really bothers him!! BUT, we got a great surprise and DADDY came home from class early and made everything all better!

This morning, everyone woke up happy and ready for a fresh start!! Here is my little boy all ready for the bus!


Levi with his friends Reece and Hillary

The funny thing was there were more adults at the bus stop than kids! And we all had our cameras and cell phones out snapping pictures!!! Love it!

YIKES....hello Morning Glory! ;) Rough pic of me, but had to get one with my little buddy.

Eric and his Mini Me ;) Love these two boys!!!!!

The bus was here!!!! Levi turned around and waved and was gone.

I LOVE this because it looks like Eric is going full force to make sure everything is okay and give someone his two cents!!! ;) Love you, Babe!

The best part of my day was when Levi got off the bus and had the biggest smile on his face. I thought it would be hard to get details out of him, but he chatted a mile a minute about all the fun things they did at school. He had a fantastic day!!! My heart was soooo happy!

And, you know, since this is my blog, I have to tell a funny story!!! As I was going through Levi's back pack, I pulled out his lunch box. Being a good mommy, I took inventory of what he ate and didn't eat. I sent a granola bar, cheese stick and fruit snacks for his morning snack. He ate the cheese stick and fruit snacks. Good boy! I sent yogurt, apple slices and a pb&j for lunch. He ate....wait....all those things were still in his lunch box.

Me: Levi, your pb&j is still in here.

Levi: Yep, I didn't want it.

Me: Aren't you hungry?

Levi: No.

Me: What did you eat for lunch?

Levi: Pizza, peas and a cookie.

Me: WHAT?????

Levi: Yeah, I raised my hand that I wanted pizza instead.

Oy. That little stinker!!! We had a nice little talk about how you don't buy your lunch when Mommy packs your lunch for you. ;) He's a hoot!!!

So, tonight, Levi prayed "Thank you Jesus that I had a good day at Kindergarten." My heart melted. Thank you, Jesus!!!

s'more fun

Saturday, Jami invited us over to roast some marshmallows and have s'mores!!! Yum! Levi was so excited and looking forward to a "faar" !! :-) {Once again, please excuse my blurry pics! I forgot my camera and just used my phone!}

When we got there, Maggie and Cameron took right to each other! (Not really...Maggie kept trying to shove Cameron's sippy cup down his throat which made him cry and get upset at her! Then she would keep handing him toys and he would cry and get upset at her! Lol!!!)

This is where we were supposed to be. Oh, wait....did I forget to mention that on our drive over, there was a BIG OL' FLIPPIN STORM and BRANCHES were flying everywhere and you could barely see because of all the wind and rain?!?! Um, yeah. It was a monsoon. Seriously.

So, Jami improvised and made s'mores the second best way! The microwave. :)

Levi devoured his. Had seconds.

Awww. Cuteness.

The hostess with the mostess!!!! Thanks, James!!

And, Steve was saying something about how chocolate made you grow big and strong!!!

Thanks guys!!! We had a super fun time hanging out. Next time, we'll bring some diet coke with us! ;)

15 months!

Well, here we are. My baby girl is officially 15 months old. Where did the time go?? It seems like just yesterday that I found out I was pregnant.

Maggie had a great check up! I'm not very good remembering her stats! But, she was 24 pounds and in the 75th percentile for her height and weight. Dr. C said she is perfect!! I believe her. :) Mags has had a runny nose because of teething and she had the beginnings of a double ear infection, so we are treating that. But, she hasn't had an infection since December!! YAY Mags!
It's not a clear pic (taken from my phone!) but I think she is just adorable!!! Maggie is saying many words {bye, no-no, Mummy, Da Da, Bub, Papa, cracker, baby, up, please, seat, milk, juice.....I think that is most of them!} and I am amazed each day by what she comprehends. I heart her. ;)

After Maggie's appointment, Levi and I had some fun with one of my phone aps!!!