Getting old: Gretchen's birthday edition

So, THIS was a conversation between Jami, Gretchen and me the other night:

I couldn't help but chuckle the entire time! Oh how our conversations have changed over the years. :-)

It did get me thinking that I never blogged about GRETCHEN'S 40TH BIRTHDAY! What a bad BFF. So, I jumped into the archives of November and started downloading some pictures. It was a sweet reminder of a really fun evening. I'm kind of glad I waited. Now I get to chase away some of the January blues.

It was pretty much an evening a year in the making. A lot of our convos would end with G saying, "OMG, I'm going to be 40! What are we going to do?!" Ultimately, she decided on a night on the town when she was home over Thanksgiving break. That meant getting all gussied up. 

She picked a wonderful restaurant in Louisville called Varanese. It was perfect. Great atmosphere, fabulous food, and pretty awesome company. ;-)

From the beginning, our selfie game was pretty strong. 

Somehow, we managed a good shot after 49 tries.

Okay, back to the food. I mean restaurant. It was SO nice! They had our table reserved and it was very elegant. We thoroughly enjoyed just spending time together.

These are three of the best guys you will ever come across. Love each of them dearly.

And, I could not love these girls more.

There were two guys playing some great little jazz music and after dinner - as if on cue - they started playing "Happy Birthday To You". 

All for this little chica!

I think she was pleasantly surprised and loved her birthday dessert. 

Love these peeps!

After dinner, we headed to 4th Street to keep celebrating. (Hilarious moment: G thought she left her phone at the restaurant. She, of course, flipped out because she is very dramatic. Paul and Eric dashed off to make sure she hadn't dropped it in our car. While they were frantically looking, she found it in her pocket. If only looks could kill...)

On with the night! One more of the ladies (before my pictures came to a screeching halt.)

And, the guys...

Operation give-Gretchen-a-fabulous-40th was a huge success!

Sooo very thankful for this girl and that we get to do life together. I miss her dearly. When she moved, I worried how it would change our friendship. It has only made it better.

Love you, G. Happy 40th. Here's to 40 more!

When you're 10 and your uncle drives a limo, your birthday is pretty cool!

My favorite Griffin just turned 10. How is that possible? 

I guess seeing that he had heart surgery and all, his parents thought they would give him a big birthday bash. So, they rented this: 

Yes, that is a stretched Hummer.

How awesome is that?

They asked Griffin what he wanted to do for his birthday. He wanted to take some friends from school to Laser Blaze and play laser tag. So, Jenny sent out invitations and told Griffin she and Travis would pick him and his friends up from school last Friday. Yay, right? What they didn't tell him was that they rented a limo to ride in.

G's face was awesome as he walked out to the car rider line...

The boys screamed in excitement and rushed to jump inside!

I guess it's a pretty cool thing when your uncle has connections and can drive the limo. ;-)

Travis and Jenny were strong in their selfie game.

After a 30 minute drive, we had a whole lot of kids READY TO BURN OFF SOME ENERGY!

Suited up and ready to shoot people...

I'm thinking Eric and Travis were taking their sniper positions a little too seriously. I half expected them to break out some hand signals and throw some grenades. 

After shooting people, it was time for the kids to use up some tokens. I guess Travis felt it was his responsibility to show everyone his sheer strength. 

Yes, Travis, we are proud of the tickets you won.  Now, let's move on.

And, what evening would be complete without the girls wanting a picture in the limo WITHOUT all the stinky boys?! Too sweet :)

Happy 10th birthday, Griffin! We love you!!

All things Maggie May

Today, I'm talking about all things Maggie May. 

You guys -- this little girl brings me so much joy. And exhaustion and frustration. And sometimes, she causes me to get on my knees and pray so that I don't strangle her little butt. However, we're gonna just focus on the joy today. ;-)

She came home Monday wearing this crown. Adorable. She was picked as the Star student of the week for preschool. You would have thought the Queen had visited and made her a princess. Oy. She requested that we all refer to her as "Princess Maggie" for the rest of the day. So much sass. 

She really does love school. Her teacher has wonderful things to say about her on a regular basis, which makes us extremely happy. She is very social. In fact, when we pull up to the car rider line, she rolls down her window so she can shout talk to all her friends. 

These days, she seems to be growing up so fast. She has gone from that little toddler stage to a little girl. I'm not gonna lie...I love each new stage! Except maybe the new stage of throwing up a peace sign each time I try to take her picture. QUIT ACTING LIKE YOU'RE TWELVE. ;-)

Along with Maggie turning 4 came a super sensitive side. She's always been a sensitive child, but recently it has become a little RIDICULOUS. If I tell her no, she immediately throws out the lip and you can prepare yourself for a full on meltdown with a bucket of tears. She will be perfect for the day time soap opera scene. This child can cry like no other. Most of my family thinks it is comical. My parents just sit back and smile because they say that is exactly how I was. Whatev. 

And this right here melts me every time...

Every night, Mags falls asleep with her "Boltie" and her hand twisting her hair. So sweet! She got Bolt as a souvenir from Disney and rarely does anything without him. She has done the hair thing since she was a baby. She loves to rub it or twist it when she gets sleepy and we think it is quite adorable.

I have this weird, paranoid mom obsession to constantly remember what my kids are wearing. Call me crazy or tell me I've seen too many scary shows where the child gets abducted and the police instantly say, "What was he/she wearing?". I can always give you details about them. And, at the end of any given day, I will be able to back up my details with the MULTIPLE SELFIES of Maggie on my phone. Every.Single.Day. #blessed 

Love that little face! It is crazy to me that this once little blob-like baby is now quickly approaching FIVE YEARS OLD. Thankful for the joy that she adds to our lives.

It is ONE degree outside, so I will post about the beach.

In honor of the 1 degree weather this morning, I thought it was only appropriate to do a review of our vacation to Gulf Shores over Fall Break! (I mean, I don't want to be old and complain about the weather, BUT ONE DEGREE? That's ridonkulous.)

If you've been around my blog for a while, you know that we are quite spoiled on our vacations. And by "we", I mean that my mother is spoiled and we get to live in her world for a while. (Love you, Mom!) My parents take us on vacation every year (you guys -- that is a blessing in itself!) and there are a few criteria that the homes must meet. 

• Oceanfront
• 7 bedrooms and bathrooms
• an elevator
• a private pool
• two kitchens
• enough seating for 14 people

IF it has all of those things, then my mother will look at it. If she likes it, it goes to my dad to get final approval. If my dad approves it, then it is a go and there are many grandchildren squealing in delight! 

This year was the first time we have ever returned to a home that we stayed in before. It must have been THAT GOOD! ;-) This was our home away from home for Fall Break. Shabby, it was not.

It was our own little piece of heaven. Note: see the boardwalk on the picture below? That was a new addition since we had stayed there and it was wonderful! It went from our pool right to the beach. 

As soon as we arrived, my kids could not wait to check out the beach. 

I managed to snag a few pictures of the main floor before all 14 of us arrived and started unloading enough food, clothing and beach supplies for the entire military forces.

 

The bunk beds were a hot commodity. 

Enough seating for 14 :-)

Here's a better picture of the boardwalk right off our pool patio. LOVE.

Maggie was pretty timid when we first got near the ocean. I remember her being that way last year, too. She would kind of feel out the waves, right near her feet.

However, it didn't take long for her to request her swimmies and join in with the big kids!

She adored the sand. I adored watching her.

Levi? He was all, "Give me a boogie board and watch out, waves!"

He has always loved the water. 

 And the sand...

This picture can pretty much sum up a Miller vacation! Love it!

This was our first time to be at the beach during the Fall. I really loved it. I do wish the water in our pool had been a tad warmer, but the kids didn't seem to mind. It was really nice to sit out in the sun and not be dripping in sweat!

The breeze was just perfect. It cooled you off, but didn't make it too chilly.

Most of our days were spent at the beach or in the pool.

It was like our own private beach.

We also spent some time away from the house doing fun things. Maggie fell in love with the kiddie swings at a small amusement park. She was literally the ONLY child on them. She kept asking to go again and again. The ride operator just let her keep going without swiping her ticket. After about 30 minutes, I wanted to CUT HIM.

Bumper boats and go karts were a must, too! My kids could not get enough. Mags in the little harness next to Eric...I die!

The gals spent one day doing some retail therapy and I was able to visit my happy place.

And, this? I just don't know. Don't even ask...

We celebrated my parent's anniversary with some salted caramel brownies. Their 43rd anniversary. That's pretty impressive.

And, little Emmy girl celebrated her 7th birthday with a beach themed cake. 

I'm kind of thinking at this point, this post is a little sing-songy. A little "oh look how sweet" we all are. And that is not us at all! We are loud, borderlining on obnoxious at times. We are messy (hence my mom following behind all of us wiping off the counters, picking up wet towels and swim suits, and throwing away trash) and we are really quite funny. I will insert a funny story here.

My brother and Jenny wanted to take Griffin and Emmy deep sea fishing one day. All were invited, but only Daniel and my dad chose to go along. Later in the day, I texted my brother to see how it was going. They were planning on catching some fish to fry up the next day for dinner. Yum! More than S-E-V-E-R-A-L hours later, I got a text from him. It was a picture of someone I didn't know YAKING OFF THE SIDE OF THE BOAT. He sent me a picture of a dude throwing up! He said that more than half of the boat was sea sick!! I asked how dad was doing and he said, "looks green". Oh my word. That was awful! Luckily, none of our family tossed their cookies...so that was good news. We all kept talking about it all evening. At dinner, dad, still feeling the effects of the boat, shouted "CAN WE ALL JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT IT?" Somehow, though, it didn't get dropped and everyone would finish their sentence with a gaging sound, like they were going to hurl AT THE DINNER TABLE. (Sorry to be so graphic. That's just us.) Needless to say, that became our big inside joke for the week. Oh, and they only ended up catching 3 small fish. Yes, there were jokes about getting two loaves of bread to feed all 14 of us... (ba dum bum) 

We spent most evenings at the house and took turns cooking dinner, but did dine out two different nights. Lambert's, Home of the Throwed Rolls is one of our favorites and a must to eat at. We also enjoy the atmosphere at LuLu's (that's Jimmy Buffett's sister for all you Parrot Heads!).

I think one of my favorite memories of our beach vacations will always be seeing my dad sit at the edge of the water, just kind of taking it all in. I choose to think that he is enjoying God's creation instead of escaping the madhouse behind him! Ha!

His happy place :-)

I also love making memories with my mom. Usually, before any of the kids were awake, I would sneak out onto her balcony and we would enjoy some quiet time drinking coffee (or chai tea for me!) and talking about the kids or my grandparents. Such sweet time.

And, oh how I love watching these two...

And, these six.

Until next time.