puke, a concert and my floor

I don't really have much to report. I feel like I have been out of the blog loop for a while. :( Saturday morning was the morning we all dread. I went into Maggie's room around 8 and as soon as I opened the door, I smelled the horrible "puke" smell. Ugh. Sometime during the night, she had thrown up. She was saying "Yucky" and pointing to her bed. How sad is that??! I figured it was only a matter of time because our neighbor/daycare friends had it the day before. She was a trooper, though! Still isn't eating much, but seems back to her normal {hyper} self! Yay!

Oh, before the pukies, we had some fun!!! Friday night, we went to see the Louisville Crashers! I had never seen them live before and they put on a great - I mean GREAT - show!!! You guys know how Eric, aka Easy E helps our neighbor, Todd with his DJ business? Well, Spin Around Sound took the crew + wives out for the night! We went to Incredible Dave's to see them. I think it was the most fun I've had in quite a while. {Yes, I'm a poor lonely soul!} I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole gang. Boo! But here were the three women {yes, we were outnumbered...there were 6 guys there} during the show. Sorry for the blurry pics! They were from one of our phones.

Me, Natalie and Jill

If you get a chance to see The Louisville Crashers, GO!!

Oh, my life isn't total boredom! We are getting ready to redo our living room floor. Woot! We picked out the color on Saturday. I'm going to keep you in suspense!!! Hopefully within the next two or three weeks, I will have some before and after pics. Stay tuned!!! ;-)

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!!!!!