Family Birthdays Chicken Wild Style

Today the family met at Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate all of the March birthdays. 

Jennie and Hannah both had their leather jackets on and Jennie taught Hannah about 'popping her collar'.  Aren't they adorable??!!

29 10

This morning I was treated to breakfast in bed.  When I came out of my room I found a birthday wish trailing all the way down stairs.  That was a great way to start off my year of being 29-10 :-)

This evening we hosted a party at our house for the March birthdays in the neighborhood.

There are currently 6 of us!

March 6th- Kay

March 7th- Nikki

 March 21st- Me

March 23rd- Mike

March 24th- Jake

March 26th- Amy W

Jennie, Kim, Joe, Bobby and Tom surprised me with a visit!  Thanks for making it out guys!!!

She's OFF!

Today was the day Hailey decided she was going to learn to ride her two wheel bike.

It was a beautiful day and after being held up in the house all winter, everyone has spring fever.

 This girl is UNREAL.

I was washing dishes and Hannah came running into the house yelling "Hailey's riding her bike without training wheels!" then she ran right back outside.

When I came out I could see her in the street with Brian and by the time I got out there with my camera on she was already on her way.

She hardly wobbled and she never fell.  She jumped on that bike and rode like she's been riding this way for years.  SUPER impressive.  Good job buddy!

I love her cheering for herself as she realized she was going by herself with nobody hanging on. :-)

Sandwiches anyone?

Today when I was making my way home from Target I saw that Hannah and Jacob were carrying a box on the sidewalk.  I pulled up to ask them what they were doing and they informed me that Joe had given them some Deli Express sandwiches to sell.  Joe works for Deli Express so there is always a fresh supply of sandwiches in the hood.  They had been at it only a short time and had already made some money.  Within a few minutes of them getting started a random guy walking his dog through the neighborhood bought one and so did our neighbor, Chris.  I believe by the end of the day they made $12!   I was actually pretty embarrassed that they were doing this, I always hate the thought of my kid running around asking people for money, but after talking with some of the fellow adults around here I quickly learned that they are happy to support the kids with their business adventures.  

I would be too so I suppose it's fair :-)

 

I hate selfies

 

I hate taking selfies but when I asked Brian to take one with me today he actually smiled.  Usually he is making a face or something but today he smiled.   We hung out at the Busta's tonight.  We do NOT see them enough these days.  It makes me super sad to talk or think about it so I typically just pretend like everything is 'normal' even though I feel like I am dying inside. 

I miss them so much and miss spending time with them.

It got harder and harder as the kids got older.  They are in activities, family time is now more sacred then ever and the older their kids get the harder it is to bring them places.  Their boys get way too bored hanging out at our house and since I can't invite myself to their house we have to wait for an invite- but due to activities and such there is just hardly any time to get together.

Stacey and I don't talk as much as we used to.  

We try to text now and then but it's usually just short and sweet.  It breaks my heart. 

 I miss her dearly.

Moving into our neighborhood has introduced a whole new set of friends into our lives so maybe we should be blamed for 'doing our own thing lately' but it seemed like things with our other friends were starting to slow down anyways.   It's sad and it hurts my feelings.  I try to act like it doesn't bother me as much as it does since I don't know how to 'fix' it.  

I know we will never get back to the days of hanging out every weekend but this twice a year plan we seem to be on isn't working for me :-(

No more sunglasses during dinner

 The roller shade for the sliding door was installed today.  It's going to take a while to get used to since it's such a change.  I think I am happy with it.  I am wondering if I should have gotten a matching shade for the small windows next to it though, I am not too sure about the mix of the blinds and the shade.  I think it looks unfinished or something.

 

Floating

The girls have been doing so good at swimming lessons.  They are getting more and more comfortable in the water and getting better with their skills each week.  We've decided to stop lessons during the summer and fall since we have other activities going on and pick back up next winter.  I hope that's the right decision and when we start back up they will pick up where they left off.

It happened. Again.

 

Even though I am excited to pick up my new truck tonight I feel sad walking out to my car for the last time.  I never really got sick of this car.  I love the way it looks and have been overall very happy with it.  I think it might be a little buyers remorse.  A little 'what are we doing' feeling.

I went with the Buick Enclave.

After the test drive of both the Acadia and the Enclave it was a sure win for the Buick.

The seats were more comfortable, the ride was smoother and the interior lights were so much more pleasing to the eyes.  GMC uses red dash lights and it's just way too harsh for me.  I ran into this same problem last time with the Equinox vs the Terrain.  I love the body style of the GMC vehicles but those darn dash lights.  I just couldn't do it.

This truck is very nice.  It rides like you are sitting on a couch and even though I am going to get a lot of grief for driving a grandma car, it's worth it.

Heated seats, heated steering wheel, navigation, on screen texting, remote start, memory seats, moon roof, headrest DVD players, separate tuner/volume/heat controls for the back seat, etc.  One of my favorite features is the safe lane changing indicators.  There are lights on the mirror that light up when a car is in your blind spot.  Let's you know when a car is approaching or when a car is next to you.  There are other features that alert you when you are crossing the white line on the road or getting too close to the vehicle in front of you.   

No wonder grandmas love Buicks!

 

Hey you way back there!  The girls have decided that for now they like to sit in the third row.

I think she's got it

It's like a right of passage.  A step in every girls life that signifies a new era.

I don't remember how old I was when it happened, it's just something you eventually do and don't think much of it. Watching this little girl master her own ponytail stopped me in my tracks.

How in the world did she learn to do that?  When did she learn to do that?  Who taught her how to do that?  Has she been practicing?

She's got it down.  Today when she noticed I was watching she giggled the whole time knowing that I was beaming with pride (she was too).

2 year plan

I am not really sure what happens around the 2 year mark for us but we have gotten into a habit of trading in/up vehicles about every 2 years.  It's never a bad deal and although we sign on to another 2 years of car payments, we always get a good deal on our trade in and end up getting something more from our new vehicle.

This time I wanted a third row seat.  We don't plan on having more kids but I hate that we can't bring more people with us if we wanted to go somewhere.  Mainly my sisters, mom, nephews, etc but now that the kids are getting older, it'd be nice to be able to let them each bring a friend out somewhere.

I have always wanted an Acadia- I LOVE THEM.  The Buick Enclave is basically the same vehicle just by Buick so I have narrowed it down to one of those two.
You know how much I love making decisions.......

Waiting for Jacob

 

Jacob was coming over to play in a bit.

Hailey couldn't wait any longer so decided to park herself in front of the

 window so she wouldn't miss it.

These afternoon playdates don't last very long since the girls have swimming on Sunday afternoons, thankfully Jacob does too so they all had somewhere else to be.

89 looks GOOD on you!

We started our day with a dance recital- the girls always do well and make me proud.

 

After the recital we headed to grandma's for her 89th birthday celebration!

89!!

She sure looks good for 89.  I can only hope to be in that good of shape with that great of a mind at that age.  I always teased her when I was little that she could never go.  She would live to be 103 at least and that I wouldn't settle for anything less.  At this rate she's bound to make it to 123!

Happy Birthday to the grandest of Grandmas!

Love you a bushel and a peck!

Floor Wars

The leak has been identified and is under control.  Time to start putting us back together.

We decided since we had to have our floor replaced/patched that it would be the time to put down tile.  As an extra bonus we learned that Dale was willing to pay for the upgrade to tile for our troubles.  We decided to go with the same hardwood looking tile that we have on the walls in the shower and a new rock floor. 

What a pain to have to go through all of this but to look on the positive side, the tile will be a nice upgrade to the bathroom.

Every 6 Months

 

The girls had their 6 month check up today at the dentist.   As always Hannah stood right by her sister's side making sure she was ok and telling her how proud she was and how brave she was being.

Both girls had great reports- still no cavities!

Crushin' Candy Like a Boss

Look at all of those sprinkled candies!  

It's such a beautiful site isn't it?!

Love is in the Air

Love was in the air this morning at our house!

(in the form of bacon- yummy!)

 The girls also woke to a trail of hearts containing messages about why I love them so much.

 

Love Deliveries

 I helped out at Hannah's school party today for Valentine's Day.

It's always fun watching her interact with her friends, I am fortunate to have a job that let's me get away to do things like this.

Tonight the girls and I made cookies and candy robots for the neighbors.

We then loaded up the car and drove house to house making our deliveries (it was WAY too cold to walk). 

The girls LOVE joining me for these drop offs and our neighbors never seem to mind either :-)

Oh Man :-( It's definitely a bubble

 

A couple of days ago we noticed a bump like bubble in the floor when we stepped out of the shower.

We had someone come out and take a look and sure enough our shower was leaking.

They think this probably was happening from the drain- they'll do some additional testing to make sure the problem isn't bigger than they think and then they will work to get us put back together.

It's Everything I Wanted

 The first of the shades has arrived!  

Brian knew how anxious I was to see it  and installed it while the girls and I were at dance.

It's perfect.  I really, really like it.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Kami and I went to the Minnesota Roller Girls Derby this evening.

It was a pretty cool experience.  The team and girl's names are pretty clever and it was amazing watching these girls move on their skates. They are so fast! They start out explaining how the matches work, how the teams score points and then it starts.  Half way through there is a dance party where everyone is encouraged to come down to the floor to party.

 

 

 

New Birthday Tradition?

Today my sisters and I took mom to the casino for her Birthday.  It's starting to feel like a new birthday tradition, she loves to go and claims she doesn't need anything so it's perfect.  We get her out of the house, we get to spend time together, she gets a night out- win, win, WIN!

Kim is probably the only other one that looks forward to this night as much as mom does.  They both get sucked into the machines and the bonus rounds.  Kristin, Jennie and I typically don't have much luck so these trips we just end up making a donation in our mom's honor. 

That doesn't stop us from having fun though.  

Tonight we ate the casino buffet.  On the dessert bar we found some bins of candy, of course this was the talk of the night for the Miller girls :-)

Jennie and I loaded up our pockets and for the rest of the night we entertained ourselves with our treats.  It's crazy how many laughs can happen from a few runts rolling around the bathroom floor. ;-)

 

It's always a trick getting Mama Miller out of the casino.

It's hard enough to coordinate a meeting spot and hope that everyone is ready to meet at that time but then add in an escape artist and you can almost guarantee that it will take an extra 30 minutes to get everyone coordinated to leave.  You can always guarantee a good time though.  ALWAYS!

Surprise Messages

As much as I wish that I had more personal space sometimes, it sure makes me smile when I am at work, open my notebook to tackle some system build or review past meeting notes and I come across these little messages from Hailey.

I know that soon enough it will stop...I will take back sole ownership of my work notes and the constant love notes will end.  Those days are gonna be awful....

For the love of comfort

This is breaking my heart.  My very favorite sweatshirt is coming to the end of it's life.

I have worn this sweatshirt more than any other article of clothing in my life.  This is my go to hanging around the house shirt.  It has traveled with me on many adventures across the country and even made it's way to Ecuador.

It was there when I went through college and has moved with me four times.

It has comforted me when I was sad and needed to cry, it was there with me during both of my pregnancies and during two maternity leaves.   In fact, I wore this sweatshirt during the typing for the majority of the posts on this blog.  It's my favorite thing to wear when I get home from work and the first thing that I want to put on when I wake up.

I knew this day would eventually come and I have had my eye out for another oversized sweatshirt made from just the right material to eventually take it's place but I have not had any luck.

What do I do now?  The thought of sewing these holes together just feels wrong although the thought of getting rid of it isn't an option.