Lots and lots....

So much has happened the past couple weeks. I remember a friend of mine years ago could never do anything or get together....she was always saying how busy she was and how she had too much to do so we never could make anything work. I remember thinking I didn't ever want to be that way.....the sort of person who was always too busy. Well, it's happened. Wrestling has been done for 6 weeks and I thought it would give us a breather, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I finished doing daycare so I just knew I'd suddenly have more time than I knew what to do with, but that doesn't seem to be the case either. I just seem to be filling it with other things. Not bad things....I'm able to be at the kids' school more to chaperone or see their afternoon concerts, I'm able to keep up with the housework much better.....but between having a garage sale, being busy at and volunteering for the Springfest, and getting ready to go camping this weekend....I have barely had a moment. Okay, let's be honest....I have had moments. I've had plenty of moments in the middle or at the end of the day where I could have come here and done some gabbin', but I couldn't get motivated to do it. And don't we all know that when you start doing something (or stop doing it in this case) it becomes habit and then easier to continue that habit. So, here I am....7:30am on a Wednesday morning. The kids just got on the bus and Tanner's still sleeping so I have a moment to write. After all, I hate to keep dissappointing my millions of faithful readers. *wink wink*
Here's the quick rundown on this month.
Last weekend we had a garage sale to help out with our adoption expenses. We told our family and close friends that if they had any stuff they were gonna get rid of anyway, we'd take it off their hands. Everyone really came through more than we ever could have expected. They did the same thing last year and it's been so nice to have such great support from everyone. The sale wasn't as busy as I'd like to have had it and Saturday was a total bust. We got rained out in the morning and couldn't be open in the afternoon because of Jason playing at the Springfest...but for those 2 days, we made about $900 so we are very happy about that. Hey, that's a lot of quarter stuff. The boys even sold hot dogs, chips, fruit snacks, and pop to help the cause.






So the school had their annual Springfest and it's huge. We didn't co-chair the volunteer effort this year like we did last year, but we were still a part of it. Jason played drums with the LifeTeen band that he plays with every Sunday at mass. They had a 2 hour stint on the stage and it was a lot of fun to see.




See anything in this picture that would drive Jay crazy?? Anything....anything at all?? Pretty obvious to anyone who knows him at all. Let's just say this Miller man was NOT happy about having to be on a Bud stage. HAHAHA!!! I told him I was gonna keep the picture and blow it up to bring to the summer company picnic. I wonder what his boss will think of him promoting the competition. LOL! Oh well, he was just happy to play. It's probably one of his favorite things to do...play the drums. And I'm tellin' ya...he is good! It just comes so naturally to him. He can hear a song once and just play. Now, if I could get that same sort of response outta him with cooking.....we'd be golden.

Okay, so one last, and very important, thing. The day before the sale started, one of my friends came over to help me get organized. She stayed for a about 2 hours. Before leaving she started talking to us about the adoption and how happy her and her husband are for us. She said that they loved what we were doing and that they really felt like God had His hand in it so they wanted to help out. By this time, I'm starting to cry (and make her cry too) and she handed us a check for $500. Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much that meant to us. I somehow blubbered out 'are you sure...' She wouldn't let me finish. She said that people were so good to them and that they just wanted to pay it forward. We thanked her profusely and promised to do exactly the same as soon as we could. What an amazing couple. We are very blessed and continue to be amazed by the angels among us.

Introducing....

A little girl that Jason and I started sponsoring back in January. She is about 7 mos. old now and lives at an orphanage in China that takes in kids with special needs. Not hard to see that hers is cleft lip/palate. Because we were her first of 2 sponsors she needed, we had the privilege of naming her. Since Olivia was already taken and you can't double up on names at the orphanage, we named her Grace. Isn't she precious. We look forward to watching her progress.

Mother's Day

I had such a nice Mother's Day. It started on Sat. evening when we had our parents over for dinner and home movies. Dinner was great and the home movies were hilarious. We had forgotten how much Tyler liked to dance in front of the camera. And things that made me turn away and quietly scold the kids for doing during taping, were now the things that made us laugh the hardest. It was really fun.
Sunday morning, I literally woke up to the smell of bacon in the house. I dressed and went downstairs where a found a neatly set table and a husband slaving over a stove.....that's like a woman's version of Playboy.....total turn-on. hehee..



My very own mushroom, onion, spinach, and tomato omelet. Does he know what I like or what?!

My boys who make me happy and proud to be a mama every day.

They all had things to give me that they had made. Never mind my hairdo...I said I got dressed, I didn't say I looked nice.



Tony's card said his mom is 40 yrs. old. Oh, brother....

Tanner's card made up for it when I read that he thought his mom weighed 30 pounds.


Best thing I'll ever do in my life is be a mom. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Timmy's birthday

Wednesday was Timmy's birthday. I'm only a couple days late here. We did our usual birthday evening with the kids. Birthday boy picks dinner.....his choice was a shrimp and fettuccine dish I make....we do presents, and then brownies and ice cream. He has been asking for a pogo stick and a skateboard so we looked into both. I knew they carried the pogo stick at the toy store, but what I didn't know is that the cheapest one (for his age group) was $100. Sooo.....we went with the skateboard. He was thrilled! He loved it and he said he would think about buying the pogo stick with his birthday money. Personally, I'd rather he didn't. I think it's gonna be one of those things that's really fun for a little while, then loses it's excitement in a short time. Next thing we know it's garage sale material. We'll see about that one I guess. Tonight is Tanner and Molly's preschool program at school and everyone is coming over afterwards for cake and ice cream to celebrate Timmy and Adam's birthdays.

Started the morning with his 11 pancake....of course. I wonder if I'm gonna have to do that when they are 32? Ya know, come to their house in the morning before they go to work and make them a 32 pancake. hehe

We went outside after brownies cuz Timmy wanted to try out his skateboard. While we were out there, Tony wanted to try his 2-wheeler again (he's been working on riding it without training wheels). He got on, started to go and off he went....all the way down to the cul-de-sac and back. He just all of a sudden got it.

Sunday Snapshot: Cousins

Do you have cousins? Do you have a lot of cousins? Because if you don't, you're missin' out. And if you do....well then you know how completely fun they can be.
I love that my boys have each other.....and I love that they have their cousins.

For several years now, not a year has gone by that there hasn't been a new addition to the gang.....
In fact, some years we've even increased by two.

Thanks to some carefully orchestrated tag-teaming with one of my sister-in-laws, the line on the beach got longer every year.

....and longer

We'd snap a picture of the growing brewd.....even when not everyone was a willing participant....

...and dressed them in silly hats just to sweeten the shot.

You can bet that our holidays and get togethers are no simple task.

and the noise volume is not for the faint of heart.

But if you asked me if I'd trade our big, crazy family for the world....I'd say, not a chance.

Because with each passing year...

and each new addition....

the line of kids on the beach gets longer.....

and the mounds of presents under tree gets bigger.

and the kids keep gaining a new built-in friend for life

The best part is....

that there's more to come....

cuz we aren't yet ready to call it a day.....

and we don't yet have enough birthdays in the family to celebrate...

so we look forward to the ever expanding gang

and to the always crazy time that having all these cousins makes.

What a gift.

crazy lady

No, not me. Although some days it feels like me. It's this neighbor of ours. She is at the end of our cul-de-sac and for years the boys have complained that she stares at them from her front yard when they are playing in the circle. I think she's a few cards short of a full deck to be honest, but that doesn't fix the fact that the kids always feel creeped out when she's just watching them. She always has this mad look on her face like they are in her space and have no right being there.
Tonight, the boys came home saying that she took their ball. They were in the circle playing catch and it went in her yard....her front yard....so Tyler went and got it. She glared at him and said "keep that ball over there". Tyler said "okay, sorry" and they went back to playing. So.....a few minutes later, what happens?? Timmy throws it a little too far. It lands in her driveway and starts rolling down towards them. Before it did though, she grabbed it and walked in the house.
They came running home telling us what happened. This was just a final straw. We've always told them to just stay away from her and keep any balls out of her yard.....which they obviously need to try harder at. Jason decided to walk down there to talk to her. ..ask her what was the problem and to remind her that the cul-de-sac is public property and they have the right to play there without her staring at her like they are doing something wrong. Okay, so the ball in her yard is her property....but c'mon. This actually never happens, they rarely are playing ball down there. She just is mad when they are even riding bikes or roller blading nearby. What a nutcase. He was gonna tell her what concerned him and he was going to get the ball back.
He went, he knocked, he knocked again, she didn't answer. He pulled back and saw her watching him and pacing in front of the bay window. Ah, can we all say....crazy!! Apparently, the people that live right by her (thank God that's not us) just stay away from her too. She's not exactly known for her warm nature.
Honestly, I wish she would just call the police on us or the kids sometime. I would love to hear what she tells them. And just a side note, if this were the behavior of a man on our block, I would have called the police myself a long time ago.

Sunday Snapshot: The Cross

This past January we lost a special soul, my aunt. She was a Catholic nun for over 50 years. And although Sr. Teresa was 72, she was as young as any one of us. Cancer took her way before her time. But then, I guess God has His own time for things and He wanted her home...with Him.
Several months before she died a friend gave her a cross. A prayer cross. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't even pretty. It was carved from wood. A simple cross for a simple woman.

She was told to hold it in her hand, fingers wrapped around the 4 corners while she prayed. And then when she was too sick to pray....just hold it and it would become the prayer she could no longer speak.

And so she did. Religiously.....pun totally intended. She held it while she prayed, and she held it when she couldn't.

When our 4th boy was born, we asked Sr. Teresa to be his Godmother. She was mine as well and this seemed like a great idea. She was very touched and from the beginning she had a special place in her heart for Tony. Her face would light up when she saw him in a way that didn't happen with just anyone. Any story I could tell her about him and his antics were met with the laughter of a person that loved him like her own. She loved him so much.
Around the time when we knew she was coming to the end of her life, my mom told me what Sr. Teresa had told her. She wanted Tony to have her prayer cross. I was so touched because I knew what that cross meant to her. When she died, she was holding it during the viewing. One of her best friends, another nun, was sure to get it before she was buried. She had told many people about the cross and her special Godson who was going to get it.
About 2 mos. later my mom recieved an envelope in the mail. One of the nuns had come across it in her things. It was a letter to Tony. One that she had obviously written when she was getting pretty sick, as it was fairly hard to read. But it's message was clear. She wanted Tony to know about the cross and why she wanted him to have it.
The beginning was precious.....

The middle so sincere and loving.....

And the end more touching than anything I've ever read.

A woman who has had a life of service and a vow of poverty may not have much to leave in terms of material things....but the simple things she did have are far above anything money could buy.

The letter

My Dear Tony,

I want you to have this holding cross. It was such a comfort to me in my dying process and I want to share that with you. There may be times in your life when no prayer/no words come and you feel you are losing your faith. At times like that, just hold the cross and say nothing. This saying nothing is letting your body pray and is a prayer very pleasing to God.

I give this to you with all my love, loving you from heaven and asking God to embrace you with all His love and bring us together again in heaven.

Since I won't be around to see you grow up to be a good person, I want you to keep this as a reminder of whom you have been called.

My niece, me, Sr. Teresa, My brother, Tony