Great Escape 2008

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh . . . this is the life. This is the weekend that I look forward to all year long. Sunning, Shopping, Drinking, Eating ... no one's nose to wipe, no family dinners to prepare, no 'taxi service' with getting kids to/from school and practices and, best of all, no homework headaches . . . for 5 wonderful, relaxing days. This is the weekend of my annual "great escape" with my "flip flop sisters" - Jen, Robin, and Heidi. (Unfortunately, Heidi couldn't join us this year - sniff, sniff.) We're enjoying awesome weather -- it was about 85 degrees today and not a cloud in the sky. Needless to say, we spent the day on the beach AFTER whipping up a variety of dips and appetizers to sustain us for the next several days, and a couple of batches of whiskey sour slushies (which only lasted us a couple of hours). LOL. Ya gotta love a girls' weekend, huh? We love you Marco Island!!!

Halloween Greetings!

Happy Halloween, everyone!!! We celebrated the big day with warm and balmy weather . . . and one little butterfly who didn't feel very well. :o( We still made our rounds through the neighborhood, but I think Carly only managed to mutter "Trick or Treat" at one house. LOL. She woke up from her nap with a fever but nothin' was gonna stop that butterfly from trick or treating, so she donned her costume and off we went. Both big brothers had other plans for the evening - Nick was celebrating with friends and Alex had a football game (Central won which means now they advance to round two of the playoffs!! Woo Hoo!) - so that really created a new dynamic for the evening, since Carly has always trick or treated with her brothers. She came home with quite a haul of candy and goodies, though, so I'll call the evening a success.

She didn't really want her picture taken, but here's Carly in her costume:

And here's a picture of the kids and their jack-o-lanterns:

Hope you all had a safe and festive Halloween!

Homecoming 2008

Lots of excitement for the Miller family! This was Central Catholic High School's homecoming week/weekend. . . . which means we just finished a very full (and exhausting!) week of school-related activities, fun, and games. The Saints won their homecoming football game on Friday night 17 - 0, beating the only other (at the time) undefeated team in the Corn Belt Conference! We remain undefeated and are ranked #1 in the state. Go Saints!!

I'm serving a one-year term as co-president of our school's Parents Club, and one of my 'duties' included organizing and hosting our annual Alumni & Friends luncheon this past Friday. It was a big success and lots of fun to plan and host.

And finally, the weekend concluded with . . . drumroll please . . . Alex AND DATE (they're just good friends ... smile) attending the big Homecoming dance on Saturday night. Here are a few pictures:

Football Frenzy

Some action shots of the Miller boys ....

(I got a new zoom lens for my birthday -- thanks Mom and Dad! -- so I tried it out at last week's football games.)

Nick is #70 - he plays Center and Linebacker:

Alex is #63 - he plays Offensive Guard and D-Tackle:

In this shot, he's 3rd from the left on the line.

And in this one, he's on the right side of the picture -- by the time the play was over, he was in the pile-up on the ground.

And, last but not least -- we can't forget Carly -- she is their BIGGEST FAN.

Birthdays Come & Birthdays Go . . .

I think that's kind of how you feel as you get older ... and older ... and older. :o) I turned 44 on Friday, September 12 -- and the only problem is ... HOW IN THE WORLD CAN I BE THIS OLD??!!! LOL. Geez. I remember as a kid thinking that people who were 30 were ancient, and now I've far supassed that mile marker. Oh well -- they say you're only as old as you feel, right? Well, that means I'm still 21 (most of the time). Except when I try to ACT like a 21 year old and then I distinctly remember that I'm double that . . . plus 2. Ha! Seriously, I had a great birthday week -- started the celebration early with a "birthday party" last weekend (planned by none other than Carly Jade) at my parents' house, and then concluded the festivities with a dinner outing (before watching a Central Catholic varsity football game in the pouring rain) at my favorite pizza joint in the world on Friday night and dinner out with our family and Mike's parents on Saturday (after watching another football game in the pouring rain). Who could ask for more??!! There's nothing like a week long celebration!! For now, I will continue to celebrate the fact that Carly and I are the "same" age -- "4" .. as she so proudly pointed out the other day. Soooooo ... here's to being 4!!! Cheers!

Guiping Girls Reunion

If you're wondering what a "Guiping Girl" is ... well, that would be our very own Miss Carly Jade. She's from Guiping City in the Guangxi province of China, and this weekend we hosted the 4th annual gathering of all 10 families from our China travel group. Our daughters were all adopted on the same day, are from the same orphanage, and have birthdays within 1 month of each other. You can see for yourself how much they've changed in the last 3 1/2 years by the photos -- the first one is our "red couch" (a China adoption tradition) photo at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou (when the girls were 13 1/2 months old) and the second one is from this weekend's reunion (they are all 4 1/2 now). Carly is 3rd from the right sitting on the couch in the top photo and 5th from the right in the bottom photo. The bond these girls have is truly amazing (not to mention the bond that all 10 families have). It is absolutely heartwarming to see the girls interact and get to know one another more and more with each passing year. Our festivities this year included an evening of fun at State Farm Park on Saturday and a day of excitement at Miller Park today. We enjoyed delicious food, great company, and wonderful memories. I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all! I played hostess this year along with my good friends Jen Schmidt and Christie Wright ... and let's just say that I think we're all due for a 'spa' day very soon. :o) Seriously, it was alot of fun to plan, albeit a bit stressful at times. Everything came together beautifully in the end and we had a very special, memorable weekend, which is what is most important. I'm sure I'll be posting a slide show of pics from the weekend very soon -- I didn't take too many myself, so need to see what some of the other families will share. Check back soon!

Football Season!

Hard to believe, but football season is upon us once again. Here are a few pics from today's Blue & White Scrimmage at Central Catholic High School. (Alex is #63) This is an annual tradition -- their way of kicking off the season -- the teams scrimmage, do drills, and then the families have a big cookout. Lots of fun, but BOY was it hot out there today!! Two-a-day practices started on August 13 and ended on August 19. School started on August 20, so now practices are from 4 - 6:30ish every night. Nick's football season is also in full swing and he practices M-Th 5:30 - 7:30. Let's just say that dinner time in our household is very interesting these days. I feel like a short order cook most nights! And my grocery bill with two football players in the household is ... well ... something that should be in the Guiness Book of World records! :o)