Avery's First Birthday

On the way home from the beach David and I got to talking about Avery's first birthday party. Her birthday is coming up in just a few weeks, and so I finally decided I needed to get on with planning it! What we have found, since Luke’s first birthday, is that we have many family members who have kids now. The oldest of those children is 4, and the youngest is only 3 or 4 months old, so when we get together there are not only many, many adults, but there are many, many loud happy children and honestly our house just isn’t big enough for all that fun! So as we talked we tried to think of somewhere else to have her celebration!

We came up with Chick-Fil-A. I know it’s kinda cheesy, but really I think it’s the best place. Avery really doesn’t care where it is, and honestly she doesn’t care who is there, but I care more about who is there, so this works out great! The cost is limited to the food we order and the area of play for the kids is limited to the play area at Chick-Fil-A! It’s safe, fun and it’s somewhere that the adults can visit as well. So be it cheesy or not, my Baby Girl’s first birthday party will be held at Chick-Fil-A with kid’s meals for the kiddos, and nugget trays for the adults! There will of course be cake!

So to that end I got on Vista Print yesterday and ordered the invitations! What fun that was, and I cannot wait for them to arrive! They are cute, but not too cutesy and I got some matching thank you cards as well! Vista Print had all kinds of wonderful things on their site to make me want to part with my money!

Now, I just need to get the invitations here, addressed and sent out!!!

Walking and Winking

Avery is growing by leaps and bounds these days!

She decided last week that walking was WAY better than crawling… so now she seems to have mastered the walking thing! She’s pretty good at it too!

She also thinks she can wink. I winked at her the other morning while she was eating, and this was how she winked back! She’s just too cute!

More beach pictures

Baby Reagan and Avery getting to know eachother!
Luke found a BIG rock on the beach!


Playing in the ocean!

"Look at this stuff!"

"Can I eat it?"

Avery LOVES her Daddy!

"Look, I'm in Aunt Chanda's suitcase!"

Luke hangin' with Mommy on the deck

Just a few...

At lunch one day while at the beach - this was a conversation Luke and I had!

Me: "When you're done your sandwich you may have a few chips."

A bit later... Luke: "Mommy, I'm ready for my chips!"

So I gave him some chips, to which he responded L: "Wow Mommy you gave me a lot of chips!"

M: "Well, buddy, I only gave you a few."

L: "Mommy, a few is 3 or 4! This is more than 3 or 4!"

M: "How did you know that a few is 3 or 4?"

L: "Cause that's just the way it is!"

Beach Update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and when I did there wasn’t too much information shared… so hopefully this will be a bit more entertaining. I’ll try not to overload any one post with too much stuff!

Besides the beach trips - (Holly and kids were in Myrtle Beach from October 5 – 19 and then again this past weekend! David was down and home some off and on!) - we’ve had some other exciting things happen! Look for those updates in a separate post!

While at the beach I got to go cloths shopping (which I LOVE to do!) with David! As I’m sure you can guess he LOVES it too! It was fun to get to spend the day together and I was so excited about the new cloths David got – maybe I’ll be able to keep up with the laundry a bit better now that he has more cloths to wear!  Then this past Saturday when we were there, David and I got to go Christmas shopping for the kids! WHAT FUN! We had a blast getting toys for the kids! Luke is really growing up, so we had fun getting some “big boy toys” for him! I really think David picked the things he likes to play with and just used Luke as a good excuse to get them!

We also got to spend some really great time with family! My parents were there the whole first week, and then my sister and her boyfriend spent a few days with us. I also got to spend the week with one of my cousins whom I NEVER get to see! She and her family live in NJ! It was a good time for sure – except Steve her husband and Mandy her daughter was sick most of the week they were there! It was still fun to see them! The second week we spent with my in-laws! This was really great too – as my bother and sister in law were nice enough to bring along their baby girl – Reagan! I got to spend some time getting to know this miracle of a baby! It was an awesome 2 weeks!

Luke said about a million funny things, and since I didn’t write them down, I cannot remember them all – really I cannot remember most of them, but I do remember one funny conversation, so I’ll post that later!

Here are a few pictures of us playing on the beach and in the pools! Avery didn’t have any fear of the sand or water! She also didn’t seem to mind one bit being covered in sand or having her mouth full of it! Luke was also very unafraid this year and we had a blast playing in the waves!

Life Is Good

It's been a while - I've been down here at the beach with little access to the internet! We're having a blast for sure! The weather has been wonderful and we've had lots of time on the sand and in the water!! The kids just love it! I'll be posting pictures when we get home! I miss you all and "being connected"! Hope everyone is good!

Oh Well

I had to post – yes it is 1:22AM – a cold hit Avery with a vengeance tonight and she’s not sleeping very well – poor thing – do mostly to the fact that she cannot breathe well at all! So much for the aromatherapy thing and that keeping the colds away! Now my hope is that they will help give her some relief and allow us both to get some sleep!

Since I am planning on leaving for the beach in the morning, I’ll be waking David up here soon so he can take over for a while. I did sleep about an hour or so, but that won’t get us safely to Myrtle Beach! Daddy duty time! He’s so wonderful about that stuff! I’m really blessed!

Lists, Lists, Lists

Make the list, follow the list, add to the list, but don’t ever pack without one! That’s my motto! Well, actually it’s my mom’s motto, but I was raised that way, and the few times I’ve tried to pack to go somewhere without a list – FORGOT something!

So I’ve been working the list, and letting the lists work me. Right now I’ve got about 3 different lists going in order to get us to the beach with everything we need. The kids and I leave tomorrow morning so I’m almost done packing (frankly I’m really sick of packing and all the boxes sitting around in my dinning room) and today or tomorrow morning I’ll be crossing off the last few things on those lists, putting the little ones in the car (praying for lots of long naps on the trip!) and turning my big PACKED Suburban toward the sunny coast!

I feel confidant that I’ll have everything we need, but honestly if we don’t, we’ll only be about 3 blocks from a Wal-Mart and if you need something and cannot get it at Wal-Mart, you really don’t need it that badly now do you??

I’m totally excited about the next 2 weeks – I of course am a bit worried (I’m a worrier at heart – it’s something I am constantly talking to the Lord about!) that my kiddos won’t sleep – or that one or both will get sick (Luke was sick like 2 years in a row while we were there!) and that it won’t be any fun! But then I remember that my parents, cousins, sister and her boyfriend and my wonderful hubby (on Wednesday night) will all be there and how can that not be fun?!?!? It’ll be a great time! I’m so looking forward to some time with my family since we don’t see them as much as I’d like, and especially with Wendy and her family as they live SO far away and I only see them (and I know this is totally pathetic) when there’s a funeral. This will be a much happier occasion.

I do want to say to Bets, Aunt Carol, Aunt Kay and Uncle David – I will miss you all there this year and be remembering the fun and WONDERFUL time we had with you all over the last couple of years! Eating Japanese food will never be the same for me and since our trip there with Bets and Aunt Carol I’ve never once eaten sushi without thinking of you guys! Love you all so much!

Then the following week it’ll be my in-laws along with a whole week with my miracle baby niece Reagan – and that right there is such a blessing I cannot even express how thankful I am to the Lord for this time with her! It was just last year while we were at the beach in October that Robert called to tell us the wonderful news that they were expecting a baby! After the hard months they went thru at the beginning of the year – I’m feeling mightily blessed to be looking at spending a whole week with her! What an awesome privilege! I’m excited guys!

OK, I’m getting a bit emotional and mushy, so I’m gonna go!

Watch out Cherry Grove Beach – here come the Miller/Winslows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aromatherapy Stuff

This post is in response to Jess’s request! I am sorry – that site is a bit overwhelming! I’ll see what I can do here to help ya’ll along! I do need to thank my friend Deb Raner from church; she’s the one who turned me onto this stuff and the Birch Hill Happenings site, so thanks Deb!

OK, I ordered what they call Mio Personal Fan Diffuser – one for each of my kids! They have several different types of fans, and other diffuser things for different size rooms and such.

Then on the advice of Deb, I ordered a couple essential oil blends (on their web site these can be found under the synergistic blends section) the first one is called Four Robbers – this is their explanation of what it does:

Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary. This special blend will help protect you. Our blend, as legend tells, was said to be used by robbers and thieves during medieval times to protect them from the plague and other diseases.
This is a wonderful smelling blend! Reminds me of the smell of Dentyne's ® original gum flavor. The formulation is based on the original oils/smells/scents as was used back during the plague years.

I also ordered a blend called Easy Breathe, one called Calming, and one called Pure Cleansing. That one is supposed to purify and clean the air around you! I don’t know if it works or not, but I have been using that one in the kids rooms since I ordered them. I did start using the Four Robbers blend the other night when I noticed Luke had a bit of a stuffy nose. They have many different blends, for many different things and they are priced at lots of different prices. You can also order say just peppermint and a carrier oil and use them as massage oils or whatever. I love the peppermint and sometimes I just rub some on my hands so I can smell it! I also love the eucalyptus – I’ll put a couple of drops of that in a bath – just love it! I’ve also put eucalyptus in the bath tub last winter when Luke had a bad cold it helps to open the stuffy nose. You need to be careful, cause sometimes the oils themselves can irritate the skin. That hasn’t been the case with me or Luke, but Avery has more sensitive skin so I wouldn’t put too many drops in the tub with her.

That’s what I’m using now or have used in the past. After you spend some time on the web site, and know what you’re looking at it does get a bit easier! I’ve also found that these folks are great to order online from, they are fast and I’ve never had any trouble with payment or receiving my stuff!

Again, I’m still learning too, so if there is any more helpful advice out there – please share!

Good Smelling!

Hallelujah!

I found it, I found it! YIPPIEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I found the battery charger for our camera! I found it last evening! I was so excited I called and left a happy little song for David on his cell phone! Don’t you know he was happy to hear that!

Thanks for all the prayers! I’m so glad I found it and so now I won’t miss any picture opportunities while at the beach!

It turns out that it got put into my small cedar chest that sits on my dresser! A few weeks ago David went around cleaning, and he moved everything off the dresser to dust, and when I put the stuff back on the dresser I must have put some stuff – including the charger – inside it! I didn’t remember doing that, but most of the time I cannot remember what I ate for the previous meal! So it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that I’ve got it now and I’m so glad!

Crazy or Not?

This time of year usually starts the cold/flu season here in the South. We have weird weather here. One day it’s like raining and 60 degrees and the next it’s sunny and 85 degrees! So on come the colds/allergies/flu stuff. Since Luke goes to preschool, he of course is exposed to all the fun germs that the other kidos bring with them! I say all that to say that Luke seems to have a small cold! It’s not bad, and so far Avery doesn’t have any runny nose or anything like that, but I’m sure she will. I’m praying that neither of them will get anything too horrible, as we’re supposed to go on vacation starting on Sunday!

David thinks I have turned into some kind of kook (kooky – yes!), but honestly I haven’t, but the reason he thinks that is because I ordered some aromatherapy stuff that’s supposed to help prevent colds and flu’s and the like. My kids will also be getting the flu shot, just in case! I think that the diffusers with the “keep you healthy stuff” seem to be working fairly well! I know Luke has a cold, but it isn’t bad, and so far it’s not keeping him up at night (which Luke doesn’t really need anything extra to keep him up at night!) and I’m hoping that the cold won’t last as long using the Four Robbers aromatherapy stuff! We’ll see I guess, but I’m happy to use some natural stuff as opposed to lots of medicine, which it seems keep getting worse and worse for kids anyway! So let’s see how it goes!