The Zoo

We love going to the zoo. Brian and I used to go all the time before we even had kids. We spent our honeymoon at our zoo because we didn't get to go anywhere 'tropical'. We are very fortunate to have a zoo so close that we can spend a day, a few hours or just go and have a picnic as often as we want to. We splurge and buy a zoo pass every year because we go so much. We usually pick 3-4 animals that we want to see that day (usually the gorillas, lions, giraffes and/or the sea lions-unless daddy goes, then we have to see the reptile house too), then hit the playground and head home.

Austin's favorite animal has always been the 'King Kongs'. He also has always really liked the giraffes, and his love of them has made me appreciate their beauty as well. Aubrey hasn't really picked a favorite yet, but due to her big brother's influence she is leaning towards the 'King Kongs' too. Austin and mommy spent many a day at the zoo before he started school, and Aubrey and I are trying to go as often as possible too. Last week we had our gorgeous fall weather, the weather that makes this time of year my favorite, so Aubrey and I headed to the zoo for the morning and a picnic.

Just wanted to share some pictures of our zoo trips past; I have so many more pictures of when Austin was little but they are all in print form and not on the computer. I guess I need to get a scanner...

Aubrey's first zoo trip, September 07. She slept through most of it.

Austin and Aubrey on their favorite statue, the huge gorilla.

Above: January 2008, below: March 2009.

It is hard to believe how much they both grew in just over a year...

Austin looking mean, September 2007

Aubrey and her King Kong, November 2009

Austin and Aubrey on the lion cub, March 2009.

Austin on the tiger, August 2008. Do you see a pattern here? We apparently like to pose with all of the statue animals...we do see the real ones while we are there too!

Aubrey with the tiger, November 2009.

Austin and Aubrey in our favorite swng, August 2009.

Austin on the Carosel, May 2008. Ironically, the zebra is the animal Aubrey chose to ride on when we went last week.

Hangin' on tightly...

Aubrey watching the sea lions swimming, she would oooh and aahhh when they swam in front of her. These are mommy's favorite.

All Hallows' Eve

Another Halloween over, another bag of goodies to eat. And another fun Halloween. My friend and I were again the witches of Oz, only we reversed roles so that I was the Good Witch Glinda, and she was the Wicked Witch of the West. We didn't have our entourage this year, as the kids wanted to do their own thing, but we still had fun and looked awesome. Because it is really all about us. Er, I mean the kids.

Last year, me as the wicked witch, my friend as Glinda.

This year, roles reversed. I think she makes a much better mean witch...

Austin and his little friend were both Bumblebee from the Transformers. They were both saying "cheese" when I asked them to pose for the picture, we thought that was pretty funny. Austin is the taller one.

Aubrey almost had to sit out Halloween this year. She has developed fear, and not just of the vacuum. Aunt Diane sent Brian a cool Rocky mask for Halloween, which is perfect since he is such a Rocky nut. He put it on and Aubrey went berserk, screaming and shaking and telling him to "take it off, I scared!". So we put it in our bedroom, and every time she went in there she would cry and say she is scared of the Rocky mask, even after we hid it and told her it was all gone. So Brian was not able to be Rocky this year. Aunt Diane also sent Aubrey a very cute little orange and black witch costume for Halloween, and sent me a matching witch outfit as well. I was so excited, we were going to be matching and be so cute. However, she wanted nothing to do with the dress or the hat, hers or mine. She wouldn't touch me when I had mine on and kept telling me to take it off, and she shouted "NO NO I scared!" any time we showed her outfit to her, let alone tried to get her to wear it. Thankfully, Aunt Diane (who spoils my kids, and me too if truth be told) sent her a backup costume-Little Red Riding Hood. Aubrey didn't really want anything to do with it either, until we told her it was an Elmo Dress. She then thought that it was okay and was almost excited to wear it, and looked adorable.

Trick or Treating was fun. Austin is an old pro, he doesn't get too scared anymore by the scary decorations or costumes. I worried about Aubrey of course, and wouldn't you know it the very first house we went to the people giving out candy had VERY scary masks on. Austin's friend turned around and left without getting any candy, Aubrey was too scared to move, and Austin got his candy and ran. Aubrey then found her voice and started crying/screaming "I scared!", and had to then be carried by dad from house to house and assured there were no 'spookies' handing out candy. She did overcome, and got the hang of trick or treating again. She would open her bag and say 'tick or tweet', and was very polite saying 'tank you' as she reached for daddy to carry her to the next house. Overall it was a successful venture, the kids had fun and got a lot of loot, and I have already packed on a few pounds helping them eat it. I am pretty sure Aubrey went to bed clutching her candy bag, with a chocolaty smile on her face. I am already scheming on costumes for next year, provided Aubrey will wear them...

"Tick or Tweet"

Little Red Riding Hood (aka Elmo) and her daddy.

Another First

Austin lost his first tooth today. His two front bottom teeth have been quite loose for a while now, but he refused to let either his daddy or I pull/touch/look at them up until today. One of them was so loose it was hanging on by its side, and was almost laying over across the other one. I somehow bribed convinced him to let me try once to get it out, and it didn't take much of a tug and out it came. He almost passed out. He got dizzy and woozy and scared, and then tasted some blood became almost hysterical. But, after some water and rinsing and looking in the mirror, he soon got over it and was very excited to go to bed and put it under his pillow. He woke me up (too early) this morning, excited to show me his discovery. The tooth fairy had been there,evidenced not only by the tooth being gone and a surprise left in its place, but also by the "fairy dust" (aka glitter) she left all over his bed. The surprise was a shiny silver dollar. Not just any silver dollar, but one he needed in one of his coin books. I wonder how she (he) knew?

Snaggle tooth, before he let mommy pull it out.

No more tooth, won't be long before the one right next to it is gone too. He has decided that one needs to come out on its own, without any help from mommy.

Race For The Cure

This weekend was our annual Race for the Cure walk. When we got up it was 38 degrees outside. I definitely had second thoughts about going. But we are stupid dedicated, and so I put 3-4 layers on each of the kids, a few layers on myself, grabbed some bananas and out the door we went. For a cold day, there were still tens of thousands of people walking. And by mile two I was warmed up enough to take off my outer layer. I am pretty sure the kids were sweating too, Aubrey threw off the blankets mid race. We had a good time, and got to go for our greasy burger and beer afterward, then home for a long nap. Ah tradition...

Naptime

Not a lot of sleeping going on here...

State Fair 2009

We went to the State Fair last weekend. Poor daddy got to spend his 41st Birthday riding rides and eating yummy fair food. I know, hard life...

Austin (and daddy) had a good time riding rides and going through the spooky/fun houses. Austin's favorite ride was the log ride. They did this one twice.


Aubrey slept through most of the fair. She and mommy waited patiently while Austin and daddy had their fun. Maybe next year Aubrey will be tall enough to do some of the rides. This year I did ride one ride; I did a roller coaster with daddy instead of the ride which plummets to your death, which was a lot of fun. We do like the state fair. The food is yummy, the beer is yummy, the people are fun to watch, and there is a level of fear that keeps everyone on their toes. State fair=good times.

Here are the kids at the petting zoo, petting a goat. They both had a great time petting all of the animals. Rest assured knowing I was waiting with antibacterial gel at the end...

Things I Have Learned From My Kids

I have learned that...

• sticky kisses are the sweetest kind.
• saying please and thank you are very important.
• you are never too old for play doh or bubbles.
• saying mommy 150 times can make a mommy give in to any demand.
• a little jelly/pizza sauce/chocolate milk on my shirt is a fashion statement.
• when he says "I didn't touch her!", it doesn't mean he didn't torment her in some way.
• hesitation in answering usually equals a lie.
• there is so much more to taking a walk than just walking.
• vacuums are scary. So is the dark.
• monsters are real. But they are no match for mommy's monster spray.
• you can function on .2 hours of sleep a night, but not for very long.
• there is no better sound than the giggles from a child.
• a few scribbles on paper to you, is a masterpiece to me.
• dressing up in costumes isn't just for pretend, you really become that person.
• you can live for days on cereal and mac and cheese.
• the most peaceful sleep is with a baby on your chest, a two year old cuddled up in your arms, a six year old snoring lightly beside you.
• hugs from a child can mend your heart.
• forgiveness is easier when you are 6.
• I am not perfect.
• I don't have to be perfect for my kids to love me.

Waiting...

Update

Since I haven't been on here for awhile, I thought I would just give you a little update on the Millers. We have been busy as usual. Austin is adjusting nicely to 1st grade, as I knew he would, and we are all getting back into the swing of a school schedule. He loves his teacher and so do I, he is making new friends, and has found all of his old ones too. I still try to pry details of his day out of him, getting only who he played with at recess and an "I don't remember" to any other questions asked. At least he remembers the important stuff! Aubrey is adjusting to being back in Mother's Day Out, and likes her new teachers as well. One of them is a big Red Sox AND Steelers fan, so we can't go wrong there! She goes three days a week, for 5 hours a day while I work. Brian takes off early two of those afternoons to get the kids, so I can work a full day. I now have two full days off and one half day which is wonderful (instead of one full and three half days, because even if I only had to work half a day, the whole day was ruined!). Aubrey and I have big plans to spend beautiful fall days at the zoo/park waiting on Nahnie to get out of school.

We had a busy Labor Day weekend full of cleaning (finally!!!) and playing. We started the weekend fun early by going to our last baseball game of the season on Thursday night. We got free tickets to the Oklahoma Redhawks (triple A of Texas Rangers) who were playing their last game at home this year, and it also just happened to be Thirsty Thursday ($1 beer, yea!). Both of the kids got to see Rowdy the Redhawk (team mascot) and both got a ball from an umpire after the game. So glad they both got one, cuts down on the fighting and screaming! After the game we got to pet the horses out in front of the stadium while they were waiting to take people for a ride.

After a lot of cleaning on Saturday, we spent a much deserved Sunday afternoon swimming at our Red Sox friend's house, then went to a free outdoor concert in the park with the Oklahoma Philharmonic. It was a lot of fun, with fireworks after. The boys were very excited to see the fireworks, especially since they were rained out on the 4th of July. Aubrey however, clung to mommy, not wanting to watch but not being able to look away, crying and screaming "I scared!!". Much is her same reaction to the vacuum, which is my excuse for not using it very often...

Austin holding Aubrey's hand on the way to the car after church. What a sweet big brother.

I love this picture.

6 Years Old!

Dear Austin,
Happy Birthday to my little man! Today you are 6, you now need to use two hands to show people how old you are! You seem to have grown up so much in just one short year. Your likes are very much the same although you have added a few new ones. Your favorite thing in the whole world is still baseball. You would play it day and night and have adapted the front room to play the "Austin Version" of baseball where you pretty much win all the time because you make up the rules as you go along! You still like dinosaurs, but are not quite as obsessed as you used to be. You are now very much into Transformers, which is pretty neat as they were around when I was a kid. That has become your new favorite movie although you love to watch The Sandlot over and over as well. You and daddy are still reading the Three Investigator Books every night before bed, and you still like Scooby Doo. You really love to swim, and learned to swim this summer. You love to show off your skills by doing cannonballs or going down the slide and swimming to the other end of the pool.

You are such a smart little guy. You love school, and love to learn. You have a great imagination, and you ask very intuitive (and hard) questions about anything. You are a great little artist and love to draw, mostly pictures for your daddy. You have gotten into coins like your daddy, and enjoy going through them and filling your books. You and daddy have joined the local coin club, and you like to pick out which of your coins you want to take for show and tell. You are their youngest member.

You make friends easily but are very loyal to your best friend Kaehler, who shares your love of baseball, swimming and transformers. You are kind hearted, caring and sensitive. I worry about you being too "nice" to your friends, you tend to do things you don't want to so you won't hurt your friends' feelings. I worry that you will get yours hurt instead.

You love your sister and love to give her hugs and kisses, most of the time when she doesn't want them. You can be so patient and wonderful with her, reading her stories or doing puzzles with her, or just playing. You can also be very ornery to her and seem to enjoy making her scream. But she loves you very much, and she misses you when you are in school.

I am still so very proud of the little man you are becoming. You are an amazing person, already at 6, and I thank God every day for you. You have taught me so much already, about how to slow down and just enjoy life, about how to be a better mom, and how to be a better person. Happy Birthday Austin, I love you so much!