Summer is officially over...

The Dog Days of Summer

Summer finally decided to grace us with its presence this year! Unfortunately, it is the middle of August, which means it is time for school to start. (Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, but being home in the summer with my family is the BEST!) Since the last week or so has been in the high 80's to 90's...not to mention - a billion percent humidity...we have spent a lot of time at Zoombezi Bay and Grandma and Grandpa's pool! They not only have the pool, but fountains and a jump house too so it is like a kid's paradise! We also got the slip 'n slide Aly got for her birthday out and froze our butts off in the ice cold hose water! I can't believe the summer has gone by so fast!! The ONLY possible good thing that the end of summer could mean is Buckeye Football...Go Bucks!!

Someone had to do it...

Showing the girls 'how it's done'!!

Freshly picked cucumbers...right out of Grandma's garden!! Mmmmm!!

I love summer!! Did I mention that?!?!?!?

Four Generations of Miller's

My entire family got together today at Doug and Val's new house to take a family picture...which we haven't done in about 10 years!! Since then, we have lost a few family members and added a handful more!!! It was completely chaotic and the girls didn't really want to cooperate, but it turned out better than I expected. Here are some of my favorites...

Four Generations: From Grandma to Great-Grandchildren!!

This is a great picture, but look closely at Hannah!! This pretty much captures her attitude over the last few weeks!!Me with my brother and sisters!My dad and the girls! He was literally bouncing up and down to get smiles out of them!! It turned our really cute though!! In case you were wondering...this is how we are all connected!

A bird is going to poop on that lip!

Hannah is literally exploding with personality! And, at 17 months, she has perfected the pouty puppy dog face...we are in big trouble. She thinks it is a game when we tell her not to 'pout', so she will immediately stick out her bottom lip and look sad. Half the time she ends up with a smile, but it is hilarious!! In the car she will pretend to be asleep, but can't keep a straight face and wants me to call her a 'faker' - then everyone giggles. Whatever works in the car! She was playing with Dan when I snuck some of these pictures. She was trying to be serious an put on her best pouty face, but a smile broke through here and there!

Summer Nights!

Just some fun pictures from last week...

Good Friends and A LOT of Fish

My very best friend from high school (who I've really known since about the 5th grade and is more like a sister), Teri and her husband Ed, finally had a baby last month! I was beginning to think I would have grandkids before they decided to join the club ;) Yesterday, we made the trek to Cincinnati to spend the day with them and meet baby Caleb (he is a big boy who looks just like his proud papa...so cute)!

We got there in the early afternoon and had a delicious lunch at Chipotle. Then, we all went to the Newport Aquarium together. It was fun and definitely cool since they have the tunnels you walk under and fish swim around you, but living in Columbus we are definitely spoiled by the Zoo! The girls had a lot of fun and Caleb was a trooper since we couldn't bring in a stroller! Aly got her penguin, the latest addition to her collection and we went back to her house to spend some time together. The girls had fun trashing the house with toys and covering up Caleb in his bouncer with you guessed it, stuffed animals, while Dan, Teri and I caught up. When Ed got there we had a great dinner before heading home.

It was great to spend the day down there with her! It is really fun to watch her as a mom and experience that together, like we have so many other things. She is the only one (besides Dan of course) that I still have a relationship with anymore from high school. It is hard with them living a few hours away to stay as close as we once were, but it is comforting to know our friendship is secure and we care about each other enough to pick up where we left off when we do get to hang out!! Hopefully, there are a lot more hang outs in our future!

Cheese!

Waiting patiently for Caleb to drink his bottle...

Playing in the nasty, cloudy fountain!

We were standing 'inside' a sharks mouth (which you can't see) and they told us to look scared! Plus this is the bootleg version downloaded from the Internet b/c I am too cheap to buy it...hence the watermarked 'X' through the picture!

Stuffed Animal Overload

If there is one thing Alyssa plays with, it is stuffed animals!! That does not mean you need to buy her any...she has PLENTY!!! She is obsessed! I swear she has at least 50 of them that she plays with on a DAILY basis and collects more every time we go somewhere. She always knows what type of animal is on her list to get next. She just got a penguin at the Aquarium and told us that she really wants a baby turtle stuffed animal next The best part is that she doesn't name them and gets mad if we try to! If you ask her what their names are she will say, "Just, 'stuffed animal'." She refers to them by what they are (ie. Penguin, Lamb, Puppy, etc.) instead. She is very meticulous about them and cares for them as though they were her children. Sometimes I will catch her talking to them or she will tell us they 'need' something. I wish I could catch it on camera! She doesn't forget about any of them either...I truly think she has them all catalogued in her head. We have been trying to sneak and get rid of one big bear and it always end up back in the playroom!

If she had it her way we would take ALL of them anytime we go ANYWHERE. [Just ask the Seed's about vacation!] We usually tell her to pick two to bring and when we get wherever we are going, one of them have to stay in the car. She always sweet talks her way into at least one more ;) She also fills her backpack with as many as she can and that goes as well. I keep prepping her that when pre-school starts she is not going to be able to do that! And, you should see her bed! Tonight she had at least 20 with her! I am going to have to take some pictures and post them because it really is cute!

A few nights ago we pulled out our bin of stuffed animals/dolls we had when we were kids and gave them to the girls...ALY was in Heaven! Dan has a big stuffed tiger that she loves and a little puppy he has had since he was a baby. Hannah really liked my Cabbage Patch's...she is my girl that LOVES dolls! It is so neat to watch them play with the thing that we played with when we were their age!I am so thankful we can share these memories with them!

Pacifiers: Free to a Good Home

I have been saying all summer we were going to ditch the pacifier after vacation. And after fighting through her sleeping habits on the trip I figured I couldn't sleep any less than I have been, so Friday night we did it! We were REALLY nervous actually try it because we knew once we did, there was no turning back. Dr. Heiny told us to wait until a day when she had not napped well and give her a broken pacifier at bedtime (meaning we cut the very tip off so it no longer has suction). When we got home from Easton, we put on her pajamas and played. When she wanted the pacifier I gave her the broken one. I really wish I had recorded it! She sat there putting it in and out of her mouth, looking at it and touching it. She had the most confused look on her face...soooo cute! She didn't cry, but sat it on the couch and walked away.

At bedtime I put her in her crib, as usual, but gave her the broken paci instead. I kissed her, walked out and waited for the screaming to begin. Nothing. I looked on the video monitor and she was just looking around...next thing I know, she is fast asleep - not even a whimper. No way it is going to be this easy! She woke up in the middle of the night so I gave her a little bit of water and laid her back down. She was not very happy about this at all. She screamed, and jumped, and tried (almost successfully) to climb out of the crib. That lasted about 30 minutes and she was back to sleep. I expected it to last much longer than that! Then, she actually slept later in the morning than she has over the last month!

Saturday she was a little fussy here and there. You could definitely tell she she wanted it. Bedtime and the middle of the night went about the same, but maybe a little better.

Today at church (which I thought was going to be really difficult) she was fine! And, tonight she went down with no crying at all...again. I think we are officially done! She really surprised me and I am so proud of her, but that was way too easy! I don't know if that is good or bad. Maybe she will surprise us with the teenage years as well... ;)