Miller Time!

PROM!

2011-04-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

Prom 2011 . . . What a magical night!

I thought Alex looked especially handsome.

Nicole looked beautiful and her dress was AMAZING.

But her shoes . . .! They just stole the show! :)

The guys . . . and their gorgeous dates!

And here's a short video clip of Alex and Nicole in the "Grand March" - a renowned and long standing Central Catholic High School tradition.

The evening's festivities concluded at our house, along with about 20 of Alex's friends who came for the AFTER after prom party from 3:00am - 7:15am. They watched movies, gamed, crashed, had breakfast, and then off to 7:30 mass they went. All in all it was an AWESOME night. Oh, to be young again! :)

The Scoop

2011-04-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, since I'm so terribly tardy with an update, here's a quick run down of what is new and exciting in the Miller family!

We had a GREAT time in Marco in late February but we all missed Alex big time!

Nick celebrated his 14th birthday! And he is now, by the way, officially taller than me.

After submitting his first and second quarter grades from this school year, Alex received a new scholarship offer (a Dean's Scholarship!)from Augustana College, bringing his grand total in scholarships to an impressive $62,000! Might sound like alot, but when you tally up the cost of a 4 year degree at Augustana, Mom and Dad are still gonna be broke before all is said and done!

We made a quick trip to the Ozarks to "check things out" and look around at some properties on the market.

Junior High track season began!

Alex officially committed to Augustana College! He will be a Viking in the fall!

Prom preparations are underway - the big day is THIS Saturday - April 9!

By the way, when I said we made a quick trip to the Ozarks to check things out, I forgot to mention that we FOUND a wonderful little 4 bedroom condo that was in foreclosure . . . it was love at first sight. We made an offer, negotiations continued for the better part of a week and . . . WE GOT IT!!!! Closing is set for May 4 - YIKES we have lots to do in the next 29 days! It is nice to feel a "good" stress for a change! We are soooooo excited!

We celebrated Carly's 6th "Gotcha Day" - I held her in my arms for the very first time on April 4, 2005 in Nanning, China!

We are staring straight at the end of another school year - I think the boys have only 6 weeks of school left before they graduate - Nick from 8th grade and Alex from high school. Wait - did I say high school? Yep - we'll soon be the proud parents of a high school graduate - WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

Looking forward to SUMMER - but first, I'd really like a little bit of Spring! Come on SUNSHINE!

I promise to post prom pictures this weekend!

Marco Time . . . Once Again!

2011-02-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

WE'RE HERE!!! . . . Our favorite little slice of paradise! We escaped the cold Midwestern weather (although temps really haven't been too bad lately) to spend a much needed week away from it all - school, work, the usual chaos that is our everyday life. Ha! Planning to soak up that glorious south Florida sunshine, relax, and enjoy good ole family time. We are minus Alex on this trip - he opted out due to other commitments he had made for the week - we all miss him big time but we keep telling ourselves that this is something we need to get a little more comfortable with - he is, after all almost 18 and a soon-to-be graduating senior so I have a feeling this may happen a little more often in the coming years. :o). But still, it doesn't change the fact that we wish he was here too!

Today promises a high of 80 last I checked. There is not a cloud in the sky ..... Better go put my swimsuit on - the beach is calling my name!

More later!

BIRTHDAY GIRL!

2011-02-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

I can't help but wonder if somewhere in China there is a special woman who is thinking about the beautiful baby girl she gave birth to 7 years ago today . . .

This was Carly's "finding ad", which was placed in the local Guiping City paper (standard protocol in China) shortly after she was found and takent to the orphanage (on February 12, 2004). My precious, beautiful daughter. I can only hope and pray that somehow her birth mother knows that she is loved and safe and that she is a very special part of a family in America.

And here is our princess now - 7 YEARS OLD already.

Her "friends" birthday party was a princess/diva theme. We had a face painter, we did nails, we decorated cookies, and we played games. A fun time was had by all! And Mom was especially exhausted after those 2 hours of jam-packed fun. LOL. In Carly's words . . . "It was the BEST birthday party EVER!". Kind of makes all the blood, sweat, and tears that come with planning a 7 year old's birthday party worthwhile. :o)

The girls:

The table:

The cake:

Happy Birthday to Carly!

What?! January Already?

2011-01-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

Here we are once again at the start of a new year ... I'm scratching my head wondering HOW IN THE WORLD the time goes by so fast!!! 2011 is off to a great start - so long as chaos, hectic schedules, and too many activities to pack into a week are your definition of "great"! Ha Ha. Like they say, "time flies when you're having fun"!

We had a wonderful holiday season -- but with two family weddings packed into the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the time between the holidays felt super compressed! That just meant we did all the same things we usually do . . . albeit with less time!

Favorite Christmas gifts this year included iPads (for everyone . . . YES, I said everyone! Are we spoiled or what?!), a new powerful gaming laptop for Alex (who decided to 'trade in' his iPad for the new laptop - thinking the new laptop will get more use when he goes to college), UGG boots for yours truly (my very FIRST pair!) and a variety of other awesome goodies. With the turn of the New Year came a big bad fever for Miss Carly, who spent the entire New Year's weekend laying on the couch and 'drinking' Tylenol and Advil every 3 hours to keep that darn 103+ fever under control. Also with the New Year came a very adorable little houseguest who is staying with us for the month. None other than Anastasia (Oma and Pappy's 9 month old Schnauzer puppy). While Mom and Dad head to the sunshine of south Florida, Anastasia stays with us and acquires all sorts of new 'bad' habits. LOL! We've had a great time with her . . . she is settling right in to the craziness of being a Miller.

January 14 was a BIG BIG BIG BIG day for two special little girls ... My friend, Jen, and I took Carly and her BFF Ella (Jen's daughter) to Chicago to . . . yep, you guessed it - the American Girl Store!!! *WOW* is pretty much all I can say. If you haven't yet experienced it, you MUST. But I will honestly say that there is a REASON they say those dolls are for girls ages 8 and up ..... LOL. So Carly and Ella have entered into this new world about a year earlier than some .... good news for the American Girl Store because this just means they'll get an 'extra' year of purchases out of us, but bad for us because ... well, the American Girl Store will get an 'extra' year of purchases out of us! Ha Ha! We rode the train to the city and as the girls boarded, guess what they found in their seats?! Ivy Ling (for Carly) and Lanie (for Ella) who were sitting there looking adorable and holding signs that said "I'm looking for Carly" and "I'm looking for Ella". It was magical. Honestly, I don't know who had more fun that day ... the girls or the moms! It was an awesome trip and a truly wonderful experience. I can't wait to go back again soon. Here are a few pictures of that incredibly fun day.

At the train station:

Finding their dolls:

At the store - Shopping Divas (Yes, the bags were ALL ours):

And back at the hotel, ready for bed (note the matching PJs - girls/dolls - seriously, this place is 'over the top' - as you can see, we were an EASY sell):

Other 'goings on' in our household include Alex's participation in TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) last weekend (it is a 2 night/3 day retreat), which was ever so powerful and emotionally moving - for him personally, and for us as his parents. It is difficult to put into words what we experienced during the evening parents were invited to participate ... we're already looking forward to doing it again with Nick and then Carly. :) And this weekend, Alex headed to Washington DC, along with 45 other Central Catholic High School seniors, to participate in the Right to Life March on Monday, January 24. They took a bus and traveled through the night last night, arriving in Washington DC this morning. Today is a sight seeing day, then they'll spend the night in a hotel, and tomorrow is the big march. They'll have a little more sightseeing tomorrow afternoon, and then they'll climb back on the bus for another overnight trip home - he'll be back early Tuesday morning. A whirlwind trip, but what a great opportunity.

And with that, I think you're pretty much up to date with our lives! Still pulling together details and facts to make that long awaited FINAL college decision. At the moment, Augustana is #1 . . . stay tuned!

Hope your new year is off to a great start!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T08:41:00.001-08:00

Wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

She's a FLOWER GIRL!

2010-12-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

Carly's big flower girl debut was at her cousin's wedding. Jen (our niece) and Matt got married on November 26 in Columbus, Ohio. What a magical weekend we had! The wedding was PERFECT - beautiful, romantic, wonderful. I even managed to make it through my assigned reading without shedding a tear. It was questionable for a while . . . but I did it! :o)

Carly and the ring bearer (EJ) became fast friends at the rehearsal and were pretty much inseparable the rest of the weekend. Very sweet to see. We hardly saw her at the reception - she was very busy trying to keep up with her new friend. What a fun, fun time we all had! A magical wedding we won't soon forget.

College Acceptance #3!

2010-12-04T14:24:00.001-08:00

FINALLY - the long awaited, and much anticipated reply from Augustana!!!!! And the acceptance letter was accompanied by a generous scholarship offer as well. We are SO PROUD of our son . . .

Congratulations to Alex!!!

A Confirmed Catholic ... and Senior Pics

2010-11-20T17:15:00.000-08:00

The newly confirmed Catholic is none other than our very own Nick! A big 'congrats' to him - he received the sacrament of confirmation on November 11. Alex was his proud sponsor. :o)

And, a couple weeks ago Alex had senior pics taken. . . . we've only seen a preview so far (we'll see the full package in a few weeks), but it looks like they turned out GREAT! Jenny Litwiller and Simply Charming Photography -- you ROCK! :o)

Next weekend (Thanksgiving weekend) we head to Ohio for our niece's WEDDING! Carly is the flower girl -- so it will be a VERY exciting weekend on all accounts. I'm sure to have LOTS of pictures to share! Check back soon!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

College Acceptance #2!

2010-11-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

MIZZOU!!!

Woo Hoo! Congrats to Alex!

Alex's rankings as of 11/1/10:

#1 - Augustana (application submitted ..... waiting for results)

#2 - Mizzou (ACCEPTED)

#3 - St. Ambrose

And the excitement/anticipation continue to build! . . . . . Stay tuned!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

2010-10-28T18:45:00.001-07:00

Well .........We're winding down our week in paradise . . .

We spent another lovely day on the beach soaking up the warm, south Florida sunshine. We finished off the day with a little island shopping, and then dinner beachside at a place called Stilts, just a short walk down the beach from the Somerset.

It's been a wonderful, rejuvenating week for 4 busy, stressed out Moms. Thanks to all of our husbands for holding down the forts in our absence this week. :o) Can't think of anything that would have made the week more perfect.

Our BIG, BIG, BIG Shopping Day!

2010-10-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

It was a reasonably profitable day for the Naples, Bonita Springs, and Estero economies, but certainly not a record setting year. Our husbands are thankful for that, I'm sure. :o) 13 hours and 11 stores later, we arrived safe and sound back on the island. As we commented numerous times throughout the day .... what an AWESOME way to shop .... surrounded by "supportive" (or bad influence, depending on how you look at it - ha) friends, no one whining about wanting to go home, no one rushing us along .... well, it was just pure paradise.

Today we're heading to the beach - supposed to be a sweltering 91 degrees. Maybe a little more island shopping later this afternoon.

Having a GREAT time .... and enjoying every minute.

Another Day in Paradise

2010-10-25T18:17:00.001-07:00

Not a whole lot to report for today . . . we spent much of the day lounging in the warm sunshine on the beach. Jealous? :o)

We headed out for a little island shopping this afternoon and rounded off the evening with pizza at Joey's (local joint). Our bodies are begging for a day off from the sun, so tomorrow will be our much anticipated and long awaited BIG, BIG, BIG shopping day! (Mike, take a deep breath - it'll be okay! ha) Gotta get some good sleep tonight because that constant "reach into the purse and find the wallet/credit cards" action gets very tiresome after hours and hours. Oh, and we can't forget our annual outing to PF Chang's -- we will definitely need nourishment during our BIG, BIG, BIG shopping day, so we'll have lunch at PF Chang's in Naples.

Having a great time here!

A Day In The Life . . .

2010-10-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

. . . of 4 friends/moms/wives who managed to "escape" from reality for a week.

Sleep in

Go for a 3 mile walk/run on the beach

Enjoy a morning cup of coffee while gazing at the gorgeous gulf

Park the butt in a beach chair

Laugh, eat, drink, nap

Catch a movie

Have a nightcap

Get ready to do it all over again tomorrow

LOVE IT!! :o)

Some pics from yesterday and today:

Peace, Love & Marco!

2010-10-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

Robin, Jen, Heidi, and I head out at the crack of dawn tomorrow ... first Air Tran flight out of BMI ... enroute to our favorite little slice of paradise.

Can't wait!

Football Player

2010-10-20T19:38:00.001-07:00

Folks, we have ourselves a football stud!

Now featuring - Running Back Nick Miller #20:

Stats from last weekend's game: 15 carries for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns. Way to go, Nick!

The Cat Princess and . . . The Big Brother All Grown Up

2010-10-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

I say "cat princess" because Carly's Halloween costume is Sleeping Beauty. But at a recent Children's Museum party, she chose to have her face painted like a cat. So we affectionately donned her our "cat princess". LOL. Beautiful, isn't she? :o)

And next is Alex. Looking quite dapper in his suit and tie. Special occasion = All School Mass at Central Catholic during homecoming week. He decided to go 'all out' for this one. Quite a handsome guy, huh?!

Have I mentioned lately that in just ONE WEEK I'll be plopping my butt into a beach chair? Heading back to Marco Island for the much anticipated "Great Escape" with my 3 dear friends. Can't wait -- paradise is just around the corner!!!

That's all for now!

Weekend at the Lake

2010-10-09T18:41:00.001-07:00

I'm so far behind in my personal life!!! Not sure where the time is going, but the weeks are just FLYING right on by! Here we are, rapidly approaching the middle of October already! What happened to September? LOL.

Since my last post, we've been very busy ... as usual! A couple of weeks ago, we managed to escape for a WONDERFUL weekend of adult-only fun in Missouri. Our dear friends invited us to their condo in Osage Beach, Lake of the Ozarks. What a GREAT place! Their condo was awesome, the area (neither Mike nor I had ever been to the Ozarks!) was beautiful and the weather was PERFECT all weekend. We even managed to take a dip in the lake -- a tad chilly when we first got in, but we quickly acclimated. Hmmmm ... might've been those two very TALL "pain in the ass" (seriously - that's what they were called!) drinks we had before the notion of swimming popped into our heads. We had an awesome time. Thank you Tim and Laura!!! :o)

Aside from our little weekend getaway, we've been hustling and bustling from one activity to another -- if it isn't tennis lessons or swimming lessons or gymnastics (all Carly), it is football, football, or football (Nick). Alex is pretty self sufficient these days, so at least we aren't hauling all 3 kids here, there, and everywhere each night of the week. :o) Basketball tryouts are in another week, so keep your fingers crossed that Nick does well. If he makes the team, we'll have about 2 weeks of dual sports to contend with before his football season is over. He's having a great season, by the way! He's scored a couple of touchdowns, has had several good 'runs' with the ball, and his team currently has a 3-1 record. Winning definitely sweetens the pot a bit, making those long nights of practice a bit more bearable. And as for me, well, I just clench my teeth each time he gets the ball and hope he either goes all the way for a touchdown or that he gets tackled "lightly" (is there such a thing?). Alex was a lineman in his 3 years of high school football .... and let me just say that watching the game as the parent of a lineman is quite different from watching the game as the parent of a running back. Two different kinds of stress/worry. :o)

I'm gearing up for my annual GREAT ESCAPE to Marco with Robin, Jen, and Heidi. CANNOT WAIT -- the countdown is less than 2 weeks ... it will be here before we know it. Just get me on that plane .... and then we'll enjoy a week of paradise, shopping, eating, drinking, lounging, sun worshiping, and just plain old fashioned "girl time". Love it!!! And yes, you can count on our annual shopping trip and the subsequent blog post to show off our loot. :o) Coming soon!

Thought I'd post a few pictures from the Ozarks ...

And, a few weeks ago, Nick's football team played Metamora ... so that enabled a "play date" for Carly and Karli -- aren't they adorable???!!!

Birthday Touchdown!

2010-09-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

What a GORGEOUS day! Couldn't ask for better weather - it's just beautiful outside!

In addition to celebrating the 25th anniversary of my 21st birthday (but who's counting? LOL), today was also the opening game for the Cougars (Nick's team) football season. I asked Nick before the game if he thought MAYBE he could score a touchdown for me........being that it is my birthday and all. Well, HE DID IT! He ran for a touchdown early in the game, giving the Cougars their first touchdown of the season! Woo Hoo! A great birthday present! I'm gonna have to get used to seeing Nick at the bottom of the pile-ups ... he's playing running back and linebacker, so he will definitely get some "ball carrying" time this season ... GULP. So far, so good ... no injuries today, thank goodness! The season is off to a great start!

The Reunion!

2010-09-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

*GUIPING GIRLS FOREVER*

What a wonderful weekend we've had!!! The 5th "Guiping Girls" reunion was held Saturday / Sunday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is the group of 10 families we traveled to China with -- we affectionately call it the "Guiping Girls" reunion because all 10 of our precious daughters are from Guiping City, in the Guangxi province of China. The girls had a blast - it was awesome to see them all interacting and re-connecting, and it is quite evident that our girls in fact DO share a very special bond. Some of the girls live closer to one another and get to see each other more often than others, but I have to say that as a group of 10, they didn't miss a beat AT ALL. Once everyone arrived on Saturday evening, the partying began and they didn't slow down until we departed for home on Sunday afternoon. :o) Carly was just beaming from all the excitement. She literally counted down the days to this long awaited event -- she was floating on Cloud 9 the entire weekend. Very heartwarming to say the least. Can't wait till the next one!

College Acceptance #1!

2010-08-27T15:23:00.001-07:00

It's official! Alex's FIRST college acceptance letter arrived today. I'm proud to say that he's been officially accepted at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI! Woo Hoo for Alex!!! Mind you, that was one school of probably four he will ultimately be applying to . . . stay tuned for the rest of the results!!! We will keep you posted!

WAY TO GO ALEX!!! Great way to start Senior year!!!

NEWSFLASH! Lost Tooth!!

2010-08-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Miss Carly lost her FIRST TOOTH tonight! I helped her get it OUT - it was hanging by a mere thread! LOL! We have a VERY proud little girl! Finally - she has waited a LONG time for this big event! Congratulations to Carly! :o)

A Senior, an 8th Grader, and a 1st Grader . . .

2010-08-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Ready or not, here we go! Off to another school year! Here are a few of the pictures from our annual "first day of school" photo shoot.

I know it won't surprise you when I say that I'm SAD to see summer come to an end. The school year brings new levels of stress, worry, anxiety, and chaos to our already overloaded household. :o) I must say, though, that all 3 kids bounced back with enthusiasm. Alex primarily because he's finally a SENIOR, Nick because this means he'll get to actually SEE all of his friends every day instead of just texting them, and Carly because she is SO EXCITED to be a 1st grader AND she lucked out and got into the same class with one of her very bestest friends (the same little girl she spent all summer with). We'll see how happy all 3 of them are in another couple of weeks. Ha!

18 Years of Wedded Bliss!

2010-08-02T19:49:00.001-07:00

We walked down the aisle on August 1, 1992 in beautiful Mission Viejo, California. Our wedding day was PERFECT. Couldn't have asked for anything more. One of the happiest days of my life. Thought it would be fun to share a few photos from that wonderful, awesome day.

Happy Anniversary to us! :o)

Tigers & Vikings & Bees . . . Oh My!

2010-07-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

We're on the COLLEGE VISIT circuit! We visited Millikin on July 26, St. Ambrose (the Fighting Bees) and Augustana (the Vikings) on July 27, and Mizzou (the Tigers) on July 28. What great fun it has been -- honestly, I'm not sure how high Alex would rate the "captive audience/front and center with mom and dad for several hours at a time" part (ha), but Mike and I have truly enjoyed the 1x1 time with Alex who has, before our eyes, turned into a responsible, mature (well, most of the time - LOL), incredible, fine young man.

Current standings, per Alex's assessment:

#1 - Augustana
#2 - Mizzou
#3 - currently tied between St. Ambrose/Elmhurst College

St. Louis University remains on our list of possible visits -- but other than that, we're calling this DONE.

Pictures .....

Millikin:

St. Ambrose:

Mizzou:

Next step -- the application process! We'll keep you all informed as the fun and games begin!

_________________________________________________________

On an unrelated note, here are a couple of pics from our recent trip to the Dells (um, I mean - our "camping trip" - see "Summer Memories" post for explanation! ha). We had a GREAT time -- kids and moms alike! I don't think my back has yet recovered from Hades - a "70 mph, thrash you around the car so much your head feels like it will explode, go down humongous hills and plunge into total darkness" wooden roller coaster - but we DID IT - multiple times. :o) And I think I still have a couple of bruises to prove it! LOL. To summarize, it was a weekend packed with fun and lots of great memories.

"Big" Boys:

"Big"Boys on Hades:

"Little" Boys:

"Hot" Moms:

How can it be that tomorrow is August 1 already??? Our anniversary, by the way ... 18 wonderful years. :o) School starts in just a few weeks . . . Sigh. I wish summer could last all year long!

Blue One!

2010-07-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

OMG! OMG ... OMG ... OMG!!!! To say "I'm excited" is an understatement!

LOOK WHAT I BROUGHT HOME TODAY!!! I'm pleased to introduce you all to "Vivian" (yeah, we name our cars ... weird, I know, but that's the way it is in our household - ha) ... the newest addition to the Miller fleet of vehicles. :o)

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a HUGE "Buggy" fan. Have been for years, but have never been fortunate enough to actually own one. Tonight, that all changed. It started with a simple "Sunday evening drive" a few nights ago. We ended up at the local VW/Lincoln/Mercedes dealer so Mike could show me his "dream vehicle" -- a Mercedes sedan. One thing led to another and we ultimately ended up driving through the VW side of the lot. Carly was with us and she is also a HUGE "Buggy" fan, so my intent was simply to let her see the "Bugs" sitting on the lot.

Much to my delight, there sat Vivian. Looking absolutely adorable. She is a "Final Edition", number 1066 of only 1500 made. Figuring this truly was my LAST CHANCE to get one (they're no longer making them after this year!), we went for it. Thanks to my wonderful husband for spoiling me once again ... I still can't believe I actually have my very own Bug.

I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!

Summer Memories . . .

2010-07-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Just some random pictures to share!

We (me and several other moms) hosted a HUGE summer dance party for Nick's entire grade. We held it at a township hall just outside of Bloomington. We had an AWESOME turnout and everyone had a GREAT time. And no, the big guy in the very front isn't an oversized soon-to-be 8th grader -- he was our DJ for the evening! (Side note: Nick finally got braces ON!)

Elmhurst College visit - July 17 (we're wrapping up the visits in the next two weeks!)

Disney memories:

Carly's favorite part of the Disney day

And of course, ya gotta love the Teacups

Nick's and Alex's favorite part of the Disney day (haha - they actually DO look like they're enjoying it, don't you think?)

4th of July fun

That's all for now! The boys and I are going to the Dells this coming week for a few days. Two other moms and I are playing chapperone to 5 senior boys + Nick and his friend Logan. This should be interesting! LOL. Can't wait -- lots of water slides, roller coasters and go-carts. I'm sure we'll have a blast. Carly thinks we're going camping -- it was the only way I could convince her that she really didn't want to go along. :o) She's got a fun couple of days planned with Daddy instead.

Check back soon!

Enjoy each and every one of those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer!

Time Flies . . .

2010-07-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

. . . When you're having fun, right?! Well, it's SUMMER and we're havin' FUN! Where are the days and weeks going?????!!!!! I was in Walmart today and what did I see going up on the shelves? SCHOOL SUPPLIES! Boo hoo! I just wanted to CRY at that sight! :o) We have a jam-packed July, so this month is sure to whiz on by. Darn it -- why can't summer last forever??!!

I've been neglectful and haven't posted since the end of our wonderful vacation in June! Following our week + of paradise in Marco Island, we had a great time in Orlando. We spent a day at the Magic Kingdom (thank you to Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Day" program!), braved the heat and humidity - it must have been 120 degrees the day we were there! (Ha) and then went to the Kennedy Space Center for a day (I told the kids it was for their summer Science lesson) where we also had a great time. Highlights of our Magic Kingdom day included Carly's willingness to ride Space Mountain (TWICE, actually! who would've thought?!) and lining up to get pictures taken with the princesses, including her most FAVORITE Princess Aurora. The Kennedy Space Center was awesome - lots to see there - soooooo much information to absorb and cool things to see! Highlight of that day ... well, we waited in line for the Shuttle Launch Experience ride (me, Alex, and Carly) and by the time we got into the actual ride, I was sufficiently freaked out due to all of the precautionary information and warnings they repeatedly shared during the wait. So we went into the capsule, sat down, buckled in, and ..... when they said "last chance to exit" I raised my hand and said I wanted OUT. NO THANKS - I did NOT want to ride. Alex was appalled. :o) As I got out of my seat, I turned and told Carly, "Come on, let's go - I don't want to ride it after all...." and she said, "No way! I'm staying with Alex! You big scaredy cat! I WANT to ride it!" LOL!!! So I waited with all of the other people who had chickened out and a few minutes later, out comes Carly as excited as could be telling me all about it. Exiting that capsule full of people .... Not one of my proudest moments, to say the least. Haha.

We got back home on June 15 and returned to work on the 17th. Back to reality VERY quickly .... and it wasn't a welcome return on our parts! :o)

Other exciting news ... Alex took the ACT on June 12 in Naples, at the tail end of our Marco stay ..... he anxiously awaited and simultaneously dreaded the results (he felt the exam was more difficult than the one in April so he was not optimistic!) which finally arrived last week. He got the score he was aiming for! An improvement by 3 points over his April result. Needless to say, we were THRILLED!!!! This new score will open up a few more options as far as colleges go .... so lots of exciting times are ahead as "the search" continues and he begins to narrow down his list of possible schools. As of right now, he's still holding Augustana in the #1 spot -- we'll see how the rankings pan out when we finish our visits later this month. Stay tuned for that!

Since returning home, Alex has been busy working two jobs. Nick is staying busy keeping Alex busy (one of Alex's jobs is to be "summer companion" for Nick and his friend - very brave move on our parts, wouldn't you say? ha) and staying active in sports camps, etc. Carly is having THE summer of her life enjoying every day with her dear friend Ella and their sitter, Shannon. They do all sorts of fun "girl" things and they swim almost every day .... need I say more? :o) Mike and I are staying busy just trying to keep up with the kids and their social lives and activities, lessons, etc. Some days (actually, most) we barely keep our heads above water, it seems! But it sure is nice to deal with the chaos minus the hectic drama of the school year. I will continue to enjoy this pace of life for the next several weeks ... and then, all to soon, we will be facing yet another school year .... with a SENIOR, an 8th grader, and a 1st grader. GULP. Once again, WHERE does the time go?!

Sorry no pics with this post ... I will try to remember to post some soon of our Orlando visit and various summer activities/fun.

Hope you all are having a WONDERFUL summer!!!

Oma & Pappy's Best Souvenir Ever!

2010-06-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Honestly, it all started innocently enough. The kids wanted to make a quick trip to the Naples mall, so we set out to do just that yesterday morning after a late breakfast. As Oma browsed in a store with Alex and Nick, Carly and I made a beeline for the pet store, which is on our list of "must visit" stops in the mall every time we're here. We walked in and what was looking up at us with the most adorable little face I've ever seen? An 8 week old coal black miniature Schnauzer. Those of you who know my parents know that Schnauzers are their favorite dog of all. So I asked the sales clerk if we could hold the puppy . . . and next, in walked Oma. Let's just say that she fell head over heels almost immediately and thus began a long series of phone calls, text messages, and ultimately, an unplanned trip to the mall by Pappy and Mike to meet the precious little puppy and to hopefully gain Pappy's approval. As suspected, one look was all it took and Pappy was also SOLD.

Travel crate . . . . $30.99

3 lb bag of puppy food . . . . $12.99

Bag of squeak tennis balls . . . . $3.49

Bringing Anistasia home . . . . PRICELESS!

We are 100% convinced that little Anistasia has hit the puppy jackpot -- she will have a wonderful, happy life with her new parents. She loves all of us and has had a big evening of playtime and exploring. She's presently asleep on Pappy's lap . . . time will tell how much sleep the rest of us get tonight. Carly is convinced that she needs to hold her all night long, so this could get interesting very quickly. LOL!

Heading out tomorrow -- Orlando, here we come!

Ya Gotta Love It

2010-06-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? Feels like we just got here and now we're on our dreaded LAST DAY of island time. As they say, time flies when you're having fun . . . and especially when you're relaxing and enjoying the lazy days of summer. :o)

Alex takes the ACT tomorrow morning in Naples . . . and from there we will head to Orlando for a day at the Magic Kingdom and a day at the Kennedy Space Center. We'll head for home on Tuesday . . . just in time for Mike's birthday. :o)

We've had a WONDERFUL vacation!!

Vacation Fun

2010-06-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

Parasail, Anyone?

2010-06-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

What to do when you're in the mood for a change of scenery? PARASAILING! Nick decided to give it a try (I've been a few times before), so we seized the opportunity and DID IT! A perfect day for flying. :o) We were hoping to see some dolphins in the water while we were up in the sky but no such luck. We did see a couple of sea turtles swimming by as we were coming in for a landing, so that was pretty cool. What fun!!

Sea Turtle Alert!

2010-06-08T05:41:00.001-07:00

It's sea turtle nesting season here in Marco ... I think the season runs from May - November. In all of our years of coming here, we've seen plenty of turtle tracks and nests but NEVER have we seen a live turtle. They typically come up to the beach overnight to lay their eggs and are long gone before sunrise. Not the case this morning, though! One lone turtle apparently got disoriented last night and she was still SLOWLY making her way back to the water when we were on our morning walk. She eventually did make it back to the water, so that was a relief. We couldn't get close enough to take good pictures, but here are a few of the shots I was able to get:

Some of her tracks:

All in all, a GREAT and EXCITING way to start the day!

Having a wonderful time here in Marco!

Fun in the Sun

2010-06-07T05:09:00.001-07:00

Having a great time!

Back to the Beach We Go!

2010-06-05T05:17:00.000-07:00

Yep - we're back in Marco Island! Our favorite little slice of paradise! We left Wednesday afternoon and arrived on Thursday around noon. HOT temps + lots of sunshine = PERFECT BEACH VACATION! Love it, love it, love it!

Will try to post pics soon!

Hip Hip Hooray! SUMMER HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!!

A Little of This & A Little of That . . . .

2010-05-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Lots going on lately! Let's see . . . to start off, Carly's class held an adorable little program in honor of Mother's Day - they called it "Muffins with Mom", so I'll let you guess what they served us for breakfast. Carly is quite sure that the muffin I just so happened to choose out of the many dozen that were offered was one SHE actually helped to mix up and pour into the little muffin tin. :o) Yes, I'm SURE it was. Here are a few pictures from the program:

Next on the list of happenings is Nick's participation in the Sectionals track meet! He ran the 400 this year. He had a good run, placed second (by a fraction of a second - it was neck-to-neck) in his heat, but didn't place in the top 5 overall. His 4x400 relay team ended up going to state - Nick was an alternate. (He and one other boy battled for a place on the team throughout the season.) He was thrilled with the opportunity to go to state, to say the least. Nick didn't get to run, but he was there for all the action during the two day meet. Unfortunately, one of our runners fell during his leg of the relay, which ended up costing us big time. Based on their times from past meets, the coaches expected our guys to come in 3rd but as it turned out, they came in 9th. Oh well - there's always next year! :o) Here are a couple pics from the Sectional meet:

Aunt Diane and cousin Jen were in town last weekend to visit Grandma for Mother's Day, so we took advantage of their time here to sneak in an evening at Lucca (pizza! beer!) and then we made our way to Von Maur to browse at the flower girl dresses. Jen's wedding is just a few months away - Carly needs to start practicing her princess walk down the aisle! LOL. Not sure yet which dress will be THE ONE, but Carly looked darling in all of them. Not that I'm biased or anything! See for yourself:

And that pretty much brings you up to speed on life in our household. We're going into the last few weeks of school THANK YOU GOD! Summer can't come soon enough for this Mom!

Here's to Spring time, flowers, sunshine and warm temps!! Bring it on!

It's All About Alex . . .

2010-05-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Seems like the last couple of weeks have been all about Alex! He turned 17 on May 3. I'm still trying to figure out how that happened. Weren't we just leaving the hospital with our bouncing 11 pound baby boy? We blinked and then . . . BAM . . . here we are with a 17 year old. Amazing how time flies.

Last weekend, we officially began THE COLLEGE SEARCH. Yep, I successfully procrastinated as long as I could get away with it. Probably had something to do with not wanting to admit that my baby is going to be a senior next year. I think that's called "denial"?! But with the college flyers, pamphlets, letters, etc pouring into our mailbox these days, we finally decided to get started. He took the ACT in April and will take it again in June. He has a solid score, but wants better. We are behind him 100% because a higher score means more scholarship money and scholarship money is a necessity when you are looking at small, private schools! :o)

Our "college search tour" began with a visit to Augustana College in Rock Island, IL last Friday. They rolled out the red carpet for us, including an admissions interview for Alex, a tour of the campus with a very energetic and enthusiastic female coed, a 90 minute meeting with a professor in the Biology department (Alex is leaning toward Occupational Therapy), and lunch with a male student who we all greatly enjoyed. The campus is beautiful and, as I told Mike, I would be proud to send my money there. Of course, we'll be bankrupt and working 3 or 4 jobs each when that day comes, but where there's a will, there's a way! ha. To those of you with young kids, SAVE BIG NOW! Whatever you are saving isn't enough! Seriously! :o)

On Saturday, we traveled a few hours north to visit Carthage College in Kenosha, WI. Another gorgeous campus, located right on the shore of Lake Michigan. You should see the killer views from the dorm rooms! Another impressive school, to say the least. This visit was in a "group visit" format, so not nearly as personalized as our time at Augustana was. But informative, all the same. Fortunately, we hooked up with the son of a friend of mine, who is a current student at Carthage, so we got some behind the scenes info and a brief tour of the Kenosha area. All in all, you have to try REALLY hard to find anything not to like at either school. At the end of our weekend tour, Alex ranked Augustana #1 and Carthage #2. We'll be adding to our list of schools visited in the coming weeks, so check back periodically for updates! :o)

Oh, and yeah, I have to admit.....now that we've finally launched this quest to find the PERFECT school, it IS rather exciting and fun! :o)

5 Years with Our Princess

2010-04-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

So hard to believe, but April 4 marked the 5 year anniversary of Carly's "gotcha day! On that special, special day 5 years ago, Carly was passed from the arms of her nanny right into our hearts. Oh the sweet, vivid, and unforgettable memories of what it felt like to SEE her and FEEL her and SMELL her and TOUCH her for the very first time. That little room in the Civil Affairs building in the middle of Nanning (in the Guangxi province), China marked the beginning of a new era in the Miller family history. Carly Jade Miller had FINALLY arrived.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Wishing everyone a "hoppy" Easter! Hope you all had a blessed day with family and friends. We went to mass this morning and then out for brunch. Back to our house for an egg hung, with no time to spare, because it is now raining outside! Heading to see How To Train Your Dragon in a bit - Carly is very excited - she has been eagerly awaiting its release (thank you, TV commercials! ha).

Here are a few more pics from today:

Final Spring Break Pics

2010-03-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

More Spring Break Pics

2010-03-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

And more pics for you to enjoy ... we have had BEAUTIFUL weather the last couple of days. Just absolutely gorgeous! We've all had such a wonderful time -- none of us are ready to head home. Not sure when we'll leave - depends on tomorrow's weather - we'll either hit the road tomorrow afternoon/evening or early, early Saturday morning. What a wonderful spring break we've had! P.S. No, WE didn't catch the shark - someone else did. In fact, we've seen them reel in about 5 sharks so far . . . kind of makes us want to stay out of the water! haha.

Spring Break Pics

2010-03-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

More pictures from spring break! You can click on any of the pictures in the collage to enlarge it!

Spring Break Pics

2010-03-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Spring Break 2010!

2010-03-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

Enjoying family time in our favorite tropical location . . . none other than Marco Island, Florida.

We left Bloomington at 1:45pm on Thursday, March 18, and pulled in to a Denny's restaurant in Fort Myers (about 45 minutes from Marco) at approximately 9am on Friday, March 19. Made GREAT time - all due to Mike's expert overnight navigation. The kids were troopers (as usual) - we didn't hear a peep out of anyone between about 10:30pm and 7:30am. :o) We stayed in a hotel in Naples on Friday night, as we weren't able to get into the condo until Saturday, which is when the renters were vacating. We finally arrived at our favorite little slice of paradise around 10am on Saturday and we were on the beach by noon. Had beautiful weather on Saturday, a few clouds and some wind on Sunday, rain this morning, but now the clouds have completely cleared out and the skies are a brilliant blue with lots and lots of sunshine. Temps are only around 70 today, but the forecast says it will warm up for the rest of this week.

We don't do much when we come here -- our vacations on Marco are primarily for rest and relaxation and, of course, much needed "family time" ... lots of movies, games, pool time, beach time, and just 'hanging out' with each other. Can't think of a more perfect place to partake of these enjoyments! :o)

Check back -- I'll try to post pictures throughout the rest of the week!

Happy Spring Break!

Birthday Boy!

2010-02-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Nick! Today he becomes . . . a TEENAGER. Oh my - the day we've been dreading. Mike and I are now the parents of TWO teenage boys. Yikes. LOL!

We celebrated yesterday with both sets of grandparents and had a great family party. Logan's Roadhouse was Nick's choice for lunch -- and he probably wished he would have never suggested that place after they made him stand up on a chair so the entire restaurant could cheer "Happy Birthday - Yee Haw!" in his honor! The look on his face said it all - a cross between mortified horror and total pride. :o)

Sigh. Seems like just yesterday that we were in Seton Northwest Hospital in Austin, Texas anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little bundle of joy ... and finally, at approximately 6pm he entered the world after refusing to budge even one measly inch during a day of Pitocin induced labor, then ultimately wrapping the umbilical cord around his neck so as to warrant a C-section for Mom. Yes, this is a child who demands attention -- he did before he was born, and he still does to this day! LOL!

Happy Birthday, Nick!!! We love you!

Birthday Letter to Carly

2010-02-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

Carly's 6th Birthday
February 12, 2010

Wow! I can't believe my little sweetie is 6 years old! I'm so excited about her birthday, but at the same time, a piece of my heart is grieving today. Six years ago today, Carly came into the world not knowing what was in store for her. Six years ago today, her mommy dressed her in a blue flowered shirt, took her to the sugar factory on Tangchang Road in Guiping City, laid her down on a concrete bench . . . and walked away. My sweet baby girl spent her first night in this world in the Guiping Social Welfare Institute, where she would live for the next 13 1/2 months. I can't fathom what Carly's birth mom must have felt when she laid her newborn daughter down that day. I wonder what she said to her little angel baby as she told her goodbye. I wonder if she turned to look at her sweet face one last time, knowing she would likely never see her again. I wonder if her heart broke that day.

One thing is for sure - it is because of her sorrow and sacrifice that I have my dear daughter today. So, while I feel incredible sadness about how Carly's life began, I also feel an overwhelming, indescribable sense of gratitude for the two people who brought Carly into this world. I wish there was a way for them to see Carly now and to know how much she is loved and treasured. She is a beautiful, vivacious, happy, loving, compassionate, intelligent, adorable little girl. She is part of my heart and soul. She is so much a part of our family that it is hard to remember what life was like without her.

Circumstances may have dictated the things that happened six years ago today, but fate and destiny brought our lives together. People often say, "What a lucky girl" when they hear Carly's story. But in all reality, she isn't the lucky one at all - we are.

Happy birthday to my precious baby girl! I love you with all my heart.

Birthday Girl!

2010-02-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

Guess who's turning SIX years old today???? Yep! CARLY JADE!!!! Happy Birthday to Carly!!!

Carly then . . . (approximately 6 months old)

Carly now . . .

Return to Reality

2010-02-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

It always kinda stinks to come back to reality ... especially after a week of being pampered and picked up after and cooked for ... etc., etc., etc! Mike and I got home Saturday night after a wonderful and relaxing 7 day cruise to the western Caribbean. The weather was good, the ship was amazing, and we had a GREAT time. Many thanks to my wonderful parents who stayed with the kids, allowing this little escape for the two of us! Check out the slide show (on the right side of the page) for a sampling of the pics I took during the week .... great scenery and lots of fun in the sun!

We Are the Champions!

2010-01-17T13:30:00.001-08:00

Go Saints! The Holy Trinity 7th grade boys brought home the first place trophy from the Sangamon Valley Conference tournament yesterday! What a GREAT game -- I think most of the parents complained of chest pains at one point or another -- it was a really close game - but our boys pulled away in the end and DID IT!!! Woo Hoo! Next weekend is the start of Regionals ... more excitement to come, so stay tuned!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

2010-01-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

We have a SNOW DAY! The kids have no school, thanks to the ... hmmmm I don't know ... maybe 7 inches or so (?) of snow that blanketed our area last night. They were, of course, THRILLED. State Farm opened late today, but I opted to work from home instead. I'm much happier tucked away in my cozy home office with my feet in fuzzy slippers than I would be if I had to brave the elements on this perfectly nasty winter day. The sun is just starting to come out, so the snow is finally tapering off ... but the winds are also picking up, so I'm sure we will soon have blowing and drifting snow along with VERY cold temperatures.

Against my better judgment, Alex and Nick ventured out to one of the big hills here in town for some sledding fun this afternoon. Carly was NOT happy that she wasn't included ... but I told her "No way - it's too cold out there for Mommy!" So, I definitely owe her a sledding day yet this winter. :o) Maybe when it is like 25 degrees warmer ..... LOL.

Wishing you all a steaming cup of hot cocoa, a crackling fire in the fireplace, and a good movie to watch!!!

A Helping Hand

2010-01-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

36 pounds of chicken .................... $90
18 pounds of potatoes .................. $16.50
10 dozen cookies ........................... $39
10 dozen brown & serve yeast rolls ....... $18

Feeding approximately 60 homeless people at Home Sweet Home Mission ............. PRICELESS.

My good friend Tina and I decided to help our boys plan, prepare, and serve lunch at one of our local homeless shelters as a way for them to earn community service hours for their upcoming confirmation. Always a very humbling experience, to say the least, but what a GREAT feeling to do something good for those less fortunate than us. :o)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2009-12-31T11:17:00.001-08:00

Let it Snow!

2009-12-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

We've had back-to-back storms the last few days, which managed to dump about 6 inches of the white powdery stuff ... I must admit - it does look pretty, even as much as I despise winter! Carly had a little fun in the snow yesterday afternoon -- not too long though, cuz it is

C O L D out there!

The Holidays ...

2009-12-27T20:49:00.001-08:00

Is it just me, or does the holiday season seem like it is moving in 'fast forward'? I swear the days and weeks race by more and more quickly with each passing year. (Sigh....) I do love this time of the year -- I just wish the festive season could last a tad bit longer! Then again, I must admit that I am perhaps the world's BIGGEST freak when it comes to "taking Christmas down" ... once Christmas Day is behind us, I struggle mightily with the urge to take all holiday decorations down and pack them away for yet another year ..... I guess it is just my way of dealing with the fact that "it's over". :o) So yes, you guessed it -- that's what I spent the majority of today doing -- taking down all signs of Christmas so we can start the New Year off fresh and clean (well, "fresh", anyway ... this house is FAR from being "clean"! ha). It feels pretty good to have that NOT small task behind me already ..... I literally start dreading it the day after I put everything up! LOL!

Wanted to share a couple of pictures from Christmas Eve ... and also report in that we had a WONDERFUL Christmas -- we celebrated with both sides of the family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and enjoyed each and every moment. Santa was good to all of us, which was an added bonus. :o) Here's a rundown of the biggest hits:

Sony Reader - from Santa to Michelle

iPod Touch X 2 - from Oma/Pappy to Alex & Nick

DJ Hero - from Santa to Alex & Nick

Zhu Zhu Pets + accessories - from Santa to Carly

iPod Touch - from Santa to Mike

Hope you all had a festive and merry Christmas!!! Here's to a Happy New Year!

Holiday Greetings!

2009-12-23T09:54:00.001-08:00

Oh my! I didn't realize it had been SO LONG since we last 'talked'! LOL. Not even sure where to begin as, I'm sure like most of you, life has been just a little bit chaotic/hectic the last several weeks. I think I set a new PR (personal record) this year with my Christmas shopping -- I was completely finished, with all presents wrapped & under the tree a whole week before Christmas. Never before have I managed to accomplish that! So, this is proof that there definitely IS a first time for everything! Many thanks to several of my friends (you know who you are ...) who positively inspired me this season. :o)

Here are a few highlights from the last month:

Nick's basketball season is in full swing (and he now sits on the sidelines - more on that a little later ...) so we've dutifully attended I don't know how many 7th grade basketball games. (He's #20)

Carly and a friend had fun at a "Holiday Dance Party" hosted by the Children's Discovery Museum.

We baked and decorated (and are currently in the process of consuming - LOL) 12 dozen sugar cookies and a variety of other holiday goodies!
Carly has had an absolute ball with our "Elf on a Shelf" this season -- George Jr III (affectionately so named by Nick and Carly) has found some very interesting hiding spots this year. The first thing she does when she gets up each morning is search the house for "The Elf". :o)

In the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle, we managed to squeeze in an evening of fun with some dear friends.

We celebrated Oma's 68th birthday!

We endured (oops - I mean "enjoyed") yet another of the infamous Holy Trinity School Christmas programs -- 90 minutes of anticipation just to see your child up front on the risers for approximately 4 minutes of fame. :o) Carly is wearing a black and red dress - it's hard to get good pictures in a jam-packed, heated up, poorly lit gymnasium!

And, last but not least, we rounded out the last week of school before Christmas break with a true "break" ... haha ... Nick fell in gym class on December 17 while playing volleyball (yes, volleyball of all things -- LOL). He decided to tell us about his 'sore arm' later that evening after he got home from basketball practice. Long story short -- we went to the doctor the next day, were referred to an ortho, and left later that afternoon with a nice blue cast on his left wrist. Turns out he fractured his hand/wrist - actually a bone that runs on the top of his hand down to his wrist. Fortunately, the cast comes off on January 15 - so he only has to endure 4 weeks of this 'torture'. So, this is why he is now "sidelined" in basketball.

The next few days are sure to be filled with lots of holiday cheer -- we'll celebrate Christmas Eve with Oma/Pappy and Christmas Day with Mike's side of the family. The kids are anxious to tear into that sea of presents under our tree ... and they're looking forward to Christmas morning to see what other goodies Santa might decide to leave for them ..... :o)

From our home to yours -- Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T19:13:00.001-08:00

Wishing family and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a festive day surrounded by those you love!

Home Again, Home Again!

2009-11-14T17:15:00.001-08:00

All good things must come to an end, right? Well, that's kinda how it felt when reality slapped me in the face this morning. Back to the rat race that is otherwise known as life in the Miller family! LOL. Our trip home on Friday went without a hitch -- albeit with just a little bit of stress getting to the airport on time. You see, we had to make that 'one last stop' at Stein Mart in Naples on the way to the airport to get price adjustments on the things we had purchased earlier in the week that were on sale during their annual 14 hour sale on Friday. It was well worth the effort - I think between the 3 of us, we recouped about $150. :o) But then, with all that newfound money burning a hole in our pockets, we just HAD to do a quick 'once over' the store to see if there were any buys too good to pass up. So, our departure from Naples was just a tad later than we had anticipated. :o) Jen piloted our Jeep Laredo on the way to the airport and she successfully delivered us with not one minute to spare. And yes . . . if you were wondering, we did manage to give back at least part of that $150 we 'saved' at Stein Mart (no surprise there, I'm sure). Once again, the Naples economy benefited from our visit. ha.

We were very happy that we were able to catch a few rays of that glorious Marco sunshine before we left the condo on Friday - although it was a bit chilly (I think the temp was about 68 when we ventured out to the beach at 9:30am), it quickly warmed up and we were able to soak up a couple of hours' worth before coming in to finish packing, 'close' the condo, etc.

All in all, a WONDERFUL trip. Good friends, good times, good memories, good food, good shopping, good relaxing ..... all good. :o)

Lazy Dayz in Marco

2009-11-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

"The flip flop girls" enjoyed a leisurely, lazy, lounging day today. I took my morning walk (which is more like an 'almost run' - LOL) down to the last building and back, along with the fierce wind and chilly temperatures. Darn it, Hurricane Ida! I thought for sure the sun was gonna pop out for us, but it went in and out of clouds ALL DAY LONG. And instead of getting warmer, it got cooler as the day went on. So, we made the most of the situation and just hung around the condo watching movies (Mama Mia! and Twilight), various TV shows, and playing on our laptops (which is a luxury in itself since we don't typically have time to do these things in our 'real lives' - LOL). We ventured out for a walk late this afternoon and are now settling down to watch Flash Forward, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice. We head home tomorrow . . . and as usual, our departure brings mixed feelings. This week is just such a treasured time away for all of us -- let me tell you, a break from the usual stress, chaos, and hustle & bustle does a busy mom sooooooo much good. So, THANK YOU honey, for letting me escape on this trip year after year after year, and THANK YOU mom and dad, for opening the condo (my favorite little slice of paradise) to me and my friends. :o)

Already looking forward to next year's Flip Flop Girls Great Escape -- 365 days and counting.

Diary of a Shopaholic

2009-11-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Ummmmmm ... well, just take a look at the evidence and assess for yourself what has occurred during the last day and a half here in South Florida. :o) What else are girls supposed to do when a hurricane dampens our beach plans?!

Our itinerary:
Holiday House
Jet Set Surf Shop
Beall's Outlet
Best of Everything (Naples)
Best of Everything Gifts (Naples)
Stein Mart (Naples)
Joey's Pizza (dinner on Tuesday night -- at 10:30pm -- LOL!)
Walgreens (Jen had to pick up a prescription but still, we proved that you CAN shop - even at Walgreens!)
Best of Everything (Naples)
Marshalls (Naples)
Macy's
Gymboree
Bakers Shoes
Express
PF Chang's (lunch on Wednesday)
Marshalls (Bonita Springs)
Best of Everything (Bonita Springs)
Target
Stein Mart (Bonita Springs)
Marshalls (Bonita Springs)
Walmart

And now here we are -- back at the condo once again. We'll be visiting the local post office tomorrow to ship some of our special finds home. Our 'haul' was so significant we seriously had to use grocery carts to bring it all upstairs from the parking lot. LOL. In all honesty, though, I can't think of a better way to spend a day. :o)

Looking forward to more beach time tomorrow! Heaven knows our bank accounts can't handle any more shopping! LOL. I think Jen summed it up the best -- she said "every year we take fewer pictures, cook less, and shop more ..." Yes indeed! Bring it on! :o)

Another Day in Paradise

2009-11-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

Still enjoying ourselves here in Marco! Although I have to say our weather has been less than perfect the past couple of days (thanks to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida), we've still managed to catch quite a few rays of that lovely south Florida sun. Today, for example - the forecast was for clouds and possible rain but we planted ourselves on the beach despite what the weatherman said. And guess what? The sun came out! So, we soaked up what we could and then headed out for some afternoon SHOPPING! We hit two of our favorite spots in Naples - The Best of Everything and Stein Mart! Found great bargains and 'must haves' at both stores, so the Naples economy is a little richer tonight. :o) Sounds like it will be raining tomorrow, so we'll more than likely do a little more exploring of the shops, stores, and boutiques here on the island and in Naples. Fun, fun!!!

A few pictures from today:

Cool cloud formations in the sky

Mr. and Mrs. Seagull on the beach

Me standing outside of my ALL TIME FAVORITE STORE IN THE WORLD :o)

Signing off for tonight!

Marco Time!

2009-11-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

Another GREAT day here in paradise! Actually, the weather didn't cooperate too well today - we're feeling some of the effects of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida, which is bringing clouds and lots of wind. Still, I spent most of the day at the beach and pool. Robin and Jen decided to check out some of the stores/shops on the island while I lounged. I didn't feel too guilty lounging because I started my day off with my favorite 3 mile walk down to the last building along the beach and back. :o)

Then later this afternoon, the three musketeers ventured out once again to a few more of my favorite shops. Based on the weather forecast, beach time tomorrow is questionable as well, but hey - in all honesty, we just don't care. This trip is not so much about coming home with a tan as it is about coming home rested, relaxed, happy, and stress free. Oh, and a few dollars poorer, too. (Can't forget about all that shopping! LOL.)

Didn't take too many pics today -- just a few random shots of palm trees.

More tomorrow!

Great Escape 2009 - Marco Island

2009-11-08T16:27:00.001-08:00

Once again, we find ourselves in beautiful Marco Island, Florida . . . for a few days of total "girl time" . . . i.e. lounging in the sun, walking the beach, hunting for shells, surviving on a diet consisting mostly of cream cheese and sour cream based dips/appetizers & drinks with some sort of alcoholic content and, of course . . . SHOPPING. This has become an annual tradition for Robin, Jen, Heidi, and me. Unfortunately, a construction accident left Heidi's husband in the hospital last week so she was unable to join us this year. HEIDI, WE MISS YOU!!! We're here until Friday and are enjoying every single minute.

Let's see . . . we arrived in Fort Myers yesterday around noon. We leisurely made our way to the island (shopping started even earlier than usual this year! LOL) and got to the condo around 2:30pm. We unpacked, relaxed on the lanai for a little while, and then headed to Walmart for our weekly supply of food and drinks. We didn't do much last night, other than go out for dinner, because all of us were up by 3am Illinois/Iowa time in order to catch our flights. Needless to say, we were TIRED girls last night. I think we all were in bed by 11pm. At 4:23 this morning, we were roused out of bed by the complex's emergency evacuation system, which is broadcast VERY LOUDLY in each unit ... the broadcast sounded an (annoying!) alarm and played a repetitive message that the 3 of us will never forget - LOL. "Attention please - an emergency has been reported. Please leave the building immediately, using stairways and not elevators, blah, blah, blah...." We wrapped up in blankets and trudged down the stairs where we hung out with numerous other people staying at the Somerset this week. I felt so sorry for the families with young kids and for the elderly people. We were ultimately visited by police and the local fire department. Turned out it was all for nothing, so at about 5am, we headed back to bed.

Today was a "sun day" for a Sunday. :o) We lounged on the beach all day, chatting, napping, listening to music, and looking for shells. Ahhhhhh ..... paradise. Came in late this afternoon and had a scrumptious home cooked dinner (Italian Wedding Soup - yum), some drinks (of course), and we're now all 'playing' on our laptops. Again, paradise.

Looking forward to another day of the same tomorrow . . . and the next day, and the next day, and the next day . . . Well, actually, we'll probably do some shopping tomorrow afternoon and/or on Tuesday. More paradise.

Check back soon - I promise updates daily throughout the week!

Halloween Fun!

2009-10-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween 2009!!

Some pics from the festive weekend .....

First, we carved pumpkins:

Carly wasn't afraid to stick her hand in the 'goop' (albeit with a rubber glove - LOL!).

Alex hard at work:

The finished products (we ended up with one traditional jack-o-lantern, compliments of Alex, one kitty cat, compliments of Carly, and one creepy raven, compliments of Nick):

And finally, time for Trick Or Treat! Carly was adorable as a pink and white kitty cat:

The boys, of course, were nowhere to be found when it came time for trick or treating......Alex went to a party with friends, and Nick went to a friend's house for the night ..... hmmmmm this is the FIRST time Carly had to trick or treat with just Mom. I guess the boys really are growing up .....!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Down for the Count

2009-10-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

Let's just say that this has not been the best of weeks around here. All 3 kids and I came down with a lovely strain of Influenza A last weekend. I'm happy to say that, after 7 long days, we are FINALLY all on the mend. Poor Carly got the worst of it -- she battled a raging fever for an entire week. I don't think her little body could have possibly held any more Tylenol or Motrin. Alex was the first to return to school -- he finally went back on Wednesday. Nick returned on Thursday and I was home all week long -- down myself through Wednesday and then home playing nurse-maid to poor Carly on Thursday and Friday. Her 104 fever finally broke in the wee hours of Saturday morning and she has been fever free ever since. Hooray! Let me tell you -- this was one NASTY bug. And a prime reason why all good moms should get their kids in for flu shots as soon as they are available in the fall!!! I delayed .... and you see for yourself what happened. :o( Needless to say, we will be headed to the doctor's office at some point this week to finally get immunized.

Here's to a better week for the Miller household! Thank goodness the kids and I are better because Mike left this morning for Orlando on a business trip ... lucky dog - he'll be basking in the warm Disney sun all week while we battle the central Illinois chilly weather here.

Hope everyone is staying WELL!!!

Homecoming Fun . . .

2009-09-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

It's Homecoming week for Central Catholic High School! This year's theme is "New York, New York". Dress up days include "NYC tourist", "Roaring 20's", and "Favorite Broadway Show". Today was "Roaring 20's" and here's what Alex looked like when he left for school this morning:

He said the school was filled with gangsters ... I'm thinking he probably fit right in! (minus the bat, of course ... no weapons allowed) :o)

Considering I was running to Walmart last night at 9pm to find a solid colored tie and a fedora (sp?) hat, I'm hoping he already knows what he's gonna wear for tomorrow's theme! I suggested he go with Grease - that's pretty easy to do and won't require Mom to run around at the last minute frantically searching for costume supplies. LOL.

And as for me, well, once again I volunteered (why???? please remind me of this NEXT year!!... ha) to co-coordinate the annual alumni & friends homecoming luncheon, which will be held on Friday. So today I spent the day at home working on centerpieces for 24 tables. Check out my small 'masterpieces' (okay, so the term 'masterpiece' might be just a small stretch....)

All in all, a very fun and action-packed week! Check back soon!

Football, Football, Football!

2009-09-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

Alex is #63 and Nick is #19. Both of their teams are undefeated (Nick's team is 2-0 and Alex's is 3-0).

Enjoy the pictures!

Football Fever . . .

2009-08-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

. . . Here we go again! Football season is upon us! Central Catholic held their annual Blue/White Scrimmage two weekends ago and I snapped a few pictures (Alex is #63). The season opened with an away game against Prairie Central last Friday, August 28, which they won 28-7.

Go Saints!

Alex is 2nd from the right in white.

Nick's games start after Labor Day so check back soon for more action shots of both boys!

Princess Carly

2009-08-31T13:56:00.001-07:00

Thought you might enjoy this picture of Carly all dolled up as she played "princess".

More Back To School Pics . . .

2009-08-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

And here are a couple shots of all 3 kiddos ready to go, bright and early this morning:

Drum Roll . . . We Have A Kindergartner!

2009-08-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

I think the pictures tell the story perfectly:

And I want you all to know that NOT ONE TEAR WAS SHED (by Carly OR Mom!) as Carly eagerly headed off to her first day of Kindergarten. She was one VERY proud and VERY excited little girl! She can't wait to go back tomorrow . . . and, speaking of, oh how I wish there was a way to capture some of that enthusiasm and infuse it into Nick. :o) He starts tomorrow and is dreading everything associated with SCHOOL. Alex, on the other hand, started today . . . and I think he was almost as eager as Carly! His reasons, of course, are purely SOCIAL. :o)

Yep, it's official! Yet another school year is upon us . . . Ready or not, here we go!

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

2009-08-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Wow --- soooooo hard to believe that summer break is almost over. WHERE DID THE TIME GO???? Yep, in less than 2 weeks, all 3 kiddos will be back in school. In so many ways, it seems like summer just got here and now here we are practically in the middle of August already. I decided not to procrastinate quite as badly this year and I've actually already purchased most of the kids' school supplies. In addition, I've spent a small fortune on school uniforms for all 3 of them. Seems as though Alex grew AGAIN (thank you, Advocare and football weight lifting!) and can't wear any of his school clothes from last Spring. Same thing goes for both Nick and Carly (minus the Advocare and weight lifting! LOL). Who would've thought that those little miniature Catholic school girl plaid uniform jumpers would be so darn expensive! And then I practically have to pay for them all over again in alteration costs because, of course, they absolutely drown poor little Carly. :o) Oh well -- I guess I should be thankful that school uniforms means I don't have to buy her so many 'regular' clothes. But then again, shopping for Carly has become a favorite hobby of mine . . . and I'm not sure I want to give that up . . . smile.

Football started for Nick this week and will start for Alex on Tuesday. Let the rat race begin! Actually, this year's season should be a bit less hectic for yours truly because Alex can drive himself to and from. That will be a relief, to say the least. :o) And as for the school year .... well, if you know me, you know how I feel about THAT. I would just as soon keep my kids out of school forever! LOL. Carly is super excited because she will go to Kindergarten. I don't think she quite realizes that this means she will go to school EVERY day ALL day vs the 3 afternoons a week she went for the last two years while in preschool. I'm sure we'll have some 'growing pains' with that transition, as she still enjoys her afternoon nap on most days. We'll get through it, though -- as adaptable as she is to most situations, I have no doubt it won't take her long at all to get "in the groove".

We've been getting as much pool time in as we can these last few weekends and we'll continue to do so until it closes after Labor Day weekend. This coming weekend is supposed to be super hot and muggy, so I foresee some awesome pool weather. :o)

Enjoy these last few weeks of summer, everyone!!!

Pappy's Ticker

2009-07-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

Pappy gave us all QUITE a scare earlier this week! It seems as though he had been having a few episodes of "chest discomfort" over the course of a few days and finally decided he'd better go see the doctor. So on Monday he saw his family doc who immediately referred him to a cardiologist. First thing Tuesday morning, he saw the cardiologist and was told to go straight to the hospital to be admitted. Uh oh. If that wasn't a "wake up call", I don't know what is! He spent the night at the hospital on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning, he had a "heart catheter" procedure to diagnose the problem once and for all. He knew going in that the treatment options were either a stent to open a possible blocked passageway OR open heart surgery. Gee, can you guess which one we were praying for?! When the doctor came to find my mom and me after the procedure, he said, "It's a GOOD DAY!" so we knew the outcome must be positive. Unfortunately, they found a major artery that was 99% blocked. Fortunately, they were able to insert a stent, which completely resolved the problem.

Whew!!! Quite a stressful few days, to say the least. We are so relieved and thankful to have Pappy back at home once again. I know there were lots of prayers going up for Pappy, and we so appreciate that. God is good!

Now, our goal is to keep Pappy HEALTHY and OUT OF THE HOSPITAL for the rest of the year. He was just in the hospital for surgery to remove his gall bladder (also very sudden and unexpected) in May. He isn't really liking the 'every other month plan', so hopefully he can go back to his trusty 'once every 60 years plan' instead. LOL! :o)

Fun Times . . . Great Friends

2009-07-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful day this past Friday as we spent some quality time with very dear friends. Nick, Carly, and I headed about 60 miles south of here to Mt. Zion to visit the Schmidt family and see their new home. Fortunately for us, we enjoyed a 'mini China travel group reunion' as a couple of Carly's orphanage sisters were also there for the day (Anna Schmidt, Kailee Martin and Myah Wright)! Karli Blevins (who was adopted from a different province a few months after we adopted Carly) also joined in the fun. Some pictures of our beautiful China girls:

Playing in the hammock:

Popsicle time by the playhouse:

Playing princess dress up:

Many thanks to Jen for opening her home to all of us for the day! I don't think it will ever be the same again. I say that only half joking because midway through the day, Jen sent Robin and me (is she brave or what?!) to Hobby Lobby to shop for "things" to decorate her kitchen and family room with. Now let me tell you -- THAT was fun! I have found that I do *love* to spend other people's money! LOL! Anyway, we made quite a haul in the 80% off aisle, came home, kicked Jen out of the house, and Robin and I went to work to add our "special touch" to her beautiful new kitchen. Thankfully she liked what we did to it, so it was a win/win all the way around!

What a great way to spend the day! I rounded my clan up around 8pm and we headed back home with two VERY tired, but very happy kiddos in tow. I continue to marvel at the strong natural bond these girls seem to have -- it truly is like they are kindred spirits in so many ways. Carly just absolutely beams when she gets to spend time with her "China friends". And what is also heartwarming are the wonderful friendships that have formed (parents AND siblings) all as a result of our girls.

Here's to Fun Times and Great Friends! Cheers!

Family Photo Shoot - Marco Style!

2009-07-08T05:41:00.001-07:00

Great results last night at our annual "family photo shoot"! Here's a sampling of some of the shots we got (many thanks to our niece, Jen, for serving as photographer for the evening!):

Family Vacation 2009 - Continued

2009-07-06T05:38:00.000-07:00

Some pics from our time in Marco:

Rainbow over the Gulf:

Playing in the sun and surf:

Our niece, Jen, joined us this past Sunday:

Pool time:

Sunset shot:

Sea turtle nests on the beach. There are more than we've ever seen before, although we're told it is not a "record setting year".

Family Vacation 2009

2009-07-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

We departed Bloomington a week ago (Wednesday, June 24) headed for Disneyworld. 17 hours by car and we make the drive straight through. So many people have asked me in the last couple of weeks how in the world we travel that far by car with 3 kids and manage to keep everyone happy/content. Well, here's the answer: 6 laptops, 2 Blackberries, 4 cell phones, 4 IPods, 3 Nintendo DS's, 2 PSPs, 1 portable DVD player and 1 XBox. Not to mention the fact that we also have an entertainment system (including a DVD player) in the van. WOW. Is it any wonder I couldn't get ANYONE in the car to engage in a meaningful conversation? LOL. We arrived at the Polynesian resort around 7am on June 25, checked in (but couldn't get into our rooms yet), changed into our swimsuits, and headed straight to Blizzard Beach for the day. We got into our rooms later that afternoon, showered, rested a bit, and then headed to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) to hit a couple of our favorite attractions (Rock-n-Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and The Little Mermaid show) that evening. We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday touring the rest of the parks and making sure everyone got on all of the rides they wanted to go on as many times as possible. :o) The weather cooperated very nicely -- we only had showers the first evening and temps in the upper 80's / low 90's the rest of the time. A few clouds here and there helped keep the temperatures and humidity tolerable. All in all, a GREAT little trip -- we had a wonderful time and are so thankful we were able to squeeze it into our budget at the last minute. We were too busy to take too many pictures, but here are a few for you to enjoy.

Waiting outside the front gates of the Magic Kingdom:

Dumbo with Oma:

The Teacups:

The Carousel:

On Monday morning, we checked out of our hotel and hit the road for Marco Island. Hooray!!! Relaxation at last!!! Honestly, I don't know how people can do Disney for a week and then go right back to work ... I need about a week to recuperate after all the physical activity associated with Disneyworld! LOL. Thankfully, here we are -- once again, enjoying one of our most favorite places in the world to be. We'll be here for the next week and a half, so we're all looking forward to lots of beach time, shelling, and swimming in the next 10 days. More pictures to come - check back soon!

Happy Summer!

Presenting Bloomington/Normal's Newest Driver . . .

2009-05-05T18:38:00.001-07:00

Well, he did it! He got his license today! A big CONGRATULATIONS to Alex!

His BIGGEST birthday present, thanks to Oma & Pappy, will be officially his as of May 16:

Gulp. Are we REALLY ready for this? I have to confess -- I choked back tears (a couple of times unsuccessfully) on a number of occasions today as I came to the realization of exactly what turning 16 years old means. (The "parenting manual" didn't say anything about all the emotions we would experience as we celebrate this milestone birthday! LOL) It's happening right before our eyes -- our son is growing up, spreading wings, and becoming a responsible, young adult. Wow. Amazing how that happens.

Get in, buckle up, sit back, and relax (yeah, RIGHT!) -- we're headed down a whole new road! :o)

Happy Birthday to Alex

2009-05-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Sweet 16 and never been kissed? Well . . . the "sweet 16" part, at least. I don't think the second part of that famous statement applies in this case. LOL! Yes, it is true -- Alex celebrates the big 16 today! Happy Birthday to Alex!

As you might have guessed, plans for the week include a visit to the DMV to take the infamous driving test. Fingers crossed for success -- we shall see how that goes. :o)

As for me, well, I'm having a hard time coming to the realization that my "baby" is 16 years old. My goodness how time flies. In many ways, I'm just not ready to let him go yet -- but we all know that with a drivers license comes a new level of independence . . . and a new level of trust and responsibility. As we keep reminding Alex, this is "big time"! Fortunately, Alex is one of the youngest in his class, so we've watched most of his friends pass this milestone over the course of the past year. But still . . . when it is YOUR baby, it is different. :o) In so many ways, it seems like it was just yesterday that my "little" 11-pounder made his grand entry into this world (I can still remember the doctor saying, "Congratulations! You have a 3 month old!" LOL). But then I look in the mirror at the gray hairs and wrinkles and remember every little detail of those action-packed 16 years. :o)

Alex, we are so very, very proud of you! Happy birthday sweetie!

Track Season

2009-04-21T17:50:00.001-07:00

This is the thing about track -- We have a "love/hate" relationship. :o) The season is very hectic with practices every day (and of course they can't practice right after school -- which just causes more shuttling of kids to/from!) BUT the season is also very short. It is here and over with before you know it. We love watching Nick compete but, for those of you familiar with track, the meets can go on for hours and hours, so you best not have anything else planned for that day. In all seriousness, Nick has had a great season so far -- "his races" are the 400, 800, and 4x200 relay. The 800 is something new for him this year -- he was never brave enough to try it last year. :o) Thought you might enjoy a few action shots - these were taken at a big multi-school meet last weekend.

The 800:

The 4x200 relay. Nick's team placed FIRST overall!

Recovering after the 400:

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . . The Final Chapter

2009-04-15T19:08:00.001-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 16 April 14, 2005

This is it!!! The day we GO HOME!!!!

I'm writing this after the fact, so I can say how worried I was about that long, long, long flight back to the U.S. The concept of being in a plane for 14+ hours with a baby I hardly know was more than a little daunting. Well, I can tell you that my fears were unfounded. Carly did great on the trip home! Sure, she had a couple of fussy periods, but for the most part, she was quite the traveler!!! She slept for probably a total of 5 hours, but not all at once. She had fun playing in the galley with Kailee and Anna, walking up and down the aisles and getting her diaper changed numerous times in the teeny, tiny, little lavatories. We had a little diarrhea problem, so that kept things interesting. :o)

We arrived in Chicago a little ahead of schedule, zoomed through Customs and Immigration, had time to grab a Starbucks, and boarded our flight from Chicago to Bloomington. At approximately 5:30pm, we landed in Bloomington and the tears started flowing the minute our wheels touched the ground. As we pulled up to the terminal, I could see Alex, Nick, and Mike through the windows and that big lump in my throat got even bigger. I told Carly -- "We're home, sweetheart ... let's go meet your new family!" The homecoming was ultra emotional for me. I was crying, smiling, and laughing, all at once. Carly didn't know what to think ... she was a little overwhelmed by all of the people and the excitement of it all. I wouldn't change a thing about our arrival home ... her Daddy was the first one to get his hands on her ... she cried, of course, but that was to be expected. Her big brothers hugged her tight and her grandparents were next in line to size her up and give her hugs and kisses. And we can't forget the aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was all so sweet. Amy and Matt Edwards and Heidi were there -- thank you all for coming!!! It was so great to see your smiling faces! I so appreciate you being there when we walked off that plane. I can't wait until it is your turn!

What an awesome end to an awesome journey. And what an incredible gift we have been given. Carly Jade Miller, WELCOME HOME!!!!!

Thanks again for all of your encouraging notes, thoughts, and prayers during the last 16 days. I can't tell you how much they were appreciated. It has been wonderful to have such great friends accompany us on this incredible journey. THANK YOU ALL!!!!

In the Hong Kong airport waiting to get on our plane:

On the plane -- FINALLY!

At O'Hare. All dressed up and ready to meet her new family!

Daddy and the boys at the Bloomington airport waiting for Mom and Carly to get off the plane!

The first meeting:

Home at last. A VERY happy family!

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 15 April 13, 2005

Today was our big appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. We met at 11:00 and walked to the Consulate as a group with our new daughters in our arms. We entered the waiting area, along with numerous other families from other adoption agencies and other parts of the world, and a few minutes later, a lady came out and asked us all to raise our right hands and swear that the information we had provided was true and correct. Of course we all said, "I Do!" And then she congratulated us and the festivities were over. Bam! Just like that, it was all done. The babies high fived each other, and back to the White Swan we went.

My Dad spent part of the afternoon yesterday and all morning today packing for the trip home. While he was furiously trying to fit it all in, Carly and I headed out with Robin and Kailee to find those last minute bargains that we knew we couldn't live without. We were successful!!! I came back to the room and asked my Dad if he could fit in 5 more pairs of squeaky shoes, and a few miscellaneous souveniers for Mike and the boys. He told me we were out of room, but he moved some stuff around and eventually was able to get everything inside our 4 suitcases and 4 carry ons! ha.

I am so ready to GO HOME!!! We leave this afternoon by train back to Hong Kong. Leaving China will be bittersweet -- oh, how I miss America - I can't wait to be back on U.S. soil. But this is Carly's homeland, the place where she comes from, so that makes leaving very much a bittersweet thing. I take comfort in knowing that we will return here some day to show Carly where she is from and to help her understand her Chinese heritage and culture. This has been one of the most intense, emotional experiences of my entire life. And I know my Dad will say the same. As so many people who have taken this journey have said ... I will leave a piece of my heart in China when that plane takes off tomorrow morning. This has been such an incredible trip. Truly the trip of a lifetime. I will go home a changed person ... forever.

It will be too late to post once we get to Hong Kong tonight, so you won't hear from me again until we are back in Illinois. Thanks again for following our journey.

(We weren't allowed to take cameras into the U.S. Consulate, so that's why there are no photos of the big festivities.)

A few more pictures from inside the White Swan hotel:

Oh how we wanted to bring one of these beautiful, hand-carved wooden chests home . . .

And a few more shots of the wonderful shopping area just outside our hotel. There was alot of construction taking place while we were there, so that's why you see barricades, etc. That sure didn't stop us from frequenting all of the wonderful little shops! :o)

On the train headed to Hong Kong -- on our way home at last!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail . . .

2009-04-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hope this finds everyone having a blessed and happy Easter! We have a fairly nice day -- warm enough for an egg hunt outside, anyway! We went to mass this morning and then out for brunch at one of our favorite local joints. We then rushed back home to see if the Easter Bunny had visited while we were gone and . . . indeed he had!! He left us with plenty of candy and even a few gifts, so the kids are thrilled.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days:

Time to decorate eggs!

A few of the 'fruits of our labors':

Easter Sunday - The kids (Alex, 15; Nick, 12; Carly 5)

And the whole clan:

A little egg hunt fun:

Happy Easter everyone!

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 12 April 10, 2005

Greetings from Guangzhou! We had a great day today!!! First off, we immensely enjoyed the HUGE breakfast buffet here at the White Swan. Carly ate two times her body weight, I'm sure! I don't think there is anything the kid won't eat ... or at least try. We skipped the group sightseeing tour today so that we could leisurely explore the area around the White Swan. After breakfast, we loaded Carly into the Snugli and set out to do some shopping. Guangzhou is awesome! The stores all have really cool souveniers for great prices. I'm not sure how my Dad will fit everything into the suitcases, but he assures me he can do it. Everyone barters, which makes the experience even more fun. Each time we go out, I think of just one more thing I want to buy. Money goes a long way here, though, which is good!

We got Carly's Visa photo taken today - one more step toward home. Other than that, we had no appointments. Carly spent some quality play time with Kailee Martin in the Swan Room (baby playroom) here at the White Swan. Following that little outing, she promptly fell asleep for a very late afternoon nap.

The weather is kind of ugly today - misting and very heavy fog or smog, not sure which. Hoping to see some sun tomorrow.

With each passing day, we are closer and closer to home. I am so ready to get on that plane headed for the United States. I can't wait to introduce Carly to her new family and friends! And I can't wait to eat some good authentic American food!!! Speaking of which, we (Carly, me and Dad) ventured by taxi to the local Pizza Hut, which is located in a huge shopping mall in Guangzhou. We were the only caucasions around. Talk about feeling conspicuous!!! I was very proud of us for venturing out on our own a bit. The pizza was good but didn't taste like it does in the U.S. Carly tried spaghetti and loved it.

Tomorrow we'll be up and at 'em bright and early ... we have medical appointments for the Visa at 7:45am. We're hoping we will get to stay here at the White Swan vs. having to pack up and move for Tuesday night. Don't know yet what will happen, though.

Playing in our room at the White Swan:

Shopping in Guangzhou:

Playing before bed:
Some views of Guangzhou:

And this is a view of the renowned shopping area on Shamian Island, which is actually where the White Swan hotel is located.

The view from our room:

_________________________________________________________

Journey to Carly - Day 13 April 11, 2005

We were up at the crack of dawn this morning in order to get ready for the day and grab breakfast before heading to the doctor at 7:45. Carly passed her medical exam (for the U.S. Visa) with flying colors. She weighed in at 18.3 pounds and stands 28.1 inches tall. She's a little peanut - very compact and petite, but she definitely isn't all skin and bones! This little girl can eat!!! Her thighs have the cutest little fat rolls ... one way or another, she definitely had enough to eat in the orphanage.

When we returned from the medical appointment, we gathered in the lobby for our official group photo. What a fiasco!!! I think all of the babies were crying at one point or another. After the group photo, we did the famous "red couch" photo shoot -- again, the babies were not happy with what was happening. Carly joined right in and screamed her little head off, as you will see in the photos. The girls are all so darn cute!!! Many of the girls had on their new authentic Chinese outfits ... and when I sat Carly on the floor next to a couple of her orphanage "sisters", they looked each other over from head to toe as if to say, "What in the world do you have on? And what are those things on your feet??? I've never seen such a thing before!!!" Obviously, they have never been dressed to the hilt like this before and I don't think any of them had ever worn shoes before a few days ago. Now they all have squeaky shoes and they all love them. Even the non-walkers are now motivated to stand up and stomp their feet a little in order to hear the big reward (that annoying squeak!) from their shoes! :o)

In the afternoon, the group outing was to the Jade and Pearl Markets - and what an experience that was!! It was hotter than you-know-where in there ... I thought I was going to die. Carly was strapped on the front of me in the Snugli and the sweat was just pouring off of me. The little shopper that she is, Carly never complained. She just enjoyed all the activity and the free ride. The walk to the market was also quite an experience ... I posted a few photos of the things we saw along the way. Can you say YUK??? I am amazed at the things these people will eat. Snakes, seahorses, beetles, scorpions, starfish, to name just a few. Once we got to the market, we had a blast bartering for our treasures. I came away with 3 jade crosses (Mike and the boys, I'm not sure they are exactly what you were hoping for, but they were the best I could do), 4 strands of pearls, and 6 pearl rings. Grand total = $130 U.S. Amazing!!!

We spent a little time playing in the Swan Room here at the hotel and then headed to Lucy's for dinner. Unfortunately, my dinner didn't agree with me, so I'm a little under the weather currently with the stomach crud - traveler's tummy. (I'm writing this on Tuesday morning...). Hopefully it will pass soon and I'll be back out on the streets shopping! ha.

Carly is continuing to get sweeter and sweeter each day. She was a little grumpy on Monday but I think it is because of teething. You should see the teeth this kid has at 14 months! She has teeth coming in on the top and bottom, all the way to the back of her mouth. Ouch - That has to hurt!

We found out that we don't have to check out of the White Swan on Tuesday, as we had originally been told. Echo worked her magic and they found rooms for us for one more night - which means we'll be here until we check out on Wednesday to head back to Hong Kong. That was music to our ears - none of us were looking forward to packing, unpacking, and repacking.

Waiting for the medical exam:

Time to see the doc:

Not liking this AT ALL!

All dressed up and ready for the 'photo shoot':

Our travel group:
A tradition within the China adoption community is to take a picture on one of the many red couches in the White Swan lobby. This was our best attempt. None of the girls were too fond of the idea! LOL. Carly is 3rd from the right in the back row. As I recall, she was the first one to cry and the rest quickly followed suit.

On the way to the pearl and jade markets:

Scorpions for sale. Yes, they eat them! Ewwwwww!
More 'food' items for sale. The long skinny things in the bag are dried snakes. Double EWWWW!
Near the entrance to the pearl and jade markets:
Finally! Selecting our pearls!

___________________________________________________________

Journey to Carly - Day 14 April 12, 2005

First off, sorry for the delay in getting this update posted. By the time you read this, we will already be back home in the good ole' USA!!! Tuesday, April 12 was a laid back day for us. The group outing was to a baby outlet, and we opted not to go, so that we could do some last minute shopping in the stores near the White Swan. It was a good thing we didn't go, cause I ended up with a stomach bug, which had me down for most of the day. Thank goodness for my Dad!!! He took "Carly duty" for most of the day, and I pretty much just sat around and did nothing. We ventured out for a little while, but afterwards, we came back to the room and both Carly and I crashed for a long, late afternoon nap. All things considered, I am glad I ended up with the stomach flu on this day, instead of a travel day! I talked to some folks in the Swan Room who told me there was a bug that had been going around the White Swan, so that must be what I caught. At first, I thought it might have been that Sweet and Sour Chicken dish from Lucy's, but since I split my dinner last night with Jennifer and she didn't get sick, that couldn't have been it.

Hoping to feel better tomorrow!

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 11 April 9, 2005

We got up at the crack of dawn this morning, finished packing, grabbed a quick breakfast, and boarded the bus to head to the Nanning airport for our flight to Guangzhou. I think all of the parents were a little nervous about what the babies would do on the flight. We worried for nothing, because they all did just great! Our flight left Nanning right on time, and landed in Guangzhou a little early. We took a bus to the White Swan but had to wait a couple of hours before our room was ready for us to occupy, so guess what we did? We went shopping!!!! Carly was sacked out in the Snugli and we never heard a peep from her. She got her first pair of squeaky shoes and I've scoped out all the stores so I know where to go back to buy more!!

We got into our room around 2:30 this afternoon. This hotel is beautiful and very worthy of its 5 star rating!!! Both my Dad and I said, "Ahhhhhh, at last!!! Luxury!!!" Quite a welcome change from the hotel in Nanning where we spent most of the last week. We have a view of the river and at night, it almost looks like we are looking out to the Vegas strip.

We had a very early start this morning, so I'll be heading to bed as soon as I get Carly to sleep ... pathetic, I know, but at least I'll be ready to go tomorrow!!! More shopping is on the agenda. Oh, and did I mention ... Carly LOVES to shop!!! We went out for a bit after dinner and she was wide awake and loving all the activity in the stores and on the street.

Goodnight from Guangzhou!!!

Part of our group at the Nanning airport:

In the lobby of the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou - waiting for our rooms to be ready:

Jade sculpture in the lobby. We could tell immediately that this hotel was worth every one of the 5 stars in its rating! Luxury at last! :o)

Waterfall in the lobby:

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 10 April 8, 2005

Today was our last day in Nanning. We had no scheduled appointments, so we walked to the local park just up the street from our hotel. It was absolutely beautiful! We saw local people exercising, playing cards, and just leisurely enjoying the morning at the park. And there were hundreds of school children as well. When they saw us, they came running up to say "Hello - How are you?" in their perfect, practiced English. I think it threw them for a loop when we responded with Ni Hao. Ha!

In the afternoon, we visited a mountain in Nanning. What a veiw!!! We were able to see a panoramic view of the entire area (both the city and surrounding countryside) from atop a tower on the mountain. It was fabulous and gave us a good appreciation of the area. Guangxi really is a beautiful province.

After returning from the mountain, we had to pack. Ugh. That turned into a 3 hour ordeal. Tomorrow we head to Guangzhou!

Carly is still as sweet as ever. She is responding soooo well to everything and everyone. It is amazing that the more attention you give these little sweeties, the more of it they want and demand. She has the cutest little giggle and the sweetest smile. We're doing okay in the sleeping department - she is still waking up a couple of times during the night with a frightened cry, which tells me she isn't sure where she is or what is going on. Gee - I wonder why that is? Ha. Needless to say, being the big softy that I am, when she cries, I pick her up and she nestles in for some good lovin. She is so precious.

Taking care of more paperwork in the hotel room:

Ready for our walk up the mountain:

Great scenery once we made it to the top!

In the park:

We visited a Buddhist temple:

And no, we weren't praying to Buddha -- rather, we were participating in a Chinese custom, which is to light incense sticks and make 3 wishes before adding your sticks to the 'pit'.

Another shot while on the temple grounds:

Another mommy & daughter shot:

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 9 - April 7, 2005

We visited the city of Guiping today. What an emotional day this was. (It was a very long day, too ... we left the hotel at 8:30 this morning and didn't get back until 6:30 this evening.) Guiping is a 3 hour drive (one way) from Nanning, so we all boarded a big bus and set off on our journey. I guess the long day we had today was good practice for that long plane ride home! Ha. Words can't do justice to what we saw and experienced today. I don't have photos uploaded yet, but will do that in the morning - so check back on Thursday night or Friday (your time) for the latest pics! The countryside of Guangxi is fascinating to see. There is alot of very beautiful land, very green and lush, with jutting hills/mountains that rise out of nowhere. It was very warm and humid today, which made it difficult to take good pictures - there is a constant haze in the air here due to all the moisture. Amidst the tropical type landscape we also saw numerous villages, farms, fields, and the like. We saw not one tractor, but instead we saw oxen or water buffalo pulling plows through fields. We saw many Chinese people out working in the fields wearing their little pointed hats, just like you see in history books. The villages we passed were very sobering to see. Some of the dwellings almost looked like they were abandoned -- but just when we would think there was no one living there, we would look again and see laundry hanging out to dry. These people live in conditions many of us have never seen or even imagined.

As we entered the city of Guiping, Echo called out that Carly's finding spot would be the first one we would visit. I didn't expect the emotions I felt as we got off the bus to stand on the very ground where her birth mother placed her a few hours after she was born. It was very powerful and moving. Carly was placed outside the management office of a local sugar factory - I found some peace and comfort in the fact that the street was well traveled, so I know her birth parents wanted her to be found. As we drove away, I couldn't help but look at some of the homes/shacks and people walking along the street and wonder if any of them might be Carly's biological parents. Needless to say, this was another kleenex day for me.

In addition to visiting the other 9 finding spots for the babies in our group, we also went to the Guiping Social Welfare Institute, which was Carly's home for the first 13 1/2 months of her life. Talk about sad. We didn't get to go in, unfortunately, but the bus parked and we were able to walk up to the front of the institute to take pictures. The SWI is located on an alley type street - the bus couldn't even drive on the street, it was so small. The entire city of Guiping is very depressing, and the location of the SWI was no different. Guiping is dirty, congested and poor. I felt like we had stepped back in time a hundred years or so as we walked up to the front of the institute. Once again, the emotions associated with our visit to the SWI were unexpected and very strong. I am so very grateful to all of the people who took care of Carly during her first year, but I am equally as grateful to the Chinese government for letting me take her home to the United States. This trip has certainly made me appreciate the life we live in America. We take so much for granted each and every day. There are people in places like Guiping who will never know or experience half of the things we could care less about. These people live their lives in a very simple way ... a way that is so different from the life I lead at home. I had so hoped we would be able to see the inside of the SWI ... but after the emotions I felt just standing on the outside, I'm not sure I could have handled it if we had been invited in. As we walked away to head back to the bus, I looked up to the second floor windows, which is where the babies are kept, and I saw a line of clean baby laundry hanging out to dry. My heart aches for all the little ones that are still inside those walls. I pray that God will keep them in his care and that they are loved.

After we returned to the hotel, we ordered Pizza Hut and had a party with the other families. The babies were able to play while we ate. Carly chowed down on cheese pizza ... she definitely belongs in our family! She was an angel on the long drive to and from Guiping today. She's coming out of her shell more and more each day. Today, we witnessed her crawling and she also stood and took a few steps. She's really recognizing both me and my Dad (her Pappy), which makes our hearts so happy. She's doing very well from a bonding standpoint. I'm so grateful that we haven't had anything but good luck in that department.

She had a much better night last night than she did the night before. She was only up once and that was because she had filled her pants (yay -- another milestone!). I'm hoping for another good night tonight. She's fast asleep in her crib right now - she looks so sweet in her little pink pj's.

Tomorrow is our last day in Nanning before we head to Guangzhou to complete the last phase of our journey. I'm very excited to get to Guangzhou, but I will leave a little piece of my heart here in the Guangxi province. As I told Carly today on our way out of Guiping ... "This is where your heritage is, sweetheart -- these are your people. One day, we will come back here so you can see and experience all of this for yourself."

And, as always, thanks for following our journey!

Some of what we saw on the way to Guiping City:

And here we are standing in front of the sugar factory, near Carly's 'finding spot'. Her paperwork indicated that an employee from the sugar factory was the one who found her and notified the police . . .

As best we can tell, from the information given to us, this is Carly's exact 'finding spot'. Her paperwork says she was found "at the crossing of Tang Chang Road", which is where this intersection is located.

Standing outside the Guiping Social Welfare Institute, which is where Carly spent the first year of her life . . .

A view of the street/alley the orphanage was on:

A couple shots of downtown Guiping City:

An emotionally and physically exhausting day:

Back at the hotel in Nanning -- a pizza party in the elevator area (aka our playroom):

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-06T17:36:00.001-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 8 - April 6, 2005

We're still in Nanning, waiting for Carly's passport. Having no appointments, our big outing for the day was to a local museum here in Nanning. Afterward, we headed to a local "shopping mall". I put it in quotes because the malls here are very different from what we have in the U.S. Following our little shopping excursion, we made a beeline for McDonald's and Dad and I immensely enjoyed our double cheeseburgers. They tasted just like home! Carly had her first french fry and boy is she hooked!

It is so much fun to see everyone with their new daughters each day. The babies are all doing great as they adjust to life with their new parents. And all of the parents appear to be holding up well, too!

As for sleeping, Miss Carly Jade had other thoughts in mind last night. She slept fitfully all night long - half of which was laying on me as I sat in a chair. I woke up this morning (Carly eventually decided that sleep was a good thing and we got at least a few hours of shut eye) and told my Dad that I felt like the parent of a newborn. Oh boy - let's hope this doesn't continue. It is so hard to let her "cry it out". I figure she's only known me for a couple of days -- I have to make sure she knows I'm still here and always will be. So, when she cried last night, and I do mean really, really cried, I gave in and picked her up. She doesn't like the crib in the room much at all, which seems to be the case with at least a couple of the babies in our group. I wonder if it reminds her of the crib in the SWI and if it makes her sad that she's not there any more.

I've read many people's journals over the past year and most adoptive parents talk about the "grieving time" that each adopted baby goes through. Well, I think we witnessed some of that with Carly today. She is still an absolute doll, so don't get me wrong. But she was quite a bit more clingy and whiney today - what she wanted most of all was to be held. As I thought about what must be going through her little head, it made me very sad. Her world has been turned upside down - totally and completely. And she has no control over anything that has or that will happen. Even though they don't understand things at our level, I know these babies are confused and scared and bewildered in the days immediately following "Gotcha". We come along and pluck them out of their safe little surroundings and we totally rock their world. So my Dad and I did all we could to comfort Carly and love her and provide her with a sense of security. Finally, this afternoon, I remembered that Snugli I packed - so I got it out and gave it a try. What a hit that was! Carly loved it! My Dad and I took her for a walk around the hotel grounds and she was in seventh heaven. I'll definitely be using it during the next week.

Later this afternoon/early evening, we had another "playtime party" with some of the babies in our travel group. The girls are sooooo cute interacting with one another. It is awesome to see them come out of their shells a little more with each passing day. Every day, each one of them does or tries something new.

Oh, I almost forgot to add ... when we were leaving the shopping mall to walk back to the bus, you should have seen the crowd of local people that gathered to size us funny looking Americans up. They formed a big circle around where we were gathered and from the looks on some of their faces, it was obvious they had never seen anything like us. And there we were with Chinese babies! They didn't know what to think. Some were smiling and saying "Lucky Baby!", while others were scolding about the way the babies were dressed. Very interesting experience, to say the least. We did get a few pictures of the people, so you'll have to check them out.

Tomorrow will be a very long and emotionally draining day....we are heading to Guiping, which is the city where Carly's SWI is located. We don't get to visit the SWI, but we will be visiting each of the babies' finding spots. We are leaving bright and early for the 3 hour bus ride from Nanning to Guiping.

Carly is asleep, so I'm headed to bed.

Thanks for following our journey!

At the drum museum in Nanning:

The grounds at the drum museum. Beautiful scenery!

Mommy and daughter - together at last!

Walking to the mall in Nanning:

The crowd of people in this picture were all staring at us -- the Americans with Chinese babies. Some started to scold us for not having our girls dressed warm enough or for having just a little bit of their skin exposed. Others were just in awe -- I wonder if some had never seen an American before. . . and yes, in case you were wondering, that McDonald's restaurant in the background? It tasted JUST LIKE HOME and was probably the best meal I had the entire time we were in China! LOL.

Rush hour in Nanning:

More views of Nanning from our hotel:

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-05T13:33:00.001-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 7 - April 5, 2005

We had another great day getting to know Miss Carly Jade. I put her in her crib last night at 10:00pm while she was still awake, not knowing what to expect. Within 2 minutes, she was sound asleep. We didn't hear a peep out of her until 7:00 this morning. Yay!!! Maybe I finally have a good sleeper on my hands!!!

Today we headed back to the Civil Affairs building bright and early at 8:00am to finalize the adoption. The process took no more than an hour for all 10 families to complete, and then we had a short ceremony to symbolize the finalization of our adoptions. The Director of the SWI was there, and he gave each family a gift from the SWI. We also received the photos from the camera we had sent to the SWI in Carly's care package! We have some good shots of her with her SWI "sisters" prior to Gotcha Day.

Next, we traveled to the Notary Public office here in Nanning to have all the paperwork finalized. That process was uneventful and we all headed back to the hotel the proud parents of our new daughters.

Some of the group went back to Walmart late this morning, but Carly decided it was naptime once we got home from the appointments, so my Dad and I stayed here with her. We got some good playtime in this afternoon with some of Carly's friends. It is soooo good to see these girls socialize with one another. You can tell that they definitely were together and know each other very well. We are getting quite a kick out of seeing which one takes away others' toys, which one is a brut, who has an attitude, etc. They are all absolutely adorable!!!

We really didn't do much else today - except "watch" the Illini game via play by play postings on the internet. The TV here in Nanning leaves alot to be desired. I think we have maybe 2 channels that are in English, neither of which have anything of interest on. Thank goodness for the internet!!!

Carly continues to do very well. She was a bit more whiny and clingy today - I think the magnitude of what just happened to her is starting to settle in. She has warmed up to her Pappy in a big way and she also thinks Mom is pretty awesome too. I can't get over how much she loves to be cuddled and hugged. And when she has a bottle, those beautiful brown/black eyes just gaze up at me with all the love in the world. She's already stolen my heart and I've only had her for a day! I'm already looking forward to coming home -- this week in Nanning is crawling by. Tomorrow we're going to a museum in Nanning, and then shopping in the afternoon. Shopping probably means Walmart, so I don't think we'll find anything too exciting. LOL. We'll be traveling to Guiping on Thursday to see the girls' finding spots. It doesn't sound like we'll get to visit the SWI, but we are still crossing our fingers that that may change.

Thank you, everyone, for all of the kind notes you've sent our way. We are so grateful to have you along on this journey!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

The adoption is finalized!

Bonding time! Little did I realize it at the time this picture was taken, but this would be one of the last bottles Carly would ever have. She decided to wean herself off the bottle just a few days after "Gotcha Day".

Enjoying a bowl of "congee". We are pretty sure that this was a mainstay in the girls' diets while in the orphanage. It was the ONLY thing many of them would eat for several days.

Playing in the elevator area of our hotel. This functioned as a big 'playroom' for us each afternoon.

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-04T07:40:00.001-07:00

Well, this is IT! Today marks the 4th anniversary of our long-awaited, much anticipated GOTCHA DAY, as it is commonly referred to within the China adoption community. On April 4, 2005, a precious baby girl named Jin Yan Zhuo was placed, by her loving nanny, into my arms. The memories and emotions associated with this special, special day are simply indescribable. Undoubtedly, every single person in that room at the Civil Affairs building in Nanning on the morning of April 4, 2005 experienced one of the most impactful, emotional, and life-changing events of their lives. We walked in as hopeful, prospective adoptive parents and we walked out with the DAUGHTERS we had only been able to dream about up to that point. Here's my journal of that incredible, wonderful day:

Journey to Carly - Day 6 - GOTCHA

Oh, WOW. I can't begin to put into words what just happened. The morning is a complete blur. I was a blubbering mess before we even left to go get the babies. My Dad tried to video me standing by the crib in our room before we left for the Civil Affairs building and all I could do was cry. He ended up narrating while I just stood there. The tears were flowing (and I wasn't alone) before we even exited the bus once we arrived at the Civil Affairs building in Nanning. We went directly upstairs to "the room" and across the hall ... were the babies!!!! The door was open, so of course we all clogged up the doorway trying to see if we could pick any of them out. I didn't see anyone that looked like Carly. Let me tell you ... the suspense while standing in that room, knowing that my new daughter was less than 20 feet away was unbelievable. And then, all of a sudden, the process began. We met the Director of the SWI, and another lady from Civil Affairs (I think ... it is all a blur) who explained what was going to happen next. And then they started to call the families' names, one by one. I kept looking for Carly's little bald head and didn't see it anywhere. All of a sudden, I saw a nanny standing in the doorway with the sweetest little girl in her arms. I got a good look at her face and knew instantly it was my Carly. My Dad and I were wearing the buttons Jill made (with Carly's picture on them) and the nanny saw them and started pointing to us and trying to get Carly to look our way. The nanny had a big smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Before I knew it, my name was called and the big handoff occurred. Carly was such a brave little girl -- she never once cried. She thought about it, but never broke down. She sized me up and then decided to cuddle into my shoulder. She was as quiet as a mouse. When we had our picture taken with the Director of the SWI, she cried a little when the Director took her from me, but the minute he handed her back, she settled right down.

We headed back to the hotel and have spent most of the day just getting to know our little sweetheart. Pappy got her to smile and even giggle. It is so obvious that she has been loved - she is quite used to getting held very tightly up against your shoulder and face. She is absolutely beautiful (not that I'm biased...). And you'll never believe it, but SHE HAS HAIR!!! And she has gorgeous eyes. And I even saw dimples when she was eating ... but I haven't gotten a big smile out of her yet. She is napping now ... her little personality is already starting to come out. Before her nap, she was eating and playing with two of the other babies from our travel group and she was making raspberries and baby talk and we even saw her stand up on her own. She didn't take any steps, but she could tell that she had impressed us ... so she sat down and then did it again a few seconds later. I bet we have a walker on our hands ... but I don't yet know for sure.

What an unbelievable day. Carly Jade Miller has arrived!!!!!

Waiting in "the room". I honestly thought I would pass out from the anticipation and excitement as we not-so-patiently waited for the process to begin!

The "hand off". Carly's nanny (from the orphanage) is on the left.

Seconds after the exchange. I'm thrilled. Carly's not so sure . . .

Sizing her up . . . I was thinking two things -- 1. She's so TINY!!! and 2. OMG - She has hair!!! (see below for more on the 'hair thing')

I'm saying, "Please don't cry! Please don't cry!". And, she never did. :o)

This is one of my most favorite Gotcha Day pictures. Within minutes of our first meeting, Carly settled in to my shoulder and latched on to my arm like she was never gonna let go. And me, well, I was absolutely on Cloud 9.

Back at the hotel, we started to get to know our little sweetie pie:

And for comparison's sake, I thought it would be fun to share the 'referral' pictures we received of Carly. These are the only pictures we had of her up to the day we met her in person, so now you understand my earlier comment about "she has hair!". :o) Needless to say, she had changed ALOT between the referral photos (when she was approximately 7 months old) and Gotcha Day (when she was 13.5 months old)!

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you just checking in -- no, the dates within this post aren't wrong -- we're celebrating the 4th anniversary of Carly becoming a Miller! And we're doing that by taking a walk down memory lane. I'm re-posting the daily journals from our 2 week trip to China to bring Carly home. Start with the post dated March 31 if you're just now joining us! Enjoy!!

Journey to Carly - Day 5 - April 3, 2005

Whew - what a day! We met Echo (our International Social Services facilitator) in the lobby of the hotel at 11:30 this morning and headed to the Hong Kong airport to catch our flight to Nanning. There were approximately 20 adopting families, including 7 from our group, on the flight. You could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air. The general mood, within our travel group, is much less hyper and much more subdued as we contemplate and anticipate the big change coming our way in less than 24 hours. The flight was uneventful and we landed in Nanning around 3:30pm. We squeezed into a van and headed straight to the hotel.

Wow - to see normal, daily life here in China is really quite sobering. I can't tell you how many times today I thanked my lucky stars for all the wonderful things we enjoy in the U.S. Some of the sights we saw on the way from the airport to our hotel actually brought tears to my eyes. The city of Nanning is very large, at least by American standards. In my opinion, though, there is a great deal of poverty here. What makes me sad is that I don't think many of these people have ever known anything different, so to them, they are living the "good life". Today made me feel very small, materialistic, and quite humble. It made me realize how much we tend to take for granted in our pampered lives. The next several days will surely be an adventure for us. I think the entire group will probably be doing some soul searching as we learn more about the area where our daughters are from and the people who took care of them for the first year of their lives.

Our hotel is adequate, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it "nice". The photos on the hotel's website make it look much nicer than it actually is. We were very spoiled at the Marco Polo in Hong Kong, so again, it is very sobering to find ourselves here, at the Majestic Hotel in Nanning. We caused quite the excitement this afternoon - We had our facilitator, Echo, the maintenance man, and the technical support person from the hotel all in our room at the same time. Our room was about 90 degrees after the a/c had run for 2 hours and we couldn't get the internet to connect. Thankfully, they did their jobs well and everything is working fine now. Well, the internet is very slow, but at least we have it!

Guess what is in our room? A baby crib! Yes, that's right! It certainly makes what will happen tomorrow more of a reality. I just spent the last hour and a half unpacking all of our suitcases so that I could try to get organized for the big day. We couldn't unpack right after we got to the hotel, because we immediately headed (as a group) to the local Walmart! And what an experience that was! The next time, we will take the video camera.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!! The Miller family will be forever changed as of approximately 11:00am tomorrow (10:00pm Sunday night, your time)! OH MY GOD - the day is really here!!!!! Provided connections are good, I'll post pictures as soon as I can after we have Carly.

Thank you all for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers.

Echo briefing us on air travel in China:

Nanning:

In the lobby of The Majestic Hotel in Nanning:

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 4 April 2, 2005

We had an exciting and action-packed day! After another good night of sleep, we met up with many of our travel mates and headed down the street from the hotel for breakfast at a small local restaurant. They served "breakfast", although it came out of the kitchen looking a little different than we expected (at least mine did). I finally gave up trying to explain in hand gestures what "scrambled eggs" meant, and settled for the fried eggs. I didn't eat them, of course, because the yolks were a little runny and I'm afraid of bird flu. :o) The bacon tasted pretty good and the toast was awesome. Chalk one up to experience - it was so cool to be sitting in that little restaurant in the middle of Hong Kong, with my Lifelink friends by my side! Jill and I tried to guess what the locals were drinking (looked like very creamy coffee in a glass), and we impulsively changed our order from hot tea to coffee, thinking that is what they were drinking. We were wrong. Oh well - that mystery remains unsolved.

After breakfast, we headed to the Mong Kok section of Hong Kong to see the fish market and Ladies' Mart. Again, thanks to Angie Eckert, who graciously acted as our tour guide, we saw so many awesome sights and were able to experience some of what true Chinese culture and daily lifestyle are all about. The sights, the smells, the activity - it is all just amazing. We took the subway, which is something we didn't get to do yesterday. The public transportation system (subway, buses, etc.) is very convenient and easy to use.

We are amazed at how "clean" this city is. Sure, there are the usual signs of heavy wear and tear, the typical stains on the sidewalk, potholes, etc., but in all, there is very little litter ANYWHERE. And, we saw no pollution from any of the vehicles driving around.

Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb - we saw very few caucasions in the areas we visited today, but yet we felt totally safe and comfortable everywhere we went. The fish market was a sight to see, as you will see in the photos. And there were bargains for everyone in the Ladies' Mart.

We came back to the hotel around 2:00 or so, grabbed a quick pick-me-up cup of coffee at Starbucks, and then headed to the mall that is attached to our hotel. We visited the children's floor, including an enormous Toys R Us store, and saw lots of unique clothes and toys. I didn't buy anything, though -- saving my money for Guangzhou!! The fog wasn't quite as heavy this afternoon and it was much warmer than yesterday. We toyed with the idea of heading back to Victoria's Peak to see if we could actually see some of that magnificent view, but ultimately decided not to.

We had dinner with the Schmidts at the California Pizza Kitchen restaurant, which is in the mall. It was very tasty. Afterwards, we headed down the street to the cultural center to watch the laser show across the harbor in the Central District of Hong Kong. It was very cool.

We leave tomorrow at 11:30am for Nanning. Oh my gosh -- Gotcha Day is only one day away!!! As you can imagine, everyone's nerves are on edge. We can't wait to meet our girls!!! We've all been wearing the buttons Jill made for us and they have caused many comments and questions from the locals. Carly has received many compliments on being such a "cute baby"! I can't wait to see her in person.

That's all for now - I probably won't post again until tomorrow night. And since we'll be in Nanning then, I don't know what to expect with the internet connection. We have been very fortunate here in Hong Kong, and I know the connection won't be as good in Nanning. But don't worry - I'll find some way to post updates!!

Thanks for following our journey!

Our travel group:

Breakfast at a local restaurant:

A typical Hong Kong street:

In the heart of the city:

The Fish Market:

Hong Kong at night - the laser show:

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-04-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Journey to Carly - Day 3 - April 1, 2005

Greetings from Hong Kong!

First off, you're probably wondering what happened to Day 2 (March 31)! Well, when I posted last night, it really should have been for Day 1 and 2. We "lost" a day when we traveled from the U.S. to Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong is 14 hours ahead of the U.S., we didn't arrive here until last night (March 31), even though we left the U.S. on March 30.

We had a fun day today. My Dad and I both slept great last night, and were anxious to get going this morning. We met up with 5 of the families from our travel group and did some touring and sightseeing today. Many thanks to the Eckert's for showing us novices around! We took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong and then rode a double decker bus to Stanley Market. What a cool place! We had fun shopping and bartering and we all walked away with a few good deals! Next, we headed to Victoria's Peak. Unfortunately, the fog didn't cooperate so once we got to the top (which was an experience in itself ... yikes, that trolley track is steep!), we couldn't see anything at all. But it was still fun. If the weather is better tomorrow, we will try again. This afternoon, my Dad and I wandered around the streets near our hotel and later had dinner at the Hong Kong Hard Rock Cafe. The cheeseburgers tasted just like home. Yum!

We received an updated itinerary from ISS this afternoon and were delighted to find out that we now have a direct flight to Nanning on Sunday, instead of having to connect in Guangzhou with a 2+ hour layover. That was music to our ears. I think some of the families in the group still have to take the two flights, but Echo said the computer selected the families that get to go on the direct flight. I guess we were one of the lucky ones! As it stands now, we will leave Hong Kong on Sunday morning at 11:30 to head to the airport. Our flight leaves Hong Kong at 1:55pm and we arrive in Nanning 3:30pm. This means I'll get to see at least some of the Illini game (which is being played on Saturday night in the U.S.). Gotcha Day is still scheduled for Monday morning. We meet as a group and travel to the Civil Affairs building in Nanning at 10:40am on Monday, which will be 9:40pm Sunday night, U.S. time. So, on Sunday evening, please send thoughts and prayers our way!

That's all for now. We're having a wonderful time. Hong Kong really is an amazing city. The architecture is unbelievable and the people have all been warm and friendly. They tolerate Americans very well! :o) We'll probably do some more exploring tomorrow, so check back in for the latest adventures.

Thanks for following our journey! It means so much to know you're all here with us in spirit and thought.

Some of our travel mates - ready to hit the town for a day of sightseeing!

Hong Kong -- a truly amazing city!

The famous Stanley Market - Let the shopping begin!

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

2009-03-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

Four years ago yesterday, the Miller family began an incredible journey. A journey of love. A journey of destiny. A journey that would forever change our lives. This was the day we officially began our Journey to Carly Jade. Four years ago, on March 30, 2005, I kissed Mike and the boys goodbye in the wee hours of the morning and headed for the Bloomington airport where, with our bags packed to the absolute maximum allowable (and those of you who know me know that statement is absolutely true! LOL), Pappy and I would take the first leg of our journey to China to bring Carly Jade home. We had no idea what the next 14 days had in store for us. We had no idea how incredibly precious every memory we would make on that trip would become to us. Our hearts were filled with excitement, anticipation, worry, joy, happiness, concern and an overwhelming sense of love for a baby girl we hadn't even met. What is so ironic is that I can literally "feel" the memories as if it all happened yesterday. If only there was a way to capture and preserve every sound, every smell, every sight, every conversation, every impression, every thought, each and every aspect of those two precious weeks. . .

I memorialized each day of our trip in a "journal" that I posted online for those who were following our journey. I invite you to follow along for the next couple of weeks as we take a walk down memory lane. . .

Journey to Carly - Day 1 - March 30, 2005

We're here!!! We are in Hong Kong! Hooray! After a very long day of traveling, we are thrilled to have finally reached our destination! Our flight actually arrived about an hour early, but we made up for that hour when trying to figure out how to arrange for a shuttle to take us to our hotel. We checked into the Marco Polo about 45 minutes ago, or 8:00pm Hong Kong time. The flight was long, but really not that bad. Most importantly, we arrived safe and sound.

Here's a recap of the day:

Whew! After the whirlwind of activity in the last two weeks, I thought today would never get here. As I tucked the boys in last night, there were big hugs and even a few tears, and heartfelt “I love you’s, and I will miss you’s” exchanged. My head hit the pillow somewhere around 9:30 pm. I saw 10:30pm, I saw 12:30am, I saw 1:30am, and at 2:30am, I finally decided to get up. I gave the kids and Mike each one last goodbye hug and kiss and at 4:20am, I pulled out of the driveway. As I made my way to my Mom and Dad’s house, I had a giant lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Wow. It is really happening. The trip of a lifetime is about to begin.

Our first “issue” was my overweight luggage! We had to open up one of our suitcases and find 5 pounds of “stuff” to take out and put in one of our other suitcases in order to keep the weight of each below 70 pounds. So that caused quite a little scene at the ticket counter at the Bloomington airport at 5:00am! We were successful, and we now have luggage that is all within the permitted weight limits. At least for international flights, that is. Still not sure what will happen when we are traveling within China and my bags are anywhere from 10 – 26 pounds over the 44 pound weight limit! Time will tell on that one.

Our flight to Chicago was uneventful and we exited the plane and immediately stumbled upon a Starbucks! So that started our morning off right! We leisurely strolled through O’Hare to the C Concourse, and once we found our gate, we proceeded to walk back and forth and back and forth for the next several hours. We arrived in Chicago a little earlier than planned, so we had roughly 5 ½ hours to burn before our flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to take off.

We were unsuccessful in our attempts to get an upgrade to the Economy Plus section and, after boarding the plane and passing by the seats in Business Class and Economy Plus, I can see why it is a much more desired place to sit!!! Let’s just say that there isn’t a whole lot of room in the good ole’ Economy section of a 747! Fortunately, the flight wasn’t completely full, and we scouted out an empty couple of seats on the other side of the plane that we were able to convince our seat mate to move to shortly after takeoff! So, at least Dad and I had three seats, with the empty one in between us, which gave us a little more space.

As I’m writing this, we are roughly half way to Hong Kong. That means we’re about 7 hours into the flight. The scheduled flying time was 15 hours and 45 minutes, but before we took off, the pilots told us flying time would only be 14 hours and 9 minutes! YES!!! The Schmidt’s and Jennifer’s Dad, Robin Martin, and her son Casey are on the same flight as us! It has been great knowing that we’re all here together. So far, I haven’t been able to sleep for more than about an hour. Too excited, I guess! They’ve shown 3 movies and are promising more. The GPS screen comes up once in a while and shows our flight path. It looks like we flew way north and were near the Arctic Circle. Right now, we are over Siberia. How cool is that?! We’re so high that we can’t see much out of the windows, but we were able to see some of the frozen ocean below. I’ll write more when we arrive in Hong Kong!

Checking back in from Hong Kong. The second half of the flight went by much faster than the first. In total, though, I only slept maybe 3 hours. I thought I would sleep much more than that. Needless to say, I figure I'll get some good shut eye tonight. We're very excited to explore Hong Kong tomorrow. I haven't posted any photos yet, but we did take a few today, so I'll try to upload them tomorrow.

That's all for now! Considering I haven't been to bed in about 28 hours, that's where I'm headed now.

Good night from Hong Kong!

At the gate in Bloomington

Our arrival in Hong Kong (approximately 24 hours later)

Marco Time!

2009-03-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

The PERFECT cure for the winter doldrums is . . . an escape to Marco Island! Carly and I hopped in the car with Oma & Pappy last Friday and made a quick trip to the beach for a week of fun in the sun. It was a last minute decision and one that was completely unfair to Mike and the boys since they weren't able to come with, but "the guys" took it quite well, all things considered. :o) And let me just say . . . this little spontaneous escape is just what the doctor ordered. We've had absolutely gorgeous weather all week -- plenty of time to enjoy the sun, play in the sand, walk the beach looking for seashells, and swim at the pool. Carly has been in 7th heaven all week (me, too!). We'll head out early tomorrow morning for the long drive home and, as always, our departure will be bitter sweet. Both of us are excited to get home to see "our men" and Daisy, but in all honesty, we'd prefer to keep this wonderful 85 degree weather around for a while longer. As they say . . . all good things must come to an end. :o) The good news is that we'll be back for our summer vacation trip in just a few months.

Enjoy the pictures!

Flower Sand Sculpture

Sea Turtle Sand Sculpture

12-Year Old In the House!

2009-03-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit tardy in posting this, but the Miller household celebrated another special day in February -- Nick turned the big 1-2!!! He was lucky, because his celebration lasted 3 whole days -- his actual birthday was on the 28th, but we celebrated on the 27th because he had an all day basketball tournament on the 28th. And if you count the paintball party he'll have once the weather warms up, you could even say his celebration was 4 days long! He concluded the big birthday weekend by joining Dad for the final Illini home basketball game on Sunday afternoon, March 1. In all, a GREAT birthday according to Nick! He raked in quite a haul of gifts, including some 'much needed' CASH (he's saving for an iTouch), a new LAPTOP, and a new CELL PHONE. Can anyone say "electronics"??? Geesh, I would think he'd be on overload right about now, but he does love it all. :o) I still can't believe we only have one year before we're blessed with another TEENAGER in the house. Oh my . . .

And, as I said when Carly celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks ago . . . where do the years go??? It seems like just yesterday that we were in the hospital in Austin, TX, eagerly awaiting Nick's big arrival. He came into this world headstrong (he wouldn't come out naturally because he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck) and that little personality trait hasn't changed one bit. :o) Seriously, though, he's a wonderful kid - vivacious, competitive, quick-witted, happy, and with a passion for (pretty much all) sports.

We love you Nick!!! Happy 12th Birthday!

Birthday Girl!

2009-02-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

Carly turned the big "5" on February 12. Happy Birthday to her!!! Yes, the cake was decorated by a local bakery to her exact specifications. LOL. Her request was for the two of us (per Carly - the mommy needs to have yellow hair and the little girl needs to have dark brown hair) to be on the beach, looking for sea shells, with the water in the distance. I think they did a pretty good job, huh? We celebrated the big day in style, with a family dinner at Noodles & Co (her choice), and then back to our house for cake and ice cream with the grandparents. Oh, and we can't forget the most exciting part of the day . . . PRESENTS! She raked in quite a haul, including various stuffed animal toys, a couple of Barbie things, Littlest Pet Shop figures, and . . . drum roll please . . . the Barbie Jammin' Jeep, which she has wanted "forever - all my life" as she says. :o) It was quite a festive day, and I must say we have quite a BIG GIRL on our hands now. She keeps reminding us that she is "5 now" and will be going to Kindergarten soon. Can someone please tell me where the last 4 years have gone??? Honestly, it seems like just yesterday that I held her in my arms for the first time. And then I blinked my eyes and here we are with a 5 year old. Sigh!

Here are a couple of photos of the very proud birthday girl:

Happy Birthday to our precious Carly! We love you with all our hearts!

Vacation Memories

2009-02-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we returned from paradise today -- undoubtedly, the worst part of a vacation is the 're-entry' (to reality) process associated with coming home. We sooooo enjoyed our time away - and I'm pretty sure we, along with our dear friends Doug and Tina Mote, left a lasting impression on the Ruby Princess ship and the islands we visited in the western Caribbean. :o) We missed the kids dearly, so that was the sweet part about the ending of a wonderfully relaxing week. I have to admit that it does feel good to be back on land - we encountered some rough waters throughout the week . . . and it also feels good to eat food from my own kitchen - yes, cruise ships are known for their endless supply of amazing food, but I've determined that the human body can only stuff so much in over the course of 7 days before it all starts to taste the same. LOL.

Some of the highlights of our trip:

Day #1
Enjoyed our first (of the MANY we consumed throughout the week - LOL) cocktail during the 'sail away' bash

Explored the BEAUTIFUL ship

Day #2

At sea!

We had hoped for warm, sunny, balmy weather, but instead we got high winds, cool temps, and lots of clouds. We made the best of it, though, and stayed on the sun deck as long as we could stand it.

Day #3

1st port of call - Jamaica! Ya Mon!

We did the "zip line" shore excursion -- WOW, what an experience that was! Flying through the trees hanging from a rope and pulley -- well, it isn't something I can really adequately describe in words. If you've ever done it, you know what I mean. We went on a total of 9 different traverses, ranging from 15 feet to 600 feet in length, over and through the rainforest-like jungle in rural Ocho Rios. Incredible!

Day #4

2nd port of call - Grand Cayman!

After a day of sightseeing and shopping, we enjoyed another fabulous dinner, saw a great comedian/impressionist show, and ended the night by tearing up the dance floor at Skywalkers, the ship's night club. On this night, we were introduced to raspberry martinis (thank you, Doug! LOL). I think I remember my husband dancing on a table . . . Oh my . . .

Day #5

3rd port of call - Cozumel!

We snorkled at a coral reef in the middle of the ocean. I took underwater pics but don't have them developed yet. The highlight of the excursion was the huge sea turtle we saw swimming around at the bottom of the reef. Very cool! The water was absolutely gorgeous -- turquoise and clear. Just like a postcard!

Day #6

At sea! Once again, we had hoped for warm, sunny, balmy weather but instead we had high winds and cool temperatures. We eventually found a somewhat protected deck where we could lay in the sun, but I swear the windchill was around 50 degrees. :o) Still, we braved the elements for a few hours and managed to soak up at least a few good rays of sunshine.

Tina and I tore up the dance floor (once again) at Skywalkers night club - whew, what a night!

Day #7

4th port of call - Princess Cays (private island) in the Bahamas!

Having visited this island on a previous cruise, Mike and I decided to stay on the ship. It was a good thing we didn't go to shore, because as the day went on, I became ill with the stomach flu. Not fun, especially on a ship that is battling rough waters --- I ended the evening by visiting the ship doctor and getting a big shot in the butt (ouch) for the nausea. Not the best way to end the cruise, but thankfully it happened on the last day instead of in the middle of the trip.

We arrived back in Ft Lauderdale this morning, hopped on a 10am flight back to Bloomington, and were home by 2:30 this afternoon. The greeting we received at the airport from none other than Miss Carly was just too sweet for words.

What a wonderful vacation we had. And what great memories we made. Thank you to the Motes for putting up with us for the last 7 days!

We'll always remember . . . What happened on the ship STAYS on the ship! :o)

Tweet Tweet! Here "little" birdie!

2009-01-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

Check out what decided to visit our front step this afternoon! He enjoyed a huge meal consisting of fresh bird . . . and I must say he made quite a mess of things in the process. Nothing like the sight of fresh fallen snow sprinkled with bird guts, feathers, and a little blood, huh? LOL. I have to say I was thankful the front door was between us . . . I don't think I'd want to experience the damage that beak could likely do. Carly watched "the meal" in its entirety, screaching the entire time in her high pitched little voice, "EWWWWW! SICK!!!! That's so GROSS!" with her hand covering her mouth. Crack me up - I told her not to watch, but she couldn't tear herself away. Ummmmm, I don't think doctor/surgeon is in her future. Ha. At any rate, we definitely added one more to Carly's (and mine and Alex's, for that matter) list of new experiences today. :o)

Holiday Memories - 2008

2008-12-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

Braved the brutal central Illinois winter weather, just days before Christmas --- CHECK!

Baked and decorated 9 dozen cookies --- CHECK!

Had a wonderful and festive Christmas Eve --- CHECK!

Santa visited our house and granted everyone's wishes --- CHECK! . . . and if you're thinking that the left side of the tree looks a little more 'heavily loaded' than the right, you also must know that Alex & Nick DID get that drum set they were wishing for ..... so this photo isn't a true representation of their Christmas haul . . . :o)

And, last but not least, hosted the annual Christmas Day celebration with the Miller side of the family --- CHECK! (Sorry, but I was too busy in the kitchen to snap photos -- darn it!) We had a great time - ate way too much food, opened even more gifts, and then settled in for some good old fashioned game playing and catch up time with all the siblings/in-laws and cousins. The day is never quite long enough and we're always sad to see it come to an end.

And, before we know it, the Christmas season comes to a close. I do love this time of the year -- all the anticipation, hype, stress, and happiness -- but I also look forward to the start of another new year -- new beginnings, new resolutions, new adventures. Being the achievement-oriented person that I am, my immediate quest is to get all the Christmas decorations put away. And for those of you who've seen our house this time of the year, you know that putting everything away is no small task. :o) We'll see how long it takes me to meet that goal . . . I'm typically done before New Year's, so . . . I think I best get started soon.

Once again, Happy Holidays to everyone! Best wishes for a wonderful 2009!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho! Tis the season!!! This time of year is always so festive ... so exciting ... so full of anticipation ... so busy ... so hectic ... so exhausting! LOL. We're slowly getting ready for the holidays around here -- the decorations are up, the kids are excited . . . but only a FEW presents have been bought so far! I do this to myself year after year --- and each time I ask myself WHY do I procrastinate with the Christmas shopping? Thankfully, I'm taking a day off later this week and will shop all day with a dear friend. Maybe she will inspire me to get going on those Christmas lists! Carly is starting to get worried -- she even cornered me this past weekend up in her room with a notebook and pen and asked me to PLEASE write her list down on paper. She then promptly gave it to our Elf on a Shelf in the hopes that he would deliver it to Santa on one of his nightly trips back to the North Pole. She was thrilled when she got up on Sunday morning and found that Mr. Elf had indeed moved to a new location in our house (if you're familiar with the Elf on a Shelf tradition, you'll know what I mean) and ... the list we made was GONE! She is convinced now that Santa has what he needs in order to fulfill at least some of her many wishes. The boys have one item on their lists this year --- a drum set. Yes, a REAL drum set. Seems as though all the time they've spent playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero in the last year has inspired some (until now) hidden musical interests in each of them. We shall see what Santa does about that wish . . .

As for our remaining holiday festivities, we'll be getting our live, flocked tree for the basement hopefully this weekend (which will bring our tree total to SIX - smile), we'll be decorating Christmas cookies and, if my patience holds out, we'll also be making a gingerbread house. :o) And, I have yet to make the first batch of homemade caramels, which is a BIG tradition in our family. I guess the fact that I haven't yet made any isn't all bad -- how good for you can a bunch of cream, milk, sugar, and corn syrup be, anyway? NOT! And, considering the fact that Mike and I are going on a cruise at the end of January (Merry Christmas to us!), well . . . I really need to stay away from some of the many Christmas goodies! And that is OH SO HARD for me because I dearly love sweets. All of them! LOL.

I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful time of the year. As I remind myself daily . . . always remember the "reason for the season"! Happy Holidays to all!