Traveling to Kentucky.....

We are headed this morning to Kentucky!! We have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time since our last trip this past December was canceled due to weather. It will be so nice to catch up with family, and have a relaxing weekend. My cousin is getting married on Saturday, so we will be partying away all night! (Doubt it!) The weather this go around is supposed to be nice, which is perfect since my aunt and uncle have a pool in the back yard. I'm hoping to get a little sun! I am SO looking forward to some good ole' fish, and maybe a White Castle or two since they are not in the south. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Memorial weekend, and remember those who served our country!

No Longer In Kindergarden....

Today was the last day of school, which means Christian is officially a first grader! It's still a little scary to hear, "I have a first grader!" He was so excited to finish the year and start his summer vacation. He had a great year and wonderful teachers. I don't think I could have asked for better ones. Last Friday they had there end of the year program and it was so cute. Each class sang songs, and then it was followed by a party in each class room where they where presented with there diplomas. This year was full of first, and we are excited to see what next year brings. Here are some photos from Friday.

 

Christian and the Dentist....

Follow Up:

Christian did GREAT!! He only complained a little and that was at the end. Only a few tears where shed by him and me, but all is good. He was back to his normal self by Tuesday night!

Orginial Post:

So a couple of weeks ago before Christian went to bed he started complaining about his tooth hurting. It was a rough night, neither one of us got a lot of sleep. The next morning I called the dentist and made an appointment to been seen. I honestly figured he would have a cavity or two, so I didn't prepair my self at all for what I was about to hear. Christian did great, he sat there and let the dentist look around and poke. After a couple of x-rays she came to deliver the bad news. Now Christian brushes his teeth, uses mouth wash, I thought we where doing everything right. They are his baby teeth so I figured he would start loosing them soon. He needs 2 teeth pulled, spacers place where those teeth will be coming out;3 cavities filled; and 2 root canals with crowns! YIKES! I started crying in the middle of the office. I felt like such a bad mother how could I have let it get so bad? The dentist didn't help making me fell any better either. Over the weekend Michael and I talked and we thought about getting a second opinion. I found another dentist that a girlfriend of mine uses and she loves. The appointment went great, she was nice and understanding. She was gentle with Christian and he felt very comfortable with her, which is the most important thing. She agreed about what needed to be done. So today we are heading to the first of 3 appointments. I hope Christian does great and doesn't have any problems, and might be getting an ice cream afterwards! He will be having his 2 teeth pulled, and I hope it all goes well!

Sweet Home Alabama......

I like the song, and I love the movie; Alabama is where Michael is headed today and will be for the next 2 weeks! He got the call late Friday afternoon, and was on the road this morning. So for the next 2 weeks it's just me and the boys, YIKES!! Michael has traveled before, a lot while I was pregnant with Christian but just recently started traveling again. He was gone for a little over a week at Christmas time, and we survived that so we will survive this. We have a lot going on over the next couple of weeks that I'm sure it will go by quickly. Christian is having some dental work done Tuesday, more on that to come. Wednesday is the last day of school, and Friday we are leaving to head up to Kentucky! We will be returning on Monday, and then later in the week meeting up with Jennifer for dinner. Saturday the 5th I am considering running my first ever 5k, so we will see how that goes. Before you know it, it will be the 6th and Michael will be home. The key is to stay busy that way the boys won't have to much time to miss him. I'm sure they'll get by with phone calls, pictures via text, and the occasional surprises we packed in his suitcase while he wasn't looking! Have fun in Alabama, and we will see you when you get home!

Ode to the bathing suit......

Like most women, I hate the part of summer where you have to put on a swim suit. I mean I love the water, the ocean, laying out in the sun and all, but having to put on a swim suit…UGH!! I have never been one who has been 100% happy with my body; there was always something I hated. I still put on the swim suit and stayed in the water or walked around with a towel or cover up. I guess we can blame society for that. Open any magazine, turn on any TV channel or pull up the Internet and all you see are “perfect” women. Don’t get me wrong there are ladies out there who are totally fine with there bodies; I am not one of those women. Now that I have gotten older, had two precious boys my body defiantly doesn’t look the same. I would never trade that either. However I am not opposed to “fixing” any problems I can. Toward the end of March I told my self I would work out, watch what I eat in hopes to reward my self with a pretty new bathing suit. So on March 30th; to be exact I started walking, which now I am up to running. I try to go 5 days a week, but if I don’t make it, it’s alright. I am averaging between 8-10 miles a week, and have gotten to the point where it’s just routine. I go right after work before picking up the boys so I can go home afterwards and not think about it. I’m not going to lie, it still sucks. Its kind-of getting easier; but not really. I don’t think if it ever got easy it wouldn’t be working; I try and push myself so I will see those results. I knew that Memorial Day weekend we would be going out of town to visit family and staying at my aunt and uncle’s house, which I might add have a pool in there back yard. The boys would be begging to go swimming, and I would need to be with them……..in a bathing suit. I know they are family but still, it’s all about how I feel. I wanted to wait until the weekend before to give me the most time, but I figured if I didn’t find one that weekend I wouldn’t have much time during the week and might end up not getting on at all. So this past weekend, I asked my mom to go out with me. I knew she would be honest and tell me what looked good and what didn’t. If you remember from an earlier post I found a super cute bathing suit that I loved…..but not the price. I said if I reached my goal I would reward myself with the nice swim suit. So the first week of working out, I went over to the mall and tried it on. It was cute on the rack but not on me. At least I knew what I didn’t like about my self in it, and knew what I needed to work hard at. Over the next few weeks, I had a change of heart and not matter how well I did with working out it was still pretty pricey. So I found another one that I loved, and that was cheaper. I really wanted to go and try it on, until last week. I knew if I spent good money on a bathing suit I wanted it to last a couple of years. If I bought one now knowing I wanted to loose more weight would I get 2 to 3 years or more wear out of it?? It was over at the mall so my mom and I went the opposite direction and stay closer in town and went to Belk’s and Kohl’s. At Belk’s I was looking through the racks and stumbled across a red bathing suit that looked just like the one in the magazine. I picked it up and yep it was the same one! I didn’t want to try it on, what if I fell in love with it? After trying it on, putting it back on the rack, and going to Kohl’s the bathing suit won. My mom said “some things are just meant to be!” After taking a store survey that gave me 20% off, I bought it!! I love it…I feel great in it…and Michael approves so that’s bonus points! I do have more weight I want to lose, but bathing suits are not like clothes and some how they seem to fit after a little bit of weight loss, I guess it’s the spandex. I will still work hard to lose the weight, but in the mean time enjoy my new bathing suit!

What is that???

Needless to say I think vulchers are one of the ugliest birds around. They remind me of a turkey and are rather large. The street we live off is pretty wooded and there are a lot of animals that get hit by cars and we see our fair share of these birds. It's never just one it's more like 10. A couple of weeks ago a deer got hit and was moved off to the side, over the next couple of days we would pass and there would literally be 5 or 5 on the deer and another 10-15 in the tree above it. For some reason they wait until the last minute to fly away when a car approaches, so much that one flew into the side of my window one day. Trust me they are big. Well Saturday afternoon when we got home 2 were sitting on our roof. Michael says they can smell up to 10 miles and hover around when they smell an animal. Sunday morning Michael walked down the drive way to get the paper and saw 2 sitting on the roof of our neighbors across the street, I guess you can they where sunning. They sat there for a good 20 min or so. There was a total of 3 and then 1 sitting on the back pourch of there neighbors. GROSS!!! I'm happy to say we have not seen anymore since then so hopefully they have moved on.

 

Cooper Carnival!!!

Friday night was Cooper's end of the year carnival! After work, I picked up the kids and headed up to the school. They had games, face painting, snow cones, cotton candy, music and so much more. The boys had a blast! Christian loved when the fire truck showed up and he was able to sit inside. Colin just like being there and running around. It's hard to believe that school is almost over and Christian will be heading to the first grade, but we are enjoying every little thing with him. Needless to say the boys both crashed once we got home, and slept all night!!

 

Oops......

If you have kids, and especially boys you know accidents are bound to happen. Bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes are just a few things that are pretty typically around our house. We go through quite a bit of Band-Aids; even though a band-aid might not be needed it sometimes just calms them down enough. Christian I think takes the cake, he is my dramatic child and every little thing needs a band-aid. Numerous times I say “there isn’t even a mark,” but he still needs the band-aid. I have to be pretty thankful that we have not had anything to serious in a few years, until Tuesday. I’m at work, getting ready to leave for lunch and my cell phone rings. I don’t recognize the number but answer it anyway. As I finish saying hello I hear the voice on the other end,…….”Ms. Milam, this is Jan from the clinic at Cooper……” that was all she needed to say, I immediately thought he can’t be sick! She proceeds to inform me that Christian was just in the clinic and she wanted to call and let me know what happened before he came home and I flipped out. Okay, as I start to panic a little, she says “he’s OK…..but during snack time he got down under his desk to pick something up and his water bottle rolled off and hit him in the face.” Now, Christian has snack time everyday and I send in a metal Archer Tiger (school mascot) water bottle filled with ice and water. I know when it gets full it can be heavy, so I thought oh he’ll have a little mark. I asked if he’s okay, since he can be a LITTLE dramatic, and she said they put ice on it and he is back in class. She was just calling to give me the heads up and let me know they don’t beat the children at school. I just laughed!! I was thankful she called to give me the heads up so I would not freak out when I saw him. That afternoon I go and pick him up from day care, assuming he would have a little mark on his face only to be completely shocked by what I saw. The water bottle landed right under his right eye, it broke the skin, already turning purple and black and was swollen! I felt so bad! He looked like he had been in a fight! We kid him about it now saying that if anyone ever asks he should come up with a really great story about what happened not that he got hit in the face with a water bottle. So here is what a water bottle can do……




Shocking I know…..but he is alright and the bruise will go away over time!

Poor fella!!

Happy Birthday Craig...

Today is my brother’s birthday. It’s kind of a bitter sweet day, he passed away six years ago this past Saturday from a courageous battle of cancer. Even though he is not here with us today, he is in my thoughts every day. We are 3 years apart and we defiantly had our brother-sister fights. As we got older we grew closer and ended up becoming really good friends. As I finished high school we found ourselves hanging out with the same group of friends. He worked for Chick-Fil-A in Lawrenceville for years, in fact if it wasn’t for him I would have never met my husband. My senior year of high school every afternoon was spent at the local CFA, my girlfriends and I would go up there and eat. One Day Michael said something to my brother about me being cute, and Craig just went along with it. It was only after a few visit’s that Michael asked Craig, “why don’t you think she’s cute, she comes up here every day to see you?” Which he quickly responded to, “because she’s my sister!!” That was it, from then out he is the reason we are where we are today. He was in our wedding, and would come and spend the night at our place after we were married. He fought with cancer so bravely for years. Until God said enough was enough and took him home with him. He is having the best birthday party ever! He became one of my best friends, and I truly miss him every day. I love you Craig!!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and most importantly a fabulous Mother’s day! The boys and I headed to relay for life on Friday night, and it was packed. For those of you that don’t know, Relay is put on by the American Cancer Society to raise money and awareness to help prevent and find a cure for all cancers. It is such a great cause and they raise a lot of money. Gwinnett County’s is the largest one ever, and raise easily over a million dollars. Since it hits close to home, I am more than happy to do my part and support such an awesome cause. Afterwards we headed to Michael’s work and the kids played for about 2 hours on the play ground.

Saturday night was girl’s night, we headed to see “The Backup Plan,” and I will say it is such a cute movie. It was a lot funnier than I thought, and I am glad there were not a lot of people in the theatre because there were a few times we laughed pretty hard. After the movie we headed to our normal dinner spot, Longhorn!

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and I awoke to the smell of bacon cooking! Michael had gotten up early and cooked breakfast! He’s so sweet! I went and ran afterwards, and then headed to my parents to celebrate the day, and our birthdays. My grandparents were in town, and my uncle came out to visit. We had a great food and a wonderful visit.

Weekend plans.....

First thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special! I have some of the best family, friends and co-workers I could ever ask for. Since I travel with my job, today I had to be at the place that is furthest from my house, but all the girls made is so special! Yelling Happy Birthday as I walked in the front door, and bringing me some yummy cupcakes! Many emails, cards, and candies later I felt so loved! My boss even let me leave early! Which I spent that time first buying a new pair of shoes, and secondly getting a jump start to my run. Which by the way is awesome now that I have my new ipod! After picking up the boys, we headed home where Michael made his famous home made lasagna! YUMMY!! With the help of Christian! I think I have had carb overload today, and it might not look pretty on my weigh in tomorrow, but it was worth it.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, Relay for life tonight at the fairgrounds. My work is a sponsor and I have loved being involved in it since I have been there. Saturday I have to work, only 3 hours though. Girls night our Saturday night, movie and dinner. Sunday is Mother's day, plus we will be celebrating my sister's and my birthday with my family. Then Monday will return and back to the grind of daily life!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Yep, today is my birthday! Very exciting I know! I am officially 28! Kind of scary to think in two short years I'll be 30, but right now I am still enjoying my 20's. When you get a certain age and your birthday rolls around it's just another day. I guess I am to that point. Michael has been asking me for a week "what do you want for your birthday?" and "what do you want to do?" Honestly I don't need anything, and as long as I am with my family that's all that matters. I know so old, but it's true. Little did I know that Michael had a little something up hi sleeve. Since I have started walking/running I have been saying I need to buy me an ipod so I have something to listen to. I would REALLY love an ipod touch, but unless over night they drop to about $50 bucks I won't be getting that. So on Tuesday night after dinner he told me, "since you will be going and running tomorrow here is a little something for you.......he handed me an arm band for an ipod. I immediately said, "I know you didn't buy me what goes in this!" Which he quickly responded to nope, it's for your phone. Ok.....then I was handed this............



I was so surprised!! He's the best!! This is my birthday and mothers day gift all in one. Which is totally awesome! I must say that yesterday on my run it was quite nice listening to music instead of the birds, squirrels and other people's conversations.

Thanks baby....I love you!!!

Teacher's letter.....

It's hard to believe that school will be out at the end of the month and Christian will be heading to First grade! Kindergarten has been really fun and we are all excited to see what 1st grade has in store for us. Every month his teacher sends home a "Homework Calender." It has something for him to do each night, from practice counting to writing. This past Friday the assignment was for him to write a letter to his teacher and send it in. So Sunday night, I know last minute but we did it, Christian sat at the table and wrote his letter. I told him he could write what ever he wanted. I started it by writing her name, and he finished it. Now, just so you know he did this all by him self, spelling and all.



He wrote, "I like beeing in your class. Your are nice. She lets me eat iscreem. Do you like me?_______

From: Christian

I thought it was so cute how he left a spot for her to answer! The note came back with her response, "Yes I do!"

He is my smart little boy! I love him!

Weekend

We had a great weekend, hope you all did too! The weather was nice, hot but nice, so we spent a lot of time outside! A couple of weeks ago I started attending a class at our church for photography. Since I started to have a interest in it, I figured why not try this class out, plus it’s free. Christian goes with me and he has been attending Awanas and is loving it. I remember going to Awanas when I was his age, so it’s fun to see him go and have fun. Any-who, a lot of our class is learning how to use our camera’s but also how to take really good out of the camera photo’s. All before using Photoshop to fix the picture. So this weekend I had a LOT of strawberry’s. Since I have been working on my weight, I have been eating more fruit and right now strawberry’s are a fruit I can’t get enough of. I make a strawberry and banana smoothing every morning! So I decided to practice on my abundance of strawberry’s.



Don’t they look yummy?!?!




I cut a lot up and froze them to make my smoothies, left some for the kids to eat, and the rest I made these yummy chocolate covered ones! Trust me they were delish and yes I said were, since they are now all gone!

Happy Birthday Leigh!

For all of you that don’t know May is a super busy month in our family for birthdays. I am the youngest of 3 and all of our birthdays are in May as well as my mother. My dad’s is in November so he get’s left out, sorry! In fact for us, my sister, brother and myself they fall pretty close. We are exactly 3 years apart and our Birthday’s are the 1st, 6th, and 12th! Whew, August was a busy month for my parents. She once told me August was a hot month and there was nothing else to do! (she’ll kill me for saying that…again…sorry) Any-who today is my sister’s birthday, she is 34! We are close now, but when we were younger did we ever have our arguments! I can remember when she was in high school, I was starting middle school so she left before me in the mornings. I would go to her room and take her clothes and shoes since she was older and had way better stuff than I did. I would get in so much trouble! Over the years we have had our disagreements but there comes a time when all of a sudden that’s all in the past. She was my maid of honor in my wedding, I was hers. I was there when she gave birth to 2 of her 3 kids, Jordan was born when I was 14 so that would have been a little weird. She was there with me when I had my boys. We have been through a lot, and there will be tons more over the years. I am happy she’s my sister, and I love her more than anything! Happy Birthday Leigh, enjoy your day!