All In The Family

Here's a few shots from our recent trip to Surprise for a baby shower/house warming for Tina, Brian and the triplets... pictures courtesy of my Assistant Blogger, Aunt Terry

Miles has been working on his Blue Steel impression. I think he has some talent there...
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Toys are Overrated

Any seasoned mother knows that bubble wrap is fabulous for keeping kiddos entertained. It also seems to be quite the stress reliever. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was enjoying it just as much as they were. Miles was belly laughing at Kate jumping and popping and maybe a little at the condition of her hair.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1007016211832284252

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1621225784818609509

We still have more in the garage, so if you need a fix...

Lions and Tigers and Bunco, Oh, My!

Actually, there were no lions or tigers. Just some tornados, apple trees, a tin woman, a scarecrow, a flying monkey, the state of Kansas, a lollipop munchkin, Dorothy (x2) and one very green witch.

It was awesome.

Miles has been finding Nicole's scarecrow stuffing all over the house - and yes, I vacuumed!

Mortal enemies pause for a photo

Just follow the yellow brick road... by the way, the shadow is me...

Katie was one of the two twisters to stop by the house that night.

For dessert we had the most yummy caramel chocolate apples

There's no place like Bunco...

Princess Kate

Queen Abby had a birthday party at Mrs. Pott's Tea Room and Princess Kate was invited. The girls got all dressed up in princess clothes and even met Cinderella! They had their faces painted, played games, and ate tea sandwiches. It was adorable.

Kate and Amelia

Face painting

Reagan and Kim (pre-Grant)
Speaking of Grant! I haven't posted his picture yet, so here's a gratuitous shot that has nothing whatsoever to do with princesses or tea parties...

Grant William

Kennedy, Emily and Kate

Emily and Queen Abby

Cinderella spinning Kate for Pin the Crown on the Princess

The Tea Party

Happy Birthday, Queen Abby!

Update

Dear Reader Of This Blog:

I am so sorry for not updating before this. Hectic! Tubes! Bunco! Baby Showers! And I still haven't posted pictures from three weeks ago! Please forgive me and come back often. I'll try to be funnier to make up for it.

Sincerely,

Mikele

Thursday morning was early - 5 am early - so I thought that I would spare anyone else having to get up at that hour by taking Miles to the surgery center by myself. It really did go fine, but those of you who are not Me already know that having an extra pair of hands would have been ideal. First of all, there was no coffee, because I had no way to hold a cup and my child that resembles a boneless mass when he doesn't want to go where you are leading him. Then there was all the other Mommy/Daddy couples with their children, who, by the way, did NOT forget their diaper bag because there was someone else to remind them. Shoot!

On the "What To Bring" paper it said to bring a blankee or lovey, but Miles isn't truly attached to any such object. I brought Frog Munny anyway, just so I wasn't the only one without a husband and a comfort item.

Next came the weighing. Of me. They didn't have a baby scale and Miles went boneless when I tried to stand him on it, so they did that whole hold him and we'll weigh both of you thing, which is fine and dandy until I had to hand him to someone and get on again by myself while the old man volunteer did the math on a pad of paper. He weighs roughly 27 pounds. There.

They then sent us to this "procedure room" where Miles couldn't touch anything, but they did have a People magazine. Katie, Amelia and Scotty showed up (yea!) and confused the poor nurse as to our "relation." "Are you... friends or..."

The anesthesiologist took him after that and Miles actually went pretty willingly. The tubes took about 10 minutes to put in and then I went to get him. He was very floppy and out of it, but he slept on me for the next 15 minutes which was completely worth getting up early for. He's doing really well now and we are thrilled to have this behind us. Thanks for all of the prayers sent on his behalf, we appreciate them so much.

Tube-Tastic

Miles will be having tubes put in his ears tomorrow morning at 7:45 am. It's not a big deal - procedure wise - but it's always a little scary to have your child put under general anesthesia. Please pray for a safe and non-eventful "surgery." We are so excited to think that at this time tomorrow, he will be able to hear at 100% again and that the pressure he's been having to deal with will be gone! I'll post video of him talking in complete sentences while running a straight line next week.

I Just Need A Little More Information...

I went to Bashas yesterday to order food for Bunco and the manchild that was running the deli had this conversation with me: Me: So, I need to order food for a party that I'm having and I'm not sure how many chickens I will need. ManChild: How many people are you feeding? Me: Twelve MC: How many men are eating? Me: None, just twelve ladies. MC: Well, how many of them are expecting? Me: What? I think two... MC: How many of them are big eaters? Me: Huh? Just tell me how many chickens! MC: I have no idea what kind of people will be at your party, so I'm not quite sure.

The Beth of a Lifetime

Well, we did it. Our husbands are known for their golfing "trips of a lifetime," so five of us ladies finally packed our bags, boarded a plane (only one of us cried, and I'm not gonna tell you who) and flew to Albequerque to see Beth Moore. Beth is an incredible woman who loves Jesus and, in a crowd of 7500 women, seems like she's talking directly to you. Well, she was at one point talking directly to Katie, but I was too stunned and busy making a weird face to hear what she was saying. It was well worth the gravity-defying plane ride and 5 am wake up call to see her speak again.

Robyn and Heather - Starbucked Up and Ready To Go

Jen

We got to New Mexico early enough to walk around Old Town before settling in for the two hour plus wait in line. There are no assigned seats, so here are the rules:

1. Find the line early - we were totally in the wrong line for, like, a half hour.

2. Stake your claim in said line by fanning out Red Rover style. Age and pregnancy are not considered factors.

It was so very hot and we were thankful that the women in front of us were standing and blocking the sun for a bit.

3. Make friends in line completely based on the fact that they are wearing a cute top and are dying to see your kid's pictures.

4. Tear your ticket, grab your stuff and follow the scrappy one (Heather) to the door.

5. When the door opens, all salvation is lost for about five minutes as you RUN LIKE H**L for the front.

6. Rejoice at your fortune (second row!)

7. Go to the bathroom, because you just almost peed your pants.

See how darn close she was?

It was a refreshing weekend and I am very thankful to have gone.

Thanks, Beth - See ya in Rhode Island...

It's Allllll About the Breasts

Breast cancer, that is. Four of us decided to do a little "rollin' for a cure" and signed up to play Bunco for Breast Cancer which raised money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. We all knew that Bunco is an older woman sport, but we were surprised to see that we were about the only ones there who are not currently menopausal.

Jen, Katie, Me and Heather

There were some interesting ladies at this particular event, but I had the misfortune of not meeting any of them. The ones I played with didn't speak. They were all very intent on one or more of the following:

a) not meeting anyone that they didn't already know because that, girls, would be awkward and uncomfortable

b) rolling the dice in a certain way that, in their heads, assured them luck

c) having a hot flash

d) keeping it together after a lot of margaritas

However, everyone else got to meet this shy gal:

I'm pretty sure this was taken during intermission, when Heather could barely wrench herself away from the Mrs. Pac-Man game in the lobby. Sure, she looks fairly normal and I don't have the audio tape to prove that she was a little crazy, but I do have a close up of her hat...

Yup. Flashing boob pin. Or is it a brooch? One can't always tell. Classy though.

This is just me giggling at the hat. Because it was funny.

Of Mice and Men

I am still trying to catch up on all of the fun things that have been going on around here - however, I need to interrupt chronological order for a medical update and a funny story about a rodent and my friend, Robyn.

Miles had his ENT appointment yesterday and he is scheduled for getting tubes on Thursday, May 17th. (Coincidently, this is also the day Bunco is at my house, so that should be fun.) I am really excited to have this done for him - it's been a long four months and even though he has gone two weeks without an infection, the fluid in his ear is just sitting there stagnant and the slightest cold will start the antibiotic cycle all over again. Dr. M said that right now he's experiencing a 25% hearing loss from the fluid and this could be causing speech delays, not to mention his sideways walking. I am very thankful that this simple procedure will do so much good for my son.

Kate got to visit the dentist last week and even though she was nervous, she was very brave. Her favorite part was when the nurse "painted" her teeth - just like her toes (which are painted blue now, because I started an obsession.)

Finally, I must tell you that Robyn and I went out on a date last night and we had such a good time. We ate dumplings at PF Changs and drank coffee and then decided to see Lucky You. It was absolutely terrible! If only I had read my beloved Entertainment Weekly before we went - they rated it a D+. We made it through about half of the movie before we began hearing a strange stratching noise on the floor near us. The theater was almost empty, so it wasn't a fellow moviegoier trying to open his Reece's Pieces in the dark... The sound kept getting louder and closer to us and I truly don't know if it was cockroaches or a small rat, but we screamed like 10 year olds and busted out of there. The teenager running customer service gave us two free tickets:

Robyn: "Um, we just saw a lousy movie and while we were watching said lousy movie, we heard small rodents eating the remainder of someone's M&M's right by our feet." (paraphrase)

Mikele: "Have you had any complaints about roaches?"

Teenager: "Yes."

Mikele: "Really?"

Teenager: (backtracking) "Ummm, No."

Robyn: "I just HEARD you! You just got busted."

I'm still itching just thinking about it.

I Think There Might Have Been A Jazz Festival Going On

We went for the music and stayed for the big grassy field and Pirate's Booty...

Colin

Big Scott thinking about just how comfortable his chair would be if his rear wasn't hanging out of it.

Kate and Josh

Miles kickin' back a cold one