Life at the Millers

Fun in the fall

2010-11-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

So I have a lot of pictures but not too many stories. I will narrate but the pictures tell it all...

Getting ready for Halloween. I don't have any pictures of Kaitlynn as Daphne from Scooby Doo (Thanks, Aunt Kristie. She loved it.)

We flew to Ohio to see Daddy (he left in Mid-October for training at Wright-Patterson AFB and will be back in Mid-December). He took us to the Air Force Museum and we had a fun time looking at all the planes.

This is my terrible photography. They got to sit in a jet but the lighting and angle were awful.

This is before we left...we went to Boise for Girl's weekend with my cousins. (Still waiting on pictures of that) But while we were there we got these beautiful Christmas dresses from Costco. Here is Kaitlynn posing in one before church.

This video is before we left for Ohio. Kaitlynn was singing me a song and it was so cute but she caught me taping her and stopped. We were making Egg McMuffins and she was helping me make them.

So after flying in to Dayton, Ohio we drove to Detroit, Michigan to spend the week with my Aunt Teresa and Uncle Alex. It is fall and you know what that means...LEAVES. We played for a while in them and...oddly enough, a miracle happened. Three pictures down...Cody smiled.

Jeremy...well, sort of did. :)

This video just makes me laugh. CHHEEEESSSSE!!!!

This is my new favorite family picture. I love the colors of the Hawaii picture at the top but I love the look of us in the fall leaves.

Portraits of self(s). I am a terrible photographer and up close is not pretty...but we are together and that is what matters.

Daddy and kids.

Mommy and kids.

My cousin, Stephanie on the left, Uncle Al in the middle and Amanda, new cousin-in-law (to be). My cousin Eric proposed to Amanda while we were there. He used her grandmothers diamond and put a new band on it. Beautiful.

Um, yeah. Helping the guys with the Christmas lights? It was chilly and she refused to wear a coat every time we went out. So frustrating. At least we didn't argue about wearing a dress everyday. I didn't even bring any. We did have to buy a couple new clothes because she HATED everything I brought for her. Ugh!

How many men does it take to light some candy cane lights?

We went to the Henry Ford museum. They had all kinds of stuff there. It was really interesting. I don't even know what you would say to describe what is in there. Just tons of things used throughout time. Different ways they made chairs, steam, tractors, furniture, cars. Just a great big history lesson. It was really cool.

And Legos. We loved that section. Jeremy is building a gray Empire State Building, Cody is building a tower and Kaitlynn wants a castle.

Aunt Teresa, busy building.

And we said our goodbyes at Grandpa's old house. Cousin Eric bought it and is re-doing the whole thing.

Stephanie and Uncle Al. See you all at the wedding. Thank you for the great week and fun times. We had a blast!

So that is our trip to Ohio and Michigan. We had a great time and were so happy to see daddy and the Kocsisko's

One more picture...

2010-09-12T11:36:00.001-07:00

This was us at the character breakfast. We got to meet Chip N Dale, Mulan, Baloo, Pluto, Peter Pan, we danced multiple times with Goofy and ate a lot of yummy food. This was a fun morning.

Disneyland and other stuff...

2010-09-11T23:57:00.000-07:00

This was Kaitlynn's first day of preschool (which is equivalent to Kindergarten back in Idaho). She goes from 830-1130 M-F. She loves her teachers - Ms. Tammy (above) and Ms. Amy. Her favorite friend is Eva.

So Kaitlynn started school and then we went to Disneyland!!!

We are in the shuttle from the hotel on our way...

Here we are with... Pinocchio and Geppeto along with our friend Emma.

Then we walked to the Castle. Kaitlynn was thrilled that we finally made it to the "Disney Castle" that we see at the beginning of all the Disney movies.

This is a little parade that they had where they sang songs. Some pushy lady's head is in most of the other pictures so this is the best one we got.

Cody and I on our horse. Emma on hers.

Our friends Emma, Scott and Jenna.

This is our group at Lightning McQueen. Good times.

Kaitlynn with her Princess autograph book and Princess Pen. ($20)

We loved the Winnie the Pooh ride. And the Monsters Inc. ride. We rode that one 6 times in a row.

Kaitlynn went on Splash mountain...I didn't. I did get talked into California Screaming, though. My heart stopped, I am sure. I hate thrill rides.

Princess Tiana. Loved her accent.

Princess Jasmine.

Princess Belle.

Oh, yes. We had to get the Prince's signature and picture too.

This is a bear playground that the kids loved. We played for quite a while climbing the nets, sliding, and running around.

Baby Michael! This is us hanging out outside a ride while all the others went inside. Dang that 40 inch rule. Don't they know our family is just short?

Spinning on the lady bugs was great.

This is something that we didn't see all that often. Cody smiling.

Pioneer Children sang as they walked, and walked, and walked and walked. Seriously. Lots of walking

involved. The kids slept well every night.

The night show!!

Beach Day!!! Yes, I am the one in the jeans and hat. It wasn't that warm, people.

This is Kaitlynn driving a car. It is night-time so it is hard to see but she is just giggling and thought it was the greatest. I felt like I had whiplash. She is a terrible driver.

This was a super fun breakfast that Kaitlynn, Christian, Joni and I went to. You are looking at the top of Chip's head and the guy in green was Peter Pan. This guy was awesome. He is sitting there, in character, telling that guy that "I talk to Wendy all the time. Actually, she talks to me all the time because she talks too much."

Then we got to ride the tram at the very back so we got to see out the big window. It was great!

Loved the green Army guy. Woody was great too!

I don't remember what this island thing was called. Huck Finn? Mark Twain? I don't know. The kids had a great time.

We finally saw Buzz!!!

And that summarizes Disney. Not that you can summarize Disney...well, yes you can..."Spare no expense." Disney's motto passed down to you (and your wallet). Probably more pictures will be posted as they roll in from family and friends but this is all I had.

We are now back at home. I am caught up on homework. Jeremy leaves in one month (for 2 months) and then he will be home for three months only to leave again for 6 months. Too bad there is no such thing as substitutes for dads/husbands. Or better yet, hiring someone to work/travel for you so you don't have to.

Summertime

2010-08-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

We went to Boise in July for Kaitlynn's birthday and for the Miller family reunion. I have some pictures of Kaitlynn's birthday and just everyday life. Some are boring but some are funny.
This kid can eat!

Jeremy and I took Kaitlynn out to Chick FilA for dinner. She got her face painted and then we went to see Toys Story 3. It was a fun night for all of us. (Except Cody who was sick with the babysitter.) Kaitlynn's birthday at home:

We left for Boise the day after this.

I made that "Barbie skirt" cake but the barbie was too tall to fit in it. It was too late to figure anything else out so it was a pink on pink cake but she loved it.

Fun times:

At the reunion:

At Fairy Tale Land in Sacramento:

To take the slide...or not?

Cody's birthday. Jeremy had an unexpected new job come up so he had to go away for 2 weeks at the last minute. This means he missed Cody's 2nd birthday. We celebrated anyway and here is how it went down. Cody got to spend the evening with his best buddy Brielle. They had a great time, as you will see:

His cake: (close enough, given the circumstances)

Good times. Happy number 2, buddy. As a side note, someone must have told Cody that he turned 2 because he has taken on the crazy "terrible twos" in the last 2 weeks. Out-of-control crazy child.

Since daddy was gone we went to San Francisco with some friends whose daddy is also gone. We went to a museum right under the Golden Gate Bridge. It wasn't the coolest museum but we had a fun time with our friends. Here are some pics:

We walked Pier 39, ate cotton candy, In-n-out burgers, crepes (chocolate filled), watched the sea lions lay around (they stink, literally). It was fun.

Kaitlynn's funny things lately:

1. Mom, there is something in the playroom. It is either a mouse...or an alligator.

2. Mom, I don't want to take a bath or a shower. Can't you just wash me down with a big rag?

3. She was very upset that I wouldn't let her pet the dead mouse that I was throwing over the fence. I blame Cinderella...all those friendly mice.

So Kaitlynn is about to start school...and so am I. I am super excited. I was also elected to be the President of a non-profit organization so I have been busy with all that entails. Jeremy just got tasked to be the Readiness officer for Civil Engineering which...I don't know much about but it is a high visibility job but will be higher stress. After 2 days at training he said, "This isn't fun anymore". I'm sure he can handle it.

So that was our summer... Hope yours was great!

Unexpected trip

2010-06-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

It is hard to live far away from family especially when you get the call that says, "Grandpa is dying. Come say goodbye." So I left the kids with some good friends while Jeremy is working and flew across the US. I was pretty happy because he remembered who I was despite the hair color change and the weight loss. He told me that he was proud of me and that was really precious because I really have no idea what he was thinking about or talking about. But I was happy that I was told that he can't remember my brother's name. Ha ha Mike. (He deserves this because he thinks he is the chosen child.) Anyway, he seems to be getting better since we have been here. He is the most resilient man I have ever met. He has cancer everywhere, is coughing up blood, and is skin and bones but I told him he was too weak to take a shower without help and he about came off the couch at me. It's that crazy Italian blood. He might outlive my mom at this rate. Lol. He is wearing her down. Crotchity old guy. Love it.
The first tornado warning siren I have ever heard blared last night. Beautiful storm but that lightning and thunder was intense.
Cody has had a fever ever since I left but my friends, Alyssa and Theresa, have been wonderful and of course, Jeremy. I love that guy. Thanks to all of you.

Hawaii trip

2010-05-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hawaii!!!

On Monday night I called the Air Force base that goes to Hawaii. (It is 1.5 hours away). All of a sudden they had two flights listed for Tuesday morning. One at 6AM and one at 9:30AM. (I had been calling all day but there weren't any flights scheduled, so I called Monday night to see what flights they had for Wednesday - they only tell you 48 hours in advance.) I told Jeremy to get out of bed and get these bags packed. We left at 3:30AM the next morning. After some delays we got on a plane and took off at 1PM. We rode in a C5. You can look that plane up but it is a HUGE plane and we had to walk up 2 flights of stairs to get to the passenger seating area. We had regular airplane seats but they looked 20 years old. Then they close the door and there are no windows and it got really dark. We had the lights above our heads for reading like in a real plane but I had a slight panic attack. Mostly because I wasn't sure if I was in a plane or a submarine because it looked like it could have been either one. (I also began to wonder if they would ever have submarines that could take you somewhere.) Anyway, 5 hours later we arrived in sunny Hawaii where the air smelled sweet from the minute we got off the plane. We stayed on base for the first night and then went to the zoo:

This was a crazy tree outside the zoo. It was a miniature maze.

This zoo was super cool. We didn't have time for everything but they had elephants, rhinos, crocs, alligators, even the flowers and trees were worth seeing.

These turtles looked fake but they weren't. And there were plenty of animals mating, as demonstrated here. (I couldn't not take a picture.)

Giraffes.

So this is where we stayed on our second night. It was a house on the North side of the island. We were out in the country. But it was right on the ocean. We couldn't jump in it from the back, though. We just had a great view and the beaches were a five minute walk. We were right across from the Polynesian Cultural Center (No, we did not go the PCC. My kids and organized events don't mix.) and the temple.

Cody loved hiding in this closet. I don't know why. There were geckos living everywhere in this house but the worst part were the cockroaches. Ugh.

This is what we did most of the trip. Beach, Shower, eat, beach, shower...etc. There was one point where my cousins and I were doing a workout video and as we were jumping around one of the cousins had sand dumping on the floor from her swimming suit.

Nana Colleen and Papa Randy! Gotta get buried in the sand to have a real experience, right? This pic is seconds before a big wave comes and knocks her out of her hole. She didn't like that.

We didn't need a life vest for Cody. That kid wouldn't go near the water. He also hated the sand in his shoes and on his feet, so he played in the sand. He gave us lots of dirty looks when we tried to make him go swimming. He reminded me of my dad. "Leave me alone. Let me do my thing."

So we went to Pearl Harbor....My 3 year old HATED it. She cried almost the whole time. She was angry at everything. It sucked. Yes, I went to Pearl Harbor but I didn't really experience it. When we were leaving, finally, she cheered right up. GRRRR...KIDS!!!! Maybe she could see the dead soldiers. That is my way of making sense of something that made no sense and was frustrating.

Cody got a hold of the camera. Kinda cute.

Callie, Jeremy, Kevin...there are more pictures that everyone took but this is all I have.

The only other event not mentioned is the wedding. We have a rehearsal dinner and went to a fancy hotel for a bridal shower on the night before the wedding. We had an amazing "virgin strawberry banana daiquiri in a huge pineapple". Yes, we got weird looks from the bartender but it was sooooo worth it. We ordered room service and had amazing views on both sides of the room. But that was just me and my cousins.

We traveled back on Monday on a C-17 or an ABC9...or who the heck knows. It was a great trip and the plane rides were spontaneous but free! You can't beat that. I think we are going to like military life.

One more week!

2010-04-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Jeremy left March 16. So the last few months have been "trying"... as in, I have been trying not to want to kill the emotional wreck of a 3 year old. I don't know if she is missing her dad and that is what is triggering the crying fits everyday. (I mean literally - EVERYDAY.) I've also been trying to combat Cody's croup or whatever he has. It is almost sounding like asthma. He has me worried because he gets these coughing spells where he can hardly breathe. Alas, this is my last lonely Saturday night for a time. Then I have an ally and partner and maybe even a comrade to take over...but all these issues will probably be resolved by the time he comes home. Magically Kaitlynn will snap out of it and Cody will have been to the doctor for the third time by then and maybe we will be on our way to recovery. Anyway, here is our life for the last 2 lonely months. I won't post pics of me mowing the lawn, driving for 10 hours one-way in sleet and hail, (getting pulled over - but flirting my way out of a ticket), cooking dinner while Cody lies on the floor and cries, or of the garbage being taken out each week on schedule as if nothing changed. But I digress, here are some happier highlights:

(In chronological order)

Kaitlynn has been in school each day and loves it. She has dance and gymnastics and it fills up our weeks. Cody has a sign language class but he really only likes the bubble machine and we have to wait until the end to play with that so I don't always make it. We spend time with friends and watching movies so it has been fun.

Easter: We slept at my parents house and celebrated the Easter Bunny on Saturday so that the kids will know that Sunday is special. However, almost all my cousins came to town and by doing this, it pretty much screwed up all their Easter bunny celebrations as Kaitlynn is saying how her bunny came on Saturday. So I will do that at home next year. The kids got some cute clothes and "Barbies". (those rubber princess dolls) We dyed eggs and played and played and had a HUGE Easter Egg hunt at Grandma Linda's (Smith) house. The Easter Bunny brought Kaitlynn a Leapster2. Thank you "Easter Bunny" (you know who you are.) Then in mid-April, Jen came to visit us from Boston. We hung out for the week and went to the Jelly Bean factory near San Francisco, went swimming, and just did a lot of organizing. It was great to have her here and the kids loved being held by an extra set of hands. Thanks Jen! It was so nice to have you here.

I am super tired since no one has been sleeping lately and have taken to rambling, so here are some pics:

Cody and Jake on Grandpa's four-wheeler.
Gracie and Kaitlynn dying eggs with Grandma.

And this is why Kaitlynn is grounded from gum until she turns 4. Sunday morning she comes in the bathroom to ask if I can get the gum out of her hair. Apparently that means "I was trying to make a necklace out of the gum." However, it wan't just one piece of gum, it was two. One on each side. Nice necklace, huh?

And this is what happens when daddy is gone. "Where is the room for mommy', you ask? On the couch, of course.

One more week til daddy comes home. Hooray!

Wow. Has it been a month.

2010-01-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

So Jeremy got home from Officer Training School but not before I got to go to Alabama and see him graduate. I have a couple pics here...

Also, many of you remember the crazy amount of snow Boise got dumped on in December. Here is some of the fun we had.

Getting ready for Christmas (the week before):

Here are Christmas morning pics:

And now we have traveled to our first station. Beale AFB in not-sunny Northern California. It is the "rainy season" and overcast everyday. It is making me depressed because we can't go play at the playground and we aren't in our house yet. Miserable.

So here is the story of how we chose our house. I talked to the housing office a wile back and they told me that they haven't "privatized" the housing yet (basically had a company come in and modernize and take over the management of military housing) so the houses are 1250 sq feet and have a 1 car garage if you are lucky. So yeah, I had no doubt that we would not be living on base. The housing allowance was a good amount and there were lots of nice houses online.

Well, we get here and start searching and found a couple we like but they would slip out from under us. One of them Jeremy really liked and we called an hour after viewing it and it was already rented to someone else. Same story for another one - just signed the night before. So these kept falling out from under us and I was getting really disheartened and frustrated. We were praying about it and praying to find somewhere that would be "fiscally responsible" and not have a huge commute. Jeremy asked me to call some of his co-workers wives and ask them what their opinion was. So I did. They said the housing on base sucks but there are some great benefits to living on base. If you can deal with the small house, the rest is good. So bam. Instantly felt a million times better and knew that this was where we are supposed to live. Unfortunately the housing is all wood and tile floors so the kids have been running through the empty house screaming and it echoes a ton so it drives us crazy. Our stuff comes on Monday so we will move in then and I hope that the noise will be lessened. The kids are going to share a room and the third bedroom will be a playroom, junk room, etc. So 3 or four years but it will save us a lot of money and enable us to come and see all of you more often. Crazy thing though. We move in the week another family moved out. The ward we are moving into has a lot of need and apparently is now wanting of a 2nd counselor in the bishopric and a new RS president. Yikes! Our records aren't here yet, but there is a lot of opportunities to serve.

Anyway.

We got here and met our one friend and went to New Years Eve at their house. Here are a couple pics for that. Jeremy and I met 10 years ago that night. Look where 10 years has taken us.

Since then we have been hanging out in temporary housing so last week we went to Sacramento. Across the street from the zoo there is a little park called Fairy Tale Land. We HAD to go there! Kaitlynn loved it. We went to Sherwood Forest. Drove Cinderella's coach. Slid down Owl's tree slide, Saw three blind mice, hugged Clifford, walked the Crooked Mile. It was cute. Here are the pictures. (And the milkshake afterwards.)

Here are our adventures in temporary housing, featuring the kids as well as the stray cat that sits at the back door.

We had an amazing Christmas and we are so grateful for the chance to say goodbye to you all. Thank you for being such good friends and family to us. We know where our home is and always will be.

So that is where we are at now. Monday we move into our new home. New adventures await us!

Hope your New Year and Christmas were great!

Funny story:
We went to see a house in Plumas Lake (30 minutes away). Here is the story:
The sister of the owner (Rachel) met us there (she lives next door. The brother lives 2 houses down.) So Rachel met us there and gave us the tour. It is a large house and way way way nice. The whole family looks very wealthy. So then she shows me everything and invited us to breakfast at her house because her sister (the owner of the house) was on her way. We ended up inside Rachel's house for a while visiting and everything was even more fancy over there (so I was nervous about the kids breaking something). I had kind of already made up my mind that it would save us a lot of money to live on base but I didn't want to be a jerk especially after meeting the whole family. So the sister (Rachel) is telling me that they will come down to $1300 for rent (they were asking $1500) but I am not sure the owner is 100% on board with that. Anyway, they were soooo nice to us and I could tell she really wanted to rent to us but I had my mind set on staying on base. So they are visiting with me and wanting us to stay and the kids are running around and getting rowdy so Jeremy goes outside to get the kids out of the lady's house and get away from it all. I finish talking with the sisters and finally make it outside. To my surprise Jeremy is talking to this old homeless looking lady. He glares at me and I walk over to him. The lady says she is their mother and wants our phone number in case we rent the house. (She is an old Asian woman) She tells us that we look like Angels. Jeremy just wants to get in the car and leave and I had to laugh to myself about the whole thing. I feel bad that we don't want to live out there even though she is willing to bend over backwards for us to rent from her.

So then after church on Sunday I have an urgent message on my cell. It is the toothless Asian mother who is very hard to understand. She is basically saying that she wanted us to move in and we will work out the payments later. "Call me back. Right away!"

Again, they were so nice and I felt like I was breaking up with a boyfriend when I called the lady back to say we weren't interested. Anyway, the old homeless looking Asian lady talking to Jeremy still cracks me up.

Car stories

2010-01-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

This is the conversation that Kaitlynn and I had in the car on the way to California:

Kaitlynn: "Mommy."

Christina: "What?"

Kaitlynn: "I'm just saying your name."

a few minutes later...

Kaitlynn: "Mommy"

Christina: "Yeah?"

Kaitlynn: "I'm just saying your name."

After the fourth time...

Christina: Kaitlynn, Can you say a new name?

Kaitlynn: "Nope."

She must have been reading a book on how to drive mom crazy.

So we made it and this base is spread out for miles. It takes ten minutes to get from the entrance of the base to the housing area. This wouldn't be a big deal if there was something to see in between. But there is nothing. Hills, cows, and the speed limit that is strictly enforced. We are definitely not going to be living on base.

We were invited to a New Years party at a new friend's house. She had lots of yummy junk food treats and I ate them all. She invited a friend over so now I know 2 people. Yes, two. But we have only been here for a little over 24 hours so I am considering that successful.

Jeremy just informed that when he goes back to Alabama in March for 6 weeks of training it will take many days to drive there. Drive there? Really? Like, how many days will that take?

If we fly there we will have no car. Can't you rent a car for 6 weeks?

I am still weighing the options.

Happy New Year to you all. I hope Christmas was great too. The temperature here is close to 50 degrees each day. Christmas is officially over.

Jeremy's birthday

2009-11-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

Jeremy turned 29 yesterday. Sadly, he celebrated without us, but we sent him some gifts, so it was kind of like we were there. Jeremy told us that Kaitlynn got to choose everything for his special day so we had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast:

And then for lunch she wanted mac and cheese but wouldn't eat anything because she really wanted the (princess) castle cake. We all pitched in to decorate, as you can see. (watch out for Cody's side. He really likes frosting.) Also, I don't keep candy in the house so we had to use Trix to add some color and Walnuts for bricks. We have a gingerbread competition every year. This cake reminds me why the girls always lose the competition.

Nana and Papa came over and brought dinner. We called Daddy to sing to him and then she got to eat her cake.

Happy Birthday Jer!

Our Seattle Trip

2009-11-18T20:25:00.001-08:00

So we went to Seattle. This was Cody's first time on a plane. Surprisingly both kids were good. Turbulence doesn't phase them so I was content with the way it all went. Our plane was 25 minutes early into Seattle and a little early on the way back. (Yea Southwest!) I took a couple pictures on the plane but it is really hard to hold a 1-year old and take a self portrait at the same time, so here is what we got:

We had lots of yummy food to eat while we were there and it was made by the best chefs in the house, as you can see. Kaitlynn and Christian played "all da day" as we say around here, and had a great time. Cody played too but wasn't quite as involved as the other two. Kaitlynn and Christian are couch potatoes so they were the best of pals.

I made Callie and Katie go to Zumba - which is my new obsession and we had a great time. We had a conference call (led by task-master Joni) to coordinate Katie's Hawaii wedding. We also ate at an expensive fancy cheese restaurant. I felt very cultured.

It was a really great weekend. Thanks to all my family who helped make it happen.

Halloween Time!

2009-11-01T05:52:00.000-08:00

We did lots of fun things to lead up to Halloween and on Halloween. Here is our collection of pictures and stories for Halloween 2009:

We went to the The Farmstead Corn maze and activity place. We ate some burgers and dogs and played in the corn box. (sand box but instead had hard corn kernels). We also went through the corn maze. I stuck the kids in the carts you are supposed to use pumpkins for and wheeled them around. They were really cute. We went with Amy and Lee Carter and had a great time.

On Halloween, we decided to make sugar cookies at Grandma's house. This is a really silly idea when you have things to get ready for and don't really have the time, but, as you will see...They loved it. Smiles from both kids. Cody thought this was the greatest thing ever. He loves standing on that stool and being involved. Kaitlynn was asleep at that point so she wasn't there to take it away from him. I wonder if that is why he is laughing.

Now we are getting ready for trick-or-treating and a trunk or treat. Kaitlynn wanted to be a princess but then she saw Melissa being an Indian and changed her mind. She loved Melissa's face makeup so she asked Grandma to make her an Indian too. This is her cute curly hair.

It is hard to see but she has lipstick on and eye shadow. She was a cute little princess. We went to the trunk of treat first with Grandma and Grandpa. She got used to the idea of saying "magic words" and getting candy. Cody just went with the flow. He looked pretty cute as a pumpkin and all he ate all night were his suckers. In fact, he lost that one in the car and I figured he dropped it. When we got out of the car, I looked over and it was stuck to the back of his head. A smart mom would have taken him inside to wash it out. What I did was see the problem and want an immediate fix, thus a good yank on it. It ripped out his hair and he cried. Duh!

And here we all are before we go trick or treating: (Kaitlynn wasn't smiling in any of them so this is the best pic we got.)

So here is how trick-or-treating went: Kaitlynn had it figured out from the trunk or treat. We went with Abby, McKenna, Carson, Cameron, Ammon, Cody, and Amelia. She is the youngest of the four kids she walked (ran) with (Abby, McKenna, Carson). Despite that fact, she was the one who had to wait for the other kids. She would run to the door, say trick-or-treat and then "Thank you". Then she would come and tell me she said "thank you" and run to the next house. She was a model trick-or-treater. Cody, on the other had, cared nothing about going to the door. I gave him a sucker and he loved that but insisted on wandering around in the middle of the street. Of course, this was not going to fly. So Charise and I would carry him while he fought to get out of our arms. This led up to him screaming incessantly and I had to take him home before the police came and asked whether he was mine or if I was trying to kidnap him.

We had a great Halloween. Thanks to all our friends who invited us to things and kept us busy this October. Can't wait for next year... in California...but at least Daddy will be there.

random updates because I don't scrapbook.

2009-10-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here is where our summer went: I will post a pic and tell you about it. Hopefully, things will be in chronological order. If Cody looks older and then a baby again, well, then you know they aren't.

Family Reunion 2009. Honestly, I am rooting for Cody on that one.

Kyra and Anna (Kaitlynn is in there too.)

Uh, who's going to clean that up?

Kaitlynn and mommy working out.

My little guy in the tub at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's house. This is a tradition for all children.

Happy Cody. You can't beat that.

Beautiful Stanley Lake. This is what we spent our whole time doing - trying to keep Cody out of the water. If we weren't doing that, we were trying to avoid the rain that fell the whole time we were there. We all agree that a cruise sounds like a better idea next year.

This is a little long but it shows you how we got to here:

Happy First Birthday Code! Unfortunately Mom and Dad were mad at each other and we just wanted you guys to go to bed. We did celebrate at Stanley on the real day, however. And you share your birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Roderick's wedding anniversary.

You got some matchbox cars, a ball from Kaitlynn, and a few other fun things.

Next year will be better.

Summer fun.

Christian (Joni) bought Kaitlynn and Gracie these cute princess outfits. They were begging to wear them and carried their boxes everywhere we went. Finally we got back home and they could open them.

She says to me all the time "I look Good."

Here we went to the fair and had a great time:

And then our Portland trip which was awesome. We all agree that we need a bigger car, however. We drove to Portland on Wednesday, went to the zoo on Thursday, drove to Seaside, Tillamook (which was my favorite thing, I think. It was 4o'clock when we got there and we had ice cream and it was amazing.), and stayed at a beach house in Astoria on Friday, drove to Long Beach, WA and played on the beach then drove back to Portland on Saturday, and drove back to Boise Sunday. We stopped at a thousand rest stops because this is all she could say "I have to go potty" and then she would spend 10 minutes looking at all the new features of this rest stop compared to the last one. It took . When we stopped for dinner (at McDonalds) in La Grande on Sunday night I told Jeremy that he better get us home now or I am going to start crying. We had an awesome time with Kristi, Jason, Madeline and Abigail. There was a lot of driving but a lot of downtime too and we just had a really great visit. Here are some pics:

And , of course, football season. Not the same without Daddy, though.

Quick story about Cody...We had a few "say goodbye to Jeremy" parties and whenever I couldn't find Cody I would just have to look for any food that some kid abandoned and that is where he would be...eating the remains of whatever was left. You can see that whatever he had here must have been really good.

So this blog just took up 2 hours of my life. If I kept on top of things better, it wouldn't have to be so bad. Hopefully this won't take you as long to view. Now I have no catch up, though. Life is good.

Weekly updates

2009-09-27T07:44:00.001-07:00

So I have a goal to update this weekly while Jeremy is gone so he can see what we are doing each week. He has been gone almost 2 weeks and this is my first post. On top of it. I know. I just have a couple pictures and a few stories.

Kaitlynn has been busy trying to be a teenager. She is sassy and always wanting to call a friend over. She also wanted to watch the Hannah Montana movie. Here is her interpretive dance of "Hoe Down":

Cody has developed a love of shoes. Girl, boy, doesn't matter. He loves trying them on and wearing them as far as he can get before falling down.

We decorated for Halloween yesterday. I was pretty proud of myself. It actually turned out pretty cute. At night, the orange lights in the window look great.

I ran my race yesterday (Women's Fitness Celebration) - and that's all I'm going to say about that. No pics either, thank goodness.

A few weeks ago, Jeremy got sworn in. (the room is ugly and this picture is shiny and weird)

Jeremy and Stoney took Kaitlynn and Callie on their annual daddy-daughter camp out. Here are the girls afterwards while the dads unloaded the truck.

And last but not least, It is football season. Not the same without daddy, but on the bright side once it is over, Daddy will be home.

So here we are. Surviving. And today, that will be good enough.

Air Force and stuff

2009-07-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Wow have we had a great summer. We have had something going on every night. We have friends everywhere and have had a blast everyday. Among a million other things, we have been to the lake, floated the river, camped, traveled, swam, eaten out, eaten in, Bar-B-Qued, visited family, had our 9 year anniversary, Kaitlynn turned 3, Cody will be 1 next week...We have really had a fun time. Then the other shoe drops. Why? Why is that? Could we live on unemployment forever? Maybe if everyone else wasn't on it too. We could make that work. Anyway - Jeremy was supposed to hear from the AF by September 23, so he has been applying elsewhere and seeing what comes. Then we get a call fromEnergy Northwest (a Nuclear power plant in Tri-cities) and they want to interview him right away and they need him to start next week. Wow. So we drive up there on Sunday, his interview was great and we come home. The next morning he has an email from his recruiter that says "CALL ME ASAP". So he does and finds out that they already did his boards and that he has been accepted and will start officer training September 15. He will go to Alabama for 13 weeks and then we all will go and be stationed wherever the wind blows us. WOW! I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. Such a pivital decision to make. Do we choose the normal Tri-cities life that we already know and love? Do we go with the adventure and servitude of the AF? Where does HF want us, what is best for our family and kids? Lots of things to evaluate and all signs point to the logical - more money, stable living, 4.5 hours away life. However, when we first applied to the AF we knew that it was going to happen. We knew he would get in and that it was where we needed to go. So you would think the decision would be easier but I couldn't help but consider the normal life my kids would have in Richland, WA and how we could visit Kristi and Joni regularly, not-to-mention Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa. So I was plagued.

I went to a meeting and by the time I came back Jeremy had already made his decision. He had called the recruiter and said "I'm in." and got it all set up. He said that he really wants to do this and making sure a power plant doesn't melt down doesn't sound fun - so don't look back. Relief came but I still wonder what might have been. So now he will be sworn in on Monday and I can definitely say that we are taking the road less traveled. I am excited and apprehensive at the same time, but I knew that this was the answer. I just hope that it wasn't one of those times where it didn't matter which decision we made.and that either one would have been good because we definitely picked the harder one. I guess that is our lot in life... we won't take it if it resembles easy.

So Robert Frost, I hope you know what you are talking about.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

The last 6 months

2009-06-03T21:46:00.001-07:00

There is a lot that I could say about the last 6months. I have no pictures. I have nothing to show for this lapse in time. My kids are older and bigger. My heart has been softened and humbled.

I have dreaded writing this blog, but I would like to focus on the happier things that have happened and not the sad, so I write tonight so that I can move on.

I want to say how much I love my sister. I have missed you. I took you for granted. I didn't tell you how much I appreciated all the things you did for my family and especially for Kaitlynn. You were the highlight of our lives and I wish I would have told you that more. I am working on taking your happy attitude with me and being a little more like you. It took me a few months but I realized that I don't have to feel like a victim and be miserable all the time. There are many difficult things that have been out of my control, but that doesn't mean that blessings aren't there and that we haven't been loved. I am grateful for the memories and all the pictures - and some of your clothes. :) I feel how much I love you so much more now. I wish that things were different, but I have had the opportunity to see miracles in other ways. I think about you all the time. I love you Aimers and I cannot wait to see you again. Until next time...

So Jeremy lost his job in January. Amy died in a plane crash 3 weeks later. My kids had pneumonia shortly after that. There was so much to deal with and my parents... well, it has been difficult. I felt justified in jumping off Locust Grove bridge one night over a fight with Jeremy regarding a banana cream pie. Alas, I have come back to my senses and things are somewhat better - at least my burden feels lighter and I have different eyes to look at the world with.

We are currently looking into the Air Force and will hear back from them in September, so for now-we wait. I have my part time job and unemployment, so we are getting by.

I have had an outpour of people concerned for us and serving us. Many people who we hardly know that well. It has been amazing.

I am grateful for my family and friends, my ward family, and all who have expressed sympathy and love to my family and I. I hate boring blogs, but sometimes it is nice to know what is really going on with people, so there you go.

Recent news - Cody had croup, and then got his finger caught in the hinge side of the door and had to be rushed to the ER to get stitches, but it was 5 days before insurance ran out, so I will call that even. He will get his stitches out on Friday.

Jeremy and I are playing on an indoor soccer league. I am making up for all the years that I sucked at soccer and now my dad even comes to the games and doesn't think they are boring. Time is a crazy thing. Oh, and Jeremy is pretty good for never having played before.

My next blog will have pictures and stories and less tears. My sweet cousins gave me a camera so I have been taking pictures of my kids again. I'm sad to miss out on the last 6 months of growth but I am grateful to be here now.

Thank you to all who read this silly blog. And to Amy...adeiu.

Kaitlynn-isms part 2

2009-01-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

I forgot one little story. Again my little TV addict said:
I want to watch TV.
No, you've been watching it all day.
"The TV wants to talk."
No, it doesn't. It has been on all day.
She is very creative.

Here is a picture of both kids. Kaitlynn couldn't figure out the "show your teeth" but make it a nice smile concept. Cody is wondering why he has to sit next to this goofball. Peace.

Kaitlynn-isms

2009-01-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

I have been writing down the funny things that Kaitlynn has said. So here are updated pictures and the crazy things that come out of her mouth.

This was us at Thanksgiving. Anyone who got a Christmas card from us will recognize it.

So we were driving back from a trip to our friend's cabin in Pine in October and both kids were exhausted so Kaitlynn had fallen asleep watching a movie in the car and we had turned it off. We were getting off the freeway at Eagle when she wakes up from a coma, essentially, and screams "I CAN'T SEE!" Jeremy and I aren't sure if she thinks she is blind or if she is devastated that the movie turned off. But I was thinking "blind" by the way she screamed. Of course, the movie was the problem, but if anyone else had been there, they would have been as concerned as we were that she had lost her vision. Afterwards we laughed because she's such a dork. (and a TV addict)

Joni got her this super cute dress for Christmas. We had to get her picture in it. She looks great in red.

Here's my little heartbreaker.

This story tells me that she is going to be as particular and obsessive as Jeremy about repeating things exactly as they were said. (Something I do not have a knack for).
Christina: Can I have a bite of your bagel?
Kaitlynn: Yeah!
Kaitlynn gets in her chair and sees that I took a bite of her bagel.
Kaitlynn: You take a bite of my bagel? (kind of ticked)
Christina: You said yes, I could.
Kaitlynn thinks for a minute.
Kaitlynn: I didn't say 'yes', I said yeah!

hmmm. this picture looks worse the bigger I make it. I think I will leave it alone.

What a cutie!

After Kaitlynn woke up from a late afternoon nap, she was being particularly whiny. Everything was dramatic. She was asking for some candy and I told her no, that we were going to have dinner soon. She said "Mom, you want some candy?"
I told her, "No. I want to have dinner."
She said, (in a whiny voice) "You don't want dinner, you want some candy."
I can't say it wasn't entirely untrue.

OK. Seriously. I warned Jeremy that if he let her in the house with a worm, I would be upset. So sure enough, here comes Kaitlynn with this disgusting worm. I turn around and she says "Look, Mom." I scream. She looks confused, drops the worm and starts crying. Jeremy is laughing and I am trying to console her while yelling at Jeremy to get this worm out of my house and now Kaitlynn is afraid of worms. I am adamant that it is his fault. I told him the consequences if he brought any of those worms in here and he didn't listen, so now she is scarred for life and I don't feel bad about it at all. Look at that thing though. That is so gross.

There is a guy in Meridian Greens who has his house decked out for Christmas and on Friday and Saturday nights he lets kids come sit on his lap, get a picture, and gives them a candy cane and glow stick. Both kids did really well this year. The little boy behind us, though...I'm guessing he had nightmares from how upset he was at sitting on Santa's lap.

Kaitlynn has learned how to do Knock Knock jokes...This is her first attempt:
Kaitlynn: "Knock. Knock."
Jeremy: "Who's there?"
long pause.
Kaitlynn "Chocolate milk"
Jeremy: "Chocolate milk who"
Kaitlynn: Ummmm.... Chocolate milk pizza"
(laughter)

Random, I know, but she gets how they work. That's pretty good.

The last thing that our baby girl has been up to is watching Beauty and the Beast. She is fascinated with it and learning the songs from it. But she gets upset when the townspeople want to "Kill the Beast". She runs to me and says "We love our Beast!" Yes we do.
Here is a picture of her Christmas ballerina outfit she got from Grandma and Grandpa.

We had a great Christmas and need a new house to hold all the stuff we got, but we feel very loved and appreciate all the things that we received. Happy 2009!

Cody's almost 4 months!

2008-12-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

So I have some pictures to post of our next step in eating in this household. Keep in mind we just trained Kaitlynn to eat like a normal human being...

Apparently it's time for round two.

Keep in mind, the rice cereal tickles your nose which then causes you to sneeze this crap all over the place.

This is the baby we are wanting to see. A nice clean one. Or even better. A sleeping one - even with the finger in his mouth. (not sure what that was all about).

And even best...the BSU fan all-geared-up-smiling-baby! Go broncos!

Also, I've been tagged. So I have some dirt to dish out on my family members:
Kaitlynn
1. She has had a scratchy throat lately and the other day I was tending to her and she says to me, "Mom, I have a frog in my face."
2. She still can't get out of her crib. (I actually like that.)
3. She loves to cook me dinner in her kitchen. (her toy one in her room)
4. She and her daddy are the best hide and seek players. The other day Jeremy hid her in a plastic 6 inch high bin - with the lid on it. She lies flat in there all bunched up funny and you can actually put the lid on it.
5. She still weighs less than 25 pounds.

Jer...I mean, my husband. (He refused to let me use his name)
1. He is a holiday nut. He loves to have the house decorated and ready to go for the holidays.
2. He took Kaitlynn on a daddy-daughter camping trip this fall. It was raining and they still went.
3. He loves motorcycles and Fox brand clothes. He only wears 3 colors of shirts - white, gray, and navy blue. (you should see our closet)
4. He is a great dad and husband. He'd do anything for his family - including everything in his power to please a crabby wife. (Who, me?)
5. He is the handiest man you could ever have. Something breaks and he is on top of fixing it. It is awesome. Or if you need something high up somewhere (tree, cupboard, etc) - he is equivalent to a monkey. (I believe part of that is because he is an adrenaline junkie and likes the riskiness.)
Oh, I am looking at her blog. I guess I am supposed to answer these questions:
1. How long have you been married? 8 years
2. How long did you date? 6 months January to July 2000
3. How old is he? Just turned 28
4. Who is taller? He is, definitely.
5. Who sings better? I do!
6. Who is smarter? Ummm, he is. Logic and street smarts. But I have social skillz. :)
7. Who pays the bills? I do.
8. Who does the laundry? I do.
9. Who sleeps on the right side? I do.
10. Who mows the lawn? He does! (Whew. This was starting to feel like a one-sided conversation.)
11. Who cooks dinner? I do.
12. Who is the first to admit that they are wrong? Probably me. Is he ever wrong?
13. Who kissed who first? I don't know. Does it matter? Shoot. He probably remembers.
14. Who wears the pants? I do and they are tight and uncomfortable!

Now I will tag Charise, Melinda, and Carrie. 5 things. 2 family members. 7 days.

My next blog should have some of our family pictures that we just had taken. Yea! (Please remember that I am still learning how to format this stupid thing, so bear with me. I anticipate that by my 15th post, I will have the pictures the right direction and centered. I was just happy to get the writing where I wanted it. Silly blog.)

The Real Halloween Blog

2008-11-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

I realized that the last blog was just a bunch of random pictures and didn't even have Kaitlynn in her costume, so here are more pictures and our Halloween summary.

We had a Miller family Birthday Party on Thursday October 28. We sent out cute invitations and asked everyone to bring a "scary" pizza. The picture below was Jenny's entry. We thought they were so cute. She won. Jeremy made a good one too, but I am a terrible picture taker and the picture is blurry. The other sisters brought cute pumpkin shaped ones from Papa Murphys and Jeremy's mom brought an upgraded one from Pap Murphys. (She added cute stuff to it, but we were hungry and ate it before I thought to take a picture.) It was a fun night.
Kaitlynn naturally has crazy hair, so Jeremy wanted to play on that and have her be a "Mad scientist" for Halloween. When we tried to mess her hair up (because it was laying flat that day) all that happened was the Mousse and hairspray weighed it down. Her "lab coat" looked a little too big and the picture-taker forgot to have her hold her "brain in a jar" and goggles. So right here she looks like a drug addict. Just know that we had good intentions.

Here's a happy Cody. A rare sight, but welcome anytime.

Here is Kaitlynn before we go trick-or-treating. She looked super cute in her Nemo costume and people loved seeing her at the door. One lady even took her picture because she thought she was so cute. (We don't know that lady). You could ask her to wiggle her tail and she would put her hands out in front like she was swimming and shake her booty. It was super cute!
We went with some good friends who have three little girls (one is Kaitlynn's age) and scored a bunch of candy. It was a low-key Halloween and we had a great time. We came home, ate popcorn, and watched Harry Potter afterwards. I have heard of people having the Great Pumpkin come (where you throw out all the candy and give the kids a gift the next day) but I can't fathom throwing out expensive candy. I usually don't eat it and I would love to start that tradition. I guess I would need to start a new tradition of being less cheap first.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

The first picture is Kaitlynn's pumpkin "with a smile" (see previous blog). These are just some pictures from when we went to the pumpkin patch and afterwards in Kaitlynn's and Cody's matching pajamas. She thinks it is so fun to have matching PJs like Cody. Cody crying in his car seat is his state prior to the pumpkin patch trip. (Hooray. This should be fun!) Again, just some random stuff.

Bad hair week

2008-10-24T17:41:00.001-07:00

So I decided I needed a change of hair color. I was at the store and debated between two hair colors, thinking the whole time that I never wanted to dye my hair one color again. (I prefer highlighting) Monday I dyed it an orangish red. Tuesday decided I didn't like it. Thursday I called Melinda and got it re-dyed. Thursday night (when I got home) Kaitlynn says "Montana" (meaning Hannah Montana) and Jeremy said "Why did you change it?" which helped me decide I didn't like it. Friday I went back to Melinda's and had low lights put in and I like it better. Probably damaged it quite a bit, but I got the change I was looking for.
Enough about me, we took Kaitlynn and Cody to the Pumpkin Patch this evening. Kaitlynn found a pumpkin that has "a smile". (It had an indention that swoops like a smile.) So we had to get it. It weighed over 30 pounds.
The other event of the day - I have been holding out on getting gas and haven't gone anywhere all week because prices have been dropping and I wanted to buy it at less than $3 a gallon. So all week it has been 3.11 and today it dropped to 2.99. So I filled up at 11:15 and was excited to have gotten such a good deal. ONE HOUR later it was at 2.92 and at 3:30 it was at $2.82 and this evening $2.76. Seriously! I want my money back. All $3.75 of it.

Life in general

2008-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

These pictures have nothing to do with my story.
So I decided to dye my hair "light natural blonde" because my roots were getting long and dark. Well, this, of course, was not the change I was looking for so now I am more like light-unnatural-orangish-red. Perfect for Halloween if you ask me. Luckily I have a good friend who has squeezed me into her schedule today to take care of this much needed change. On the other hand I am dealing with 3 sick people. Kaitlynn, who threw up all over her bed Tuesday night and Cody, who is in a constant state of ill-feeling and Jeremy, who is downing Aireborn like candy. Can I move out? I wondered. Instead, I put the two kids to bed and pulled out the chocolate peanut butter ice cream and ate it straight out of the container. There goes my whole week of exercising. :) Oh well, I feel better.

Oh Cody!

2008-10-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why I get the fussy babies who can't tolerate food, but that is my lot in life - fighting food. Whether it be eating less for myself or trying to keep it down for my kids. It must have designated itself my eternal nemesis. So my little Cody has had a difficult time keeping food down. So much so, that we had a procedure done at the hospital where he drank Barium and they X-rayed his little tummy. To make a long story short, he basically has acid reflux, a little bit of colic, and possibly pyloric stenosis. (Which means that the spot where his tummy drains into the small intestine might be a little too tight. This requires surgery.) However, we are working on the acid reflux and trying to avoid surgery. He started meds for acid reflux yesterday and there have been a lot more minutes than normal of smiles. Yea! We will shoot for that everyday - just a few more minutes than the day before.
As for Kaitlynn, She and I went for a little drive yesterday to get Cody's medicine and as usual, she talked my ear off, but we were having fun. I had some issues at the pharmacy and had to make a few phone calls on my cell. Then I called Aunt Jenny for something, and then Grandma, and on the last phone call Kaitlynn says "Are you on 'da phone again, Mommy?"
"Yes, I am."
"You're a bad mommy."
I am not sure what the correlation is between being on the phone and being a bad mom. She can't possibly know that it is considered unsafe (while driving in the car), nonetheless, I had to laugh at this judgement. She must have just wanted more of my time. Either way, I found it pretty humorous. Gotta love these kids!

Sprinkle me with patience-My first blog

2008-10-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

I had an experience today that I felt was significant enough to warrant starting a blog of my own. I happily agreed to watch my friends 2 year old little girl today while she had some things to do thinking that Kaitlynn and her friend would play and I would get some things done and all would be great. My first mistake is believing that 2 year-olds play together. They seem to just play near each other and want the toy the other one has. Either way, they want to see what the other is up to so they stick together. As I am trying to put Cody to bed, the girls keep running in my room and wanting to see what I am doing. I shoo them out of the room with promises of a snack as soon as Cody falls asleep. They finally go downstairs and I hear arguing and Kaitlynn comes to tell me that her friend pushed her and etc etc. But then there are happy noises. Even - (can it be?) - giggling and laughing! They are finally having a good time and they are downstairs where I asked them to be. So take a few extra minutes to tidy up after Cody goes down and then head downstairs. I turn the corner to enter the lower living room and discover the most obnoxious mess. The girls have gotten the sprinkles out of the pantry and are shaking them out over my new rug. These tiny nighmares are all over the floor and everywhere. Her friend had a puddle of them in her dress, the girls' hands are colored, and then I see the colored dots in their hair. You have got to be kidding me. I just vaccuumed, of course, but that issue pales in comparison to what it takes to fix this mess. I scoop as many as I can from Kaitlynn's friend's dress and get them in the kitchen to wash up, give them a snack and send them outside. Then I pull out the vacuum and begin a futile attempt to clean the mess up. Those stupid dots are too light for the vacuum to really suck up and once I turn off the vacuum, I hear them all shuffle down the hose. Not-to-mention the fact that when you run the beater bar over them it shoots each sprinkle like a sling shot, so there are more further away in the rug than just ground zero. So I roll the rug up and take it outside. I look around and decide that the best place to shake it out is the trampoline. But that doesn't get all of them out so I flip onto the grass and kick it and bang it, but there are still beads flying everywhere. So I take it back inside. Now I get to vacuum grass up off of it as well and I am certain there are colorful sprinkles still embedded in the strings of the rug, and under the couches. Of course, there is a colorful array of sprinkles all over the trampoline and the back patio, so even if I got most of it out, they will be back. All of this made me realize that what my friends who have 2 year-olds say is true. I seriously don't know how they keep up with these kids. I completely understand now what they mean when they say they clean up one mess after the other. Kaitlynn is no angel, but she lacks the curiosity that other kids seem to have, so I can humbly say to those poor mothers at their whits end: "I finally get it."