Coming this weekend!

Cowgirl Myla and her 5th Birthday

Wanted: for felony cuteness and random spouts of sass. This couldn't be more true. This girl has both. For her birthday she wanted to celebrate cowgirl style...and so we did! It was a great time and her friends from school and our neighborhood came. We made cowgirl necklaces, ate a bunch of junk food, decorated cupcakes, painted fingernails and bossed around the mom (yeah, that's me). Myla was in heaven.

The Cowgirl

For her birthday Myla got her own room with a new bed. She was so excited. We've had the three kids in the same room for awhile. It's a pretty big room and they wanted to be together. But its time for the girl to get her own girl room. She loves it and so do I.

Teacher Hope

Myla just finished MELP (pre-K) and adores her teachers: Teacher Hope and Teacher Cece. She will be a big kindergartener next year. Her teachers were awesome and she is so excited to go to kindergarten.

Myla with Teacher Cece

Myla is also in dance and had her big recital a few weeks ago. They did a sleeping beauty number and a pirate tap dance. So cute!

Myla is 2nd from the left doing her sleeping beauty.

Myla at 5:
* determined
* sweet
* sassy
* so smart
* observant
* loves getting into makeup
* hates getting her hair done (by me anyway)
* loves swimming and playing t-ball
* loves her daddy and grandparents
* has tea parties and loves to paint nails
* loves helping mom in the kitchen
* wants a puppy (not gonna happen)
* is very social and loves playing with friends
* best friend in Kaitlyn from MELP
* is ready for kindergarten!!

The Gavman turns 3!

Gavin is 3!! Where has the time gone!?! June is a big and busy birthday month for us, and Gavin kicks it off with his birthday. We had a little party at a small splash pad with Gavin's friends and cousins and we had so much fun! I wish I caught more pics. I managed an unblurry one of the birthday boy.

Gavin:
* so sweet
* makes goofy faces
* is charismatic
* talks non-stop
* loves joy school (on summer break)
* misses his "fwens" when we leave joy school
* loves his brother and sister and copies everything they do
* loves to say and do stuff to make us laugh
* can be bribed to do anything with the promise of apple juice
* loves swimming and riding his tricycle
* is obsessed with Thomas and all things train
* loves his daddy and is so excited when he comes home
* is about to move to a big boy bed
* loves to hold up his three fingers and say "I am freee!" when asked how old he is
* is mommy's little buddy when the older kids are in school

We're still here...

Wow am I a lousy blogger. I go through phases, and this was a down for me. Obviously. :) Since there is way too much to catch up on, here is what we have been up to recently. Baseball and t-ball. Fun, fun, fun. The kids loved it. The parents...loved and loathed it. It was so fun to watch the kids. But at 2 games per kid per week for 6 weeks we are ready to get back to normal life. And we only had 2 kids in it. I can't imagine how it is for families with more than that. Anyway, their coaches were fantastic and we are so grateful for their efforts! I'm sure it's not easy. Here are some shots of the kiddos in actions:

Ok, I can't upload pics right now. I guess blogger is being silly today. But I've typed this out, so darnit I'm posting it. :) I'll try again later.

And in other super exciting news: KEVIN GOT A NURSING JOB! Yes, I shouted that. He graduated exactly a year ago, so we've been trying for awhile now. It's a great opportunity with a great company. He starts May 31st and he is thrilled. Have you ever seen Kevin thrilled? Let me tell you, it's quite a sight. :) Our summer vacation plans had to be put on hold, but it's completely worth it. He'll be doing a paid internship with a 95% chance of being hired full-time after that. It's perfect for him.

Gavin is loving joy school and loves his friends. Everytime we leave he says, "I miss my friends." It's been such a wonderful thing for him and I've really enjoyed my time with the other 2 year olds. They are such amazing little people.

Cade and Myla are loving school. They have less than 2 weeks left and then summer vacation!! We have fun things planned and I'm just looking forward to spending time with my kiddos, sleeping in a little, and not being a taxi for 8 weeks. :)

Woo Hoo!!

We just received wonderful, fantastic, awesome news!! Kevin took the NCLEX yesterday, and, thanks to modern technology, we already know that he passed! He is now an official, full-fledged RN. He has been working so hard the past months studying. Yesterday he came home from the test happy. That was a good sign. Then today, when I was checking the Arizona Board of Nursing website, there it was! He passed! I won't lie, I cried a tear or two, or lots. I'm so proud of him!

SOOC New Years Eve

Straight Out Of Camera Saturday (or in my case, Sunday) hosted by Marvelous Mommy:


This was taken on New Years Eve. We got some fireworks to light and the kids loved watching them. Well, all the kids except Gavin. He was not a happy camper. A double ear infection will do that to you.

I've got a case of PCD

Post Christmas Depression, that is. Do you ever get it? It's kind of crazy, after all our family left and most of the holiday decor was put away, a wave a sadness hit me. Where did Christmas go this year?? I feel like I barely got to enjoy it. With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season -- ward parties, family parties, shopping, school events, baking, trips to the ER and winter illnesses, along with normal living, it was just insane. I didn't take one picture on Christmas day. Not one. I was just too exhausted and overwhelmed to even think about the camera. In fact, after all the presents were opened and grandparents visited, we trudged home and crashed on the couch and watched movies. It was so nice to just do nothing.

And then the whole family got sick and the PCD set in. I don't know. I know this is kind of a depressing post, but it does inspire me to do some things different for next year, so it's not SO busy that we just get overwhelmed and really lose the true meaning of Christmas. I love Christmas and busyness of it. That's what makes it special, cramming in so many activities and spending extra time with loved ones and friends and baking and shopping. I love that stuff. So what was different this year?? I'll have to think about that.

On a brighter note, we had an awesome New Years Eve. My mom came over and we watched movies and played Rock Band. Then, around 11pm, Kevin's family rolled into town. Ron, Lynn, Aubrey, Aiden and Oliver spent the weekend here and we had a blast. We went to the movies, played at Jump and Shout, rode our scooters, and ate yummy food. We are so glad they came to visit.

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas we wish you all peace, joy and love. As cliche as it sounds, we really do mean it! We rejoice in the true meaning of this season, Jesus Christ. It has been interesting this year, teaching our children that we are celebrating Jesus and not Santa Claus and presents. They have grasped it in a way that has humbled and amazed me. This time of year is truly magical. Merry Christmas!

Snippets

Just some snippets of the McMillan kids:

Super sweet Gav. Love this kiddo!

Ever wish you knew what your kid was thinking??

She'll do anything to make us laugh!

This is how Myla came home one day from preschool. There was a face painting center where they got to pain their own faces. She got pretty...artistic. It took some scrubbing (and lots of Myla tears), but it finally came off.

Favorite past time - jumping off the couch. Most of the time I'm nagging them to quit jumping on the couch, but they were having a great time and were getting along. I chose to not fight the battle this day. :)

I went in to check on the kids before I went to bed and found Cade like this, covered in chocolate (at first I wasn't sure what it was and was relieved when I smelled chocolate instead of poo). We wouldn't let him have a cookie right before bed and it seems he took matters into his own hands. Cade stole the cookie from the cookie jar and forgot to eat it before he fell asleep. It was in crumbs all over and around him.

Long time no see!

I am so behind on blogging that I don't even know where to start! Do I go back over the past 4 months and try to catch up or do I just start now? Right now I'm just choosing to start now. :)

Family pictures! I love family pictures. We haven't had them taken since Gavin was 6 months old. Seeing that he is 2 now, we thought it was time. Here's some picture overload:

When Life Slows Down

Lately, all my time has gone to three things: my sweet family, my new job (creating curriculum and lesson plans), and trying to keep my house from becoming a hazard to our health (I'm not sure I'm succeeding there.). I have no time to blog, no time to watch my favorite shows, no time to work out and barely any time to sleep. Life is good. We like being busy. We feel very blessed right now with the way things are working out in our life. I'll get the hang of our new schedule soon and then I'll get back to my favorite pasttimes. So here are some things I want to blog about when life slows down:

End of summer fun stuff
Cade starting Kindergarten
Myla starting MELP and preschool
Me teaching Language Arts/English at a small charter school
Gavin's cuteness
Kevin's radness or raddness (I type it both ways and I can't decide which it is)
Our super fun trip to Utah
Jay and Anna's wedding
A few fun recipes to share
Birthdays
Mommy Moments

Kroger Giftcard Winner

Julie is the winner! She said:

No kids in school yet. However, I'm looking forward to joy school with my dd.

Congrats Julie! My friends are starting a joy school too. Hope yours goes great!

Sum-Sum-Summertime

Summer is coming to a close. We have mixed feelings about it around here. The kids are SO excited to start school, but it's been fun to play and sleep in and not stick to much of a schedule. So, what have we been up to this summer? Our summer began by hanging out with the UT McMillan cousins! It was such a treat. Ryan and Aubrey and their two sweet boys came and stayed a week. It was a week jam packed with swimming, Chuck E Cheese, bbq's, splash park, and more swimming.

Aiden and Cade

Gavin and Ollie

I found my point and shoot camera and I was a little excited to see what was on it. It's been awhile. I love this picture. Could he get any cuter??

Um, who is that? Not my husband. :)

We went to Jump and Shout at Riverview several times. The kids love that place. As do I. It's air conditioned, the kids get out and exercise and it's very family friendly. What's not to love?? They have special family days where admission is discounted. Perfect!

Slip n Slides

What do you do when you don't have a pool? Bust out the slip n slide!

Seeing Lifehouse and Daughtry with my mom and sister.

(A highlight of my summer!)

Swimming with friends!

Playing in the monsoon rains.

Celebrating National Cheesecake Day!
This was a very yummy and easy cheesecake. I got the recipe here.
The only thing I did different was double the crust and make the crust from graham crackers instead of chocolate cookie crumbs. It's a must try.

Hope you all enjoyed your summer!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway. It ends tonight!

Back to School $25 Kroger Giftcard Giveaway

Can you believe it's that time already?? Around here, we have less than two weeks before school is in session. My oldest is starting kindergarten and I've got a huge case of the school jitters...and I'm not even the one starting school! Anyway, we've been doing some back to school shopping here and there. I've found that history definitely repeats itself. Cade, faced with a zillion cool backpacks to choose from, chooses a Super Mario Brothers backpack. He's all about Mario these days. He even told me he will name one of his ten (yes, TEN) kids Mario. I have to giggle.

I digress...

Coming up on August 8th through August 21st, Kroger stores (Fry's around here) will be having an "Add Up the Savings" Event where you can stock up on all your favorite General Mills and Kimberly Clark items. (If you're anything like me, you need to know that those items include brands like: Cheerios, Huggies, Yoplait Yogurt, Pillsbury cookies and biscuits, Kleenex, Betty Crocker brownies, Cottonelle and Lucky Charms.) When you buy 8 of the participating items you'll receive $4 off. All you couponers, get your coupons ready!

On top of that, be sure to take advantage of the special Bonus Box Tops offer. All you have to do, if you haven't already, is sign up at www.rewardyourschool.com. Once you register, you automatically get 5 bonus box tops. You will also receive custom offers for box tops for buying participating items. These offers are:

* Buy any 4 Box Tops items and get 10 Bonus Box Tops

* Buy any 8 Box Tops items and get 25 Bonus Box Tops

The offers you select are loaded directly onto your Kroger Shopping Card to be redeemed once you purchase the item. They go directly to the school of your choice, so you don't have to clip and save anything. I like that feature because I can't pretty much assure you they would never get to the school.

Okay, still with me? Now is the fun part: the $25 Kroger gift card giveaway! To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment. Any old comment. Need ideas? How are you feeling about school starting? Happy? Sad? A little of both? What do you do to prepare? How do you deal with the Mommy school jitters? What do you do with all your "free time" once the kids are in school? (Funny, huh? I've gotten that question a few times.)

You have until Thursday, August 5th, 11:59pm to enter. Good luck! I look forward to checking out all the back to school blogging that will take place. :)

** General Mills, Kimberly Clark and Kroger Foods provided the giveaway gift card through MyBlogSpark.

Camping 2010

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. This summer has been busy! Kevin and I have been working a lot more this summer, so it's been crazy. We decided we wanted to get out of town for a weekend so last weekend we went on a campout with my brother and sister and their families. It was so fun! We haven't been camping since Cade was a baby, and it had been too long. We threw this little camping trip together last minute. We went up to Canyon Creek where we used to camp as kids. It was perfect. There weren't a lot of other campers and the weather was great. Here are some pics of the fun:

The McMillans

The Haws's

The Webbs

All the Webb cousins

Playing at the creek

Cade

Kevin and Gavin

Gavin on the swing

Cade on the swing

Myla on the swing

I have so many other pictures, but it takes so long to upload these days. Maybe I'll get around to uploading more soon.

I learned a few things this camping trip:

* Pack double the clothes for the kids you think you'll need.

* Don't make your daughter go to the bathroom behind a tree instead of the outhouse in the middle of the night when she has never done it before...even if there is a random bear roaming the woods. She'll inevitably get her pjs totally wet. That is where packing double the clothes for the kids comes in.

* I really don't like sleeping in a sleeping bag. Claustrophic feeling. I do really like sleeping on top of one though.

* A little rain is heavenly. A lot of rain, combined with windshield wipers that bust in the middle of the storm while driving down the winding highway, can be almost disastrous.

* Just when you think you can't get any dirtier, you can.

* Just when you think you can't have more fun, you can.

* Just when you think you can't love your family any more, you can.

* Just when you think you can't be attacked by any more gigantic beatles while trying to play games at night, you so can!

* Just when you think you can't possibly laugh any more, you can.