And she's off...

Millie has been taking a few steps here and there for the last few weeks, but this past weekend she finally took off! She is so proud of her self, and you can just see the determination to catch up with her brothers in her eyes!

Christmas 2010

Well Christmas had come and gone and we had SO much fun! This month has been so crazy busy, but all in a good way. Two birthday's, Jerome's family in from Maryland for a week, a visit from Santa & Mrs. Clause at the Trobridge's house and then Christmas at my parents with all the cousins!


Let's see if I can complete this blog entry before February now...



We spent an evening with the Trobridge Family and were lucky enough to have a visit from Santa & Mrs. Clause! They talked with each child and even read them a story! Millie was not quite as excited as the boys, but she did better than we expected too! Millie wore her adorable red sweater dress from her Godmother Latefe...which of course, matched my Goddaughter Sophia's dress.

Christmas Morning!!

The kids had a blast opening up their gifts and at the last minute we decided to stay home Christmas day and go up to Bluffton on Sunday. It was a good decision, because we all enjoyed a very relaxing day at home! Here are a few of the kids "favorites":

CADEN

Caden was all about "Science" this year. He got a huge art box which he keeps all of his "science supplies" in, a few experiement kits, a microscope kit from Aunt Micki and night vision goggles which double as lab goggles when needed. After a day of all of this spread throughout our entire kitchen, I decided he needed his own "lab" in the basement playroom. So here he is with all of his supplies, taking experiement notes in his journal! :)

Eli

Eli's favorite gifts this year were his pillow pet, bendaroos, and the brownie pan. A little background, Eli LOVES anything that is for sale on TV. He is addicted to infomercials. He has told Grandma Ringger that she needs a "bump it" because she puts a curler in her hair, he has told me that I need a different mattress to sleep on so I won't be so tired in the morning, etc. He also received 2 new games for his DS, which he is addicted to. The New Year is going to be bring a lot rules for him and his video games which I am sure he is NOT going to like.

MILLIE

Millie got all kinds of fun things this year from Santa. A few ride toys that she zooms around in already, a ball popper toy which she cracks up at, and much to her father's dismay a baby doll and stroller which she ADORES! Here is a video of her loving her baby...

Happy Birthday Millie & Eli!!

Well this weekend was a whirlwind of activity! We started the weekend with Eli's 5th birthday party at a place called Bounce U. I didn't seem to get any pictures at this party because I was trying to keep up with 17 little boys running around hyped up on cake! Eli had a great time though. He is growing up so much, it really is so fun to watch him hanging out with all of his school buddies. :)

So after we cleaned up from that party, then in came the Ringger family on Saturday and party #2 began! Our little Millie turned 1 this week and she had a Hawaiian Luau party with lots of friends and kids! She was a doll and loved all of her new gifts and even was a good sport thru her several outfit changes throughout the day!

Daddy & his princess...

Birthday girl and her cake...

Want some Daddy?

Hula girl cake

Snowy Sunday

We're having a lazy snow day today. Poor Eli has an ear infection but he still managed to get out and have a little fun. About 5 minutes after this video I noticed that his ear was actually BLEEDING out of it!! Oh my goodness, after a momentary freak out on my part, I think we are all recovered. He is antibiotics now and I am praying that some day our whole house may be healthy again!






Also, here is a picture of Caden with Santa at our church. Eli couldn't go since he was sick. Caden was supposed to deliver Eli's "list" to Santa for him (bendaroos & a DS) but he kind of froze with nervousness. We finally just decided that we would mail him our lists instead of telling him.

One quick one...

Okay, just one cute picture. Here is the set up...last week Jerome and I went out do dinner during the week and had a sitter. When I got home, the sitter told me that the electricity had blinked on and off a few times during the night and that Caden was super nervous about that. Just a little background here...one of Caden's prayers every night is that the electricty does not go out during the night. It happened about a year ago in the middle of the night and he still remembers. The boys sleep with a BRIGHT nightlight and LOUD noisemaker, so no electricity makes a big difference in their room! Anyway, the sitter told me that she let him take a flashlight to bed with him and this is how I found him. It made me so sad that I had to wake him up to tell him we were home and that he was okay. Poor lovey!!!

So boys can be sweet too...

Lately I have been amazed by how much my boys love their little sister and likewise. I can honestly say there has never been one ounce of jealousy shown by either of the boys towards her. They just adore her every single move, and it just warms my heart.



The other day we were just getting home from a visit to grandma & grandpa Ringgers so we had been in the car for about 2 hours (including at least 2 roadside bathroom stops for the boys). While I unloaded the car, I put Millie in the stroller and propped her up in the driveway to watch the boys ride their bikes. After about 10 minutes of unloading I came back to get her out of the stroller. We were all looking rough that morning since we pretty much woke up and got in the truck to drive home so Millie was still her in PJ's, but when I came back to get her she had a perfectly placed little pink bow in her hair that was definitely not there 10 minutes earlier. It just about made me cry that one of my boys (I didn't even ask who did it), found a bow somewhere in the truck, ground, or where ever and thought that sissy needed to look pretty even in the midst of all the craziness.

So anyway, here is a video of Millie CRACKING UP at Caden and some cute pictures of the boys!!








Here is Eli at preschool, they had a real helicopter come visit the school and they all were able to dress up and pretend to be a pilot!

Here is Caden's first Kindergarten picture...

Catch up...

Okay, once again way behind on my blog. We have ended the summer with a BANG and have had no time for "blogging". :) We spent 10 days in Orlando with my mom & dad and sister & neice. We had such a great time, even though I am quite sure that I have NEVER been so hot in my entire life. One of the many highlights was visiting one of the Disney waterparks and being able to actually snorkle with sharks & stingrays. Caden is obsessed with sea creatures so we were just SURE that he would go crazy over this...but of course nothing ever goes as expected. Eli whined the salt water was too cold (hello, it's only 110 flippin' degrees here!) and Caden went bonkers when he put the snorkle on because I guess the sanitizer they used to sterilize them burned his skin. Geesh, come on!!!! He did perk up though and tried it a 2nd time with Grandpa Ringger and was pretty excited to finally see some sharks swimming around beneath him!

Okay, so what else....we also had a fun weekend with my other sister and her girls. They came down for a day of boating on Geist and then the next day we continued our annual tradition and took them to the State Fair. Lots of good fair food, stinky animals, and people watching. The boys enjoyed a "catch and release" exhibit at the DNR area. They were not happy with the workers because they wouldn't let them cast the poles themselves and I think I heard both of the boys tell the workers that "they didn't need their help". But in the end, they both caught a few fish, so it was a good day.

Finally, Caden started Kindergarten this year. So without going into too many details after 3 days in, we need some prayers for our little guy. He is just not transitioning well so far and it's been hard on us all to send him there everyday literally kicking & screaming. It's gotta get better though, so I am just trying to stay optimistic...I mean come on, it's Kindergarten, it can't be that bad, right??? :)

So I think that is all I am going to have time for this morning...here are some pictures from all our fun. OH, and one short video (sorry about it being sideways)...we THINK Millie might be saying her first word, and of course, it's Da, da, da, da...that girl is crazy about her Daddy for sure!

ORLANDO 2010

Eli at our pool...the best part about our condo was that we had our own little pool in the backyard!

Caden with all of his "Bass Pro Shop" gear. The cried every single morning that we MADE him go to Disney World, but the day Grandma & Grandpa took him to the Bass Pro Shop it was all smiles. He made his own "store" at the condo and we all had to come visit and shop.

Mommy's little Diva...

Grandpa Ringger and the Adams' Crew

Millie spent most of her week at this door watching her brothers get in and out of the pool...

sharing secrets already!

Stella Bella

GONGAWARE VISIT & STATE FAIR 2010

Lacey & the girls in Geist

Eli & Lucy petting the baby pigs...

Milkshakes from the Dairy Bar!

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

Getting ready for the bus!
Where is that bus anyway??

Oh... how deceiving this picture is! This is obviously day 1 and before he knew where this bus was taking him! :(

Millie hanging at the bus stop in her PJ's

We crack up because when she says "da da" it sounds so desperate...like she knows the only person in this house that is going to come save her is her dada. LOL

She's on the move!

Millie started crawling this week and man she is fast already! Her favorite places to "go" are under any piece of furniture that she can hit her head on. I do think she enjoys her new freedom though!

Here she is at Grandma & Grandpa's...not sure how this transpired, she was under the supervision of Daddy & Aunt Ginger! lol

Just a picture of the boys at a wedding last weekend...they are getting so big!

House Project

Just wanted to share some pictures of our most recent house project. We have hated our very boring entryway since we moved into house, so we finally decided to change it around. Of course, I didn't think to take pictures of it BEFORE we started, so this is the best picture I could find of it....basically small and lackluster. I am really happy with the turnout, now we just need to landscape around it and we will be done!

BEFORE...

AFTER!!!!

I put the boys in this one, so you can see how big the columns are in comparison....much bigger and nicer!

Summer Fun...

Summer is flying by and we are busy as ever around here! Here are a few pictures from the fun things we have done in the last couple weeks:

Here are the boys at Kings Island. It was only a 100 degrees the day we went, we just got off the log ride where we TRIED to get wet the entire time.

I usually don't buy the park pictures they offer, but I just happened to stop and look at this one and it was too hilarious to pass up. Eli was a bit afraid of the rides this year. ha!

Millie all dressed up for church...thank you Aunt Micki for my pretty dress!

Such a fun cute idea, so not fun or cute in real life. This was best of about 8,000 pictures that I took of the three of them. I had to save her from her wild brothers about 2 seconds after this picture.

More 6 months pics...

Here are the professional pictures we had done for 6 months...she is getting so big!!

Caden's Graduation

Okay, two posts in one day...whoa, this is like a record for me! I finally got around to downloading my pictures from my camera so I am playing catch up!

Caden had his graduation ceremony last week and will officially start Kindergarten in the fall. He is excited, but is a little nervous, because I guess the word on the preschool street is that Kindergarten is A LOT of work, and we all know Caden is not that into work. :(

Daddy & Caden at the graduation ceremony. I think they are looking more and more alike!

Caden and his best friend Fuma. Fuma didn't speak English in the beginning of the year, so it was a pretty one sided friendship. He speaks really well now though, so I am glad it stuck. Caden is very proud to tell everyone that his best friend is from Japan. :)

This is Caden and ONE of his girlfriends named Greta. He must like the older girls because she is almost a full year older than him (hence the height difference, although Caden is a bit of a shorty!).

Finally, here is just a picture of Eli being silly. I feel bad that he is only one that didn't get a picture up today! And before you ask, yes he is getting a haircut TODAY actually. I think he looks a lot like Richard Simmons here! :)