Happy Halloween

Highlights of my day...

Voting without my make-up on with two little cutie-patooties in tow with their pj's still on.

Going grocery shopping with Laney in her silver high-heeled dress up shoes (they also have pink feathers on them). Reese did her usual Titanic "Queen of the World" pose as I desparately held onto her. I'm sure the check-out guy was pleasantly surprised that I had make-up on at this point.

Watching Jason do his big girls' hair for their trick-or-treating expedition. Reese was a ladybug, Ashlyn a cheerleader, and Laney was Tinkerbell. Cutest things ever! (one picture is from Laney's school last week when they dressed up and had a pumpkin patch day)

Seeing Reese enjoy her gigantic lollipop that our pastor's wife gave her as we stopped by their house. She thoroughly enjoyed her first trick-or-treating experience!

Whew

Seriously, life with three young children is amazingly rewarding and I love it beyond what words can express...but it is also exhausting. And I know some of you who read this have more than I do. I applaud you!

Thursday night we were out of food at the house and Ashlyn's school had Chic-fil-a night so I sent Jason and all 3 girls off to give myself an hour of quiet. The girls had been great all day. No matter what this is a house full of girls and you know that girls talk immensely more than boys ( I love communication so I'm not complaining). However, I don't think Laney had stopped talking from the moment she got up that morning. It was quite amazing. So I ate in quiet for about 15 minutes which was heavenly and then got to work. I have to tell you, it is so hard for me to clean when the girls are at home. (So you can imagine how prestine my home is). It's amazing how much I can get done in a little over an hour when they aren't here.

However, it is now Saturday and it looks like nothing ever transpired. Oh joy.

Today I went to a lingerie shower of one of our girls who graduated from the youth group a couple of years back. Believe me, I'm old enough to where I've had a lot of students from my ministry get married and quite a few even have children now. Still, it is a reminder that I'm not a spring chick anymore. Ashlyn and Jason participated in our LifeGroup's service project which was painting an elderly woman's home. I love having intentional teachable moments with our children. Jase and I also had a "heated discussion." We don't yell or throw things or call each other unspeakable names (although I'm sure they're going through both of our heads). But I realize how little we heatedly discuss because the girls are always full of questions about why was I talking mad to daddy? What was daddy talking about? Etc.? I can only imagine the apprehension young children who live through ugly arguements with their parents all the time must feel.

Other random things:

1. I've had a dull headache for 3 days with the weather change (it's annoying)

2. Sometimes I think it would be wonderful to live near family. We sees ours pretty regularly but it'd be nice to have a little help or break on a regular basis. Again, no complaints...I love with girls and know the only reason I am blessed with so much laundry, dishes, talking, etc. is because I'm blessed with them.

3. Went to Ikea last night for the first time...IT IS SO COOL and inexpensive. I'm telling you, I'm going to do every bit of Christmas shopping there all in one day!

4. I've always wanted three children and it's hard to imagine more. Energy wise and financially it would be difficult. However, I can't stop thinking about having another one. Every time I see a pregnant woman I think about how wonderful it is (I guess I forget my 4 mos. of "morning" (A.K.A. "throughout most of the day") sickness and the tiredness.

5. The election stuff totally stresses me out.

6. I think about my mom a lot and wish she were still here (although I'm thankful she is with the Lord). Life would be different if she were here.

7. Jason will get up at 5am tomorrow to run 20 miles. He really does good and tries not to take time away from the family, but I'm always ready about now for the marathon to be here. Just a few more weeks.

If you made it through all of this, thanks. I do get curious who reads...if you think to leave a little comment just to appease my curiousity, I'd love it! Hope you have a good Sunday! Again, sorry for the spacing issues.

It's Fall!

Okay, I know it's been a long time. And I'm sure all of my avid blog fans are just dying (all 3 of you), so here we go...

First, I have to start by bragging on Ashlyn Jean. It's been at least 3 weeks ago now but she got her first report card of 1st grade which actually uses A's, B's, etc. and she made straight A's. Not just straight A's but her lowest grade was a 96. And the teacher said she'd love to clone her! Great grades aren't everything in life, but I am thankful that she enjoys school since she has many more years to go. She enjoys it so much that we have been playing school after school. You'll be glad to know that Laney, Jason and Reese have all become Kids with Character in Ashlyn's class and I received student of the week!

Reese is a crawling maniac. She got it down last week and there is no stopping her. She also pulls herself up to standing any chance possible. We had to put her mattress down lower after I nearly had a heart attack looking in the monitor and seeing her standing straight up and looking over the railing. She continues to eat like a horse. Unbelievably, my baby will be a year old in less than three weeks now.

Laney Hope continues to attract people with her fun and sweet personality (although the girl can hold her own, don't be fooled)! She can spell her name and readily points out the letter L that her name starts with whenever she sees one. This year she is a cute pink bunny rabbit. The costume is one my mom had made me and I wore it when I was little. Ashlyn wore it a couple of years ago and hopefully Reesie will too. It is special to have something my wonderful Mom put love and time into. Little things like this mean a lot to me and bring back special memories of my mom.

Our last couple of pics are from a local pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day Saturday and we met some friends out there. Besides enjoying time with my handsome hubby and 3 cute pumpkins, I especially enjoyed the kettle corn and think I might have an addiction to it now :0).

Over the next few days we're supposed to have a high in the upper 60's so it truly does feel like fall around here.

On another random note, ministry is good. If you get a chance please check out www.freechains.org. It is something our high
school group is supporing, and it's very worthy of your time and resources.

Hopefully, I'll post quicker than the last time.

11 mos. old

Does this look like a child who just had open heart surgery? I'm telling you, our girl is doing great! She turned 11 months old today...yippee! We also had her follow-up appointment with the cardiologist. He is very pleased. When he listened to her heart; she no longer has any kind of murmor. Her scar is healing very nicely and she has put on weight.

I don't think I mentioned earlier that the day before surgery at pre-op she got weighed and she hadn't gained a single thing from over a month earlier, even more indication of how hard her heart was having to work. Now in 2 and a half
weeks she has put on 10 ounces!

She is pushing herself up on toys into standing position pretty often. Who knows? Maybe she'll completely miss the crawling thing. She says mama, dada, puppy, bye-bye and nigh-nigh (night night).

I desparately need to get some clips to hold her hair back (Natalie if you're reading this...I'm ordering from you) because her hair is just growing and growing.

The big girls are doing much better and all 3 should be back in school tomorrow for the first
time in 3 weeks. Please continue to pray that the Lord would protect Reese from any kind of sickness.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came in last weekend to check on Reese and love on the girls. We loooved having them here and wish we lived closer. The middle pic is Reese's get well present from them that she loves. And who wouldn't...it has dancing princesses! The bottom picture is off my precious nephew Drew (he's 4 1/2 months younger than Reese and weighs as much at 6 months as Ashlyn and Laney did at a year old). He fell asleep half way through eating in his exersaucer. It was adorable. Love you, my little Tank! Can't wait to see you in November!

Lysol is in the air..

Don't you just love the smell of lysol? Yea, not so much but I sure hope it does the trick. I have sprayed it on any and everything in our house...toys, pillows, the phone, beds, doorknobs, the dog (just kidding on that one).

Ashlyn woke up in the middle of the night Thursday night throwing up. She got sick once more Friday morning but then seemed fine (not quite as energetic but still good). Last night we went to LifeGroup. Soon after we arrived and started eating dinner she said her stomach hurt again so I told her to just drink some water and take it easy. During prayer requests Laney came in and said her tummy hurt...again, take a few sips of your drink and lay down. When we got into the car Ashlyn once again said she wasn't feeling well and this time she looked a shade of green so I handed her my eco-friendly grocery bag and told her to get sick in it if she felt the need. She was asleep before we got home. Laney didn't act real tired but didn't go down too much later, although it was 9:45 before we got home. I was kicking myself for not making Ashlyn take a nap because she probably just over did it.

Around 11:30 I went into pray over the girls and check on them like I do every night before going to bed. I thought I'd feel Ashlyn's head to make sure she didn't have a fever. I put my one hand on her bed to steady myself and it felt really wet. Hmmm...could be some bad drooling but she isn't facing that way. I flipped their closet light on and it revealed that the poor thing had thrown up all over herself but slept right through it. I go and get Jason up to help. I then left to get some wipes to help clean off her face before getting her into the bath. When I came back in Jason pointed to Laney's bed.

Can you believe it? She too had thrown up in her bed and slept through it. Can I tell you how lovely vomit in hair is? We quickly went into parent mode. Jason stripped down the beds and cleaned their room up while I bathed the girls. I felt so badly for them. I kept asking Ashlyn if her tummy hurt more and she was more traumatized by having throw-up all over her. Once every one was bathed and taken care of Ashlyn chose to sleep in the bathroom nect to the toilet just in case... Jason called the floor in the girls room (or maybe I called it for him) and Laney was just begging to go to sleep on her carefully towel-covered bed. She was so tired. I scrubbed the tub and again sprayed any and everything possible with Lysol.

Laney woke up a couple of more times and got sick in the night and got sick a couple more times today. I have been praying fervently that Reese won't get this thing, especially after having surgery. Jason is praying that he won't have to see any more vomit and that we can actually have everyone sleep through the night. It is amazing how wonderful the flu-vaccines both girls got over a month ago worked, don't you think? Oh well. If you catch a wift of Lysol over the next few days you can think of the Mills family. Heck, it might be coming from our home...

Family Pictures

Our family

Aren't they just the cutest?

Gampa and his favoritest girls

MiMi and Papa D with their sweethearts

We had our friend come over and take these the night before Reese's surgery. He is getting into photography professionally so call us if you need someone good.

Reesie is doing well. I think the biggest difference I've noticed is her appetite. She has been eating like a horse! Literally, you would think we haven't fed her in weeks. Tonight she had three big servings of green beans, two helpings of chicken, some canteloupe and bread. And it's all "big people" food. She wants whatever you're having!