Ryan and Heidi Update

Since all of my catch up writing has been about the kids, I thought I'd give you a little recap of Mommy and Daddy for this blog.

Heidi - Of course I have been staying busy at home keeping up daily household chores. I also have found some time to do some other things. One thing I have started doing is couponing. Ryan's cousin introduced me to it and it's kind of like a game now to see how cheap I can get stuff. There are so many things you can do with couponing and rebating that I have to tell myself that I can't possibly do every single deal. I try to stick to a couple stores and leave it at that. In March I was able to get away for a weekend and go out to Indiana for the annual women's conferece at Mom and Dad's church. It was at Camp Amigo and Mary Jane Bevan (my mom's cousin) was the featured speaker. It was a good weekend and just a nice break from the normal routine. It was also the weekend of Ryan's 30th birthday. We were able to celebrate before we went by going to Texas Roadhouse (a place we haven't been to in a long time!). I had forgotten how good their bread with cinnamon butter is! Then we went to Wal-mart for Ryan to buy his own birthday present which of course would include something for turkey season as that would be just around the corner. While he was shopping I was purchasing his birthday cake since the kids think that for every birthday there must be cake. We took the cake to his mom and dads and had a small celebration with the kids and his parents. I have also started running more this winter and spring. I am planning to run in more races this spring and summer. I ran in my first one the beginning of March and have several planned for April.

Ryan - He has been home his fair share this winter. Some days it is nice and other days I think we just get in each others space a little too much. Last week he did wash all my windows though so that was really helpful. He did some ice fishing but didn't catch a whole lot this year. I always think that ice is a little scary. It's hard to really ever know if ice is safe. After going with him once this winter and him happening to break through the ice in the first 5 minutes soaked up to his hip, I lost a little confidence in the ice. He went several times after that but I'm always a little nervous. A couple weeks ago he found a place to catch some walleye. Too bad we were a little late for lots of walleye but we did manage to make a few sandwiches out of it. He has his boat in getting serviced and says that he plans to do lots of fishing this year. He's also gearing up for turkey season and as a matter of fact right now is in the woods somewhere listening for turkeys. He is optimistic that work will pick up here soon so that is a good thing too.

Our Last Snow Fun for 2010

As the snow piled high, I thought we should take advantage of the huge piles. We set out to make a snow fort. Although I did most of the shoveling while they did jumps off of the banks and threw snowballs at me, they did enjoy the fort when it was done. We had our snack out there and brought Chelsea out after she woke up from her nap. She was not particularly fond of the fort and didn't last long. (I am realizing that I have very few pictures of her this winter mostly due to the fact that we do all the fun stuff when she is asleep!)

Other Winter Fun

My little helpers chopping cucumbers for our salad!

Casey and Audrey have also found some other things to be interesting this winter. They both enjoy helping in the kitchen on occasion. Often they are responsible for setting the table, which is both a chore and also gives them a little power. They love deciding who will sit where and especially who gets to sit by Chelsea. Sometimes they will also help in the preparing of food. They think they are really getting big when they are able to use a sharp knife. We have only had one small cut so far. Both of them really do very good. They love to help cut up salad, make pizza, spank my bread dough, smash eggs for egg salad, and pretty much anything else I'll let them do.

Valentines Day

February also of course brings Valentines Day. Casey and Audrey were very excited to make valentines for all their friends. Casey made them for the kids in his class while Audrey made them for her friends at the YMCA. They got in some good letter practicing by writing all the names! They were also thrilled to get a valentine package from Grandma and Grandpa Kauffman and some others that arrived in the mail from Caleb and Kadin. They love to get things in the mail, especially packages. The other day the Fed Ex truck brought a box that contained a new faucet and they argued about who would get to carry it in to the house! Now come on...how exciting is a faucet? The packing peanuts proved to be much more interesting than the actual product!

Blog Vacation

I guess you can say I took a blog vacation. After 2 months of no blogging I think it needs some updating! The last time I blogged it was a huge snowstorm and now we are wearing shorts and playing outside thanks to what seems to be an early arrival of summer. It is supposed to be close to 80 degrees today! I heard the extended forcast though and I'm pretty sure we still have some colder weather ahead. Oh so where to begin in the life of the Millers for the last 2 months! A cup of coffee will help to jog the brain. Well after a short glimpse of our calendar for the month of February maybe I have discovered why I stopped blogging! It looks pretty empty indicating I had nothing to blog about. One of the highlights for Audrey was the beginning of one of her classes at the YMCA. She decided to take Tumbling Tots this time around and she absolutely loves it often asking me every day how many days until she can go again. She has been learning somersaults, handstands, playing parachute, and a variety of other things. Casey started swimming as well and really enjoys this activity as well. He did better with his class than I thought he would considering he has not been terribly relaxed when it comes to water activities. He was proud of himself that he will now be an eel for the next swimming session which means that he passed his first class.

Winter is Still Here!

Wow! We sure did get some snow over the last 24 hours. My personal belief is that if it is going to be cold and wintery it might as well snow and be pretty. It really made me think that I should be getting all my gear out to go skiing. It would be perfect skiing weather. Ryan is flying home today from a week long trip to Louisiana and I'm really hoping that the weather doesn't affect his travels. (As of right now they have just landed in Detroit. One more flight and they will be home. Yipee!) Since we had all this nice snow it seemed a shame not to play in it at least a little. This was Chelsea's first time really playing in the snow. I'm not sure she is a fan quite yet. She seemed a little annoyed at her mittens, snow pants and anything else that hindered her movement! She did a good share of fussing but didn't want to come in either. I kind of felt like I was living in the olden days as we pulled the sled to the end of the driveway to get the mail! Here we are in all our winter fun!

Princess Party

Audrey was so excited to attend her first ever princess party. I had considered telling her we weren't going because the snow was sure flying. But she was so excited I'm sure there would have been gallons of tears shed! So shortly after Cierra and Taelor arrived we headed out. Here are the three of them before we left.

Audrey is admiring her nicely polished nails.

Cierra getting all dolled up with make-up.

Nice rosy cheeks all done up and ready to pose! Emerson (a friend from the Y), Taelor and Audrey

After an hour or so of getting all fixed up, eating snacks, and making a crown, Miss Keelie who headed up the party annonced that the inflatables were up in the gym if any of the princesses would like to jump. Five minutes of jumping and you would never have known they were at a princess party. Hair was a crazy mess, holes in dresses, and nail polish mostly removed. We should have taken an after picture but I was curious to get home and see if I could make it up our drive with the van. See next post on the snowy fun!