Brazil

36 hours later and we are now in Brazil :) It's amazingly beautiful!!!!!! So different here but its truely is fabulous!
All of the people we came with seem to be awesome, Jer's boss Quinn is SUPER nice and so much like us, its funny.

I am looking forward to the wedding we have on Saturday here, we saw the church last night where they will get married, its BEAUTIFUL on the outside, very old country here and so I'm into all of that :)

The food... not bad... but not all good either but we'll see how supper is tonight:)

Just wanted to update all of you back at home. I do miss the boys ALOT!!! hope they are having fun with Abby and Janet as well as behaving :)

Love you all!!!

Busy Busy...

What a week, whew! Its already Thursday! WOW!!

Lets see, I don't have that much new and exciting to write about but I will just fill you in on the latest events at the Millers :)

This week Mitchel has had a full week... 3 nights of soccer with Cascade and DBQ league as well as working out at Staners from
3-5 every other day. He REALLY likes having a JOB, it makes him feel important and good about himself :) Its good for him and Jason both. Oh, and he is now visiting the ORTHODONIST every other week for awhile... he is getting "prepped" beginning of his future braces. Hello checkbook... WOW since our dental ins. does not have ortho... and we didn't know that until recently... YIKES but it will be o.k.

Issac, well he's been a little pistol this week... 11 going on 12... (six months away) and has just been "SASSY" lately, ARGH!
Is puberty starting to hit him? Not sure what it is but he's always been my 'sweet one' and it just kinda hurts to see him act the way he does lately :( It'll pass right?

Blade, oh Blade! His imagination runs WILD!! He's such a doll lately and says the absolutely cutest things! The other day we were drving home from DBQ and we were listening to the CARS CD, he new each song by 'part of the movie' and knew most of the words in ALOT of them. Also the other night, this is too cute and I have to share it... he was upstairs in his room and well looked out the window and 'apparently saw a monkey' un huh!! So he comes running down the stairs saying "mommy, mommy I have something VERY important to tell you" and then he tells me he saw a monkey out his window in the tree. So of course I take him back upstairs and look out the window with him and reassure him there is no monkey... and then he says, "no I'm serious" I died laughing... I could not help it!!! Because he like grabbed my face so I was looking at him and his eyes got really big. It was priceless!!!!!! He can also now write 'MOM' its so CUTE!!!!! We are working on "DAD" yet but he will get it soon I believe. Also he told me this week while we were waiting for the older boys in the waiting room at the ortho,
" I want to read soon"... so so CUTE!! He's not little anymore either... makes that VERY clear!

Oh my boys keep me full of life! I love that they are all active and keep me active, it won't be long and they will all be grown up on me... time flies! I enjoy every moment being a mom!! even on the days I want to strangle them at times... but that is life of parenting.

Ok... on to Jer, he was in Boston from Monday to Wednesday. A nice short trip but seemed like eternity... since he was just gong the all week the week before and then the weekend was crazy for us... but now he is home until we go to Brazil, so that will be NICE! Hoping to get a few things in with the kids before they go back to school... which starts in 3 weeks... YIKES!

I've been running all week, if not with the kids. I've been helping Tam Tam at the store, she is getting ready for FALL. Lots and lots to mark and her 'preview' is this weekend, so she needed to get a few things out and ready for that. I enjoy helping her when I can, its nice to get out of the house when its sawing after sawing and chaos here during the day. I've been down there the last few days helping her so my house is falling apart :( I got the main floor vac and wiped down today since it was SICK from all the dust.... hopefully I can get a few things done tomorrow before I am off...

My little friend, Chipper (Tammy's male weiner dog) hurt his back sometime last week and Tammy took him to the vet yesterday. The poor little thing is on steriods to help him repair his 'hurt disc'. It truely frightens me! I am hoping and praying he can pull thru this, he and his sister Annie are EVERYTHING to Tammy! He's a tough little guy and I hope he recovers from this!!! Please keep Tammy and Chippy in your thoughts! I've been there when you feel terrified about a pet, I remember when Buzz wasn't himself one evening and we thought he was on his 'death bed'... I was attached and very much scared and would of done anything at that point to make him better! Pets are a big part of people's life... whether some think that or not. Anyhow before I have a tear jerker... I best close.

Weekend... Mitchel has a BIG 6x6 Soccer tourney on Saturday in Burlington,
Jer's cousin is getting married on Saturday... not sure what direction we are going yet...Tomorrow kids going to farm to enjoy the day, I will be off to help Tam Tam and hope to get a few things done here as well. Sunday... hoping its a day where we can DO NOTHING but sit at home and watch a movie and veg out for once.

Until I blog again, have a great weekend!!!

Jason's Birthday!! Happy 30th Birthday Jason!!!

Today is my longest and dearest, and one of my best friend's birthday! Mr. Jason Staner is now in his 30's like the rest of us!!!
Its About time!!!

With that being said... we lived the fact that it was Jason's birthday today... over the weekend! WHAT A GREAT TIME WE ALL HAD! A group of us got together, went on a bus and were on our way to DBQ. First stop was eating a yummy dinner at Taiko.
Which was wonderful!!! I really enjoyed my first Japense Cruisine meal!! Very good choice Jason!!! Then we were off to The Busted Lift for a few drinks, and then we were onto the bus drinking it up a bit before we hit " The Town and Country Days" in Epworth.

The trip to Epworth was a absolute riot!! It will never be forgotten! Abby doing a little jig for us, Jen blowing up 'balloons', Dustin making the IPOD work, Jason making his turkey go wild, Tory rubbing his nipples, Billy sitting in the back... doing his hand waving thing, and Jer drinking beer :) ... and for me well I was laughing at all of us fools and living it up too:) WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!! We got to Epworth and all piled out, got a few drinks and everyone of us headed to the 'dancing floor' ... on main street in Epworth! (Now this is a TRUE street dance, they have it on their MAIN street and live it up with a good band)... maybe next year we can hope for this in Cascade... hrm Tammy can you PLEASE help us with this??

After the music came to a end in Epworth, the group got some good ol' grub and headed back towards the bus... we played tag until the bus arrived... yes we may have acted like children but it was still fun! Bus arrives and we head back to Cascade... we make a stop at our local bar (Jer and my favorite in town... THE BENT RIM) ... just so happens its Karaoke night... so our main D takes the stage, HE is AWESOME!!!! He can sing anything I swear! If you have not heard him sing yet... you need to!!! Bill and Joanie (bar owners) were happy to see our group... but they did ask where my 'partner in crime... Cucumber Hollow' was... yep everyone missed her tonight!!! Now that is when you know you are a "regular" there... how pathetic are we sometimes?

So its time... bar closes we pile back on the bus and head towards Billy's house to TP Tammy's house!! Cuz if anyone has toilet paper its going to be Billy! Thanks for the supply Billy!! Well Chipper heard us and barked us out... and woke Tam Tam up and well we didn't get her as good as we wanted but we tried... we rolled home about 2:45ish and well off the bus drunk.
Jer was not in good shape... I could tell when he got off the bus... he had a LONG night or should I say morning ahead of him... I was feeling it but was ok, I hurt a little on Sunday but was good to go.

This brings us to Sunday, everyone at the Miller's slept in. The boys slept in til 10:30-11ish, as I did too then awoke for awhile and then dosed back off after I checked in with Mitchel. I begged him to let us sleep awhile... we were DRAINED!
Finally we got up and did a few things here around the house and then took the boys to CR so we could get issac's bike back at Dick Sporting Goods... well turns out it wasn't ready... go figure! So we take the boys to the SK8 park, Mitchel did somethings on his bike, Issac sk8'd... they had a good time, Blade played at the park near by until the "smell" of CR got to him, he was SO funny!

We met up with Jerry and Mel at Zoey's Pizzera in Marion. FABULOUS pizza! It was a nice time catching up with those two.
I know we saw them the night before but it was hard to talk to them... since we were at a sushi bar watching the chef:)
Anyhow its always nice seeing them. Yes my little Blade was disappointed when his little friend Gary wasn't there. Maybe they can get together soon :) SOON our house will be done and we have have 'play dates' again!

Oh and for our Sunday night all exclusive event... we got TP'd, our lawn looked like snow SERIOUSLY... Tammy and her gang got us back and well out did us and got us damn good... they tore up square by square and covered the yard, UN HUH!! Then to top it off... her mom knocked on the door... but we thought we 'just heard something... didn't think much of it until Mitchel came running saying "we just got TP'd BAD" the look on his face and him and Issac laughing was hilarious! So needless to say I spent close to 2 hours cleaning it up, I was laughing when I started and cussing Tam out by the end... We have a huge yard... enough said! They got every little peice they could think of, my flower baskets, arrangements on the doors, the girl, chairs, our vehicles, EVERYTHING!!!!!!! Oh the things friends do to each other :) I seriously was laughing when I walked outside this am. Did I take a picture? NO! can you believe that? I sure the heck can't!!!! anyhow a HUGE memory for memory lane :)

Ok, its late and I have a crap load to do yet... I've been working on this off and on all day so if its lonnnnnnng I apologize!
Just informing all of you :) Hope you are off to a great week ahead.

I'm back:)

Greetings to you all, hope you are keeping cool somewhere! Hasn't it been hot lately... geesh!

Things have been quite busy here at the Miller front. We had a fabulous weekend that flew by us. We had a wedding to attend on Saturday and then we were off to see the "BIG" concert in DBQ with Papa Roach and Hinder. IT WAS AMAZING! I would have to say I thought Papa Roach RULED the place! It was the best!!!! He even brought out his little 4 year old boy and let him rock it up a bit... he got on the drums and blew us out of the water :) It was pretty darn cute!!! Late night since when we got back to town we met up with Tam and Wolfe and had a few drinks at the Rim. Whoa what a night that was... site for all... really next time you see me I have a GOOD story line for you all :) Still get sick and laugh about it all in the same breath... geesh!

Anyhow onto Sunday we took the kids to see the movie, The Simpson's. TOO CUTE!!! The best part is the 'doodle', I laughed alot! We tried out Buffalo Wild Wings for a little snack, it was good so we will go back to eat a meal... just now that we have a kitchen its nice to go home and cook. Yes we cook now and ALOT!

Monday... was 'catch up' from the weekend. I did laundry and ran some errands and well even took a nap after I got groceries.
The day flew by me WOW! just feels good to have a kitchen and things starting to actually have a place in this home. Still much to be done but its coming. We finally have a hand railing at the top of our main steps, it turned out nice! Maybe the attic railing will be next... I can only hope!

The older boys started the town soccer league this week... MItchel thinks its going to be 'hokey' since there are 18 kids out of it... and he won't get to play much... I hope that doesn't happen... since this will be his last year to get to play in the Dyersville league.... he's played in this league since he's been in Kindergarten... and now he's going into 8th grade. SERIOUSLY where does time go?

Tuesday and today Jer and I were in Chicago. We had to go take care of getting our VISAS for Brazil, since we will be traveling there at the end of the month :) I can't wait!!!! Why are we going to Brazil? Jer's boss is getting married and invited us to come out for the event, which I think is a true honor. The only down falls of all of this is ... we are missing the kids 1st FULL week of back to school :( ... but I will be here on Blade's first day back to school so that comforts me some. I will miss the boys ALOT!!!! but this will be a good vacation for me. The other fall is we are going to miss Jer's cousin's wedding in Chicago (the cousin he played with a lot when he was growing up and was probably the closest to on the Miller side)

Well I have to get some laundry going before I call it a night, I just wanted to get a blog post up so everyone knows Lis Lis is still ticking the clock :) Hope all is well with all of you!