Recap of 2009- my favorite pictures.

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from 2009. I hope that you enjoy!

I just love seeing Sophia's freckles in this picture. So cute and innocent.
Sophia was learning to make homemade pasta.

Sophia asleep after a long summer swim.

Sophia and Miles- 2009

My photogenic girl.

Sophia's birthday with Carmen.

Sophia walking to school with Justin for the 1st day of 1st grade.

Sophia and Miles Oct. 2009

Sept. 12, 2009, OSU football game day.

Miles, my superhero.

Miles and Emma- good friends.

Mustache Miles.

Justin and Miles on the way to a St. Louis Cardinals game for his 3rd birthday.

Miles' shirt says it all.

Christmas 2009

For Christmas (or at least a few days before) we traveled to Centralia to visit with Justin's side of the family. It was good to see everyone during this time.

Miles enjoyed playing with the Diego toy that uncle Jordan got for him.

Uncle Jordan holding Lily

I LOVE this picture of the kids watching Elf (the movie). I wish that I had the sound of their laughter to go along with this visit.

Sophia and Lily together near the Christmas tree.

Sophia posing with all the presents.

Here we are trying to get a good picture of the Christmas card. The kids were pretty silly that day and I only got some funny pictures, but nothing that would work for the Christmas card. Miles is dancing in this picture.

Miles making some silly faces.

Tooth Fairy Visits

Okay, so I am a month late for this post. With the holidays, there have been a lot of great activities, but not a lot of time to post.

Last month, on 12/15/09... Sophia lost her 1st tooth. It was on the bottom, in the middle. No good pictures, but she worked and worked to get the tooth out. She wiggled and wiggle the tooth, and it popped out of her mouth. Miles continues to relive and demonstrate the tooth flying out! She was very excited to have the tooth fairy come and visit.

Her tooth fairy signed her letter to Sophia as Smiles, The Tooth Fairy. Therefore, Sophia believed that her tooth fairies name was Smiles.

It appears that Smiles may be visiting again soon. The second tooth should be out any day.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was a busy time in Columbus. There were lots of people visiting in from out of town.

The kids were really excited to see grandma Linda and grandpa Larry.


Uncle Mike (grandpa Herbs' brother) and Michael Carr came in for a few days from New York. We have not all been together since Grandpa's funeral. It was nice to see everyone. (don't worry, Miles was asleep when the picture was taken)

Uncle Jordan traveled up from Southern IL. Sophia and Miles both enjoyed playing with him.

Miles and Jordan both enjoying the drumstick of the turkey!

the best thing....

Tonight when I was putting Sophia to bed, I asked her what was the best part of the weekend. We had a lot of great stuffing going on this weekend (baking cookies both with dad and G.G., going to a new movie, getting a new puppy, meeting friends for dinner), so I was curious to hear her answer.

I was so happy to hear Sophia say that the best part of her weekend was
"Baking cookies with G.G. and Dad." (I was expecting her to say it was getting the new puppy.)

Luckily for Sophia, she has people in her life that love to bake and cook. I cannot measure or follow directions, therefore, I cannot bake. Sophia is a very lucky girl to have 2 people that love to bake and take the time with her. These are such warm, heart felt memories. She will cherish them forever. Thank you to her baker for teaching her the tricks of the trade.

out of the mouths of babes.....

Miles has been increasingly more and more entertaining during this holiday season.

Just a few comments from Miles:

1. while looking up at the mantle with the stocking hung, he stated, "Look, giant socks."

2. today on the way home from a play date, we stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate. The server was wearing jingle ball earrings. Miles stated to me, "I like her earrings." I let him tell the server his comment. This completely made her day.

I am sure that there are more comments, I just cannot think of them right now. Needless to say, I will post more as they come!

Why Miles is my super hero.

Three years ago we waited.
We sat and waiting in the surgical waiting area of Childrens' Hospital.
We sat with friends and family.
We waited for our hourly update. Waiting to hear that you were doing well and the surgery was going well.
We waited and found out that your surgery went great! You did not need and grafts around your heart and would not need to have more surgeries to exchange the grafts. Our hearts were relieved.
What we did not realize is that we still had a very long road ahead of us.
Many unstable days, fighting the vent, needing blood transfusion, not being able to be held.
It was a long road, but well worth the fight.
Happy 3 year heart birthday to my Super hero!


Miles and Sophia asleep together the night before surgery.

Miles immediately after his open heart reconstruction, 10-16-06.

The now 3 y/o heart survivor.

Our kids, fall 2009

my super hero

This is my super hero. He has been through so much, but nothing stops him.

If you call for help, he will stop and see what you need.

Before he flies away, you can see can see his cape fly in the wind.

His eyes will hypnotize you.
And then he will use his super hero powers (cuteness) to get what he wants.

Buckeye Madness

Here is a GREAT picture taken on my birthday. This is what our house usually looks like on game day Saturdays. Kevin, Margie and Justin were on their way out the door to the USC vs OSU football game. We love when Kevin and Margie are here. Wishing that they lived closer!

a typical saturday morning

Miles continues to annoy and aggravate Sophia. His goal is to make her mad. He does this day in and day out. I am pretty sure that he lives for this. In fact, in speaking with other people that are brothers, this seems to be ingrained in the brain of a brother.

Justin says to Sophia, "just ignore him. Don't let him bother you."
Sophia then retaliates back at Miles, Justin questions Sophia about why she did not just ignore Miles. and then she states, " Dad, sometimes, it is just easier to ignore you."

The Ladies Man

Miles is a man of many words, many faces, and many ladies of all different ages. Miles has figured out how to charm all the women that he meets. He has different girl friends of all ages, just not HIS age.

Any time we are at the hospital, he usually makes really good friends with all the nurses and they just love him. He can also milk it for all it is worth.

Today, when we were at Target, Miles found a little girl and her mom. He started talking to the little girl, asking her name. She was shy, so the mom answered and then the mom asked Miles some questions. After his lengthy answer, she said, "Wow, you are very smart for your age."

Miles' reply: "Yes, and I am also a Ladies Man."

I am sure that I turned red in the face, and laughed. He definitely knows how to work a crowd.

$10,000

Yes, this was a goal for me to reach for the AHA.

No, I did not actually think that I could reach $10K, especially in this economic state.

HOWEVER, MY CURRENT TOTAL IS $10,052.00

Tonight I received a call from PNC Bank. I had entered a contest where you could win $250 for your favorite charity and $250 for yourself. I was surprised to be called by PNC bank, let alone being told that I was chosen as the Grand Prize Winner. (those words sound pretty good together.)

I wanted to thank everyone who helped me reach my goal. For all the friends and family that took the time to donate. All of your support is greatly appreciated. I could not have done it without you!

THANK YOU!!

Help, I'm stuck!

Miles and I ran some errands (wow, much easier with just ONE kid instead of TWO kids fighting and being hungry) on Thursday after we dropped off Sophia to school. As we were leaving Michaels, I went through the automatic door and Miles had stopped at the door to look at a scarecrow.

Then.....

the door closed.

Miles was on ONE side and I was one the OTHER SIDE. He did not panic, but started to look worried. I keep trying to trigger it from my side, but it would not work. Then I started to tell Miles to "back up, Back up," thinking that he might trigger the sensor. However, he did not figure it out and he probably would not have been tall enough anyway.

I considered running into the store, but was worried that he would panic when he did not see me or someone would come through and he would exit. No good answers.

However, I thought this was the funniest thing EVER and could not stop laughing.

Finally, an older gentleman saw us struggling and came and used the sensor to fix the problem.

For the rest of the day, Miles said, "I got stuck in the store."

Hopefully, he will stay closer to me next time.

Sophia's 1st day of 1st grade

My, how things have changed (and kids have grown) over the last year. Last year, Sophia was just starting out Kindergarten, next to the smallest in her class. Last year, Miles was barely to the doorknob last year and Sophia was a little above the doorknob.




Sophia has grown quite a bit over the last year. She was so excited to be going to 1st grade.




Miles was pretty excited too. He was actually more happy to have the house (and his mom to himself only.. not needing to share or fight during the day)



Above was the pictures from last year (2008) and below is the picture from today, the walk to school is always enjoyable to watch and walk.

Sophia turns 6!!

Sophia celebrated her 6th birthday a few weeks ago. In true fashion, we dressed everyone for a fairy celebration. It was a small party, but a great time was had by all! Even Miles dressed up for the girls too!








I love these pictures of Sophia blowing a bubble. At the end, you can see her face after she accidentally tasted some of the bubble juice. Yuck!

Sophia and Carmen, 2 girls who love to dress up and pretend. I hope they always do.

The fairy girls, Carmen, Sophia, Allie and Abby.