November Update

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is NEXT week. Crazy! Even more crazy is that I will be working on Black Friday for 16 hours (with 2 two hour breaks in between). HELP ME! ;-)

Since the last update, Mason has had a Rube Goldberg presentation in Quest, I got an early Christmas present, and we had a visitor for the weekend. Mason's best friend, Ryan stayed with us while his parents were in Hawaii. We took the boys bowling and then to a birthday party for their friend.

Ready for the pictures?

A picture from the Fall Theater Arts performance. Mason is in the middle. Ryan, Chandler, and Mason at Chandler's birthday party.
Mason bowling, picking up a spare.
Smile!
Ryan and Mason at Mel's Lonestar Lanes (we love that place!).

The final score. Way to go, Mason!!!

Merry Christmas, Me!!!! My new 50 inch Plasma (and TV stand).

Mason with his Rube Goldberg demo.

Upclose.

Smiling after the presentation.

Fall Theater Arts Performance

Last night was the Fall Theater Arts Performance at Mason's school. In October, when he had music as a special and was in the choir, the performance was about America. Since he is in Theater Arts, he got to be in the show. Last night's performance was all about autumn. Leaves changing colors, football, turkeys, and Halloween. Mason's class did the Halloween section. He's the first "zombie" in the dance and is in the middle during the big group part. He's wearing last year's Ghosbuster costume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5G-V2e_UQk

Hockey Presentation Video FINALLY Up!!!

Part One:

Check it out!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49ZR46oNVO0

Part Two:

Check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx-kXVQKA0I

Guess Who Is Back?

I apologize. I have been a very, very bad blogger.

I could blame it on my new job. Because after almost 2 years in Texas, I finally have a job.

I could blame it on our calendar being jammed pack with all of Mason's activities and practices.

I could blame it on socializing a lot more. I'm now chairperson of our neighborhood Social Committee.

I could blame it on Mark's exhausting work schedule that has him traveling 80% of his work week.

I could blame it on my nagging DVR that has hourglasses nagging at me to watch my recorded shows.

Truth be told, it's probably a combination of ALL of these. It's not that we've stopped doing things and photographing them -- I just don't have the time to write about it.

Until now.

So get ready to play catch-up on our lives.

Yes, I got a job. I work Monday-Thursday for about 5 hours a day. I'm here in the mornings to send Mason off to school and I'm available to pick him up from school on my way home. I may even have some time to catch a coffee or visit Target on the way. Which doesn't benefit my new income. Or when I have to take the toll roads home in order to pick Mason up, because there goes even more profit. But anyway, I enjoy it. I don't love it. It's not a career. It's a job. One with a major benefit that now gives us a discount at a store that does not sell panties or lotion. And one that pays for a cleaning lady.

Mark's company had some major revamping. My husband went from covering Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso to covering ALL of Texas... plus New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. I think I covered them all. Anyway -- he now covers most of the country which means more travel. On most weeks, he is gone Tuesday-Thursday. This adjustment has not been easy on any of us. We are trying to be positive (because at least he HAS a job, since his company did this to downsize), but it has taken it's toll. Mark is forever exhausted. He is also going back to school FULL-TIME AND learning Spanish on Rosetta's Stone. Mason has more responsibility and misses his best friend. And I am single parent for a few days a week. And anyone who has had one of my meals knows how scary THAT is. We do get the extra bonuses of having enough frequent flyer miles to NEVER have to pay for airfare again, as well as enough Hilton Honor points to go on vacation. Plus Mark gets to experience parts of the country he has never been to. Like Eskimo Joe's. Or the American Girl Store (I need to point out that he was buying a birthday present for my niece -- he just didn't decide to go into a doll store on his own free will!).

Mason is in fourth grade and doing quite well. In fact, he got his report card today and he is on the All-A honor roll. We're very proud of him. His two best friends are in his class and we adore his teacher. At parent-teacher conferences, she told us that if she had waited one year to have her son (he was born last year), she would have named him Mason in hopes that he would be as great as OUR Mason. That was a huge compliment! The only bad thing is that he is a mess. We have called him "Messy Messy Mason" since his first day eating jarred baby food. His room is VERY clean. He can be VERY neat. Except, apparently, at school. His desk and locker are a pig-sty. In the grand scheme of things, there are far more worse things to be, but it is very aggravating. Especially because I'm such a neat freak.

Also, Mason is now swimming at Nitro. I love it. He loves it. He's thriving. He's always loved swimming and, if I do say so myself, is quite good! His freestyle stroke is so impressive. He is still working on his kicks (that's what you get when you are basically taught how to swim by a mother who can't kick!) and hates doing flip turns, but he loves it. And I love it because he finally is interested in something that I like. Mark, however, is the odd man out. When HE takes Mason to practice, I ask him how it went and he replies, "Well... he didn't drown" because that's the best way he can describe it. I have complete faith that my husband will one day understand swimming. For now, he just grumbles a bit about getting soaking wet anytime someone does a flip turn wearing fins.

Gibson, our puppy... well... he became a man and then we took that away. And I thought it was supposed to CALM him down. Bad idea. Our previously calm dog now can go psycho at any given time. Don't get me wrong -- he's still a good dog... he just is a bit bipolar, I think. And now, he has the charming habit of NOT going into his crate. ESPECIALLY when I'm already running late for work. Or he decides to start digging right against our fence after our neighbors have flooded their backyard, causing him to become a muddy mess -- ALWAYS when Mark is out of town. Let me tell you -- I will NOT bathe this dog. I'm in a wheelchair, I didn't even bathe my own son when he was an infant because it's downright impossible to do unless I get on the floor (which I DID do when Mason was a babe).

Since my last blog entry, we were hit by Hurricane Ike. Well, if you watched the storm, you saw that Austin was completely MISSED by this huge hurricane that even traveled to the Buckeye State. No -- we were "hit" by becoming a shelter for the homeless. And by homeless, I mean my sister and her kids. ;-) Jill's family lives in Pearland (near Houston). They moved from Cleveland just a few weeks prior to Hurricanes Katrina/Rita and experienced the Evacuation from Hell in 2005 when it took them over 16 hours to drive 100 miles. So, when they started seeing what Ike was looking like, they got the heck out of dodge and came here. And we were glad that we could host them. Especially once the news stories came in that some of the area shelters had child molesters in them. Not good. Anyway, Jill's house got some minimum damage, but they were powerless for over a week. Who wouldn't rather be in nice, air conditioned Austin with luxuries like... food and internet and bowling and shopping and television and Xbox 360? Exactly. And let's be honest... our house was like Club Med compared to a shelter. All of the kids got along SO well. We had minimum complaining (mostly over who's turn it was on the aforementioned Xbox 360) and only TWO injuries! Poor Ian (Frank, as I call him) was attacked by a sprinkler that came out of NO where and tripped him. When he got home (the kids were all walking Gibson), Jill was out back on her cell and I tried to clean him up and get him taken care of. BIG problem since the first think Aunt Kiki suggested was Frozen Peas. Massive hysteria from the child who doesn't like very many vegetables -- what kind of Aunt forces an injured kid to eat one of the most disgusting vegetables ever?? He didn't quite understand that the frozen peas were to make his nose feel better. I felt bad. He was howling. Jill's call ended abruptly and she solved world peace. Or World Peas because he finally DID let the frozen peas be placed on his face. The second injury was Jill's. Again, she was outside on her cell at night. She came in and looked like a Muppet. I couldn't stop laughing, but was scared because her upper lip was suddenly the size of a banana. I took pictures. I love my sister too much to share them. (Pssss... unless for a reasonable fee....) We went to the local hospital ER and were told... that they couldn't do anything. It was just a bite. But, I'm glad I took her because it could have been serious. And after spending the previous night awake till 4:00am watching Hurricane Ike and Anderson Cooper, of COURSE I wanted to stay up after 3:00am the following night! Good times!!!

So, our happy, little family has gone through some adjustments, but we're pulling through it all. Sure, I may not be caught up on laundry, there may be a few dirty dishes in the sink, and our backdoor window is NEVER clean (seriously, Gibson -- I KNOW you want to come in. You don't have to smear your nose and tongue against the glass to get my attention!), but we're doing great!!!

Now... pictures? Pictures you say? Alrighty then...

Gibson, the wondermutt, getting caught in the act. He thinks he is a cat.Our local, neighborhood tarantula as seen on our front porch.

What do most people do when they evacuate from a Level 4 Hurricane? Go shopping and have Steak N Shake, of course!!
Alec -- as you can see, he was terrifed of the damage of Ike... and that he doesn't like tomatoes, celery, and cucumbers in his salad... Maddie. Milkshakes do, in fact, make all worries go away.

Frank -- terrified that his home would be blown away.

Gibson was tired after having three new kids to play with.

Maddie and Frank. Check out Ian's footrest.

What can I say? The kids love their Crocs.

The best thing about all of this? Frank finally decided he could swim!

The sky when we got to the pool.

The sky when we left as Ike came closer.

Talking to Grandma and Aunt Shelly on Skype helped the kids' worries. Gotta love webcams!

Maddie and Mason, finding their inner chi. Oh -- did I forget to mention that they also were able to watch the OSU game??

Poor Frank's nose! Luckily, he didn't have school for a few weeks!

Where's Mason? Mason at his school's music and theater arts program about America.

Mason and his best friend, Ryan, at the Fall Festival.

Getting messy after making S'mores.

Mason meeting Kaitlyn Sandeno at the Nitro Olympic swim clinic.

Discussing Halloween costumes with an Olympian.

Mason and Kaitly and the Gold Medal!

Why yes, we take pictures at HEB! Mason and I were excited when we discovered that our HEB seels Heini's cheese from Berlin, Ohio! We LOVE going there when we are in Amish Country with Grandma!!!!

Our neighborhood Halloween Parade.

Snake Eyes Mason and Baseball Player Ryan.

The Miller Family Pumpkins 2008.

First Day of School

Mason's first day of fourth grade was on Monday and he was excited to get back to school. We went to Open House on Thursday night. That is when they post who your teacher is.

Well, the night before, Mason had both Ryan A. and Ryan G. spend the night here and then they all went to Ryan A.'s to play the next day. Anyway, we get to the school and start looking for the fourth grade lists (and I wish I would have taken a picture of that mob!) when Ryan G. stops us and says, "Mason -- we're all in the same class!"

Sure enough, both Ryans are in Mason's class. So, we take the elevator up to the older school grades, meet Mason's teacher, and follow the instructions to pick a seat for the first week of school. Mason scooped around but the Ryans hadn't chosen a seat. He found a cluster of four with three seats remaining and marked his territory. Ryan G and family come in and Ryan runs to Mason and puts his name beside him. Then, Ryan A comes in and adds his name to their cluster. Poor Celeste, the fourth member of the cluster who will be surrounded by boys.

As we were leaving, Mason was saying goodbye to Ryan Squared and the teacher said, "It's so funny watching them after they haven't seen their friends all summer!" and I said, "They all slept over at our house last night and were at Ryan A.'s house until 4:00 today." hehe.

Anyway, Mason loves fourth grade and having his two best friends in his class. Both of them were in a different class last year. And, it's not really a coincidence. For the first time ever (no, I didn't even do it when I was PTO President!) I requested a teacher. And we got her. Mason has had first-year teachers for the last two years and he needed someone seasoned. Or at least, I needed someone seasoned. Who would return my calls or emails (seriously -- what fresh-out-of-college teacher would not answer emails? But she never did!). Already, this one has emailed out the class newsletter.

So, he's a big fourth grader now. Here are some pictures from his first day of school...

Ignore the hose in the driveway. But notice how green our yard is! After a three month drought!

An oldie, but a goodie -- from first grade.

Gibson

Mark has chastised me because I haven't blogged about our new puppy, Gibson.

Lola found Gibson in the middle of July. He was covered with fleas and was underweight. He was a puppy that we thought was a Sheltie. She posted flyers in our community as well as neighboring ones, but no one claimed him. Well, we thought he was adorable and wished we could have him, but Mason and I were leaving for Ohio and Mark to El Paso ten days from then. Lola said she would keep him (even after Mark got home from El Paso).

So, now he's ours. And he isn't a Sheltie. He's a Shephard/Collie mix. And he is the best dog. He has only had 3 accidents since we got home August 2 (he's under three months old) and he's very good with Mason. The Monaghans started calling him Gibson, after the guitar (their dog, Jackson, is named after one, too, since Jesse plays), so we kept it.

So, without further ado, please meet our newest addition: Gibson Monaghan Miller!

Mason and Gibson.


Lola and Gibson saying goodbye to us before we left for Ohio.
The Left Bank Cafe (Lolas dining room) hosted a surprise puppy shower for Gibbers.

At his puppy shower that the Monaghans threw for us.
Gibson.
Mason and Gibson.

Gibson waiting outside Mason's bedroom door while Mason slept.

Ohio Trip Part Two

Mason and I both got a little teary when we got into Columbus. We were dropped off at Polaris mall to lunch with Mark's mom, Gail, while the others checked into our motel. I had reserved two rooms at the Days Inn in Delaware. BIG mistake. I got a call from Shelly, telling me they had moved to another motel because there were cockroaches, mold, and the whole place reeked of curry. So, we ended up with two rooms at the Comfort Inn in Delaware. Gail, Mason, and I had lunch at Brio. We didn't get waited on for over 20 minutes, so our meal was free. hehe. I bought Gail a candle at Mark's competitor because I didn't pay for lunch. She bought Mason some school clothes and then we sat at talked at Starbucks.

Mason and Grandma Gail.

Shelly picked us up and we had enough time to go back to the motel and change before a BBQ in our old neighborhood at Sandy and Rolly's. We got to see most of our neighbors and Mason got to eat Delco pizz. He had been looking forward to! We drove by our old house a few times. The landscape has really grown in well. I couldn't believe how different our old subdivision changed -- the trees were all huge. Mason rolled down his window and called hello to an old classmate and that kid looked up and said, "Hey Mason!" as if we hadn't been gone for almost two years. We got back to the motel and the kids swam for a while.

Angie and Payton.

From the right -- Jake, Maddie, Roxy, Nate, Marla, and Claire.

Sherry, Sara, and Holly.
Sandy, Rollie, and Mason.
Our old hosue in Delaware.

The next day, Shelly and her kids went to visit a college friend. Mom, Mason, and I drove to Mingo Park to visit with Mason's and my friends from Delaware. This pool is where Mason learned to swim. When we moved, they were rebuilding it and now, the complex is amazing. He had a lot of fun hanging out with his best friends, Logan, Connor, and Noah. I was happy to see the Veleys, Bowes, Shiremans, and Derstines.

Mason and his friends at Mingo.

Mason going down the big slide.

Mason, Noah, Connor, and Logan.
Mason with the Bowes, Kirsten, Mary, and Sebastian.
Me and the girls -- Toni, Di, and Nikki.
From left -- Brock, Glenn, Zachary, Noah, Mason, and Logan.

Later, Mason and I met our old friends at Villa Nova, an Italian restaurant in Columbus that we love. Cousy, Eric, and Charlie are Mark's best friends from childhood. We had good food and good times. In too short of time, the meal was over. I wish we had more time to spend in Columbus!

The Wise family -- Mindy, Claire, Charlie, and Ella.

The Kanes - Liza and Coozdog.
Mason with the Zimmermans, Eric and Kelly.
Grandma with Connor, Mason, and Jacqui at our motel pool.
Connor is a fish!

Connor and Mason goofing off in the motel.

The next day, we met Izzy, Ashley, and the girls at City Barbeque (we were looking forward to eating here, too!) then went to the Columbus Zoo. Mark, Mason, and I had been members ever since Mason was six months old. We would go for 2 hours tops, usually with Misty and Mya! Well, spending the whole day at the Zoo was exhausting -- especially in the Ohio humidity. Anyway, we had a great time. Before too long, we had to say goodbye to Shelly and her kids. The drive back to Rittman was long. I think Mom, Mason, and I slept well that night after such a whirlwind time in Columbus!

Mason and I were anxious to eat Graeter's ice cream.

Mason at the petting zoo at the Columbus Zoo.
All of the kids on the Polar bears.
In front of the pachyderm house.
We didn't get a picture at the hammerhead... so I included this one with a much younger Mason!

And the tiger.
And the warthogs.
Connor and Pepe the penguin.
Me, Shelly, and Mom at the zoo.
Lainey wasn't quite sure about her lorikeet.

Ella and her lorikeet.
Mason and his lorikeet.
Jacqui and her lorikeet.
On the boatride in Asia. Ashley, Mason, Jacqui, and Ella.
At the stinky flower. Ella and Connor. I love how the baby gorilla is looking at Connor.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Mom, Mason, and I did a lot of different things. I got to go to House of Hunan and Mason got to eat at Bob Evans again. We visited my grandmother in her nursing home again, this time take her an early birthday present.

Mason and Great-Grandma Steiner.

Friday came and Misty brought the girls to visit. I hadn't met Macey yet and she is such a doll. Mya modeled her new haircut. After they left, we all walked to the orchard one last time before we left for the airport.

Mit and her girls.
Mit hasn't aged at all.
Macey, Mya, and Mason.

The future Mr. and Mrs. Miller if Mya has her way.

They have been friends for a long time. Mya and Mason.

Macey.

Mason at the orchard.

At the orchard.

Grandma and Mason inside the orchard.

Mom and Mason in the garden.
Mom and Mason.
My childhood house.

We got in to Austin around 11:00pm. Ten days was a long time away from home.

The next day, we got Gibson the wondermutt. But that's another blog... To be continued...