mom, the only problem is that March is Carolina blue!

Jonathan and I ran the Wounded Warrior 5k on Saturday morning (in 37 degree rainy weather) and after we took the kids to the mall for nothing in particular.  Mostly we just wanted to get them out of the house.

Walking in, I casually mentioned to Julianna that she could get her ears pierced which to my surprise, she eagerly agreed.  We discussed it over lunch at the food court.  We walked right over to Claire's after eating and watched a little girl get hers pierced.

After watching that girl get them done without dying, Julianna hopped up in the chair and the girl marked the dots.  You could tell Jules was nervous but she does great at the doctor's office getting shots so I knew she could do it.

The girl gave her the choice of doing them one at a time or waiting for the other employee to finish ringing up a line of customers and getting them both at the same time.  I don't think Julianna understood but she said, "go ahead."  So she did.

Here's the first one:

And the second was a bit worse:

But she did it!  And she was so, so happy afterward!

She got home and wanted to do Google Hangouts with all of the family members and she's going to be a hot mess at school this week because she thinks she's something else, but I also happen to think she's adorable with her aquamarine birthstone gems.

I just can't believe my little girl has grown up so much!

Here's the after pictures:

Ladies, when did you get your ears pierced?

A Good American

I've traveled to France, Mexico, and England and to many different cities in between but the only place I truly felt like a real foreigner was in France.  [Those snooty French sure know how to make a young girl feel lost, lonely, and inferior.]  At any rate, all of my travels were only for short visits and I cannot imagine up and moving with my husband to another country to start a family and a new life.  [I know people do it all the time but can you even imagine becoming a mother for the first time without the help of your own mom? GAH!]

That's what Frederick does in Alex George's novel A Good American.  He and his pregnant wife move all the way across the world as newlyweds and try to take the advice of a man who helps them along the way.  They try to be "good Americans."  If you want to learn more we're discussing this book over at BlogHer's Book Club page.

source

I finished this book in three days which was quite a feat for a slow reader like myself.  I really enjoyed it and how easily I could relate to the characters.  I encourage you to check it out!

"This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own."

stories

"Mama, did you know I look just like Harry Potter?"

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You know February is when all of the Liberty Tax service people dress up and stand on the street corners, right?  "Mama, I see the Liberty of a Statue!"

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Looking at a stamp on his hand Josh said, "Mama, why do octupuses squirt ink?"  Who knew this boy was so smart?

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Julianna received a special heart box of chocolates for Valentine's from a boy in her class.  He gave everyone else in the class a normal Valentine card but tried to slip the candy box into Julianna's bag without her seeing.  Of course she found out and when I asked her if she thanked him she said, "Yes, Mom, but I don't have a crush on him!"

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In the drive-through at McDonald's Josh pointed to the picture of the Shamrock shake and asked, "Mom, have you ever had one of those?"  When I told him I hadn't he advised me not to try it because it tasted like it had boogers in it.  Then when I asked him how he knew that he replied very seriously, "Because I had one a long time ago before I was born."

how did I forget to post about this VERY important long run? (that's totally sarcastic, feel free to skip this post)

This is totally random but I saw these pictures on my phone from my long run a couple of weeks ago and I realized that I forgot to post them.  They make me smile so I'm going to post them here for documentation sake.

This was an eleven mile run over what seemed like every part of our city.  Last year I really struggled on this particular run and it was so nice to be able to do it easily this year, snapping pictures along the way.

a nice view entering downtown and beautiful sunshine after a 20 degree run the Saturday before:

the building where my dad worked when I was growing up:

I have fond memories of driving his remote-control boats in the water fountain/pond below from his office upstairs.  It was always a treat to visit his office and go through the big revolving doors.

Below is the tea pot in Old Salem:

running up the strollway:

First Street sign in memory of my dear friends Wes and Andy Burton:

The middle school I attended, Calvin H. Wiley Middle School:

It was a good run.  I love to snap pics and look back on all the things I saw during that adventure!  Wouldn't it be fun to run from one town to another snapping pics along the way?  I just may have to do that some time!

fifty three and counting

Yesterday we celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday with a small gathering at her church.  Small meaning over two hundred people of course.

All five of her children were there as well as all twelve grandkids and twenty three great-grands.  There are fifty three Miller's in all.

Aren't these the cutest M&Ms?  That's her picture from high school on one of them and the other's say "Happy birthday" and 12 grands & 23 great-grands.

Each of the great grands had a special mini-cupcake with a flag with their name on it.

Including one for my sister's baby. Squee!

The kids did an excellent job decorating the church with pictures and all things pink.

The kids chowed down on cake and M&M's and played in the gym.

Dinner after at Golden Corral. This picture of my grandmother cracks me up!  It's hard to tell, but she has a cast on her leg from a fall last month.

I just hope I look as good at 90!

Happy birthday, Mama Lou!

up to (in pictures)

...making Valentine's Day lunches for my kids

....making Dad two different kinds of cake

...and licking the bowl

....watching Wolfpack basketball in our underwear

...doing lots of this


What have you been up to?

Dad, Can I have some of your marshmallows?

Last Thursday we enjoyed an evening at the circus.  The kids were pretty excited about it and I got them to do extra chores by encouraging them in the direction of "you may want some extra spending money when we go to the circus!"  More chores = more circus money.  It totally worked!  Win-win!

Let me back up and mention that the morning we went Josh had some random stomach thing that made him projectile vomit across the kitchen.  He was staying home with my mom that day anyway because the babysitter had scheduled an appointment day so it wasn't a big deal and he seemed to feel fine despite the fact that he (understandably) wouldn't eat all day.

By dinner time we grabbed a quick bite to eat in Greensboro before we went to the circus and I was excited that Josh decided he was hungry enough to eat two slices of cheese pizza.  I sent my mom this picture and said, "Hope he doesn't puke at the circus!"  [Spoiler alert: we were fortunate and there was no more puke to be seen.]  Julianna kept asking Jonathan for more of his marshmallows when she really meant to say mashed potatoes.

So our tickets were free (thanks Piedmont Parent!) and we've already covered that I'm cheap so you know I cringed when we had to pay $8! (EIGHT DOLLARS!) to park at the Coliseum.  But, I thought, eight dollars isn't too bad for a trip to the circus.

Here's the fam waiting for the show to begin.

Then when we looked at the souvenirs and the dumb light-up spinner thingys that were twenty bucks in years past had now gone up to $22 and my kids had each brought a twenty dollar bill. I could have been a nice mom and gone ahead and shelled out my own money, but no. I'm cheap and I convinced them that they each could pay eleven and pick out one to share. They actually agreed to that.

We saw an elephant paint.

We saw clowns right beside us or sitting behind us tapping us on the shoulders with their giant pokey fingers. 

 

 

We saw the tightrope bicycles.

We saw tigers.

We saw the youngest girl to fly out of a cannon.

And then we saw this, which in my exhaustion I probably found to be more funny than it actually was.

Then we went home. 

Julianna was most impressed with the fact that she stayed awake until 10:30 on a school night.  I was most impressed with the fact that we won free tickets and still paid $30 for three hours at the circu.  Jonathan was most impressed with the fact that he could navigate Greensboro traffic on the highway in the rain without cussin. 

The end.