THE NEW YEAR 2013

2013 

The time has arrived to start a new year.  Regrets = waiting until October 27th to start on this.  I have exactly 9 weeks to finish this!!

We start this year with a brief look at the very end of 2012.  We start with a look at Carleigh's Foray into the make up world.  Do we have a new Cosmetologist on our hands or are we looking at a bull fighter?.  Don't be fooled by the crocodile tears, she was smiling 10 minutes later!

She has the sweetest heart of any little 4 year old around.  Of course at this time she was only 3 years old!  I think she got the smile done right on the make - up.


January:  

Still in the rental house on Ballinger:  Mom and the 2 little ones hunkering down for a snuggle!  About this time we are getting tired of the rental house.  It was OK but we had difficult neighbors.  One morning I awoke to find my truck towed (we were told I could park on the street but evidently not).  I think the neighbors called on us.  Another time the neighbor across the street came and put a strip of pink duct tape down the center of the driveway that we share with the neighbor that we shared a wall with.  I had evidently parked my truck on the center line and this against the rules.  I eventually had to park my truck in a church parking lot a quarter mile away where I wouldn't get ticketed or towed.  That walk got old after a month but went on for 8 months!

Dad's Birthday was just a day later, one of my favorite gifts!  The Pineapple - to all the PSYCH fans out there!  I had to work the night of my Birthday at the Med Center which is very close to an Olive Garden, so we had a family dinner there with Mike, Cathy, Mandy, Michael and all our Kids.

Carleigh's Birthday:

Just after my Birthday we celebrated little Carleigh's 4th birthday - Of course she got to go to her favorite restaurant - Poblano's.  She must have gotten that stuffed animal frog for her birthday because it didn't leave her side for weeks.  She had it in a headlock constantly, awake or asleep!

We had a pinata at the birthday party at Mike and Cathy's house and invited the Miles' family to come.  We had lots of fun until I held the pinata too close the siding of the beauty shop right behind me in the picture below - one of the kids swung the wiffle ball bat so hard that when I liftted the tinkerbell pinata, they struck the siding and cracked the vinyl.  We had to replace the siding which cost 6X the amount of the pinata in the first place.

Of course each of the girls gets flowers on their birthday's.  We haven't always been able to afford presents for the children but we try to always get them flowers.

Day after Christmas DC trip

The day after Christmas we decided to take a trip to Washington DC for several reasons.  One of our traditions for the holiday is to make a "Cafe Rio" meal on Christmas Eve.  We didn't want to cook this year and make a mess of the kitchen so we drove up to the real Cafe Rio instead.  This was supposed to be a 4 1/2 hour trip but ended up taking 7.5 hours because of the bad weather, snowy roads.  There were vehicles in the ditches all the way there, there were some that were flipped over on the road. 

At one point we actually took some backroads to get around the heavy traffic.  But we made it for dinner.  At Dinner we met the McCorquindales at the restaurant and then went with them to the Temple to see the lights and the visitors center.  It was beautiful - there was a mist of sprinkle rain which gave the temple a cool look.

After spending the night in a hotel in Alexandria, we proceeded to take the Metro up to the National Mall to see some of the sights - while we were navigating the Metro - the underground subway, we figured out the hard way that you need to add money to your ticket to get out of the Metro station, not just into the station.  So we made our way all the way to Downtown DC but were unable to get out of the station because we didn't have enough money on the cards.  Earlier in the day, at the hotel, Carleigh had found a penny on the ground in the middle of the road - I told her it was a lucky penny and put it in my pocket.  While I was frustrated at the Metro ticket station looking for coins to allow us to get out of the station, Carleigh looked up at her frustrated Dad, took me by the hand and said "Dad, you can use my lucky Penny!" 

Washington monument - Michael and Bri

The Capital building - Bri and Carleigh.  It was freezing cold and I made the mistake of getting off the Metro at the wrong station - it made for a long walk in the cold to get to the Smithsonian museums.  We went to the museum of American History where we saw the largest American flag ever made.  We also went to the Air and Space Museum - honestly it was mostly because we knew that was where the McDonalds was located - we did a quick walk through.  the kids were cold and everyone was excited to get back in the car and head back to Greensboro - After sitting in traffic for 2 hours to go 30 miles, we finally hit the open road and got home in a total of 6 hours.  Better than the trip down.

Lizzy is getting a Cheeseburger - can't hide the smile.

Everyone was tired after the Christmas holiday - Carleigh chose to curl up with Ooma's new afghan, specially made for her by Dad.

Christmas Time 2012

Bri and I went to the Carolina Panther's game with Papa and Brandon Beck, the person who is doing our refinance.  I insisted that after doing 3 different mortgages with him he could repay the favor and take us to a game in Charlotte.  Panthers win! over the Oakland Raiders.  We were able to eat lunch overlooking the stadium and watch the players warm up.  The weather was beautiful - had a great time.

Christmas time means traditions - in our family we build gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve.  Check out the beautiful creations.  

Brian asks - what comes before Christmas Eve?  Answer :  Christmas Adam.

It's hard not to snack as we go...

Bri loves the Pittsburgh Steelers - Palomalo jersey - sweet

The whole family - christmas eve

Random Pictures

Bri's Football ceremony - Congratulations on another great football season.  "Killer Miller"!

The annual Miller Thanksgiving Day Fun Run!  The Miles Family, Mandy and Michael and Mike and Cathy came this year.  Fun times, followed by medals and Sausage Biscuits from Bojangles.  Lizzy was feeling sick - didn't help that at the end of the run she fell backwards off a small fence into the forest and pine needles.  So many tears.

Papa Burl has come to visit.  Loves his little Carleigh

Taking one of the first pictures on dad's new I-phone!

During Carpet selections, we met a a friendly dog at the carpet store.  Carleigh likes to try to ride all dogs that are bigger than her.

Don't know when this was taken, but got a nice picture of a beautiful smile of a very SWEET little girl. MIss snuggle herself

Grandad's 60th Birthday this year - all the little kids were asked to write what they liked best about Grandad.  Carleigh chose singing.  She must love to sing with Grandad.

A rare sunny and warm day in the winter - Lazy dog

Family Photos 2012

Brian works with a nurse that as a hobby takes pictures and she offered to take ours this year and I think they turned out great.  Brian kept telling me not to buy him anything to wear because he knew he had a red shirt to wear.  So for the first time I listen to him and bought him nothing and the rest of us got clothes with red/cream theme to it.  So about 15 minutes before we are leaving he comes in with this shirt on (he had never tried it on) and it was huge and looked like an old man.  He had found it at kohls one day very cheap and just bought it.  So his first comment was thanks for getting me something to wear, so I reminded him that he had ask me not to.  I was so mad, the one time I listen to him this is what happens.  So he goes into the closet and the shirt he is wearing is the only other shirt he had with red.  In the end it all work out and the pictures look great!