The Girl is four

Wow, and now my girl is four. How can this be true??

Recently, people have been commenting that Miller looks like me. That's a new thing, as no one has ever said that about Colby or Miller. (usually, they tell me that Miller looks like Colby). But me? So I dug up an old photo of when I was Miller's age.

See a resemblance? (don't ask me why this is upside down- I can't fix it) I sent this picture to Lee on his phone, and he thought it was Miller. (and probably wondered why I dressed her up like Holly Hobby)

At four years of age, it's no secret that Miller's best friend is Charlie. Often when they play together, we find them upstairs either in pajamas....or their birthday suits.

Miller is a true water bug and loves to swim. I think I'd go so far as to say that swimming is her favorite thing. She's been in swim lessons since she was a baby, and she actually swam a length of the pool freestyle this summer with her swim coach Lizzie.

At Colby's last swim meet, she was brave enough to down the giant water slide!

So naturally, she had a pool party for her fourth birthday. It was supposed to be outside, but the weather was looking bad the morning of her party and I scrambled to find a new venue. Fortunately, I found an indoor facility we could use and it actually turned out to be perfect.

So excited!

I've never seen Miller as excited and happy as she was at her birthday party. Her friends were all there, she was playing in the "awesome" water park, and cake was on the menu. She was in her element.

She and all her friends (classmates from last year) played several rounds of ring around the rosie. So cute!

Another round with her favorite boys Jackson and Charlie.

Miller and Charlie having a moment under the water fall.

Cute tush. She ran around with a wedgie the entire party.

After an hour of swimming, we took a break for pizza and cake.

The princess cake.

So tempted to steal a little frosting. (which they did)

Sweet birthday girl

And wouldn't you know, Colby found a way to steal a little thunder during her party. His bottom tooth was somehow knocked out right in the middle of eating pizza. (we never found it)

We returned to the water for more swimming, and then headed home to open presents.

On the actual morning of her birthday, Miller got some more presents from mom and dad.

Mostly princess presents, of course.

And lots of arts and crafts.

Happy fourth birthday to my sweet, happy, smart, confident, funny, and sassy little girl. I couldn't be more proud to be your mommy.

The Boy is 6

I can't believe my little boy is six!

He kicked off his birthday week with Kindergarden camp, which he loved. (according to him, a few other boys were put in time out but he was not...we'll take victories where we can get them!)

Birthday morning

He can't get enough of his military toys (just like his daddy)

His big present was a basketball hoop, although he seemed more excited about the actual basketball.

He had a "nerf gun party" at the local bounce house place.

Always the jokester, he pretended to stick his nose in the candle (and almost burnt himself)

Miller was allowed to have one guest at Colby's party, and of course, she chose Charlie.

The boys heading out to battle

Colby ended his birthday week with his last swim meet of the season.

He improved both of his times and got first place in his heat for freestyle!

His freestyle time:dropped from 44:10 to 40:38, and backstroke dropped slightly from 45:42 to 45:72

At Colby's 6 year appointment, his height was 48 inches (90th%) and his weight was 54 pounds (also 90th%)

Happy birthday, to my sweet, smart, funny, outgoing, curious, and determined little boy. Did I mention active? Yeah, that, too. I think this year's going to be a good one.

Ode to Georgia

I adopted Georgia in September of 2011, shortly after the September 11th attacks. I had been dating Lee for five months, and with the uncertainty of his job and what happened, things started to fall apart a little. Since he was in the military, we both knew he would probably deploy somewhere. He couldn't tell me anything about a future or what would happen....or even that he wanted a serious relationship. What's a girl to do? I broke up with him and got a puppy. (The break up lasted all of two months.)

When I went to look at puppies in the kennel, I really did not know a thing about dogs or what I was getting myself into. What I did know was that puppies are cute, and at the time, that was enough for me.

Georgia was with a bunch of her litter mates in a very dirty and small crate. Some were all brown, and just a few of them had her coloring. I petted them all, and as I walked around, Georgia was biting her cage and completely freaking out. In my mind, I thought "She loves me!". Never did I think "neurotic"...

My mom was with me, and we thought it would be better if I came back the next day to get her. I didn't have a single dog item at home, even dog food, but I didn't want to leave her there crying. And so, I left there with a little spotted dog they told me would be between 35 and 50 pounds. (she tipped the scale at 90 during her "heavier" years). I named her Georgia.

She was CUTE. But she was also extremely destructive. The biting of the cage and freaking out when I first met her were very telling behaviors....Georgia had extreme separation anxiety. When I would go to work, or anywhere, she would completely freak out. I tried crating her, but she would shred whatever bedding was in the crate and thrash her body against the side of the crate until it was on the other side of the room. I was in a pretty small apartment at the time, so my solution was to just shut her in my bedroom.
She ate: my bed, my dresser, the underside of my box spring mattress, my stuffed dog Lemutt, my shoes, she opened drawers and chewed holes in my athletic clothes. She would pull down my pillows and anything on top of my bed and chew holes in it. (On a visit to Nana and Granddaddy's many months after Lee and I were back together, she ate a carpet and chest in their house, too)

At the time, I didn't know enough to realize she should probably be medicated...she needed some serious doggie prozac. Everyone told me to give her away, but I wouldn't do it...I just knew that things would somehow get better. And they did.

Despite her personality flaws, Georgia was my baby, and I treated her as one. I bought her a raincoat...

And dressed her up for the Easter parade. (I vaguely remember her eating a little boy's funnel cake)

I ended up moving to Charlottesville when she was about two, and things got a whole lot better. She was a different dog, and all the separation anxiety was gone. She had a huge yard to run in, and she loved being a girl in the country. She tree'd squirrels, sat on the porch, and took a lot of long walks. (On one walk, she was attacked by two German shepherds in the neighborhood and badly bitten. It took her a while to get over that and she was never really as comfortable with other dogs.)

After we were married, but before kids, Georgia was the focus of our Christmas card.

Each night, Lee would take her collar off so that she would be more comfortable as she slept. Then he would lay on the bed with her and hug her goodnight.

And then Colby came....and things changed. Georgia was still our dog, but she wasn't the main focus. And she seemed ok with that.

She was still part of our family.

(We took lots of walks on campus, and then one day, Georgia was hit by a bike. Again, that changed her for a while and she was terrified of bikes, but she eventually got over it)

Georgia could not have been a more gentle dog with the kids. She put up with a lot.

Pinches...

Pulls....

Loves...

And more.

As sweet as she was, she was not a guard dog.

She had the face of an angel (and least I thought so).

All through our photo albums, you can see Georgia right in the middle of it all.

She loved the water...

and walking through the grass.

She always got Christmas presents. (this was her last Christmas)

Georgia was a lot of things, but being a food thief is what she did best. Here she is...looking innocent....but waiting for her moment to strike.

Did I mention that GEORGIA LOVED FOOD? She was obsessed. It was her reason for waking in the morning and controlled most of her thinking. She was constantly stealing food from the kids or wherever she could find it, despite the fact that she was well fed (and over-weight). The poor girl was cursed with an insatiable appetite.

Despite her flaws, we loved her and she was the perfect dog for us.

We'll miss you sweet Georgia. Thank you for being such a wonderful dog. I hope you are up in doggie heaven chasing squirrels and laying in the sunshine. And eating.