Family Roots

Today we attended a family reunion that has been an annual event for a long as I've been alive, and I learned today that it was actually started back in the 1930's or 1940's!  This would be my mom's mom's parents - my great grandparents.

For the past couple of years, my brother has been working on a family tree website, and today was the first time I was on it.  It's been a great website to get a good grasp of how to place where each relative belongs and see how big our family really is.   I'm thinking that it wasn't until Rodney came into my life that I really made an effort to not just know who my relatives are but to know which family they belonged to (to which of my grandma's siblings).

Today's reunion seemed fairly large - either that or the building we had it at was a bit too small ;o).  Anyway, I decided to go on the website and count how many blood relatives there are for just two generations.  Of course there were the original two (great grandpa & grandma).  They had 10 children (my grandma was #8).  Of their children who lived to get married and have their own children that number totals 46.  That means my mom has/had 42 1st cousins and that's just one side of the family!  Compare that to my girls who have NO 1st cousins and to me who has only seven 1st cousins on one side.  Now take into account that the majority of these 46 people got married and had children of their own (this would be my generation) and on and on.

Ok, I decided to do it.  I went on the website and counted EVERY person who is under the family of Jacob J.C. Miller whether it is by blood or by marrying into the family or just a little kid.  Are you ready for this?  The total number is 712 people!  Granted not everyone is still living (there is only one son of my great parents that is still living), but that is still a lot of family heritage from my great grandparents.  I'm fairly sure that this is not a common occurrence for most people especially if you don't have an amish/mennonite background, and to have your ancestry mapped out for the past 100+ years is quite a feat too.

With this all said, I guess I'm discovering that the older I get, the more I realize how special my family and relatives really are.  And even though I may not see some of them except once a year or maybe even longer, they are still a part of me and who I am.

Vacation

For our vacation this year we headed to the Cincinnati Zoo.  Overall the girls traveled ok especially when they are watching a video :o)  (they are not the best long distance travelers) 

Here are some pictures of our HOT zoo experience.

We rode the train twice and the last time Rodney wanted to ride in the very last car as the last seat faced backwards, but the girls won out.  They wanted to ride in the very first car :o)

Feeding the goats.

Poor thing!  Can you tell he's hot?!

See the baby zebra?  The sign said she was born 2 days after Allyson's birthday.

Janae loved the flamingos.  I think the main reason why is that a few days before I had bought her a new shirt and it has a flamingo on it :o)

Like the train, we rode the carousel twice.

Janae rode the bench both times :o) but she definitely enjoyed it.

Just some of the very pretty flowers near the entrance/exit area.

On the way home Rodney wanted to stop at the Air Force Museum in Dayton.  The place is huge and I bet we didn't see half of all that was available to see.  I didn't take a lot of pictures inside as the lighting was a bit too dark for them to turn out very well.

They had a fuselage of a fighter jet that basically only kids were allowed into due to the cramped area.

We Have A Bike Rider - somewhat

The other week something in Allyson finally clicked and she discovered that she can ride a bike without training wheels (something I was beginning to wonder would ever happen).  We haven't been practicing a lot lately as it has been way too hot, but here are a couple of pictures of her first two-wheel bike experience.

She started on Kaycie's bike, then Rodney took off the training wheels from Janae's bike and now the training wheels are off of Allyson's bike.  She's not quite as comfortable on her bike, but she's definitely doing it - somewhat.

Landscaping

For the past month or so we have been sowing our grass seed and watering and watering.  Today we actually bought mulch and reused our wood edging to make new flower beds along the south side of the house where the egress windows went.

Here is a reminder of what it looked like before.

Here is the almost completed project.

I'm thinking that we need something bigger planted here in the middle - maybe another hydrangea bush, but Rodney's not sure if that's a good idea.  He's afraid it would be a place for snakes to hide.  We'll see who wins ;o)   Anybody have any other ideas?

T-Ball Pictures

Today was Janae's last day of t-ball.  Here are some pictures from the last two games.

Playing 3rd base

Getting ready to bat.  Always ready even when the ball's not there :o)

Was impressed with my picture!  Almost as good as Uncle Branden's picture I had posted earlier :o)

Running the bases.

In the "ready defensive position".  One thing I can say about Janae - she definitely listened to what the coach taught her!

Lining up to receive their t-ball trophies.

Getting her trophy :o)

They Said What?! (continued)

quote (conversation) of the day. me - "you know if you blow your nose you could breathe better." Kaycie - "I already know how to breathe."

"i want my own phone mom." (Allyson) my response - "HA! not for a long time girlie girl!"

"look mommy! there's a little doggie!. he's walking a man." (Kaycie)

"only 5 more years until i'm a teenager!" (cringe)

"maybe macaroni & cheese cookies!" (Janae) - this week at preschool the kids made pancakes on Monday, pizza today and will get to make cookies on Friday. I was asking Janae if she knew what kind of cookies they were going to make. when she said no, we started naming off different types of cookies :o)

"I LOVE the dentist!!" - I was telling Janae this morning that on Tuesday her and Kaycie will be going to the dentist. She got all excited! Guess I picked the right pediatric dentist :o)

"it is nice and warm and chilly." (Janae)

the girls are playing Bible class in Allyson's room. Allyson said they are reading the Bible, praying, telling Bible stories, having a snack, etc. This is what I just overhead Allyson telling Janae and Kaycie - "did you know Jesus knows everything you are thinking? so i'm thinking about spaghetti sauce and Jesus knows that." :o)

having a radio is like having a tv in my room - except you don't watch it, you listen to it." (Allyson)

we got her a boombox radio/cd player for her birthday and she absolutely LOVES it! she is constantly in her room

listening to the radio :o)

quote of the day or actually quote of the month - said with a smile - "i'm going to sleep in my bed." (Janae) for those who've been following my posts about Janae's sleeping arrangements, this is a big deal :o)

Ball Player

Here is Janae's official T-Ball picture.  Quite the slugger, eh?

The kids on Janae's team were waiting in line to have their individual pictures taken, and Janae was probably the third or fourth one in line.  As I was watching this all take place, it seemed that most of the kids had to be helped quite a bit on how to pose (proper hold of the bat, how to stand, etc.).  But when it was Janae's turn, she marched right up to the spot, grabbed the bat and, well, you can see how it turned out.  The photographer told her that she must have done this before as she didn't have to do much to take the picture. :o)  

(Since this is a professional picture, please do not print a copy from this.  I have a few extra wallets if you really want one.)

And just for kicks, here is Allyson's T-ball picture from 2010.