I am a Dragon...

Well, Ben is a Dragon...a Drexel University Dragon that is. One with the letters MPH now attached to his name!
HE IS DONE.
GRADUATED.
Freeeeeee....well, until he starts helping me pack tomorrow, does a month of officer's training, 4 years of medical school, 4+ years of residency...yada, yada you get the picture! But I'm optimistic that the future will be bright, beautiful & full of chocolate rainbows from here on out! Right?! : )

Ben presented his Master's Thesis this week. This is a project he's been working towards completing for the past 2 years! He's very proud of it & we're very proud of him!

You ready for what the name of his project was? It's a mouthful: Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Functional Disability in Elderly Soviet Immigrants (breathe here...okay continue) A Secondary Analysis of Data From the 2008 American Community Survey. Did you get all that?

The kids came along to support their daddy & to be doted on by all the girls in Ben's class;)

Trying to contain Dylan's excitement in a very small space

No words to describe how awesome this picture is

The only thing missing from the day was getting a well deserved high five from this fiercely fruity looking fellow...

"Hey guyths!"

You did it Ben! We love you & can't wait for you to start school again! WOO HOO!

Party Like it's 1999!

Rewind to this day 11 years ago.

Memorial Day 1999.

I was 16, Ben was 18. At the beginning of this day, 11 years ago Ben & I were just friends. We didn't have school that day (score) & headed out with a big group of friends to see the movie "Star Wars: Episode One". We piled into Ben's parents' car and drove an hour to a sweet movie theater because our town was small & didn't have what it took to show an epic Star Wars movie. We started the day as friends, but I had a big crush on him for months, which he recently discovered ... thanks to my 12 year old brother's HUGE mouth ...who I was going to KILL. Mortifying I tell ya! After Ben's eyes were opened with this news of me having a crush on him, it was like that song "Dream Weaver" started playing and all was right in the world. We ended up holding hands awkwardly through the cup holder in the movie theater. Why through the cup holder???...we were awkward teenagers and it slowly (read: awkwardly) happened over the course of a 2 hour movie. We didn't make eye contact, we just stared straight ahead, tried to concentrate on the movie & held hands. I'm pretty sure I was sweating, and couldn't swallow. But we made it to the end of the movie, I got automatic shotgun on the ride home (double score) and he made sure to drop me off dead last. I hurried up & reapplied my watermelon chapstick & was ready for anything that may or may not happen next;) I'll just say thank goodness I had my trusty watermelon chapstick that night!

Happy kinda-first-date anniversary-of-sorts Ben!

Now, fast forward 11 years!

So, Memorial Day kinda snuck up on us this year but Ben was busy pounding out his final projects to get his Masters finished up, so we really weren't planning on doing much of anything....until we got invited to a good ol' BBQ baby! Unfortunately Ben still had to stay home & pump out those papers.... but he needed some major quiet time anyway, so the kids & I headed on over to the Matson's for a day of fun with a bunch of friends! Thanks for rescuing us! You guys are awesome!

They sure know how to throw a par-tay!

They have a bunch of ducks, chickens, and quail as pets in their backyard & the kids had a blast touching & holding them all day!

The BBQ master chef Scott

Claira thought this little chick was so cute! She was so excited to hold it. It was so soft!

Claira knows to never pick up hitchhikers...just keep looking straight Claira...atta girl.

What's Memorial Day, the holiday that kicks off all-things-summer, without a slide followed by a pool to land in?

It was such a fun, relaxing day. Good eats, fantastic company, good laughs, fun games & happy kids (who went right to sleep the minute their sweet little heads hit their fluffy little pillows!) We may not have partied like it was 1999, but it was pretty dang close! We missed you Ben!

Super Star Student!

Claira got to attend a "Super Star Student Lunch with the Principal" for following the school rules all year! She's been talking about it for months and couldn't wait for it to finally happen.
The kids in her class voted on the perfect reward for following the school rules & they decided a lunch with the principal would be the ULTIMATE!

Kindergartners are so cute...give them 5 or 6 more years and they'll probably be terrified of the principal...I know I was...but then again, I wasn't exactly a 'super star student' in my day, if you know what I mean! We were so excited to celebrate with Claira, she's been such a hard worker & good listener in school, we couldn't be more proud of her!

Here's a picture of Claira, the principal Ms. Cruice & her best friend Matt chattin' it up & enjoying some monstrous cheese pizza:)

All the super stars with their teacher, Ms. Moultrie

It's been a great year & I can't believe it's almost over!
Great job Claira! We love you & your squishy little cheeks!

Introducing...Lieutenant Miller

I've always secretly wanted to be married to a military man & now I am! I'm so proud of Ben. He's such a great guy on so many levels. He decided to join the Air Force when we found out he got accepted into medical school. He applied & qualified for the military scholarship (which pays for all 4 years of school, books... all that jazz! So COOL!) It's a great trade-off...we save about $200,000 in debt over 4 years of medical school & Ben pays them back with 4 years of service when he's a doctor. He's so excited to start serving our country...but we'll see what he says when he gets home from a month of officer's training this summer! ha ha!

The commissioning ceremony was held at Philadelphia's City Hall building, which is beautiful! Here he is with all the other soon-to-be med students. After this picture they held up their right hands and took their oaths, it was so cool. I really wish I had a picture of that! Darn.

The Air Force hooked them up with t-shirts, backpacks, insulated mugs, FaNcY pens, water bottles, all kinds of fun loot!

The kids being so good & watching Daddy at the ceremony

Way to go Ben! We're so proud of you!

Goings On...

Sunday afternoons are best spent with a pair of pajamas, a pile of books, and a nice long nap. Don't you agree?

We like to get picnicky

running a 5k with friends...

While my little people got their faces painted....

Decorated their own cookies...

Hung out with friends, made hats & ate popcorn (for free)!

I'm going to miss this!

and then this poor guy got sick, but good ol' Buzz Lightyear was there to comfort him

Look at that face! Heartbreaking!

Kitchen Nightmares

Gordon Ramsay has nothing on my nightmares.


Tuna Noodle Casserole...explosion. Yes, the dish actually forcefully exploded & no I did not cook it on the stovetop. What we think happened is we took the hot food out of the dish too quickly & it cooled on one half where the food was missing and was still 350 degrees on the other half where the food was still sitting. It basically FREAKED OUT from the uneven temperatures. The dish exploded right after I walked out of the kitchen to set the plates on the table. Glass flew about 10 feet!!!! Thankfully no one was hurt except my poor casserole...rest in peace tasty leftovers, rest in peace.

Steamed carrots via the microwave= zap fried carrots enveloped in FLAMES!

Um, mom my carrots are on fire...should I stop the microwave? WHAT?!?!

You've heard of "face-melting licks" when talking about awesome tunes right? How about "bowl-melting licks" when talking about dry oatmeal in the microwave?

Our sweet Dylan was being ever so thoughtful & let mommy & daddy sleep in then headed downstairs to make his own breakfast (how irresistibly cute is that?) The boy LOVES his oatmeal. I abruptly awoke to a burning smell & a high pitched tiny voice squeaking " It's smoking! It's smoking!" MOMMY PANIC MODE sets in! I ran downstairs & discovered this:

and this...
He wakes us up for breakfast now.

Today...

I've been having a really hard week this week. Potty Training has begun. Oy. How I loathe the process of potty training. With Claira it took 4 years to get her potty trained. Trust me, a lot of frustrated tears were shed during those carpet stained, couch soaked, never ending laundry years...for momma and baby.

I was changing Dylan's diaper on Monday, as usual, and I experienced a wave of "yuck, I'm so done with poopy diapers" feeling. So, in my moment of naive bravery I opened my big mouth and said "hey Dyl, what do you think about wearing undies like a big boy & going poop on the potty?" He was ECSTATIC. He wanted to go to the store & pick out undies NOW. So we went. He picked out the cutest little boy undies you ever did see. Mickey mouse clubhouse and of course a fun pack of Disney greats all boys around the globe would swoon over....Cars, Nemo, Buzz Lightyear & Woody.

As soon as we got home he ripped open the package & put on his first pair of undies. I decided going 'cold turkey' would be my approach here. Pull-ups seemed to confuse Claira so I didn't want to mess with them this time. at least not yet. I wanted to see how he did with undies first.

It's day 3. I woke up this morning to a bright blue eyed boy smiling and kissing and hugging on me...pretty much the best way to wake up. He got in bed with me & we snuggled up together. He smells so good in the morning...dragon breath and all. As I was drifting in & out of groggy 'is it really 6:30 in the morning' sleep, he sat up and said "Can I lay up mom?" "Huh?" I ask "Can I lay up?" and I realized he meant "can I sit up?". "um, yeah go ahead buddy". it was pretty cute.

He hopped out of bed, ran over to his dresser and picked out his undies for the day. He was so excited that he started hugging and kissing his undies. Oh, I love my son. It's things like this I wanted to write down & remember. So when I cry later today because I'm cleaning up another accident...I can try to remember the cute & the good in my life & not sweat the small stuff.

Think of me this week. Wish me luck.