Gingerich Christmas

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know we did. We have been re-doing Trinity's bedroom a little bit at a time and last week we painted the walls pink and painted a huge chalkboard on one of the walls. Here are pics of the chalkboard.

Christmas Eve morning we opened presents at our house. We have so many get togethers that this is our only time to open presents without being rushed. Christmas Eve all of the Miller's went to Crystal's for food and dirty santa. Then Christmas morning we always go to dad's for breakfast and gift exchange. Trinity got lots of toys that she wanted and she even made the comment "I'm livin' the good life"! I do not encourage santa and feel like it's a lie but the last couple of years she will see santa at different events and say "see mom, there is a santa. There he is." I would try to explain but she wasn't hearing it. So instead of arguing with her, I just go along with whatever she says. So Christmas morning when she woke up and seen her stocking she said "Why didn't santa come?" and I said he brought your stocking and she said "But I asked for Barbies!" I didn't know what to do then. She had already opened all of her barbies from us. And then I remembered that LeighAnn had bought her a barbie too. So I told Trin that santa must have forgot and took it to papa's house instead. I called LeighAnn real fast and had her change the name tag to "from Santa". Trinity never new the difference but next year I will definately have to save some stuff for santa. Here are some pictures of the holidays. Marshall and Breanna are Taylor's step-children and Daniel is Rachel's boyfriend.

Picture Update!

I notice that I haven't updated pictures since October! Here are a few, hope you have time.

I Made It, Barely

Well I now officially have a screw loose! I know, some of you have known this for some time but now I have the proof. Anyway, I made it. For future reference, don't ever do something like this with a local anethesia. I had a nurse that was just wiping tears, it was extremely painful. I don't have a lot of post-op pain, just discomfort. They wrapped my leg with ace bandage until Sunday, and it doesn't fell that well. So hopefully now I won't have some of the bone pain that I have been having. Thought I would give an update.

Here I Go Again

It has been six months since my knee surgery and tomorrow I go under the knife again. I have a screw in my shine that they put in during my first surgery and it has been causing alot of discomfort, so tomorrow they are going to take it out. He should be able to just do a local anethesia, but just in case I have to have general, I can't have food or drink after midnight! The worst part, my surgery is not until 2:30 PM! I don't know how I will function with no drink that long since I am always sipping on something all day, normally a Mt. Dew, so I will probably sneak a couple sips of water. Anyway, think of me tomorrow with every bite you eat and every drink you take!
Trinity is having her first program in kindergarten tomorrow evening and she is terrified. I am sure there will be lots of tears. As long as I can get her on the stage we might be fine!

Our Thanksgiving

We had a really nice holiday this year and I am so thankful for my family. We all had dinner at my house and everything turned out really well. We hung out all afternoon watching videos on You Tube! Dad thought this was the neatest thing he had ever seen and kept wanting us to find another video! We took Jonathon back to the airport Monday morning and we settled back in to our normal routine. My husband John came home from Iowa last night from a two week trip. Hopefully his rotation does not fall over Christmas also. Today we made a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and my wonderful husband decided that we needed a new christmas tree. This tree was really pretty and stood 7 1/2 feet tall and he thought we just had to have it. So we brought it home and began putting this thing together. What we didn't look at in the store was how big around this thing was when fully assembled, try 4 1/2 feet! This tree definately does not belong in our house and dominates the room but we definately have had a lot of laughs! Trinity has found her easter eggs that we hidden in her closet and she thinks that it is so much fun to hide them in the house and have someone find them. I think she is confused about what season it is and cannot see the HUGE tree standing in the corner!

Thanksgiving Already?

It seems like yesterday we were swimming in our pool and playing outside and now Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Jonathon is coming in from NC tomorrow. We are going up in the afternoon to pick him up from the airport and he will be here for two days. My husband John had to leave for another round in Iowa Saturday so he will not be here for Thanksgiving. We are hoping he will at least be here for Christmas. He might have to make another rotation around that time. Anyway, I am heading off to school to sub today. I have been doing alot of subbing but this is good. Today I will be the music teacher at the elementary school. This could get pretty funny because I can't carry a tune for the life of me. I am not sure what I will really do today in class, but I'm sure I will be required to sing a little! Trinity thinks this is pretty funny.

LeighAnn's sister and her family have been in all weekend from Nebraska and they have a little girl that is six also. She and Trinity are big friends so Saturday night I took a car load bowling. We had fun and they really enjoyed themseleves. The two cousins (one is Nicole's age) had never been bowling before so this was all new. It seems like everytime they come, we teach them something new. Two years ago when they were her, Trinity taught the girl her age how to "pop-a-squat" in the parking lot at the park! They are from downtown Lincoln and are not real outdoorsy so this was very funny. Anyway, I need to get us ready for school. I have some pictures but will have to post later. My kodak software does not want to work this morning.

Alot has happened since my last post. My friend that I was talking about ended up passing away the following morning on her 40th b-day. It was so sad. John came home from Iowa that Sat., Sunday I went to the viewing, and Monday I went to the funeral. Then I worked at the school for the next two weeks. Last night we took the girls (Trinity and Makayla) to the movies to see Madagascar 2 and I was a little disappointed. It was funny but not as good as the last one. John, Trinity, and I all went up to the craft show at the high school this morning and then a friend of Trin's came this afternoon. Tonight, John and I are going back to the movies to watch a more grown up film, "Fire Watch". We have heard that it is really good. Anyway, that's all for now.

Where Does The Time Go?!

I was looking at my blog and realized that another two weeks has almost went by since I posted. John has been out of town and Trin and I are just hanging out and trying to carry on with our routine. He is suppose to be in sometime early Sunday morning. I think he will be home for two weeks and then go back for two weeks. We had parent teacher conference this past week and of course Trinity did fine.

Yesterday started just like any other day. I took the girls to school and was planning a day at the house and running some errands but little did I know that God had other plans. I got a phone call yesterday morning that a very good friend of mine from Vincennes had a heart attack and was not doing very well. So I went over to the hospital to visit thinking that she would eventually be OK and I could visit with her. When I arrived at the hospital, her husband tells me that she suffered extensive brain damage due to lack of oxygen and she is in a vegetative state with no brain activity. To make a long story short and to spare you the details, tomorrow is her 40TH b-day. She leaves behind a wonderful husband, a daughter, son, and grand daughter that she has been raising as her own. And also all of her other wonderful family. I told her husband yesterday that my mom has been gone 13 years and I still don't understand why God took her, but I do know that there is a reason that I may never know. His big question right now is "Why, why her?" Been there, done that.

Anyway, please pray for God's will in this situation. There's nothing else left for this family to do but pray.

Has It Really Been Two Weeks?!

I can't believe that it has really been two weeks since I posted. I am so busy right now that my days are kind of a blur. I have been subbing a lot at the high school recently which is a good thing. The last two weeks have been crazy.

A week ago last Friday, Trinity cheered at the high school football game with the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders have a cheer clinic the Thursday before and teach K-6th grade girls some cheers and dances and then they preform at the football game. She really enjoyed herself. It was neat to see all the new friends and people that she has met since she started school. She is coming home all of the time saying she has made a new friend. My husband John found out Tuesday that he would be leaving for Iowa this morning for two weeks for work. We had to get stuff around and try to cram family time into a few shorts days. Thursday after school we headed off to Wal-Mart to buy more work clothes and then went to Mr. Gatti's for pizza and games. Friday night we went to the corn maze with some friends to pick pumpkins and have some fun. John left this morning but there was still work to be done. I picked 5 gallons of green beans, canned them, carved two pumpkins, and took Trinity to the movies with some friends to watch "Beverly Hills Chiauhuas (spell?)". We had a good time and her friend is spending the night with us and going to church with us in the morning. I have nursery duty so we have to be there a little earlier than normal. Monday I am volunteering at the Elementary school to help with picture taking, Tuesday I am working at the high school, Wednesday is parent/teacher conference, and Thursday is our towns fall festival. I was going to try to go to the Covered Bridge festival but I don't think I can squeeze that in anywhere! My brother Jon finally got his Top Secret clearance in the Marines and then informed me that he also got the next clearance above that. I asked him how he got the extra clearance and he said that he just convinced them that he needed it! That sounds like him and I just have to laugh. He signed up to chaperone a 7th grade canoe trip this weekend before he realized that he would be giving up a four-day weekend to do this! They asked him if he had any experience canoeing and he said sure! I don't think he has ever been in a canoe in his life, so let's hope that all turns out OK!

Hello

Hello everyone! I just finished having a tupperware party at my house tonight. I don't think I seen a couple of faces that were invited? Ha! Ha! Just kidding. I'm sure Sue had some kind of sporting event and Lou was probably working. Anyway, you can make it up to me in the near future because Leigh Ann just insisted that I sign up to sell. So, I will be needing some parties. I wasn't really interested in selling since I also just signed up to sell pampered chef. Whatever! I guess I was just saying I needed something to do!

Anyway, I talked to Jonathon today and he said he's pretty sure that he got his top secret clearance. He has been working on this for quite a few months and is relieved that he got it. He said sometimes it is really hard to get. He also said that he got nominated to go in front of the Merit board to be promoted to Corporal. This is a really great honor for him and says a lot for how far he has come in the Marines and what all he has accomplished. Normally you are promoted based on time in the corps and scoring in different fields. Considering that he has only been in the corps for a little over a year and might be promoted to corporal already is awesome! For those of you that don't understand how his rank works (we didn't when he first started) in boot camp he was known as recruit, then upon graduation he went to private, then private first class, and now lance corporal. Considering he spent three months in boot, he has only had ten months to advance this far. He said he has a list of things he had to get done before deployment to Kuwait in January, including his anthrax and small pox vaccines. He said he wants to wait as long as possible to get these because the small pox vaccine normally makes you a little ill for a while.

Trinity gets to go on her first field trip tomorrow. They are going to the Washington library to listen to a story and then off to Eastside park for a picnic and a "bear hunt". They have really been talking a lot about bears in class so far. I have yet to figure out why but I am assuming that they are learning from this. I always tell Trin that by the time kindergarten is over she will know everything there is to know about every kind of bear that there is. I have gotten called to sub at the HS three more times. They are all scheduled in the next couple of weeks but I do go tomorrow for half of a day. Tomorrow I am filling in for the spanish teacher so maybe the class can teach me a thing or two.

Anyway, gotta go to bed. Talk later.

I Went Back To High School!

After 5 weeks I finally got called to sub. at the high school today. I was a nervous wreck this morning and kept telling myself "I am 29 yrs old, and graduated 11 yrs ago; they will not hurt me"! The classroom had definately changed alot in 11 yrs! Needless to say I made it just fine and it was not near as bad as I was afraid it was going to be.

Jean, I got your message and I will show Jordan the big buck as soon as I can. As for coming to Lou's for dinner, I am so sorry. We are trying to keep Trinity on a pretty tight schedule for school so it was a little late in the evening for her and I didn't know exactly what we were going to do since it was raining. As for Annie and Jordan, she doesn't get home from school until around seven on Thursdays and I know they hated to miss you too. Anyway, sorry I missed you guys but thanks for keeping up with us on my blog. I read yours every time!

Just Checking In

I haven't posted in a while but as I say, I don't have alot to post about. Today I met up with Lou and Sue to eat at Dairy Queen in Loogootee. My b-day was in April and Lou has been wanting to take me to lunch since then and we just now made it today. It has been a busy summer. We are now in our 5th week of kindergarten and Trinity still loves it. When I pick her up from school and ask her what she learned today she says "you'll see" referring to when I look through her folder when we get home. She is so funny and has picked up on so many new sayings! I am trying to get a position as a sub. in the school system because I am getting bored. So far I haven't been called so hopefully that will pick up soon. My brother Jon is doing good in NC with the Marines. He said he will be on the shooting range all week because he is also a range coach. When another marine in Jon's battalion needs to shoot, Jon has to go with him to "show" him the correct ways. As of now, Jon will be leaving for Kuwait sometime the first of the year and his tour will be 1 year instead of the normal 7 months.

Just got a call from Jonathon in NC and he said that they barely even got rain from tropical storm Hanna. The county that he is in had a 7:30 pm curfew last night so they had to stay in their barracks until this morning. He said that they get more rain from a thunderstorm then they did from this storm.

Anyway, today John and I went to look at another repo house to clean. We are friends with a guy that works at a bank in Bloomfield and we just got done cleaning a house for him. Now he wants us to do this one also. I guess we did too good of a job. John and I go in and remove the large items into the dumpter and then Emily and I go in and do the cleaning. Emily actually enjoys herself and never complained. I was so proud of her. After we got back from looking at the house, we changed and headed over to the Antique Show. We normally go on Sunday but I thought maybe it would not be so busy on Saturday. Wrong! At 1:30 there were still lines for ALL food stands at least 30 min. long. We ate and enjoyed ourselves never-the-less. Tonight we are babysitting for my friends three girls. John is sitting outside with Trin, Makayla, and Brooklyn while I am sitting here listening for the baby. I think I got the better end of the deal. Well, I need to go and get the girls inside and in the bath.

Labor Day Party

Sunday we had our annual Labor Day party. We always have so much fun with our friends and family. Jonathon came home for the weekend and we all enjoyed seeing him again. He won't be back home until Thanksgiving. Here is a slideshow of who was here and the fun we had. This was my first year of sitting back and watching everyone else play because of my knee surgery. I still had fun watching everyone else. If you don't know who someone is, click on the link and all of the pictures are captioned. I can't get them to show up on the slideshow.





Jonathon headed back to NC Monday evening around 10:00pm and he had to stop in KY to pick up another guy on his way back. I talked to him this morning and he was within 1 1/2 hrs from base. Depending on what direction hurricane Hannah takes, Jon's base could get hit. His base sets on the ocean and is located in Jacksonville. (He is on the southern part of NC)

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I posted last but it seems that my days are filled with the same thing over and over. I guess I should be glad that I get up every morning to do these things. Anyway, kindgergarten is going well. We have had a few issues but nothing too bad. I just reassure her as I gently push her up the steps of the bus! I have been filling my days with running errands, cleaning, gardening and canning. As I type I have a canner full of green beans cooking on the stove! John wanted to know if this canning thing is just a phase or if I was going to do this every year. I told him I didn't know but at the rate I'm going I will have enough food canned that I won't have to put out a garden next year! My tomato plants just keep producing and I don't want to throw anything away so I just keep juicing and making salsa.

Jonathon is planning on coming home next weekend over Labor day. I'm not sure what day he will be in but will only stay for a couple of days because it is a 14 hour drive from his base. He recently bought a new car in NC and can't wait to show it off to his friends and family. We are planning on having our 4th annual Labor Day party at our house next Sunday so if anybody reading this lives within driving distance, please come and have fun. Call for more details.

First Day

The first day of school went really well. She came home got a snack and wanted to take a nap. I told her we were not taking a nap so we went out to papa's to stay awake. Trinity can't just take a short nap and I knew she would not go to bed that night if I let her. After supper and a bath she got a second wind and I had to make her go to bed at nine.
She said she really liked her teacher, had fun, and made a new friend, but she couldn't remember her name. Yesterday she came home telling me that she got to meet her teacher's mom and thought that this was sooo funny (her teacher's mom is also a kindergarten teacher). I guess she didn't think teachers should have moms! Tonight they are having a "meet the teacher" night so we will go out there after John gets home. He hasn't seen her class yet and they are already having a book fair so she thinks she needs to get a book. She is still riding the bus in the morning, but wants me to pick her up in the afternoon because she said she has to wait too long on the bus.

First Day of Kindergarten!!

We are trying to figure out if Trinity is more tom-boy or girly-girl because yesterday she got sooo mad because her baby dolls kept falling off of her four-wheeler while she was driving. So I rigged up her wagon with a tarp strap so she could fill it up with babies! She is a little reckless with her "passengers" and some have still bounced out. She informed me yesterday after a baby fell out that "it's probably dead mom" and I informed her that I thought maybe she could just take it to the hospital. What a girl.







As you can see in this picture, the baby bed is not right-side-up!



Today was her first day of kindergarten and she still wanted to ride the bus. We actually got to the bus stop and on the bus with very few tears. She is not a morning person so 6:30 came very early. As you can see in this picture, she prefers to cuddle up with her pillow and blanket to watch cartoons. She thought she was freeezing.



We had to dry a few tears to take this picture. (I should have flipped this picture but I was given strict instructions this morning before she left to have these pictures on my blog when she got home!)



Luckily I was pretty busy today so that kept my mind occupied througout the day but needless to say this last hour is dragging and I have butterflies waiting for the bus to come. I had therapy this morning, made a Wal-Mart run, canned five more quarts of tomato juice, made brownies for Trin and of course, posted on my blog. Well I need to go find something else to occupy the last half hour but will update later on how today went.

Catch Up!

I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted. It has been so busy this past week. My friend and her three girls came and stayed with us for one week straight so that was an adjustment. I finally quit trying to organize the toys because I seen that it was pointless. Yesterday I organized the toy room and put everything back where it is suppose to be. Thursday and Friday I helped my friend move into a house and helped her unpack everything which was a job. Saturday my grandma Miller moved to a new house in Montgomery so I also helped with the unpacking there. Today John and I replanted my garden since my green beans and peas never came up this spring. The lady at the greenhouse said that I could still plant so I planted six rows of beans and four rows of peas. Tomorrow is the last day before school starts so we are counting down for that also. My brother Jonathon never heard any more about going to Iraq so he won't be leaving on this tour but will next year when his battalion goes again. Anyway, I need to get Trin out of the bath and get to bed.

Kindergarten

Well it's official, Trinity is now in Kindergarten. We went and got her teacher today and seen her room. So far she is still excited about it. Her teacher is also the lady that is over VBS so Trin knows her and she knows that she is nice.

Monday I took Trin, her friend Makayla, Nicole and Emily to Holiday World. We had a lot of fun and it was a nice way to end the summer. Trin was 2 1/2 inches to short to ride the roller coasters but she did ride the Zinga water slide. This is the one that shoots your tube into the big funnel. She rode with Emily, Nicole and Makayla. I stood by and watched thinking there was NO way I was getting on that! As I stood on the platform waiting for them to come down, I kept thinking to myself "what have I done, letting her go on that". They thought this was the best ride and wanted to go again. Here are some pictures to sum up that day. I didn't take pictures inside the water park because I didn't want to get my camera wet.




Tuesday I had a follow up with my surgeon and he said everything looks good. He wants me to continue therapy for 4 weeks because I have a "catch" in my knee. He thinks it is from my knee cap not moving properly. If this is not resolved by October, he will go in with scopes and clean up scar tissue. Hopefully this does not have to happen.

I Graduated!

After 10 1/2 weeks I finally graduated from physical therapy! For those of you that don't know, I had ACL reconstruction done on May 13th. Clint said today that as long as my surgeon on Tuesday does not recommend more therapy, we are done. I am having a couple of problems with my knee so hopefully this does not require anymore surgeries and I get a good report.

I spoke to Jon today and he also graduated and went up a rank to Lance Corporal and got his official pin. He also said that there is a 90% chance that he will be leaving for Iraq on Sept. 25th. He will know for sure within a week. This news was kind of unexpected because when he first arrived at his new base in NC he said that he would be going in Sept. Then he was informed that his battalion had already started training and he couldn't go. Now today they said that a spot had opened up and asked if he wanted to go. Of course he said yes. When he goes he will always be on a base in an air conditioned trailer because of his job working with electronics. This makes me feel better knowing that he won't be doing anything too dangerous.

Jordan and Annie came over tonight and we attempted to play cards. Jordan always gets irritated because we normally do more talking than playing but we still have fun. It is still hard to believe that they are finally married. We like to tease her about her curfew because until the day of the wedding she still had a curfew! So far married life seems to be going ok.

Busy Day

Yesterday I spent the day working around the house, mowing and gardening. My garden got a little out of hand after my surgery but I got it back under control now. I am finally back to push mowing although I'm not real sure if I am suppose to be doing this or not. I don't like to wait on other people to do stuff for me so I threw caution to the wind and decided to just do it. So far so good! Last night me and Trin went and picked green beans so I would be ready to can them this morning. This was my first attempt at canning anything but nothing broke and my house is still standing so I think I did good. I can remember when I was little mom would either be very stern about staying away from the canner when she was canning or she would have me stand right in front of it to tell her if the pressure gauge moved! To this day I am terrified of canning but some things I just have to do myself.
Anyway, I got two canners canned and ran errands the rest of the day. Tommorrow evening we are going to pick corn to put away Sat. morning bright and early. This is always so much fun ;) but is worth it in the end.
I took some pictures of Trin yesterday to show how goofy she can be and she insisted that I put them on my blog. She thinks it is awesome that she is on the internet!
We are also counting down the days until kindergarten. She thinks she is ready but I think it will be a different story come the first day.

Trinity's Birthday Party Part 2

I have been working on this post for a couple of hours now and I can not figure out how to put my slideshow in my post. Tera or Mandi please help me!! As you can see by the time of this post I am past frustrated and I will make due with two different posts.
The slideshow is of Trinity's 6th birthday party last weekend. She had lots of fun, friends, and candy. We had silly string this year and I would not recommend. The kids wanted to shoot each other and their parents and when you shoot point blank it comes out in liquid form. Needless to say clothes where stained and the parents that had this in their hair did NOT think this was funny. (me included)
That's all for now. I will post more later. Everything sounded more interesting a couple of hours ago. ;)

Trinity's Birthday Party Part 1

Braylei Dawn

This morning I baby-sat for my niece Braylei, my step-sister Taylor's daughter, while Taylor & Tim went to Indy. As you can see from the picture, Trinity held her all morning. She told me that she didn't know what I would have done if she hadn't been there to help. Braylei is now 5 weeks old and I think she is getting a little rotten. I would have no idea who holds her all the time! With all of the people at dads house I don't think she ever lays in her bed when she's there.

Hot Summer Day

What better way to spend a hot summer day than in the pool. Trinity had a playdate with her cousin Abree today at aunt Lois's house.

Abree and Trinity

Trinity and Abree

After we got home from the playdate, my good friend Andrea and her girls came over. Can you guess where the girls headed first? That's right, the pool. They stayed in the pool until supper time, they came in to eat, then headed right back for the pool. Somehow they managed to get me and Andrea into the pool fully dressed!

Makayla & Trinity

We finally talked them into getting out and taking a bath. This was only done with a bribe for ice cream.

Please say a prayer for my friend Andrea as she and her girls are going through a tough time right now. Also, please keep in your prayers my good friend Cody (previously Emily's fiancee) who is in the Marines and will be deploying on August 25th to Iraq. He is home right now on pre-deployment leave but will be going back to California on August 2 to get ready to leave.

Heartfelt Goodbye

John's mom Anita and his sister Wendy have been here from Florida since Friday and are leaving in the morning. Trinity is not having a very easy time saying goodbye as this is normally the case. Considering we only see them 1-2 times a year, Trinity thinks she has to squeeze every possible second from them while they are here. So right now she is exhausted and the tears are flowing pretty heavily.

Tomorrow Trinity has a playdate with her cousin Abree and I have physical therapy for my knee so it will be another long day. A friend of mine has been having some problems the last couple of weeks and has been staying with us for a couple of nights at a time. Did I forget to mention that she also has three little girls; 5yrs., 2yrs, and 10 mos.? So I have been doing everything possible to make her situation more bearable and believe me, it has been CRAZY around here.

For those of you that don't know, brother Jon is now at Camp Lejuene in Jacksonville North Carolina. He has completed his electronics schooling in California and has joined the 2nd Intel Battalion. He will be in NC for at least two years and so far he likes it. He has been in the military now for 1 year and it seems like just yesterday that he left. We are planning a trip out there in a couple of weeks. He is currently a range coach which requires him to instruct other marines on the proper technique of shooting their weapons on the shooting range. (He shot expert marksman in boot camp). He just got promoted to Lance Corporal and should be getting Corporal sometime at the beginning of the year. If you ask him the military is simple and it is no big deal. As for us, the family, we have learned a lot about the workings of the military and are still learning daily how things work.