California McMillans

When Tyler was born I had a million questions. I wanted to talk to kids who grew up with his condition. I wanted to ask them what it was like, how I could best parents Tyler and learn from their perspective. Camp Taylor gave Danny and I that opportunity. We got to meet some incredible kids who are living life with Congenital Heart Disease at Camp Taylor. I could sense that these kids loved each other, had a bond that only they understood and cherished friendships they had with each other. They had a commonality that only a child with a CHD would understand. They were the counselors at a family camp for children with CHD. My dad is part of a porsche club who did a raffle to support Camp Taylor and I had the privilege of listening to Taylor and his mom talk about Camp Taylor. Camp Taylor has impacted thousands of lives including mine. They have the vision of someday having their very own facility. Every year 40,000 kids in the United States are born with Congenital Heart Defec

Scott and I were talking about orthodontics. I said that if a person has malocclusion, they can put on "frenos." Scott said, "Brakes?" Then we had a discussion that braces and brakes were the same word in Spanish. Yessss, the experiment is working!

What two 5 year olds will do with a kids tunnel. Gymboree here we come! It was Scott's birthday today but we couldn't talk about it because Scott only wants it to be his birthday on the day that he has his party. I better get out the e-vites. For the first year we are doing a party with just his friends instead of the entire family. He wants to watch G-Force which are inspired by his guinea pigs. So today we celebrate 5 year old Boys. Scott had a playdate at Peyton's house in the morning. Tyler had Mom's Day Out at a local church and told me he got along with all his friends. YEAH Tyler!! That means a good day for me and Tyler. Kira and I met up with friends who wanted to learn more about the Mormon Church. Met Kris and Peyton at the park and ended up at our house because it was soo cold! Tyler takes naps in the afternoon so it is nice for Scott to have alone time or have a friend over. He and Peyton are such boys and have a lot of fun together. I can't

Tyler, Kate and Nora made their own marble tunnels. We talked about Rain and tied the path of their marble into the path of rain. The kids had fun and played for a really long time with this. It was fun. Woke up at 7:20 which is usually time to get out the door for school at 9. Somehow I am always in a rush at the end no matter how much time I have. I need to work on time management. This morning, Kira had a blow out that was all over our bed. It happened when she was sleeping which is so weird. I gave her a bath and stripped the bed while making brownies for Scott to take to school for his birthday. I went into Tylers room and it smelled just like the mess I cleaned up with Kira and sure enough he was sleeping in a blow out. My kids don't go poop while sleeping and somehow both did and it went all over beds. It always happens that way, right? So got him bathed and dressed while getting the second batch of brownies in the oven. They finished just in time and we were ou

PARK DAY which our family LOVES!!! We leisurely get out of the house, pack our lunch and ride our bikes to the chosen park or church gym (when it is too cold) to play with all our friends (both big and small). I love it! Have I mentioned how much I love my friends and their kids. It was a beautiful day and we rode bikes to Arbolado. Such a great ride along the canals with the ducks. We are usually the last ones left with whatever other family likes to hang out with us. The kids all had fun in the sun and I had fun talking to my friends. We than rode bikes to the post office to send a dental book that Danny sold on Amazon. Yeah Danny! A nice lady watched my two youngest kids while they slept in the bike trailer and Scott and I became friends with the man in line. This nice old lady watching the kids used to be the lunch lady at Northgate and she talked and talked and talked and it was fun just sitting and listening to all her stories and rants about how they want healthy food

How we roll... Scott REALLY wanted a butterfly to land on his head like the girl in front of us, but the closest we got was seeing them land on these bushes. Better luck next time. The boys play this game that they get to pretend to be scientists and catch bugs and other creatures. The plaza! 7AM. Wake up too early. 8:30AM. Successfully left for the City. Got through the tunnel and it was BEAUTIFUL!! 9:30-2:00PM. Academy of Science Day! Met up with a genetic specialist student who has been assigned our family to shadow. Had a great time looking at the animals, fish, learning and playing. It is always a graet time and I love seeing my kids soak in everything there! 2:00-3:00PM. Played in the plaza. It was a beautiful day! Tyler played with a car, Scott played catch with me and played with sticks. Kira walked around the grass. I soaked in the sun. It was AWESOME!!! I felt I was in heaven to relax and have my kids independently play nicely by themselves. Rare hour spent in my life. 3:00-4

The class went well (for the most part). Notice Tyler in the last photo upset over something. He shrugs his shoulders like a little old man. 7:30AM. Wake up. Our kids haven't been sleeping well lately. One or more end up in our bed at night because I am too tired to hear them cry. I must break the cycle! 9AM. Scott has Pre-K. His friends were all excited to see him which made me happy. 9:30-11:30. Brady came to play so his mom could pack. We went to music time at the church which was so much fun! Tyler was typical Tyler with his ups and downs. Can't wait to make music time a regular event in my week. 12-1PM. Drop off Brady, pick up Scott and ate Lunch. 1-3PM. Nap for Tyler. Worked on telling time and colored on the lawn with Scott. Love the weather!! It makes me soo happy! Jumped on the trampoline. 3-4PM. Watched Beauty and Beast. 4-5:30PM. Danny got home early and we went to drive cars at Castle Rock. So grateful for Family Time! 5:45-6:45. Work for me. Dinner for the boys.

We are in the beginning stages of thinking about a mini-van again. Toyota Sienna vs. Honda Odyssey. As of now we are leaning toward the Sienna due to the 2005 and older Odysseys transmission failures. Any advice from experienced mini-van drivers??

Last night was the babysitting co-op. We dropped off the kids and went to Chow in Lafayette with the Waltmans, Garners, and Judds. The company: 5 stars The food: 3.5 stars The service: 1 star. We had to wait for an hour even though we had made a reservation. Still, a great night. Good old co-op. I ordered Ahi Tuna. With more salt, it was pretty tasty.

This really should go on the Nitroblue-Investment blog , but Heidi wanted it on hers. Well, the dryer had been making a racket for a few weeks and Walt said that he was going to just call somebody and pay him to fix it. I volunteered to just do it myself, because hey, I'm freakin' Danny McMillan. I watched a few instructional youtube videos and completed the project in pretty good time. The problem was the drum roller--a bushing instead of a bearing--that had rusted and was causing way too much friction. It took me only 5 minutes to get in. Skills. A birds eye view with the drum removed. Lots of lint. Drum roller with evidence of rust Tons of debris on the shaft. Cleaned it with some WD-40, then re-oiled both sides with 80W90 gear oil. It was money. The best part? Free fifty free!

Tyler is into the guitar. He calls it his rock star. Tyler is also into the iPhone. He likes to play angry birds. Hanging out in the car before picking up Scott from a birthday party Scott showing off his newly patched jeans (I have mad sewing skills). Also notice the socks that don't match.

Danny's brother, David, and his wife are hoping to adopt! They are a great couple and would be the BEST parents. Click on the quote to get to their adoption page. David wrote, "Several months ago, we learned of the possibilities of placing a video on YouTube to have birth mothers get to know us. If you are aware of anyone who finds themselves in a situation where adoption may be considered, we'd love to have you refer them to our adoption profile and they can get to know us even better. Thanks ! "

Today we squeezed some lemons to make lemonade. I had the boys sample my lemonade and compare it to Paul Newman's natural lemonade (high fructose corn syrup, laaaaaaame). Well, the boys preferred mine. It's quite tasty. And and and, Amanda and Heidi hung out while Ryan and I went to choir practice. When I got home, Amanda said, "Can you prune my lemon tree?" I was like, "Did Heidi tell you to tell me that?" Apparently, Amanda had seen the lemons we had picked yesterday and commented that they were gorgeous. Yeah. Tomorrow, we're going to go prune her lemon tree and make lemon bars. Yeah, lemons!

I've been pruning these trees according to some pointers given by one of Walt's friends in the Porsche club. Neither tree never really produced fruit until this year, and after we took this picture, I picked 22 lemons that were super good! Tree on the west side The lemons weren't that big but they had a good ratio of fruit to rind. Those are gala apple seeds on the cutting board, which I later planted in the yard. People discouraged me from doing it, but how do you think Johnny Appleseed made his legend?

I really should write down the funny things the kids say each day. There isn't a day that goes by that they don't make me laugh with something they come up with and sadly it is forgotten the next day. It is such a short window. Here are a couple things from the last two days. Scott's prayer included, "bless the owls that they will stay awake and the horses that they will sleep. Bless all the nocturnal animals to stay awake." We read a book on War Admiral and Seabiscuit which most have inspired some random thoughts in his prayer. If I am wondering what is going on in my child's head I should make them pray and see what comes out. Danny played the guitar last night with the boys while I was at work. Today Tyler pointed to the guitar case and said, "Daddy played music with me." I responded, "He played the guitar?" to which Tyler responded, "NO! We played rock band." When I put the hymns on at bedtime Scott says, "I need

A while ago I decided that I would blog my week in pictures. I brought my camera to one activity and forgot it to the rest. I wish I was better with taking pictures. I used to be and don't know why I can't remember to take pictures anymore. Oh well. I can still write so that when I look back in a year or two or five I will remember what it was like to be a mom to my three little kiddos. The simplicity of life without actual school and activities yet. It is a magical time of flexibility and freedom that you get to enjoy being a mom and spending the day with your kids. So this is how our day went today... Monday. 7:00-7:30AM Kira woke up first shortly followed by the boys. I so wanted more sleep. Kira still wakes up at night and Danny and I both help get her bottle, but it just isn't the same as a whole nights sleep. 7:30-9:00. Get the kids ready. I wish Scott would willingly get himself ready. Not quite there even though he is totally capable. He just wants mo

My entire life I liked to hold onto my stuff. Clothes in the closet that haven't been worn in a year, toys that are so high on shelves that nobody ever plays with them, so many socks that I can't even close the sock drawer. I have this fear that at some time I am going to want or use it. A couple of months ago I realized it is really hard for me to give away things and realized I wanted to change. I wanted to be able to give of my material possessions and not have this hoarding mentality to hold onto them because they would make me happy, I needed them or because it increased the amount of "stuff" that I have. So I started to consciously make a really huge effort to look and pray and seek opportunities to give and it was REALLY hard. I gave away all of my boy clothes to a friend which made me so happy, yet made me sad/anxiety for days. What if I have a boy again? What if I want something to remind me of Tyler and Scott? What if.... I told my friends how hard th