A message from Teresa (Miller), from Zambia

For those interested, here is an e-mail that I received from Teresa this afternoon...

HI! KIDS,AND EVERYONE! WE MADE IT INTO ZAMBIA THIS MORNING SAFELY. IT IS 8 O'CLOCK HERE AND I LITERALLY HAVE NOT HAD MORE THAN A FEW 5 MIN FITS OF SLEEP SINCE WE LEFT. TODAY WE WENT TO SEE A COUPLE OF THE WORKSHOPS, SCHOOLS, BUILDINGS, ETC. THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN BUILT ON PREVIOUS TRIPS. THEN WE WENT TO A LITTLE MARKET AND GOT TO HAGGLE WITH PEOPLE FOR THEIR WARES. IT TRUELY IS AN ART. BECAUSE I AND EVERYONE ELSE ARE SO SLEEP DEPRIVED WE ARE ALL ZOMBIES, AND SLAP-HAPPY. FLYING INTO THE COUNTRY WAS AMAZING IN ITSELF...EVEN THE CLOUDS LOOKED DIFFERENT. THE PEOPLE ARE VERY POLITE AND HAPPINESS IS LITERALLY PART OF THEIR CULTURE, IF THAT MAKES ANY SENCE.I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE THIS TRIP. ALREADY I SEE HOW IN AMERICA WE HAVE SO MUCH, BUT SO LITTLE.... I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SEND OUT ANOTHER E-MAIL FOR A WHILE, BUT WILL WHEN WE ARE BACK IN E-MAIL LAND. I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH. KISS ALL THE GRAND BABIES. TERESA, COULD YOU FORWARD THIS TO AND ? thanks!! love MOM, GRAMMIE, TERESA

A Seven Pointer!!!

Rich and Kalee got up @ 6:30 this morning to go sit out in the tree stand. They came back in around 8:45, empty handed! Not long after they came in Rich noticed a deer (turned out to be a buck) out in the yard. He tried to sneak outside, but the deer heard him and went right back into the woods. A couple hours later I was letting Jade back in the house and noticed another deer, so Rich snuck back outside and shot him right from the back porch! We knew it was a buck, we just weren't sure how big. Turned out to be a 7 pointer! I had to post this picture...I LOVE the look on Kalee's face!

Wonder Woman!!!

Here she is...

Did you notice her Invisible Jet?

We had a lot of fun tonight. We went downtown, first - all the shop owners pass out candy. Then we had some dinner and went trick-or-treating in a neighborhood. It was freezing! Kalee had a lot of fun, of course!

Fall Festival

We went to the Fall Festival at church yesterday. They set up all kinds of "jumpy things" - they had at least 10 different kinds. Kalee was in heaven! They also had booths for face painting, hair spray coloring, typical festival games and donut's on a string! Kalee has been wanting to do the donut thing for a long time, but we always find a reason NOT to do it...well, yesterday I couldn't find a reason, so off she went. Now, for those of you who don't know...Rich doesn't like to drink or eat after anybody (although sometimes I force him to :) ) Well, Kalee has picked up on that and is almost as picky as her daddy. Me, I grew up where we ate off of each others forks or drank out of each others cups, etc. So, it's a lot of fun torturing Rich, AND I am trying to keep Kalee from becoming as neurotic about those things! Anyway, that's what makes this donut thing sooo crazy...I can't believe she let her mouth get so close to something that someone else's mouth MIGHT have touched (they did wipe the wire down after each turn, but still, quite shocking for Kalee to do it!)

In this game, you have to pick up marbles with your toes and toss them out onto a towel. Whoever tosses the most out, wins! Now, this trait, I can proudly say, comes from me! I pick everything up with my toes. Rich thinks I am crazy for this. He can't pick up anything with his toes. He calls me a freak, but I know he is really just jealous!

Even Grammie got in on the action!

Pee Wee Bowl (last day of cheerleading!)

Today was the pee wee bowl...our team was in the championship game! But, we lost :(. That's ok...second place isn't too bad! Kalee has had a lot of fun cheerleading. Here are some pics/video's from the day.

Kalee reminds me of Steve in this video (no, not of you in your cheerleading days, Steve), but the fact that she can't stand still!

Charley's Dedication

Charley was dedicated this morning, so we went over to Atlanta for the special occasion. She is such a little doll baby! She just has the sweetest disposition - our family is blessed with happy babies. Here are a few pictures and video's from the weekend.

Grammie T flew down for the dedication.

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Hunting season has also started, so Kalee and Rich went and sat in the tree stand this evening. They saw a small buck, but didn't want to waste the shot on it...they are waiting for the BIG one!

A quick Florida weekend...

Kalee's fall break from school was last Friday and Monday, so we decided to take a quick trip to Florida to check in on our Andrew. Neither of us were looking forward to the drive (Rich had flown down earlier in the week for work), but it was well worth it! Andrew is just the cutest baby and has such a great personality. He can be quite serious, but when he breaks out his smile it just melts your heart! We also were able to squeeze in some visits with friends, which was great...now I just have to recover from exhaustion!!! I can't wait until Christmas - we'll be back in FL for a full week and will have much more time to spend with everyone.

We have been working hard at staying healthy...and it paid off! The amount of time that we got to spend with Andrew was just wonderful, especially for Kalee! I'm sure she got tired of hearing "Go wash your hands...and then use the hand sanitizer...don't touch that...take it easy", but she took it all in stride!

Kalee and Savannah

Baby Rachel...I love this picture! She's just chillin' at the picnic! Breakfast with Uncle Stevie

We went to watch one of Michaela's soccer games, which was a lot of fun, even if we did get rained on!

Two of my favorite girls...

And, of course, Annabelle. She can brighten anyone's day! I taught her a new saying and I am sure she will have it down perfectly by the time she is up here for Thanksgiving.

Hey girl!

Pumpkins and Cheerleading

So, one of the reasons that I love living in Georgia is all the different things we get to do here...one of which is picking pumpkins from a "real" pumpkin patch! We had fun doing that on Monday evening! Kalee also won the coveted "spirit stick" at cheerleading last night. The coaches give out 2 a week, so Kalee has been patiently (ha ha!) waiting her turn!

Another great weekend!

Friday evening we went to First Friday in downtown again - Kalee had a blast, doing a lot of the same things as last time. She is now a pro at the rock wall! Saturday morning my cousins, Matt and Meg Bilotta, came over for a short visit. They were in Athens for a wedding, and we were so happy to see them! Kalee was extra excited. She remembers going to their wedding a few years ago, so she couldn't wait. Meg helped her with her back-bends and Kalee just thought she was the best ~ she talked about you, Meg, all afternoon! Then, after our visit with Matt and Meg we went to Kalee's school for the Fall Festival. Kalee got to play all kinds of fair games and had her hair sprayed purple. Sunday evening we had a bonfire in the backyard. Fun Times! No wonder I'm always tired on Mondays! Here are some pics from the weekend.

Kalee was showing Meg all kinds of gymastic moves...she finally convinced Meg to show her that she really was flexible enough to lay on the ground with her legs bent back! Too funny! It hurts just looking at the picture! Kalee was equally amazed at Matt's lack of flexibility. She told me later - I think he really can touch his toes...he was just pretending not too!

After the fall festival we went to lunch. On the way home, Kalee challenged Rich to a wrestling match and told him that she was going to "hit him like a pinata"...out of nowhere, that is what she said. It was hilarious - she didn't even have to think about it, she just said it. This girl is too much!

Apple picking...and a visit from Anthony & Chase

So my brother & Chase came up a couple weekends ago ~ we were sooooo excited! We are getting spoiled with all the Chase time we have had the past couple months. While they were here we went to pick Apples in the North GA mountains - it was a very nice day (but was a longer than expected drive to get there!!!) On the way, we drove through a town that had put out scarecrows EVERYWHERE...they had them lined up along fences, some were posed in front of business' (a bride and groom outside of a church, a guy on a toilet outside of a plumbing co, one was halfway up a power pole with a rope around his waist while another one was attached to the rope on the ground - as his safety guy!) It was too crazy. We later found out that this town was applying to be in the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest collection of scarecrows - they won. They put out more than 4,000 scarecrows. Really bizarre!

Kalee and Chase had fun, as always. They wanted to go slide down the rocks at the CREEK, but Anthony didn't want to risk taking Chase back home with bumps/bruises again - Kalee accidentally broke Chase's finger the day before he went home last time (Chase wanted to sword fight, so Kalee went right along with it and smashed his finger with her sword - a tree branch...), so we skipped the rocks! Anyway, above are some fun pics from one of the days!