March Madness

We recently went to the Children's Museum of Richmond. It is one of their favorite spots. They love the waterplay.




They have a "backyard" at the museum with lots of cool outdoor stuff.


This was Cason's Easter party at school. His Dad even got to come to this one!



After the party we went to see our family in Fredericksburg. Aunt Becca came in from Mexico with her new baby, Juliana. Caroline, Chad and Joseph came in from TX and Kristen, Shannon, Emma and Nathan came in from PA. It was a fun get together, complete with an egg hunt, chilli and lots of laughing. Abram had borrowed Joseph's Superman hat.


Birth order: Kristen (bottom right), Luder (bottom left), Caroline (middle), Rebecca (top left), Jonathan (top right) who recently got his two year full time mission call to Thailand! Congrats JoJo!


My new beautiful neice Juliana, Rebecca and Uli's daughter. They live in Mexico right now.


This is our family, swinging at the grandparent's.


Coloring Easter eggs on Easter Sunday with Grammy and the rest of the fam. Grammy fixed us the most delicious Easter meal ever. Thanks Grammy!


Luder and I took a night away the last weekend in March. It was so relaxing. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast outside of Lexington, VA where we used to live. The view was spectacular. I miss the mountains. This was the view from the room. We had a great time eating at our favorite old spots and going to see W&L and SVU and noticing all the changes.


We drove in the driveway to this, I felt so loved. Aren't they cute? (My parents who had watched the kids while we went to the B&B)

Easter Time Easter Time

Cason, going after eggs at an Easter Egg Hunt at the church where his preschool meets. He had other children come up to him afterward saying, "Wow, Cason you got a lot of eggs." He was a good little Easter egg finder.

Abram got a few and then gave his basket to his Dad and went to play on the slide. I took him to another egg hunt earlier this week and I was so excited. We all had to bring eggs to the park and hide them. I did my part and when it was time for them to get the eggs, Abram didn't want to do it. He just wanted to play on the slide. I had to let go even though I really wanted him to do it and I really wanted some candy. I laughed and told Luder later.


These are my two little buddies, Fidesco and Richmond. They are Liberian refugees. Their mothers live together and make things work between them. They come from a very humble place and I love them so much. We take them to church and have them over. Cason and Abram love them. They have become very close to us. This was their first egg hunt.


This is my little man that lives across the street, Matthew Settle. This little guy is a great baby and he knows I love him because he smiles at me every time I talk to him!

They got their faces painted like little bunnies at the egg hunt.

In February the circus came to the Richmond Collesium. I have always wanted to go, so this year we took the kids with Luder's cousin Thomas. It was awesome.

Cason's preschool also had circus week the same time. It worked out perfectly. Abram was happy because he got a balloon. Cason's school is so great. We are really happy with it.

One of my best pictures of Luder. Messervy's unite!

Abram loved the elephants the most. Cason liked the clowns. It ended up lasting around 3 hours. We were beat from all the fun when we got home.


Gramps (Luder's father) turned 60 in February. We celebrated when he came home from Mexico. Luder wrote a book filled with all of his Dad's famous quotes (he has a lot of them) and shared it with him that night. It has his picture on the front and is really neat. What a tribute.

Cason and his cousin, Nathan, enjoying the birthday cake. To a toddler, it is the most obvious reason to go to a birthday party.

Look at those cheeks!

One day in January, I was at home when my Mom called and said they were getting some snow the next day. The kids had been dying to see snow and Richmond doesn't normally get much so I packed them up and we headed to the Shenandoah Valley for a beautiful snow. I remember thinking, "This is a little extreme" but I am so glad I did it because it was the only snow the children got to play in all winter. They had a blast.


Dad always goes out first and this time he came in covered.


Little Abram found his own little hill and went to it!




This was when Abram first saw the snow. This was the first snow for him, it was exciting.

Cason made a snow angel. They were in heaven.

Post Christmas

I will get some pics of Christmas up here soon. Today I thought I was going to crack up ....I was driving with my sons to wal mart. Abram can be grumpy sometimes and I have found that it is best not to talk to him when he is grumpy. I have told Cason several times, "Don't talk to him, he is grumpy." I am trying to protect Cason's feelings and my sanity. As we are driving, Abram is grumping hardcore and Cason proceeds to talk to him and he goes, "Tayson, DON'T tawk me, I GUMPY!!!"
This is how my days go.....yesterday Abram jumped up and busted my lip open. I have determined that being a stay at home mom for me means oscillating between moments of "ahh, I hope they never grow up, they are so perfect and I want to squeeze them" to "Did I really sign up for this? I can't believe this is happening to me!" mostly laughing to/at myself.
I just can't believe how fast time is going by. About a month ago I said I have a 1 and 3 yr old, at the end of this year I will be saying I have a 3 and a 5 year old. I am glad I have this blog to journal our life. It makes me stop and archive for the sake of archiving.

Merry Christmas 2007! Happy New Year 2008!


Handsome Cason on Christmas Eve, eagerly awaiting Santa!


Abram, my cutiepie started to get the hang of Santa and Christmas this year!


It is a tradition to have Christmas Eve as a big family, we all exchange gifts with extended family and have a huge Christmas feast. Uncle Scott is helping the kids open their presents. Cason looked back on this picture later and said, "Uncle Scott was so nice to me." It was cute.


Santa was in the area and stopped by to give a couple of gifts to
the children, this is them looking at him.

Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,
It's that time of year again. I hate to miss out on sending snail mail Christmas cards the traditional way but November was way too busy to get ahead with those type of projects and here I am right before Christmas just beginning to think of it again.
This year has been a great one. We are so blessed! In May Luder began working at Hirschler Fleischer. He enjoys his new job and is surrounded by great people. It has been a good change for our family.
May was a big month, Luder and I took a 5 day trip to Boston for his 30th birthday where we saw the Red Sox and toured. We had a great time together! Mom turned 50 and we had a party in Harrisonburg for her, it was great to be with her side of the family! We also had our summer vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week with the kids. We saw all kinds of family and really enjoyed the sun and water. The kids are already asking to go back.
This summer it seemed like we had something to do almost every weekend. We went to Lake Anna, visited the grandparents, I went on an overnight get away with Carol to VA Beach (it was so needed and a blast) we went swimming whenever we could and Cason took his first swimming lessons at Burkwood.
The fall started off with a Milton family reunion at Patti and Frederick's house and a pumpkin patch visit. My girlfriends literally kidnapped me for my birthday and we spent the night out at my favorite restaurant and shopping, I am so grateful for friends that make me feel special.
October and November were really the busiest. I took a cruise with my family, incredible! We got ready for Halloween, it is a really big deal when you have preschool aged kids. We had the boys birthday party in November at Chuck E. Cheese and my Dad turned 50. We traveled to Southern Pines, NC for Thanksgiving and then had a surprise party for Dad near Greenville, SC.
December rolled in so fast, I can't believe it is almost Christmas! A little about each member of the family:
Luder is still working hard at his career. He is trying to balance his family responsibilities, work and church. He is the Young Men's president for our congregation. He does a great job at everything he does and is especially an exceptional father.
I am enjoying the "toddler world" where you fight for toys, throw food and embarrass your parents at least once a week. A since of humor makes it so much more fun. I laugh at my life and constantly think, "Wow, if you would have told me I would be doing this 10 years ago, I would have laughed at you." I love these little children, I just look at them and thank our Father in Heaven that they are healthy and beautiful. They snuggle with me and tell me they love me. Being a stay at home mother is overwhelming sometimes but I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to put my whole life into my family. 2007 has been a year for me to learn more about myself. I have been reading, traveling, home improving and volunteering at church in the Young Women program. I have also started my own wellness business with Luder's support. I am excited about helping people get healthier.
Cason has been going to school three days a week in the morning. He still LOVES trains. He has a fish and a dog named Charlotte (who is really my parents dog but it is working for me so far). For the most part he adores his brother and is very helpful. He melts my heart with his sweet compliments to me and he has slowly started to read over the past couple of months. His preschool teachers say he is going to be a President. He is pretty good at persuasion so we will see.
Abram is a sweet, funny, chubby little man. He loves to play outside, to be read to and he learns very quickly. He sings his ABC's, knows the sounds of the letters for the most part and can count pretty high. He loves backhoe loaders "bak ho-woders" and anything construction related. He makes me seriously laugh uncontrollably sometimes.
We have had a great year together. I am so grateful for all the blessings that we have enjoyed as a family. Life has it's trials but we grow from them. I still think about losing Nan over a year ago and she helps me keep things in perspective. Life is short, I want to be present as much as possible.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Year. We hope that you will take time to enjoy the season and maybe even get a little sentimental if possible.
Love,
Luder, Ginny, Cason and Abram Milton

Scroll down to see pictures of mentioned events.

Christmas Is Here

This is the Washington DC Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this is where Luder and I were married 6 years ago. The temple is breathtaking all year, I had never been at Christmas to see it decorated. It was amazing, there was a live Nativity Scene and I felt such a special feeling while I was there. Luder took this one of me and my little men. Abram saw the fountain behind us and said, "I get in it!!!" It was 30 degrees and I laughed.


Luder and I agreed that this is truly Abram. This is how he looks most of the time!


Cason had Santa visit today at his preschool. They have a Christmas party complete with Santa, a reindeer craft, Christmas Bingo and I don't know how this always happens to me but I get designated to bring in stories and read to the children at all the parties. It is probably because I get really into reading to them and I learned how to do it "correctly" in my parenting class-Thanks Dr. Rodriguez!


Part of the whole preschool party ritual is eating these really good treats, Abram has officially made himself a place at the big kids table. He is looking to enroll next year! I don't know what I will do with myself with a break like that!


So last night we had Christmas with the Milton Grandparents and Jonathan, Luder's brother. Granmoma got them a pretend chainsaw. So funny, Abram went around all night pretending to use it. I don't think he knew what he was doing. At one point he said he was doing "adjustment" which is what his other Grandpa "Bop" does. My Dad is a Chiropractor and adjusts the kids when we get together.

Dad Turned 50!

Dad is surprised, very surprised...we had a surprise 50th Birthday Party for him at his sister, Leslie's house near his birthplace in South Carolina. We were able to have lots of his family and friends from that area be a part of the celebration. Mom worked hard to make it a success. It was a fun time!

This is my Dad's sister Leslie. She is like a sister to me and family memebers think we look and act a lot alike. It is almost scary sometimes!

These two are inseparable when they are together. Cousins: Cason and Ethan.

This is my Grandma Mary, my Dad's Mom. Can you believe she is 72? I can't, I hope I look this good when I am her age!

Thanksgiving Feast

At Cason's school they have a Thanksgiving Feast where they dress up like little Native Americans and display their crafts while we have a big feast of delicious Thanksgiving food. I take the opportunity to make sweet potato casserole each time to relieve a craving that is slowly growing out of control by that point.





Cason's first portrait of Luder.

I made Abram's favorite meal for his birthday dinner; pancakes, eggs and bacon. We followed that with a family birthday party complete with cupcakes.