Catching up with the Gills

As with a number of endeavors undertaken in the past, my blog has taken a backseat to life.  It has been 8 months since I last updated and SO much life has happened!  Here's a quick pictorial view of our last 8 months.



Christmas tree hunt, Julia & Suzanna in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Jacob's first Christmas
Merry Christmas from the Gills! 

Gill kids' birthdays:  Julia turned 11, Rebecca 17, Suzanna 9, Mariah 15, Thomas 7, Zachary 4 and Jacob turned 1!

Activities and accomplishments: 
Mariah (with friend & fellow Star grad) inducted into National Junior Honor Society, Rebecca medals at State SkillsUSA competition, Zachary spells his name with bendy sticks, Suzanna with her castle at Cultural Fair, Julia reading to her little brothers, Zachary at Star Preschool end of year celebration, Thomas catcher and with his buddy Robbie at tee ball

American Heritage Girls:  End of Year Ceremony, Corpus Christi Procession, Daddy/Daughter Cake Contest (with Jabba the Hutt cake) and July 2012 Explorers/Pioneers/Patriots Fort Flagler Camping Trip

Jacob pics:  Snoozing with Grandma Gill in the MO heat, enjoying ribs, Grandpa Revaughn meeting Jacob Revaughn,
Jacob at play, zonked out, first noticing our dog Hollie, anxious for his first food and hanging with Daddy

Summer fun:  Camping and exploring the beach at Penrose Point State Park with the Lentes,
playing in the snow on the 4th of July, exploring Rialto Beach on Thomas's birthday, tubing with the Klaessigs,
Scenic Beach with the Sprys and Thomas's first backpack trip with Dad, Mariah & Suzanna



  Thomas with his 2 best buds, Gavin and Robbie, at Thomas's birthday campout look eerily similar to Brian in 2 pics:
 impromptu reunion in KC with college roommates, Dan & Joe (top) & Saint Patrick's Day Pub Run with two of his current partners in crime, Brian & Robbie. (bottom)  I feel a scary feeling of prophecy when I look at these pics!

Easter family picture where personalities abound!

We celebrated our 20th anniversary on August 1

As you can see, life has been very, very busy in this circus we call a life!!! Hopefully, it won't be another 8 months before I can provide another update!!

Blessings to you all!

Beth (& family)

Reason #42 why we rarely eat out as a family...

We used to eat out a lot with our kids, but haven't been the last couple of years for a number of reasons, and economics is only one of those. 

Over the weekend, after Julia and Suzanna performed wonderfully in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at our parish, we decided to treat everyone to dinner out.  We were treated, alright, to many of the reasons we have stopped eating out as a family as we dined at one of our favorite Mexican venues.

Before we even sat down, the screeching of the chairs being pushed, pulled and dragged across the tile floor was so loud that I was already hushing the kids...and they hadn't even begun speaking yet!

Ordering is always fun, with the bartering for what food and drinks the children will be able to get...and subsequently knock over...during the meal.  We also realized at this time that someone (who shall not be named) left the diaper bag at the church and Brian had to drive back to find it, leaving me on my own with all of the people!

Someone always has to use the restroom, and for a long time, with four girls, restroom trips were mostly my duty.  Our girls are now old enough to take themselves, and Julia was the only one who ended up actually needing to make a visit during this meal.  Unfortunately, the door on the restroom proved to be difficult to open, causing Julia to get stuck inside, finally yelling "Mommy" loud enough for us to hear from the front of the restaurant.  Brian quipped, "you do project well", in reference to her earlier performance in the pageant.  However, I don't think Julia was as amused as we were as evidenced by the tears in her eyes when Rebecca rescued her and they returned to the table as our meals were delivered.

As the first round of chips and dip was finished up, several people were wearing refried beans and we only had two of the above-mentioned drinks spilled, one of which was Zachary's.  He took it in stride, though, declaring "I can drink this" as he slurped the soda off the table with his straw!  The other drink spilled on Rebecca and Julia...adding insult to Julia's injury!  Zachary had buyer's remorse when his meal arrived, shoving his Mexican pizza away and announcing "I'm sharing with you" when he got a look at Brian's Carne Asada.  The boy does enjoy his meat!  (The Mexican pizza went home in a box.)

Jacob slept through most of the meal, but made his place in the circus known by spitting up on several of his people as we passed him around before leaving so that I could eat my meal...he waited to get me until we were packing up to leave.

As we were finishing up, and the kids were clearly showing signs of needing to vacate the premises, I was brought to tears in laughter at the absurdity of it all when Zachary loudly replied to someone's question of "What?" by yelling "Chicken butt!!!" over and over.

And THAT, dear folks, is reason number 42 why we rarely eat out as a family any longer.