Last post of 2011

Actually, truth be told, it's January 1, 2012. But, I WILL get this posted one day late and I am determined to do better in the new year. This has been one crazy year....building the house, moving, dealing with the never ending house punch list, the landscaping fiasco (never imagined that would be the hardest part of home building), kids starting a new school, then transitioning to another new school, meeting new friends.....all while trying to figure out our whereabouts here. Oh, and raging case of plantar fasciitis that has kept me from the one true form of stress relief I enjoy- running. It has certainly been a challenging year, but it's also been a good one full of positive changes. We hope to be here a long time, so it's nice to feel like we can really settle in. (In the 6 years Lee and I have been married, this is the 4th city we've lived in....although calling this a city is a stretch!)

Colby and Miller are having more good moments than bad together....that's something! This was from a photo session in November.


I just love this picture of Colby. Can't you just see the twinkle of mischief in his eyes?


We even got a good one of all the cousins (no small feat)


Santa came to the local coffee shop, and shockingly, Miller was ok with it.


We were in town celebrating Pop's 70th birthday and had a nice visit with Peepie Miller.


A rare picture of me and Lee dressed up


and an even rarer picture of me and Nan. (I'm wearing heels....I'm only a couple inches taller)


Our house got all jazzed up for Christmas...


and the elf Kix made his arrival and left a letter from Santa.


The kids enjoyed Lego advent calendars this year.


Nana and Granddaddy came for Christmas, and a good time was had by all.

The kids (and someone else) loved decorating cookies with Nana.





Christmas Eve




SO EXCITED!!!


Colby and Miller waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs Christmas morning.


WAIT...did anyone notice that Colby has on different pajama bottoms? Well, funny story about that. At 3AM, Colby came wide eyed and bushy tailed into our room and said loudly "Is it time to get up yet?!?" Lee walked him back to his room, and noted that he was naked on the bottom half- no pull up or pajama pants, which is very odd. So Lee gave him new pants, got him back in the bed and tucked him in. As he was saying good night, Colby said "I hope Santa brings me a Nerf gun." Lee thought that was odd, or maybe just a coincidence....until Colby said "and a Tie fighter that shoots missles". GAME OVER. Busted. Lee knew at that point that Colby had already been downstairs, which explains why he had no pants on. When asked why he did that, Colby said that he "heard a noise". Well, normally when he hears a noise, he screams for us in his room....he does not take his pants off and go downstairs to check it out. So, we know that this was all fabricated....he just could not wait until the morning.

When Lee got back into our room, he told me what happened, and I was devastated. After all, what parents look forward to most on Christmas morning is seeing the faces of excitement and surprise on our children. It's truly magical. And, well, we knew it would not be the same the second time around. We went downstairs to see what Colby had done, and all of his toys had been fondled and moved. (Santa had arranged it JUST SO) We suspect he may have been down there a good 10 minutes just admiring and touching all of his new toys. As we talked about how sad it was, I told Lee that maybe one day, we'd think this was funny. As it turns out, when we told the story the next day, everyone thought it was funny. In fact, Pop said he did that every year. (no surprise there) All I know is that next year, this place will be booby trapped with fishing lines full of jingle bells and there will be no sneaky peeky!

Back to the pictures....



This was Miller's "princess tent"


Miller's loot


Colby's very Star Wars Christmas


Miller spent the day in her new Spiderman costume (until she peed in it).


Colby spent the day playing with his new planes and action figures.


Georgia spent the day trying to bury this in the yard.


Lee was less than thrilled with the cherry Amish tray tables I had made for him, but he put on a good act.


Nana and Granddaddy enjoyed some fun gifts from everyone.


The men of the house are ready to bake with matching Star Wars aprons.


I was there, too! (but this is the only picture)


and wouldn't you know....just in time for 2012....PIG TAILS!!!!


Happy New Year!!

A keepsake

Once in a while, I snap a picture that is truly one to treasure. This is one of those. The Miller girls- ages 96 and 3.

Hanging on...

by a thread.

It's obvious when life gets busy because the blog takes a hit. I feel like that's all I've been saying lately, and it's true...I have hardly posted at all this Fall. It's three days past Thanksgiving, and I haven't even blogged about Halloween! I think it's just going to be this way until Miller is in school five days a week next year. What I've realized is that this is the busiest I have ever been, and it's not going to change any time soon, so I'm going to try and let go of the guilt, and catch up on the blog when I can.

Truth be told, in addition to just being busy, we have been slammed with illnesses. First, Colby and Miller had the usual Fall colds and fevers. Then, Lee got a two week case of Pneumonia. Then, Colby got strep. Then, both Colby and Miller came down with a terrible case of hand, foot, and mouth. Now, Lee and I have the worst case of strep I have ever seen...Lee is on day four and still can hardly eat, even though he's on antibiotics. He completely missed Thanksgiving, and I got sick two days later. As I sit here typing, my actual hair follicles are aching....how is that even possible?

Despite all of this, the kids are doing great.

Let me back up a little and talk about Halloween.

I had a sweet little elmo and a Storm trooper....


who took his costume very seriously.


The kids had a Halloween parade at school....



And somehow, Lee and I ended up in the same picture. Can you believe it?


On Halloween night, the Switch Witch came, and the kids were thrilled. Colby received a light up Light Saber and a Star Wars action figure, and Miller got some new books and a tea kettle.

Colby has finally perfected the monkey bars, and he is very proud.

Miller is finally riding her bike (with training wheels) and she is crazy fast and coordinated on her scooter.

They both experimented with a little roller skating, but they went back to the bikes and scooters after a few spills.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Nan and Pop's house. Peepie Milller, Chip, Jen and the boys were all there. Colby and Miller were in heaven playing with them. Colby discovered their rope swing for the first time and he could not get enough. He's a strong little fella.

Jennifer and I had our bi-annual Miller mix-up. Every time we all get together, she and I have some kind of hilarious conversation where one of us is talking about big Miller, and the other one is talking about little Miller. This conversation involved the bathroom, and I mentioned how I was a little concerned that (big) Miller had been in the bathroom for a long time. So Jen looks as me and says "Well go check on her!" and I said something about how I didn't want to do that. I said a few more things about why I didn't want to, and she looked at me kind of crazy and said "Well she's probably just pooping or something!"....and I kind of looked at her thinking "yeah, and I still don't want to go in there!" After a few more minutes, Jen, in disbelief that I wouldn't check on my daughter, went to the bathroom to see what was going on just as (big) Miller was coming out.

Oh, we laughed and laughed about it for two days. It might not translate as hilarious on this blog, but I'm still laughing about it.

Back to Colby and Miller- they are both super excited for Christmas and ask daily if it's tomorrow. Colby wants every Star Wars toy known to man, and Miller wants a princess tent. Honestly, we could give her a pack of gummy bears and she'd be thrilled.

We are hoping to feel better soon and get into the Christmas spirit. Despite the ailments, we are so thankful for our crazy life and wouldn't want it any other way.

Picture day

Colby gave his best camera smile....


and worked it for the camera.


Miller, on the other hand, could not be coaxed into a smile.


She refused to cooperate.


Are we done yet???

Fall Sports and fun

Miller is loving ballet, and surprisingly, she likes looking like a girl.


She is learning to point and flex...


and follow her friends in a choo choo train. (by the way, Miller is the youngest and the tallest in the group)


Miller's favorite part of the class is the freestyle dancing with the ribbon wand. Here she is frolicking with her friend Penelope.


Colby is doing amazingly well at soccer this year. It's the first time he isn't trying to shoot the coach with his invisible Buzz Lightyear laser gun or rally his friends to do something other than play soccer.

He's actually playing!


And scoring goals! (5 at the last game)


He loves to run, and never tires, so this is perfect for him.


His buddy Davis is on his team, which makes him very happy.


His first official sports picture


and his first official team photo.


Miller is also enjoying soccer...


and much of that is because Charlie is on her team.


Her favorite part is "eggs in a basket", where all the kids run towards all of the balls, and then kick a random ball into the goal.


There she goes!



Although this isn't exactly a sport, we enjoyed a day at the Foxfield races with friends from the neighborhood.

Miller and Charlie were thrilled with the food table...



although the highlight for Miller was a pony ride.


Meanwhile, Colby and Davis snuck away and hid with a bag of Doritos.


I can't really get mad...it means he's just not used to having food like this, and that's a good thing.


BUSTED.