Spontaneously Type A

First Day of School 2010

2010-09-14T20:17:00.005-04:00

I can't believe our summer has come and gone. What a wonderful summer we had. We did not travel anywhere and it was glorious. This was the first summer in many, many years we did not travel. We stayed in VA and did fun beach, pool, Busch Gardens and other lazy things. It was WONDERFUL!!!! I will post more about this summer.

Abby started 7th grade, Ben started 5th and Emma started 4th.

Mark was still on the summer sleeping schedule. He did not wake up until much later.

Here is a picture of Mark on his first day of "Mom's Morning Out". I have signed him up for one day a week. He had a blast. I felt guilty driving away, but when I returned and found out how much fun he had I will not be so hesitant this week.

# 5 IS A GIRL!!!!!!

2010-06-17T11:19:00.008-04:00

We are happy to announce the new addition to our family is going to be a baby girl some time in October. People asked me what I wanted and I always responded, "Oh, it would be nice to have either one, a boy for Mark to play with or a girl to end with." I guess subconsciously I really wanted a girl, for two hours after the ultrasound I continued to cry or get teary eyed just thinking about buying girls clothes or dressing a little girl. I think Mike got teary eyed just thinking about all the money that was going to be spent. We got rid of everything after Emma. So we are going to need a lot of baby girl's clothes now.

We told the children on Easter Sunday. I got Mark a custom made t-shirt that said, "I'm going to be a big brother" with his name at the bottom. We rolled that up and put it in his Easter basket. We had all the children go through their baskets and tell us what was in each of theirs. Emma was the one that helped go through Mark's. When she read what the t-shirt said Abby was the only one that really got the meaning. The children were really offended we had not told them sooner. They could not believe we had waited 3 months to tell them.

This is what they came home to on Wednesday after we had the ultrasound. I told them I would make cupcakes and whatever color icing and little decorations were on the cupcakes then that is what we were going to have. Abby and Emma were really excited, Ben just said, "Really, it's going to be a girl. I guess that's O.K."

Mike's Father Passed Away on January 12, 2010

2010-03-23T11:32:00.012-04:00

This post is very hard for me. Maybe that is the reason I have been putting it off.

After two long years of suffering with prostrate cancer which moved into his bones, Dave is no longer suffering. He is a great man and is deeply missed. From the very beginning Dave and Dea welcomed me into their home as one of their own. I can't tell you how many times he told me how much he liked and loved me and what a great influence I was on Mike and our children. I could go to him at anytime and get sage advice. People in Chesapeake still revere him as a former stake president for our area.

His memorial service was very special. President Monson came to his viewing. For those of you that are not LDS, President Monson is the president and prophet of our church. It is like the pope coming to a family event. We felt very special. Dave was the equivalent to an AP when President Monson was his mission president in Canada.

Last year as he was declining, Dave received a sweet letter from President Monson. He talked about having memories so we can enjoy May Flowers in the December of our lives. I know Dave had many sweet memories from an amazing life.

After Dave passed away we were blessed to have a surprise visit from President Monson at Dave's viewing. What a great legacy to leave your grandchildren. I was putting away the friend magazines after sacrament a couple of Sundays ago and as I was closing it properly and I saw a picture of President Monson and in the margin I saw Emma's cute hand writing - "I've met him". I had to smile.

This is a picture of Ben going straight up to talk to President Monson when he came in to the room. When he walked in everyone slowly moved to the perimeter of the room and Ben walked right up to him and stuck out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Ben." President Monson then asked him if he could wiggle his ears as he was wiggling his own. Ben said, "Yes, but only if I move my eyebrows too." President Monson then said to work on that. He then asked Ben how old he was. When Ben replied that he was 10 he said are you going on a mission? Ben said yes (all the years of teaching my children to say yes sir and no sir are not working) I guess I should be glad he did not say yeah. President Monson then said, "Then I will see you in 9 years."

President Monson stayed and talked to us for 45 minutes even when his driver continued telling him he needed to go. He stayed and told us some neat stories. We could not believe he would spend so much time with us. At the end he looked down at the program at the picture of Dave and said, "I want you to know he loved and served the Lord his whole life and his mission president remembers him." What a great experience for our children.

We really miss Dave and the wonderful man we came to love. This has been a tough experience (but beautiful at the same time) for Mike's mom and his whole family, however we are grateful for the knowledge that we will be together forever as a family.

Christmas 2009

2010-03-04T10:18:00.007-05:00

I know Christmas was two months ago but I need to make a post about it so I can order a copy of my 2009 blog book for posterity.

I took on my first sewing project ever! I made the children matching pajama pants. They actually like them and have even been seen wearing them past the obligatory Christmas eve and morning pictures. This is at Grammy's house on Christmas Eve.

Abby got a reading chair for her room along with new curtains and throw pillows. I cut out some circles with my cricut machine and we put them above her bed.

Ben got an air-soft gun that lasted all of two hours. Mike told him he would take it away if Ben shot (on purpose or accident) his sisters or his brother. Within two hours of that threat Emma came running in the house crying that Ben had shot her. I asked Ben if it was an accident he said, "No, Emma wanted to get more pellets and I kept telling her no and she was ignoring me so I shot her". It has been on a top shelf in the garage ever since. Mike said Ben might get it back next year for Christmas. Ben also got a digital camera. So he "shoots" stuff with that.

Emma got a Hermione costume and a digital camera. I finally finished her reading canopy and put it up in her room with some over-sized pillows for a present too. I like the canopies in pottery barn but they are $100 so when I saw this cool way to make them in the Family Fun magazine I thought there we go. She loves to move the butterflies around to open different sections.

Even though we got Mark some new toys he still likes to play with stuff he finds around the house. This is Mark exhausted at Grammy's house on Christmas eve.

Here is Mark with his real toys.

Ben is 10!

2009-12-14T09:20:00.003-05:00

Ben is an absolute sweetheart. He loves everybody and everybody loves him. He can turn a stranger into a new friend before you can blink. He is a great big brother to Emma & Mark. One cute thing about Ben - last week we put up our Christmas tree. We have gold ornaments and we have some plastic balls and some glass. As we were decorating the tree I kept hearing balls bouncing on the floor. After the fourth time I tuned around to find Ben bending over and dropping two balls simultaneously six inches from the floor to hear the sound they made when they hit. This was to see if they were glass or plastic. He would then know whether to hang it up high or low on the tree. Thankfully none broke before I caught his very discerning experiment. I love him so much, he makes me laugh. Our family would be so boring with out Ben here to keep us laughing. He is always full of interesting facts. I love when he shares his new-found knowledge with me.

We are so blessed to have Ben in our lives.

Abby is 12!

2009-12-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

Abby is a great gift to our family. She is always willing to help and even volunteers to help do things. She is also extremely creative. She makes the cutest games for Ben & Emma to play. She made them a whole packet of original games to play during General Conference. I think I am going to submit one of the really cute games to The Friend magazine. Her creativity goes to crafts as well. She makes the most darling cards and gifts. She is always making us encouarging cards.

Abby has a very sweet spirit. I find her up in her room reading her scriptures or her personal progress books. I could not ask for a better big sister and role model for her younger siblings. We are extremely blessed to have her in our family.

November

2009-12-13T21:38:00.016-05:00

November brought Ben's 10th birthday and a trip to Connecticut to see our dear friends the Scharmans for Thanksgiving.

All Ben wanted for his birthday this year was a new bike. So we went out to dinner as a family. He picked Red Robin. We then went and got him a new bike. It was relaxing and fun to spend time together after a crazy season of sports. I am really enjoying having a more flexible schedule.

Our eight hour car ride to Connecticut went very well. The children, especially Mark were very good and we did not hit any real traffic. It was so good to see the Scharmans again. We hiked at a nearby park that has a waterfall on Thursday while the the turkey was cooking.

Mike & Clark trying to relax:

Mike didn't get too wet afterward:)

On Friday we went to an old cider mill and got the most delicious cider and apple doughnuts.
Then Mike, Abby, and Ben got to go on Clark's submarine. Mike loves submarines. He reads (on purpose) books about them.

On Saturday we went to Boston. I had not been to Boston since I was a little girl. I LOVED it. It is a beautiful city. It is clean and pretty. There is a lot of historical things to see and yet it still is in a big city. We got to see the USS Constitution, which Mike also loves. He has a big painting of it in his office.

Doesn't Mark look happy?

The children saying,
"Yeah, we are on a really old ship!"

We then went to Bunker Hill monument. We (as in four adults and eight children) then climbed the tower that has 294 steps.

We then went to the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house. We got there too late to go inside his house.

That is the Old North Church in the background.

October

2009-12-13T20:49:00.007-05:00

I thought I should post before the end of the year!

By the way, here is a picture of Abby, Ben & Emma on their first day of school. It was raining that day so this is the first picture I have ever had to take inside on the first day of school in 8 years.

Abby turned 12 in October and Mark had his first Halloween (technically his second).

Abby's birthday was really fun. She got to have a friend birthday party this year. She planned inside and outside games. It rained that day so we had to do the games inside. She wanted cheesecake again for her cake and I got a recipe for stabilized whip cream so it would hold it's shape for days, from a friend (thanks Krisanne). We even used the left over whip cream to squirt on top of their strawberry drinks to go along with their pizza. I got her a basket of "big girl" stuff a couple of days before on her real birthday. She got razors, shaving cream, lip gloss, mascara, and some more chlorine shampoo and conditioner for swim team.

She also got her traditional birthday gift of assorted hot chocolate and a box of 80 creamers.

Here she is the morning of her birthday with Ben.

She was a really sweet big sister and let her little brother and sister hang out with her and her friends.

Here are Mark and Mike at the Church's "Trunk-or-Treat".

He's a monkey (I'm talking about Mark not Mike).

Here are the children on the night of Halloween. I could not find my camera so I had to use my iphone. Sorry for the bad lighting. Emma is a table, Ben is a robber, Mark is a monkey and Abby is a black-eyed "p" (with the help of makeup - not anyone's fist).

We Love Our Brilliant Children

2009-10-16T08:54:00.005-04:00

Mark's First Birthday

2009-10-14T22:35:00.005-04:00

Yes, I still want to blog. Yes, I have three children in three different sports right now. Yes, I am getting their uniforms clean right before they need them. Yes.......

Mark had a really great first birthday. He is just now finishing up his "thank-you" cards.

He is absolutely precious. We have the best time during the day to be together just the two of us. He still takes a morning and afternoon nap. I love to go and rock him and read to him with out any other noises in the house. He is rather sad in the mornings to see Mike go and then to see the big yellow bus take Abby, Ben & Emma away. I guess I am just not as cool.

My First Olympic Distance Tri

2009-09-02T19:29:00.005-04:00

Well here I am finishing my first Olympic distance triathlon a couple of weeks ago. I had a CRAZY summer and did not get to train as much as I wanted. BUT.... I did finish so I can check that off my list!

It was a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike (in the Shenandoah mountains - which meant at least 10 miles were uphill - there aren't any hills to train on in Chesapeake :) and I finished off with a 10k. Let's just say the 10k was not pretty at the end. I wish I had Lisa McKee there pushing me a long again.

Mark's Trick

2009-09-01T12:31:00.004-04:00

Mike wanted me to post this:

Emma turned 8! Ben has had 27 stitches this summer! and Mark started walking!

2009-08-11T08:57:00.009-04:00

My baby girl turned 8 at the end of the July. She wanted a fun "glamor" party. So we invited a bunch of girls and played pass the cell phone ( a version of musical chairs), dress-up relay tag, guess what glamor tool is wrapped up in wrapping paper and we did makeovers for all the girls and took their pictures and put them in their party bags filled with other glamor accessories. It was a lot of fun but I am glad it is over.

The next day was her birthday and she got to get baptized on her birthday which is pretty cool!
This is a picture of Emma, Mike & I, my mom and dad (Rexanne & Karl) and Mike's parents (Dave & Dea).

Last Wednesday I thought it was the start of our more relaxing summer. I had a good run with Schylar Robertson in the morning and then we went straight to the beach. We had a blast playing at the beach. When I got home I literally thought "Wow! This is what summer is supposed to be about." Thirty minutes later Emma accidentally hit Ben with a golf club. He was very brave considering all the blood. I took him to President Merrill's office to have him stitched up. Now he has seen a plastic surgeon 6 times in his life. He had 15 stitches put in and needless to say we now have a rule no one can stand near anyone who is swinging a golf club.

To end on a happy note... Mark started taking a few steps last night. He has walked later than my other children probably due to the fact I am not pushing for his extra freedom and that the children are happy to carry him where ever he needs to go.

4th of July

2009-07-31T20:10:00.004-04:00

I thought I should put some 4th of July pictures up before it is the 4th of August. When we lived in our old house I asked Mike to build a swing set for the kids during the 4th of July weekend. It ended up being 104 that weekend. Since we are in a new house with out a swing set I suggested the same idea - "Why don't you build a swing set this 4th of July weekend?" Thank goodness it was in the low 80s.

Did he do a great job or what?

Our Trip to Utah....Back in June!!!!

2009-07-22T21:06:00.006-04:00

I know, I know....where have I been? I have been trying to keep my head above water. It doesn't seem to be working though. Any suggestions?

We had a great time visiting Mike's family and we also got to see my brother's family (Michael) and his new baby boy - Landon. Wow! I can't believe they have three kids now. Michael is going to the Y and is living in the married housing there at Wymount. We told somebody that, when we got back to VA and they said they called those apartments the "bunny hutches".

We got to take a tour of the LDS studios - where they film lots of stuff.....Mike's cousin works there and gave us an awesome tour. Here is a picture of Mike and Mark taking really good care of the costumes.

Of course we had to go to Cafe Rio!

We went down to St. George with all of Mike's family. Mike and I love St. George. This was the second time we have been, and we loved it even more. This is us at Snow Canyon.

This is Ben after he did a "Michael Phelps" butterfly (without goggles) into the corner of the hot tub in the pool. The funny thing about this is that Mike and I were already at the "instacare" place getting Mark's ears looked at when Mike's sister (Kym) called telling us Ben needed stitches. Mike wanted him to get the stitches done there and I wanted him to get them done in the ER at the hospital in the same parking lot - with a plastic surgeon because it was on his face. When Mike saw the gaping hole between his eyes he agreed that Ben needed a plastic surgeon. The doctor said he could see the bone. Ben has been to the plastic surgeon three times in his life now.

We had a chance to stop at Cedar Breaks on the way home. It was gorgeous and cold.

We also hiked up the Y at BYU. WOW!!!! that is a steep climb. It was a beautiful view once you got up to the top.

I Love Half Birthdays

2009-05-29T17:53:00.003-04:00

This is what I have been doing instead of blogging - making and eating cupcakes ..... too many cupcakes :)

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

2009-04-08T08:00:00.003-04:00

That is why I am not putting any pictures of me doing my first triathlon after Mark has been born. I am 20 pounds heavier than I was from my last triathlon. I could feel it when I was racing, but I had no idea I looked that bad in a bathing suit until the professional pictures were emailed to me!!!! I will not be buying any of those race pictures. My race went great though. I wanted to finish in less than 1:30 and I finished in 1:25. That includes the time I spent running back to the transition area after I forgot to put on my race number. I will not forget that again. I felt like an idiot running back for 3 minutes through the starting corral and everything! Well, at least I did not get disqualified.

I did this race with my dad, which was totally fun! Thanks, Dad for doing this with me.

Instead here is a Easter picture of the kids I had done last night.

Mom, I don't have any Looks!

2009-03-24T09:27:00.002-04:00

We started doing family scripture time during breakfast because the night time was not working with all of their extra-curricular activities. I have each of the children read three verses and then explain what it means. Sometimes I have another child explain if I think they were not paying attention. You would not think there would be enough time in 9 verses for a fight to occur. I am here to tell it is very possible. Sometimes someone is reading too fast then another time someone is reading too slow. Yesterday I couldn't help but giggle.

Ben was reading and he got carried away and when he read the part, "Hosanna to the Lord..." he sang it in the most sweet little boy voice. Abby started laughing which hurt his feelings. Then I told them they need to pay close attention because it is going to say "Look!" a lot of times and we need to pay attention to those parts.

Ben said, "Mom, I don't have any Looks!." Which made all of us started laughing - which then hurt his feelings again. Needless to say Ben needed lots of hugs yesterday.

Shamrock Marathon 8K

2009-03-22T09:52:00.002-04:00

If I were in school it looks like I have failed, but I am taking this as a victory. I finished faster than my training times. I am still not as fast as I was before Mark was born, but I am going to get back there.

LAURIE MILLER #2411

CHESAPEAKE, VA

Age: 33 Gender: F

Distance	8K
Clock Time	56:53
Chip Time	54:17
Overall Place	3850 / 7089
Gender Place	1863 / 4289
Division Place	300 / 679
Age Grade	44.6%

How Long Is 6 Weeks?

2009-03-16T14:56:00.006-04:00

Six weeks is 42 days, 1,008 hours, 60,480 minutes and 3,628,800 seconds. This is how long I went with out a dishwasher. The repair company could not find the right part and when they thought they did have the right part they came to install it, with much jubilation from me, only to be greatly disappointed when it was not the right one.

This occurred over Christmas and New's Year's. I had 30 people over my house for Christmas Eve, then had 4 relatives from out of state come stay for a week. I had a New Years' Eve party at my house and all the while did I think to delegate anything to my children? NO! Not until the dishwasher was fixed did I have an epiphany.

I realized my children were quite old enough to help in the kitchen. Since we have 3 older children I have delegated dishes (loading & unloading the dishwasher and hand washing any pots), counters (wiping all counters, table and Mark's high chair tray), and sweeping. I made the rule that the counter person had to go before the sweeping person to avoid any fights!

This has been going on for 2 months and I can not believe I was so slow to think of it. I sometimes have to help them finish if they have not finished before their extra-curricular activities. So far they have been doing a great job and I feel much relieved.

This is what I found this morning upon opening the dishwasher after Emma loaded it last night.

So I think I need to go over loading instructions again!

Personalities !?

2009-02-19T16:55:00.003-05:00

As I watched my two oldest children go out to the bus stop this morning, I was struck at how different they are. I love them both so much for what they are and what they bring to our family.

Abby calmly walked out to the end of our driveway with her cute messenger bag slung across her shoulders. I knew each of her binders was organized to the hilt with each paper placed where it belonged in each color coded divided area.

I then saw Ben running haphazardly out to the bus (which was waiting for him) all the while putting on his gloves and hat. He was running with his back pack unzipped, I could see crumpled papers shoved into his binder and backpack.

The funny thing is they both make straight A's!

A Quick Mark Video - 2

2009-02-17T21:01:00.003-05:00

A Quick Mark Video - 1

2009-02-17T20:47:00.004-05:00

Why are there only 24 hours in a day?

This is all the time I have for now.

Enjoy!

I Think I Still Have A Few Extra Hormones

2009-01-12T15:41:00.003-05:00

I saw this ad in a magazine and thought it was so cute. I did not notice until the second glance that the blanket was in the shape of a woman's body. It made me melt inside even more! O.K. maybe I did have a few glistening tears but just a few :)

Wii Are Family!

2009-01-12T11:59:00.004-05:00

My parents got a Wii Fit for Christmas and the grandchildren love it. This is all of them practicing their yoga "Warrior Pose".

I love it!

One of Mark's First Giggles

2008-12-18T12:19:00.003-05:00

Here is a video we got last night of Mark giggling.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

2008-12-03T19:49:00.002-05:00

I have a feeling that we will have to have a gate around it next year!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T19:10:00.003-05:00

I am thankful Thanksgiving is over! No, really I am thankful I have a big enough house to host Thanksgiving for all of my family all 20 of them. That does not include the ones that were not able to make it. I had fun making cute decorations for the table. I printed off everybody's name and delegated Abby to stamp a leaf over it and then cut it out. We then used earrings from Micheal's (the one's where you can make your own jewelry) to make name tags for the goblets. I made circle cut outs that said, "We are thankful for you" and tied them with raffia around the "thanksgiving colored napkins".

Abby made the cutest place cards with people's names on them. She even put a ring on Ali's (my future sister-in-law).
Emma made darling programs. She got her artistic ability from me. The programs say - Hello, Appetizer, Prayer, Dinner, Clean-up, Games, Good-bye (with a sad face).

My MasterCard Commercial

2008-11-07T08:43:00.003-05:00

Washcloth: $1
Mr. Clean: $1.85
Scrubbing Bubbles: $1.57
Windex: $1.98
Paper towels: $1
41/2 Bathrooms: a lot
Paying someone to clean 41/2 bathrooms: priceless

She folded the toilet paper like in a hotel! She even cleaned the plunger - yuck!

Ben Is 9 & Mark's Blessing

2008-11-07T08:27:00.003-05:00

Can you believe Ben is 9? We had a little (this is relatively speaking with my family-25 people) family party at our house on Sunday after Mark's blessing. We had a nice brunch outside on the deck since it was beautiful weather. I only gave Ben 2 shirts for his birthday since I know he hates getting clothes for gifts. He did get a cool "Mad Science" (an after school program) registration for the whole month of November and December. They are focusing on space - which Ben loves!

This is Mark's blessing outfit. In the bottom picture doesn't he look like he is impersonating the bad guy from the Austin Power's movies? I don't know his name - I never saw the movies but Mike Meyers plays him as well as Austin Powers.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-06T11:00:00.003-05:00

This year for Halloween Emma was a "mom of a newborn", Ben was a "soldier", and Abby was a "table". Abby came up with the idea herself. It was a super easy costume to make. We used cardboard, an old sheet and lots of paper products.

Mark's Halloween costume said, "My First Halloween don't scare me". This was a gift from Aunt Jenny. Too CUTE!!!

Standing On My Soapbox (feel free to skip reading this one - venting)

2008-11-06T08:01:00.004-05:00

I have been told on more than one occasion that I shelter my children. Well.... as of Friday I am glad I do. Abby had presentations at her gifted school on Friday. They had to prepare three projects about themselves including a power point presentation. She did a great job. This is a picture of her credo. She wants to be in the Olympics and go to Harvard Law School.

The other children's aspirations were scary. Some girls wanted to be Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, and singers. A lot of the boys wanted to be video game analysts and programmers. Some of their favorite movies and TV shows were Troy, Gladiator, South Park and Family Guy (these are 10 & 11 year olds)!

I am thankful I have such a sweet little girl!!!!!

Mark 1 Month Old

2008-10-29T15:32:00.005-04:00

Here is a picture of Mark frowning and wrinkling his eyebrows with Mike on his birthday - one month!

Here is a picture of Mark in his first pair of jeans! Don't you love Baby Gap?

I know - I know, I need to put him on skim breast milk.

I Have Been Tagged

2008-10-29T14:30:00.002-04:00

The rules, as provided by Lindsey:

Link the person who tagged you.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know.

I don't like to see people chewing gum. I know-I know everyone likes to do it (including me) but I hate to watch people chew.
I don't like people to wash their hands in my kitchen sink - I only like certain germs in my kitchen :)
I don't like to fill out "thank you" card envelopes addressed to myself at showers. If I can take the time to go and get a present and go to your shower you can take two minutes to fill out my thank you card.
I don't like to be behind slow drivers.
I don't like to be disorganized.
I have to eat breakfast or I am REALLY grumpy.

I tag Emily, Amy, Jenny, Liza, Lisa M., & Cindy
In your spare time!!!!

My Little Athletes & Abby is 11!!!!

2008-10-20T12:18:00.004-04:00

Here is a picture of Abby and Ben after their first swim meet of the season. Abby won first place in backstroke out of 21 other girls. She also won 3rd place on freestyle against 23 other girls. Ben won 4th place in backstroke at his first meet - competing with boys who are 9-10 years old, because he is about to turn 9 next month. I am very proud of both of them.

Abby turned 11 and got big girls presents - clothes and books. Ben remarked after she opened all of her presents that she got boring presents this year. I told him that is what big girls like to get for presents. I can't believe she will be in Young Women next year.

I Had Forgotten.....

2008-10-19T19:51:00.005-04:00

I had forgotten how time consuming a newborn can be. This blog has taken two weeks and 13 attempts to try to post. Every time I even tried to download my pictures to the computer he would start to fuss that he wanted to eat or be changed.

It has been a totally different experience this time - being older and having older children. I am enjoying the small things a lot more now.

Things I had forgotten:

Lack of sleep, but I love being able to go to sleep when the children get on the bus in the morning.
The joy of nursing - my favorite time is dawn
How fast they grow out of their newborn clothes
When they first smile at you - even though the experts say it is just reflexes - it is still a smile
Watching older siblings interact with the new baby
How many diapers they go through
How attached you become to them in such a short time

Mark 1 week old.

I LOVE little, baby feet!

The only time he cried in the first two weeks was during bath time. He hated baths. This is the frown he got from Mike. Sometimes when Mike is thinking he will wrinkle his eyebrows together like this.

This is Mark at 3 weeks.

Mark Is Here!!!!

2008-09-27T15:47:00.005-04:00

Mark was born on September 25 at 4:47pm. I thought I was going to be able to have him like I had Emma, with no labor pains at all, but that was not going to be the case. I had an appointment on Wednesday and the doctor told me I was 4cm, that night I had a lot of non painful contractions and a lot that morning. I took matters into my own hands and decided I was going to go to the hospital to get checked instead of the doctor's office. I figured maybe they would break my water and I could go into labor. I was checked at the hospital and I was 5cm - still with out any pain so I was really hopeful I could have a painless labor again. They admitted me and broke my water and gave me an epidural at 1pm (note the first picture @ 5cm - smiling). By 4pm the epidural had worn off and I could feel contractions (note the second picture @ 8cm - not smiling). They said it was too late to get more medicine so I did not have a pleasant last 45 minutes. I know, I know I had it lucky but I still was hoping for an easier time.

Mike's first dirty diaper change in 7 years!

Still NO Baby!

2008-09-21T18:05:00.003-04:00

Yes, our new addition to our family is refusing to come and join us. I have washed all of his clothes and bedding so he is more than welcome to come and be a part of our family. I started having regular contractions last Thursday but then they stop. I have little non painful ones for an hour or two and then nothing. I do have to admit I am glad he did not come during the concert last Saturday night. By the way, I LOVED the concert. It was so awesome to see and hear that in person. I was so excited. But he was more than welcome to come after the performance was over. Needless to say I have taken long walks every day to help move the process along but that does not seem to help. Maybe he is not coming yet because he knows he does not have a name. Maybe if Mike and I actually decide on a name he will decide to be born.

What do ya think?

Mark David Miller
or
Samuel David Miller

Some Pictures Of Summer 2008

2008-09-21T17:38:00.001-04:00

Ben earning his Wolf Badge.

The children at Ocean Breeze Water Park.

Ben with fins at my parents' pool. I love the one where he is getting on the diving board.

Abby milking a goat for an Activity Day activity. I love the second one.

The children at the beach. I LOVE THE BEACH!!!!!

My Bucket List!

2008-09-08T08:29:00.004-04:00

A couple of years ago before I turned 30 I was taking a night class at ODU. This literature class was extremely boring so instead of paying attention I let my mind wander to my impending BIG birthday. I started to think of all of the things that I had accomplished up until that time and all of the things that I still wanted to accomplish. I wrote out a list of things that I wanted to accomplish before my next BIG birthday. I typed it up and framed it and put it on my dresser. The list is in no particular order and they are things I would like to accomplish not have to. As I have accomplished the items on the list I check them off.

A couple of months ago the Virginia Symphony called us, as they do every year to see if we want to buy season tickets again. This time I told them there was no way we were going to be able to be season patrons this year because I was about to have a baby. They asked when I was due and said there was a concert in September and asked if I would be interested in just buying tickets for one performance. I asked them what the main piece was going to be - thinking it will be something stupid I have no desire to hear. When they told me it was Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1, I almost feel out of my seat. I could not believe they were finally going to perform the piece I have always wanted to hear in person and it was the ONE performance I was going to be able to attend. So now I am just keeping my fingers and my legs crossed that I will not have this baby before Saturday night so I can mark off one more item on my bucket list. Wish me luck!!!!

Back to School!

2008-09-02T08:36:00.004-04:00

I can not believe the first day of school is today. I am usually more than ready for the children to go back. The past couple of summers have passed by so fast. This summer was crammed packed and I did not even mean it to be.

The 1st week - Ben had Baseball Camp
The 2nd week - I had Girl's Camp
The 3rd & 4th week - Ben had swim lessons (Emma was signed up, but she had a broken arm)
The 4th & 5th week - Abby had a Writing Camp
The 6th week - We went to Utah
The 7th week - Ben & Emma had "Nature Camp"
The 8th week - Abby had a Red Cross First - Aid Babysitting Camp
The 9th & 10th week - Ben & Emma had swim lessons
The 11th week - I did not plan anything but pool and beach time.
CRAZY HUH!!!!

I cry every year on the first day of school I don't know why. At least this year I can blame it on the pregnancy and say it is just hormones. This year I told Mike that I love my new house but at our old house I have pictures of the children on the fist day of school in front of our windows all the way from the time when Abby had her first day of preschool. I can see how they have grown every year by where their head met different parts of the house. I guess I will have to start a new measuring technique with this house.

Utah Trip - July 2008

2008-09-02T07:58:00.005-04:00

Here are a few pictures of when we went out to Utah this summer.

The first one is of Mike's family at his Grandmother and Grandfather's grave site. We drove to Price,Utah to see where Mike's dad (Dave) grew up. It was a very interesting trip. It is amazing how much life can change in just one generation. Price is a very small coal mining town. He told us stories of when he was just a little boy and how he would go and explore the canyons behind his house, or climb huge rock formations and dangle his feet over the edge. We will never experience some of the things he did growing up and Mike is just one generation away.

The next pictures were taken for a family portrait. I have not gotten a copy of Mike's entire family yet, but when I do I will post it. Abby had the most horrible accidents while she was out in Utah. Right before the pictures were taken she was stung 6 times by hornets, she walked right by a nest. The brave girl did not even cry and was ready to take pictures within a couple of minutes after it happened. Ben and Emma had walked by that exact same spot just a couple of minutes before. If either one of them had been stung we could have said, "Goodbye, to taking pictures."

That night Abby dropped a sparkler on her toe and burned it. The very next day we went on a tour of BYU in Provo and she opened a door on her flip flop clad foot and ripped her big TOE NAIL OFF!!! While I was trying to stop the blood with whatever I had in my purse, she was sitting there still not crying saying she would rather be stung 20 times than have her nail ripped off. I am happy to report the nail has grown to half way up her nail bed. Poor thing - I don't know if I will ever be able to get her back out to Utah!

Yes, I Really Am Pregnant!

2008-08-01T15:08:00.003-04:00

Here are two pictures to verify to all of you who do not believe I really am pregnant!

The first one was taken on my birthday when I am 7 months pregnant.

The second one is of a 3-D image I had done at an imaging place with a DVD. Can you believe he already has chubby cheeks? He still has a couple more months of growing. I think he is going to come out looking like a squirrel gathering his nuts for the winter in his cheeks. He already has a lot of Ben's features so we will see:)

Laurie, Laurie, Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?

2008-07-10T09:04:00.004-04:00

With the help of a wonderful friend named Lisa Bunnell.

I got estimates from landscapers to do some yard work around our house. The flower bed was included in their price of $4000.00. I was sorely tempted to pay for it because I hate bending over with a big belly. Lisa said she loves to pull weeds (she feels it is therapautic) and said she would help me. She helped me do a lot. Here are some before pictures and some in between and after pictures. This is after 22 huge yard bags of just the front flower bed.

3 Casts In One Summer

2008-07-03T07:23:00.003-04:00

My baby girl is going to have to have three casts this summer. Girls' Camp was last week (yes, I survived) well the week before (June 17th) my baby had to have surgery. I took her in for her weekly check up to get x-rayed and see if it had moved anymore in the wrong direction in her water-proof, 1/2 cast. It had moved from 20 degrees off to 40 degrees off where it should be. The doctor asked me if she had eaten anything since breakfast I told him no, we were about to go out to lunch. He said don't let her eat anything. I want to do surgery on her tonight at the children's hospital. He needed to put her under and re-break her wrist and fit it with a full arm cast that is not water proof. He told me he might have to put a pin in it. Good thing I had camp under control or I would have been even more of a nervous wreck.

With her little hospital gown done up in the back, I cried when the nurse took her hand and led her down the hall to go in to the operating room. I cried when they brought Mike & I into the recovery room as she was waking up. He told me I should be strong for Emma. I told him to hush up. I told him I cried when I saw him in recovery and he did not even remember it. I am a mom, if it is one thing I am entitled to is being able to cry if I see one of my babies in a hospital bed. She did great and did not have to have a pin put in.

Needless to say she had her dance recital on June 21, four days later with a full cast on her arm. She did an excellent job. I was kind of concerned that she gets shy and nervous sometimes but that was for naught. Her "Drama Queen" personality took over and she faced the audience with a huge a smile and really put on a show.

She will have to get another 1/2 cast put on in two weeks before we go to Utah. At least it can be water-proof.

Mother's Day

2008-06-06T14:33:00.004-04:00

I love Mother's Day when my children are so young. I know I will not be getting the sweet home made gifts and cards from them much longer. I love the presents with the hand prints on them or their sweet little writings telling me how much they love and appreciate me.

Here are Ben's cards to me:

Here is Emma's card to me: I think food is really important to her!

Ode To My Ben

2008-06-06T14:11:00.005-04:00

This blog is dedicated to my Benjamin, one of the coolest boys I know. He is always happy and in a good mood - he got that from Mike. He is sweet and always ready to give and receive love - he got that from me. He loves little babies and little children. Whenever we are out and about he will be the first one to strike up a conversation or start playing with a little baby. It will be very sweet to see him with his baby brother.

Here are a few of his school papers. He is such a riot. Yes, he does love to climb and he has been climbing since he was very young, on bookcases, cabinets, shelves anything he could find that he could reach or pull a chair up to. One time I put our block of knives on top of the refrigerator and he climbed on a chair then the counter then tried to reach the knives on top of the fridge. The second letter is a persuasive letter to his teacher trying to convince her not to give him homework during their state-wide testing week. I love the part about not wanting to miss out on family fun and how scouting and baseball add so much stress to his life.

Our family is definitely blessed by having such a sweet and caring little boy. Granted he is the wildest of our children but the girls have pointed out that he may be the wildest in our family but he is the only one that has not broken a bone yet.

I love you Ben!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-06-05T03:26:00.008-04:00

My dad had a great idea to try and get everybody together in the mountains of the western part of Virginia for Memorial Day weekend. We went a day early on Friday afternoon and spent the night in Charlottesville. Abby wanted to see UVA, she has heard so much about it. UVA is one of her top three schools she wants to go to when she is older. Mike and I wanted to show the children Monticello. I have to admit I wanted to see it again as well. The last time I had seen it was with Mike as one of our earliest dates when we had first started dating.

This is a picture of Abby & Ben on Saturday morning in front of the rotunda at UVA, Emma & I are still asleep at the hotel.

Charlottesville is such a beautiful little town nestled in the mountains (hills to ya'll western people). It is a very preppy little town. For example all the students and alumni wear shirts and ties and dresses to all the football games. While we were walking around the little down town area all the students (which were not very many since it is their summer semester) were wearing polos and cute little sun dresses for their night out on the town.

Monticello has not changed very much. It is still as beautiful as I remember. The children seemed to enjoy some of the neat inventions Thomas Jefferson expanded upon at his home. They all wanted a replica of the Declaration of Independence that was rolled up on parchment paper.

It was really nice to get a way for the weekend. I feel like we have been kind of ignoring the children as we have been getting our new home together. It was so nice to spend some relaxing time with them and Mike.

What Can Happen In Less Than 24 Hours?

2008-06-04T16:55:00.002-04:00

I conceded to a trampoline only because it had a net on it. I figured no one would be able to fall off and brake their arm or leg. I thought we would only get bloody noses and lips from them bumping into each other. Right? Wrong!

We only had the trampoline up for 19 hours and Ben accidentally bounce sat on Emma's wrist and broke it.

We did pay the extra $36 to get a water proof cast for bathing and swimming for the next 6 weeks.

This is the first day she has had it on. We will see if she is still smiling during week 6.

It's A Boy!

2008-06-03T19:27:00.009-04:00

It's official! We are having a baby boy. Everybody is so excited to have another little boy. When the ultrasound tech put the wand on my stomach his little bum and legs were right there with his little penis right between. Mike said, "WOW! It's a boy! I don't even have to be an ultrasound tech to see that one."

I have a lot of other posts to write about too. When I get a minute I'll blog.

Quick - Take the Scissors Away From Me!

2008-04-30T15:38:00.004-04:00

Here are a couple of pictures of the dining room. I think it is finished.

We had a fun surprise a couple of weeks ago. I opened my front door and saw a bird had built a nest on my wreath. I thought I need to move that before she lays an egg in there. The very next day there was an egg in there, and the day after another egg, and the day after... you get the point until there were five eggs in the nest. A couple of days ago they hatched and I love to look at them. We never use the front door, so every time I open the door the momma bird flies away. Mike says to quit looking at them or soon I will be looking at cute, dead baby birds because the momma will not come back.

I wanted to trim Emma's hair last night a couple of inches...well 6 inches later here she is. She likes it so thank goodness.

Moving - I don't want to do it again!

2008-04-10T12:25:00.005-04:00

Here are a few pictures of what we have done so far. There is not one room that is completely finished yet, but they are getting there.

Here is the foyer. I could not find a big black light that I liked anywhere - not even in catalogues. So we sprayed this old one black and put new glass bulb covers on. I like it much better than the 80's look we had before.

This is the FROG and it's new furniture.

Here is the opening to the family room that was made bigger. This is looking into the foyer.

The library does not have overhead lighting yet, so yes the little lamp is going.

I have a really pretty fabric that matches the dining room curtains that I need to hem and use as a runner.

Check out the awesome rack Mike built for me for my gift wrapping section of my office. I LOVE it!!!!

This last picture is of my three children all taking a nap. I was really tired one day and I said to them, "Hey guys, I am really tired and I need to take a nap. Do you guys want to come take a nap with me on my bed." I slept for about 30 minutes - pretty good considering there were four of us on the bed. The children slept for 3 hours. I had Mike wake them up when he got home at six just so they would go to bed that night. Can you believe that? All of them have not taken naps since they were two. I think moving tires everyone out!

Soooooo Much To Say!!!!

2008-04-09T10:39:00.003-04:00

I have finally got the Internet connected to our new house and I feel like I am connected to the world again. I was not going to post again today because I have so many things to do but I saw my good friend Emily post about having her baby on Saturday night (Congratulations Em!) that I figured I really do not have an excuse, if she can find time to do it with a three day old, I can do it with all my children at school and when the house is totally quiet.

BIG NEWS ALERT!!! I am three months pregnant - on purpose! Some of you may be thinking there is no way Laurie Miller is pregnant or that she got pregnant on purpose. Well it started last June, I was happily minding my own business walking into Target on a bright sunny day. I had just finished working out - training for my first triathlon and then I saw it. You may ask what in the world did you see that would make you start to doubt everything you have been feeling and thinking for the past six years. I saw a mom take a baby out of a stroller and kiss him before she put him in his car seat. That was the beginning of six long months of fighting every urge and prompting. I went to the temple every month . I fasted and prayed every month but still did not get the answer to my prayers - I am done and I don't want or need anymore. It was not until I changed the way I was asking did I get my answer. My father-in-law kept telling me to stop waiting for a letter to arrive in the mail.

It took less than a month to get the results. I have attached a video of us telling the children. It looks like Abby is not that excited but I think she is shocked. She was the one that was always telling me to have more children and she wanted a little baby. All the children are very excited about having a little baby sister or brother.

In the meanwhile I am living it up as much as I can. I am helping Lisa Bunnell train for her first triathlon and I am going out to lunch as much as possible. I told Mike I am living it up now because I will not be able to in October. He said you are not dying you are having a baby. I told him but my social life will die.

Other good news - we have a full price contract on our old house after one month on the market. I thought for sure we would be paying two mortgages into the summer. We feel really lucky and blessed. They want to close the end of this month so I hope everything goes smoothly.

Your Vote Counts!

2008-03-07T10:35:00.003-05:00

Please tell me what you guys think! Mike and I are divided on the new knobs for the kitchen. As you can see the old knobs are to the far left. For some reason she picked knobs from the 80's even though the house is only three years old. The black knob goes with the appliances but does it stand out too much? Do the silver knobs blend in too much? What do you guys think?

52 Blessings - Week 8

2008-03-05T20:17:00.013-05:00

This week I am grateful that I do not have to paint my new 4100 square foot house from top to bottom. I had the fun part and picked the paint colors and we are paying to have the house painted. My brother Michael and his company are painting it for us. It would have taken us forever and they are doing a way better job than we would have.

This is Emma's room after paint. It is a little pink :)

This is Abby's room before paint.

This is the library before paint and the bookcases get installed. They are being made this week!

This is the family room before paint - looking in from the foyer.

This is the family room looking from the fireplace. This is the wall that we are making larger. (when I say we - I mean my brother-in-law David :)

This is the master before paint.

This is the kitchen before paint.

This is the office after paint. Doesn't the color look great with the old carpet :) Mike can not believe I picked this green color. I love it! He says that is definitely my room.

This is Ben's room after paint.

This is the foyer half done.

This is the dining room before paint.

52 Blessings - Week 7

2008-03-05T20:08:00.003-05:00

I know, I am having a real hard time keeping up with my blog. Life is little busy right now. For this week's grateful list I put a picture of some of Abby's valentines that she hand made for her classmates. I am glad that I have such a talented daughter who I will be able to eventually give projects to. Those of you who are unfortunate to be some of my talented and crafty friends know that I come up with ideas and then ask other people to help me fulfill my latest aspirations. Well the rate Abby is going maybe I will not have to ask you guys to help me with projects anymore.

52 Blessings - Week 6

2008-02-14T06:23:00.002-05:00

This week I am grateful that Mike has had successful surgery. For eight months he has not been feeling well. He has been complaining of dizziness, shortness of breath and fatigue. The doctors finally figured out that he had a growth on his thyroid that needed to be removed. Last Friday he had surgery that took over three hours. It was only supposed to take 1 1/2 hours. The nurses kept coming out to assure me everything was O.K. The growth ended up being as big as a tennis ball and going down into his chest area - no wonder he couldn't breathe! He stayed in the hospital for three days and has been taking it easy since then. He has never had surgery before and I did not like seeing him in a hospital bed. I am so grateful everything went O.K. This is another reason I have not been posting. We have been a little busy.

52 Blessings - Week 5

2008-02-13T14:53:00.012-05:00

I am grateful this week for a husband that provides so well for our family that we could take an impromptu trip with some of his family to Disney World. We had so much fun being in the warm weather and being with some of Mike's family. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Mike thought I was crazy to buy the children ice cream before the fireworks one night, but they had so much fun!

This is the children walking towards the "Tree of Life". Do you think they will still hold hands when they are teenagers?

This is Emma afraid before her first ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

This is Ben (in the red shirt) getting drenched at Universal Studios.

Dave & Dea had fun "scooting" all over Disney World.

Here is a cute video of Emma's first experience in "It's a Small World".

Here is a video of Abby and Ben being included in "The Lion King" show.

52 Blessings - Week 4

2008-02-13T11:36:00.003-05:00

This week I am grateful for my awesome friend Lisa Bunnell who took the time out of her busy day to help me finally conquer bread making. Yes, I am a Mormon woman who could not make a loaf of bread that was not so heavy I could use it as an anchor.

Here is a picture of my first attempt with her looking over my shoulder to make sure I was doing everything O.K. She thinks my problem was that I did not have the water hot enough, that I did not let the yeast sit long enough and that I beat the heck out of it after it raised the first time. She laughed and laughed when she she saw me start to punch it to death. She said, "No wonder it wasn't rising for you, you are beating the heck out of it. What did it ever do to you?"

Thanks Lisa!Notice one is gone - I had to try one hot from the oven!

52 Blessings - Week 3

2008-02-13T11:04:00.005-05:00

It is time to play catch up. I have had so many blessings I have not had time to write them all down. I know, I know woe is me.

I will go in chronological order to appease my type A mind-set.
For week 3 I am thankful for my Roomba. He is affectionately called Robby by one and all in our home. I was a bit skeptical when my Nana said she loved her Roomba and that he did a great job. I bought him 15 months ago intending on bringing him back if he did not meet my expectations. I love him. I have the children get their rooms "Robby Ready"in the morning before they leave for school and I put the chairs up on the kitchen table before I leave to go to the Y in the morning and when I come home my whole house has been vacuumed. Every time I go to empty his canister it is full of dust, dirt and lint that I did not have to actually clean. I have done so many things while I have been "vacuuming". It feels good to get it done when I hate doing it in the first place.
Thanks Robbie!

What I Am Grateful For This Week - Our New House

2008-01-19T17:50:00.000-05:00

The time has FINALLY come! Those of you who know me, know that I have been looking at houses for two years. I am sooooo excited. Mike and I have finally agreed on a house that we both like. This house is so big that we will be able to live in it for a long time. We put a contract on it this week.

It is over 4100 sq. feet and sits on over an acre, it has 7 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, three of the bedrooms are master bedrooms. It has a cute porch. When you first walk in there is a living room on the left with doors. We are going to put built-in bookcases in there and make it a library. There is a dining room on the right. When you walk a little farther there is an open circular staircase on the right and a 1/2 bath on the left. When you walk farther you go in to the family room. It has walls at the opening of the family room which we are going to tear down to make it more open.

There are two masters on each of the back corners of the house. The one on the left will be me and Mike's the one on the far right will be the office. When you go down the hallway where the staircase is you go into the kitchen. It has a little hallway to go into the dining room. There are triple the number of drawers that I have now and there are double the number of cabinets. There is a walk-in pantry!!!! There is also a really cool 500 sq. ft. deck on the back that is covered and has ceiling fans. When you keep going past the pantry you come to the 3 car garage on the right and dead in to the laundry room. I have never had a laundry room! You then turn left to go into the office.

Upstairs has 5 bedrooms including a huge FROG with a walk-in closet. There is a master upstairs that Abby is going to get. She is so excited about having her own room AND having a bathroom in it as well.

The exterior is all brick so we will not have to power wash ever again!

Anybody and everybody is welcome to come visit! We will definitely have the room now.

Map

My Evil Plan

2008-01-18T05:34:00.000-05:00

I am so tired of my children not only not cleaning on Saturdays before 4pm, but I am tired of them making huge messes until that time too. So, I have come up with a PLAN!!!! I am sure this will go down in history as mom being the meanest person on earth to make them work on Saturday before they play and watch TV. I have devised a Saturday morning chore chart. They will have to do this before playing outside, playing on the computer or watching TV. I will print off a new one every Friday night of the new things that need to be done. Here is what I did this morning:

Saturday Morning Chores

Everybody has to:

· Clean their room
· Pick up 4 buckets of gumballs

Pick Two

· Wipe baseboards in kitchen
· Wipe baseboards in family room & hallway
· Dust family room (tables, bookcases & piano)
· Windex kitchen (oven, microwave & windows)
· Windex wipes all pictures in house
· Wipe down inside of kitchen refrigerator

They have to write their names down by the two that they pick. I will post a new chore chart on the kitchen wall every Friday night. When they get to be teenagers and actually sleep in past 7am this will be a good incentive to get them to get up and not get the very last two "BAD" chores.

We will see how this goes tomorrow. I will post and let you guys know.

52 Things I Am Grateful For

2008-01-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

I am stealing this idea from Cindy Reed's blog. She is writing something she is grateful for every week this year. Thanks for the great idea Cindy!

This week I am grateful for such a sweet and loving Abby. She is always trying to do her best in whatever she is pursuing. She is a hard worker (which she got from me) and somewhat of a perfectionist (which she got from Mike). This morning I went in to her room to wake her up and there was a poster on her wall on top of her bed. This is what I saw when I came in:

This is what I saw upon closer inspection:

I guess it could be worse, she could have a poster of the Cheetah Girls up on her wall :)

Way Too Much Fun!

2008-01-02T15:16:00.000-05:00

We had a very fun December. My children are still so sweet and innocent. They asked for the cutest things from Santa.

Abby asked for "101 Things to Make with Cake Mix", a book on how to grow flowers, artwork and some cherry coke. Santa surprised her with a digital camera. She has loved taking all kinds of pictures at all kind of angles. She is quite the artist.

Ben asked for a battery powered toothbrush and a down pillow.

Emma asked for the High School Musical 2 Barbies.

My nephew Ryan was born on December 28th. He is Jenny and David's first child. They are so excited and cute.

We had a New Year's Eve Party at our house with my family. We took a cute picture of Emma and Emily (her 6 year old cousin) with their two front teeth missing.

Early Christmas Present

2007-12-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

I have fun news! I got an iphone for Christmas. My old phone was so old that it could not be charged with the wall oulet and the car charger cord was so messed up that I had to hold the cord in place to get it to charge. Maybe that is why I have been getting honked at so much. My one handed driving might have been a little too much for some people :)

You can not believe all the awesome features this thing has. They are HUGE to me since my cell phone was made in 1956. I am having so much fun playing with it. Maybe I'll actually use it and call someone.

The AWESOME Miller Children

2007-12-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

Life has been crazy as you can tell with all the posts I did last month.

Abby had an awesome swim meet this past weekend. She came in first place on the 50 backstroke out of 18 other girls! I am so proud. The backstroke was my stroke growing up, but now she can do 50 faster than me!

Ben had his first pack meeting last week. He earned his first badge - Bobcat. Way to go Ben!

Emma lost two teeth in one week. Her other front tooth is loose, so she might be singing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".

That is all the time I have for now.

The Miller Children Have The Christmas Spirit!

2007-12-02T18:07:00.000-05:00

Check out this link of my children and the dance moves they learned from Mike.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1127995254

My Baby Is Eight!

2007-11-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

I can not believe Ben turned eight and got baptized this month. I have not had a minute to even download the pictures and video on to my computer much less write a blog. I do have "A" minute right now. So here it goes :)

Grandma and Grandpa were able to fly out here from Utah to see Ben's baptism. It was great to have them in town and for them to be able to spend time with us. We had a big birthday party on Friday at a Laser Tag place. He invited a lot of children from school and church. I think Mike and the other adults may have had more fun. I heard a lot of smack going on :) Mike even threatned some of the seven year olds that they were "going DOWN!" in the next round.

On Saturday the 3rd (his birthday - he will always remember his baptism date) he had his baptism. It was a really sweet service. I was fine until the closing song, "I'm trying to be like Jesus". I was sitting right beside him and he started singing in his cute little voice and I just lost it. Missy Cummings said it was hard to conduct the song becasue so many people were crying, she did not know who to look at so she would not start to cry.

He is such a sweet little boy. He is always ready to give a hug and a kiss. I hope he stays this way.

O.K. It Totally "Sucked" Me In

2007-10-23T15:14:00.000-04:00

I am currently lost in the world of vampires and werewolves, thanks to Emily. My sister-in-law Jenny told me about Stephenie Meyer last year and I just have not had time to read it. Emily gave me Twilight for my birthday and I am hooked. I LOVE IT! It is total drivel but it is so entertaining and fun to read. Thanks so much Emily. I had Barnes and Noble mail me the other two books over the weekend because our libraries have long holds on them.

Mom...I Think I Am A Vegetarian

2007-10-21T19:05:00.000-04:00

Emma came up to me today and said, "Mom, I think I am, what is that word that sounds like veterinarian but it means you don't eat meat?" I said, "Vegetarian". "Yes, that's it. I think I am one of those but I still like to eat hot dogs, chicken nuggets, steak, ham and oh yeah chicken."

My Baby Is Ten!

2007-10-15T17:04:00.000-04:00

Abby turned ten today. She had a big party with her friends on Saturday. We went to a pottery studio where the girls got to paint their choice of pottery. The studio is going to fire them and have them ready this week. We then went to our house and had pizza, presents, cake and games.

All in all it was a very good party. If it had been ten boys I think I would be singing a different tune.

One of Abby's presents from us was a little different, but she loved it. Abby's favorite thing to watch is the cooking channel. Her aspiration in life is to make the best cup of hot chocolate ever! The girl uses my 1/2 & 1/2 to make her different recipes. When I was at Sam's a couple of weeks ago, I saw a big box of 188 little packets of creamers so I got them for her and wrapped them up. Too Fun!!!!

Rachael Was Born Today!

2007-10-11T20:02:00.000-04:00

I have a new niece! Missy had her fourth girl today. She weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces.
Missy and Tim named her Rachael Lorene Lucas.

Congratulations Lucas Family!!!!!

We Love You!

PTA = Pressure Tension Anxiety

2007-10-10T10:56:00.000-04:00

I am really glad this weekend is over. I know I do it to myself but....nobody else was stepping up so I said I would do it. I really like the way our school system divides up the elementary schools. They have Primary schools for K-2 then Intermediate schools for grades 3-5. This way big fifth graders are not corrupting my little kindergartner on the bus. Since the schools are divided up this way there are two PTAs and I feel obligated to help in both.

Nobody was volunteering to be chairman over membership so I said I would do it. That entails a huge back to school picnic where people pay for a ticket and the price of membership is included. I was in charge of feeding and entertaining 800 people on Friday. Thank goodness we got 100% membership through this event and I do not have to do anything else the rest of the year.

On Saturday Ben had a soccer game at 12 and then Abby had a swim meet at 1:30. They did great. They both love what they are doing. Emma is loving ballet. I am really glad her lessons are only one day a week and they are in the afternoon. She will have one big recital in June. Last year she did soccer as well. That added more practises at night and more games on Saturdays. I am glad I am not doing that again. Sometimes I get frazzled with all the places I need to be, but then I think how grateful I am that I have strong, healthy children who are able to play sports. I am starting to cry even as I am writing this. I am truly blessed.

I am a mom...HELP!!!

2007-10-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

This morning was a little bit more fun than normal. Emma took Ben's reading book to his soccer game last night. As she was getting out of the car with it I said, "Emma, you can not take that to the field, leave it in the car." She then put it on the seat in the car. Fast forward to this morning...Ben can not find his reading book anywhere. I hurried them out to the bus stop and asked my neighbor if she could watch them while I went and looked in the house for his book. Emma said she had brought it in last night from the car, but she could not remember where she put it.

I looked all over the house - under couches, under tables, on bookcases. I could not find it anywhere. I went out to the car to make sure she took it out last night - still no book. I went down to the bus stop to ask Ben if he was sure he did not have it in his back pack. I went back in to the house to search again. I looked under covers, under beds - I did find an opened, industrial sized bag of Life cereal under Abby's bed. I am glad we do not have ants. I guess that is one thing to be grateful for.

I looked in Ben's room and there on the floor was his science notebook, so I took that out to the bus stop. I asked to look in his backpack while I was putting his notebook in to make sure his reading book was not in there as well. The bus was pulling up to the spot and I had a thought..."Emma, let me look in your backpack." "No, mommy the bus is here. I have to get on."

"Emma, just let me look real quick." Sure enough there in her backpack was Ben's reading book. She was so happy to have "found" it. She proudly carried it up the stairs of the bus to Ben who had already boarded. His book is twice the size of her reading book. Didn't she feel the extra weight?

All of this took place in five minutes. I told Mike I was not going to work out today because I just had my workout for the day.

To Each His Own

2007-10-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

I started reading "Peace Like A River" because Mike read it and put it near the top of his most favorite books of all time. Mike has read almost as many books as I have ( and I am an English major) so this was a big deal. I thought, "Wow, if he really liked it that much I am definitely going to read it". The story had a very male point of view. I can enjoy a vast array of books with many different points of view but this one did not grab me as much as it did Mike. I guess, to each his own.

I am now reading the cult phenomenon "Twilight". We will see if it "sucks" me in and captivates me like it has so many other people :)

One Man's Rocks are Another Man's Treasure

2007-09-30T22:24:00.001-04:00

How many rocks does a seven year old boy need for his rock collection?

Last week was a very busy week. It was filled with cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning in preparation for my in-laws to come and stay at my house. They were not just going to come for a quick visit in the living room but they were going to stay in our house while Mike and I went to DC for Jenny (my sister) and David's sealing. Emily has always thought I am weird because every six months (each April and October or General Conference time) I scrub my walls and trim and repaint everything. So the time had come for the biannual cleaning of the walls and trim. I could not have Dave and Dea into my home looking like it did, so I spent all of last week scrubbing my house from top to bottom (literally). Among my awesome cleaning adventures was decluttering Ben's bookcase. He had at least six rocks, ten paper clips, five pennies, and on and on and on.

Well, all my tireless scrubbing was for not since Dave and Dea were not able to catch a flight with Jet Blue using their new family standby passes. I must say that so far I am not too impressed with Jet Blue. Free flying should be much more convenient. I hope they will be able to make it for Ben's baptism in November.

Mike and I did have a nice get away with the help of a dear friend who filled in at the last minute. Thank you so much Lisa - we owe you one!

While Emma was staying with Lisa she gave her an earful. During one of the their conversations, Lisa told her that she and Emma had a lot in common. They were both the youngest in their families and they both had an older brother and sister. They both went on for a while about the similarities and then Emma said, "Are you spoiled? I am spoiled! I bet you are spoiled too. My mommy says I am spoiled." Out of the mouths of babes!

We had a great time this weekend. Congratulations David and Jenny! I am so grateful I live close to a beautiful temple!

I Am Grateful For.....What Did You Mean By That?

2007-09-24T07:41:00.000-04:00

Why is it sometimes that the best intentions seem to be construed as offensive?

Abby came up with the idea last night to say five things we are grateful for every morning at breakfast. I thought it was a great idea since some mornings the children are not too happy with each other!

This morning Abby started the tradition. She listed four things and the last one she said, "...and I am most grateful for my family." Ben heard, "I am mostly grateful for some of my family." "Well, who are you NOT grateful for? Is it me? Are you not grateful for ME?" I had to quickly explain what she said before I had WW III on my hands.

Little Emma decided she was next and I could not help but smile when she said restaurants and stores were two of her items she was grateful for. I had created a monster last year. She would come home from 1/2 day kindergarten at 11am and we would go out to run errands and while we were out we would have lunch. It got to the point where she was telling me which of my friends I should call to see if they wanted to have lunch with us.

Afterwards I thought about how some adults are quick to find offense when none was intended. I was one of those last week when Mike tried to offer me some parenting advice. I instantly got offended that how could he offer me advice when I spend way more hours parenting than he does. I know he meant it to try to help and I took it the wrong way. So the lesson for the day for me is to not take offense when none is intended.

Hatteras

2007-09-21T15:49:00.000-04:00

Thanks to our friends the Ross family we got to do a last little bit of fun before school started this year. We got to go to their beach house in Hatteras, NC. We had a blast during Labor Day weekend.

Thank you so much Ross family!

My First Triathlon

2007-09-21T15:43:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to pass on this link. Emily sent it to me and I laughed so hard.

It did remind me of my first triathlon. That is me somewhere in that mess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk

Emma Asleep - why we should check our children before we go to sleep

2007-09-20T21:52:00.001-04:00

I am learning how to put pictures on my blog. Here is Emma asleep where you can comment.

Over Three Hours For Less Than 200 Cubic Feet

2007-09-20T19:52:00.000-04:00

Should I be concerned when it takes a grown man over three hours to clean an area less than 200 cubic feet?

Since April (read here "since a lot longer") I have been telling the children when you guys go to school in the fall I am going to get this car detailed. Since I have never had "the privilege" of getting my car detailed before, I called around to a few places. I got some estimates and asked them how long it would take. They all told me it would take about 3-4 hours. I thought there is no way I am going to sit somewhere (who knows what kind of bathrooms these places have) and wait for my car. Drum roll please....I found a mobile guy that would come to me.

He showed up at my house at 1:00pm and did not leave until 4:30. Should I have prefaced this with, I have three children and we live in the car on weeknights and weekends (sports and ballet)? As you can guess my car was GROSS. He even used a power washer for my floor mats! I should have taken before and after pictures.

I have now come to the conclusion that I will make this an annual tradition. After they have trashed my car during the summer and they go back to school in the fall I will get my car cleaned.

Yeah for annual traditions!

Everybody Else Is Doing It!

2007-09-19T14:43:00.000-04:00

Well, like the title says I am feeling a little left out, so I have joined the blogging phenomenon. I called my good friend Emily who has been blogging for years to help me with my title. The first thing she said was that it has to have something with type A in it. I don't know what she was trying to imply.

Here is a definition of "Type A" I found: Type A personality, also known as the Type A Behavior Pattern, is a set of characteristics that includes being impatient, excessively time-conscious, insecure about one's status, highly competitive, hostile and aggressive, and incapable of relaxation. Type A individuals are often highly achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about the smallest of delays. Although they may exhibit some or all of these characteristics, it does not mean that people with the type A personality are incapable of showing love, affection or other types non-pessimistic behavior. Many are also capable of "couching" some of these behavior attributes with proper treatment and medication.

O.K. O.K. this definition fits me perfectly, but I am now wondering if "proper treatment" could be construed as shopping and "medication" as Diet Coke.