Thursday, February 28, 2008

Love Ya Kate!

Welcome Home Papa & Nana!

Happy 30th Anniversary Papa & Nana!
Mike’s parents returned late Monday night after celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in Hawaii! We made signs to welcome them and of course missed the grand welcome we had planned. Their flight landed almost 30 min early. Oh well we made the best of it and brought our signs to the luggage pick-up. They were all smiles and had a beautiful tan…well as much as a Miller can tan that is (me included)!
Welcome back – We love you!
They brought over some gifts for the kids. Blake totally loves the new guitar. He has blessed us with many songs already. Ellie got a REAL grass skirt and coconut shells – too cute! There is more to this story look below….

20 years ago my parents went to Hawaii and brought back two grass skirts and only one pair of coconut shells. Guess who got them….YES MY SISTER KATY! I got the cotton floral top. Yes I should have been thankful but I was so jealous! I wish I could find the picture of us wearing them. My eyes were so puffy from crying and my sister has a smug little smile on her face. Needless to say we still tease each other about the whole thing. As you can imagine when Katy came over that day to find a replica of the famous grass skirt and coconut shells she had to try it on. I know this is probably a sister moment that only we laugh so hard at until tears are streaming down our faces and our sides hurt but I had to share. Check out these pictures!

After she tried it on the skirt fell off and the shells busted apart. Older sister/mommy to the rescue – all fixed!


Saturday, February 23, 2008

Silly Boys...

I was going through my pictures and videos last night and found these two videos that just make me smile!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Ellie the Cook!

Ellie's Dinner Ellie made dinner last night. She did everything from spraying the pam in the pan, ripping the tortillas into pieces, and layering the enchilada filling and shells. Have you ever noticed that your kids eat more when a) they make it and b) they get to stay on the counter and eat dinner. It was so cute to see their faces when I handed them a bowl of food and let them stay on the counter!
How cute is this picture.
This was a proud mommy moment.
A doggy that Ellie drew, I was so impressed.
How cute are those feet!?!
Blake's new haircut!
He got the shave!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Tobymac

Michael - Tobymac - Justin

Well Michael got the hook-up...Justin got tickets to the Tobymac concert last Friday. Michelle and I were suppose to go but ended up sick :(
Justin works at the radio station "The Fish" so they even got to meet Toby! How cool are they, yes I am a little jealous.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Cold & Sunny!

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Impromptus Potty Training

Jen was half joking when she told me I should just start potty training Blake on Monday since Aidan was going to start too. Blake must have heard and wanted some of the action. Monday morning he came running to me and told me he had to go potty. He made it to the potty and SUCCESS! First time EVER! Two more times Monday and twice already today. We are going to go get him some big boy underwear and see what happens. So Jen I guess we are going on this adventure with you.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Lip Smackers
Cool Raspberry Ice - with glitter!
this is about the 15th layer of chapstick....
Why Mom...I NEED more!
I have to say my brother is right. Moments like these pre-blog days would have never really been camera worthy. But now....we can share them with all our friends. He was just so proud of that pick raspberry ice glitter chapstick. Oh, it was SAD when we had to be all done.
Poor Blake!







Friday, February 15, 2008

Depth from the Depths of Despair

It was pay day yesterday which translates to BIG WINCO trip. I was in the car driving to Winco at 9pm last night with the song “give me the simple life” stuck in my head. The lyrics ring with simplicity and happiness. Letting go of all the struggles and strife and eating tomatoes and mashed potatoes! If that were only possible. I often struggle letting go life's struggles. For some reason I feel most real when staring them right in the face.

I quickly moved my thoughts to the police activity across the street last night. For those of you who do not know, the house right across the street belongs to a 90+ year old man and has been sitting empty for almost 13 years now. It backs up to the Spring Water Corridor and has been begging for intruders. Late last night Michael and I noticed about 5-6 cops with guns drawn swarming the place. Soon the lights were on inside and it was apparent that at least a couple of teenagers were under arrest. My first reaction was, “Yes they got them. I knew that place was going to lead to trouble. I hope the trouble maker next door got caught.” Later we heard the whole story. They were 6-8 homeless kids living inside the house and had been doing drugs. Slightly unsettling knowing this has been going on for a few days right across the street without me knowing. After my emotions settled down I found myself thinking about a statistic my sister told me about homeless kids. There are 1.3 million homeless children in the US and the average age of the homeless in the US is 9 years old! Why are there that many homeless kids? Poverty, abuse, slipped through the cracks of foster care, few are just runaways. Katy (my sister) has been volunteering at a shelter in downtown Portland for homeless kids. She makes breakfast for them on Thursday mornings. The stories she has heard and things she has witnessed are astounding. I could not stop thinking about those kids arrested that night. Cold, no place to turn, with emotional pain that must haunt them, no wonder they were doing drugs trying to stay warm. I am not condoning the actions of these kids but I can understand why they must do it. With tears streaming down my face I started to pray for them. I find myself struggling between being responsible and aware of the dangers of “getting involved” and just wanting to forget the dangers and SAVE THEM!

I pulled into the Winco parking lot and wiped my tears. As I walked in I just kept telling myself to be aware. Be aware of the pain on the faces of those standing next to me shopping. I could see one family obviously adding up the groceries to make sure they didn’t exceed the amount they had. Another just looked so tired and sad. A man who had a little girl and only a couple of things in his cart…all necessities to feed her. I wish I could save them all. Everyone has a story. Everyone carries pain. That night all I could do is offer a smile while holding back tears. I bought my groceries, packed them in the car and headed home. Again, tears! By the time I got home I was overwhelmed with feeling completely helpless, depressed with our world, and guilty for my beautiful home and car full of food.

Michael must have thought something awful happened on the way home. Deep in thought with watery eyes I carried in the bags from the car.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Just thinking…”
“Oh, ok.”
Obviously I do this a little too often : )

He let me unload on him with all my earth shattering thoughts.
The conclusion he helped me come to….
I don’t need to feel guilty about my blessings I just need to use them for God’s will.
Jesus saves people I can only help.
Feeling pain and being overwhelmed with tears is ok…as long as it makes me ask God what he wants me to do about it.
Be willing to act.

Some days I won’t be able to save homeless kids or bye food for every person in Winco but I might be able to help someone God puts in my path. Smile at a stranger. Pray for a friend. And maybe someday….I should start making breakfast for homeless kids on Thursday mornings.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I am so excited that I figured out how to post a video. I could very easily get carried away with this. Today the kids were all in Ellie's room playing and there was a sudden burst of music. I opened the door and found a GRAND dance party. Pretty Darn Cute!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Mr. Mom

When I returned home on Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday) I opened the door and was shocked! I had been gone for two days and Michael had been holding down the fort with the kids. Do you know what I found when I walked in……A BEAUTIFUL CLEAN HOUSE. It wasn’t just picked up; we’re talking vacuumed, scrubbed, beds made, toilets cleaned. He managed to do all this in addition to getting himself and the kids ready for church. I must say this is a feat in and of its self. Rarely can Michael and I get the family ready, to church on time and leave the house clean. Not wanting to state what I thought was the obvious I focused on that fact that it was done, not that it was Super Bowl Sunday and he wanted to have people over. I thanked him and told him how impressed I was. He then proceeded to say, “It’s amazing what a football game can get me to do!” He said it, I didn’t! Later that week I unfortunately got really sick, I was totally out of commission. Mr. Mom was back at work. No football game this time just a really sick wife and cranky kids. For those of you who know me, I HATE being the one pampered, I like to pamper. Mike pampered me, took care of the kids, and kept the house clean. So I guess football games are good inspiration but when it comes down to it, he’s just that good! Thanks Michael.
I am very happy to be up and moving around and back at work : )

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Trying to teach a 4 year old the meaning of being content…

It was one of those mornings I stood staring at the coffee pot watching each tiny drip SLOWLY fill the pot. I had just returned from a women’s retreat so I should have been rested and ready to tackle the day. But for some reason I was getting a slow start. Ellie had been playing by herself in her room when the front door opened, Shawn and Charlie walked in. For some reason this was the very moment that Ellie decided, out of the blue, to get VERY upset with her choice of dolls at Target from over a week ago. After, sitting down with her and trying to figure out what the problem was she told me that she really just wanted to give her old dolls to a little girl who didn’t have any. You may think oh how sweet of her to want to give her dolls away. However, the real plan was to get some new ones, the ballerina dancing doll to be exact. I tried to explain to her that we need to be thankful for the dolls we have and we can’t spend money on a new doll every time we get tired of the old ones. Daddy works hard to make money for our family and we can help him by being good stewards, not wasting, and using the things that have been given to us. We have to save for special things and that can take time.

This did not go over very well. I found that I often scramble for the perfect words, to teach my kids the perfect lessons, in the most teachable moments. Then it dawned on me….Christine, how do you learn to be content? Hmmmm, well I have to practice being thankful and content everyday. It doesn’t come naturally and it doesn’t feel good all the time. How can I expect my perfect words to be translated into the perfect lesson and for my 4 year old daughter to just get it!?!

Do I spend money on things I don’t need? Do I have more then enough of lots of things? Do I want to get rid of things so I can get new things? Do I still want things when I walk into Target? YES! Ouch, this was a lesson for the 27 year old Mommy too. It is a choice to practice being thankful for the things I already have that give me a feeling of true thankfulness. I gave her a big hug and told her I was sorry she “picked the wrong doll out” then proceeded to tell her that I would hold on to doll until she was able to calm down and decide to be patient until we saved enough money to buy the one she REALLY wanted. I walked into my living room and looked at the carpet I REALLY WANT to replace and the sectional couch I DREAM about buying for the family room. Hmmmm….ok GOD I hear you! Thank you for my stained carpet and my very comfortable broken-in couch. I will wait.

After all this processing the kids and I are sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast the next morning, we gave hugs and kisses to Daddy as he headed out the door to work. Ellie sat up and said, “Hey Dad could you please go make lots of money at work today so I can get my ballerina doll soon! I have some pennies saved up and I will help but make lots so it won’t take so long ok.”

So I guess….lessons take time don’t they.

Philippians 4:11
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
Ellie and I have a lot still to learn!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Northwest Snow Days...
Even if it only sticks to your mittens it's still FUN!
It's cold Aunt Christine!
I wish it would snow EVERY day Mom.
Hi Mom, this is GREAT!

Oh boy this coat doesn't cover my belly when I lay down.
What a rush I think I will do it some more!



Ellie's big girl bed is so cool and comfy.

Blue eyed cowboy - Yee Haa

"What, you think that's a lot of gold or something?"

Got my chocolate fix!

Good times with the tunnel (or "nunnle")

BIG HUGS!

More Dancing....well whatever this is...

Ok, all done....

where is my blanket?....

Who needs a bed we're done!






















Finaly we have a BLOG!

Finally, a Miller blog! We enjoy reading all your blogs so much, Michael and I thought it was time to start our own. Hmmmm....what should this momentous first post contain? PICTURES!!! Yes we all love pictures.

LAMP BOY
(yes the lamp was unpluged!)

Washin' Dishes
Too bad they were already clean!
Tough Man Blake
Hard Hat Solo
Dancing, dancing, dancing...
Say Cheese!
Mommy and Ellie's coffee/hot chocolate brake
yummy - cookies too
Come on Sis let's go for a ride!

I promise the rest of our posts will not be so random. Then again, I do random really well!