"OH DEAR! WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?"



It has been a while since my last post. I don't need an excuse, but I am giving you one as a little insight into my world. As Trip Manager of the Miller household (this is an official role I have--I can explain it another time). But as Trip Manager it takes me about a week to prepare for an Ohio trip (I like making trip lists). And then we were there in Ohio for about a week. And then upon return it takes a few days to recover from all the festivities. So I am giving myself an excused absence from blogging.

At any rate, we spent time in Ohio with our wonderful family. It is a trying time currently for the Miller family, and so it was really good to be together.
I sum up my Ohio trip as Beauty in Chaos. Beauty in watching 14 grandchildren, with totally different personalities and ages spanning from 7 months to 16 years, find the greatest of joy in playing with each other. The big ones gladly helping the little ones and the little ones looking up to the example of the big ones. Beauty in childlike faith as demonstrated by the humbling generosity of some special nephews. Beauty in the love of a Father and Mother sharing "big news" and giving all of us a special time away. Beauty in a brother-in-law removing 40 viruses from my darn computer (Thank you, Tim). Beauty in relaxing around a fire, a family style dinner from Bob Evans, a family picture shoot, a scrunched meal at Tony's Coneys. The beauty of Father/ Daughter moments. The beauty of a 3 year olds singing one line of a song over and over again that echoed truth to my soul. And most of all the beauty of my sweet sister-in-law, whose grace, strength and faith inspire me and whose face reflects the very presence of her Saviour.

Confession #1: I have a few quirks. I know, it is surprising, but true. One of my more alarming quirks to people I meet is my absolute refusal to put milk (or any other liquid substance) in my cereal. I eat it plain, right as it comes out of the box in all its crunchy, glorious self. The thought of milk sogging it all up...yuk!

Confession #2: I may have influenced the girls to carry on my quirks. I don't think I did it on purpose. My original intent in not giving them milk in their cereal was to avoid the mess that a two year old with a spoon, milk and cereal could create. I don't like messy. I am not the fun mom that gets excited to jump in puddles or make mudcakes or play with sand. SIDENOTE: The theme for this weeks I Heart Faces photo contest is "messy". I got nothing. I have let the girls get dirty, but since I am not a big fan, I am not inclined to take their pictures when they are. :)

Anyway, back to the cereal. Jamie let Macie try his the other day (The other girls just scream with disgust if he even suggests they put milk in their cereal). But, the Mace...she liked it. And Jamie instructed me that I was to give her cereal and put milk in it. So yesterday, for the first time ever as a mom...I gave my two year old a bowl of cereal with milk and a spoon. Surprisingly, it wasn't too messy and she ate pretty much the whole bowl. I guess I will have to influence Macie with one of my other quirks. :)

Deep conversations with Ponsi....

Isabelle: Mom, do you think Heaven is up or down?
Me: Probably up...I think most people probably think it is up.
Isabelle: Yeah, me too. It is way up above the skies into outer space. (short pause) Do our bodies just disappear up there when we die?
Me: Well, no this body stays here, but you will get a new heavenly body.
Isabelle: Maybe my new body will be brown.
Me: I kind of think you will still be peach, but who knows, maybe you will be brown.
Isabelle: Some people say there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Me: Yes, that is true. I guess we just don't know if it will be here or a new earth completely. It isn't always clear. We just know we will be with God.
Isabelle: Well, I hope Washburn (this is her school) is on the new earth because I really like Washburn.

This week's category is Black and White. I know some people don't really like B&W, but it is my favorite. Check out some of the other entries here.

Main Entry: 1trans·form
Pronunciation: \tran(t)s-ˈfȯrm\
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French transformer, from Latin transformare, from trans- + formare to form, from forma form
Date: 14th century
transitive verb
1 a: to change in composition or structure b: to change the outward form or appearance of c: to change in character or condition

As a parent, you get a front row seat to the beauty of transformation in the lives of your children. And as the mother of Victoria Kathryn, my show has been nothing short of breathtaking. I have watched my little girl turn from Tori to Victoria and back to Tori again. I have watched her change from a cute bald baby to a stunning long haired little girl. And most importantly I have watched a semi-terrible two and three year old (cute, but terrible) turn into a tenderhearted and ever maturing eight year old. I am proud of her for so many reasons and blessed by her in so many ways I cannot begin to write then down. Thanks Tori for loving deeply, for having a compassionate and giving heart, for being a good friend, for being the best big sister on the planet to Isabelle and Macie, for playing out your role in our church community, and for continuing to move forward in figuring out what it means for you to be a follower of Jesus. I love you and wish you the very best birthday ever!

The theme this week is wonder...most of those moments are captured in my minds eye and not by my camera, but I thought this one was cute. Check out some other "wonder" photos here.

It is one of those blessing upon blessing days for me. I mean I already have my perfect valentine in Jamie and then just like Halloween, kids bring more fun and excitement into the simple pleasures of Valentine's Day. It is amazing how a little piece of paper with a popular cartoon character on it can just make your day. Or even better a homemade paper one--complete with stickers. Or for me- a pack of Strawberry Creme Peeps from my Mom and Dad and mmmmmmmm....I am pretty happy.



Anyway, we had a great day- from our heart shaped pancake breakfast to watching Horton Hears a Who with our heart shaped sugar cookie treats at night.


And it's true...I broke tradition. We did not have heart shaped pizza last night for Valentine's Day. My in-laws sent money for a Valentine adventure so we went on a speed trip to the Como Zoo(they closed at 4...seriously!?!?!) and out to Cossettas--I didn't hear anyone complaining. ;)

This week's theme is silly. I would have liked to branch out to put pics of one of the other girls this week, but when it comes to silly in our house, there really is only one girl that wins that contest hands down every time.




Enter your own picture. Details here.

DUM, DA, DUM....It's Muffins with Mom today!!!! Woohoo! I woke the girls up by flashing their light on and off and singing its Muffins with Mom day...they love when I wake them up. And it was Isabelle's first ever time you know. She was very excited. She has been asking me questions, like "Where do they get all the muffins?", "Do you think they make them in the cafeteria and then bring them to the moms?", and "Do they not have breakfast because they have Muffins with Mom?"--Important stuff to know as you venture to your first ever M.W.M. experience. The excitement of this day was multiplied because if they brought in a dollar for Pennies for Patients they got to wear their pajamas...And Macie and I were helping out in Isabelle's classroom today. Muffins, Mom, Pajamas, Macie....does it get any better? Don't even think about bringing up Donuts with Dad...it's my day today.

Here is the link to the Buttercream Fondant Recipe....

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rolled-Buttercream-Fondant/Detail.aspx


And I am totally making cupcakes today. It is a friend of mine's birthday tomorrow and I am pretty sure she NEEDS them....I will just keep a few of the extras, you know, for the girls. :)

I love cake! And I don't like that whipped frosting--I like the sugary sweet buttercream stuff found at weddings and graduations. Since Jamie was out of town this weekend, I spent way too much time on allrecipes.com and found a fun looking buttercream fondant recipe that I thought I could handle. I think fondant normally just looks good, but doesn't really taste that good, but this recipe claimed to taste good as well. So this is my maiden voyage with buttercream fondant...

Attempt #1: You only get one chance to cover the cake--oops! My fondant did not patch together well...sorry Chuck, I hope it tasted better than it looked. ;)


Attempt #2: Looking good and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....yummmy!


Unfortunately for me, the cake is all gone this morning....Valentine's Day cupcakes anyone????

Allen Iverson(for my mother-in-law who loves the Pistons, but is not an A.I.fan)


Rasheed Wallace


If you know our family at all, you know that I have jumped in hard core as an Ohio State Buckeye Football fan. We love the Buckeyes and follow them through all the emotional ups and downs that they take us on. Now Jamie also has some other teams that he has followed since childhood, none that I think he cherishes like the beloved Buckeyes, but there are others--none of which I have ever felt connected to. One of those teams is the Detroit Pistons and Wednesday night he and I went to see them play the Timberwolves. While I am not a hard core fan, I did wear my blue hooded sweatshirt, which totally matched Jamie's red hooded sweatshirt (he was LOVING that) and I did cheer quietly (so as not to be obnoxious and irritate the MN fans). I would not be that nice if it were the Buckeyes playing the Gophers....

BTW..Detroit won--Go Pistons! Thanks Nicole for the tickets!

My friend, Becky, has come up with another way to creatively post on your blog....go here for details.

JOY



Isabelle has one of those smiles that just lights up her whole face...she can also cry and bring down her whole countenance...BUT on this day she was full of life and joy.

I strayed away from my usual tendency to hibernate through the winter today. The girls and I bundled up and went sledding with our friend Marissa. I either did a great job at bundling up or I was working up a good sweat climbing back up the hill, because I was not cold in the least. The girls had a great time even though Marissa ran Isabelle over with her sled (she claims it was an accident) and once Macie landed face first in the snow. Macie was screaming bloody murder when we left because she wanted to "try again" and Marissa told me I was torturing her because I was laughing at her and taking pictures...she will look back and laugh when she is older. :) Now all we need to do is conquer ice skating and the Winter Festival and we will be true Minnesota Winter Princesses.

Click here to link to my friend Sue and her husband Scott's blog. She is a reporter for the local morning news. She does not like the cold and she has been out there in it this week reporting on how cold it is here...It made me laugh. Sorry, Sue. I have made her promise repeatedly that no matter how much she hates the cold- moving is not an option. Right, Sue?

Saying goodbye is not an easy thing for some of the members of our house, namely our oldest daughter Tori. We brace ourselves for the gut-wrenching, body-convulsing tears, actually they are more of a wail, that accompany each goodbye from Grandma's house, saying goodbye to friends moving away or the last day of school. But Sunday I found myself wiping the tears for a more unusual goodbye. Macie recently promoted to her "big girl" bed and with that step up we have done a little redecorating (pictures will follow- I am not quite done). Anyway, Jamie decided to sell his bowflex so Mace could have full use of her room space. A nice gentleman came over Sunday to disassemble and haul it away. And while they took each piece out to the van, Tori cried on my shoulder about how she couldn't believe we were selling the bowflex and how much she was going to miss it.

I wasn't incredibly compassionate considering I had no idea why she cared since she never used the bowflex and I had never heard her aspire to use it. And then she preceded to tell me she was sad because if the bowflex was gone she would no longer be able to count Jamie's reps or sit in there while he did his workout. And then somehow, in a strange way, her tears seemed warranted. It has been said of Tori that she loves deeply and I will never argue with you there--it seems even a muscle building, piece of work-out equipment is not exempt.

My friend Becky recommended I do my "Top ten photos of 2008". Well, I don't know if these are my top ten (okay, fine, top 13--I have quite a few photos) but these ones seemed to strike a chord with me as I looked back on the year 2008.

New friends who have become familiar and comfortable friends...even if they weren't in our same class at school ;)

New fish- who no one takes care of now but me and who no one seems to care about until we go away and someone else has to watch them...

New adventures, especially Isabelle starting kindergarten and lots of little ones in between...

Old friends coming to visit and visiting old friends....



Special time spent with the Miller and Stafford side of the family...



My church--we have had a lot of goodbyes this year which hasn't been super fun, but these are the people who live life with me and help me look more like Jesus. I am blessed.



Oh, and last but not least, the everyday faces that make my world go 'round. They make 2008 and every year amazing.



GO BUCKS! BEAT TEXAS TONIGHT!!!


Happy 2009 Everyone!