Summer fun is here! {even if the sun isn't completely cooperating}

June has brought a few sunny days but lots of fun activities!! We have been busy busy going from one thing to another. And the kids are loving it! We have been to the pool a few times, Woodland Park Zoo a couple times, lots of trips to the park, visited Seattle Children's Museum, BBQ's, dinners with friends and family, shopping at the outlets and some evening walks and bike rides with the family. We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family to be with! Now if the sun would just make a decision to stay out, that would be great! But, even if it doesn't we will not let that stop us from enjoying the summer!!

My little sleeping beauty

My guys are off hiking today! I love them!

Elijah's on 2 wheels!

no training wheels!

Miller family spring update...

As of late... Had a mini vacation at Peniel Ranch in Omak area {eastern WA}, Which was GREAT! It was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and just breathe in some fresh air and let the kids roam. While we were there a family "building" retreat was going on. A deck and small shed were built alongside many practical applications to building your family. We loved the environment and the people and hope to visit again soon! While we were there Thomas and I had many opportunities to just walk and talk about real things, it was so nice to be able to have such communication with out all the interruptions of daily life. We had a great talk about priorities and have recently implicated many different and new ideas into our life, to hopefully enrich our christian walk independently and as a family. We also recently attended part of a homeschooling retreat. This was a VERY overwhelming experience for me. But when we got home and were able to soak in what we found, we were also able to decide on a curriculum for Elijah!! We will be using Rod and Staff for his main curriculum and we are going to add in a separate math curriculum by Math-U-See. I am really excited for this new challenge! And so is Elijah :) As for Ethan and Lyla, they are both growing bigger by the day it seems! Ethan is such a funny little guy and Lyla is crawling all over the place and eating anything and everything in her path!! Oh, and one more biggie...Thomas broke his clavicle {collar bone} jumping for a fly ball while playing softball at a friends birthday party! Apparently the collision was pretty spectacular, flipping him all the way around and completely upside down before he slammed into the ground on the back top part of his shoulder! So now he is home from work for who knows how long {thankfully he has some PTO saved up} and I can officially add "nurse" to my list of occupations!! He is going through this whole ordeal with no pain medication. {that's my hunk} And is using supplements for inflammation and healing. The doctor from the ER wrote him a prescription for vicodin and said recovery of 6-8 weeks, Thomas is hoping he can give a good name to homeopathy, herbs and other supplements and have a faster recovery. We shall see. There is always something interesting going on in our home!

My FAVORITE thing about potty training!

Never A Dull Moment. 3

Well I thought we were done with the powder. Not. And this time he decided to add some diaper cream in there too. Have you ever tried to get diaper cream out of the carpet?? Not fun. He has now experimented rubbing in his own lotion, soap, diaper cream, arnica and ointment. He calls it all soap and uses it all like lotion. Needless to say all of my creams lotions and ointments are on a very high shelf...I know I should "train" him not to touch, but I don't want to deal with the messes when he disobeys! Hahaha! Ethan is my curious George in the flesh, or maybe Dennis the menace or Calvin...Not quite sure. He thinks he is 9, invincible, bigger and stronger. I am praying that I can train his strong personality to be a strength as he grows up. It is a really good thing he is so cute and so funny...he is my live wire and definitely keeps it interesting at the Miller home!

1929

John E. Stubb. My Grandfather is 81! He has seen a lot. He is an amazing man. Husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. I have never heard a negative word about him. He is strong in his character and loving in his manner. He is dang funny! He loves Mickey Mouse :) You can usually find him in his office with a glass of scotch and a good book or some jazz{playing loudly}, or out in the yard. Or maybe you will find him wandering around garage sales. I've heard he is quite the cook and a grand photographer. He's a home body. He once looked like a movie star, and I'm sure he is still a mega heartthrob for my Grandmother. They have been married over 50 years! Awesome. I plan to copy that! He is a giver and a lover, but I don't believe he would want all the attention and praise for all the good he's done. He's humble. He's so special and dear to my heart. And my little growing family's hearts as well. He is MY Grandpa Stubb. I. Love. Him.

Never A Dull Moment. 2

So, one of my very best friends just gave birth to twins via c-section! Their family has grown from 4 to 6 just like that. I am so excited I can hardly stand it!! So I have been spending a lot of time with their two older boys as they have been going to doctor appointments and such, and it has been so much fun! Well yesterday another friend and I went over to the Sconyers' house to watch the older boys and pick up around the house a bit before Sonja got to come home from the hospital. The day was fun and busy. Five boys 5 years old and under and baby Lyla. My little sweet Lyla Jane has entered the "I'm going to scream every time you are not holding me stage" as she is very near 7 months...not sure about you but it's still true for me, so far each of my kids when they turn 7 months old cry ALL the time until they start crawling...so as much as I want her to stay little and still...PLEASE START CRAWLING!! Anyway Kandi and I spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning and playing and taking turns with a fussy baby on our hip...and boy am I grateful she was there because I think I would have lost it. Having a baby glued to your hip makes everything a lot harder! Well a couple hours passed and Kandi and Parker had to go get back to the Smith household. Mind you Lyla also decided she did not want to take any naps. At all. So here I am alone, with 4 well behaved boys {thank God}, 2 of them are angels and I'm not talking about mine. And one extremely tired and fussy baby girl. I managed to get 5 loads of sheets washed, dried and folded {with Kandi's help} and got dinner on the table for 4 hungry boys and myself {with a baby on my hip}. During which my eldest knocked a plant off it's stand while they were throwing balloons off the stairs...the plant still stands, but with only half a pot...to this my son says, "I'm so sorry about that!" So we eat... Lyla finally decides Joshua's crib is cozy enough and sleeps for about an hour. During this time the boys and I are reading {EXTREMELY} quietly as not to wake up the little sleeping beauty. I am tired. But not too worn out. It's been a great day and Sonja gets to come home! About 6:45 I nurse Lyla for the 7th time {she usually nurses no more than 5 times a day...} and get a few things picked up and Adam and Sonja get home!! Sonja looks amazing by the way and is already walking around!! Praise the Lord! So I proceed to get my 3 little monsters ready to go home and see Papa. Lyla in the car seat. Check. Shoes and coats on the boys. Check. All bags, purse, water bottles, sheets by the door. Check. Uh oh, Lyla starts screaming. She doesn't like to be in her car seat unless it's moving. Meanwhile trying to get the boys to the door is going slow. Imagine Elijah with both legs sticking thru the railing right above the toy bins...Ethan on his way up the stairs to mimic big brother...I tell Elijah, "Okay feet out time to go." I turn to Sonja to watch a little yellow bouncy ball barely miss her head when...CRASH!!! HUGE CRASH!! My heart is now in my stomach and I turn to hear, "I'm so sorry about that too!" While Elijah was trying to remove his feet from the stairs he uses the toy bins for leverage...well it was a little top heavy to say the least. Now there are toys all over the living room. A screaming baby. And a little Ethan, who decides to disobey standing by he door like I asked, and instead climbs up the back of the couch, only to fall straight to the ground. Now he's crying too. Adam laughs and says one word. "Meltdown." Sonja and I are laughing too, although this hurts her to do so, there was really nothing else to do at this point. Okay now that it is after 8 we are finally out the door and in the car. We actually had a very quite drive home. Praise the Lord for that! So like I have said before. Never a dull moment!

Happy Valentines Day!!

I love...my God...my loving hubby...my 3 amazing children...my family, immediate and extended...the friendships I have...my wonderful church...that God saved a rotten sinner like me...that He saved my son...that my kids love the Lord...that He never fails to provide more than we ask for...that I have an eternal heaven to look forward to...I love avocados...pickles...chocolate...coffee...laughing...the sun...lemonade...facebook...flowers {speaking of flowers I got my beautiful bouquet a day early!}...movies...cuddles...reading...the fact that I have 3 kids, I'm still not quite used to it, and yet I know we're not done...shopping...doing nothing...and taking naps...anything sweet...I love the KJV bible...presents...puppies and kittens {now if they would just stay small!}...writing notes...receiving notes...talking...big smiles...tears of joy...teaching my kids...pedicures...picnics...that I have so much I love I couldn't possibly write it all down!

I can't believe he's 5!

My sweet baby is 5 today! I can not believe how fast the time has gone. Elijah Alan is my sweet boy, my emotional boy, my strong headed boy, my super smart boy, my fun boy, my very silly boy. He LOVES to read. He LOVES to wrestle. He is particular and sassy and shy like me, smart and strong like his Papa. He is the first born. Period. He is so loving and sweet {did I already say that??} and adores his little sister! He adores his little brother sometimes too ;) He is saved and he already loves God so much! I love him and can't believe how much time has past but at the same time I am excited to see what he does and who he becomes as he grows...he's my oldest, he's my baby. He's Elijah and he is 5!

Some January photos...

It doesn't seem like much has been going on this month, but at the same time feels like time has just flown by! Lyla is about 6 months now and so much fun! She has also found her voice...very squeaky and loud :) Ethan has been consistently testing the waters and make everyone laugh...and Elijah is doing 1st grade school work in his spare time! Three kids raised in the same environment and yet they are all so incredibly different! Still amazes me! Hope you all had a happy January. I can't wait for spring....

CHRISTmas Joy

We started on Christmas Eve. A wonderful ham feast with all the trimmings, sweet time with Mom, Peter and Gena, Jaime and Diane and all the kiddos, gift exchange and cranium. What fun it is to hang out with everyone! Twelve children between our 3 families! We really should do it more. Then came Christmas morning. We read Luke 2 {the Christmas story} and then opened gifts with the kids! They were so full of joy and excitement. Lyla liked the sound of the crinkly paper :) Then more family for a huge breakfast and sweet fellowship. I love hearing Thomas and his dad sing hymns together! A very special moment indeed. After the kids had a nice long nap, we headed over to my mom's house where we were greeted with a mountain of gifts! Even Ethan's eyes were bulging! We had another fabulous feast with all the trimmings. Got to spend more sweet time with Grandpa and Grandma Stubb, Auntie Sandy and Uncle John, sweet miss Georgia and my Mom and Dad. This Christmas was so much fun with 3 kids! And yes they definitely got spoiled! But that's part of it :) They had such a blast. Elijah is still going on about how thankful he is for all his presents. And through it all my kids have a new favorite song...{Happy birthday Jesus. I'm so glad it's Christmas. All the presents and lights make the holiday nice but the real gift is you.} Guess they learned a little too :) Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope it was as blessed as mine!

Never A Dull Moment . 1

So I can start with a story some of you may have already heard but maybe some of you haven't had the chance to laugh at me quite yet. All in one simple word. POWDER. Now as most of you know baby powder is a very fine substance, usually sprinkled on cute baby bottoms...well not on this lovely morning. May I also remind you this was one measly day after the poop and painting with butter incident {see earlier post}. I was doing something in another room, and it was mysteriously quite in my house...usually this is when Lyla Jane is peacefully sleeping or playing with her toes, and Elijah is probably curled up somewhere with a book, and Ethan...well Ethan is usually up to something. Something like poop squishing, or butter painting, or toilet water splashing. This time it was powder puffing! So I walk out and he is sitting on the floor covered in powder...and powder all around him. Of course this always happens with a BIG smile. That's just Ethan. So I am still recovering from the poop and butter, still in a bit of a daze and I take a picture. Then proceed to tell him powder is NOT for sprinkling all over the house it is for sprinkling on little baby bums. Not too bad. No fit. Relatively easy clean up. Day goes on and surprisingly no more incidents. Next morning. Going great. "Uh-oh" I think. A little too quite for my liking. So I go to the living room to check on Ethan...POWDER! POWDER EVERYWHERE! Not just on my cute little boys lap but all over my living room. The couches were dusted the carpet was thoroughly dusted, the fireplace was dusted. My powder was...was GONE! You can imagine. Oh yes you can imagine. And it was probably worse! I look at Ethan, this time in no mood at all to take a quick picture. And he says in the most adorable way he knows how..."Oh-no mama, powdew all ova, no-no, me did it too." So not only is he confessing, but he KNOWS it was a no-no!! So...trouble. Now I don't have to worry about that happening again right? Because he got trouble and learned his lesson right? NO, wrong. He won't do it again because he can't, the powder is gone, remember?! So, the story of my life...Never a dull moment. Now don't get me wrong, can you imagine life without all the little moments? I most certainly cannot. Life would be boring. No. I LOVE that my life never has a dull moment! Sometimes it just takes a minute, or two, to be able to breath. And then I always look back and laugh. And I LOVE to laugh!

Intro. Never a dull moment

So this morning, after a mashed banana fit with Ethan, I decided I would write about these funny {and sometimes not very funny} things that my kids do or don't do...It will be called Never A Dull Moment. Hahaha. So enjoy the chronicles!

These are pictures of real blessings! Thank you God for my dear children. I. Adore. Them.

A few more photos of my three darling monsters! I love them!