O Christmas Tree

Lila decorated the tree with little help this year. She needed help with the top of the tree since she is still vertically challenged...forgive the non-corrected red eye ;)

How we love our Charlie Brown tree.

Outfit change, then help from Daddy.

This is the BEST part of all our decorating. We turn off ALL the lights then Daddy plugs in the...

STAR!!!

This is so our kids tree. It's so fun seeing all the hand made ornaments year after year. Wanna come over and look at our tree? It's a tree decorated in love...sappy, but true. Ha, ha no pun intended, but glad it happened!!!

Christmas Village

Hmmm, where should this go?

Right there!

The fire house.

Our favorite piece, the church.

Five years ago my Uncle Dan gave us the Christmas village he had collected over the years and it has become my and Lila's favorite part of decorating for Christmas. She really takes her time to find just the right spot for each item. When we're done we turn out the lights and plug it in...it's beautiful.

Give thanks with a grateful heart

This is really funny...Uncle Mark told his kid to relax on the chex mix while he ran home for a minute...look at him above the bowl! Eat it UP Noah!James had the honor of carving the bird. He did an excellent job.
Papa read our thankful lists from last year. They were very sweet and funny. He didn't say who wrote what, but people were guessing by what they heard...the funniest, someone was thankful for stinky Evan. Gotta love little sisters.Yes, Auntie Jen at the little kids table. This was a first and I enjoyed it very much. We said grace a second time and Cole, who will be 5 on Sunday, said the prayer. It was the cutest.Uncle Daniel holding Lila's baby Evan.

Cole was attached to Evan's hip. They had so much fun playing Rock-Paper-Scissors.

My kids just bein' cute.
All the cousins with Uncle D.

You know, this year has really been a really difficult one for me, personally. Three surgeries, my Uncle's stroke, and my Grandpa dying...really makes you stop in your tracks and put things in perspective.

I am so blessed and my heart is so filled. My family has totally kept me afloat.

Times have been tough, money is crazy tight, but when the sun sets, it doesn't matter.

We cannot change our circumstances, but we can ask God to change our attitude toward them.

I give thanks with a grateful heart.

Our student of the month

Up in front of the school...

Mrs. Kirchner, Lila's teacher...

Lila Grace Miller was recognized for demonstrating a positive attitude, good character and being a responsible citizen. Way to go L!

Tonight 8pm KOMO

Pop some popcorn and toss in the candy corn. It's a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!

Luke and Paul

A fun birthday party for my childhood friend, Amanda's, little boys.

Lila was in on all the action.

Speaking of action, here she is in action.

Time for a pizza break.

Then back to the house in U.P. for presents and cake. Lila was very proud of her card for the boys.

Elmo cake.

Happy 1st birthday Luke!

Did Paul fall asleep? Tough job, being the big brother!

Big yawn. What a great party. Thank you Timmy for taking Lila. She had so much fun!

Me, oh, my

Monkey Bread

Another night of, what can we make for Daddy while he's at work?





Please don't look away while cutting the dough! Silly girl.

There you go! Eye on the prize.

Shake it real good with the sugar mixture.

Drop it in the pan. Pour the brown sugar and butter over the top. Go take a shower and get ready for bed...

Hooray! Monkey bread is ready and Daddy comes home to a yummy smelling house with a delicious dessert.

I love you Daddy!

Update

Thank you all of the cards, phone calls and emails with well wishes and questions how I'm doing. First I have to apologize for being so anti-social. Pain can make you that way, (who knew? wink).

So, I had my post-op appointment and the surgeon said I am not healing as he would like. Internally I have sutures that haven't dissolved yet that were suppose to and I am having "questionable bleeding". I was prescribed a steroid that is suppose to speed healing up, but it has unpleasant side effects; hair loss, severe mood swings, nausea, just to mention a few. I will be on this for 6 weeks. So, time goes on and the days go by,

v e r y s l o w l y...

That's the latest. The worst of the dreams have lessened, PTL! Thanks for all the prayers.

*This is a picture of the robot that "preformed" my surgery. The surgeon looks into the machine on the left, it has the controls and video screen for him to manipulate the robot.

Feelin' the love!

My friend Michelle from work visited yesterday and brought me the most beautiful hot pink roses I have ever seen. My Uncle had brought some yellow and orange mums, so now I have fresh flowers on each side of the front rooms. Very nice.

Every one has been so nice and thoughtful during my recuperation. From dinners to visits to taking the kids. I can't believe it's only been a little over a week since my operation, it seems like forever. My boys are in heaven with all of the different varieties of dinners that have been brought to us. We've had dinners from across the globe; giant meatballs with a marinara penne, beef stew, chicken enchiladas, home made Chinese food, rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes, and last night Auntie Holly brought over the biggest taco spread. We felt like we were at Azteca's, except Azteca doesn't have cupcakes! Thanks for helping us out during this tough time. It's very frustrating to not be able to do all of the "mom" things I'm use to doing.

Thanks to all of you guys life is a lot easier!

Gotta get ready for Nana and her chicken noodle soup this afternoon...

Bad dreams

Every night I been having bad dreams...BAD dreams, I guess nightmares. I won't go into detail. They are very detailed and very long. From one situation to the next from one part of the day to the next. And each dream is different for that night. Now here is the bad part...like the dream its self isn't bad enough, which trust me it is. When I finally wake up the dream continues. Even with my eyes open. Hence, the getting out of bed and doing something else. The last few nights I read for a few hours, the time before that I caught up on some recorded TV shows. Tonight I thought maybe if I talk about it it will go away. I try to pray it away while I'm still in bed, but once the prayer stops I fall right back into it right back where I left off. This is overwhelming consuming. I'm sure it has everything to do with my medicine from my surgery. I have cut back to 3 times a day now instead of every 4 hours. Which means no naps anymore. Maybe I should nap then I won't be sleeping so hard at night??? What ever is going on has got to stop. I command it to stop, in the name of JESUS! Even now when ever my mind stops what i am doing I go into the next page. Please help me...

Leaf me alone!

2 leaf or not 2 leaf

On my last day home before returning to work,

I decided it would be a good idea to take care of

all the leaves (well most of them anyways) that were covering the yard. Before I had a chance to pick up all the piles; the kids returned home from school. Lila was so excited and her biggest brother couldn't help himself either!!

Are you going to support the new president, regardless if "your guy" wins?

I certainly hope so!

Regardless of where one stands on the candidates, agreement is strong that this has been a remarkable, energizing, frustrating marathon of a campaign. Emotions seem more raw than usual, perhaps because the differences between the candidates are more obvious than in past campaigns, perhaps because the economy has so many people on edge.

Fortunately, history shows us that even the most vigorous of campaigns do not permanently tear us apart. All but the most abjectly partisan will likely come to their senses before Inauguration Day.

History demonstrates that we will remember, no matter which side we are on, that the new president and his supporters are not "the enemy." There are real enemies out there, real life-and-death issues to be dealt with. At some point, sooner rather than later, we will need to reunite enough to face them together.

Harvest Party

Every couple of blocks in our neighborhood there is a church. A church that loves reaching out to the community. So, no better place to take Gracie, October 31st.

Cinderella pumpkin.

Auntie Beki and her boys.