Miller Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkin tonight. Even Ben got in on the fun! Enjoy the pictures.

Zachary Elijah Miller

Little Zachary is here! We are so excited to welcome our newest little nephew and godson! He arrived at 7:35 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches long. Enjoy the pictures!

Here he is!

Proud parents Kyle and Kari!

Kyle with little Zachary!

Halloween Preview

The PTA at Gerry's school hosted a "Trunk or Treat" where volunteers decorated their trunks and the kids went trick or treating around the parking lot. It was a lot of fun to see everyone in their costumes. Here are some of our little Elmo and big Darth Vader.

Gerry was awed at by many half his size. He posed for several pictures.

Ben was tickled to be Elmo, who is his favorite. One of his twenty words is Elmo.

Ben loved the idea of accepting candy from strangers in the trunks of their cars! We had to pry the tootsie roll out of his hands for his bath.

The Team Captain

Gerry was the team captain for his soccer team today. He took it very seriously. In this picture, he is doing the coin toss. He played his best game and saved several goals (he is on the defense). We are very proud of him and his efforts. We are fully aware that the genes are stacked against him so we are excited with every effort he makes-no matter how small.

You will be happy to know that he started taking piano lessons this year. We are hoping that he got a few of the musical genes. He tells us that he is very good. Enjoy the pictures!

The Saturday Morning Pipe Dream

I enjoy the morning. I enjoy a leisurely breakfast where I can drink my coffee and read the paper. On a weekend morning, I am usually not be in a hurry to be some where and I enjoy relaxing in a peaceful house with my paper and coffee. I am coming to the realization that this ritual that I have come to cherish is a thing of the past. I don't want to admit it. I want to hold onto my pipe dream.

This morning, I was awakened by a screaming hungry toddler at 6:45 a.m. This is usually not the time my leisurely Saturday morning begins, but I bucked up and stumbled out of the bed. After tending to Max's bathroom needs and making Ben's breakfast, I made my coffee. Step one complete. I then started cooking my breakfast and retrieved the newspaper. I was that much closer to my relaxing morning. When Ben was done eating, I put him down to play outside of the gated kitchen. Of course he immediately started screaming because he wanted in the kitchen so he can play in the cabinets. When he realized that wasn't going to happen, he started playing his lets drive Mommy insane game with Max. This went on for a few minutes and luckily stopped as I got my breakfast ready and was sitting down to eat, drink and read. I was optimistic that I would at least have a few minutes of peace and I could keep the pipe dream alive. Then the drive Mommy insane game began again after which Ben decided to get underneath all the chairs and then scream when he was trapped. After he got bored with this, he decided to go upstairs and play toys. My spirit was renewed that I could enjoy my now slightly cold breakfast and luke-warm coffee. Then Max started. He wanted to be petted. He wanted to play. He wanted my attention! So, I ate the remainder of my breakfast in the fetal position atop my chair in order to keep Max from chewing my feet and scratching my legs. Finally, my husband got up and I was able to escape into the office and close the door where I was hoping to salvage a few minutes of a peaceful morning with my cold coffee. A short 60 seconds later, the door opens and in walks my husband with a toddler in his arms. I am giving up. I guess I will try again in 18 years. It was a nice dream...

The Mystery at Preschool

They cracked me up today! We were in the gym for recess. The gym is used for many different groups at the church and today it was a little messy from the evening before. There is a stage in the gym and we have instructed the children not to play past a certain point in front of the stage. This group of children kept going past the point and congregating in front of the stage deep in conversation. We asked them to go back several times but they kept drifting back to the front of the stage. Finally, I had to see what the fuss was all about so I went over to them and asked what they were doing. They told me that they had a mystery to solve. Mystery? I was intrigued so I started asking questions:

Me: What kind of mystery?

Kids: Well, there are clues on the stage.

Me: What clues do you see?

Kids: A jacket, two pairs of shoes, some empty drink cups and a tape player.

Me: What do you think about these clues?

Kids: Someone must be living up there!

Me: Really? Did you see anyone?

Kids: No, not yet, but we are looking. We think he is behind the curtain.

Me: I wonder who it could be?

This comment started a series of debates and they settled on this answer:

Kids: It must be the music teacher! There is a tape player on the stage and it plays music. Yes! The music teacher lives on the stage!

They were perfectly happy with this conclusion and ran off to play. Not only did they give me a good laugh, but they reminded me that in their brain, we live at the school.

Two Peas in a Pod

Chaos. That is a good word to describe my house. You would think I have all this under control. There are only two kids and two dogs, and occasional neighbor kid and me here much of the time. However, there are two family members that have joined forces to create mayhem. Ben (19 month old human) and Max (6 month old puppy) are two peas in a pod when it comes to chaos. They are both into everything. I have to keep Ben out of the kitchen because he has figured out how to open the child proofed cabinets. I have to keep Max in the kitchen because he is just plain bad. So the kitchen is gated off. Because of their gated limitations, they have developed a game: drive Mommy insane. Ben thinks its fun to give Max things. So he goes around the house picking up various objects with out discrimination and throws them over the gate to Max. Of course Max thinks this is wonderful and promptly chews up what ever Ben is willing to give him. This has lead to the destruction of some shoes, newspapers, various toys, papers for preschool and college awards. But believe it or not, that isn't the "Let's Drive Mommy Insane Game." That game goes more like this: For some reason, Ben thinks it is wildly funny to give Max his lovey. But once Max has is lovey for more than 5 seconds, he becomes upset and starts screaming to get it back. So, I go and get it from Max. Then, Ben will hold it so Max can see it and Max will begin to bark and bark for Ben to give the lovey to him again, which of course Ben does. And then Ben screams again. This goes round and round until I finally take the lovey and Ben away from the scene of the game. This doesn't stop the barking but it does distract Ben from giving the lovey to Max and screaming for a few minutes. Sigh... I need a vacation. Maybe I will go to Walmart alone when Gerry gets home.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Kari's Shower

(Kari's invitation with pictures of Zachary inserted- we signed a mat and framed it for her)

I forgot to include pictures from Kari's shower in the last post. After rescheduling it due to Hurricane Ike, it went off with much success. We had it in New Orleans at Monica's house. The big drama (besides the hurricane) was the cake. I made the cake. I needed to make it due to Kari's special needs diet and I was nervous about it. I was on a time limit where there was no room for mistakes. I had only worked with fondant once before in an experiment in my kitchen and if I messed it up, I couldn't start over since I bought the batter mix in Dallas and flew in with it to New Orleans. Thank God, it turned out fantastic! As you can imagine, I welcomed the cocktail Aunt Judy made when the cake was finally made and safely inside Monica's house. Everything was beautiful and I think everyone had a great time. Of course Kari looks great. She is one of those cutsie pregnant people you see the the magazines. We were all jealous! It was great to see everyone and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of little Zachary who is scheduled to be here on October 30th.

Here is the cake with the diaper cake centerpiece

The famous cake!

Kari cutting the cake ( I tried not to watch!)

Kari, Me and Monica

Cathy, Kari and Me (I wasn't having a good hair day!)

Sorry Its Been Soooo Long!

Well, folks I think my retirement is over. It was a great couple of weeks. I enjoyed it and I was glad to live with the illusion that I could be retired. Then life happened. As it always does. God is always teaching me that I am not in control and he has written the master plan for me. I admit that I am too hard-headed to learn it the first time, second time, etc... So, I am always learning it.

I am working part time for a preschool. I absolutely love it. I think I have always been a preschooler at heart. Who wouldn't enjoy spending the day making craft projects, snacking, playing at recess, singing songs, napping and listening to stories? The kids in my class are an absolute joy and I am blessed to work with the best staff in North Texas. Anyway, that has been keeping me busy.

And then there is cub scouts. I volunteered to be the assistant leader this year for Gerry's den. Even though I wanted to do a 180 and run after the owl pellet scene at twilight camp, I have stuck to it. In the past two weeks, it has become clear why I should be doing this. Our den has grown to 12 boys and our den leader is needing to spend more time with her family. So here I am! And it has been fun and will be fun since I am kinda planning a lot of stuff. If your boy has the opportunity to be involved in scouts, please take advantage! It is a great program where you get to meet great people. It has been a wonderful blessing to us!

And then there is Marching Band; the phenomena that takes over our lives for about 6 months of the year. Gerry has been working MANY hours with his own school. He is at school about 12 hours a day Monday thru Thursday and Friday he gets to school at 6:30 a.m. or so and returns Saturday at about 2:00 a.m. or so. Because of my "retirement" he has been taking on some judging gigs around the country and here in Dallas. He will also be doing a few clinics in his "spare" time. So, you have already figured out that I am basically a single Mom.

So that is why there have not been any posts. I hope that I will be able to get to this more often because we love to share our lives with you. But don't hold your breath!

Here are a few pictures from the past month or so:

Ben playing on the fire truck at Frisco Firesaftety town.

Gerry won the Musician of the Month Award at his school. We are so proud of him!

Gerry was the Flag Bearer in the flag ceremony at the September Mavs Fan Jam!

Ben in his sailor suit! Isn't he cute!