Back-dated posts from this week

Robert thinks I could stay on top of the blog better, if I do less mulling over, and just write. With that said, I have back dated a few posts from this week. When no one was reading our blog, there were no ramifications for backdating our posts, but now I should probably try to do things in order. That will be my goal.

Robert and I are now 3 weeks away from our next race. Today we ran 10.6 miles. We were excited about how fast our pace was during a long section of our route. Until ...we began to reverse our route on the way home. Wheewsh. Does that make a wind sound? The wind was blowing so hard we could hardly run. It felt like we were in slow motion and we had a big hill to conquer. There is a New Balance (shoe) ad running right now about a Love/Hate relationship with the sports we enjoy. This was definietly a time of Hate in our running relationship. But, we did make it home and shaved 5 minutes off our time from running that same route 2 weeks ago, with no tail or head wind, so we just keep going and hope for the wind to be blowing in our favor on race day.

Easter Remnants

Are we the only household still dealing with Easter 'grass'? This stuff is everywhere. After sticking to our feet and toes, it has now been transported to places the easter baskets have never even visited. I've tried to collect pieces of it as I notice them, but I think they're mutliplying. I have put off vacumming them up because I worry they will just get all tangled around the spinning part of the vacuum. Then I'll be sitting on the floor trying to rip and unravel them out of the bottom of the vacuum. (With all the long haired girls we have in our house, this would not be first time I'd sat at the foot of the tilted up vacuum trying to unravel the spinner) So, if anyone has any good ideas for collecting Easter grass throughout an entire house, please let us know.

Mid-week Sleepover

The girls got a special treat this week when their friend Sydney stayed with us while her parents were out of town. They had such a great time. They are used to having Sydney over to play, and even having her eat with us once in awhile, but to have her here after bedtime was quite the treat. This picture was taken about 10:30 pm Tuesday night. The girls were awake until atleast 11:00 pm both nights. They laughed, they giggled, they wore each other's clothes. Fun, fun.

Fireplace Transformation

I finally did it. I had been thinking about painting our oak fireplace black for awhile. I sometimes like to think and mull over things for awhile (okay, sometimes a great while) before I do them. Today Rachelle came over and helped me paint. Rachelle had done this to the fireplace in her last house, and Carrie had done it to the fireplace in her house, so I went for it, and I love it!! We have hired a finish capenter to build knotty alder built in bookshelves on both sides of the fireplace, so I think the black will tie in well with those. I guess my advice would be - If you've got a project in mind that you feel good about--Go For It. The fireplace was the starting point for changing this room, so I'll post more pictures as the project progresses.

Easter 2008

Happy Easter! The girls awoke to Easter baskets next to their beds. This year, Mom and Dad were the first ones up just waiting for the girls to awake. Emi, who fell asleep about 6:00 last night, was the first one up. She loved her little Easter jewelry, bouncy ball, and all the candy. Emi loves candy. All that excitement woke up Lindz, who also found fun treaures like the farm animal grow capsules in her basket. Then on to Brenna's room, who was patiently waiting in her crib. She picked up some 'peeps' from her basket and starting throwing them across her room, thinking they were toys. Once someone showed her you could eat them, she was all smiles about that (click on her picture to see a larger version). By now, Aubrey and Kayla had found their baskets and were sifting through them. Boy, we have a lot of candy in this house right now.

Then it was 'Get ready for church' mode. With Mom giving the opening prayer, we needed to get there on time. No one really got new Easter dresses this year, mostly just new dresses to them (formerly their sisters). Mom spent much a time looking for nice Easter dresses, but didn't find much. We prefer dresses with sleeves and there just were not too many of those out there the past few weeks. But they all look beautiful and have had a great day. We always stick with the traditional Ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, etc. and it's cooking right now. We hope you have all had a wonderful Easter. Lots of love.

Our Annual Easter Egg Hunt

This is one of our favorite family traditions. When you have a 1/2 acre yard, you've just got to have any Easter Egg Hunt. This year we increased the number of eggs to 425. It takes awhile to hide 425 eggs, but not that long for 30 kids to find them. The girls had a fun time stuffing all the eggs and eating any dropped jelly beans. We went with a lot less chocolate this year, as last year a lot of the chocolate had started to melt by the time the kids opened them.
It was a chilly hunt this year, about 41 degrees. This early Easter thing is kinda hard on us here in the Rocky Mountains. Just last Saturday we had snow. After the hunt, we loaded up our plates with brunch food and all the Moms and young children headed indoors. We turned on the gas fireplace inside, while some of the boy scouts tried to start a fire in the firepit with damp wood. That didn't do over too well. Eventually they warnmed up inside as well. It was a fun morning for all.

Water Water Everywhere

Robert came home from work early today and we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and wash the cars and clean out the garage. As you can see from the picture, it resulted in a lot more work than just washing our cars. With the extra-cold winter we had this year, it appears our front hose spiket froze and as we washed our cars our basement proceeded to fill with water. Fortunately, Jenna went downstairs and we quickly emptied the basement of our treasures (Jenna's wedding dress, the girls Halloween costumes, some important files, etc.) before they were ruined. The carpet, however was a different story. Wet, wet, wet. Fortunately, our friendly neighbor Randy helped us pull the carpet out of the hallway so we could take the shop-vac to the carpet pad. He even had a carpet fan, so we are hopeful that we can get the carpet and pad to dry out and put them back. We will now need to get a plumber to repair the spiket and someone to repair the drywall where we get to the spiket and we should be set. Oh the joys of living in the mountains.

I'm a Big Girl Now!

It's no more diapers in the Miller household. It's been about a month now since Brenna started wearing big girl panties. She is very proud of herself. Once we thought she was ready, we went straight to panties and carried on with our usual activities without any back-up in case of an accident. We trusted her to tell us when she had to go potty and she has done well. It took some faith to go to the zoo in just panties, but luckily the zoo bathrooms were fairly clean and we all came home dry. Her panties are in her bottom drawer so she can reach them and she loves to look at the different choices and pick one, though this process does take a few minutes. No rushing her while she chooses. It is so fun to seem them grow.

Disney on Ice

This year's Disney on Ice was all about princesses, so we gathered our own five little princesses and headed downtown to see the show. Jenna and Robert got lost on their morning run (it is a long story to go with a long run, so we will spare you), so we barely made it to the arena on time. Robert thought it was perfect as they turned the lights off and started the show at the exact moment that we sat down.

Brenna really liked Tinkerbell who introduced each act and quickly skated around the ice scattering pixie dust through the air. Emily was enamored with Ariel (we had to make a last minute adjustment to the 2007 DVD at the bottom of the blog becauase Emily was adimat that it included her picture with Ariel at Disneyland). Now that the girls have started ice skating, they have an added measure of respect for the Disney on Ice skaters. It is not quite as easy as they make it look.

Horton

Tonight we took all the girls (and a couple of friends) to go see Horton Hears a Who. It is very unlike us to see a movie on opening weekend, but with Aubrey's soon to debut Seussical production and Lindsay's recent Cat in the Hat birthday party, we figured we better go check it out. The movie was quite good and got a thumbs up from everyone. Robert felt like he could relate to the mayor of Whovile with his 95 daughters. Jenna liked the jokester "Bert in Accounting." Kayla didn't like when the dentist gave the Mayor the shot in the arm. "A person's a person no matter how small" and "I meant what I said and I said what I meant; An elephant's faithful 100%" are great motto's for all us. We followed up the movie with some Artic Circle dinner and ice cream and everyone was stuffed. Robert and Jenna don't know how they are going to run nine miles in the morning, but we will deal with that in the morning.

BizTown

Tonight, Robert and Jenna drove downtown to Discovery Gateway to participate in a training meeting for Aubrey's upcoming Junior Achievement BizTown experience. Robert came along for moral support, and to be the chauffeur in the torrential downpour. It looks like it is going to be a fun day for Aubrey and her class when they go in mid April. The center is a mock little city with different "buildings" for all of the services and stores a city would have. Jenna had volunteered to work in the bank, but instead was assigned to the school district, which happens to be tucked away in the furthest corner of the complex. It should be a fun time. We will take some photos of the real thing next month.

Jenna's School District Office assigned business for BizTown.

Roast Me!

Jenna went to a women's dinner at church so the girls took the opportunity to wear Robert down to the point where he agreed to do fire-pit tonight. After using nearly the entire newspaper to create an amazing amount of smoke, the logs finally caught fire and the roasting began. It sure is nice to have our new fence. We are ready to open the pool and really enjoy the yard.

Discovery Gateway

Jenna, Brenna, and Emily spent Monday morning at Discovery Gateway. As you can see by the metal gates behind Brenna, we got there before the workers. They are running a special Sesame Street exhibit about the body, and they loved seeing all of the huge Elmo and Cookie Monster diplays.

Once inside, they were happy as clams wandering around all of the different play areas. Everything was just their size. They thought this ball and hose things was great. Emi would stick balls into the hose that would travel down one level and Brenna, in her "I love to put things away mode, would pick up the balls and place them in a bucket for Emi to carry back up the stairs and start the process again. They are a good dou. They also liked playing in the real helicopter outside on the helipad and with the ginormous legos and magnet boards. Such a fun, fun place!

Today is a Special Day!

Today was Lindsay's birthday! All her friends sang Happy Birthday to her at church and Jenna prepared her favorite dinner, spaghetti no sauce (she has a very sophisticated palette). Aubrey and Kayla made her a cake and decorated it with her favorite purple frosting.

The highlight of the day was Lindsay opening her presents and getting an American Girl doll (Molly for those of you who know the product line). She was very excited and happy to receive it and join Aubrey and Kayla in the AG owner's club (swapping outfits, doing hair, etc.)

We are glad Lindsay enjoyed her day. She is such a joy to have in our family.

Cat in the Hat Birthday Party

Lindsay had her birthday party today. It was a Cat in the Hat themed party that was a lot of fun. Aubrey wore a Cat in the Hat costume and greeted Lindsay's friends as they arrived. By the time the party started, Lindsay had nine friends over to join in the festivities. The kids made a hat out of an Oreo, red life savers, and white frosting. They played pin the hat on the cat, and ran relay races.

Since the party was from 11:00 until 1:30, we fed everyone pizza and breadsticks for lunch. We were able to get a Cat in the Hat cake that was very yummy as well.

Lindsay is excited to embark on the adventures of seven-dom. At her annual check up this week, she was square (45 lbs and 45 inches). She is a good girl and we are very grateful to have her in our famiy.

Zoo Adventure

We took advantage of some sunny skies and warmer temperatures (ok, not real warm, but at least warmer) and headed off to the zoo.

The girls were all enamored with this ugly white alligator that ended up giving Jenna nightmares. The best part about the "ghost of the Bayou" was the 80 degree tropical enclosure he hung out in. We could have stayed there all day, especially if he was somewhere else. We are ready for winter to end.

The hit of the zoo for Brenna were the monkeys. She liked them all, but especially this little furry one with the funny "hair". We should have got a picture of the good dad monkey whose hair was all falling out becuase he carries the baby monkeys around all over, but he was too busy being a good dad in the back of the exhibit. Ask Brenna if she saw the monkeys at the zoo and you will get an earful complete with giggling and jumping around.