A Day on the Job Site with Grandpa Crosby

Grandpa Crosby invited the kids over last week to his jobsite.  They had the tractor out digging some footings so he thought the kids might like to come check it out.  Of course they did!  Here are some pictures of their fun day. 

Helping Grandpa dig.

It's hard work....see that look of determination on her face.

My good friend Trina and her kiddos were in the neighborhood checking on their house that dad is building for them right now, so they stopped by to say hello.

The girls takin' a stroll.  Nothing like a girl in leopard print on a dirty jobsite, riding a tractor.  That's our girls...right Trina??  Not afraid to get dirty and work hard....but still rockin' their leopard print while doing it. 

Miller Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009. Here are some things I learned...

DON'T.

1. Go Christmas shopping and then accidentally leave all the bags in the back of the car so that when your 4 year-old son gets in the car and sees a bag full of Star Wars presents he freaks out and start saying, "WHO ARE THOSE FOR?!?! WHO ARE THOSE FOR?!?!"
2. Give your kids Hot Cocoa. No matter how much they ask for it. Do not do it. Even if you put ice cubes in it and pour cold milk in it to cool it down to luke warm, they will still spit it all over your couch and Pottery Barn rug as soon as it touches their mouth.
3. Eat so much sugar that you feel like you are going to throw up.
4. Leave sweets setting out within reaching distance of your 3 year old daughter because she will eat enough sweets to make herself throw up.
5. Wait until Christmas Eve to have your kids write their letter to Santa. You must have them write it EARLY. That way, when they see millions of commercials for a talking, walking doll, or Malibu Barbie, or freaking Star Wars the Clone Wars light sabers, and start saying, "OH NO! I want THAT from Santa now." You can tell them, "Tough luck. You already wrote your letter to Santa and it is TOO late." Santa is not going shopping anymore...if you know what I mean.
6. Forget to eat the cookies that your kid's left out for Santa leaving them in a state of frustration and confusion as to why Santa didn't like their special cookies they made for him...OOPS!
7. Wait until the last minute to buy snow boots when there is 6 inches of snow projected to hit on Christmas Eve so that the only thing left in your son's size is a pair of black boots with glittered fur at the top and pink and purple hearts embroidered all over them. Yes he will kill me when he grows up and sees the photos.
8. Hide your husband's present in the back of his closet assuming that he will never clean his disaster zone of a closet except he does for the first time in two years and finds his present....awesome.
9. Tell your mom to get your daughter a Leapster game that she wants to go with her Leapster that Santa will be bringing her, then let her open the gift from your mom on Christmas Eve when she has not yet received the Leapster so that when she opens the gift she exclaims, "OH NO! IT'S NOT A LEAPSTER!!!" So embarrassing! Just say THANK YOU, Emmy Grace!

DO.
1. Make family traditions and do them EVERY year! On Christmas Eve, we eat an early meal with family and then go to look at Christmas lights together afterwards (except this year there was a blizzard so we didn't do Christmas lights). After Christmas lights, we go home and open two presents....our Christmas pj's and a special ornament for each of the kids. They each get a special Old World Christmas ornament to put on the tree that tells something about them at that age (i.e. Emmy got a dance slipper because she started dance this year and loves it).  After that, we all curl up on the couch together and watch Polar Express before the kids go to bed.
2. Teach your kids about the true meaning of Christmas. We read the Christmas story every morning throughout December while we are eating breakfast and talk about Jesus' birth as being the real reason for celebrating Christmas.
3. Find a fun way to countdown the days til Christmas. We have a little snowman that they move a candy cane up on each morning from 25 to 1 to countdown how many days until Christmas.
4. Some type of Christmas project with your kids. I like to cook so I usually like to have my kids help me with baking and putting together Christmas goodie bags.
5. Get your kids their own little tree to go in their room. My sister and my friend Trina do this and I LOVE it. Meant to do it this year but didn't quite get to with all that we had happen this December. Also...this works nicely because you can let them put all the ugly beautiful little handmade treasures that they bring home as ornaments to put on the tree on THEIR special tree rather than YOUR tree. You get what I'm sayin' girls.
6. Find a way to teach your kids that it is more important to GIVE than it is to RECEIVE. For me, I want to make a tradition of having the kids go through their toys in December and choosing things to give away to a family in need or an organization that gives to families in need. If any of you have any suggestions, let me know. I will be doing this a little late this year. Didn't quite get around to it yet for obvious reasons. It is NEVER too late to give though so I am still planning on seeing this one through. Oh, we also like to get an Angel Tree and do that together as a family, letting the kids pick out toys for the kids on the Angel Tree.

What did you learn this Christmas and what will you DO and NOT DO again next year???

Easton and my mom with his favorite present....the DK Ultimate Star Wars Dictionary.  For those of you who don't know about DK Publishers, they are amazing!  Their Children's Visual Dictionaries are awesome!  You can check them out at http://us.dk.com/.

Letters to Santa.  These crack me up.  I love how Easton tells him "I have been a good boy and have gotten good reports at school in Decmeber."  Backstory: he did get a bad report at school the week before Thanksgiving Break.  Much to our dismay, he got another bad report the next day.  Michael and I were pretty upset about it and Michael told me that he was going to tell Easton that he was on Santa's naughty list so he'd better shape it up.  I completely disagreed with this "Naughty list" style of parenting and told him to please not tell Easton that.  The next thing I know, I hear him telling Easton that even though I asked him not to and I could not believe it!  So here is the truth....although I still do not support this type of parenting because I find it manipulative and not truthful...I have to admit that it was the single most effective parenting move EVER.  After Michael told Easton that, he got GLOWING reports at school every day since then.  Still don't agree with it, but it DID work.  I hate being wrong.

Kids in Christmas pj's.  Poor Cohen.  He is so tired and just wants to be left alone so he can go to bed.

Cohen's first Christmas.  He LOVED opening his first Christmas present!

Baby Knox {Sneak Peek}

I had a newborn session this morning with this precious little guy.  Actually he is almost 6 weeks old now so I am not sure if he technically qualifies as a newborn now!  He was as sweet as could be though and was just wide awake the entire session.  We tried our hardest to get him to sleep so that we could "pose" him but this little guys just wasn't having it!  We were still able to get some cute pictures though.  Melissa, thanks for asking me to photograph your little guy.  Congratulations!  He is precious.

Miller Party of Five Does.....SLEDDING!

The gang...ready to do some sledding!

We weren't sure what she was going to do but she was FEARLESS.  That's my girl.

Waiting for another turn while sister went with daddy.

Have you guys seen Tommy Boy...."fat guy in a little coat."  That is all I have to say.  OK so maybe just  a bit more like this..."fat guy in a big coat and five other layers of clothing stuffed into a carseat that is too small for him." 

Not a big fan of waiting her turn.  This is the FRONT VIEW of her screaming everytime Easton and daddy went down the hill without her.  It went a little something like this, "Daddy!  Brudder!! (aka brother) NOOOOOOO!!!!   Don't leave me!!!  COME BACK.  COME BACK."  (In a complete bossy and sassy tone.  Don't know where she gets it from.) 

This is the back view.  Notice the yelling with authority stance....hands on hips.  Definitely don't know where she gets that from either.  Not at all. 

We finally let him out of his cage.

Seirously....that is just stinkin' cute.

That is one happy boy.  At least for a few minutes.  Before he got tired of carrying around 10 pounds of extra weight because we had him so bundled up in layers of clothes.  He crawled around laughing and playing then literally just collapsed and stuck his head in the snow.  Poory Guy.

We had a great time.  Don't think we will be doing it tomorrow though.  The total amount of time that it takes to put on 5 layers of clothes per kid, coats, gloves, two pairs of sock per each kid, and hats then load the car while the kids are sweating, yelling they are hot, and trying to rip of their clothes is twice the amount of time you actually spend sledding.  What does that mean?  It was fun.  I am glad we did it.  However, I am glad I live in Oklahoma and now I am ready for the snow to GO AWAY.  Oh, and I am ready for Spring and Summer.  Swimming is alot easier than Sledding.  It requires alot less clothing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE MILLER'S

From our family to yours....

To a joyful present
and a well remembered past.
Best wishes for Happy holidays
and a magnificent New Year.

And may we all remember and give thanks for the most important gift ever given...
"She shall bring forth a son,
and thou shall call His name Jesus;
for He shall save His people from their sins."
~ Matthew 1:21

Christmas Goodie Bags and a Christmas Recipe....

So this Christmas has definitely been out of the ordinary.  As most of you already know, Michael's dad lost his battle with cancer on December 14th.  It has been pretty hard to get in the Holiday Spirit when we are dealing with the loss of someone so dear to us.  I have been pretty down in the dumps to be honest.  I have also been very hard on myself about not being able to accomplish everything I normally do around the Holidays.  I had so many things that I wanted to do with the kids.  I wanted to teach them daily about the true meaning of Christmas.  I wanted to do so many things to instill in them the importance of GIVING and not just receiving.  I wanted to do an Angel Tree together as a family.  I wanted to go through our toys and make donations to kids in need.  Of course NONE of it got accomplished and I have just been feely crummy about it.  Another Holiday tradition that I love is making goodie baskets for people.  Now those of you who know me know that I love to cook.  More than just that though....cooking is a way that I show love to others.  I was really bummed and down on myself about not being able to uphold all of our family traditions this year so yesterday morning I just stuck all the kids in the car and went to the grocery store.  I was determined to do SOMETHING that we normally do....even if it was only one little thing.  We got everything we needed to make our Christmas treats, came back home, and got busy.  In no way does it make up for all the things we weren't able to do this Christmas, but it did make me feel a little bit better to do something fun with the kids and also show them the spirit of giving.  After we made all the goodies and packaged them, they drove around with us as we passed some out around the Jenks area.  So here are some pictures from our baking day and I also am going to share one of my favorite Christmas recipes with you.  They are what most of my friends refer to as "those yummy peanut butter balls."  They are actually called:

OHIO BUCKEYE CANDIES

CANDY:

1 stick softened butter OR margarine
1 3/4 cups (18 oz jar) creamy peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
About 1 lb. confectioners' sugar

CHOCOLATE COATING:
1 pk. (12 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips
1 T. vegetable shortening
Cream butter, peanut butter and vanilla together adding confectioners' sugar until proper consistency is reached.
Roll candy into 1" balls and place on wax paper lined cookie sheet.
Melt chips & shortening together in top of double boiler.
Keep chocolate mixture in double boiler over low heat while you dip each candy.
Using a toothpick, dip each ball covering about 3/4 of candy. (Peanut butter needs to show for an authentic buckeye.)
Return candy to sheet to cool.
Yield: 8 dozen buckeyes

The final result...Christmas goodies all packaged up and ready to be given.

My little helpers

Emmy enjoyed playing peekaboo with the cookie cutters for some reason

And of course Easton had to find some way to use the rolling pin as a Light Saber....

This picture cracks me up. This is what happens when using "Reverse Psychology" on kids. About 5 months ago I took my first photography class. I quickly became obsessed and starting practicing daily on my own kids. At this point, my children are so sick of having their picture taken that they run screaming and kicking in the opposite direciton everytime I pull my camera out. I have had several sessions lately at the house and before each session, I asked Easton if he would come in the dining room (where I take the pictures) and let me take pictures of him to get my camera all set and ready to go for when my clients arrive. Of course it was INSTANT attitude. Then, when we got in the dining room he starts covering his face, hiding from the camera, and giving me complete grief about every single thing I ask him to do....eye rolling, annoyed sighs, groaning, etc...So the last time it happened I decided to use that handy little trick that moms call "Reverse Pyschology." As soon as he started giving me the attitude, I called Nash in the room and said, "OK Easton, I don't want to take YOUR picture anymore. Nash is my helper and I want to take his picture so could you please leave the room." IMMEDIATE ATTITUDE CHANGE. Suddenly, he was begging for me to take his picture. Of course I refused and told him that Nash was the star of the show and he needed to leave. The picture above is the result and it absolutely cracks me up. After I envoked the mom's "Reverse Psychology" principle, Easton was doing anything and everything to try to get in the picture. Kids...you gotta love em. And you definitely gotta love Reverse Psychology.

Dear Dr. Phil

So I have been meaning for quite some time to blog about my feelings on potty training.  I have several friends who are potty training right now and when they ask my advice, I simply say, "Go get yourself a bottle of wine.  You are going to need it."  After the past few weeks this family has had, I have decided that it is time for a good laugh.  So....here goes.  Carissa Miller's feelings on potty training....

I feel that it is my calling in life to expose those heretics and false prophets out there who would lead you to believe that there is such a thing as "Potty Training Your Child in One Day."  Now I know that some people will tell you that they potty trained their child in one day.  I choose not to believe them.  I put them in a nice little category with those women who also tell you that they left the hospital in their pre-pregnancy jeans.  This is a category called "You make me feel like crap about myself so I am going to act like you don't exist." 

The most blatant heretic who would have you believe that you can potty train your child in one day is....DR. PHIL.  When I was potty training Emmy, he aired a show on potty training that was all about how you could potty train your child in one day using his fail-safe plan.  YEAH RIGHT.  Let me just point out the problems with Dr. Phil's little plan and tell you mom's out there the truth about potty training:  THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS POTTY TRAINING IN ONE DAY.

1.  Step 1: Buy A Special Potty Training Doll - Have you guys ever seen Father of the Bride?  I love that part where Steve Martin (the father of the bride) has a complete meltdown in the grocery store the night before the wedding about hot dog buns.  It is one of my favorite scenes ever in a movie.  He is mad about the fact that they sell hot dogs in packages of 8 but the hot dog buns come in packages of twelve.  He starts ripping apart the packages of hot dog buns screaming, "Someone over at the hot dog factory got together with someone over at the hot dog bun factory and they decided to RIP US OFF!!!!"  You summed it up Steve.  That is how I feel about the potty training doll.  Dr. Phil got together with the people over at Mattel Toys and decided to RIP US OFF.  Don't waste your money on the pretty little EXPENSIVE potty training doll people.  News Flash: IT DOESN'T WORK!!!  The only thing it will successfully do is drive you crazy when you find puddles of "pee" all over your house becuase your daughter has taken the diaper off and is constantly feeding it bottle after bottle after bottle.  So annoying!

2.  Step 2: Throw A Special Party for Your Kid - The second step to Dr. Phil's little plan involves throwing a big party for your kids once they pee pee in the potty.  MAJOR PROBLEM HERE PEOPLE....first of all, that requires actually getting them to go peepee in the potty which we all know, can NOT be forced.  Dr. Phil's show simply states that once you get the kid to go in the potty (which is apparently SOOOO easy), you just give their favorite character a call on the phone and get "Mickey Mouse" (aka grandma or grandpa) to tell them how proud they are of him/her and that they get to have a party.  First of all...the kid isn't stupid, Dr. Phil.  They know that person's voice on the phone is not Mickey Mouse, or Thomas the Train, or freakin' Sponge Bob Squarepants.  It's grandma, Dr. Phil, and they know it.  Second of all, I don't care who you get on the phone and how big of a party you throw for them, that does NOT mean that they are going to miraculously starting peeing and pooping on the potty.

3.  STEP 3: Get Rid of the Diapers.  Yeah right.  That is all I have to say about that.  Dr. Phil....are you going to be the one in the McDonald's bathroom scooping poop out of panties and trying to hose your child down with paper towels and wipes while your other two children are screaming and crawling around the disgusting, germ-infested McDonald's bathroom floor?  I didn't think so.  Enough said.

A CHALLENGE TO DR. PHIL:

Dear Dr. Phil,

My favorite part of your potty training show is where you so confidently walk into that woman's house with your team of producers, assistant producers, assistant to your assistant producers, child psychologists, and God knows who else to show us how your potty training method works and successfully potty train that little boy in a day.  Here's the problem Dr. Phil....I believe the adult to child ratio in that scenario is about 50 to 1 in favor of the adults.  At my house, when I am potty training....the adult to child ratio is 3 to 1 in favor of the KIDS.  So Dr. Phil, I issue this challenge.  In about a year and a half, I will be potty traning my third child.  I challenge you to come to my house, by yourself, watch all three of my kids, and then see if you can potty train my kid in a day.  I challenge you to potty traing a two year old while simultaneously breastfeeding a 6 month old, which I did.  I challenge you to try the "no pull-up method" and scoop poop out of panties with your bare hands and wash out the panties in the toilet.  I challenge you to do all of this without a mental breakdown (which I did NOT do.).  The gauntlet has been thrown down Dr. Phil.  Are you man enough to rise to the occasion????

P.S. - To all you moms and future moms out there....THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS POTTY TRAINING IN ONE DAY.

Pendergrass Family {Sneak Peek}

I had a session with the Pendergrass Family last weekend.  They are a beautiful family and their two kids are absolutely adorable.  Bless their hearts....they were freezing cold while we were taking these pictures but they still did a great job!  Tiffany, thank you for understanding about it taking a little longer than usual to get these edited.  I hope you like them!

P.S. - This was the last family session I had scheduled and will not be doing anymore families until the Spring.  I am scheduling newborns, babies, and maternity pictures right now.  I will post a sign up for spring/summer family pictures in March.