Locked out.

What happens when your child runs outside in their underwear?

 

You lock them out. 

School's cool.

So when I married this man, I thought I pretty well knew the path we were headed on and could see our future. We have in NO way at all stayed the course that I thought we would. Which is wonderful. I am SO proud of Jimmy for going back to school and following his heart. 

He is now applying to dental school for fall 2012.

Exciting. Scary. Expensive. 

Schools wanted a head shot of him. So one night I cut his hair, he got "suited up" (from waist up) and we had a hilarious photo shoot.  

It doesn't take much for him to get me laughing. I was in tears watching him pose.

I also was combating a needy baby at bed time. For whatever reason Boden wasn't staying asleep, so I was behind the camera with him in my arms. 

camera in one hand + fussy boden in the other + uncontrollable laughter = urgency to pee

That said, I threw down the camera, laid Bo on the floor and headed to the bathroom.

Came back to this:

 no more fussy baby.

I guess we know how to wear him out next time he won't settle down.

Please pray for Jimmy's acceptance to Dental school. ANY dental school. 

Thank you. :)

Best of luck to my deserving Jimmy.

Something's wrong with this picture.

There are reasons that Lucas is probably not quite ready to be my official assistant. 

This particular shoot, he packed his own "camera bag" with his very own camera and had plans to help make baby Sadie smile. There were several times when I was just about to click and there he was again... smiling like a goof in the background, showing me new poses that he came up with.

I love him regardless and am glad for his willingness to "help".

 PS. August is kicking me in the hiney. So, those of you waiting for your photos... they're coming!! 

Pandora and I are working hand in hand as we speak. ...and Lucas is not helping this time. :)

NINJA

In our down time, we are ninjas. 

{or Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson}

 Jake, Lucas and Presley

Lucas: MIA

When Lucas turns up missing, I always go dashing through the house to see what kind of trouble I will find. This time it was Daddy's Laptop and Underwear misplacement.

*side note*

We are really making potty training strides. RARELY do we have an accident. I can't say he's trained, because the moment I say that I just know he'll revert. He thinks he's hot stuff wearing super hero undies.

now if he'd just get that underwear on the right part of his body... 

Best Friend

Lucas has my heart. 

We were sharing his bean bag on the floor when he looked over at me, touched my cheek and quietly said, 

"You and me - Best Freinds."

I love him. I love that he thinks I'm cool. Cool enough to be his "friend". The truth is, I don't want to be his friend. I want to Mother him and tell him no. I want to teach him how to act. How to love. I always want to be more of a parent than a friend. It was so sweet to hear those words though. Someday he'll think I'm lame. Until then, I'll gladly be his best friend. 

Love you, Groobs!

CLEVER guy!

Mr. Lucas continues to surprise me with his clever little brain. He really thinks things through. This might just get me into trouble! He remembers everything I say and understands consequences to rules. He also finds ways around them. He continues to try to outsmart me. I love it!

A few nights ago, when it was time for bed, I told him I would read him 2 more books before bed. He excitedly ran to his bedroom to pick out the books. Half way down the hallway, he turned and said, "three books?" I repeated, "two, Lucas." He huffed and headed to his room. 

I heard him quietly counting books. When he decided which TWO books he wanted, he called me into his room. 

On his bed, sat 2 (piles) books. He thought if I saw only 2 books that he might just be able to trick me into reading him not one, not two, not three, but ELEVEN books (strategically hidden under TWO). When I mentioned that there were clearly more than 2 books, he said, "ya, 9 or 10." Little stinker.

He is constantly coming up with more bed time excuses.

He has also figured out how to "trick" or "tease". It is SO fun. He's always making things up, then giggles "just kiddin'!" or "trickin'..."

Hello Daddy.

 I a naughty boy. 

Why are you naughty?

Color. Walls. Marker.

Uh oh.

...Rocket Ship.

This was Lucas' phone call to his Daddy today. 

This is the new rocketship artwork that graces our wall.

 and this is the moment where I ask, 

Why would a child have a permanent marker? and Where is this child's Mother?

I was sick all afternoon. Sick because I let this happen! This madness occurred while I was coloring someone's hair. Ironic, hu? 

So there you have it. Mother and Son, creatively coloring, simultaneously.

 Somehow, I had a hard time punishing him. He was just doing what 2 year-olds do best. Explore, Create and Make Mommy Crazy.

This weekend's agenda was just changed to paint, paint.. .and paint.

This will be funny. Someday.

This actually reminds me of a story:
My older brother got into a bucket of paint while my Dad was mid-project. He placed his hands in the bucket, and one after another, stamped them all along the house. Ending where he saw his baby sister sitting on the patio, he picked up the bucket and proceeded to dump it on said sister's head. Yes, baby sister was me.

I guess we all have crazy stories. 

Just hope that this is the worst of ours. 

*crossing fingers*

Christmas Updates and Out takes

 So tell me WHY it is so hard to take family pictures? Really. I just don't get it. As grateful as I am for Ashli doing them, I don't think it was the best of ideas. (Jimmy thinks it's comedy hour when she's around) Most people worry about their children behaving during pictures. I worry about my husband.

{I must admit, we did get some pretty good laughs looking through these afterward.}

Our Christmas was as hectic as any other day of the week for us. (very unfortunate) I wish we had more time in the day! Most holidays I take the week off to just bake and relax. Not this year. I worked my hiney off up until Christmas giving myself VERY little time off and instead of enjoying preparing for Christmas - I was in a mad rush.

I was glad to see lots of family and share more memories with them all. 

The Fagan family had an ugly sweater party that ROCKED. 

Lucas enjoyed leaving cookies and milk out for Santa.

The Millers hosted a GINORMOUS Christmas breakfast. I indulged in more bacon than ever should exist. (I never even used to like the stuff.) ps. Lucas loves his pillow pet, Grandma!

After breakfast we spent time at home... awaiting family to arrive from out of town, eating tooooo much and playing games. I also got a nice afternoon nap in! I didn't even feel guilty about it.

As per custom, when family gets together, SOMEONE always gets sick. 

My nephew was being such a party pooper - wanting to sleep all Christmas day. Come to find out - he had appendicitis! In for emergency surgery on Christmas night. 

We enjoyed time spent giving gifts, playing games, talking all hours of the night, having sleepovers with the kiddos, and even had some fun at the Hospital visiting Mason. 

Life never stops, does it? Neither does Heavenly Father's bounteous blessings! With all that went on Christmas night, instead of feeling sad or upset about what could have been a ruined holiday, we were just all grateful to be {more or less} healthy and to be surrounded by so much love.

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas this year!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

emotions in the Miller household...

We have had a long week. Thanks to the latest adventures of Lucas. 

He has known how to climb out of the crib for a while now. He just amazingly chose not to. That changed earlier this week. It was a constant battle getting him to STAY in the crib. 

He started waking up in the middle of the night. Remembering his new found freedom, he would climb right out of that thing and proceed to read every book in his room and do every puzzle. At 2am, mind you.

When he would get bored he would come in our room telling us to "up up".

Continual nights of this behavior and lack of naps resulted in major sleep deprivation of ALL parties involved.

One day, during his non-nap I asked him to get me a screw driver. He excitedly did just that - thinking I was going to play bob the builder or something. Out of desperation, I reluctantly began unscrewing his crib. He was enjoying the unscrewing. Until he saw the crib start to come apart. "Mom! NO! No, Mom... Mom, noooo!"

My reaction to his tears? 

Tears. 

In a sobbing form.

We sat there and talked quietly - while crying. 

I told him he should really stop growing. He agreed.

This must have been harder on me. I am realizing that my baby is no longer. He is growing up... and we're closing a chapter. 

The funny thing is, Jimmy called right in the middle of our tear fest.

After telling him the cause of our emotions and about the crib that was now in pieces, he was patient with both of us - he tried explaining it all to Lucas on the phone. After he soaked in all the drama, he replied... "yea - I'll be home late tonight." :) Love you, Jimmy. 

As of now, Lucas is still throwing parties at all hours in his room. It's going to take some time to get used to his big boy bed slash trampoline.  

Here are some recent photos from Maris Farms:

 Come on in, Dad! The water's fine!

He learns from the best.

It was only minutes that he was alone. I swear. 

When no one was looking, Lucas thought he would dig into Grandma's purse to test out her marvelously mauve lipstick.

It's just not the right color for him. Or for his onesie for that matter. I still can't' get the lipstick stains out. I like how he even made an extra effort to throw some headbands in his hair.

...another one for the books.