Christmas 2008

We enjoyed another very nice and relaxing Christmas this year. Our longest road trip was to the east side of Indianapolis to attend church with my parents on Christmas Eve. The next morning, my parents arrived in time to watch the "animals" open their presents. This year, our homeschool group did a gift swap - moms brought all of their no longer used toys and we did a free exchange. Many of the best-liked and most played with toys this Christmas were the ones that were free! What a blessing!

Let Them Eat Cake...Or At Least Lick the Bowl!

Ok, I confess. I've never let my little ones (Chipmunk & Roadrunner) lick the bowl when I am making a cake. I'm not sure why. Probably because they haven't been around. Or maybe it's because Syd is ALWAYS around since she wasn't "deprived" of this opportunity as a small child! In any event they were ALL around the other night (including the Monkey), and here's what they looked like after helping me "clean up"!

Sunday Afternoon

There's nothing like coming home from church and eating good food, watching some football, and resting!

Kenney's hot wings...yum!


The chef sampling the food


The beast taste-testing the puppy
chow that she made


Here's what the monkey was doing while we
were cooking




The beast getting serious about resting!

Christmas Program

The chipmunk and roadrunner were part of a church program this morning - really it was just the kids singing a few songs before the start of service. They had to dress up in their "Christmas best", so here are a few pics...

The whole group

My two handsome dudes!

Great News!

All of the monkey's tests came back completely normal! I guess she is just a runt (for now at least :0) Thanks for all of the prayers!

Monkey Update

Not too much to report. We saw the GI on Wednesday and answered a lot of questions. The doctor wanted to repeat the blood work and stool testing. If they come back abnormal again, then the next step would be an endoscopy. In the meantime, the monkey is to be on a high calorie diet. Conveniently, we are just going to have her eat what Kenney eats :0)

Catching Up

It's been a long time since I've sat down to blog - this holiday weekend seemed like the perfect time to catch up. We've been busy lately...mostly with doctors.

Moriah went for her 15/16 month check-up and was found to be in perfect health with the exception of her weight. She is still under 20 lbs. and still in the zero percentile. So, after receiving her 3 shots, we headed down to the lab for some more fun - namely a blood draw. All blood work came back good; however there was fat in her stool sample. As a result, a sweat test was done to rule out cystic fibrosis. Thankfully, that came back completely normal as well. We are headed to a pediatric GI next week, and then to Riley for an echocardiogram the following week (the pediatrician heard a murmur during Moriah's exam).

In the middle of all of this fun, I had knee surgery a week and a half ago for a torn meniscus. Again, I am very thankful that all went as planned and that I am making a quick recovery!

Big thanks to Kenney and kids for holding the fort down during all of this craziness!

If you think to say a prayer for our little monkey, we would appreciate it!

Another Hiding Place

Perfect fit!

Why am I the only one laughing?

Halloween

The kids enjoyed the nice weather and had a great time trick-or-treating. Our neighbor graciously offered to take the kids around with his daughter for TWO HOURS. The two of them had so much candy that we just recently finished it off (that's a whole lot of candy with 6 people eating it :0)

Our "angel" (note the quotes)
and clonetrooper


Love the witch costume!

Last Game

Joshua finished out his season of flag football just in time for the change in the weather (see picture below). He had a great time playing and is now a football junkie!

Taking the hand-off...


The coach let them use the "black stuff" for
the last game! I'd stay out of his way :0)


Brrrr!

Cross Country

Kiley became a "Miller-Miler" today after running a mile in the elementary cross-country race. I found out once I got there that parents could run, too. Too bad I didn't have my running shoes with me :0)

Kiley & her friends before the race with Chipper


Still going at the 1/2 way point


Showing off her ribbon after the race

Have You Seen Her?

Let's just say that all of our kids, including Moriah, have better social lives than we do. Lately, Moriah has been visiting with our friend Pattie once a week. When I went into Capstone on Wednesday, a friend said, "Hey, I saw Moriah at Meijer yesterday!" Then one of the pastors chimed in and said, "I saw her a couple of weeks ago at the mall". Chances are you might run into me at Meijer, but it's been quite some time since I've been to the mall :0)

Here is a picture that Pattie took while they were playing together
this past week...

Homecoming '08

The volleyball girls

Before all the guys arrived...

The whole group

Who Stole the Cookies?

Sydney watched Moriah this morning while we were at church and caught her helping herself to some cookies.

Do you think anyone knows they left the pantry
open? It's my lucky day...the cookies are on the
bottom shelf!


Let me close the door so things won't look
suspicious


Busted! (Ok, she was busted before this shot
and was PUT in the chair for the picture :0)


Also, we don't all run around without clothes - it's just the best option for a baby who refuses to wear a bib while eating!

Mommy's Little "Helper"

First, let me say that we had to change our blog colors to honor the Noblesville Lady Miller volleyball team (not Purdue)!! If you haven't checked them out, here's a link to their schedule:

http://www.noblesvilleschools.org/noblhs.nsf/SLIP/6070158C2CB000C68525744E006CB438?OpenDocument


Here's a shot of Moriah with her headband. It works perfectly with her crazy curly hair!


These cabinets are so spacious...


After you dump EVERYTHING out of them!


She's just too cute to get mad at :0)

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Joshua started his flag football season this past Saturday. His team, the Hoosiers, had a successful morning. Joshua did great and scored 2 rushing touchdowns for his team!

The team praying before the game...one of the
many reasons why we love Upward


"Real" football players wear mouthguards


Getting ready to run his "route"

"Good Game"

Lady Miller Volleyball

The girls are now 14-4 as they head into the second half of the season which is loaded with some tough competition.

Here is a picture from this past weekend after the team went 4-0 and took 1st place at the Noblesville Invitational.

Labor Day

We were able to spend Labor Day with Kenney's brothers and their families. The kids love getting together and hanging out.

Looks like there's been a lot of "laboring" going on!


The ones responsible for all those kids!


Josh really enjoyed having all the guys around
to play football with!


And Moriah LOVED her uncles and boy
cousins!

Holding On...

We're still holding on to summer and all that goes with it. Here are a few pics from our trip to the park this weekend.

Weeee!

Silly girl!

The water felt good!

Lucas Oil Stadium

Kenney scored a couple of free tickets to the Colt's game last Thursday, so he and Sydney went and checked out the new stadium (more checking out of the new stadium than the game as the stadium was more exciting :0)



They had great seats - lower section - 50 yard line!