a little late night friday bowling...

tonight gwen had an idea... she wanted to go bowling... she thought this would be a fun time for the kids, and also for us... boy was she right...

we went to the Aztec Lanes in olympia and had a great time... watching the kids bowl was so fun... cole did great... he would lean so far over to use his body language to try to move his ball... and he would get so excited no matter how many pins he would knock over... the older 3 just powered the ball down the lane as best they could... all 4 kids did great...

we met our friends the fears and they bowled a game with us... thats right... all 11 of us... and being honest... the kids showed us old folks how to do it...

anyways... we had a blast and cant wait to do it again soon... if you like to bowl or just want a good laugh(watching me)... let us know... we would love to go with you...

http://www.mytravelguide.com/attractions/profile-72498905-United_States_Washington_Olympia_Aztec_Lanes.html

a new school year...

i know... it seems early to me too... but yes, its true, miller kids are back in school... noah is in the 4th grade... ethan the 3rd grade... and abby is in the 1st grade... abby immediately found some of her friends from last year... hope and maddie...(pictured in lunchroom)... she is so excited to be back in school...

noah also found his friends during lunchtime... noah and his buddy isayah love hanging out and laughing

and ethan... although he found his friends... and loves hanging with them... chose to be pictured with me... i couldnt be happier to pose with him....

sand in the city

today we went down to olympia for the sand in the city festival... this is the first time we had gone to it so we brought along some good friends(the grants and the fears) to show us around... the festival is centered around large sand sculptures made/sponsored by various local businesses... weather was good so we ventured in...

last week at football practice... noahs coach... dave, told the kids that he was doing another sculpture this year... after practice, noah and i decided we needed to go see what he was going to make...

to all of our surprise and viewing pleasure... we found a pooh bear and friends scene that rivaled any sand sculpture we had ever seen... and then... as we were about to walk away... we saw this...

noahs coach had won first prize... again...(last year he did a peanuts of the carribean, peanuts characters in a pirates boat)(that also won first prize) congrats coach dave... we can now only hope that this football season will be so successful...

First Football Jamboree

Hanging out before the game . . . and . . . high-fives after the game

Noah had his first football "game" today. They have a jamboree with all of the teams in their league. They play for 15 minutes on offense only and then switch teams and play 15 minutes on defense only. Noah is playing on the line and had a great game today! Mark is one of the team coaches and had a great game, too!

You'll notice that there are no pictures during the game. That is because I was concentrating so hard on watching Noah and I got so excited about some of the great tackles that he was making, that I forgot to take any pictures! :-) Sorry, I promise to try to do better next Saturday when they play their first real game!

I am your father . . .

Do any of your kids have this Darth Vader voice-changing mask thing? Noah saved up his money quite awhile ago and bought it for himself, but I think he's now kind of outgrown using it. But Cole loves to wear it and I get such a charge out of listening to him talk into it! Today, Noah thought it would look even better if he dressed up Cole in his ninja costume to add to the effect!

One week from today our kids go back to school. We will have the three oldest all in school full time this year. Cole is gonna be one lonely little guy :-(

happiest place on earth...

there is just something about disneyland... that makes me smile... will you go sometime with us?

You know it . . . .

Great Idea

My friend Val had this great idea of moving all of her kids' toys into one bedroom and making that a "playroom," so that every bedroom wasn't a mess at the end of the day and it would be so much easier to keep things clean & tidy. I thought that this was such a brilliant idea that I had to implement it in our home, too.

So, how do you think it's going so far?

Sigh . . . . . guess I better round up the troops and get to work. By the way, in case you couldn't tell, that's the "playroom" in the upper left picture.

who's who?

Can you tell who's who?
And don't try to cheat and ask Cole, because he'll tell you that they are both him!

tea time with grandma...

yesterday, abby and i were talking about some of our favorite things... she said one of her best memories was having tea with mom and grandma gjerstad from north dakota... " i loved having tea"... " i want to go back"... those were a couple of comments she made during our conversation... what i find so cool about this conversation is that even though she is only six it is very apparent that she enjoyed the tea because of who was there... not so much for the goodies she enjoyed... she loved being with grandma... in a special place... not having to share her with anyone else... 'cept for mom... but knowing that that special time was hers and hers alone and that she didnt have to compete for her attention... i wonder if that is how i feel about my time with God... does it make me feel so special... so loved... so cherished that i cant wait for the next opportunity to fellowship with my savior... or do i treat Him like the drive up window at mcdonalds...here is my order... and by the way... can you supersize that?

check this place out for that special time with that special someone...
and if you ever want someone to go to tea with... abby would be great company...

http://www.steepedincomfort.com/

Locks of Love . . . Again

In February of 2005, when she was almost 4 years old, Abby had 10" of her hair cut off and she donated it to Locks of Love. http://www.locksoflove.org/
Shortly after that, we watched a program on TV that featured a girl who had cancer and had lost all of her hair. Abby asked if maybe that girl would get the wig made from her hair. For the last 2 1/2 years, she has been growing out her hair again and anxiously awaiting the day when she could get it cut to donate it again. Well . . . today was the day! My good friend, Martina, cut off another 10" of Abby's hair tonight and tomorrow we'll take it to the Post Office to mail it off to Locks of Love.

The important things . . .

Last week Thursday I (Gwen) had worship team practice at church at the same time that Noah had football practice. So, Mark took the three boys to football and I took Abby with me to worship practice. While we were there she drew this. (In case you need a translation of her 6-year-old spelling) I'm sorry for Jesus. He had to die. It had to hurt. I love him a lot. I thought it was pretty great that while she'd brought a backpack full of littlest pet shop and dolls to play with, instead she was first thinking about her Savior and drew this. Even greater was when she got home and showed this to her little brother, Cole (3). He listened to her read it and then responded, "yeah, but he came back to life again!" Now that's a triumph!

dont i look cool...?

if you were to ask ethan... this would be considered a TRIAL... he hates the dentist... now that doesnt mean he hates dr. stevens... quite the contrary...he likes him... he just doesnt approve of his profession... now this is also difficult in that his grandpa from north dakota ... is a dentist... and ethan loves his grandpa... so...i try to tell him that he is going to the dentist for his own good... that it doesnt hurt and there is no reason to be afraid... but my logic is illogical to my 8 year old son... today though, i, his dad would consider this trip a TRIUMPH... why?... because ethan for the first time successfully had x-rays taken... he finished the cleaning without throwing a fit and he let the hygienist put on fluoride for the first time completely... these constitute an extremely successful trip in my mind...

sometimes small triumphs tower over the trials of every day life...

no cavities either...

golden memories...

i have always loved this shot... a great action photo taken by me, over my shoulder... a blind shot... one in a million... this was taken at high speed, high altitude with no way to turn around and see them... i just held the camera up and snapped a photo over my shoulder, hoping for something... and wah-la!!! this is the photo i got...we were at disneyland for the 50th anniversary so everything was gold... the astro orbiters were painted gold, dumbo was painted gold, the castle was painted with gold, my mickey ears were gold, everything... and our memories are etched in golden hue in our minds...



abby and gwen were also lucky enough to ride the one gold dumbo (only one was painted out of all the dumbos on the ride) (one of abby's highlights)

please feel free to share with us any GOLDEN memories... we are friends... we would love to hear from you...

favorite things...

when i ask my family about favorite things i get all kinds of answers... today for instance... noah responded "football"... ethan responded "parties"... abby responded " star tours (ride at disneyland) "... gwen responded " daddy "... cole responded "lightning mcqueen (dicast car) " ... well...my favorite thing (at least dessert) is cupcakes... i love a good cupcake... white, chocolate, devils food, milk chocolate, yellow, cherry chip, strawberry, funfetti, lemon, just to name a few... and thats just the cake... what about the frost... mmmm... i love frost... gwen makes a delish home-made chocolate one... i also dig some of the store bought ones...especially the one with the multi colored balls of sugar in it(i think it goes with the funfetti cake)... ill take a cupcake over almost any other dessert... i like hearing about peoples favorite things... it makes me happy and i know it makes them happy to share... try it... tell me about your favorite thing...


hey... can anyone tell me where i found that cupcake?(pictured)

saturday snickerdoodles

there is nothing like coming home to the smell of baked cookies... especially when the baker is abby... after working a long shift, im tired and hungry... then i open the door... and BAM!!! the smell hits me in the face... it smells so good... and, she loves to bake with mom... its so fun to watch...mother, daughter working together... teaching and learning being done without any effort... and, in the end, a big smile and a warm cookie await me...

wild hats and funny glasses...

the miller kids love to wear hats and they love to wear glasses... our kids love to dress up... they get out the big costumes and dress up as dinosaurs, lizards, tigger, eeyore, princesses, jedi knights, darth vader w/mask and light saber, teenage mutant ninga turtles, soldiers, and many more... anything they can imagine... the possibilities are endless... they just use their imagination... they dress up to become something they are not... something they want to be... for my 4 kids its fun and they look cute... do we as parents/adults do the same to appear to be something or someone we are not?

cole and his buddy zach-aroni

last swimming lessons of the summer...

ethan, noah, and abby took swimming lessons this summer at the valley athletic club, in tumwater... they improved alot and are looking forward to more lessons as soon as possible... all of our kids love to swim and enjoyed learning new swimming techniques from their instructors... they were able to have lessons the same time as their good friends colton and biz... and that made it even more fun...

first football practice...

noah had his first practice for his new football team today... he is on the river ridge hawks and is so excited to get out there and hit something/somebody... there are some kids from his class on the team and he loved the opportunity to see them during the summer vacation... we will let you know when/where the first game will be in case you want to see him play...

ready for some football?

noah starts his first season of football tonight... fitting, his team name is the HAWKS... go seahawks, go hawks and go noah