Happy 5th Birthday Cole Henry!

After already celebrating his birthday last week with his good buddy Matt at his house, and then with our family at Red Robin, and then with his other good buddy Zach at his house, and then with our whole family on Thanksgiving ... TODAY was actually, really, finally Cole's actual birthday! Our "shirtless wonder" as we lovingly call him (the kid hates to have a shirt on unless he absolutely has to!) turned five years old today! I can hardly believe it! Those of who who have known Cole since his beginning, know that his first year was a rough one. There were many days that I honestly didn't know if I would make it ... and now I look at this precious boy and my heart is filled with such an amazing amount of love and an unbelievable amount of thankfulness to our Lord for blessing us with this incredible boy!

Mama's homemade caramel roll, one more candle to blow out, and a couple of more gifts ...


What is it?


Oooh! Daddy found some more Cars cars that he doesn't have ... (I really don't know how that is even possible)...

And the Clone Wars movie ... the brothers were pretty pumped about this gift, too!

Then off to church, lunch with Zach and family at the Mayan, and then the Olympia Christmas parade and dinner with Matt and family. What a fun day!

We love you, Colio! You are a joy to our family. Your infectious smile and "puppy eyes" warm our hearts, your love for learning is already amazing, and we are so proud of the boy you are growing to be!

thanksgiving traditions 2...

thanksgiving day 2008... papa miller started us out by sharing 2007 past lists of things we were thankful for... it was alot of fun to hear these lists and see how are ideas had changed... the kids especially...

grandpa then prayed and thanked God for the blessings He has provided us this last year... these prayers are always alot of fun and very meaningful...

justin, lila, evan, uncle d, tyler, cole, noah, ethan and abby...
















mom and dad with daniel...



















my sister holly, her husband james, and tyler (16) and justin (14)...















my brother tim, evan (14), lila (7) and jen...

















cole (5), me and dan all celebrate our birthdays on thanksgiving... it always makes for a sweet time: cherry chip cake, yellow cake with homemade chocolate icing, gingerbread cupcakes, cinnamon apple cake and pumpkin pie... dessert overload...

cole showing off his new gameboy ds... everybody went in on this gift and made one little 5 year old very happy... happy birthday buddy...

thanksgiving traditions...

i love the holidays... we at the miller house have many traditions that we look forward to all year long... many of which revolve around food...

gwen has brought a couple of those 'food traditions' into our family... one of which is lefse... we enjoy this scandinavian treat only twice a year... thanksgiving and Christmas...( im working on her for a third holiday, maybe fourth of july?)(lol).... i know that by having it only twice a year keeps it special...but, i dont think i could ever get sick of it... she uses her lefse grill to make it... the grill was a wedding gift and has been used every year since...

she also has a caramel roll recipe that dates back to her grandma ness(at least)... these little fellas are out of this world...

once again... i only get these twice a year so i have to savor every one... but... if you stop by on thanksgiving day (or Christmas) i will share... they are incredible...

and to round off breakfast at the millers on thanksgiving my moms nut pie... yes i said pie and we couldnt wait to have a slice... the homemade whipped cream topping is the perfect compliment to the nutty-sugary goodness baked inside... if you know carol(my mom) maybe you could have her make you one sometime... if she likes ya... i got mine for my birthday...(a couple of days late, but worth the wait)

tell us about your traditions... we would love to hear about them...

its booked...

2009...

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy ever!
Thank you for all you do for us.
We love you!

sad day at the miller house...

it happened... the pumpkin molded out... totally disgusting... it was a big mess... so now... its gone...

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

im sure going to miss it...

Time for a Change

After Noah's Seahawks remodel, and Ethan and Cole's bedroom make-over, I finally convinced Mark (well, sort of, anyway) that Abby deserved a new look, too. She has, after all, had the same bedding since she was 18 months old! So, we turned her lavender and yellow floral room into a sweet pink and green bigger girl room.

Abby helped us cover up the old lavender paint with pale green ...

and pink ... with my old baptismal gown providing a little "vintage" look. (Does that make me vintage? At least I don't think I quite qualify as antique yet!)

And, of course, our good friend Marie was willing to lend her artistic skills to our endeavor and helped us out with the stenciling and rose painting. We decided to skip all of the frilly flowers this time, and instead use some simple stencils and Abby's favorite verse from 1 Samuel that describes Abigail as an intelligent and beautiful woman. A perfect description of the woman that Mark and I pray she will grow up to be.

Abby loves the final look of her "new" room. And I do, too!

football award ceremony...

we had our end of season football awards banquet at izzy's pizza on saturday... this was a great time for noah and ethan to be recognized for all the hard work they put in this year and for the teams 4th place finish... congrats HAWKS!!!!

rocks between the toes...

as we drove home from seaside today gwen looked back into the van to see what the little ones were doing and to her surprise she found cole holding rocks with his toes... she chuckled...

hope you do too...

its good to be home...

post #3 from seaside...

as i sit here after breakfast looking out the window at the torrential downpour... i was reminded of the incredible picture i was able to capture yesterday... .

.

we arrived sunday... it was raining...

.

yesterday... it was beautiful...

.

today... heavy rain and wind... big storm!!!

.

but...

.

we had yesterday...

post #2 from seaside...

our walk on the beach...

papa and cole had so much fun... cole loves his papa...

noah and ethan wanted the full experience of the feet in the waves... even though it was chilly....

abby and cole had so much fun in the surf and sand... here they run for fun... it was a beautiful day...

cole and ethan run towards grandma and abby and the incoming surf...

abby looks on in approval of cole playing in the sand...(love the reflection)...

ethan has enjoyed the binoculars... lots of birds to look at... even in the rain (yesterday)...

we braved the 45 degree weather(yesterday) and drizzle to swim... our kids love to swim...

ethan and abby on the carousel...

we ate at pig'n pancake for dinner tonight... another friend recommendation...

yummy...

post #1 from seaside...

noah and cole on the carousel... fun time...

girtles... very good food... recommended by a good friend of mine at work... boy was he right...

us...

view from our room... tillamook head... beautiful...

noah, ethan, abby and cole with grandma from here and papa...

homeschool alert... alot of teaching has gone on about lewis and clark...

havin a great time...

i think it will work...

as gwen and i continue to try to find ways to conserve not only gas but also minimize and save on our monthly expenses... this was a must...


youre looking at my new mode of transportation to and from costco... its about an 18 mile commute and if i leave at 2:15 a.m. i should be able to be there by 3:45 a.m. when i need to be there to start my shift...

so not only will we cut down our gas bill significantly but also those pesky green house gasses...

go green...

anyone interested?...