halloween 2008... harvestfest costumes...

harvestfest 2008...

the kids had so much fun and loved hanging out with their good friends... cant wait till next year...

wisdom...

Wisdom


During this political season let's be reminded of these wise words:

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting classhatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

William Boetcker (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

i love my wife...

my lovely, loving wife made me this pie...

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i wish you all were here to taste this beauty...

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actually... im glad youre not... then i dont have to share...

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but, if you were here, i would share...

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maybe....

Chris Matthews Interviews Sen. Kirk Watson

i try not to get too political... but this is funny...

cole, starbucks and jonah...

after dropping abby off at school, cole and i headed to the local watering hole for a little liquid refreshment, daddy-cole time and some good reading...

cole got his favorite kids cocoa and an old fashioned doughnut... i got a iced chai latte... and then we grabbed the good ol book and read the story of jonah...

cole listened attentively and nibbled away at his doughnut... we then had some good dad-cole discussion of the story and then headed for home...

cole is so stinkin cute...

dont you think?

i love these daddy-cole dates and look forward to the next one already...

great season for the hawks... south conference champions... 4th overall in league...

the last game of the season took place saturday at olympia high school against the bears for 3rd or 4th place overall... it was a close one that just slipped away at the end... resulting in a 4th place finish for the hawks...

a great season overall... 4th out of 18 teams... and no major injuries of any sort...

noah(#9) played center and some defense line and improved so much this year... he cant wait till next year....

ethan(#55) played a little defense line and tight end on offense... he too improved alot and cant wait till next year...

i loved the opportunity to coach my boys and am ready for some free nights during the week... but i am sure i too will be ready for football again well before the nine months we have off expire...

the scoreboard tells the final... bears 12 hawks 6...

we will get 'em next year...

ethan and noah listen to coach one more time telling them how proud we as a coaching staff were of our team this year...

doesnt make the loss any easier though...

next year... little hawks... will come quicker than you think...

another example of service...

most of you know i work mornings at costco as a area manager and have been doing this for many years now... and i really enjoy working for this company and i absolutely love the morning shift...

it allows me to have dinner every night with my family... coach the boys football team... pick up kiddos from school... be involved in many activities that i wouldnt be able to do if i worked normal or evening hours...

morning are busy... we try to get everything ready for the day in about 6 hours... stocking and cleaning and moving items all over the place... this rat-race i love often causes a chaotic clean-up in the end... the 945 rush... sweeping, throwing out garbage, bailing shrink wrap and cardboard, etc., etc...

about the picture... my buddy dan... he works in an inventory audit position... not as a stocker... and is extremely busy every day doing his tasks... his regular day to day routine... but... during crunch time... i often find him... without being asked... helping the morning crew finish up the cleanup... to me he stands as an example for us all to follow...

in my life lately ive been working through ways i can serve at home... at church... in my neighborhood.. with my extended family...etc. ... and i think i just learned something through dans example...

dont wait... do it... or as nike would say... just do it... i think i often say "if i had been asked to do that... i would have helped"... but... i want to work on seeing the need... and helping... big or small... without being asked...

just do it...

ready for one more...

one last time...

miller#9 and miller#55 will play their last game of the year at oly high school... saturday morning at 9:00...

the game we are playing in is for 3rd or 4th in the league...(18 teams) we are playin the bears of oly in this destined-to-be-epic battle...

after a disappointing loss last week and a great week of practice i feel that we are ready to go out and give it our all... the boys are ready... the coaches are ready... the fans are ready(we hope) for a great game...

ill post and let you know how the game went... a great ending(we hope) to a great season...

go HAWKS!!!!!!

Can I please help, Mama?

With the addition of homeschooling Noah & Ethan to my schedule this fall, I told all of the members of the Miller fam that they were going to have to start helping out more in other areas. Cole is always more than willing to help with anything and everything. He asks me many times every day, "Can I please help, Mama?" Lately, he's taken to helping me fold the laundry. He started out with wash cloths, then moved on to hand towels and even graduated to bath towels. This last week he started taking the Daddy's shirts 101 class. How do you think he's doing? I'll bet you can hardly even tell which pile is mine and which is his!

sunday socks...

uncle "d" and abby pose for a picture at auntie holly's house while we were celebrating grandma miller and cousin justins birthdays...




the food was great and hangin' with the family is always so much fun... the kids have a great time with the cousins and uncles and aunts... luckily we get to do this often... so the next party is never far off...

today... abby and uncle d both wore their favorite sunday socks... i just had to get a picture of that...



i only wish i had worn mine...

cant put off this post any longer...(wish i could)

this morning we left early for our game at tumwater high school... it was a 9:00 a.m. kickoff so we had to be to the stadium by 7:45... thats early...

noah, ethan and the hawks took the field in search for a bid to the championship game... next sunday... they were playing the #1 ranked, 6-0 t-birds from tumwater in this showdown of conference champions...
the hawks took flight in perfect union opening up a lead on the juggernaut also known as "green and gold"...
grandma and grandpa miller came to cheer on the boys...abby, cole and mom(not pictured) were also there...
cole found his buddy zach wandering aimlessly around the stadium...

not really... jed and sol... with their dad came to root for their friends... thanks for coming guys... it was cool you were there...

we played well... made a couple great plays... and watched our halftime lead vanish on a couple of fluke plays early in the third quarter... and we came up a little short... resulting in a defeat... the boys took it hard and although they know they played great... were also disappointed in coming so close...

we will play saturday for 3rd or 4th place in the league(18 teams) and finished the regular season as the south division champs(4-1 regular season record) so we still have alot to be thankful for...

one more week of practices and 1 more HUGE game to be played(next saturday)...

noah and ethan, thanks for playing so hard... making me proud... and etching these memories into my mind and heart...

i love you guys...

ethan patrick miller...

for your listening pleasure...

more pictures below... on the other blog entry...

ringo starr... "who is that?"...

last night ethan got an early Christmas (birthday, easter, fourth of july, next years Christmas, the following birthday, (you get the picture)) present... his very own drum kit...
ethan has been taking lessons from a good friend of ours for a couple of months (since july)now and it was finally time for him to retire the hymnal, chair back and drum pad for his own set...

we took steve along to make sure the set we were purchasing wasn't "junk" and we were pleasantly surprised at the kit we found...

ethan is now "giving " lessons to whomever is interested... i guess its kinda a 'pay it forward' philosophy...

mom's getting good...

back to the title... i said to ethan a few minutes ago "hey ringo starr, play me a little something"... and he had NO CLUE as to who i was talking about... so sad... so along with practice ethan will be learning about drummers of historical significance...

tell us who your favorites are...

spooner farm... corn maze and pumpkin shoot...

on saturday after the football game we headed to spooner farm out in puyallup,wa... they are a well known farm for many reasons, including their corn mazes...


this years theme was the chronicles of narnia... so we were all very excited about trying it...



ethan and cole pose at the lamp post... right at the beginning of the maze... the snow spray on the ground and the corn stalks made it seem so realistic...




abby and elizabeth pose next to lucy...
cole was very excited to see aslan... he really loves the movie and had a great time in the maze...
the maze took us about 1hr 15 mins... but was worth every minute...
and because we found all six checkpoints we received the prize... rock-candy-on-a-stick...

the kids pose next to the giant spider made of hay bails and pvc pipe... very cute (colton, noah, ethan, cole, matt, biz, and abby)












we then tried our hands at pumpkin launching... this was fun... the kids loved it and their dad...me... loved it too... i hit the target and we won a pumpkin of our choosing... we took the biggest(of course)... and i needed help from my good buddy wes loading it up... our wives laughed so hard at our struggling... all and all a great afternoon... thanks spooner farms...


me and my honey...

tcyfl championship bracket... round one...

on saturday the hawks took on the wolves of black hills in a highly anticipated rematch of the hawks only regular season loss...

the hawks were ready for the challenge...

(noah, #9... calling the huddle)
the hawks wasted no time showing the wolves that they came to play... the first play from scrimmage... the wolves had the ball...was taken to the endzone by one of our defensive players...

you shoulda seen this lineman run...

we scored again before halftime and twice in the second half... it was a hard fought battle till the final whistle blew...

final score hawks 25 wolves 7

abby and cole cheered loud and braved the cold weather(40 degrees) and thanks to their cheering and the boys tough play... we came out on top...

after the game the wolves coaches commented that our team was "ready for the challenge" and "came more prepared to win"... i feel these were some very nice complements from the coaching staff...

ethan and noah played very well... mom and i were so proud... ethan played defensive tackle and wide receiver and did a great job at both...

in the end the hawks did what it took to win and played a great ballgame to the very end...

we look forward to next saturday and the second round...

if you want to see some good football in the state of washington this year... give us a call and we will let you know where the game is going to be next saturday... because win or lose... these HAWKS will give it their all...

GO HAWKS!!!

tcyfl south conference champs...

hawks 19 tornados 7

hawks regular season record: 4-1

ethan (#55) pictured as a team captain out for the coin flip... we won and deferred to the second half...







we started out kinda slow... heaviest rain of the year... before the game started we were all soaked to the bone... so they jumped to a quick 7 point lead... after that our defense shut the tonados down and our offense went to work... great game all around...

noah plays center and ran a center sneak.... a play where the ball is snapped but never taken by the quarterback (he does have to touch it though) then the center proceeds to run... with the ball down field... he ran for enough yards to get the first down and continue our drive to the endzone on a go ahead score...(i was very proud...)


the team was very excited about the win and our south conference championship...




the sportsmanship award went to kade coleman of the hawks for his never give up attitude... way to go kade... way to go noah and ethan... way to go hawks...

i just dont know...

or... you can just pick it up at costco...