HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSAY!!!

Hello my love! This is your belated happy birthday gift! You will have to forgive the "um's" and the "like's" - this was done in one shot. So, enjoy! I'm sorry it's taken so long, eh hem, only 1 1/2 years. But here it is, Miller Cribs. And you'll have to come out to stay in your bedroom and see the back yard. I will have cleaned up Ellen's little (actually not so little) puppy piles by then, haha. I love you and happy birthday!

Love is in the air

I thought this was appropriate with Valentines Day coming up. It gave me a couple chuckles and a couple tears. So cute!

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?' And here are their very profound answers.

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'
Rebecca- age 8

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'
Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'
Emily - age 8

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'
Nikka - age 6

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'
Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'
Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'
Cindy - age 8

'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'
Clare - age 6

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'
Elaine-age 5

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.'
Chris - age 7

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'
Mary Ann - age 4

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'
Lauren - age 4

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image)
Karen - age 7

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget..'
Jessica - age 8

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

So I know our last entry was about food, well, this one is too. This is chili. This is the 3rd pot of chili that I had made as of the past 13 days. You see, 1 1/2 years ago when we first got to Oklahoma, we had just bought our home and it was taking me a lot longer then we had expected to find a job. Needless to say, money was a little tight. We were spending a max of $35 on groceries and I was cooking about one dinner a week and stretching it out over meals. Anyway, there was one week that I made a pot of chili, which is very inexpensive and we were able to make it last for 6 days by adding rice or cornbread with it. At the end of the 6 days, my thoughts were "Well, that was cheap, and I'm not quite sick of it... So, lets do it again!" And so we did. For another 7 days, we ate chili. It was amazing how the Lord gave us the grace to eat the same meal for dinner for 13 days in a ROW! So, Eric's idea was to make a memorial of the way the Lord provided for us and to remind ourselves how much the Lord has blessed us. (lets just say I cook more then once a week now) We then decided that every year we are going to eat 13 days of chili, and use the money we would have spent on groceries to give away to someone who needs it. We just finished and are so happy to be eating salads, pasta and other dishes, but it was a good thing. I love doing these things with Eric. It reminds me of our struggles and how the Lord has walked with us every step of the way in our marriage. He is so good.

Bedtime snack

This has become the ritual at the Millers. Eric got me into it. Well you see, for the past 2 1/2 years of our marriage, which is all of it, Eric has eaten Honey Bunches of Oats cereal. Every. Single. Day. No joke. The boy does not tire easily of his favorites. So, we always have it on hand. But thats not the ritual I'm talking about! Lately, we started having these miniature bowls of Honey Bunches of Oats with fresh berries on top right before we got to bed. He uses it as a dessert. I use it for a snack, well, because of course I've already had dessert! So here, is a picture of our nightly routine.=) We highly encourage you to try it. Its SO good right before bed!

Dancing with Ellen... and Phoebe.

So, as most of you know, Sarah got tickets to the Ellen Degeneres Show. She called me the day of my birthday and told me that she had 5 tickets, one of them she wanted ME to come out and use. I was so excited but knew that the airline tickets were going to be much too expensive considering the show was a week away. But, surprisingly enough, I found some very decently priced tickets and flew out for 4 days, to go to the show and hang out with Sarah. It was SO fun! We ended up getting front row seats at the studio, right on the aisle, so we were able to dance with Ellen as she went up and down. It was an incredible show due to the fact that it was Ellen's "Birthday Episode" and so she was extremely generous with the audience. We received over $450 worth of stuff!!!

Leaving Sarah's apartment - SO excited!

Being silly in front of the poster. We weren't allowed to take camera's in so this was as close to the taking pictures with Ellen as we got.

Imitating the poses on the billboard.

The Cole family just waking up. It was such a wonderful time to be with them, especially before the busyness of the new baby hits.

Phoebe is extremely loving and caring. Here she is feeding her baby doll in the rocking chair.

She is a great cuddler.=) She gives great hugs and kisses.

At church, which Sarah and Levi can walk to from their apartment.