I love New Jersey...?

I haven't always loved New Jersey. Especially when it comes to cars breaking down in New Jersey. A few years ago our van broke down and the shop that eventually fixed it hosed us. Fast forward to yesterday. We began the crazy Christmas driving loop that takes us from Massachusetts to North Carolina to Ohio and then back to Massachusetts again. We were making good time on the New Jersey turnpike when the grinding sound that had been intermittent became unavoidable. We pulled off to a gas station and Jack poked around unsuccessfully. Since it was about 4:40 pm, I suggested we try to get to a service station before it closed at 5. After getting directions, we drove the relatively short, but harrowing (because of the awful sound) distance to the service station. This is the part of the story when a reader might expect me to lament the deplorable treatment by the service station employees upon us, the weary, stranded, vulnerable travelers. But, no. I have only praises to sing! Not only did the mechanic look at our van immediately, but he located the necessary part and fixed the van immediately. We barely had time to eat dinner before the wonderful mechanic picked us up at the restaurant at which we were eating. I hugged him. It was unbelievable. I had begun thinking about how it was going to be to spend the night in New Jersey. As it turned out, we were back on the road in less than 2 hours after initially pulling off the road. Jack and I could only be grateful as we pulled back on to the highway at about 6:15. And we weren't even overcharged. Providential, me thinks.

Annie skiing

The day of our family Christmas was idyllic in Massachusetts. There was a light snow falling all day. The perfect day to get outside. And since we were having Christmas that day, we hadn't made any other plans to either leave the house or to work at the house. Jack worked on the hockey rink and the boys started piling up snow for a snow cave. Annie skied. She and I did a few laps in the front yard, with her skiing in my tracks. She did great, balancing well and seeming to get the idea of which ski needed to move at a certain time in order to both move along and not fall. We have a very slight incline in the front yard and Annie could see me moving in a way that seemed different and faster than the shuffling she was doing behind me. After observing this a few times, Annie stopped and asked, "Mom, how do I go?" Enough of this shuffling business, I want to ski!

Family Christmas

Since we do some crazy traveling at Christmas to visit our families in North Carolina and Ohio, we have celebrated our family Christmas early the past few years. Here are a few pictures of the kids showing off their new duds, toys and gear. It was a fun day.

Annie practices writing

I'm so grateful for the sweet way that Annie plays while I'm doing school with the boys in the mornings. Sometimes she wants to sit at the table and do school with her boys. On the occasion this picture was taken, I had dotted out the letters for Annie's name and she traced them. I am the proud Mama of the 2 year, 9 month old little girl that traced these letters so well.

"All the Way Bigger"

For some time Annie has been talking about being "all the way bigger". When she says it it sounds more like "all-a way bigger". When she reaches a milestone like being able to wear underwear at night, she will declare that she must be all-a way bigger. Or if she's looking ahead to some far-into-the-future event, like when she will learn to like soup, she will say, "I will eat soup when I'm all-a way bigger". Last night, after a very unsatisfying night of sleep when I labored to turn my pregnant self from one side to the other trying unsuccessfully to find a comfortable position, it occurred to me that, at 33 weeks into my pregnancy, I am the one who is all-a way bigger! I continue to be grateful for a healthy pregnancy and a very active little girl who each day is getting bigger and stronger and more ready to enter the world.

Merry Christmas!

Corban - 5 1/2, Annie - 2 1/2, Jakin - 7 1/2

31 weeks

Here's the most recent picture of our growing little girl. Generally, I still feel good. My most pressing complaints, if they can even be called complaints, are: 1.) That I'm at the stage of pregnancy when my pants are always falling down. Whenever I bend over to pick something up (and in a family with 3 children, that happens a lot) my pants sort of roll down, requiring me to hike them back up. 2.) That I grow weary of people's comments about how big I am. "You look great!" sounds much better to a woman in her third trimester than "Are you sure there aren't twins in there?" or "Still two more months?!" But, the baby is healthy. That's the important thing. And I'm healthy and, incidently, I'm measuring exactly where I should be at this time (not that I'm defensive or anything). As for timing, right now I'm consumed with Christmas preparations. When January begins, I'll be in my last month. That's when I'll start preparing for our baby's arrival. So, while I'm not quite ready for the baby to be born, I'll be ready anytime to not be pregnant anymore!

Stitches

On Friday, November 21, Corban was running in our house. He tripped and cracked his head on a wooden toy shelf. He and his dad were soon off to the hospital (like Ski Equipment, Emergency Room Visits also fall to Jack in the Miller household). Corban was very brave and came home with 4 stitches in his head. Forty-eight hours later, Jack was back in the emergency room with Jakin who cracked his head while playing at a friend's house. Jakin came home with two stitches above his left eye. Both boys in stitches at the same time. Poor Corban. The boy can't even get stitches without his older brother butting in and claiming some of the attention for himself! Jack was gratified to have the clearance (sort of, but that was all the clearance he needed) to remove the stitches himself and both boys are healing nicely.

Not Quite "Completed"

Jack says the porch isn't done. It still needs lattice. Although I don't always notice such things, I wouldn't want anyone who does notice such things to think less of my husband's carpentry skills.

The Shoemaker's Wife

Isn't there a joke about the shoemaker's wife going barefoot? Well, the carpenter's wife often has to be patient as she waits for house projects to get accomplished at her own house. Because this is true for the us, it is blogworthy to mention that this carpenter's wife got a completed front porch this week. Pretty nice, huh?

Getting Ready For Winter

In the Miller family division of labor, "Ski Equipment" falls into Jack's department. Every year at the beginning of November, he gets all the equipment out to see what fits who and who needs what. Annie was not going to be left out of the action. The kids spent the evening skiing around the house and getting really excited for snow!

Halloween

I don't have much to say about Halloween beyond what the pictures say. We've been trick-or-treating with our good friends, the Daniels, since 2004. This year other good friends, the Gills, joined us. The number of kids represented by our 3 families continues to increase! Since my domestic skills do not include sewing, my kids are somewhat limited in their costume choices. Fortunately, they have been content to raid the dress up bin each year and find a costume about an hour before Halloween starts. Fun times!





During my Bible study on Tuesday mornings, the kids go to a group they love (and have been with for 6 years) called "Tuesday Tigers". Annie looks forward to this time of playing with her friends each week. And the opportunity to wear these special dress up clothes on the Tuesday before Halloween made this day even better. I kept looking at her in this get-up, shaking my head and thinking, "Sometimes I still can't believe we have a girl." And she is quite the girl.....
Her friends in this picture are Brooke Bishop, Talia Kapiloff, Annie and Isabella Champney.

Dress Up

Annie discovered dressing up this week. The revelation was prompted by receiving a pair of hand-me-down ballet slippers. She then made the connection between the ballet slippers and the "tutu" in her drawer and the set has been a permanent fixture on her body during almost every waking moment since. As you can see, her fancy duds don't prevent her from her duties as vigilant mother to a brood of babies.

Trading Cards

The boys have discovered the world of trading cards. Pokeman, no less. Although Jakin and Corban have never and will not likely ever see the show, the enthusiasm of their friends is enough to excite their interest. After seeing all of their friends feverishly trade cards after soccer a few weeks ago, the boys determined that they must have Pokeman cards. Trading cards in general, and Pokeman trading cards in particular are not a thing I especially want to encourage. But, I decided this wasn't a hill to die on and the cards themselves weren't likely to be a negative influence. So, on a recent trip to Walmart, we tracked down the Pokeman cards. The boys were warned that they would be spending their own money to purchase the cards. When we found the cards, Jakin and Corban were confronted with their first lesson in the harsh reality of trading cards. $4.00 for 10 cards. Jakin made the immediate decision that he wasn't going to shell out the few remaining dollars he had for the cards. Corban (who didn't even have $4) still wanted to take the plunge. After a quick thought about what it would be like for one boy to own this precious commodity while the other still pined for them, I caved and offered to pay for half of each pack. The boys were so excited that they wouldn't even open them in the car less they should lose one of them on the way home. The next hours at home were spent in happy bliss, examining and pouring over their new treasure. Jakin could barely wait to take his to soccer that evening to begin trading. Jack took Jakin to soccer that evening and when they returned Jakin was practically in tears. He had been slapped with another aspect of the harsh world of trading cards: no one would trade with him. His cards were either "no good" or the boys who had already accumulated 50, 60 or 70 cards already had those Jakin was offering. Jakin's broken heart didn't immediately discourage Corban who clung to his belief that "trading" was synonymous with "multiplying"; he was still looking forward to magically turning his 10 cards into 20. Since the first disappointment, the boys have had opportunities to trade cards. And while I worry that their lack of knowledge of anything Pokeman means that they are getting fleeced out of "good" cards in return for"bad" cards, they seem happy with the new hobby. The problem they now have is that I'm not going to buy any more cards for them and Jakin is perplexed as to how to get more money for more cards. "How do I get more money? I never get more money!" The happy days of $5 stuffed in birthday cards won't come around again until next May and June. And the boys are stuck with parents who not only believe that they are too young for an allowance but that chores are part of what they are expected to do as members of our family. Meaning, they won't get paid for the normal jobs they do. I guess these are all good life lessons, right? Aren't we all still trying to figure out how to "get more money"!

Outer Banks, North Carolina September 2008

We experienced the blessing of a week in the Outer Banks with my family a few weeks ago. Despite too many windy days that kept us off the beach and out of the water, it was wonderful to be at the beach and to spend (too rare) time with family. We're spread out in Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky and Massachusetts, so we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we would all like. And a week of vacation at the beach is always a great thing. Here are a few of the many pictures I would have liked to post (it's no mistake that there aren't any beach pictures of the 20 week pregnant lady):

Jack may be 35, but he still likes to play! He thoroughly enjoyed a week away from work. He plowed through all of David's McCullough's biography of Teddy Roosevelt this week.... no small undertaking...


I love this picture of Corban being like his dad.


On the days he could be in the water, Jakin spent every minute on the boogie board. He didn't stop. No breaks. As soon as he rode one wave in, he was up and on his way out to catch another.


Every kid loves the beach and Annie is no exception.


The family at the dunes.

It's a ......

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My recent ultrasound revealed that we are expecting a very healthy, very active little girl. I'm just thrilled. I'm so glad that Annie will have a sister. Someone to be her room buddy and hopefully her very good friend. I just posted an entry about what the boys do together. I'm anticipating Annie and her sister doing "girl things" together - playing with babies is one of Annie's favorite things to do. Two boys and two girls. YAY! The picture below was taken yesterday. I'm 19 weeks, still running (slowly) and still feeling really good overall. We have so much for which to be thankful.

What the boys do

Almost every day, this is what Jakin and Corban do. They build a fortress using the blocks Grampa Miller made for Jakin for his first Christmas and a bin full of "guys" - pirates, dinosaurs, lizards, farm animals and Star Wars galatic heroes. I think the fun is in the building. There never seems to be an actual battle. I'm glad they have each other to do "boy things" with all the time. And I'm glad they understand that they are in charge of cleaning the fortress up at the end of the day. Then, since everything is cleaned up, they have an excuse to build another fortress the following day!

First day of school

It has become a family tradition for Jack to bring home Dunkin Donuts for the first day of school. So, instead of the traditional first day of school pictures with the kids in their brand-new clothes carrying backpacks and lunch boxes, we home schoolers have pictures of kids in pajamas eating donuts. We did have a successful start to a new year. Corban has started kindergarten and Jakin is in 2nd grade. Today is the second day of school and I am a big softie... the boys are playing at a friend's house this afternoon since the friend starts school next week and the boys won't get to see him much after that. And the boys will be on vacation in North Carolina for 2 weeks in September. But, really, home schoolers really do school.... I have big plans for this year.....

My flower child

Annie loves flowers. Her pathetic mother hasn't planted any at our house, but we can pick them at our CSA. Each week when we go to pick up our veggies, we slowly make our way down to the pick your own field, and I cut the flowers and hand them to Annie. She insists on carrying them home, clutching them so tightly in the car that half of them are wilted by the time we get home. Then I get out the vase and cut the stems. She fills the vase with water, pulls off the leaves, arranges the flowers and proudly carries the vase to the table. It's sweet. We're house-hunting, so I don't know where we will be living next spring. But, when we settle in somewhere, Annie and I are going to have to plant some flowers. Oh, by the way, when I was taking this picture I was asking her to smile. On every take, she replied, "I am". So, this was the best I could get!

Annie is growing up

My little girl is growing up! She watches everything her brothers do and tries to imitate them. If they can get a drink from the sink, so can she!


Annie recently upgraded to her "big girl bed". The transition went off without a hitch and she's only fallen out of the bed twice. For those of you who haven't been here, Annie shares a room with her two brothers... that's why the walls are a very boy shade of blue. We can make up for that with her girly sheets, blankets and pillows. And she always has her babies in bed with her (she's snuggling one in her sleep under the blanket).

#4

Yep. This is a sweet profile shot of our precious 12 week old little one. I'm officially due February 2, 2009. Corban was 5 days early, Annie was 10 days early; so I'll have my bags packed toward the end of January. I'm into my second trimester and hopefully out of the hopelessly tired phase. We're excited! Annie is already talking about "my new baby and Mommy's new baby".

Why "Stone Soup"?

Ok, here's the story.... there is a children's story called Stone Soup. I don't know who originally wrote it, there seem to be many versions. My favorite version is Jim Weiss's audio version; it even has lyrics! Anyway, in the story there is a group of hungry soldiers who march into a peasant town. Everyone shies away from giving them food. The leader of the group begins making a batch of stone soup. He starts with water and a stone. After cooking the "soup" for a while, he tastes it and says in a voice loud enough for all of the hiding, but curious onlookers to hear, that all the soup needs to be perfect is an onion. One villager offers an onion. Then all he needs is some carrots. One villager offers carrots. And so on, until the villagers have all given something and the soup does actually become real and excellent soup. I know that naming my blog "Stone Soup" was a little weird, but I liked that idea of many individual parts coming together to make a fantastic whole. Kind of like a family. It just stuck with me. And I was pretty sure that the name "The Miller Family" would not be available.

Catch up with the Millers

I'm still figuring this blog thing out. Why am I trying to add 10 pictures to my second post? Anyway, the idea here is to catch you up on 2008. I've chosen only a few pictures (relatively speaking) and I can't get them in chronological order. Enjoy them anyway!

Getting into spring meant bike rides. This year has been SO fun because Corban can ride without training wheels, so we can just go!


Jakin fishing on his 7th birthday in May


A recent home school activity: a Greek festival with our friends Brandi and Lainey Gill.


A joint Superhero birthday party for Jakin and Corban


Corban's 5th birthday in June


Annie with her Grammy and cousin Ethan in Ohio in July


Corban and Ethan


Now back to winter....
Jakin & Corban with friends, Josiah and Josh, on our backyard ice rink.

Out on a spring puddle-jumping walk. And Easter morning (also Annie's 2nd birthday).


Thanks for reading!

First post

After threatening for months to start a blog, I'm finally doing it. I thought it would be appropriate to include a picture of the kids in this "test" post. Annie is 2, Corban is 5 and Jakin is 7.