Lauren is mobile

At 5 1/2 months, Lauren is really getting around. She can't crawl yet, of course. But, between rolling and ooching, she can cover some considerable distance. In the picture below, she was at one point touching each of the toys.

The rug is a new acquisition from our friends. These are the same friends from whom we purchased a few other pieces of living room furniture. I love the rug. Not only do I love the rug, but I love having a rug again. It's much easier to let Lauren play on the floor. We were watching home videos last night from when we had our old carpet. It didn't seem so bad at the time, but it looked hideous in the video. Jack would say it was so bad at the time. Anyway, after ten years of marriage, we feel fortunate to be collecting some grown up furniture. And check out that beautiful hardwood floor and trim detail! I just so happen to know a good general contractor. Our home renovations are almost complete. We're excited to move on to building our new house. More details on that later.







I always love the eating toes pictures!


Lauren really loves me. Whenever she hears me in the room, she wants to see where I am.

Annie's crown

Annie made a crown last Friday. The project was her idea and she executed it by herself, except for the measuring and stapling. So great is her pride in this lovely creation that she has worn it everywhere since Friday, with the exception of Mass on Sunday. She wore it to Walmart. She wore it to the Fourth of July parade on Saturday. And although we didn't go anywhere today, I especially like the crown as an accessory to the outfit she assembled today (see the bottom picture). As a parent, you have to choose your battles...





Classic, isn't it? I envision this being one the the pictures over which she rolls her eyes as a super cool teenager. "Mooooooom! How could you let me wear that?!"

Aren't the trailers and the dumpster a lovely addition to the front of our house?

The new fad

In the world of a young kid, favorites change often. Toys and activities fall in and out of favor. A recent trend in the Miller house is sleeping on the floor. The kids have perfectly decent beds, but what fun are those when there's a whole floor to sleep on!? I'm sure I throw some cold water on their fun with my motherly insistence that they still make their beds every morning. But, that's what moms are supposed to say, right? And dads are supposed to encourage such things. And buy their sons cap guns for the Fourth of July. Yes, he did. And they are a huge hit. Annie got a water bottle and she loves it. It's pink. Her favorite color.

By the way...

Yes, everyone who played the "Guess Which Daughter" game was correct. #1 and #4 were Lauren, #2 and #3 were Annie. I guess it wasn't really that hard. But, c'mon, they do look a little bit alike, right?!

Lauren at 5 months

So many new things for Lauren this month! Bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes for starters. I diligently started Lauren on plain cereal recently - an event she greeted with some initial enthusiasm. She quickly lost interest. Then, I mixed in some sweet potatoes. Now that was something to get excited about! She actually dives for her food now. There's no going back! There's a whole new world of mooshed up food to explore!

Lauren is also very mobile now. She rolls back to front and back again all the time. She actually needs space to play. She works to get a toy. She sits up for brief spells. She loves her Mama. There are few things better in life than to see a 5-month old light up at the sight of me. She's a joy. If we can just work out the kinks in sleeping (she doesn't like it), it will be smooth sailing.


I absolutely love this stage of babyhood - the grabbing the toes stage. It's even better when they eat their toes.


She's a good eater, but not a neat eater.


And then there's Daddy.... Lauren was very interested in her Daddy's ice cream cone. Leave it to him to actually let her have a taste of it.

Corban's 6th birthday

We survived our first sleepover! For months Corban has had his heart set on a sleepover for his birthday party. It sounded like a good idea, so we went with it. We had a pizza dinner (Corban's request), a cookie cake dessert (Corban's request), a water balloon fight and an epic soccer game - Jack, Corban and Annie vs. Jakin, Finn and Josiah. (Annie put those big boys in their place!) Then the boys settled in to watch Star Wars - another first for our boys. And although Jakin woke me up at 11:30 pm to ask if they could watch another movie (No.), I can confirm the boys were all asleep by 1:30 when I checked on them. Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. It's a wrap. I think Corban had a good birthday.

Corban is a great kid, even though he can be a tough nut to crack sometimes. He will be the one to hang in and help Jack with a project long after Jakin has gone off to play. Corban usually ends up playing with bigger boys, but he can hang. He has a wonderful imagination. But, he also has what my parents' North Carolina friends describe as "A little of the devil" in him. Here's an example: We've been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy to Corban this summer. Tonight we came to the part when Father gives Almanzo a half dollar and tells him he could buy a sucking pig with the money, which he could raise to have a litter of pigs worth four or five dollars a piece, or he could spend the money on lemonade to drink. We asked the boys what they would do. Jakin, predictably, said he would buy the pig. Corban thought for a minute, smiled and answered, (also predictably) that he would buy the lemonade.


Watching Star Wars


Corban designed the cake. (Doesn't Annie look like she's enduring all of these boys?)


Corban's birthday is always around strawberry picking time. I made some chocolate covered strawberries for a birthday treat.