The house on January 18

We home schoolers still had school on Martin Luther King, Jr day last week, but we hurried to finish up our work and get outside and enjoy the day with friends who were home that day. The obvious place to go was to our new house!

The rock pile is still lots of fun.


Most of the pictures I've shared have been from the front of the house. Here are a few from the back.




The brook that runs through our property is in the foreground of the photo.

Lauren is 1!

It's been a whole year already! Our baby is one. It was a happy day, but our "celebrations" were subdued. We just saw all of our family for Christmas and, well, let's face it, Lauren is one. She won't remember anything we did or did not do for her first birthday. The following pictures show the chronology of the day.

Lauren loves to visit "Da" in his office.


I made "birthday scones" for breakfast.


Taking calls from well-wishers during breakfast


Since we weren't planning a party, I took some of the birthday scones to the nursery where Lauren spends her time when I'm in Bible study every Tuesday morning. All of her "friends" were there. They ate scones, we sung "Happy Birthday" and I took pictures. And that was her party!


Much of Lauren's day was spent tagging along to her siblings activities. Such is the life of a fourth-born child. Tuesday is cross-country ski day. On this day, Andy Newell was at Prospect Mountain. Who's that? At age 3, he started skiing at Prospect in the same league in which our kids ski. And now he will be competing in the Vancouver Olympics in a few weeks in the sprint ski races. He was kind enough to sign autographs and talk with the kids about his training and about the Olympics. And then after that, the poor guy was hounded by women trying to take gratuitous pictures of him with her children. Bu bu bu but, it was Lauren's birthday..... maybe she will be an Olympic skier someday and we will be able to trace her inspiration back to this very day and her time with Andy Newell..... I had to take the picture....


Lauren has 3 adoring siblings. All wearing polypropelene.


And a pair of doting parents


It's my party and I'll cry if I want to


What do you get a one-year old one month after Christmas? We bought her a toothbrush.


After waffles for dinner (I tried to make something she likes), we had chocolate eclair cake for dessert. Lauren was, by far, our messiest first birthday cake eater. I know this picture doesn't make it seem so bad. I think our other three were just really neat. Lauren dug in and heartily enjoyed the treat of a big piece of cake on her tray.


It was a good day. We love you, Lauren!

Christmas 09

Our family celebrates Christmas three times each year. Once at home, just the six of us. Once in Ohio with the Millers. And once in North Carolina with the Rubles. (I know, I know. Everyone tells us we're crazy to travel that far. But, we get to see everyone and we like to be in the car with an 11-month old for 30 hours. Only half of that is true. You pick which half.) All told, there are hundreds of pictures of Christmas. How to narrow those down to a neat, concise blog post? Imposible. So, here's the deal: The first post includes a few of the more traditional posed photos. The second post includes the sillier pictures that better tell the story of our time.

Stockings at our house


Grammy and Grampa Miller with their 6 grandchildren


When we gathered together at the Millers, there were 21 people, 10 of them under the age of 9. It was loud.


We spent a night at a water park for my dad's family reunion. (see, I should include a picture of the extended Ruble family.... how to decide?) Jakin and Corban were in heaven. Annie was the victim of a huge dump of water early in her time at the water park. She tried to have fun, but never really recovered. Thomas and Lauren found the perfect spot at this trough of water.


Grandma and Grampa Ruble with their 5 grandchildren

Christmas 09 Part 2

And now for the silly version. A grouping of the more unlikely Christmas photos to include in a post.

Corban tries on his down vest


When there's meat to be cut for our Christmas Eve dinner, all the Miller men gather round and watch the knife-wielding one closely. Everyone has their own opinion on how the meat should be cut, seasoned and cooked. All I know is that the final product always turns out really really good.


Emma loves Christmas. It's funny because Emma is the sweetest little girl who hardly ever cries.


Thomas loves the water park. We had to hold Lauren back from crawling too far into the water. Thomas was a bit more cautious. He had just gotten sprayed in the face with water, so he needed a little reassurance from his mommy.


Annie models her new tutu, leotard, leg warmers and ballet slippers. Lauren eats a box.

Turning the corner

Lauren is almost a year old and she is finally "turning the corner". What does that mean? Well, for example, I think I can finally say that she is sleeping through the night. Although it isn't really that big of a deal to get up to feed a baby at least once a night for almost a year, it is oh, so much nicer to put said baby in her bed at 8 and not see her face, lovely as it is, until 7 the next morning. That's right, not only is she sleeping through the night, but she's sleeping in! Sort of. I'm thrilled and rested and planning how I can spend these new found hours in my week.

Lauren is also old enough (we think) for the one-year old milestones like moving from the rear-facing car seat to the front facing and drinking milk from a cup. Exciting stuff.

She isn't walking. She's not even interested in walking. But she is very mobile and I have the trail of destruction in my house daily to prove it.

I think one of my favorites things about Lauren right now is how excited she is to see Jakin, Corban and Annie. She giggles and tries to jump out of my arms when she sees them. We are blessed.





Lauren is modeling her new dress from Grammy. She was interested enough in the camera that when I let go of her, she actually stood for two seconds before letting herself down and crawling for the camera.

The house on January 11

Thomas loves Lauren

It's been so great to spend time with my nephew Thomas this week in North Carolina. He is such a sweet boy, comfortable with everybody (unlike my mommy-loving daughter, Lauren). We don't have nearly enough opportunities to see Thomas, but we're just enjoying the time we get.

Testing...

I know this is an old video, but my sister-in-law is giving me a tutorial on getting video to the blog....