How do you know when your kid has an ear infection?

When he is being so cranky at the doctor's office that the receptionist gives him a sticker to try to make him happy, and he peels it off and sticks it over his ear like a bandaid. Sometimes Steven just cracks me up. Turns out he does have an ear infection. And of course it is in his right ear, the one he put his "bandaid" sticker on. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but I didn't happen to have my camera with me at the doctor's office, so I had to capture the moment with my phone.

Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas this year. We spent time with family, saw Santa at my grandparents house Christmas Eve, and ate way too much food. Here are a few pictures of the kids on Christmas morning. I love that at their age they are sooooo excited to see what Santa brought.

The kids in their Christmas jammies before we let them down the stairs:

Steven loving the building blocks Santa brought him. Maybe he will remember this next year and be a little more friendly when we visit Santa.

And Santa must have known that Steven is a huge sticker fan, because he brought him a Cars coloring book filled with hundreds of stickers. Steven has been covering his feet, belly, ears, hands, and everything else in stickers ever since.

Someone forgot to tell Santa that we have a no pet rule at this house, and so he lost his head and brought Elise a fish. She has been begging for a pet for a while now, and I'm thinking Santa felt bad that she actually named the ants that had invaded our kitchen and called them her pets. She would pick them up and say they were so nice and they tickled when they crawled on her. Yuck! And perhaps it may have put Santa over the edge when she asked to keep the mouse in the basement for a pet, even after we explained to her that it had been trapped and was dead. Now she has a pet fish named Crilly, and we hope she doesn't die anytime soon for that would surely bring trauma to the Miller household.

Elise was also excited about the pink hula hoop Santa brought her. This was the only thing she really asked for, and we are not quite sure where she got the idea from, but she loves it.

Santa must have known that these kiddos had way too much junk food leading up to Christmas, because he left bananas in their stockings instead of candy. And they couldn't have been more excited about candy than they were for their "Santa bananas". It is amazing how anything Santa brings is exciting, just because Santa brought it.

When all was said and done, both kiddos collapsed in the mess around the Christmas tree ready for a nap. Santa and Santa's helper felt like they needed naps too.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas too!

A Climbing Disaster

Steven is such a little crazy man that I have always thought he would be my child to break a bone bofore the age of five. Well, he hasn't broken that bone yet, but we did have a little disaster last week.

I had to run into Target to pick up a few things, and being the week before Christmas I knew things would be crazy. I just wanted Steven to stay in his stroller so I could get in and out quickly, but he was having none of it. He kept climbing out of his stroller and pulling everything off of every shelf. I decided I would outsmart him and buckle him in his stroller so that he couldn't get out. Ooops. The buckles proved effective for keeping him in the stroller, even when he was so mad he was buckled that he tried to jump out and tipped the whole stroller over, while still buckled in. I turned the stroller back over to see blood all over the ground and his shirt. He had split his chin open on something.

Unfortunately, the urgent care wouldn't do stitches so we ended up at the emergency room, which is really such a fun place to be. Steven was so cooperative that the ER doctor told me maybe I should consider making him my last child. I didn't mention that I was already pregnant so it was too late for that. But then, who could blame Steven for flipping out when they put him on a papoose board, velcroed him in, and had a nurse hold his head down. That might put me over the edge too.

When it was all over, instead of heading home like I should have, I decided to try to get into Target again and get my shopping over and done with (minus a stroller). Everyone kept looking at us funny, and I looked down to notice that both Steven's and my shirts were covered in blood. And of course, I was wearing a brand new shirt for the first time - just my luck.

Climb Every Mountain

Steven's philosophy in life is "climb, climb, climb." Either that, or it is, "Make my mom crazy." Several times a day I find him in interesting situations where he has climbed somewhere that he really should not be. One of his favorite climbing venues is the closet with chairs and games. He uses the chairs as a prop to climb up to where all the highest games are, pull them down and throw them on the floor. Chris put the safety door handles on several doors including that one, but for some reason on that one door only he has figured out how to open it anyway. Doesn't that just look so safe? Sometimes he makes me crazy! The other pictures are of him climbing on the dining room table to retrieve a balloon that had gone up to the ceiling. That is mild compared to many of his climbing adventures. I think I had better hope for another girl this time around, because two boys like Steven might just put me over the edge!

Dear Santa...

Chris says that he remembers as a kid writing letters to Santa and throwing them in the fire so that they can fly away to the North Pole where Santa will collect the pieces and put them back together to read the letter. I have never heard this before, we always "mailed" our letters, but it seemed like a fun tradition so we decided to try it since Elise is getting old enough to enjoy that kind of thing. Elise dictated her letter to Chris, and I was surprised at how well she did at writing an actual letter and not just rattling off her list of wants. Chris says she is a good kiss up already. The only thing he really suggested to her is that she ask Santa for an ant farm. Thanks Dad... other than the hula hoop it is all she has talked about since and I'm pretty sure Santa had planned on being done with his shopping already. Obviously, I just wrote Steven's for him. They both drew pictures of what they wanted from Santa on the back and we threw them in the fire. I took pictures to document it since our letters would be flying away to the North Pole never to return. It was really fun, they both liked watching their letters burn in the fire.

A Surprising Santa Visit

I took the kids to see Santa at the Mall this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised that Steven didn't scream at all. He didn't want to sit right on Santa's lap, and he kind of had this unsure look on his face the whole time, but he didn't scream. I also didn't notice until after they had taken all of the pictures that Elise's skirt was up in everyone showing her tights, and Steven's pants were pulled up to look like capris. I guess you can't be too picky though, I should maybe just be happy that no one was screaming.

Little White Lies

To look at this sweet little face you probably wouldn't believe it, but my little angel has been having some trouble with little white lies lately. It started a few months ago when I walked into the dining room and heard crinkling coming from under the table. I was holding Steven, so I knew it had to be Elise, so I said, "Elise, where are you?" A little voice came from under the table saying, "I'm nowhere and I'm not doing anything." I looked under the table to find my sweet little girl opening a candy bar she had been told she couldn't have, and then of course lying about it. We had a long talk about what a lie is, and I don't think she had lied to me since so I thought we had taken care of that little issue. Then on Tuesday the lie monster struck again.

The first time, Elise was in her room and I asked her to come to me in the hall. From her room her voice came saying, "Just a minute Mom, I have to empty the soap out of this container. Someone filled it with soap, but it wasn't me." I said to her, "Really, well then who was it?" Her answer was, "I don't know, Mom." I asked, "Was it me?" She said, "I don't think so." Then I asked, "Do you think Daddy did it?" She said, "I don't think so, I think it must have been Steven." Hmmm... since Steven had been napping for an hour, and since I was pretty sure that if he played with the liquid soap it would be all over everything and not neatly in a container I found this highly unlikely. I asked again, "Elise, did you do it?" "No, Mom" she said. I asked if she was lying to me and again she said no. We had a long talk about lies (and maybe a little bit about Santa's naughty and nice list) and she finally admitted to doing it. So, I thought I had taken care of that one again.

Later in the day Elise was downstairs and I asked her to come help me with something. She said, "Okay Mom, but I'm just going to keep my hand behind my back, but there isn't anything in it." Hmmm... does this seem slightly suspicious to anyone else? I asked her to show me her hands, and she said no. I asked her if she was lying about something. She thought for a minute and said yes. She then showed me that she had the paint in her hands that I had told her she could not use earlier. I took the paint and threw it away and told her that is what happens when we tell a lie. She was pretty upset, but I hope that she has learned her lesson. At least she's not a very good liar so I can be pretty certain that she won't ever get away with it!

Preschool Christmas Program

Elise had her preschool Christmas program this week. It is so cute to se all the little kiddos singing and doing the motions to songs. She got to be Mary, and I think she made a pretty darn cute one! Here is a video of one of the songs. I think it is cute how you can tell by the look on her face that she is completely concentrating on the words and the actions. She is a crack up!

Here she is after the program with some of the kids in her class. You can tell she had just enjoyed a chocolate cookie by the chocolate smile she is sporting.

Neige $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Neige $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Houses

We made Gingerbread houses on Saturday, and the kids both loved it. Elise had been begging to make one for weeks, so I knew she would be into it, but it surprised me at how Steven really was concentrating so hard on trying to get each candy in the right place. He didn't even try to eat any of the candy until the house was done. I'm not sure that our house is exactly a masterpiece, but we had fun making it so that is the important thing. And it turned out better than expected considering that a four year old and a two year old were the main contributers for putting all the candy on (although Dad did put the pieces of the house together and Mom did all the frosting).

Dear Santa, I Can Explain...

And boy do these two have a lot of explaining to do! Steven actually has been not feeling well lately, so we are going to blame his attitude on that. We had our Ward Christmas party on Saturday, and they had all the kids come dressed in their pajamas which was kind of fun. I decided since I had them in their Christmas PJ's and we had a fire going in the fireplace anyway, maybe I would try to snap a cute photo for our Christmas card that I have still done nothing about (oops!). As you can see from the photos below, Steven was just not very cooperative. Then we went to the party and tried to get a picture of the kiddos with Santa, but Steven was not too happy and wanted nothing to do with Santa. I would have just plopped him on Santa's lap anyway and gone for the classic "screaming" Santa picture, but Chris was afraid it was somehow going to end badly and so he rescued Steven from his mean Mommy and took him home from the party early. Oh well, maybe we'll have to try again for a photo with the Santa at the mall. Since Chris absolutely just does not do the mall for any reason whatsoever, he won't be there to rescue Steven this time. At least I was able to get a cute photo of Elise with Santa, who told him that all she wants for Christmas is a pink hula hoop. I'm not quite sure where she got that idea from, but I think Santa should be able to handle that.

Why Choose?

Why choose between taking a nap and eating your favorite snack when you can do both at once? Isn't Steven talented? He was sitting at the table the other day munching on pringles, and he was just so tired that he couldn't even keep his eyes open. His body kept slumping further down in his chair and his eyes were completely closed, but he just did not want to stop eating his chips. By the end of it he was completely asleep with a chip hanging out of his mouth, and was still sort of half chewing on it. What a funny boy!

LA Originals Knitted Baby Hat GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

LA Originals Knitted Baby Hat GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Little Mave Bloomer GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Little Mave Bloomer GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Following the Leader

Lately, Steven likes to copy everything Elise does. It is actually quite cute. One of Elise's favorite things to do is play "balance beams" on the curbs all over the back yard. Yesterday I looked out the window to see Steven following her on the "balance beam." Everytime he would fall down, she would help him back up. Awwww.... it melts my heart to see them play together so nicely.

A Lucky Day

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel loved? Yesterday was one of those days for me. First, I got a very fun package in the mail from a good friend. Here are part of its contents:

What fun! It is a little wooden nativity set with a stable. It is great, because I am about to get out my Christmas decorations, and this way there will be a set that my kids can actually play with. Also, she sent the cutest little Sesame Street Advent calendar which Elise LOVES. Thanks, Elizabeth!

Then last night while I was putting Steven to bed, I thought I heard some commotion in the front yard, but I figured it was the neighbors so I just ignored it. It was actually the Young Women putting these cute hearts with messages all over our lawn:

I wish I had taken a picture of them actually in the lawn, but it was too dark last night, and this morning they were a little wilted from the dew.

They also left something which I have enjoyed for breakfast this morning. Yum! Just don't look at how many are already missing because it is embarassing. I just have no self control when it comes to good chocolate, so a whole box could be dangerous for me.

The problem with having chocolate for breakfast is that I have to hide from my kids so that I don't have to share it with them. It's worth it though.

I was able to distract them with eggo waffles. Lucky for me, they are easily distracted.

And don't you love the gold bow in Elise's hair? It came off the See's candy box. She found it on the counter and said, "Hey look Mom, the Young Women left me a hair bow for a present!" I just went with it because I didn't want to tell her it was actually from a box of chocolate that I was not planning to share with her. Don't you just love fun surprises?

Sweet Dreams, literally

Sometimes on preschool days, Elise is just so worn out that she can't even stay awake until 7:00. Today was one of those days. At 6:30 I told her that she and Steven could watch one episode of Dora and then they needed to go to bed. She wanted to watch Dora from my bed, so I let her. Well, she was asleep in my bed before Dora was half way over. I just went to move her into her own bed, and when I picked her up she was mumbling, "Those cookies are just really, REALLY good." She makes me laugh sometimes. I know she's got a major sweet tooth, but apparently she even dreams about sweets. She is quite a vivid dreamer, courtesy of her Father who occasionally walks and talks in his sleep as well :-). It certainly makes things more interesting when you never know what kind of "episodes" might be going on after dark.

10 Little Indians

Okay, it was actually more like 15 Little Indians, but whose counting? For Elise's Thanksgiving Program at preschool, each class made their own costumes. Her class were the Indians, another class was the pilgrims, and the youngest class were the Turkey's. They all turned out so cute. Too bad I somehow got out the door without my camera, and when I pulled out my cell phone to snap a picture the battery was dead. So, you will have to live with just a picture of Elise when she got home. Too cute! And please ignore the dirty face. She comes home from preschool that way nearly everyday. She must play hard while she is there.

Elise has actually become quite the little performer. She participated in her first Primary Program on Sunday and did a great job (other than waving at Mom everytime I made eye contact, so I had to stop looking at her). We will definitely be having a talk before the next time about "smiling" at mom to say hi, but not waving. She ended up with a long part because another Sunbeam wasn't going to be participating, and she still was able to memorize the whole thing. Her part was, "I lived with Heavenly Father before I came to earth. He loves me and has a plan for me. The family is ordained of God and is central to his plan." It amazes me how fast she was able to memorize this. Just a couple times through and she had it. She is one smart little cookie!

Sunday was actually an eventful day for us as it was my first day in the nursery. I am definitely excited to be the new Nursery Leader. I will miss the Young Women, but as I had been president for three years and served in Young Women for two years before that, it was a good time for me to be released, and definitely a cause for celebration in the Miller household (especially by Steven, who didn't really like to be left in Nursery without Mom anyway). This should definitely be a different adventure for me as I have worked with teenage girls for so long!

Fashion Sense?

It is hard to believe how fast Elise is growing up, and all of the new things she is learning so quickly. Lately we have been knocking heads a little because she often insists on picking out her own clothes and getting dressed all by herself. Not only does she not seem to understand or care about matching, but she also doesn't even seem to care if her shirt is on frontwards or backwards, so this can create a little friction. This past Saturday was a stay at home day. Since we weren't going anywhere I just let her pick out whatever she wanted and put it on herself. Don't you love the results? I particularly love how she picked out one orange sock to match her shirt and one pink striped sock to match her pants. And I'm pretty sure that the blue tennis shoes which she insisted on wearing on the wrong feet top it all off perfectly. Hopefully her sense of fashion improves with age!

Small Spaces

My kids have always liked fitting into small spaces. I have found both of them inside cupboards, under beds, and climbing into drawers countless times. The other day Steven climbed into a little tupperware box, and he was so proud that he had fit himself into it. It reminded me of a picture I took of Elise just before Steven was born. I walked into the room t find her sitting in a similar container. What really cracked me up was that she was really just sitting in the box chilling and watching Dora. Sometimes kids really do the funniest things! Of course, after Steven climbed in the box this time around, Elise had to check it out and see if she could still fit... and she does.