Kisses in the Morning

A conversation between Elise and I as I put her to bed tonight:
Me: "Goodnight sweetheart. I love you. I'll see you in the morning." I then began giving her kisses on the face.
Elise: "Mom, you can give me kisses when I wake up, but not right now, because I'm just a little too grumpy."
Sometimes she seriously cracks me up. I guess I'll just have to wait to give those kisses in the morning.

Steven's Christmas Jammies!

I just finished sewing project #2. It was actually project #1 that I completed all on my own with no help. I think they turned out cute, but they definitely look cuter on than in this picture. It is hard to get them to lay straight for a picture, plus an iron probably would have helped. I had only planned to make Steven jammies from this fabric, but I had enough fabric left over to do pants for Elise as well. Not enough for a shirt though, I may get a coordinating solid or something, or she may just have pants. We'll see how ambitious I feel about that one later. These jammies are definitely not perfect, but I think they are cute anyway. It was definitely a learning project. For one, I learned that I don't sew pockets. After making 3 pockets, I decided to sew on the least hideous of the three, and then was unsatisfied with how I sewed it on, so I used the seam ripper to remove it, resewed it on, thought it looked worse the second time around, and removed it a second time. After all of this I decided it was just as cute without a pocket at all. (Was it really, or was I just fed up with the pocket? Who knows?). Button holes are also not my favorite, but I got through them, and I only had to redo three of the four. It was fun though, and I am looking forward to my next couple of projects, Christmas Jammies for Elise and matching robes for both Elise and Steven. Notice I'm not attempting anything that will be worn outside of the house. This way if they are a little shady, no one will know any different.

Fall

I LOVE Fall! It is my favorite season. Sadly, we do not see much of this season in southern CA. It mostly stays hot until at least November. However, we have had a few cooler days in a row, so I decided to take my kids for a walk this morning to enjoy it. We are due for a warm up again starting tomorrow, so it was short lived, but nice. I would love to live somewhere that there was an actuall Fall season, with leaves changing color and all! Oh well, I guess I just need to appreciate all of the really nice things about where I live. Here are a few pictures from our walk this morning.

Steven had fun just hanging out in the stroller. He loves to be outside.

Elise started out in the stroller too, but she didn't even last until the end of our driveway before she hopped out and started running.

I thought this was kind of a cute picture of her running down the street. This is just a couple of houses down from ours, so she still had a ton of energy. I love the look of old streets, and all the mature trees.By the time we got home, Steven was asleep in his stroller. I didn't even realize it until I went to get him out. I guess all that sitting in a stroller tired him out!

Happy Feet!

I love red shoes! I especially love red mary janes on little girls! This has got to be my all time favorite style of shoes. (I even have a pair of red mary janes myself). So, every Fall, Elise gets a new pair of red mary janes. These are the one pair of shoes she has had every year no matter what (I may have to add a pair of crocs in the spring to my list of necessities for her feet... she loves crocs. They are all she wants to wear.) So, anyway, back to my story. We bought Elise the very cute pair of red mary janes above in the end of August. She has only worn them once, but on Friday I went to look for them, and I could only find one. She has been into this game of hiding her shoes lately, so I thought it would turn up somewhere in her room, but we searched everywhere and couldn't find it. I was VERY sad. My mind immediately went to all of the worst case scenarios, like maybe she threw it in the trash, maybe she hid it behind a piece of furniture that never gets moved and I'll never find it, maybe she stuck it in one of the storage bins of too small clothes that I took up to the attic a few weeks ago..... ugggh! So, this morning I went to get a bag of Fall clothes off the very top shelf of Steven's closet, and when I opened it up, there was one red shoe mixed in with his clothes. How did it get there? I'll probably never know. Just one of those little mysteries. But I sure am glad I found that shoe. I am so happy, she is wearing them today, and darn are they cute!

Sewing Fun!

I finally finished Elise's Tinkerbell costume and I think it turned out very cute. For many years I have thought that I could definitely NOT sew because of a few projects that went askew when I was about 12. Let's just say I have since learned that when making a bag you should turn it inside out before sewing it, and that napkins are supposed to turn out square instead of as some unidetifiable shape (yes, these were both young women's projects). The costume did end up a little too long through the waist so I had to have my mom help me fix it, but we were able to save it. It just looks so cute on her. I told my mom that it is cute enough that if it weren't for the tuille around the skirt I might put it on her for church! I'm debating whether to put silver ric rac around the neck and arm holes still. I love ric rac, but I can't decide if that would make it look cheesy or cheap. Any opinions out there? She has some very cute wings and slippers to wear with it for Halloween, I will have to post pics. I had so much fun doing this that I have already started my next project...Christmas Jammies for both of my kids.

A Little Miracle

It is funny how you don't ever think of sleep as being a miracle until you are a mom. Last night Steven, who is almost one, slept through the night for the first time. I can't even believe it! It was definitely a miracle! I woke up feeling so refreshed! No runs to his bedroom to stick his pacifier in his mouth countless times, no rocking him to try to get him back to sleep, no finally giving up and giving in and letting him come into my bed just so I can get a little rest, only to have him smother me and kick me all night long in return. It was beautiful... at least seven hours of pure uninterrupted sleep for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will do a repeat tonight. Anyone reading this can keep their fingers crossed for me as well. Maybe there will be a third little Miller baby somewhere down the line after all.

Drama Queen!

This morning, Chris had to work, and I had a meeting at the house at 9am, which is Steven's usual nap time. So, as Chris was rushing to get out the door, I was rushing to get Steven down for a nap before people arrived for the meeting. Elise asked me for a glass of milk, and I told her I was going upstairs to put Steven down for a nap, and I would get her a glass of milk when I came back downstairs. I went upstairs to rock Steven and Chris left for work. I could hear her laying downstairs in the hall singing in a loud whiny voice, "Everybody's left me, Nobody will take me anywhere, Nobody will get me anything!" repeated over and over. I really can't do it justice by writing it down. I wish I had a hidden camera because it was so hillarious the way she was carrying on and on like she was so picked on, and she was just talking and singing to herself having a pity party. What a drama girl! We may be in for some trouble during the teen years!

Yikes, it's hot out there!

Yikes, it's hot out there! Maybe I'll just climb inside the freezer to cool off!



Our freezer hasn't been working great, so I decided to empty it out and move everything to the basement freezer so that I could defrost it. While the door was left open, Steven kept trying to climb inside. Also, there was a pan at the base of the freezer to catch water from the melting ice. Every time I turned around he was either sitting in this pan of freezing cold water, or splashing in it. It was a hot day, so I guess a boys gotta do what he's gotta do to keep cool!

Can you say trouble? He is already trying to escape out the back door, and likes to hang out there all the time now. Here are a few photos of him trying to escape.

A Really Bad Idea

On Saturday evening, I got in my car and it wouldn't start. I was 99% sure it was a bad battery, so I asked Chris to take it out so I could take it to an auto parts store and get a new one. Saturday came and went, as did Sunday, and he never quite got around to that battery. So, on Monday morning I was slightly annoyed, and I decided that I am not dumb, and removing a car battery couldn't be that difficult, so I was just going to do it myself. I popped my hood, fished around in the garage for the tools I thought I would need, and I got as far as removing two pieces of hardware (I think they are called nuts??? not too sure). Anyway, at that point I realized I had no idea what I was doing, and I was no where near being able to get the battery out, so I thought I would just close the hood and wait for Chris to come home. However, I soon realized that I had no idea even how to get the hood closed, so up it sat in our driveway for a couple of hours. Eventually I got annoyed enough that I called triple A (This is probably what I should have done in the first place. ) A guy came out to fix it, and when he looked at it the first thing he did was pick up the two nuts I removed and said, "Why did you take these off?" I responded in the only way I could, "I don't know, obviously because I had no idea what I was doing." How embarassing! He just shook his head, put them back on, and replaced my battery. So, in the end I spent about an extra$50 to have a battery installed that my husband could have done himself, which I was a little bugged about, but maybe next time he'll get around to it a little sooner. And I have learned my lesson to not even try touching anything under the hood of my car. I guess I 'm not as smart as I thought I was. If you want a good laugh, here is a picture of my car with the hood up as it sat for two hours. If you want an even better laugh, picture me with some tool in my hand that I have no idea what it is called unscrewing some piece of hardware that I also have no idea what it is called for absolutely no reason at all :-). Oh well, lesson learned.

Fashionista strikes again!

I am a little concerned about my 3 year old's sense of style. This morning I told her that her favorite babysitter, Sarah, was coming over today. She went and grabbed her cowgirl hat, put her crocs on (on the wrong feet), and came back to tell me she was almost ready for Sarah, but she just needed lipstick. I told her no on the lipstick, and I tried to explain that Sarah wasn't coming for several hours. Not until after she got dressed and Dad got home from work and we had dinner. She was very offended by the getting dressed part, because she wanted to wear her "beautiful princess jammies" for Sarah, with lipstick. Sometimes the ideas this little girl gets in her head just crack me up.

Ummm...What was I thinking?

So, I have become an etsy fanatic. I love all the little handmade pretties for little girl's hair, and the darling handmade skirts and dresses. I have only actually purchased a couple of small items off of etsy (darn that budget!), but after browsing through etsy, I somehow got the inspiration to sew. One problem... I don't know how to sew, and the one or two attemps I made in Young Women's during my teenage years did not end so well. I have a friend who is a great seamstress, and she offered to help me learn how. She suggested that a halloween costume would be a good place to start because there are lots of patterns to choose from, and if it doesn't turn out perfect, oh well, it only gets worn once. So, she took me to the fabric store, we chose a cute tinkerbell pattern for Elise, and I bought all the stuff I would need. She made an appointment to come help me start sewing a whole week later, all I had to do was cut out the pattern before she came. So, on Tuesday, about an hour and a half before Crystal was coming over, I thought, hmmm, maybe I better whip out that pattern and get it cut out real quick before she gets here. Big mistake. I just finished cutting it out today, 4 whole days later. It has sixteen "petals" to cut out for the petal skirt, plus lots of other parts that, being a novice, I didn't count on. Whew! It only took me four days to find time to get it cut out. Any guesses on when I might finish sewing it? Maybe I should make it a bit large so if it's not done in time Elise can just wear it next year instead. Anyway, I'll have to post some pics when it is done. (That is, IF it gets done :-)). In the meantime here is a pic of one of the 16 petals I cut out for the skirt. Darn those petals!

My Little Daredevil!

I ran downstairs to the basement to do some laundry the other day, and when I came back up the stairs, I couldn't find Steven. I noticed that the gate by the back stairs was slightly open, so I ran to the stairs to find that he had managed to make it up 16 of the eighteen steps and was almost at the top. These steps are VERY steep, so this was a little scary for me. I have had to make sure to do a better job making sure the gates are not left open, but it is getting to the point where he can almost just move them or tip them over, so we might need to work out a new system soon.

Steven sitting behind the gate, which I now make sure is always closed:





Here are the stairs he climbed, but the photo cannot really do them justice. They are so steep, but they turn around a corner twice so it is impossible to photograph them entirely.

Little Mommy

Elise LOVES her babies. She holds them, rocks them, feeds them bottles, and changes their diapers. For her birthday she asked for a backpack, so when I found one that has a spot to hold her babies, I decided it would make a great present. She loves carrying her baby around in it. Just about everytime we leave the house, she packs the bag with everything you would need to take care of a baby, plus a few toys for herself, sticks in her baby, and off we go. It is very cute.

Fashionista Girl!

I was trying to get ready to go to the store one morning, and I told Elise we needed to get her dressed and put her shoes on. She came back about two minutes later with ONE dress up snow white shoe on, along with bunny ears and a host of other accessories, and said, "Mom, I'm dressed and I got my shoes on. I'm ready to go to the store." She really would have walked right out the door, no pants and all. Afterall, who needs pants when you've got bunny ears?

Steven's 9 month pictures

I just got Steven's 9 month pictures back. These are a few of my favorites I thought I would share.