What I was doing up past midnight last night...

Yes, I was up past midnight making this dress. I cut out all the pattern pieces weeks ago... maybe even months??? But, I just hadn't gotten around to actually making it. So, last night I was sitting and watching 24 with Chris, and I thought to myself, "I hate this show. Why don't I go do something useful?" So, I did. And voila, here is the fruits of my labor. It is kind of a funky mismatched style, but I like it and Elise likes it, so I guess it worked out.

How I Get Things Done...

I believe that these pictures need no explanation, other than to say that besides giving me a little bit of time to get something done, I have found that suckers are also great bribery to stop the screaming when we are leaving Steven with a babysitter. Needless to say, I now always have a bag on hand. Bad for the teeth, but oh so good for the sanity. Sometimes you just have to compromise.

Helping Himself

The other day Elise was finishing up her fruit loops for breakfast while I did the dishes. Steven was already finished with his breakfast and was wandering around. I turned around to find him on top of the table with the cereal box in his hand, and he was dumping out fruit loops and eating them off of the table. I took the cereal box away, but I let him stay on the table and finish up the fruit loops, because at least he wasn't trying to climb inside the dishwasher and grab all the knives while I did the dishes like usual.

A Cute Baby Blanket

For a Young Women's Activity this week, the Young Women made a blanket for their leader's new baby boy. They actually made it themselves, with the exception of binding the blanket, so it is not perfect, but I think it turned out so cute! You will notice that the two squares of diagonal print don't run in the same direction - Oh well! I'm not sure what happened there. I just know that when you get 10+ teenage girls in a room with scissors, needles, and a sewing machine, chaos sometimes happens. We used my very favorite fabric (Dick and Jane) and I am now thinking I need to buy some more of this fabric! I love it! I was going to have them make two coordinating burp cloths as well, but we ran out of time after the first one so I made the second one later at home. Can you guess which one the Young Women made by looking? Yes, it is the one that is a bit off center. I laughed when I saw it finished. I actually thought about remaking it, but then I decided to leave it because Nadinna will know for sure that the Young Women actually made it, and not their leaders.

Cute Kids!

I walked into the TV room after baths last night and found Elise and Steven laying on the couch cuddling and loving each other. It was very cute. I ran to get my camera, and of course by the time I got back, they were done. I took a few pictures of them in their jammies with their favorite blankies anyway, just because I haven't posted any pictures in a little while. Here they are:

25 Random Facts About Me

One of my friends tagged me with this little activity on facebook, and since I spent the time writing out 25 things, I thought I would copy it to my blog as well. So, here it is:

1. I have two cute kiddos, Elise and Steven, who are 1 and 3.
2. I have a wonderful husband, Chris, who I have been married to for almost 6 years now.
3. I love ice cream probably more than any other food
4. I absolutely love Target! I go there way too much. In fact, I have had to limit the number of trips I can take because I can spend money there like nothing!
5. I have webbed toes.
6. I love the Fall. The weather is great and the changing leaves are beautiful. Unfortunately the leaves don't change much around here.
7. I have taught elementary school, middle school, and high school over the course of about 7 years. Surprisingly, I think middle school was my favorite.
8. I am learning how to sew, and I love it. I have developed kind of an obsession with fabric though, so I have to stay away from Fabric stores almost as much as Target.
9. My favorite place I have ever been is Grand Cayman, although it was on a cruise so I only got to spend a day there. I hope to go back for longer some day.
10. I HATE doing laundry. The washing isn't so bad, but it can take me a week or more to get it all folded and put away. I end up leaving it all unfolded in the basement where our laundry room is, and running down everytime I need something just to avoid the folding and the putting away.
11. I actually kind of like doing dishes. It is relaxing to me, and usually Chris will deal with the kids while I do the dishes, so it is quiet time for me.
12. In High School I was on the swim team and I sang in choir.
13 In High School I was also one of about 15 "Honor Graduates" meaning I graduated with a 4.0 or higher. I used to be smart, I'm not sure what happened. Now I just feel like I'm losing my mind most of the time!
14. My first job was at a Chinese Restaurant called Lims Cafe. I was a hostess, but I only worked there for a summer.
15. I'm not a big fan of movies. It is hard for me to just sit for more than an hour. I feel like I am just wasting time.
16. I like to sleep, but I haven't gotten much of it in about the last year and a half. My youngest is just not a good sleeper, and he likes to make sure that no one else is sleeping without him.
17. I love to take pictures. I am lusting after a new camera right now, but it is around $500 dollars, so I'll probably have to wait a bit and get it for several occasions combined. Maybe birthday/christmas/valentines/anniversary and everything else next year. Maybe.
18. My favorite restaurant is Cheesecake Factory. I'm not sure if I like the cheesecake or the BBQ ranch chicken salad better. Both are delectable!
19. We "housesit" our in laws house while they go on missions. They are leaving again next week for a year and a half to Siberia. Hopefully we'll be able to buy our own house when they return.
20. I eat McDonalds at least once a week. Embarrassing, I know. My kids love it, and it is just so cheap and easy.
21. I'm a closet "Jon and Kate + 8" lover. Chris makes fun of it, so I try to hide my love for it. I record it and watch it when he's not around. This is seriously my favorite show, which is probably also a little embarassing.
22. I love Disneyland. We get annual passports every year, so we go a lot. It's one of the bonuses to living in Southern California.
23. I used to love to wakeboard, but I haven't done much of it in the last three years. Unfortunately, I have been very pregnant two out of the last three summers, which is just not conducive to wakeboarding.
24. I hate the snow. I hate winter sports. I used to think I liked snow skiing, but when it comes down to it, I just don't like being cold. It's not my thing.
25. I hear Steven crying right now, so I better run. Crying babies make me do that. I can't stand letting my kids "cry it out" which is probably why he is still up at night.

Hannah Jane!

I have a new niece! My little sister Kathryn gave birth yesterday to Hannah Jane! She is a cutie... Here are a few pics.

This is my favorite picture, of her in a bubble bath. I want one!I love the look on her face in this picture. It's like she's saying, "What the heck am I doing here? Put me back where I was!"
A cute picture of little Hannah with her Daddy and her two Grandpas!

Happy Valentine's Day to All

I know I am a little bit late on this post, but things have been a little bit hectic. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Chris and I decided to go out on Friday night (the night before Valentine's Day) to avoid the crowds. It was great, no wait at Cheesecake Factory. That for sure would not have happened on the day of Valentines. Then on Saturday, we decided to take our kids to IHOP for dinner. It was fun. We may have to make this a tradition. There was absolutely no wait, although they did as us if we had a reservation at the door. I thought they were joking and just laughed, but apparently IHOP does take reservations on Valentine's Day. Who knew? Luckily, we were fine without one. Here are a few fun pictures of my kids from Valentine's Day.Elise wanted a "heart pony tail" for Valentine's Day. Sometimes I'm not really sure where she gets her ideas, but here is a picture of our best attempt at a braided heart in her hair for Valentine's.Steven, pushing the chair around the kitchen so that he can use it to climb up on things. This is one of his favorite things to do, and keeps me on my toes for sure.

The Differences between Girls and Boys

We have learned quite a bit about the differences between boys and girls in the Miller household this week. The first was an anatomy lesson which came from Elise. She apparently told her Grandpa that Steven has a big thing on his bum and she doesn't. He was worried that Steven might have a rash or something, so he asked me about it. I had to explain to my father in law that Elise was simply explaining the differences between boys and girls to him. Phew, glad she cleared that one up.

The second lesson came in the cupcakes I made for the Young Women yesterday, pictured above. I thought they were very cute, and Elise absolutely loved them. Chris asked me why I put yucky candy allover the top of delicious cupcakes. I told him to make flowers, thinking maybe he didn't "see" that they were flowers. He told me he totally got that they were supposed to be flowers, but food is supposed to be "tasty" and not "pretty", so why ruin good cupcakes with nasty candy. I have to say that I agree that conversation hearts are one of the grossest candies around, but the flowers were just so darn cute. Then my Father in Law commented later in the day, "If I were I teenage girl I think I would probably think those cupcakes were the best thing around, but I'm not a teenage girl so we'll just leave it at that." The young women, of course, loved them. So, the lesson learned is that women worry about the way things look more, while men mostly just want things to be functional. Oh well, what do you do?

Yum - Spaghetti!

These pictures are from almost a week ago, but I forgot I had taken until I went to upload the pictures off of my camera today. We had spaghetti for dinner, and obviously Steven thought it was delicious. Getting him out of the highchair and into his bath was a lot of fun! Nobody wanted to touch him, so of course it ended up being his mom's job by default.

On a different note, Chris left Friday morning to go to Vegas for his nephews wedding while the kids and I stayed home. I have decided that I am very glad I'm not a single mom. I'm exhausted! He got home this afternoon, and he left about an hour ago to go to a family dinner at his brother's house with the kids. I have to drive the young women to a fireside in Glendale tonight, and I have to be at the church at 6:00 pm, so I stayed home. I had just an eggo waffle for dinner, but it was one of the best dinners I've had in a long time! Sometimes a little bit of quiet is the best thing you can get.... especially after a very long weekend!

Adorable Valentine's Cookies

I made some cookies tonight for our Young Women to eat in church tomorrow. They turned out so cute, I thought I would share the link where I found the recipe. They were tasty also, but the recipe calls for some almond extract, and they turned out a little strong for my taste. If I made them again, I would probably only use about half of the almond extract called for. You can find the recipe at this link: http://www.graceviolet.com/2009/01/bitty-button-cookies.html

They are just so miniature, I love it!

How does Steven Learn these things?

If I was wondering where Steven learned things like getting into the peanut butter jar, I can stop. I just found these pictures that I took over a month ago and completely forgot about. I walked into the kitchen that day and found Elise on a chair digging into the peanut butter jar with a spoon. Do second children always learn to do naughty things younger, because they see their older siblings modeling the naughty behaviors? Any opinions out there? I was a second child, and I am quite sure that I was absolutely perfect, right Mom!!!

By the way, please don't mind her outfit... she picked out her own clothes and got dressed mostly on her own that day. I can assure you that I definitely did not take her out in public in such a clashing outfit. I remember that I made her change her shirt and her shoes before we went to the store that day. Fortunately the shirt was pretty covered in peanut butter, so she couldn't argue too much about it.

Caught in the Act

So my genius of a brother just called me and told me that I could phototext a picture to my email by just typing in my email address instead of a phone number. Who knew? I guess you learn something new everyday. I actually don't even have a text plan, so each one of those pictures cost me something like fifty cents or a dollar to send... that'll teach Chris to steal my camera! These pictures are not at all great as I took them on my junky cell phone, but they are better than nothing. So, here is Steven digging into the peanut butter jar.

A Mental Picture of Mr. Trouble, Doing What he Does Best!

...getting into trouble, of course! Why a mental picture, you wonder? Because my wonderful husband has had my camera in his truck for work for over a week now, and I am really starting to get bugged. Yes, it is MY camera as it was a mother's day gift a few years back. I'm thinking of getting him his own camera. The cheapest one they had a Walmart was just $85, and it was pink. Double bonus.... cheap and pink! I can just picture him walking around construction sites with a pink camera, that makes it totally worth the money. Wouldn't you love to see that?
Anyway, on with my mental picture. Steven has been getting into things more and more lately. Yesterday I found him trying to crawl into the lower oven. Yep, he figured out how to open it and was climbing right in. I guess that means the bottom oven is off limits for a while. He has also figured out how to push chairs around in the kitchen to get at what he wants to reach. So, yesterday after breakfast Elise needed help using the potty, so I left him in the kitchen alone, with the peanut butter still on the counter opened. Big mistake!!! When I walked back into the kitchen, he had moved a chair in front of the peanut butter, opened the utensils drawer and pulled out a spoon, and was digging in to the peanut butter. He had the biggest smile on his face ever, and was covered from head to toe in peanut butter! It was hillarious, but a little annoying too. I had to clean up Steven, the counter, the chair, the peanut butter jar..... and everything. I REALLY wish I had my camera, but oh well. You'll just have to imagine it. I did take a picture with the camera on my phone, but I don't have a clue how to move it from my phone to the computer. Maybe I can make Chris figure that one out later, but for now, the mental picture will have to do.

Oh, The Things That She Says...

I really don't know where Elise comes up with half of the things she says, but here are a few funny ones from the last day or two.

We were eating breakfast yesterday, and Elise got up and walked to the back door and opened it. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was checking for monsters because she thought she heard one outside. I found it funny that she would open the door thinking there might be a monster there, so I asked, "What were you going to do if there WAS a monster there?" Without even thinking, she said,"Well, if it was a big monster I was going to shut the door very quickly. But if it was a little mean monster, then I was going to pick it up and throw it far, far away." I'd like to see that, Little Miss Scaredy Pants.

One more story. One of Elise's favorite comments to make when she is just not happy is, "You hurt my feelings!" Sometimes I don't even have a clue what I might have done to "hurt her fellings"... it doesn't take much. However, lately she has been saying, "Ouch! You hurt my feelings!" She says ouch with such feeling that the first few times I thought I had for sure stepped on her toe, or something. She can be such a riot.