'Tis the Season!

We hosted our annual Mustache Egg-Nog Party in Charleston and had some enthusiastic participants. Here are a few captured 'staches. Can you guess which one is my husband?

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The poetry was awesome, thanks to Justin A. and George R. We even had a power-point presentation by Sam P. that was entertaining and educational! People dressed to impress, some in their fabulous Christmas sweaters, others in outrageous Goodwill and the Super-Bad Suit Emporium finds. Joel's egg-nog was delish, as usual. We've had quite a few requests for the recipe, so here you go!

Joel's Famous Egg-Nog
12 Egg Yolks
2 Cups Sugar
4 Cups Cold Milk
4 Cups Cream
Vanilla
Nutmeg
1-2 Tbls. Rum Flavoring

Mix yolks and sugar in mixer. Slowly add cold milk. Chill for 3 hours, or overnight. Beat 4 cups of cream until thick, not whipped. Fold into chilled milk mixture. Season with Vanilla, Nutmeg, and Rum Flavoring.


This year the holidays will be taking us to Sunny California. For all of our friends from the west, we will postpone our Utah Mustache Party until 2009. If you find yourselves in California during the 23rd-30th, let us know. We'd love to get together for more festivities and good times.
Merry Christmas!

"That sounds like R to the S to the V!"
said the nurse, who apparently, is right...bummer.
We are sick, sick, sick!
Poor Tessa. The rest of us are on the up. No more fevers.
Tessa's sad little cough breaks my heart.
Apparently this is the worst season ever for RSV.
Keep your little ones healthy!

The Bully

What do you do? There's a kid at school that calls Kimball a name every day during lunch. Today it was "Butt-face." Apparently the bully is not in K's class, but Kimball knows him as "Dray-Dray." Then there's a girl in Kimball's class that kicks him under the table. Kimball says,

"She used to be my best friend, and now she is mean to me."

We didn't think we'd have to experience these scenarios so soon. So we find ourselves asking, What is the balance between teaching your child to defend himself vs. turning the other cheek? And is tattling always bad? I mean not when someone is getting hurt. And, how much should we be involved? I mean, how much of this could be conjured up in Kimball's head? He has quite the imagination and takes things pretty personally. Today he said,

"Mom, maybe I should pretend to be Dray-Dray's friend, invite him over for a play-date, and then I can do Karate on him...I'll kick him in the stomach, like this, pow, kachoo,pow, pow, koo, koo, etc."

Don't ever cross Kimball. He is pretty conniving. But at the same time, he has a very sweet-heart, and would never hurt anyone (well, no one other than a certain sibling who might be driving him crazy). Kimball, by virtue of being the big brother, cares for people smaller and younger than himself. He makes friends with those that don't have any. I really am so proud of my sweet boy...but, how do you deal with bullies? Advice please?

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

We had a great time in Winston-Salem for the Holiday. Here are some pic's. Enjoy!

A Hendry Visit...

My sister Brooke and her family, Tyler, Elle, and Tatem, came to visit us this past weekend. While Tyler and Joel were in Perio Courses, Brooke and I played! We took the kids to Middleton Place, Charlestown Landing, Historic Downtown, Angel Oak, 5 Guys, etc. One night we went to Disney on Ice. Another night our neighbors brought us some live crabs to cook, the highlight of the weekend, so we feel like the Hendry's got a true Charleston experience. Kimball, who's favorite foods are Oysters and Crabs, was in HEAVEN cracking open the crab legs and pulling out the meat. YO! Papa Miller would have been so proud.

The two Periodontists: we are so proud of you two. It's been a LONG road.
Now stop playing the Wii and bring home some bacon!

The two babies, who despite having similar genes from their mothers, look nothing alike to us. Tatem is quite a bit bigger than Tessa, and their head-shapes are so different. But aren't they beautiful? Elle and Clara had a great time together. The dynamic between our kids is probably more like siblings than cousins, so the fighting is pretty intense as well. That's how we know they really love each other!

Kimball is pretty excited to have another boy cousin. Now these two, they resemble each other a little bit more, don't you think?
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Before the pot...

After! Ready to eat. Where's the butter?

Good times! Thanks for visiting, guys. We had a blast.

Loving this face!

For the past couple of months, Tessa has been sharing her beautiful smile with us, all the time! We are LOVING this age (4 1/2 months) and wish we could freeze her in time. Kimball even got her to giggle out loud the other day. All you have to do is look at her and she is all grins.

His Tender Mercies

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Kimball found this great stick. He was totally excited. He was throwing it in the air, attempting to bring down some "witches hair," or Spanish Moss, at Middleton Place. You can guess what happened, the stick got stuck in the tree. What a disappointment, and any of you with 6 year old boys know the drama that comes with disappointing events. He cried and cried, he pled with daddy to put him on his shoulders to get it down (that only reached about half way). The stick was a goner. Joel and I started to walk away and turned to see Kimball kneeling in prayer. Oh dear. What now? Just as Kimball started to stand up, the once absent wind picked up and the stick fell out of the tree. Are you kidding me? Wow, Heavenly Father really does answer prayers, even the somewhat silly ones! I love this talk about the Lord's tender mercies. Thank you Kimball, for your sweet faith.

Happy Halloween!

Yes, I let him dress up, or should I say not dress at all, as Michael Phelps. Only because he's a hottie, but I'm not taking responsibility for the scarred 6 year old girls that ran away screaming at the sight of a grown man in a speedo! Our ward friends have a new found respect? for my husband. Now that is SCARY!

The "Last Chance"

We have a little problem in the evenings. It may have started years ago, so it's more like a bad habit that will never be broken. It's called the last chance. Kids are in bed, teeth are brushed, prayers are said, etc. and the kids complain that they are hungry. Oh MAN! If they were not so dang skinny, we might say NO WAY! but being the soft parents that we are, we ALWAYS give in. Man alive, we'll never learn.

Star Wars Party

Kimball's party was a Jedi Training Academy. All the young Padawans learned how to use the force, construct and use a light saber, etc. Their final battle was to conquer Darth Vader. The boys were very cute and VERY excited about the theme. One little guy had never seen any of the films, so the family rented episode IV to prepare. So glad we assisted in that conversion, bringing another youngling unto the knowledge of the force.
Can I just say that Costco makes a very good cake? In my attempt to "scale back" and make this as simple as possible, I ordered this baby and the kids LOVED it! No shame, right?

I love my husband...

These homemade light sabers turned out better in my head. The paint started chipping off almost immediately, so all of the boys were covered in colorful flakes. At least the soft pipe insulators didn't kill the Sith. Mental note, use pool "noodles" next time!

Clara's Barbie Fashion Show Birthday

Clara invited a few friends to come over and play dress up. Then they dressed up their own Barbies and did a Fashion Show. I feel like every year we make such a big deal over Kimball's B-day, then 5 days later we don't have the same energy to do a "girly" party.
So, despite some concerns with body image, we hosted a Barbie Party where everything was pinkalicious!

Don't laugh at my cake. Every September I go into cake depression.
I really need to take a class.

BUSTED!

You know those pictures you wish your parents would burn???
Kimball must have felt a little left out.

Things have been pretty busy around here. Kimball and Clara both just had their birthdays. One Star Wars party down, one Barbie party to go. I can't believe our little guy is 6 and our sweet girl is 4. Are we really that old? YO! I feel so blessed to have 3 healthy, happy children. Who can resist such adorable kids? I think Joel and I make some pretty good looking kiddos. Why not have more? (um, just kidding...right now I feel like I'm running a marathon, barely able to catch my breath, kids just got put in time out, but it's lots of fun!) Tessa is at my favorite age, smiling and cooing, making it all worth it. We're not biased or anything, but I'm kind of in love! Here are a couple of funny conversations:

Driving home from school:
"Hey mom! I know that girl. I saw her in the bacteria!"
"You mean cafeteria?"
"Yeah, the cafeteria..."

Yesterday I was upstairs putting the baby in the bath. Clara yelled up to me,
"Mom there's a frog in our house!!!"
"What? Is it alive?"
"Yes! He's hopping around!"
I ran downstairs with a naked baby in one arm trying to catch a ginormous frog. Yuck! Where is Kimball when I need him? Oh yeah, in the bacteria.

Thoughts by Kimball on his baby sister Tessa:
"I used to think a baby girl was boringer than a baby boy; but now I think she's beautiful and I love her."

Clara is a huge fan of Barbie in the Diamond Castle. We hear her singing, all the time:
"I feel connected, protected...da da da da da da...you hear me, you're near me, and every little thing will be all right... nothing can break this time, connected."

Back to School

Summer seems to be coming to an end, thank goodness! The heat and humidity were really starting to depress me. We can finally go on walks, go to the park, and play in our own backyard again (without dying of heat stroke, that is). The kids are back on a pretty good schedule with school and early bed-times. Visitors have all gone. We survived our first Hurricane Watch and it's nice and quiet around here.
Kimball started all-day Kindergarten and seems to be adjusting OK. It's a LONG day. He gets home and has no desire to listen, look me in the eye, obey, etc. He said once, "Mom, I've been good all day! I walked where I was supposed to, I followed instructions, I listened to my teacher. I'm so tired!" Children are so wise. I realize that he is giving his best and there's really nothing left for me. It'll get better, so I'm told, but for now, we have to give each other some space at the end of the day.

Clara is thrilled to be back in school. I hope to put her in Kindergarten when we move out west. I think she'll be ready. Is that a good idea? Both of my kids are September babies, so if I do put her ahead, they'll only be 1 year apart in school. I figure if she's reading, she'll be ready and there's no reason to keep her back, right?

Tessa's Big Day

Tessa's Blessing brought some more family visitors. We were thrilled to have Mary Kathryn and her kids come (she had surgery on her gums by a REALLY HOT periodontist). Spencer and Sara came from North Carolina, and Dani is visiting for 2 whole weeks.
Joel's blessing to Tessa was very sweet. I loved when he blessed her to create music through her voice and with her fingers. It was pretty thoughtful that he blessed her to be like me. I love that man. He has given me the 3 best gifts!

One night Dani and I discovered this in our front yard. YO! How did that get here?

California Trip

Spontaneity! We decided we needed a trip out west to see the family and show off our little ones. Two of my sisters, Brooke and Morgan, had babies within 11 days of Tessa's birth. Three babies! It is amazing how a family dynamic changes when there are 3 sweet angels napping in one living room. They are straight from heaven. Also, my dad and his wife were sealed in the LA Temple along with their 2 children. It was pretty special to be there. The Miller house was quiet and calm, despite the two new dogs, 7 grandchildren, parties, etc. We had a whirlwind of a trip, but it was great fun.
Meet Hayden, Tatem, and Tessa, the newest members of the Miller clan. Josh, Ramona's son, has a new one too, McKinnly. That makes 4 new grandchildren in the last 6 months!

Donna Rae, the hot grandma, is so sweet with all of her grandchildren.
We were so happy to see her.

Swimming with the Dads.

Isn't Tessa sweet?
We'll keep her...

Clara and Elle played SO well together this trip. The two girls danced around the LA Temple grounds in their beautiful dresses.

This little girl slept like an angel. (Have I mentioned she sleeps through the night? I'm still amazed I gave birth to such a good baby.)

I'm so in love with this boy!

Congratulations to Dad, Ramona, Reagan and Ethan! We are so happy for you.

Even Tate has a faux-hawk. Love it!