Small Towns

We live in Goose Creek which is a mere 16 miles from downtown Charleston, but it feels like another world. There are a couple of things I love about living in a small town.

1. The Goose Creek Gazette - The cutest little newspaper. It gets delivered at no cost once a week. It is full of useful information like "Crime in the Creek", military updates, quail recipes, high school sports updates, and useful articles (like the one looking for extras for the Army Wives show). I look forward to the Gazette's arrival every week.

2. We received a Christmas card from the mayor. I think this means we have a budget excess, but it was still cute.

This is my work stuff Mommy!

So the other day I got in a Mary Kay and a Cookie Lee order. I didn't want Nora opening all the Mary Kay boxes, so we decided to make sure all the jewelry was there. She started putting it all on. I tried to put a bracelet on her other wrist and she took it off and put it on the loaded down side anyway. Then when I said it was time to put it away she said she was busy with her work stuff.

Weeds in December???

Not only am I still raking leaves, but I have to pull weeds too???

The reason they put warnings on things

So here is a picture of Morgan standing on a stool, trying to open a plastic bag of cookies, while also trying to turn the knob on the stove. She is the child that finds any uncovered outlet, chokes on any small object (including food), and touches hot grills. Nora was not this way. I'm not sure if all second kids are this way. Maybe I just don't pay as close of attention as I did the first time around. Well better run, Nora is quiet and I'm sure this is a bad sign.

Santa comes to school

Both girls got to meet Santa for the first time today at Nora's school. Nora was so excited when he walked in. They both got a new book and a candy cane. I keep asking Nora what she wants Santa to bring her and all she says is a red present.

I love you Mommy!

So the weather here is absolutely beautiful! (Again I apologize to those of you that are digging out of snow and ice.) We were in the back yard sweating in our long sleeved shirts and playing in the sandbox, so I took a few quick photos and one sweet video of Miss Nora.

Christmas Decorations

So those of us at the Miller household are starting Christmas early this year. Ben's big thing is decorating the outside of the house and I will say he has outdone himself this year! The pictures don't really do it justice! I have been begging for years to get reindeer, aren't they cute!



We went to get a tree last weekend and we all helped decorate it. Since then there has been lots of undecorating and redecorating of the tree. Between the girls and the cats I'm constantly finding ornaments on the floor.

After Nora went to bed we had to redecorate the tree to evenly distribute the ornaments. She really liked hanging them all on this one branch.

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves

I apologize in advance to those of you that live in cold climates...

In the South it is still 70 degrees everyday so the leaves have barely changed and are starting to fall off the trees. We have raked 8 large bags and several little bags of leaves.


This is all well and good except that my trees still look like this. Any ideas how many more bags that is? And that is just one of the three trees in our yard, not to mention the ones on the hiking trail. Why is it raking leaves was one of my favorite memories from when I was little?

At least we had some cute help.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I was growing up we always had a tradition that we (all 20+ people we shared dinner with) had to say what they were thankful for before we ate. So this year I'm doing it a little late...

I am thankful for my family and the wonderful friends I have located all over this great country of ours. This Navy thing can get hard sometimes but it has given us the opportunity to live in some interesting places and meet people we wouldn't have otherwise. And I haven't lost touch with those we leave and that is important to me.

I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends! Here are some photos of our day.

Morgan and Uncle Don cooking dinner.

Nora and Daddy watching football.

Melvin and Sawyer playing.

Morgan and Mommy hanging out.

P.S. Thanks Aunt Carol for coming to dinner and for all the treats, including the mysterious rosemary bush on my porch :o)

We went to a movie!

Before Saturday I can't tell you the last movie Ben and I have seen in a theatre. Well it has been long enough that inflation hit the movies! The military discount scored us tickets for a mere $7.00 each! Then a medium, not a bucket, a medium popcorn cost us $5.00! I'm pretty sure the fact I notice this makes me old.

We saw Dan in Real Life at the recommendation of my friend Emily. It was a very cute movie. Very funny too. Ben's favorite line was "You are a murder of love!" I just wonder if there are really families out there that do these things? They seem to actually love being together even though they are all always crammed in the same room. And they do things like aerobics and put on talent shows together. Who does that?

Morgan's Hair Cut...the next day

I tried to dress her extra girly today. I'm sure it will be back in her face before we know it.

Morgan's First Haircut

Morgan's hair has been getting very long and she refuses to keep in a clip or ponytail. So today I took her to a salon next to a children's store I went to recently. I couldn't find the name of the salon in the phonebook so we just went there and caught someone on their way in. So it turns out the salon is also a boutique and the reason I couldn't find it in the phonebook is because they recently changed their name (at the request of all the Christian's around) from Simply Sexy to Attitudes. I didn't even notice until we were leaving that they had a few risque items for sale. Oops! But the stylist was awesome.

If anyone wasn't sure, Morgan is no longer a baby...

...and now she looks like a boy.

Here are my six things

Here are six things about me at the request of Miranda's tag. The only other person I know that blogs that hasn't been tagged would have to be Layne And I bet Layne has some funny stories!

1. I love to play tennis, especially when I win, even more when the loser is Ben. Not that I'm uber competitive or anything it's just that he wins at everything and this is the one thing I actually have a chance of beating him at...sometimes.

2. I love my girls. One of my favorite things is watching them play princesses together. It was also super cute today when Morgan and I picked Nora up from school and she was finishing her snack. Morgan walked over to her and Nora fed her some of her alpha bits cereal.

3. Baking is like therapy for me. It is very relaxing and extra fun when Nora helps. Problem is that I don't have Zach and Miranda around to eat all the cookies, cup cakes, and whatever else comes out of the kitchen and my waistline makes me stop baking for a while.

4. Football picks - Every Sunday Ben and I pick the winners of all the NFL games. This is something Ben and I started doing last year and he totally kicked my butt. This year I'm giving him a run for his money!

5. I love to travel. I love this for a few reasons. First, it gives me something to look forward to, for example, I'm planning a trip to St. George this Spring to play in a tennis tournament. Who knows if it will actually happen, but the thought of it keeps me going on those crazy days. Second, you get to see lots of cool things, relax, get crazy, spend time with your traveling companions, meet new people, and buy souvenirs.

6. I'm a t.v. junkie. The problem is that all the shows I watch get cancelled because they are so "lame" (well according to Ben). Ben bought me a DVR recently and I have to say this is something I should have done years ago! You can pause live t.v.!! This is especially wonderful when I'm watching a show and Nora keeps getting out of bed. I never have to miss a second! And I can play Little Einsteins whenever Nora wants!! Yippee!! So when is the American Idol premiere?

Tagged...

I guess there is this thing in blogger land that you can tag someone to tell 6 things about themselves. Well I have been tagged by Miranda, but I need to put some further thought into this. So here are some pictures of the girls to tide you over for this week.

Soooo much!

So much has happened since my last post! We have had company, a birthday party, and Halloween!

From the last post you know that Grandma Katie was visiting from Denver. We got to do lots of fun stuff while she was here and enjoyed visiting when we didn't have the stress of a holiday, move or birth of a new baby! I also appreciated all the help while she was here! With Ben working about 60 hours a week the company was nice too.

Grandpa Marty and Grandma Mary came into town from Michigan for the weekend of Nora's birthday. We got to eat a lot, visit the Market downtown, go to the beach, and enjoy Nora's party. They took Ben and I out for a fancy dinner at High Cotton when they were here which is a nice treat for us!

Nora had a fantastic princess birthday! She enjoyed everyone coming to share her day with her. The pizza surely wasn't as good as the Z Pizzeria we had last year!

Nora had a Halloween party and school where she loaded up on sugar. Then we went trick or treating to just four houses and still have way too much candy. It sure is different being an adult. Morgan wasn't feeling 100% on Halloween due to her immunizations and wasn't really up for wearing her costume so here are some pictures from the dress rehearsal. Hope everyone had a fun holiday!

Disney on Ice

The girls just love their princesses! So for a birthday treat Grandma Katie took us to the Disney Princesses on Ice. It was fantastic!!!!!!! My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Nora wasn't sure what to think at first and got a little scared at times, but she loved it. But I think Morgan loved it the most. She was dancing, bouncing, clapping, and laughing right from the start.

Thank you Grandma for an absolutely fantastic day!

Things I miss about SLC

As many of you know Salt Lake City is very high on my list of places I would love to live. There are many reasons for this...here are just a few.

The food - We ate out a lot, I mean a lot after Morgan was born. So we miss many of the yummy restaurants near our house...Greek Souvlaki, Gandolfo's, Paradise Bakery, Z-Pizzeria, Rumbi, Noodles, Taco Bell (yes we have one here, but the one by our house is horrible! And they don't have tostadas), Banbury Cross Donuts, the Chinese place in Smith's on 8th South (Thanks Amy), Crown Burger, Cafe Rio (Sorry Zach), Pei Wei, and Arctic Circle (speaking of which, I bet they have pumpkin shakes right now, yum!).

Smith's Marketplace - They have everything you could ever need! And we could walk there from the house. Ben pointed out the other day that this didn't happen often, but it was nice knowing I could.

The fabulous weather - Yeah it is hot in July and cold in January, but that goes for everywhere. The Fall and the Spring are fantastic! Besides everyone there is so active that the weather doesn't hold anyone back. I will miss taking the girls to Liberty Park for walks, sledding, slides, and people watching.

The number 1 reason I love it - The people - SLC has some very awesome people! Those that play tennis, those that work at the Y, those that live in the hip SoTro neighborhood, and those that stay at home with their kiddos. I feel lucky to have met so many wonderful people! We miss you!

Why not?

So this is the new question. "What?" was always easy to answer, but now I'm going to have to get creative. And I think I heard Nora say holy cow today when she saw a lizard. So cute!!

I did it! I did it!

I mowed the lawn for the very first time! Usually I can do without very loud things that can cut my arm off. But, we have been so busy lately and it seems to have been raining for a year, so the grass was a little long (not too bad, but I'm not sure how fussy the hoa is here). Ben gets home so late from school that it is already dark, so I decided to surprise him! I have a limited window of opportunity for this sort of thing. I have 1 hour 3 days a week that Nora is in preschool and Morgan takes a nap. So every time the mower crapped out I would check to see if she was crying. Why do they crap out so often? And why are they so hard to start? I made it through the front yard...the back will have to wait. I tried to use the weed eater, but I think I need a lesson on that too.

I want to thank my friend Jennifer for the tips! They were most helpful.

Look Mom...

So Nora is sitting on the couch and very calmly says "There's a lizard." I say "On the TV?" Nora says "No." Just as I turn around and see one hanging out on the blinds. I wasn't quite as calm as I wasn't expecting a visitor. Ben says that I have a bug scream, but I think the lizard scream was more of a gasp. So turns out rubber gloves come in handy for lots of things.

Some cute new pics...enjoy!

Our Pets are Crazy

So everyone knows we have two cats and a dog, but I'm not sure you realize how nuts they are...

Maddie has been in our family the longest. She is pushing 12 and nearly dies every time we move. If she sees a cardboard box she goes into hiding. When we moved to SLC I had to force feed her with a syringe for 4 months. She did pull through though and decided that Melvin wasn't so bad after all. It was as if she had a near death experience and decided to live life to the fullest. Then we started packing boxes for the trip back down South. She kept eating this time, but mostly hung out in the closet or under the bed...you could forget about downstairs. So it came time for her yearly shots and they recommended a dental cleaning. If you have ever had this recommended you know it is ridiculously expensive, but it had been recommended before so I thought we should do it. Well they put her under to do the procedure and it must have acted as her near death experience because she is out and about now...even downstairs. And it was much cheaper than the last move.

Tweeter is a beast. He weighed in this year at 21.5 lbs. So he is on a diet. The reason he weighs 21.5 lbs is because he thinks he is a dog. He eats Melvin's food, chews up anything made of foam (flip flops, blocks, door stops...), and doesn't move around much. The other day he came down the stairs and my friend thought Nora had gotten out of bed. He is an oaf, but so fun to pick on!

Melvin just turned 5 and I think this must be the magic number for dogs. He no longer runs off every time the front door is opened, I love this. He is great with the girls and they really try his patience I'm certain. He is a bit of bed hog...anyway the reason I got on this tangent today is because Melvin is a squirrel killer! There is an abundance of squirrels where we live due to the dense forest that is the South. Ever since we moved into this house when you let him out back he goes tearing after a squirrel. I never thought he would actually catch one of the poor things. Luckily Ben was home and was able to handle the situation. I found this so maybe if he keeps it up my grocery bill will go down...http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Squirrel-and-Liver/Detail.aspx yucky!!!