Miller Family Halloween Party 2012

On Sunday we got our house all ready for Halloween. 

We hung decorations.

We carved our biggest pumpkin.

Ohhhh, the innards!

We saved a few pumpkin seeds to plant in our garden for next year and toasted the rest (using this easy and yummy recipe, if you're interested).

We made cupcakes. Actually, Colin did this almost entirely on his own. He was so proud of himself!

And we are ready for tomorrow's festivities!! Colin will be a zookeeper and the trips are going to be animals. Should be fun!

Tonight while saying bedtime prayers with Colin, I asked if there was anything else he wanted to talk to God about. He paused and then said, "God, I love candy. And I'm so excited for tomorrow."

Amen!

Grandmother in the house!

Last week we made a day trip to my parents' house, to spend time with my grandmother (the boys great-grandmother!) and my Uncle Dave. It was a wonderful day! My grandmother lives in Pennsylvania and doesn't travel as much anymore but I am SO appreciative and thankful that she made the trip up to Michigan! It was wonderful to catch up with her in person and spend time with my uncle too. The day went by quickly but we soaked in every minute together!

Grandmother had met Colin when he was around 17 months old but she'd never met the triplets. 

Finn immediately made himself right at home on her nap. He knows a good cuddlier when he sees one! Seriously, he stayed there for about 30 minutes, not caring to move at all. 

Colin, chillin' with his breakfast bagel. He too warmed up to Grandmother quickly. He especially loved bringing her toys. 

Lots of toys.

One of my favorite memories of this day was when everyone was gathered around the piano.  

My grandmother is a wonderful pianist and so many of my own memories with her include listening to her play the piano and playing duets with her. Her love of the piano was a big reason why I got into it too.

She can't see well enough to read music anymore but she can still play beautifully, all from memory. 

While I thought it was adorable that they were all so interested in the piano, my mind couldn't help but wander to, "omg, piano lessons for all of them would be SO expensive!" haha.

Everett and his spontaneous hugs. He doesn't stay on your lap for long but his hugs are priceless.

Group picture!

While playing outside, Colin decided to bring Grandmother leaves. This is how that game ended up:

She is such sport! 

We are so blessed to have our 92 year old grandmother in our lives! It was such a blessing to be able to spend the day with her and introduce her to the boys. 

They all loved her, of course.

The Mom Stays In the Picture...at the Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we took the boys to Cranes in Fennville, MI. It was our first time and we really enjoyed ourselves!

Here comes the tractor to pick us up for a hayride!

Ready...

1, 2, 3 nobody look at the camera! 

Actually this picture made me laugh because I can imagine just what each one of them was thinking. Everett is already planning what kind of shenanigans he can get into along this ride (turns out he finds many ways). Finn, is taking it all in and maybe remembering a book about tractors that we've read together. He is a thinker! Colin is SO excited! Carter is skeptical but finds Colin's enthusiasm intriguing.  

Family pic! Once again, on the count of three..... nobody look at the camera!

Go time!

Colin said, "This is SO amazing!" 

Carter, on the other hand, doesn't look convinced yet.

We rode through the apple orchards and then through the woods. The trees were absolutely beautiful and reminded me why I love fall in Michigan.

Next up, the cow train. Also really fun... and really bumpy. Colin loved it though!

 After riding the rides, we went across the street to pick our pumpkins. As it turns out, the wheelbarrow they give you for collecting pumpkins is also a perfect toddler-mobile. 

On the hunt!

It was a special day. In truth I spent much of this weekend writing a paper for my Neuroscience class. Blah! But come 2 p.m. on Sunday, nothing could stop me from our family trip to the pumpkin patch. There is nothing better than having fun with your children and seeing their faces light up during these adventures. Colin was remembering last year when we did something similar outside Chicago, so for him it's becoming a tradition. For the triplets, this was all new for them as their little brains don't remember our wild adventure last year :) Watching them run around the pumpkin patch pointing to pumpkins and calling them "apples!" (their new favorite snack!) was so fun.

And here's a self taken pic of me in the pumpkin patch:

Did you read this mom's story? 

The Mom Stays in the Picture by Allison Tate.

I did and I nodded in full agreement. I saw a lot of myself in her, as apparently so many other mom's did too! I've always been more comfortable behind the camera and since starting this blog I've realized that I mostly take pictures of my children and husband without me in the frame. I'm vowing to get in the picture more even if I'm not as thin as I once was and most days feel anything but camera ready. I want my boys to see me in this blog too. 

The everyday me.

Their mama.

Oh boy....

have I been delinquent with this blog. I'm going to do better!

We have been sick here in the Miller household. The boys have all had colds that just seem to hang on. In turn, they're not sleeping very well. And neither are Chris and I. The other night I was literally up from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. with a few short blocks of sleep in between. The problem is that when the boys have trouble sleeping, they're usually up at separate times. So like on that particular night, Finn was up from 12-2, then Everett and then just as Everett fell back to sleep, Carter woke up. It was Brutal!!

Then Chris got the flu and I haven't felt 100 percent either. In the midst of this, grad school is still there and I'm trying to do my best to keep up..... ahhhh the joys of family life. 

In other news:

Everett is now crawling out of his crib. Yesterday morning I went into the triplets room, and sat in the rocking chair for a minute, chatting with them as I often do. Apparently Everett got tired of waiting and I watched as he pulled himself up onto the side rail of his crib- his muscles were shaking he was working so hard. Then he balanced at the top and launched himself over. It was simultaneously impressive and scary!! Perhaps it's time to look into crib tents??

Colin installed a "talkie talkie" in his bedroom (yup, some people might call this a reading light- don't be fooled, it's a walkie talkie). Chris asked what it was for and he said, "To talk to Grandma Patty, Grandpa, Mom-mom and Pop-pop". Of course!

The trip's had their 18 month appointment on Monday and it was chaos as always! Colin took this picture to capture the experience:

 Everett weighs 25 lbs. 5 oz, Finley weighs 25 lbs. 8 oz lbs. and Carter weighs 24 lbs. 12 oz. As always, I'm so thankful for their good health!

Fall is here! Leaf raking and exploring what's left of the garden are top on the list of favorite fall activities. And shoveling leaves.... and transporting them.... and piling them in different spots around the yards..... all important work!

It's all fun and games until your little brother comes in and gets in the way of your "work".

Notice the shovel/ push my brother out of the way maneuver?

Everett proves that you can rock a Santa pajama top while gardening in October and be totally cool.

It's Friday night, let's get crazy!

Friday night is pizza night in our house. You could set your watch by it.

Late afternoon on Friday you will almost always find me in the kitchen making the dough the same exact way that my mom did when I was a little girl. 

This afternoon while chatting with my brother over the computer, I asked what he was doing with my parents who are visiting him tonight.

"Making pizza"

Duh. Of course.

And if I had to bet, I'd say that my other brother Kyle, is also making pizza tonight. It's in our blood.

So this afternoon when I went to make the dough I realized that we are out of flour. 

Nooooo!

So we went out for pizza. Within minutes of realizing this huge oversight, we'd loaded the boys into the mini van and drove to the local pizza place. 

Truthfully, it felt really good to do something on a whim. Something "crazy"! Yup, I'm calling taking four young children for pizza with no preplanning and no diaper bag of supplies, "getting a little crazy". With four kids, we don't deviate from the schedule much and it seriously felt kind of freeing to roll into Sluggo's pizza parlor, not knowing how dinner would go with the littles.... but feeling like living on the edge for the night.

Dinner was great....

until someone spilled his lemonade all over the pizza. No joke, the remaining pieces were completely soaked. 

We took that as our sign to jet.

We were still feeling wild so we decided to stop by Lowe's. There are always things we're looking to check out at Lowe's (tonight it was bathroom vanities) and the boys love to check out everything but we rarely go as a family. It was fun to push the boys up and down the aisles and hear them get so excited over lawnmowers, tools, tile and other worker stuff. 

We were home by 7:15 and Chris bathed the triplets while Colin and I cuddled on the couch and he ate a bowl of cereal for snack. He asked me to rub his feet so I did.

Not many years ago it was Chris and I, pizza, wine and meeting up with friends for drinks on a Friday night. Today it's rolling into a strip mall for pizza followed by a trip to Lowe's... with four kids in tow. Sometimes I'm still amazed how different our lives are now; how fast times change.

And I'm so grateful because really, I couldn't imagine anything better.

Chicago Marathon 2012

They did it!

Sunday was a beautiful day to run a marathon! Not that I ran one.... but I watched my brothers Kyle and Gavin complete their first.

The weather was crisp and sunny. 

We got to see them at four different spots; mile 8, mile 14, mile 16 and mile 25.

My favorite spot was mile 14 at the designated team myeloma cheering section. Everyone there had been affected by myeloma in some way and many had loved ones who were running for similar reasons as my brothers. 

By the way, Kyle and Gavin raised almost 8,000 dollars, well past their original goal! To everyone who helped make this happen, thank you!! It feels good to know that so much money was raised but also that so many people care.

After the race, we all went out for breakfast and then headed our separate ways. 

It was such a special day.

****Huge thank you to my in laws who watched our under- the- weather triplets while we were in Chicago.

Chicago!

Colin, Chris and I made the trip to Chicago today. 

Colin took some pictures along the way:

Actually, there are about 50 of these types of photos on my phone. All courtesy of our backseat photographer.

My in-laws are watching the trips who all woke up with colds. Ugh... I felt so guilty about leaving them. But I know they are in great hands and it's important that I'm here for the race tomorrow to support my brothers.

Tomorrow is the Marathon!

Go team Beat Myeloma!

Beat Myeloma

Kyle on a long run, training while on our family vacation. I joined him on my bike the last few miles.

This weekend we are heading to Chicago to watch my brothers complete the Chicago Marathon, to raise money for Multiple Myeloma research.

I'm so excited! And so proud of them. And so grateful to those who have donated to this worthy cause.

My Dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma seven years ago. At the time he was having terrible back pain which as it turned out was caused by numerous lesions up his spine. Bone pain and/or fracture is often the first sign of myeloma because this cancer lives in the bone marrow and weakens the bone structure. By the time the bones are fracturing and the cancer is found, it's often pretty late stage. This was the case with my Dad.

Cancer sucks. I've watched my Dad go through hell and back. It's hard for those of us that love him so dearly, to watch. I'm not even sure my dad will ever let us know how hard it is to spend years cycling through chemo treatments, constantly scheduling check-ups out of state with his specialists, or undergoing countless bone marrow biopsies. Or what it must feel like to live day to day with cancer sharing your cells. He makes it seem..... well, okay. He goes about his days just the same as he always has, with a twinkle in his eye.

I know that no matter what, cancer will never have the last word in our family. Never has, never will. Cancer has not soured my Dad's perspective that life is a beautiful, fun, humorous adventure. His optimism, faith and that twinkle in his eye has never ever lessened.

Cancer is there. It always is. In his body and on our minds. But it's not the boss. It will never get the best of my Dad or our family and it feels good to know that. Perhaps it's his positive attitude that has freed us kids from worrying too much.

On Sunday when my brothers are running the marathon we'll all be cheering loudly on the sidelines and having fun together. The only reason cancer will even be mentioned is because now there's more money to destroy myeloma.

Take that cancer.

For more information on multiple myeloma, go here

For information on the myeloma program at the University of Iowa and it's director Dr. Tricot, perhaps the best doctor EVER (I'm very partial), go here

For more information on the marathon that my brothers Kyle and Gavin are running and to make a donation if you'd like, visit their facebook page or their donation page.

Mommy/ Colin road trip!

Colin and I took a road trip this past weekend to check out the art show that my sis in law Madeline was a part of. We were gone Friday night until Sunday morning, just the two of us.

We had such a great time. We stopped for treats, played "I spy" a lot, chatted and slept in late.

I took a single stroller! I had to dust this stroller off, seriously. We almost never use a single stroller at our house!

I love getting one on one time (known in our house as "special time"), with each one of my children. Doesn't happen as much as I wish but it's sometime I strive for, even if it's as simple as taking just one kiddo to the grocery store.

Chris stayed at home with the babies little guys and they also had a special weekend (although Chris seemed more tired than me when the weekend was over :)

Here are some pictures from Madeline's show over the weekend:





I was dying over that blue bench that you can't see all that well in this picture.... it's behind the pillows.... amazing!!! If you are interested in any of her pieces, check out her shop!



Way to go Maddes!!!