such a big boy...

Cannot believe how big 3 and a half is... my independent little man is just about breaking my heart with his cuteness! I can't believe how excited he is for his new "Big Boy" room. So stinking adorable! He was falling asleep with me on the couch tonight around 9pm (about an hour before his normal nighttime crash) and finally rolled over and looked at me and said "It's bedtime mommy." What? What 3 year old tells mommy that it's bedtime. He then proceeded to take himself to the bathroom, potty on the big boy potty, put on his new PJ's and crawl into his new big boy bed for his song and prayers. So cute I might actually burst. :)

And, of course, all of this is here so that when he is 15 and I want to ship him off to Australia, I can be reminded that he is adorable and he is always worth it!

good mornings...

it's funny (ironic) that the last post on here was when I started with YFC... what does that say about the time that is left in my life to spend on "luxury hobbies" like a blog??

busy busy, but who isn't...

anyway, I realize so much happens that will all slip away and disappear if I don't document it, and so really, this isn't so much for you anymore as it is just for me, and maybe Cohen and baby Miller someday. the kind of fun thing we can look back on as a family and remember. but observe and enjoy if you must- i however, don't promise to always be profound or entertaining because well, frankly, i just don't have that kind of time.

Today's beautiful mommy-moment:

Early 8am shower, the boys are still asleep in bed. I detect the pitter-patter of little feet on the bathroom floor and then hear "Good morning mommy!" in the sweetest, most non-grumpy, sing-song, beautiful tone that my precious 3 year old can manage. I don't know how he wakes up in such a great mood (he does not get this from his mother or father!) but it is one of my favorite things about his unique little personality. My heart was full for hours on those 3 little words. So precious...

some new job updates...

Our internet has finally returned!! It's true- no more dialup! I really am just not sure how people survive on dialup...do they just not know how much better it could be?

It's time I get this thing caught back up. Not sure how much I can knock out in a night, but I'll give it my best.

We'll start with the biggest change in the Miller household...mommy's new job!!

(Disclaimer: I started typing all this out and realized it was far too long for the family blog- I mean, I know that I am a part of the family as well, but it was ridiculously long. SO... all of the details for the beginning of this journey are actually now on MY page: http://cherismiller.blogspot.com/

and you can read to your heart's content about this transition there.)

In the mean time, some pictures to catch you up to date on my new job!

From the morning of See You At The Pole...long before I actually started this job but one of the many things I got to help out at on my way to where I am now...

at Go Mad (our annual Go Make a Difference conference): some of my favorite freshmen boys!

Trouble...that's all I'm gonna say...trouble...don't leave these two alone unattended....

The whole Go Mad gang...I love these kids!

Club at Kelsey's...I love this picture!! Nothing can capture the full chaos of these nights, but this picture is close...

Okay, that's better, at least you can see some faces this time....

Christmas shopping!! Two of my favorite foreigners and Josie...even though she looks a bit like a deranged squirrel in a hat in this picture...

A night out for some Christmas shopping...and birthday cake for Cheris!! Yay! Who better to celebrate my birthday with than some of my most favorite kids?!!!

I have not abandoned you forever...but our internet is down at home, I'm being slow and lazy to get it back up because I have internet at work- do I really need it at home?? Besides that, I've been far too busy to do any blog updating while I'm at work- plus they probably don't like it when I waste my time that way anyway. Hopefully, if life keeps going like it is, I will have some big updates for all of you and all kinds of time to add them very soon!! We'll see....I guess you will just have to stay tuned!!

Two more trips to the zoo!!

Well, I waited so long to post our pictures from the zoo that now we have actually gone twice. So these are the highlight shots from those trips. I had yelled at Nick after the last couple of outings that the Millers took because I had no pictures of Cohen and I! Since I'm always the photographer, I have very little pictures of mommy and Cohen. So yes, you will notice more of Cheris and less of Nick...but really, I don't think that's all bad. :) These first few pictures are from Wed. July 23. It was Nick and my day off and it was beautiful so we decided to head up to the zoo!!

Mommy and Cohen watching the fish. The fish continue to be one of Cohen's favorites. The Great Barrier Reef at the Ft Wayne Zoo is always swamped with kids however...I don't know why, maybe just because it's air conditioned, but as much as he loves the fish, he hates crowds more so we never get to spend too much time there.

The traditional kissing-the-orangutan picture. I think that all kids have this picture taken...come to think of it, that's a whole lot of germs on one monkey.

Is it a family portrait? Mommy, Cohen and .... oh, well, there are many similarities, but no, that isn't Nick. Guess it's not a great family shot after all.

The train ride. Cohen LOVES trains. And the ride around the lake in the cool breeze really is a great way to finish off the zoo. Kid tested, mother approved.

The parents! We are still the majority in this family after all!

The second time we've been up to the zoo lately was this past Saturday, August 9. Nick was suppose to be at work until 3pm, but when Cohen and I got home from a wedding shower at noon, there he was, waiting on us!! It was a slow day at Lowes so he just came home! We are loving all the new perks of the new job! So again, BEAUTIFUL (almost fall-like) day...what else do the Millers do when we are all home together and it's beautiful outside?...we go to the zoo!...again!!...I know, but we still aren't sick of it!!

Mommy's favorite...the orangutans!! I could sit and watch these guys all day long! Nick and Cohen don't have as much patience however.

Remember the first trip to the zoo? When it was sweltering-ly hot? And mommy and Cohen tried to get a good picture in the rocks, under the waterfall? Well, we tried again. Cohen apparently is far too distracted down here to take a good picture with Mommy. Guess we'll try again next time...

PS- look at his cute little boat shoes...he is ADORABLE in these puppies if I do say so myself!

The sea lions!! Cohen hasn't been too interested in these guys until this trip...

...And this time around, HE LOVED THEM!! You should have heard him laugh! We were entertaining the whole zoo.

We tried the kangaroo picture...he's still not really fond of being "in" things...I think it's the inheritance of daddy's claustrophobia...

Cohen's favorite thing in the whole wide world (even outside the zoo) are birds. I don't know why but he is always catching them in flight and pointing them out to us. I don't know what it is about birds, but he loves them. So we made sure to stop around the zoo this time and catch some of the many birds that they have to offer. So for our parting shots, some of Cohen's favorites....

See you soon!!

A mid-summer update...

Just a few pictures and updates on the past couple weeks...

Mommy found her old Pullin' Green tractor pulling shirt and decided that Cohen needed to have it. Apparently, we almost waited too long because it's almost too small. So we got a bunch of pictures just in case we hit a growth spurt.

Cohen showing us how big he is.

4th of July picture of Cohen. He's excited.

This is Nick's excited face. He had just found out earlier this day that he got his promotion at Lowes!!! Yay! The 8th try is apparently the lucky try. Now he's in management up front, has a little desk, works MUCH better hours and is loving his new job!! Yay for answers to prayer!!

A swim at great grandma Karen's. Grandma great's pool has been such a blessing on these hot humid Indiana summer days!

Cohen really enjoys swimming, especially in some sort of floating apparatus. He's happy as long as he feels secure. Now if only we can get him to STOP DRINKING THE POOL!!

He didn't lose his arms...he's just contemplating jumping in. But aside from the no arm thing, I thought this was a pretty cute picture!

Mommy and Cohen swimming. Nick got a talking to about not taking very many picture of Cohen and I (I take all the pictures, therefore I have NONE of the two of us!) so he has started doing a much better job of catching moments of mommy and Cohen.

Cohen driving Grandpa Great's lawn tractor. It's a West family tradition.

Cohen got some gift money, so we went and got him a new trike. I've got the cutest video of this morning...as soon as I can get it shortened, I'll get it up here for you all!

My sister thought that the other "sick" pictures of Cohen were so cute, so I had to put this one up for her. Cohen had a sick day or two a few days ago. He spent most of the evening in his chair, in front of his little TV, watching Wonder Pets, with his gatorade, his blankie, his paci and his Mickey. He was a pretty sad little guy. But he's tough, he prevailed.

Sorry to end on a sad picture...coming soon...more zoo pics!

Indiana Vacation

I know, I know, we live in Indiana, how can we take an Indiana vacation? The Florida Daugherty family took 2 weeks off and came up to Indiana to spend some time up here for an Indiana summer vacation. They started and ended at mom and dads but spent all the time in between up at Lake James. Here are a *few* (sorry, there really are a lot of) pictures from their trip:

Cailin and Cohen in the wagon headed down to the pond at Grandma and Grandpa Slushers.

The boat ride over to the beach wore Cohen out so he slept nearly the whole time in the shade.

Cailin playing at the beach.

Cohen finally woke up and was able to play on the beach for a little while before we had to race back across the lake to beat the storm- it certainly was not a boring day.

Cohen and Cailin playing at the cottage.

The Daugherty kids

Cohen was so excited to finally have someone his size to wrestle with....

.....and snuggle up on the chair with when he was tired.

or someone else to snuggle up with. Cohen likes to hug a lot, and one of the million times he was hugging Carson, Carson looked at me with this false-pained look and said

"Why won't he leave me alone?"

And I said, "He likes you, he thinks that you are pretty cool!"

Carson- "He does? Why?"

Me- "Because you are his older cousin and that makes you cool!"

And that was enough of an explaination for Carson, after that he didn't seem to mind having Cohen around, whether he was hugging him or not.

Cailin, Cohen and I out on the dock.

Cohen out at the campfire.

Cailin on her mom's old bike. She's just so darn cute!

and if you are going to take a picture of one of them...

...you have to take a picture of all three.

Grandpa and all the grandkids down at Grandpa's pond.

You would act like this too if you had two older brothers who drove you crazy!

Cailin being her usual "mom" self and taking care of Cohen.

And one last shot of Grandpa and the boys fishing. I seem to like ending my posts on a sunset picture. Seems fitting doesn't it.