There Was a President With Bad Teeth

Last week was President's Week.

I started with great ambitions to "meet" the presidents.  Somewhere along the way I have acquired presidential flashcards.  Yeah, so, that was pretty much a really difficult task.  Instead, we settled for rocking out to this rap song.  After which M and T (and me) all know that there have been "44 Presidents, White House residents..." (actually George Washington didn't live there, but you know--there have been 44 Presidents and they reside in the White House.) and a few other facts.



We also took a look at the faces on coins.  We played a super fun penny toss game.  I filled our giant bath tub with a little water, put two floating bowls in and gave M and T handfuls of coins to try to get into the bowls.

And last week in preschool M's class was learning about dental hygiene and cavities.  M told me that she raised her hand and told the teacher that the first president had really bad teeth and so he didn't smile.  Really, I've got to wonder what they think we talk about at home. 

Sesame Street had some funny/good stuff, too! We even learned a little bit about the revolution.

Theme Weeks: Body Week

Had such a fun night walking around with M and T on top of the snow in the dark (well, mostly walking on top--I, of course, fell through a couple of times.)  The shoulder-high fence that goes around the pond next to our house is seriously only up to my knees!  Now, they're finally all tucked in and well kissed. :)  Can't believe what the next week holds!

To help keep myself updated, here's what we were up to last week: 

For school I know that M and T are going to need to know basic body parts.  But there are some things that we just don't talk about very much--like our palms or wrists.  During "Body Week" we revisited those concepts.

(When I told them that it was "Body Week," T thought I said "Bobby Week."  And because he used to call himself, "Bobby," he wanted to know if I was going to call him "Bobby" all week.  Crazy guy!)

We started by drawing a person on the giant chalkboard.  And this brought back a funny memory.  In a momentary digression, once upon a time, when I was doing an internship as a speech-language pathologist working with a very cool group of high school guys with special needs, we were doing a creative writing unit about describing monsters. I thought it would be a good starter to draw a basic body on the board.  Current myself can see this coming a mile away, but past self had to learn the hard way. :)  What do you suppose the first answer was to "What is a part of a boy?"  Uh-huh--I got that answer.  Oh, good stuff. :)

Back to last week.  We learned about digestion--and this pop song is a pretty big hit around here.  I give you fair warning, it does indeed show ALL of digestion.



And, we checked out our bones.



So, good week. There has definitely been quite a bit of discussion about what happens to the foods that aren't so nutritious or that our bodies can't use--good to know, huh? :)

Okay, Goodnight!!  We'll try to keep our blog/facebook updated along the way! :)

Theme Weeks: For the Bears!

If you haven't noticed, the bears around our house are pretty much a part of our family.  Last week was our week to celebrate them. ;)

We started the week by making invitations for each one.  M found all of her bears in the hallway holding their invites when she woke up.  (My plan had been to get that one all set up right before I went to bed.  I woke up at 4:45a--plow truck--and realized that I had forgotten to do it.  It required some major sneaking to avoid floor creaks!)  T found his bears' invitations in a pile with "Horse" (because, of course, Horse was supposed to deliver the notes but he can't read yet. ;)

We decorated for the party and then T chose to make "panilla" cupcakes.

M made a chocolate cake (and cupcakes with the left-over batter).  (Okay, here's a real-life mommy moment.  I am a bit of a germ-fanatic in the kitchen.  I wash my hands constantly when I cook.  My biggest fear is spreading my own germs to someone else.  Needless to say I'm trying to teach M and T good kitchen hygiene--you know, if you lick your fingers, no big deal, but, please, go wash your hands.  And they're really good about this!  So we're all happily stirring cake batters and we're just about ready to pour M's cake into the pan when it happens.  She sneezes right in it!  Ahh!  What to do?  I took stock of the situation and realized that this cake was only for us and that I'm sure the heat would take care of any sneeze heebie-geebies, right?  Against all that I believe in, we just went with it and even ate it! :)

The Bear party.  Beary turned 3 and Ben turned 5.  Happy Birthday, guys!

Spy cam caught this scene.  T sitting on M's lap while reading our stack of bear books.  Too cute even though M was having a really hard time seeing the pictures (they're really almost the same size).

During the week they also turned their closets into "dens."

And in a little blog/journal housekeeping, the previous week was Space Week.  All because early in the week we got a cool glimpse of Jupiter and her moons through the telescope.  During that week we also read a lot about the planets and made a Solar System out of playdough.

( Quite blurry, but a shot of the moon through the telescope.)

This is the Snow...(Ice Cream Recipe)

This is the snow, not quite two feet, 

That we had after dinner for a tasty treat.

We filled a great big bowl full of snow, all fresh and white,

Added sugar, vanilla, and just enough milk to make it right.

Who knew that snow could taste so delicious?

(And surely the milk makes it a little nutritious.) ;)

Snow Ice Cream Recipe

1 Gallon of Snow

1 Cup of Sugar

2  (+/-) Cups of Milk

1 TB Vanilla

Photo Journal of Christmas (just a few weeks late) ;)

A few days before Christmas we made cinnamon salt dough ornaments.  Love making a few in the shape of their hands so that I can remember how little they were. :)

We also made homemade marshmallows (with Becca and Emily).  So soft and yummy!

JMill started his holiday vacation on the Wednesday before Christmas.  So we spent an afternoon at Stepping Stones Children's Museum in Norwalk, Conn.

Christmas Eve at our house. :)  Somewhere in the pile there are matching "animal clinics," a horse and carriage, a loud bull-d-d-dozer, lots of books and an "awesome" DVD with Hard-Hat-Harry driving big rigs and monster trucks (I thought T would like the trucks, but I had no idea that this crazy DVD would be one of their favorites--I have accidentally turned my kids into monster truck fans!)

A most delicious Birthday "cake" of donuts for Jesus's Birthday--um, YUM!

We headed to PA for more Christmas fun with both of our families.  M and T think that PA is just about the most wonderful place on earth. :)  (Interrupting gift unwrapping to read a book.)

J's Grandfather handmade this beautiful wooden sled for T--it is AMAZING!  And we got to use it when we got back to NY.

The Snow Bunny who outlasts us all.

A fun nativity picture by M.

What a very fun Christmas--it flew by so quickly.  Very much looking forward to next year! :)

Thanksgiving Week

A little recap of last week.

Because we went to PA for "official" Thanksgiving festivities, I thought that it would be fun to have our own little feast at home.  A lovely, original smorgasbord of meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and the "traditional" Thanksgiving Monkey Bread. ;)

We had a candlelit dinner at the big dining room table.  It was one of the sweetest nights--lots of precious memories tucked away from that one.  M and T were SO excited!  M set the table all by herself and was full of amazing Thanksgiving prayers.  And my picky eaters chowed down! Gotta love that!

So, our little Thanksgiving feast was on Monday ;), and then on Tuesday we celebrated J's birthday (which was actually on Friday--but, you know, you do what you have to do).  What better way to celebrate the big 3-3 than with an ice-cream sandwich cake?

On Wed we headed to PA and had a fun time hanging out with both of our families.  

The high creek at the cabin meant that the only way across was in the monstrous deuce.  M and T couldn't get enough of it.

And then we came back on Sunday with our Christmas tree from J's Grandparents' Tree Farm.  

Tree-hunting wheels.

(Yes, J is just that fast--making it quite hard to capture a picture of his face. ;)

Fun full week.  But, very glad to be home. :) 

(Adoption Update: No call yet, but today there were 3 referrals of little toddlers ages 3-4.  How cool is that?  Yay, for new forever families!)

Thankful and Brothers and Sisters Weeks

(Update--Our Agency is closed for Thanksgiving until Monday--so definitely no referral call until at least then.) :)

Time for some Theme Week catch-up! (Not to be mistaken with ketchup which is so not a hit to my tomato-loathing children.;)

Two weeks ago it was Thankful Week.  We started our "Thankful Tree" (an awesome idea from Andrea's blog) that is now covered with leaves naming lots of things that make us thankful.

We also learned how to say "I love you" in Amharic--"ewedeshalo."  That week we could say "Ewedeshalo, doro" or "I love you, chicken."  Because "doro" was the only other amharic word that we knew from Turkey Week the week before.

Last week was Brothers and Sister Weeks.  And we learned a few more words.  Now we can say, "Ewedeshalo, ehit (sister), wundim (brother), enat (mother), abat (father) and gwedenya (friend)."  That makes a lot more sense.

And what better week to visit the "City of Brotherly Love", Philadelphia.  Oh, early that Sunday morning I was up working on my good old CEU's when I thought that I should take a closer look at the fine print.  To my horror, I realized that I couldn't do them all online.  But here's the cool part--that night I could have been doing lots of other things, but I really felt like I had to get the CEU's done.  And  last week was the BIG speech-language pathologist conference.  Had I been doing anything else, I totally would have missed the conference.  And it wasn't in California or Texas or somewhere that I had to get a plane ticket for--nope it was in Philadelphia.  And J was game to take a day off to hang out in the city with the kids.  And I loved it!  There were seminars on language and international adoption, the relationship between poverty and literacy, and work that is being done in developing nations.  Good stuff!

And I have to give a shout out to Dr. Light at Penn State.  I had the privelege of doing research with her as a student.  I went to one of her 2 hour seminars on working with children with Down Syndrome.  It was so amazing that I had to stay for her second 2-hour lecture.  She is truly one of the most beautiful people that I know.

 (M & T at the Please Touch Museum with J while I was off learning. ;)

 Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  "Ewedeshalo, gwedenyas!"

Leaf Mazes (and a new number!)

Today, while trying to keep my 2.5 year old from touching too many toys to limit his current pink-eye germ warfare capabilities, we took the fun outside.  :)

Gorgeous day!  (Didn't quite know that before stepping outside and actually rummaged through the basement bins for heavy winter coats, hats and gloves.  It was nearly 60* today.)

First M and T had a good tumble through a leaf pile.  

Love T's face in this picture--he is truly delighted. :)

And then on to my absolute most fun thing to do in the fall--leaf mazes.  My sisters and I loved to do this when we were kids!  We used to pretend that they were deep tunnels of mazes (we got the idea from hearing stories about Christians hiding in catacombs--can you tell what kind of elementary school I went to?)

Today, though, we were pretending to hide from wolves and skunks, of course.  I'm sure if anyone was watching from afar we probably looked pretty funny running to the one and only shaded room to hide from every bird and airplane that flew overhead (they are spies for the wolves and skunks, in case you were wondering.).   I have to say, the maze was easy to get lost in--luckily it's also quite easy to step over the walls. ;) ( And, yes, hoping that my kids don't have nightmares about bird espionage and ravenous wolves.)

Okay, and just saw the very exciting news that we are NUMBER 3!  M and T have been in bed for quite awhile, but were still very awake.  Here's their reaction when I told them the news...

How fun is that?!

Theme Weeks and How We Became a Family of Three

Last week was Birthday Week. Our Little Miss M turned 5!  And in hopeful anticipation of our referral, I thought it would be fun to briefly look back to remember how we changed from a family of two to a family of three 5 years ago. :)

One day a little over 6 years ago, just after my birthday, we were driving in the car and it occurred to me that we had always talked about having more than two children, but I was getting older and older and we had no plans for when we would even start to grow our family.  The baby bug had bit! ;)

Over a year later--just after Valentine's Day and after a brief struggle with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)--we were finally expecting!  I found out on a lunch break from work--I had wanted to color my hair that day, but wanted to make sure that I wasn't pregnant first.  I couldn't believe my eyes when the test was finally positive.  Right after work I ran to Targ*t to get another test just to make sure (yep, it was for sure), got my hair cut (no color, thank you), went grocery shopping and bought some balloons (what better way to tell J than with balloons, right?).

With 20 minutes to spare I quickly wrote out a scavenger hunt for J--you know, "Go to the cupboard beside the sink, look in the cup you use for a drink."  (Funny, huh?)  So as to not make him completely suspicious--I told him it was for his Valentine--because I had forgotten to give him the card on Valentine's Day.  At the very end of the "hunt" there were a bunch of balloons with a card telling him that he was going to be a daddy. 

J and I are both the oldest in our families and M is the first grand-baby on both sides.  We made up a slide-show to tell them our good news.  As to not make them suspicious we made them look at a slide-show of pictures from a recent ski trip and then we said, "Oh, while you're watching, here's a video I made for J for Valentine's Day." 

(Premise:  It's a bit cheesy, I know.  But it is supposed to sound like a lost letter that I wrote to Jason when we had just started dating.)


We're Having Baby #1/2005 from G Miller on Vimeo.

And that's how it all began. :)  Nine months or so later, on a cold, snowy day in October, our beautiful M joined our family.  She is our passionate, imaginative, insightful, and compassionate princess.  Love you M and am so thankful for the day that you made me a mommy and I am honored that we get to do life together!

(A little catch up--two weeks ago was Feelings Week.)

Harvest Week

First, another update.  Since last night we have moved another number!  We're NUMBER 8!!!!

Last week was Harvest Week in the Miller household.  Monday was Columbus Day and because M didn't have school, I thought it would fun to go apple picking at the orchard down the road--after all, what better way to kick off "Harvest Week?"

It wasn't as picture-perfect as I had imagined.  :)  Probably should have realized that because of the holiday, A LOT of other families had the same idea.  We had to park far away, there were no donuts, T had a stomach ache (referred to simply as a stomach by T), and, well, there were basically no apples on the trees.  A fact that I didn't realize until after I had paid for my apple bag and had tromped off with the kids into the orchard.  I flittered between wanting to just give up and go home or making the best of the situation.  After a deep breath and a look around I decided that some of the apples on the ground had to be just fine.  We collected a lovely peck of apples off the ground (while trying to avoid onlookers and laughing to myself when I heard parents scolding their kids to drop the apples they had picked up off the ground because they were gross) and enjoyed a grand hayride back to our van.

 M and T enthusiastically washed the apples for a pie and applesauce.

And then we aproned-up for the main event--Dough-making!  They probably played with dough, and maybe really more the flour than the dough, for the better part of an hour. 

While our yummy pie was baking, we made applesauce.  M and T used butter knives to chop up the apples.  And there may have been a bit of "a bite for me, a bite for the pot" going on.  But since it was just for them, no worries. :)

So love that they are little enough to need to stand on chairs to reach the counter. :)

During the week we also enjoyed some amazing chocolate chip cream cheese pumpkin muffins.  I have to restrain myself from making more because pumpkin is MY FAVORITE!

Caught this fun photo of M and me on a leaf-collecting walk.

Ahhh...LOVE the fall!

Hmmm...no theme week, but silly songs stuck in my head. :)

Okay, so last week we took a break from theme weeks.  But, no worries, we're back in action this week. ;)

But we did stumble upon these completely fun songs that have worked their way into my brain.

Hmmm...this could totally be one of T's theme songs.


I can't make out a lot of these lyrics...but I do know that "Willy was a whale and he walked on the water."  Repeat 50 times...

(Oh, btw, when M was watching this video she asked, "Could they really play horns under water? Don't you need air to do that?" How did she know that?)

And this one could totally describe my mornings.  Bonus, it teaches spelling. ;)


Last, but not least, this song about FAMILY is just plain sweet (and there's more spelling).

Theme Weeks: Space Week and Jobs Week

Two weeks ago we had a very fun time making rocket ships for "Space Week."  I had saved two huge boxes in the basement (from last Christmas) and really wanted to find a good use for them.  Rocket ships seemed like a good solution. :)
We spent an afternoon decorating our space vessels with stars.

Then M and T stocked their ships with pillows, blankets, snacks and "friends."

Later that night we watched the stars come out and then we took a moonlit walk around our neighborhood.  When we came back, T INSISTED that he would like to sleep in his rocket ship.  After all, it was fully stocked.  Because you are only small enough to sleep in an imaginary rocket ship for a brief time in your life, we decided that he could give it a go...

The cramped quarters weren't ideal for M's sleeping situation so we turned her whole bed into a rocket ship.  (With a Riley-cat passenger.)

T loved sleeping in the box so much that he actually did it for a few nights. :)

We also had some fun times with glow sticks later in the week.

Last week was job/occupations week.  We played a few roles as garbage collectors and marine biologists.  We also pulled out the toy chain saws and hard hats to take down a rug "log."  (I found some amazing 5x8" rugs at Target for an incredible price--and they were just what I was looking for!)  Rolled up rugs make a pretty cool sound when they crash down.  :)

Theme Week: Penn State

Last week we got to take a surprise, last-minute trip to Penn State so that J could do some recruiting at our alma mater.  Here's a little glimpse of our trip.

Day 1:  Okay, kids are way more into hotels than I am.  The small refrigerator in the room is the biggest hit--it's totally kid-sized. 

Glad the kids survived the Target trip--wait, make that I'm glad I survived the Target trip.  ;)  Yum, peanut butter and jelly and tuna fish sandwiches--separately, not together and some or*o cakesters.  Those things are good!

These 50-cent goggles are down-right hilarious!  There's no way they'll work, but they sure do make a great picture.

And I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical about being in a big pool with both kids, but they had so much fun.  Of course it involved pretending to be chased by--you guessed it--stingrays. :)

Day 2:  Score for getting to the Nittany Lion shrine so early in the morning.  Zero people around to hear me accidently set off the car alarm.

In an attempt to pass the time before the stores opened, we roamed the campus lawns.

 We had bagels in a lovely garden where M and T promptly set about making chipmunk houses.

I've been waiting to get here for months to go to Animal Kingdom to pick out that bear for sister.  Note to self, next time we go bear shopping I need to scope out the store first.  We knocked over a lot of bears with all of our "shopping."

I finally got some comfortable waterproof shoes.  They seem like a good idea for international travels.  That store had the genius idea to turn a dressing room into a toy room for kids--LOVED that.

And shocked, but T actually took a nap after more swimming and M had to wake him up!  Cute stuff. 

Quite amazed, in general, how well M and T have been sleeping with all of us in the same room.  Good work, gang!

 Day 3:  Abandoned all tv time-restrictions and let them watch hours of Mickey Mouse and Cat-in-the-Hat.

Grand adventures today.  First stop, stocked up on Penn State t-shirts until they're both 6--have to represent the home team!  Next, the cupcake shop.  If we could ever find it.  Walked back and forth on the same blocks like 4-5 times before we finally found it--I was ready for someone to start carrying me!

And the Farmer's Market.  T picked up two flower stems, raised them over his head and shouted in his very loud voice, "Gooo, Penn State!"  He got a lot of appreciative nods.  M ate her weight in red raspberries.

Creamery time.  So much to cram into today--not ideal to mix cupcakes and ice cream before lunch, but sometimes you just have to roll with it.   

And, finally, to end the week, a little trip to the art museum.  Noted along the way that M and T have a fascination with students.  T said, "Is that a student following us?"  M said, "We're going along with the students.  Isn't that crazy?"  "There goes another student."  Funny because we were the outsiders--there were no other strollers and there are like 40,000 students there. :)

The week had it's moments, but I can't wait to go back.  Completely love PSU--so many amazing, life-defining moments took place there.  It feels like home. :)


[Housekeeping note: The previous 2 weeks were Prayer and Prepare weeks as we got ready for school.]