Pink is weird!

After spending 3 1/2 years with blue stuff, firetrucks, bucket trucks, trains, football clothes, soccer clothes, basketball socks, watching Levi eat his boogers (gross!), playing with guns, trucks and matchbox cars, it's weird to see pink clothes hanging in the toy room!! Weird, but very exciting! Levi is starting to love the idea that he's going to have a baby sister instead of a bruder. :)

Baby girl got a few things for Christmas - some newborn gowns and a matching blanket and socks from Grammy and Papa

and a beautiful SOFT pink blanket from my aunt

She also got an adorable snowman light up ornament from Mamaw (Eric's mom). It says VICTORIA on it, which is the name that is in our top couple of names. Victoria was my great-grandmother's name. :) I love family names! Anyhoo...Baby Girl is already blessed! I can't wait to meet her.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??

Fun in the snow!!!

Christmas 2009

What a fabulous day! I love Christmas and it was so much fun this year celebrating with Levi now that he is getting older and understands so much more!

I had to wake Levi and Eric up!! I walked in and asked Levi if he was ready to open his presents. His response? "When I am done with my sleeping." Hilarious! Once he got moving, he ran to his little tree to see if Frank left him a gift (He's still scared of the thought of Santa coming in his house, so we decided that Frank (the elf) would fly to meet Santa and bring his gift back...).
Opening Frank's gift. I love this face - surprise and amazement that Frank knew he wanted a Buzz Lightyear rocket ship!! He said "What in the world?? Look guys, a rocket ship!!!"

After opening our gifts, we put our Christmas pj's on and headed to Grammy & Papa's for a yummy breakfast!! Bear with me...I took a gazillion billion pictures, so I'm just showing the highlights!

Opening gifts

After breakfast, we headed back home to open another gift from our friend, B. Oh my goodness! Buzz Lightyear pj's!!!!! Thanks, B!!!!!

A shot of Levi and Mommy before heading out to Aunt Frances' for lunch and, yes, more gifts!

More Buzz Lightyear! (Are you seeing a theme??)

Chilling with Daddy!

Then, home for a nap. NEED.TO.RE-ENERGIZE!! He wanted to nap in his new pj's! :)

And, finally, dinner and more presents with the Reid's. We hosted Christmas this year at the new house. It was so much fun. Here are Peyton, Levi and Tanner playing with Levi's guns.

Hilarious - a Buzz Lightyear toboggan!!

What a wonderful day filled with family. We are so blessed to have all of our families surround us. A wonderful day of celebrating the birth of Christ with those we love so much!!! I pray that everyone knows the love of Christ this season. :) Merry Christmas!

Pregnancy brain

This is my last day of work until Tuesday! I'm looking forward to spending time with my guys and doing all of our crazy, busy Christmas stuff!! Christmas Eve and Christmas day will be pack filled with family, food and gifts, but I love every minute of it. From as long as I can remember, Christmas meant getting up early to open our gifts at home and then rushing off to visit grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins....and I'm filled with tons of great memories. One of the special memories for me is going to my Great Granny Pierce's house. She always had a Christmas tree decorated with candy canes and envelopes. Each child got to pick an envelope and candy cane off the tree to take home. And, yes, the envelopes were filled with green stuff! ;) Great Granny had two little black poodles...Fi Fi and Mi Mi. And they always had red bows around their necks and had their nails painted red or hot pink! And they barked...little high-pitched squeaky barks.

I think my favorite tradition is Dad's Christmas breakfast!! He's always made a yummy spread that we eat before opening the gifts. Since my brother, sister and I have gotten married and had kids, our tradition has evolved. Now, we all get up and head to Mom and Dad's for breakfast. The kids are all dressed alike in Christmas pj's that Grammy buys them. It seems like each year, she has to buy one new set of pj's. Next year, there will be six pair!! We read the Christmas story in the Bible and dig in...bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits & gravy, fried potatoes...so good! Then, when we can contain the kids no longer, we open gifts. I love watching their faces light up at the littlest things. Mostly, they love making a huge mess with wrapping paper and bows. :)

I can't really remember why I started this post (pregnancy brain!!!) but it's been fun to recall some old memories and talk about our breakfast tradition. I hope that my children will have wonderful memories of Christmas to tell their children and grandchildren. (sniff, sniff...)

O. M. G.

It's a GIRL. A little girl that will wear bows, ruffles, Mary Jane's, and lots of PINK. A little girl that will play with dolls, lip gloss, and princesses. A girl.

We had our ultrasound this morning. Let me back up and tell you about my fun-filled day!!

Eric, my sweet Mom and I headed out for the doctor's office at 9am. (I had dreams last night that I was having a girl and Brad & Angelina called me to see if they could babysit...WEIRD.) They called me back, got me situated and then we got to look on the screen and see my sweet little baby! The tech took pictures of the head, brain, heart, kidneys, stomach, arms, feet and then, she asked if we wanted to know the sex. YES! She said "it's a girl" and I thought I was going to have a heart attack!! My head started to spin and I was in SHOCK! I really thought we were having another boy. My mom started to cry and got up to get a tissue. :) Eric said "Are you sure??" He said he wanted another boy, but I'm pretty sure this little girl will have him wrapped around her little pinky!!

After the ultrasound, I met with Dr. Wright and he went over the pictures with me. I have a condition called "marginal placenta previa" which I understand to be somewhat common. I have to go back in six weeks for another ultrasound. I won't go into all the details, but worst case scenario is that I'll have to have a C-section. Dr. Wright felt sure that this will go away and I'll be able to deliver normally, though!

So, it's a girl. Next? Shopping with my Mom to buy something pink!! I saw a cute little outfit that Levi will bring to give to the baby at the hospital. It's a "newborn" size, but still looks huge!
Mom and I spent the day shopping and finishing up last minute things for Christmas. We had a really fun day together! I think she's happy to be getting another girl. Although, I'm sure a little boy would be loved just as much!! For dinner, Eric, Levi and I headed to Kansai to celebrate the news of our baby girl. We had a really great time and the food, as always, was incredible!!

Our chef (Levi took this picture)

Watching the salt block (food) being prepared...

Mommy & Levi...showing off his chopsticks!

Oh yeah, Buzz Lightyear joined us, too...

We ended our evening by heading to Charlestown to see the Christmas lights! So much fun. Levi loved them!!

This was such a fun day and right now, I'm simply soaking up the wonderful feeling of seeing my baby girl moving all around. I am so thankful for God's many blessings in my life. He has given me a wonderful husband, a brilliant and loving little boy to take care of, and now has placed this little life in me so that I can nurture and love it. No matter what, I know God has us in His hand and that is right where I want to be.

Fa la la la la

Sunday night was the cantata at Mom & Dad's church. It was really beautiful!! I like it that the music combined some contemporary stuff as well as traditional Christmas hymns.

Here's a shot of the choir...they did a really great job!!
My beautiful Momma...she'll kill me for posting this picture but I love how her expressions show the love of Jesus while she sings :)

Part of the hand bell choir...oh goodness...they were just like professionals!!!

Afterwards, we went back to Papa and Grammy's to hang out and eat pizza. Here is Dad sitting at the kiddie table.

Ride'em Cowboy!!

Emmy, Levi & Griffin playing with the puzzle books

Can't forget to give props to my Dad who did all the behind the scenes work...sound and powerpoint. :) Good job, Dad.

Recipe

I forgot to post the "Miller's Family Christmas Recipe" that went along with my Mom's Christmas card in the previous post:

Blend together:
5 cups of Bailey
2 cups of firmly packed Casey
3 cups of Levi
Sift in 4 cups of Griffin
Season sparingly with 2 cups of Emily
Bake at 350 until May. Add more love...
About enough for 1 more grandchild.

Baking Christmas Memories...

Just had to post this picture - aren't they adorable?

Mom always has such cute ideas for her Christmas card photo. This year, she wanted the kids to "bake" Christmas memories. She ordered the outfits for all the kids and yes, we let them make a big mess!! They had a blast and her card turned out cute!!!

Bailey (5), Casey (2), Levi (3), Griffin (4), Emily (2)

All the kids are growing up so fast. It's a good thing there's a new baby on the way!!! :)

Happy Birthday, Granny!!

Saturday night, we celebrated my Granny's birthday. :) My Aunt Frances hosted the party and (as always!) outdid herself with the meal. She makes the BEST tossed salad and I could have eaten a bucket full! The little kids always have so much fun playing together and I'm so thankful that Levi has so many cousins to grow up with!!

Granny & Papa....opening her cards and gifts
Eric & Levi playing air hockey

The cake - I seriously ate so much this weekend!!

Mom & Dad :)

What family function would be complete without Daniel getting all the kids wound up?? :)

We did miss Griffin and Miss Emmy - Griffin was a little under the weather. Oh, and we missed Travis & Jenny, too :) Happy Birthday, "Great Granny Miller". We love you!!

Annual Murphy Christmas Party

The Murphy Christmas Party is one of my favorite times of the year! I look forward to it each time the Christmas season rolls around. Actually, when we start filling up the calendar with all our "to do's", we usually contact them right away to get the date set on the calendar. :)

I think my most favorite thing about the party is seeing how Melanie decorates!!! She has such neat ideas each year...and it's always something special and new. The dinner is always fabulous and you can tell that so much thought is put into each and every course.

This year, the menu was Italian. The first course consisted of some yummy meatball soup (I'm sure there's an official name, but I forget it!!) and bruschetta. Following the appetizers was a main course of fettuccine noodles, eggplant Parmesan mozzarella, and some very yummy gorgonzola cheese chicken. All of this was served with some awesome garlic cheese bread.

Here are some pics of the beautiful tables and decorations...

After dinner, we played a REALLY FUN game to go along with the gift exchange. I think it was called Snoop! So much fun. :) Great idea, Melanie!!!

Here is the dessert table. YUM!!!

And, my chocolate milkshake cocktail - oh my...outta this world!

The beautiful hostess, Melanie - YOU DID A BEAUTIFUL PARTY once again!!!!!

Didn't get a lot of "people" pictures this year - I was too obsessed with eating! :)

Here's a cute one of some of the girls...Jami, Janna, me, Gretchen

Matt & Mel, thanks for the fabulous party. Already looking forward to next year's!! :) Love you guys!!!

May I brag?

Of course I can!! It’s my blog.

Levi is so bright! In fact, I think he’s the brightest little boy I know. Maybe a prodigy… Ok, maybe not a prodigy, but I certainly thank God that he has a loving, growing, curious little spirit and that he enjoys learning new things.

Here’s the part where I brag: Eric brought home a new praise & worship CD that the praise team is working on at church. One of the songs is Worshipping You by Deluge. If you haven’t heard it…fabulous song!

Take this offering that I bring
Humbly I fall on my knees
To proclaim you’re everything.
My life’s nothing without You
Take my hand and lead me through
You are my sustaining love.

Levi calls this the worship song and he loves to sing it. He told me the other day, “Mommy, we’re singing about Jesus.” Yes, baby, we are!!

His favorite part is the chorus:

I’m gonna worship you forever
I’m gonna worship you
I’m gonna worship you forever
I’m gonna worship you

It makes me tear up to see my child already starting to worship Jesus at the young age of 3. I am so thankful.

Sprinkles!!!

Levi decorating some yummy sugar cookies with sprinkles :)
Ok, goofy picture, but Levi wanted to take one of me holding the cookies up. Too funny "Pose Mommy!" The finished product!!

A little chillaxin with Daddy afterwards. Melt my heart...