a moment with the millers

raggedy ann-halloween 2009

2009-11-01T18:58:00.001-08:00

This year for Halloween we made a couple of stops! First we went to Grant's mom and dad's house. They had a whole bag full of treats waiting for her. Then we walked down the street to Nana's house (Grant's grandmother). Macie got a bag of candy there too! I'm a little surprised that she was into the candy this year. After Nana's we went to Forney where my Aunt Sherry lives. She always has a huge Halloween party. Her neighborhood always goes "All Out" for Halloween. Macie loved passing out the candy more that going from house to house trick-or-treating. She loved looking at all Sherry's decorations and playing with William and Josh. At the beginning of the night, we could not get her to wear the hat/wig! She was not going to have it!!! Then at Sherry's she saw that other children were dressed up and she decided to have her picture in it!

night of the great pumpkin

2009-10-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last night we carved the pumpkin that we got at the Pumpkin Patch. At first Macie didn't want to have anything to do with it. She kept saying "nasty" and would just watch us. After a few minutes she got a little more brave. Her favorite thing was stirring the bowl of pumpkin guts. After getting the inside of the pumpkin cleaned out, Macie had to go straight to the bathtub! Grant gets all the credit for the design and the carving job! After she got out of the tub, we turned all the lights out and let her see the finished product. She didn't like that too much! Overall....a very fun night!

pickin pumpkins

2009-10-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made our second annual trip to the pumpkin patch on Houston Street with the Malys. As usual, the girls are so cute and funny! Macie searched for the pumpkin with the LONGEST stem, while Grant searched for the BIGGEST, PERFECTLY ROUND pumpkin in all the patch! I think Macie is already taking on a few of her Daddy's traits! We eventually found the perfect pumpkin to carve and the longest stemmed small one for Macie!

Enjoy the pictures!!!

the girls

Macie wanted to keep looking at the pumpkins

a little better

sweetest picture!!!

Grant trying to show Macie how to pick one

girls again

Kaitlynn cheesin' it up!!!

so excited!!!

look what I found!

OUR LITTLE PUMPKIN!!!

Just for fun, here are some from a year ago....

state fair

2009-10-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday we braved the weather, and took Macie on her first trip to the fair. We came in the gate by the Midway. Macie couldn't take her eyes off the big rides. We walked around and looked in all the exhibits. It was a little cool, so we tried to stay inside as much as we could. A couple of times we got caught up in Oprah's entourage! Grant got to see her, but I'm too short!!! I wish I would have remembered to take a picture by Big Tex, but it was so crowded that we were just trying to keep moving. All in all, we had a great time!!!

Macie loved looking at the animals!

Mommy and Macie Grace

Daddy letting Macie throw pennies in the fountain

Fun Times!

Our family

19 month pictures

2009-10-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

I know I've been really bad about updating! Here are a few new pictures...enjoy!

big girl bed

2009-08-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

Today marks one week that Macie has been in her "big girl bed"! She has been climbing like crazy and was starting to try to get out of her crib. Grant and I decided that it was time to convert the crib to a toddler bed. She is loving it, and so far has not fallen out! I was kind of sad putting the bumper pads in the closet.

Macie has been in daycare for one week. She is adjusting much better than I thought she would. I think the hardest thing for her is learning to sleep on a nap mat. She is sitting at a small table to eat breakfast and lunch while she's there! The teachers tell me she is very polite, but she can have an attitude. I'd say that pretty accurate!

I'm sad that summer is over, but I'm excited to start a new year. This summer has been a rough one...I'm ready for some good things to happen!

missing jax

2009-07-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Jax was our baby before Macie came along. He went everywhere with us, was an incredible companion, and probably was one of the smartest dogs you'd ever seen. We always joked that Jax never really realized that he was a dog. He was just part of the family.

Late Sunday night, Grant and I were getting ready to go to bed and let Jax out to go to the bathroom one last time. It was our little bedtime routing. About five minutes later we heard Jax crying from the backyard and immediately knew that something was very wrong. Grant ran out to see what had happened. We never expected to see the horrendous sight that was waiting. Two black dogs had gotten into our backyard, attacked Jax, and were standing over him. They had bitten him on the back and probably shaken him. Grant chased the dogs out and rushed Jax into the house. I stayed with him while Grant went out again to see if he could find the dogs that did this. It was so dark that he really couldn't catch up to them. Back inside, Jax wasn't able to stand by himself and had a few puncture wounds on his back. We gave him a warm bath and tried to see if he'd be okay until in the morning...it didn't look good. Grant called the emergency line at the vet and got to the office around midnight. I stayed with Macie and he texted me all the updates. At first, the doc thought that Jax would be able to bounce back but soon realized that he was losing the color in his gums and eyes. The doctor put Jax on an IV to see if he could be stabilized enough for surgery the next morning. Grant came home around 2 but didn't have a good feeling. Monday morning Grant went back to the office around 7:30, but Jax hadn't made it through the night. His little body just couldn't recover from the night's trauma. Later that morning we took him to my parent's house in Scurry to bury him. We picked a beautiful spot. This week has been extremely tough for Grant and me. We miss him terribly! It is really strange at our house without him running around. He was always right there beside us... no matter what. We thought we'd have him forever. I was looking forward to watching Macie dress him up in her doll clothes. It was so cute to hear her call his name. He loved us unconditionally. He met us at the door each time we came in with a little wet kiss. I never realized how much food we dropped on the floor for him, until this week when he wasn't there to clean it up. He slept right behind my knees each night and barked when we tried to tickle Macie. I am glad that she is not old enough to really understand what is going on. She's said his name a couple times, but quickly moves on to something else.

I never thought I was a dog person, but I sure loved him! Anyone who has a dog knows how much we miss him.

Jax...bud, I hope you're in heaven chasing rabbits and eating lots of treats!!! We love you so much and miss you!!! Our house just isn't the same without you.

enough of the depressing posts...

2009-07-02T12:05:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of new pictures. Macie's been keeping cool in her pool! Hopefully after this weekend I'll have a lot of 4th of July pictures to post! Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th!!

never without a paci

guess she's sticking her leg out to get a tan...

first pb&j...I'm thinking this is a hit!

update on mom

2009-07-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

The test results came back for my mom, and the tumor was malignant. This is not the news we wanted to hear, but she is going to be strong and fight it with treatment. Next week she will start two types of chemo...one is given by iv and the other is just a pill she can take. She will also be doing radiation along with the chemo. She qualified for a study drug that the doctors think will be a good match for her. So far, she has been in very good spirits and is feeling much better than before the surgery. Keep her in your prayers for the next six weeks...

Crazy June

2009-07-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

So June was a crazy month! You would think that the first month of summer would be fun and exciting. Don't get me wrong, there were days that were great, but for the most part I was ready for July to get here. June 1st my mom had brain surgery and was in the hospital for a couple of days recovering. Macie was sick with strep and pink eye. June 3rd my mom got to come home. A few days later, the battery on my car died and we had to get a new one. The next week, there was a huge storm that came through and knocked out our power for 16 HOURS!!! Luckily it wasn't too hot and all the food didn't spoil. In the midst of all this worrying, I broke out in some kind of rash on my arms and legs. I ended up going to the dermatologist and he told me it was from all the stress in the past few weeks. He gave me a prescription lotion and it cleared up in a couple of days. It's pretty strange how your body can work against you too! So, that takes you through the 18th...my sister's birthday. That day was fun! We cooked out and swam and had cake and ice cream. Friday the 19th at 5:15 I notice that water is pouring from the hot water heater closet. All plumbers are closed for the weekend by this time. We called and left a message with a local guy. He ended up coming the next day and replaced it with a much bigger heater. I sure wish I could have used that money on something else for our house besides a water heater! I guess I'll be thankful in the winter when I can take a long hot shower!!! So July....please be good to us!

june birthdays

2009-06-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today my family celebrated June birthdays...Kellie (20) and William (10). I'm sure you can tell from the pictures that the theme was A&M! We had a great lunch, did a little dancing, opened presents, and had birthday cake and ice cream!

first saturday of summer

2009-06-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Macie thinks her bows are hats! I was hoping she would start liking them...we have one in pretty much every color. She's starting to have to wear something in her hair to keep her bangs out of her face.

A couple in our Sunday School class were having a garage sale today and were selling lots of baby stuff. I'd been looking at small pools for Macie to play in at our house. This is a turtle sandbox that we are using as a pool. Macie's not into dirt just yet! Here she's helping scrub!!!

I really need to buy some swim diapers for the summer...I just haven't had time! She doesn't care though...she's having fun! She's still in her pj top...its summer...we do what we want around here!!!

One man's trash is another's treasure!

Daddy don't spray me!!!

I'm excited to see what else this summer has in store! Fun times!!!

mom

2009-06-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my mom just underwent brain surgery. She's now at home recovering and doing better and better each day! We are still waiting on the biopsy results to find out what the next step is. It is amazing to me how in one week she found out she had a brain tumor, had surgery June 1st, and is already home and getting back to her normal self again! God and I have been close this week, and He has shown me that He is in control of every situation...big or small! He's taught me that worrying is a waste of time and that friends and family are truly a blessing! In the midst of all that's going on with my mom, Macie decided that it would be a good time for her to have strep throat and pink eye!!! I think God was trying to see how many things I could juggle at once! So...I took Macie to the doctor the morning before my mom had surgery. By the time Grant, Kellie, and I got to the hospital my mom had already been taken back to prep for the operation! Part of me was really upset I didn't get to see her before she went in, but I think that was God way of keeping our emotions in tact. A lot of people told me that the moments before surgery are very surreal...especially brain surgery. As soon as the surgery was over, we got to see her in the recovery room. The doctor told us everything went as planned and now we would just be waiting on the test results. She did really well the next couple of days and got to come home Wednesday, June 3.

I've been awestruck by the amount of love and support our family has received over the past couple of days! More than that, I've seen how many people my mom has touched...church people, KISD employees, other school districts in the area, friends, and family! She's pretty awesome! She's done a lot for a lot of people! That is very evident in the amount of flowers she's received in the hospital, dinners that were brought to their house, and all the cards and letters she's gotten! Thank you so much to all the people who have prayed for my mom and our family!!!

Her next appointment is Tuesday at 2:30. Hopefully by then we will have some answers as to what caused this. Please keep us in your prayers!

moving...

2009-05-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

It is now official!!! Next year I'm moving back to teach 4th grade. I will be teaming with Melissa Thomas...I'll teach reading and language and she'll teach math, social studies, and science. I'm so excited! Don't get me wrong...I'm not going to wish away my summer, but I'm so ready to get back to my old campus! This year I decided to try teaching 2nd grade. I did this for several reasons...the daycare Macie goes to is connected to that campus (I could be there in 30 seconds) and there are no TAKS tests in 2nd grade. I really enjoyed the opportunity to try 2nd, but I feel that 4th just suits me better!

motherhood is....

2009-05-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

In the past 15 months I've learned a lot about what being a mom means. Here are a couple of things off the top of my head...

Motherhood is...

seeing your child learn new things

buying nothing for yourself and tons for your child

being able to pick out your child's cry among other children

wearing spit-up clothes to work

loving the smell of your baby's breath

finding your purse in the trash...our trash can has been moved to the garage for now...

arranging your hair instead of being able to fix it

never getting tired of hearing "Mama"

cleaning poo-poo out of the bath tub...yes...it's happened several times

accepting that your house will never be clean again

open mouth kisses!!

looking like a fool just to get your child to smile for a picture

staying awake just to stare at your baby

worrying

sacrificing

loving so much your heart could burst

Motherhood will change your life forever!!!

Thanks Mom for everything you do for me! You are truly a remarkable role model! I love you very much! Happy Mother's Day!!!

may update

2009-05-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

This week Macie went for her 15 month check-up. She absolutely HATES the doctor!!! Don't get me wrong he's very nice and very informative, but she has a HUGE case of stranger-danger...especially of a man wearing a white coat that trys to touch her, stick things in her mouth, and ears. Right now she weighs 26 pounds and is 32.5 inches long. Hopefully she's going to be tall like her Daddy! The doctor asked all kind of questions to see how she was developing. Here are a couple of examples and my responses...some I voiced...some I didn't.

Does she point at things? (oh, yeah! especially when she wants something)
Is she trying to climb on things? (good, that's normal...I thought she was part monkey)
Is she drinking from a cup? (very well! her favorite thing is throwing it on the floor and watching Mommy pick it up. Then clean up all the milk that spilled out of the NON-SPILL cups!!! Why is that?
Has she gotten rid of the bottle and the pacifier? (Bottle-yes...way past that!!! Pacifier-no...part of this is my fault...she looks so cute with it and if she doesn't have it she starts sucking her thumb. She also has a really cute name for it too---pahum...make the "p" sound then make a short humming sound...Pahummm
Does she know 4-5 words? (Try 40-50!!! Of course others wouldn't recognize them, but when you're around her enough you can pick several out.)

Below are a couple of pictures one from today and one last May...she's grown so much! I have a toddler now!!!

for the love of bracelets

2009-04-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

Macie's new favorite thing... Mommy's bracelets! Her mission is to get as many on as possible. Here are a few pictures of her caught in the act! Check out her curly hair!