Bumper Bowling

We did another first with Brynn and took her bumper bowling. She was so thrilled to play and we had a blast. She was squealing just putting on her bowling shoes and the people in the lane next to us asked us if this was her first time. It was very funny and slightly awkward with that (slightly liquored) group bowling next to us. They talked to us pretty much the whole time and got a big kick out of watching Brynn and saying how cute she was. It made the night much more interesting!

So cute in my shoes.

Soooo excited I couldn't contain myself.

This is MY bowling ball!

Watching the friendly folks in the next lane.

Had to hold my ball while watching daddy.

Daddy and Me

Poor attempt at a family photo. Should have
had the new friends next to us take one
before they left!

Mommy and Me

The ball had to be rescued twice :-)

After using the camera in a dark bowling alley made me so frustrated with our camera and getting quality photos! I am super appreciative for the free camera we have - it's definitely much nicer than the first one we had but I am saving up for one even better!

Christmas Fun!

Here are more pics for the family! We had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Brynn was excited that Santa Claus ate her cookies and water (she insisted he only wanted water). She opened her presents so slowly and wanted to play with each one before moving on. She also wouldn't open the next present until each piece of the wrapping and tape was put in the trash bag. Makes me proud; a (clean) girl after my own heart :-)

More on me than on the cookies!

Mmmm, too yummy not to eat now!

It's not ALL fun and games in the
Miller household! She was upset I
had cut off the cookie eating.

Great bed-head. Wish I could fair so well.
Notice - no pics of us :-)

Stocking stuffer time

Sitting with my loot

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and
then blessings for a Happy New Year!

O' Sweet Child of Mine

Here are some pictures for the holidays. This will be the first time since I was born that I will not have seen my family during Christmastime and since Matt and I have been together that we haven't also seen his family!! It will be kind of nice to wake up on Christmas at home but we will miss seeing our families dearly. We love you!

Also a quick story...while watching a show (ok, it was during the Clash of the Choir finale) that there was a teary moment and I had a tear come down my face. Brynn looked at me so sincerely and said, "Don't cry Momma! It's ok, don't be sad." She cupped her little hand against my cheek and kept telling me not to cry. She's a very sweet girl!

Poor Annie, just turns into a million little
snowballs in the winter.

Crawling to the top of the castle

Eating the snow

Shelby wants to play too! (we are dog sitting)

Workin' out with Momma

I am one of many who struggle to exercise on a regular basis (and not being a 'naturally thin' person). From January through July I did really great and was feeling good with my 15 lbs loss...then a new position with many hours and stress and there began the battle (again) of keeping it off. Sadly enough all of the weight has crept back up on me :-( I have been working out here and there but nothing consistent. By time I work a long exhausting day, then come home and deal with dinner, spending time with Brynn, and then bath and bedtime I am usually too pooped to work out! I want Brynn to recognize the importance of staying healthy.....so when I was flipping through our 'On Demand' through Comcast trying to find Blues Clues for Brynn, I selected Kids Fitness instead. There was a 20 minute workout to do as a family and I thought I'd see if Brynn would do it with me. She did! She was really into it a first and was trying to do the moves like the little girls. It was quite cute!! After about 8 minutes she was like "I am all done, Momma." She got up on the couch and snuggled with her blankie while she watched me finish the workout. Hopefully she's last longer next time. :-)

Clash Part 2

Ok, here is the clip of the Flight of the Bumblebee :-) Looking forward to tonights finale!

Clash of the Choirs

Those of you who know me well, know of my unfortunate TV addiction. I have way too many shows that I watch. I don't know if any of you have been watching this week's short reality series, Clash of the Choirs, but it has been a really uplifting, feel good show! I have enjoyed the celebrity directors and the amazing talent of these choirs they have formed. I am dancing in my seat just thinking about it. If you haven't seen any of it yet, tomorrow is the finale and I am sure it will be great. I really loved the first night with Patty LaBelle's choir singing this:
.
I am so glad I found a video clip!! The best part of the song is about 1:35 into the song. It was even better listening and watching it on a big screen HD TV. Did I mention I loved it? :-) There was a cool performance tonight from Nick Lachey's Choir singing the Flight of the Bumblebee, but I couldn't find a video clip of that one out yet.

Rock a Bye Baby...

For those of you who have children you know nothing fills the heart and give you warm fuzzies and can get you all vaclamped like rocking your little one. Even at 2 1/2, rocking Brynn and having her melt against my body is as special as when she was a baby.

After her afternoon nap, we just sat in her room with the lights off and no distractions and rocked and rocked. It was at least a good 40 minutes or so. We didn't talk at all and she almost fell back asleep a few times. She's a big thumb-sucker so she had her blankie with the satin edges and rubbed her fingers very gingerly up and down it. She followed suit with her toes. Her blankies definitely give her that 'security' feeling and it's as if she goes into her own little peaceful world.

We snuggle together a lot, but it's been awhile since we did that without a million others things going on at the time (like the TV, dishwasher, washer, Annie barking, my mind racing about what needs to get done at work or at the house, etc). I just watched her the entire time. I wonder what a little 2 1/2 yr old mind thinks about? Is she thinking about one of her toys, a game she like to play, what her next snack will be, playing with her little friends from daycare and church, and so on?

I know I was thinking about her future. What is she going to look like as she gets older? What is her personality going to be? Will she like school and have an easy time making friends? How much peer pressure will she have to deal with? Will we still be close during her teen age years or even older? I even get some morbid thoughts on what if Brynn is one of those kids who has an untimely tragic death? How will I handle it and how much of a heartache that would be? This then makes me think about and reflect on my Christianity. Am I being the best parent I can be? Am I teaching her lessons about Jesus and instilling the proper values in Brynn that I should so that she will grow up to have strong personal relationship with God? Am I putting into practice (DAILY) what I know in my heart I should be doing?

Most days I'd say I fall short, but it's in these moments of staring into Brynn's face that rev me up to stay the course and to keep striving to be the person I know God desires for me to be. Man, this is deep stuff me for me! I am off to pull myself together.... Blessings! Have you rocked your little one lately?