Christmas Crazies

We had a great Christmas. Buddy got way too many gifts! People are just too kind!!

Here is one of his favorites, a John Deere. He got this from Santa (aka Grandma and Grandpa). Here he is on December 30 when it was 65+ degrees outside!! It felt like spring, but it was just a tease!

Here is Mommy's family on December 23, which is when my side always celebrates Christmas. This is at our favorite Japanese Steakhouse, Nikko's. It is by far the best we have ever had because of their ginger sauce.

All of these folks are coming up to our house tonight for New Year's Eve. Since our basement is done, we have room for all of them to stay the night. Buddy will love spending quality time with his cousins!! The adults will enjoy playing Killer Bunnies once the little ones are in bed! Happy New Year to all!

It's Christmas in Kansas City

On Saturday, we went to the plaza to see the lights. We haven't been in a few years, and we thought Buddy would like it.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus were there!!

Here we are waiting for our carriage ride. Buddy wanted to meet the horses, Briggs and Stratton.

Uncle Matt came with us and paid for our carriage ride! Thanks Uncle Matt!

It was really neat because it started to snow while we were there. You can see a few dots of snow in this picture. Snow always makes a wintry scene more beautiful.

Gingerbread Trailer House

Daddy wanted to make Gingerbread Houses with Buddy the other night, so he stopped by the store to get the supplies. Of course, we did not use gingerbread, but graham crackers instead. I suspected it wouldn't work out very well, but Daddy insisted. So, below is our Gingerbread Trailer House...

It was difficult to get the roof on, so it just looked like a rectangular box.

After some propping up, we got the roof to stay on. The entire project lasted 20 minutes, and Buddy just sat there dipping his finger in the frosting and eating it. He did put the gum drops and some sprinkles on too. Dad gets an "E" for effort! :-)

***In case you are wondering, Buddy's shirt says "Dear Santa, I can explain..."***

Dad's Birthday and Lobster

Daddy's birthday was on Saturday, and we celebrated with a trip to Red Lobster.

The nice hostess got a lobster out for us to "pet."

Also, we had some no-bake Reece's Peanut Butter Cup cake. Yum yum!

We are having so much fun this year getting ready for Christmas. Buddy just loves the songs on the radio, especially jingle bells. All he talks about is Christmas, lights, and Santa! This Christmas should be really fun because he finally "gets it."

Santa visits Oskaloosa

Our local library hosted Santa this morning. Also, they could decorate cookies and make a gingerbread man.


Eating the cookie was much more fun than decorating it!

Here he is telling Santa that he wants a red bike! Let's hope he is a good boy and gets what he wants!

Ice Skating, Ducks, Basketball

What a busy weekend! Although it was longer than most weekends, it seemed shorter because we did so much! Thanksgiving was yummy as usual, and we were thankful to have everyone healthy and happy (besides a few runny noses and coughs). The day after Thanksgiving was our trip to Crown Center. We did a little shopping, but the best part was the ice skating. Although Mommy and Daddy struggled with sore feet, Buddy didn't seem to mind.

Uncle Matt and Drew even went with us. After getting on the ice, Uncle Matt said, "Whose great idea was this anyway?!" All in all, I think everyone had fun. It was just a little tiring helping the little guys figure out how to skate.

The following morning, the guys went for a duck hunt.



Here are Buddy, Daddy, Alicen, and Madison (some cousins) at the KU Women's Game. Although Aunt Viv was mad, KU beat Memphis by almost 30 points.

Mommy's First Pumpkin Pie

Here is Mommy's first pumpkin pie. I was so hungry for pumpkin pie, and I couldn't wait until Thursday! So, I used the recipe on the can of pumpkin. It smells good and looks good! Let's hope it tastes just as good!

Life in the Miller Household

Things have settled down in the Miller house. We got Buddy's bed from Grandma and Grandpa's last night, so the basement is now complete. Daddy goes hunting this weekend (and will take Abbie, our dog), so we are going to try Buddy out sleeping in his new room. He is very excited about the Jayhawks on the walls!

We still have to come up with a plan for Abbie. She needs another pen because the one she has now is right outside the window of Buddy's new room. It would be okay if she didn't stay up and BARK most of the night because she hears/sees coyotes, deer, etc. We may resort to putting her in her dog box in the garage. She won't bark in there.

Anyone else enjoying this beautiful fall weather?

H-A-Double L-O-W-Double E-N

Alli, the witch! Her dress even lit up!!

Darth Vader Drew!

Here is Sheriff Woody! I think he is standing kind of like the real Woody in this picture!

We are the champions...

Yep, the lady bears did it! They won the 2A State Volleyball Championship!! I believe this is the first state title in our schools' history!

State Bound...Round 2

The lady bears volleyball team is headed to STATE! So, we get Friday off of school! Well, not really because we are contracted to work. So, we had the choice of a work day or going to see the girls play. Last year, they went all the way to Hays (so I didn't go), but this year they are in Emporia. So, I get to go and take a small group of students to see the girls play on Friday! Can't wait! The juniors and seniors on this team are girls that I helped coach back when they were 7th and 8th graders!! They are so fun to watch!

Basement Complete!!!!!!

We are SOOOO glad our basement is done. We just doubled the size of our house!! Yahoo!

Here is part of Buddy's new KU room. We still have to get his bed and dresser from grandma and grandpa's, but it is almost ready!

The new living room, downstairs. Anybody have an old couch they don't want? Thanks to Galen for giving us the nice tv!

The spare bedroom. My college apartment stuff came in handy for decorating this room! We call this "grandpa's room" because he spends the night sometimes when he goes hunting with Daddy. He finally has an actual room to sleep in, not just a bed in the unfinished basement!

Here is the downstairs bathroom. I decorated it with beach and fish stuff for fun!

Here is the hallway/computer area/eating area. Thanks to Aunt Mary for the table and chairs. Thanks to Uncle Murph for fixing the table and chairs up! The bar stools you see are my garage sale specials! I got them for $20 each, and they are perfect!

Here is the basement bar or the "other kitchen", as Buddy calls it.

Junior Achievement Bowling

Uncle Matt always makes it interesting. He found a vending machine with hillbilly teeth, so we had hillbilly bowling!

Here's Buddy after missing all the pins!

Not only did we have hillbilly bowling, we had granny bowling!

Here is Matt's sophisticated bowling approach!

Late Night and Maple Leaf

We had a busy weekend. We went to Late Night in the Phog and the Maple Leaf Festival. We had a great time!

This truck had some massive tires! I have never seen a machine quite this big up close. I bet those tires were taller than me!

The Jayhawks made an appearance at the Maple Leaf Festival. So, we saw them Friday night and Saturday morning!

Here is Buddy at Late Night on Friday. He did quite well considering we stayed until 10pm! I will post some pictures soon of our bowling outing on Saturday night! We bowled for Junior Achievement for Daddy's work. Even Uncle Matt came to bowl!

Fun with Family

My uncle Jeff and aunt Jacque were in town a few weeks ago, so we had a family get together. It is always fun to play with Tooje's kids!!

If you know anything about Mr. OJ, this picture is hilarious. The other kids are happy... and OJ? Not so much, but we LOOOOVE him just the same!! :-) See, he really is happy at times! Gotta love that grin!

And Ms. EJ... WOW, look at that hair. Buddy just loves holding her and playing with her!

**Thanks to Tooje for letting me take pics of her kids and put them on my blog without permission!

Ready for some football

Go Bears!! Beat those Valley Falls Dragons tonight!!

***Daddy thinks Buddy is a Dragon, but he is really a Bear at heart. After all, he did "go" to school in Oskie for 9 months with mama, right?

Funny Faces Friday

I am participating in Funny Faces Friday today. Buddy with The Incredibles underwear on his head... Lol!!

Redeem

Although inexcusable that KU lost to NDSU, they did (sort of) redeem themselves by beating Georgia Tech. Let's hope the team from Week #1 does NOT return EVER, and let's hope the team from Week #2 stays around FOREVER!

It could be a long season...

... of football for the Jayhawks. On Saturday, we lost to North Dakota State. :-(

I like the new "tunnel" they have for the players to come out of. They blow fog right before they come out. Also, the new jumbo-tron is nice except the writing is so small, you can hardly read it from your seats!!

On the plus side, we may get to take Buddy to more games this year for a very CHEAP price!!

He enjoyed the game and the fun activities in the Hawk Zone before the game.

Demo Derby

We attended the demolition derby in McLouth this weekend. It's quite amazing the type of people these events bring out...but, we were part of the bunch ;-) I have never seen a car flip at a derby before, so this was quite exciting!!

Here is Buddy in his Lightning McQueen sunglasses. They were quite appropriate for the event, since he thought we were there to watch "race cars." He loved it, and stayed up waaaaaaay past his bed time. Might as well enjoy the summer weather while it lasts. As we all know, snow drifted, icy roads and long days stuck in the house are just around the corner. Yeah, yeah, it's only August...

Great Song

Now, I am not much of a fan of country music. But, I love this song, and it is great for back to school. Go to youtube.com and search for The Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney. Listen to the song, and see what you think. Our principal told us about it. Of course, he has a son who plays in the NFL, so he LOVES the song. It reminds me of our small town... I can see how all of our "boys" listen to this song and can really relate to it. I'm sure Buddy's dad loves this song too :-)

"get to wear our jerseys down the hall"
"in little towns like mine, it's all they've got"
"you mess with one man, you've got us all"

The End of Summer

Buddy has loved riding his "favorite" horse, Blackie Sue, this summer. Grandma even got him a little saddle.

"Yee haw!"

Here is what I hope to do these last few days before I have to go back to school. This is our precious cat, Gracie. It has been a wonderful summer! I got my Master's Degree finished, spent lots of time at the pool, and had a great vacation to Florida!! Let's hope this school year is just as good!