happy little surprise

my honey really knows how to make me happy... since we are leaving town so early in December I've been coming to grips with not buying a tree this year, just as I was mourning the fact of succumbing to no tree for the first time in five years, Ryan came home with "flowers" for our anniversary... my flowers were a tree!! yahoo!!!

Speaking of anniversaries, Ryan and I celebrated 5 successful years of marriage this week - still crazy after all these years!

thanksgiving break & a lovely belated birthday

we had a fantastic thanksgiving break with Ryan's family - it was such a fun week to realx and recharge the batteries.

one day we went to this mini indoor water park - which totally rocked!

bel loved it and played for hours past her nap time without lunch and was happy as a clam - as were her parents - we all enjoyed the water slides and splashing around in the middle of winter - so fun!

the next day we went to the science center, which has all sorts of neato stuff...

a 5ft pin head wall - this is bel's handprint in mine a giant ribbon dancer suspended from the ceiling

bubbles

building rockets, with a little help from bel, mine was superior - what some might call a crooked top cone placement was really what created the extra lift to get to make it go farther, faster - thanks babycakes!

one of these electric ball things

of course her favorite things were free - the escalator and the lockers. (we had to drag her away crying)

where are bel & benton???

here's benton

oh no you don't cousin - here comes the diva

i didn't document my favorite part of the week, which was just sitting around chatting and playing games with everyone. I love it when we are all together in the same space just enjoying each other's company - it's what life is all about - thanks everyone!

This year Ryan's birthday landed on Thanksgiving - I feel bad that I hardly acknowledged this on his special day so tonight we had a little family celebration.

pretty cake (unfortunately it looks better than it tasted)

make a wish!

to celebrate - here are a few of my favorite things about my favorite friend...

-he wants to rasie chickens someday too

-he eats peanut butter with a fork straight from the jar

-he makes me smile and laugh when i don't want to but desperately need to

-he makes time for his girls everyday

-he's got a soft heart and a firm caboose

and oh how i love him so!

a little confused about...

...the seasons.
oh brother - apparently i just can't let go of summer or fall. don't worry i'll put away the flowers and the pumpkins this week - i promise.
Thanksgiving was simply delightful - stay tuned for the post

I'm thankful for...

... (and will always thank my lucky stars for) a daughter who likes her veggies

... & breaks from school.

Supposedly this was the hardest semester of med school, plus we had a few other bumps in the road thrown in there, but on Monday (after a second weekend in the hospital with Bel - don't worry all is well...again) Ryan took his last final and we are loving our family time together.

A few highlights -

bel rockin mom's cowboy boots and practicing her model faces and poses

a delicious, leisurely Sunday breakfast - I love my husband's scrambled eggs - they are divine

manicures by dad - this multi-talented man never ceases to amaze me

her painted nails are always such a thrill.

best baking experience ever

The other day Bel and I made banana bread - to say it was fun would be an understatement - I would relive this hour for the rest of my life (as long as I could invite Ryan for the repeat).

I am happy to report another aspect of how Bel and I will get along quite nicely together -enjoying unbaked baked goods and listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, oh and let's not forget the spontaneous dancing.

bel's new tricks

well it's official - anything bel does that is cool, ryan has taught her how to do or she has come up with on her own. yesterday he taught her to play the harmonica (stay tuned later this week for a video recital) and today he taught her this little gem. we all got such a kick out of this - it was a regular "miller fam stupid human trick talent show" at our place tonight - only one trick was showcased over and over and over (nope it's still not old yet - we will laugh at this for a few weeks at least) : behold, the glow stick face stall...

this next one is her own spontaneous performance - i call it the growling donkey kick...

(i don't know how long it will take me to learn NOT to talk or laugh while videoing, please excuse my annoying background noises)

i am so proud of her - with these kind of skills she'll go far in life

a few thoughts to accompany the photos

i wish i were a fabulous photographer and could beautifully capture this pot of simmering spices, alas, i'm lucky if you can tell that it's cinnamon sticks and cloves - today this what made me feel okay about being confined to the house by darkness starting at 5pm. it seems like a few days ago we were heading to the park at 7pm for one last expulsion of energy and it is sad to me that those days are gone BUT i felt okay about it today because i had this on our stovetop. starting about this time of year my mom simmers this same concoction on her stove - it fills the house with this incredibly homey, authentic smell of fall spices - it reminds me of coming in from the cold, good times with my family, my favorite time of year and just being happy at home. so tonight as i wondered if i could entertain bel indoors for a few extra hours i took a deep breath of this yummy spice scented air and i was happy to be home.

cinnamon chex gets 6 thumbs up from the miller home. i wish i had 20 boxes of this in the cupboard. i bought 1 lonely box on the last day of a sale and now i wish we'd never met - they are the most delicious simple carbohydrate i've encountered in a long while and the worst of it is... ryan and bel like it too (too much competition for me) now it will be gone in less than 36 hours - woah is me, what is a cereal loving girl to do?

and just because i rarely make it through a blog post without including my sweet gal - here's a new photo and an unrelated story... (mostly for the grandparents benefit)

ryan usually gets the honor of reading bel's bedtime stories to her and since there is only room for one adult on that chair i sit somewhere on the floor - tonight i leaned over the side arm of the chair listening and watching as ryan quizzed bel on all the animals, shapes and objects on each page and i had one of those proud parent moments (like when she went down the slide for the first time by herself) it is such a thrill to see my daughter learn! i am usually reading the books with her and don't see her facial expressions but tonight i got to watch her eyes search the page for the right animal or the next flap to flip, to see her get excited when she found the puppy or when ryan turned to her favorite page in the little engine that could. i just keep thinking how cool it is to see her change and learn and enter each new stage and i was wondering if it will be such a thrill for me with our other kids - i hope so because it sure is fun this first time