Back on the Bloggin' Block

Life has finally slowed down. Here's the real reason I'm back. It all starts with a nasty burn I got grabbing part of dinner out of the 375 degree oven. Instead of pulling out the bottom rack first, I just reached in to grab the pan. I felt the burning but it took longer for the nerves to reach my brain to say the I was burning the wrist. OUCH! Then last wed. my friend and I dropped our kids off at co-op and then went to get manicures and pedicures at a beauty school because its practically free and my friend is going through school and need hours. So remember that many lotions and creams were used on my hands, arms, face and chest. After that we pick up the kids and take them to Chuck e Cheese for a birthday party. As we are leaving, my sister in law gives me some homemade soaps that her cousin makes and sells. I was so excited. Thursday morning, I have co-op. Friday my parents take us to Burger King for lunch before we leave for our trip. In the car as we are driving to Salt Lake, Andrew throws up in his carseat. The throwing up does not stop until monday afternoon which means no food or fluids for almost 4 days. So I get to tend Andrew upstairs the whole trip so that nobody else gets sick. I missed the Farewells and visits with family. Saturday, I go to get in the shower and find myself itching like there is no tomorrow! Can't figure out why. I get really air headed sometimes because I never have health issues. Knock on wood. Now I'm itching hysterically, nonstop. Tuesday, I start vomiting. Yeah! Later that day I discover that my entire body is covered in scabs and red bumps. Don't grosse out. Here me out. I finally stop throwing up on Wednesday but Kylin wakes up with what has to be Pink Eye. Oh Yeah! I finally had to call a doctor friend and he thinks that I have had an allergic reaction to the soap I use wed. thurs. fri. and sat. night. He never saw me hes just going off my descriptions. We track down some eye drops for Kylin as she's on the up and up. Andrews in the clear but to add to the story, my niece that was at chuck e cheese with us was throwing up the same amount of time as Andrew. And my friends daughter had the runs and threw up one day. My sister in law also went to Burger King the same afternoon.

So what's your assessment: Did Andrew and my niece Janie get sick and Chuck e Cheese, Burger King? Is my Rash really related to the new soap, the facial?

Okay, so Friday morning I had had enough of the Benadryl 3 times a day, Pepcid 2 times a day, COLD Oatmeal baths 3 times a day and the CONSTANT itching. I had spent the whole night scratching and crying! Nathan took me to the ER and I became a Medical Mystery. The doctor really couldn't pinpoint the problem. So I was the lucky recipient of 1. a steroid shoot in my stomach 2. a culture of my burn 3. an IV where they drew 4 viles of blood. then gave me a dose of benadryl and something else through the IV and a liter fluids. I can only compare it to a prisoner being executed. Slowly my heart started to race faster and louder, it felt like my limbs were slowly going numb and then I proceeded to have the shakes. After all that, the doctor still couldn't really figure it out so I had to have an antibiotic through my IV. Drum Roll Please - the rash is most likely a reaction to using too much Neosporin on my burn. A burn that started out the with of an oven rack and now looks bigger than the milk jug lid. So I'm deep in treatments again for another 5-7 days. Yeah Me!

This all leads to why I'm Back on the Bloggin' Block. Benadryl is suppose to make you sleepy is what I hear. No, not me. I can stay awake for days straight. No joke I am living off of 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night for 4 days straight. If you have any advice PLEASE send it my way.

So I've condensed October and November to highlights.

Keep a look out for more Highlights in The Millers Memories:)

November

Gathered around as a Family to witness something that only happens every 4 years. Its fun having the kids old enough to spend time talking about the election and important issues. In our house, that Education!

That night, we witnessed History in the Making!

Firsts in History can only happen once so my kids can say they saw it on tv.

Daddy Daughter Dance

So fun. Of Course Jalyne got into character. Nathan on the other hand came straight from work and the blue neckerchief was all we could get him to wear. Watching you husband square dance with your daughter is pure joy!



Kylin's preschool field trip to Anderson Dairy.
This is one of my favorite field trips because not only is the tour so cool. They serve Cookies n Creme Ice cream at the end. This is the perfect place to take your kids in the summer. Its Free, and a nice retreat from the hot sun.


Jalyne's class reinacted the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving




Self explanatory.

I don't know why I didn't take pictures during Thanksgiving Dinner. We host it every year. This year is was small with only 16 family members. It was perfect.

October

October means cool air, foliage, calming colors on the plants and trees, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, the thoughts of Halloween then Thanksgiving then Christmas, and costumes and parties and pumkin picking and planning and shopping ect. ect. ect.

This year was no different. So I really came to dislike halloween this year. I started the month telling the children that this year I was not going to buy costumes and so we should find ways to be creative and make costumes. Well.....

Taylor always goes the sports route, never the scary route and just goes and pick something out of his closet. Cool. Done.

Drew is too young to decide what he wants to be so I decided that he still fit his Racecar Driver costume that I found at Kid to Kid last year for like 5 bucks and still loves cars so Cool. Done.
Kylin, are you kidding me, first said that she wanted to be Mini Mouse. Already had the costume so I was felt relieved. When Ashlyn said she wanted to be the ever so popular and mainstream Hannah Monata. Cool. Done. Guess what, yeah Kylin had to be Hannah Montana too. And the story continues, I thought that 5 dollar wigs at Savers would be all I had to spend money on and then I could make their costumes. Well, I ended up spending 12 dollars at the store for leggings and so chuching - $22 on halloween. In my book, that is too much. And why did I think making their shirts would be fun? So as you can see Ashlyn was Hannah Montana all 4 times we had to dressup and Kylin was Hannah Montana twice and a Cat twice. As a women with 5 kids, I don't care what your wearing half the time lets just make it out the door with clothes and shoes on:)

Jalynes costume knew she had to be and Astronaut this year. Cool. Done. This was so fun, a friend that gave me this white jumper and we printed Nasa patches on line and the a friend ran them through her sticker machine. Free! The hat is a pumkin $1 painted white with nasa stickers and a costco milk jug strapped on her back as her oxygen tanks. She won the BEST HOMEMADE COSTUME AWARD at a party. Jalyne rocks with her free spirit! She thought this costume was the coolest thing:)

Before Halloween Night there's

Pumpkin Picking at Gilcrease. First with Kylins Preschool where she decided this was her pumpkin. Then because it was so much fun, with the whole fam.



GRIZZLES AFTER DARK

PICNIC IN THE PARK


PUMPKIN CARVING

FYI if you ever wondered, pumkin seed size depends on the size of the pumpkin


Then the Class Parties
1st Ashlyn's Class

Then, Jalynes

Finally, Taylors

Halloween Day -

starts with a complete breakfast

The Miller Family Halloweenie Roast

The Banaria Family to pass out candy

Blogging Block

So sorry I haven't blogged in months! I am just not interested in updating lately, nor do I want to spend what little free time I have uploading pictures on my dial service Internet and thinking of clever things to say. But I do appreciate all of your cute pictures and info on your daily lives. My computer is also down! Is that enough excuses? So see you when my computer works again and I feel motivated to sit in front of my slow moving screen while wanting to pull my hair out as the little circles light up one by one telling me that 'yes indeed, it is uploading'

Love you all,

Maribeth

ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAYS

The Von Miller Family

Okay, this is really funny and cute. Sometimes when we as parents are really tired and the thought of getting 5 kids ready for bed sound just way to exhausting, Nathan will blow a whistle and this is what happens.

The kids all run laughing and get in line in birth order.
They line up right where the carpet meets the lamente because that is a straight line. Then Nathan blows out some different noises and starting with Taylor and ending with Andrew the kids step forward one at a time and say their name and something silly. All done while they are laughing hysterically.

Finally, Nathan gives the instructions as they huddle. Shower, brush, floss, rinse, read on your own and be ready for family scriptures and prayer in 10! The whole while I'm laughing at their obedience. And guess what? It really works. They race each other to see who can get done first! And in 20 min. Nathan and I are home free for the night! Until they start getting out of bed one by one:)

Roasting Marshmallows

How fun is this!

It's the best having friends who don't have kids yet because they always want to do fun things for our kids. Roasting Marshmallows after dinner on a nice October night. Nathan now wants to get a fire pit for our backyard. This, I agree with.

The women put this fire together and nothing burned down!:)

Andrew after he shoved an entire marshmallow in his mouth.

Taylor's 11, WOW!

Taylor turned 11 and all I could think about was the night of events that lead to him coming into this world. Yes, we all say this, it really feels like yesterday. The only reason I get sentimental is because he is the first everything. The first child, first son, first to walk and talk, play sports and go to school. He'll be the first to drive, graduate high school and the first to leave home. Nathan always reminds me that in 7 years he'll be gone and I won't be able to see or talk to him for 2 years. Please cry with me now:(

So, his birthday started out as all the kids birthdays start out. He woke up bright and early and waited patiently for all the others to rise up out of bed. Then, we all started down the stairs to see if he could find anything out the ordinary. Kylin hid her present in the play kitchen.

A rock colored Black.

Straight from her imagination and her sweet heart:)

Jalyne did really good hiding her gift in the book shelf.

(I love that the older they get, the smarter they are)

A painting she created in Art Class.

Ashlyn thought the pantry would be a good place to hide her gift.

It did take a while.

A painting she created in Art Class.

She was very clear that she messed up and had not intent to paint the baseball pink.

New baseball cleats and wristbands from mom and dad. The poor boy was squeezing into cleats a 1/2 size to small till we could afford new ones.

A new Rubics Cube from dad which he can now complete in under 3 minutes.

As much trouble and heartache my dear son gives me I still give into his every well not every request. Which for his birthday consisted of:

Omelets and toast for breakfast

Del Taco for lunch and Brownies for his whole class

Fettuccine Alfredo for Dinner with Homemade Donuts for Desert

So between all my running around and chaos for the day, his every wish was granted.

But only for 1 day a year!

Happy 11th Birthday Taylor!

Old Friends, Good Food, Good Times

Chrissy is an old friend of my brothers from NY. She's like family for many reasons. I use to look up to Chrissy and her friends when I was growing up. They were older and so cool. We use to pass silly notes in the hallway and would tell Chrissy how much I loved her handwriting. LOL. Thanks for indulging me when we were younger:) Your family is too cute. It was so good to see you in person instead of on your blog! Call again next time your in town!

Kylin and Mariana

We could not get enough of cutie Karina!

I love how Andrew treats everyone smaller than him.

I know he's 2 but in my house he's the baby so watching him treat others like a baby is really endearing.

Childhood Memories

It's moments like these at the park that you as a parent are so glad you captured on film. The pictures that capture the moment speak so many happy emotions! I always hope that when my kids simple childhood is part of the past, that they will look back and think that it was a happy one full of lots of love. sibling love that happens every so often
This one tickles me and expresses the new found excitement every time we visit the park.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

He Loves Me!

So this vase/pitcher sits next to my sink. Most of the time it's empty. I mentioned to Nathan casually one night that I prefer it with flowers. The night I came back from my RS Women's Retreat a couple of weeks ago, he presented me with these flowers. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Nathan really is wonderful about 'professing his undying love for me!' ha! ha!

Well, my vase is empty again but my kids are really dolls about picking flowers for me.
Lantana's will have to do!

TIME OUT

Yes, sometimes Mom's need a Time Out too! Lucky for me there is a special weekend dedicated to uplifting and inspiring women - Time Out For Women. Bernice and I were able to escape for a night and one day.

Friday Night we skipped out for Sushi:)

Because we didn't eat dinner before we left for the night!

And because it was way over due birthday present.
It was better than I ever remembered sushi to be.

Saturday morning we were both lets say-wanting to really be with our families more than a large group of women. Well the day got better and better with each passing speaker and singer. I knew Hilary Weeks would be there and I was really excited to hear her inspiring music. To my most amazing surprise the first speaker was Virginia Hinckley Pearce. I could not contain myself. She was not planning on being there and came on last minutes notice and is her 1st Time Out ever. I couldn't believe it was happening. We raced down to her during the first break and I poured out my feelings of adoration and love for her family and the book "Letters". I'm sure I was a complete loser but I couldn't pass up the chance to be near her. Okay, corny I know but I really don't care. Then during the next break I went up to her again to have her sign another book she edited about her mother, "Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley".


Bernice and I with Hilary. Bernice said we were acting like people do at Disney Land waiting to take pictures with all the characters and get autographs.
In the end, it was worth being away from the fam for a day.