Katie the biker chick

Well, she has finally had enough parental supervision to learn how to ride her bike on her own without training wheels! Hurray for Katie and hurray for us. She has been practicing (whenever Craig was available as my arms weren't long enough when I was prego and I didn't run fast enough then either)since last summer to ride her bike without training wheels. She's addicted to biking now. I hear it all day long and all night. "Can I got out and ride my bike now?". I'm excited for her, don't get me wrong. I'm just not excited to bundle everybody up and go out and stand on the driveway in 40 degree weather and watch her ride and tell her to get out of the street when a car is coming. Everyday after school (except when it's raining) she gets to ride and then again before dinner usually and sometimes while I'm making dinner if Craiggle is home early enough. I really miss our "old Kentucky home" now. Such a nice big, flat driveway, spacious garage and plenty of sidewalks. Also a nice no-traffic culdesac and a huge back patio. Oh well, this probably won't be our last house.

Spring came and went already!

Well last week you can see from the pix and the video that we had really nice weather! My daffodils and grape hyacinths came up. I really can't believe how early it was to have them blooming, but we had a number of days in the 60's. It felt heavenly to be so mild. We haven't seen any snow yet this year. I wonder if that's normal for Greenville...? We have since gotten cooler and the humidity makes even 40's with a breeze feel really cold! Maybe my blood has just gotten thinner or maybe I just don't wear warm clothes like I used to. Anyhow, here are some pix to enjoy! Katie's addicted to riding her bike now that she's learned how to ride without training wheels. It was great last week when it was warm. Not so great now that it's cold and windy. Atleast our Girl Scout cookies showed up last night so it was a good excuse to come in from the cold!

Sophie's new tricks and the average weekend

Sophie is learning some new tricks as you can see from her pics. She is learning how to suck her thumb(a very important skill in our household, the art of self-soothing)and she took a bottle last Friday for the first time. She took it like a champ! Katie gave it to her on the way to school and then Taylor finished when we got home. Hurray for Sophie (and hurray for me!). Next you can see Katie all dressed up like Hannah Montana. She put on a concert for me Friday afternoon! She's got some great moves and a wonderful sense of style that she may have inherited from her Auntie Hailey! We had the most wonderful weather this weekend and took advantage of the warmer temps(65 on sat and 75 on sun)by staying outside as much as possible. It was so fantastic to have the windows open! How lucky are we to get weather like that and all before Valentine's Day?

The Leisy & Kent Baby Pool!!!

For those of you who have been waiting to hear... LEISY AND KENT HAD THEIR BABY TODAY!!! It's another BOY! Hurray for them! Another quick labor and delivery for Leisy. She started having contractions this morning around 5 and taught seminary (yeah, she's crazy)then headed to the hospital. She was already at a 5 when she arrived and went from that to a 9 and 1/2 in no time. They barely had time to get her an epidural. A couple pushes and the new baby Miller was out! 7 lb 5oz and 20" long! Just like Sophie(Sophie was a little taller actually, but look at her Daddy!). We're so excited for them and to announce our winners, we had a 4-WAY-TIE. Here are the names: KATHY STARKEY (aka: yaya and mommo and Craig's mom). She suggested something biblical like Eli or Moses or Samuel so that they would fit in with the natives (the Amish). Uncle Dave with a name suggestion of Baby Bob. Bridger Howell with a name suggestion of Joseph. Also Uncle Johnny with a name suggestion of Bevan. Here are the other entries:

Guesser Gender Date Name
Craig Boy Jan 29th Sonny
Hailey Boy Feb 1st Baxter
Katie Boy Feb 1st Jack
Laney Boy Jan 29th Frederick (Ike)
Ben Girl Jan 31 Sunny
Rachael Girl Feb 2nd Zoe
Yaya Boy Feb 3rd Eli Samuel Moses
Kristen Boy Feb 4th Hudson
Derek Boy Feb 4th Bud "The Boss" Miller
Michelle Girl Feb 4th Jennalise
Bryson Girl Feb 1st Alexa
Uncle Dave Boy Feb 3rd Bob
Amy Girl Jan 27 Tinley
Uncle Bob Boy Feb 1st Mercury (7lb 7oz 7am)
Chele Girl Feb 4th Hannah
Bridger Boy Feb 3rd Joseph
Carsen Boy Feb 4th Stevey
Metta Girl Feb 1st Metta (Marietta)
Uncle John Boy Feb 3rd Bevan
Steve Boy Feb 2nd Lichenman
Kim Boy Feb 11 Dexter Alexander (nickname: X)
Jack Starkey Cata Pilla Miller
Uncle Chris Girl Mar 29 Camelot (nickname: Cammie)
Emily Boy Feb 10 Zander
David Jaynes Boy Feb 5 Lee Harvey Oswald Miller

Thanks to all the participants and to Leisy and Kent for having another surprise baby to add to the family fun and suspense! I'll have to decide if the winners should pick a number between 1-100 or if they should all receive lesser prizes. Let me know what you think?

Sophie's Blessing

This weekend we had Sophie's blessing. We were lucky enough to have Craig's parents come down for a quick visit in honor of the event. We also were blessed with some beautiful weather. Craig did a great job blessing her (like he did with the others) and I actually got to hear the blessing this time (some kid was throwing a fit during Taylor's blessing and their mom wouldn't take them out, not that I'm holding a grudge about it). Our adopted family, Casey and Christina Eichhorn were able to be there for the blessing too and that was wonderful. You can see our new family picture at that top of the blog. Also the cute picture of Sophie with her Ya-ya and Papa. Lastly are the pix of her in her blessing dress. Craig didn't like the hat, he said it made her look Amish. I said that I didn't think so, until she pulled the cross-eyed look, then she heard me and pulled the pouty look at the end! She's starting to smile and it's so rewarding to get some feedback! She really is so sweet. I'm amazed that I'm really enjoying the newborn stage this time(maybe because I'm counting on it to be the last time). I kinda went overboard taking pix of her in her blessing dress, but I regret not taking more of the other 2. I guess 3rd time around I'm just trying to do everything right. Think it'll happen?