Babe Ruth Saved Baseball....

Okay, so this season of baseball for Malakai is almost over and I haven't posted ANY pictures!! This is his first year doing Coach Pitch. The nice thing is, is that Josh and Paul are coaching for the third year in a row and have carried a lot of the same boys through the years.

I truly LOVE watching Josh coach! He is in such his element. I know there are going to be many years of watching him do this, which is good, because I just can't get enough. The kids adore and respect him and the parents are forever impressed with him and his ability to work with the players.

Malakai seems to enjoy it as well. There has only been one game where his lack of motivation really caused steam to be released from Josh's ears! He held it in very well, since he was pitching and couldn't very well rip him off the field, however, I could see the smoke!!

We are still unsure if he is a lefty or a righty, which makes things rather difficult. But in the end, I think he is going to be just fine. Even if he doesn't make it in the big leagues, he could very well make it as an announcer! Which leads me to my next story....

Right after Malakai was born, my dad was in the bookstore and over heard a father reading his son THIS book. If you know my dad, you know he wears his emotions on his sleeve and got a little teary eyed while listening to this story. So, he bought the book for Malakai. It has since, become one of his all time favorite books.

Just the other week, in the middle of Malakai's game, he turns to Coach Paul and says, "Did you know Babe Ruth saved baseball Coach Paul?" A little thrown off by hearing a 5 year old talk about Babe Ruth, Coach Paul says "I did know that Malakai!" the sweet little boy then proceeds to shoot off all of Babe Ruths hitting statistics from when he played for Boston and when he played for the Yankees. I just love this kid!

Leila even enjoys watching :)


XOXO,

Teacher Appreciation

I realize I am a little late here, but I just wanted to share the Teacher Appreciation gifts Malakai and I did this year. I am always STUCK on this topic, since I was a teacher and understand that most stuff, while greatly appreciated, isn't really used much.

Since my new obsession lately has been DIY blogs (just check the blogroll on the side) there were a million ideas floating out there. I finally went with these adorable M&M jars from Domestically Speaking.

I made one for each of Malakai's Teachers, including his Fine Arts Teachers, so I believe there were 8 in all. I think they turned out pretty cute!!

In case you can't read it, here is what the poem says...

Green is for the inspiration you give me each day.
Blue is for your patience in showing me the way.
Orange is for your warmth and caring style.
Yellow is for the way you always make me smile.
Red is for my life that you have touched this year.
You're a very special teacher just like this jar, that's clear.
You place knowledge in our children's hands
and melt into their hearts and lives forever.
You're a "Magnificent" & "Marvelous" teacher
Thank you for being my M&M.

XOXO,

Ten on Tuesday

1. Malakai and Kiera attended Summer Break Out at Grace Church last week. Let’s just say that it is a whole blog in itself! They had an amazing time! The theme this year was “Crack the Code” and they went on a “mission” to Kurdistan!! Malakai has taken an extreme interest in Kurdistan and enjoys filling me in on facts he learned throughout the week. The video below just gives a brief showing of what their week was like! I love it!!

2. I'm going GLAMPING! If you live in the Midwest, you are VERY familiar with float-trips. Everyone goes, sleeps in a tent, canoe's or rafts down the river all day, and sleeps or passes out in a tent again. I have been on ONE in my entire life and it was AWFUL!!! I have, until this past weekend, refused to ever go again! The one time I went, we forgot the poles to the tent so we slept in the car, the person in my canoe, who shall go unamed, screamed at me the entire time because I was doing it "wrong" and a snake jumped in our canoe. NOT FUN!! Josh has been asking me to give it another try and promises it will be a much better experience. FINE!! I'll do it! Especially since GLAMPING is the new black of travel. Josh is sort of rolling his eyes at this whole idea, but he isn't arguing....just shows how bad he wants to do it! Now if I can only get him to buy me this sleeping bag....hmmmmm

3. My mom comes in town of Friday. She is staying with us for 17 days! The kids are SO excited!! It will be nice to have her visit.

4. Have you ever looked at the "People you may know" on Facebook. Yes! I realize I may know these people, however, there is a reason I'm not friends with them :)

5. OMG! Kasey on The Bachelorette is CRAZY! From day one I told Josh his voice was like nails on a chalkboard to me!! Surely he will get home, watch these episodes, and enter therapy!! For the love of men!! I love Roberto! I predict him and Kirk to be the top two, but we will see.

6. I am leaving it in Josh’s hands to plan something for my 30th birthday. Why do I do this to myself?! I am the planner in this relationship! I could just do it and be done with it. Nope, not this time…it’s all him. I have Faith!


7. It has been HOT! Like walk outside and the humidity just falls on your body….HOT! Why is it like this in June? Usually this sort of heat holds off till mid-July!

8. Sometimes I wish my GPS had an "Avoid Ghetto" option!

9. Malakai came back from Kansas City with a new favorite show....Kick Buttowski...ummm, WTF?!

10. I'm a little disappointed that the next book in the Nora Roberts series doesn't come out until November! Really?! November!! That is like forever away!

XOXO,
Miller

Menu Plan Monday

Seems like forever since we have had a PLAN! I feel like my life is so unorganized when my menu isn't planned!

Monday:

Beef Enchiladas

Spanish Rice

Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner

Overnight French Toast Casserole

Fresh Fruit

It is also baseball night, so I like that I can make this in the AM before work, pop it in the fridge all day then throw it in the oven when we get home from baseball.

Wednesday:

Grilled Honey Lime Chicken Sandwiches

Cesar Salad

Grilled Asparagus

Thursday:

Tuna Cheesy Tortellini

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Friday: Miller Family Fun Night

Eat Out

Saturday:

Crispy Chicken Wraps

5 - Cup Fruit Salad (Made in the morning)

Sunday:

Ham and Cheddar Loaf

Tator Tots

Watermelon

XOXO,

Miller

I'm linked at orgjunkie.com

Summer To-Do's

I have seen this idea around blog-land A LOT, so I can't really credit one place for the idea. Here is the deal with summer.

I feel like Stay-At-Home Mom's have a much more DRASTIC change in their lives when it comes to the transition of School Year to Summer. I mean really, they go from their kids being in school to having their kids home ALL the time. So they don't DIE of boredom, I feel they are MUCH more prepared for Summer. Having activities, camps, crafts, etc. planned throughout the summer. As for me, and I can probably speak for most working mom's, not a whole lot changes. Other than, you are finding other places/camps for your children to spend their days. I fear that this also makes it easier for me to almost "forget" about Summer. Remember how excited you were for Summer when you were a child?! There was nothing like it!! Swimming, playing with friends in the neighborhood, NO SCHOOL....the list is endless.

Since tomorrow starts the 1st OFFICIAL day of Summer, the timing is perfect :)

As a family, we put together this Miller Summer To-Do List. We all placed our favorite Summer Activities on there. Some of them we have already done, but that was before the "list" so we must do it again :) The goal is to have ALL items checked off before school starts in 2 short months!

I just used a piece of poster board and covered it with Scrapbook Paper and Stickers. Wrote out our list with a marker and put it in an old frame I found in the basement. The nice thing is is that I can take a dry erase marker and and mark things off the list right on the glass so I don't have to keep taking it out of the frame.

The Kids decided they wanted it in their playroom :)


What's on your Summer To-Do list?

XOXO,

10 pieces of advice to my 20 year old self....

I have noticed lately that it is kind of the cool thing to do to write a letter to your younger self giving them advice. Since I am approaching the big 3.0 in just a few short months, I thought now was just as good a time as any. So, here it goes....10 things I would like to tell my 20 year old self...

1. You are currently in your Junior year at Arizona State University, having the time of your life with the most amazing people surrounding you. Enjoy every second, before you know it, it will be gone. Stop trying to please everybody, trying to be all things to all people. At this point, you've got all the tools it takes to trust your instincts, and your instincts are good ones.


2. What's with all the dieting? All that hard work is just going to go down the drain when you have children. Which you will...have children (multiple). Oh, and the Metabolife....they pull it off the market because of the Ephedra....hence it putting you in the hospital.


3. The kind of love you want, that you think doesn't exist...it does! You will find it. It will find you actually. So calm down. Oh and by the way, you know him already, that's the only hint I'm giving you. I know your heart has been broken and you think there is no one out there for you, but by the time you turn 21, you will have started the journey with your soulmate.

4. Thank you for not filming, photographing, or otherwise recording yourself doing anything you would regret. Good Call! It would have probably found it's way to youtube by now!


5. For the love of skin....Stop Tanning


6. Tell your dad thank you more often. You won't realize it until you have children of your own, but the sacrifice he made for you is amazing.

7. Enjoy being the baby now because you will only be for four more years. That is when you become a big sister....who would have thunk?


8. The tongue ring?! Not cute! Although I know you really think it is right now....it's not. Actually, it looks a little trashy. Just sayin...

9. Don't worry, you won't work in retail your whole life, but you will miss the discounts...that's all I'm gonna say about that.

10. Now, stop reading this, go to Colleens room, see if she wants to go to Perkins. Of course she will say yes. Don't forget to roll the windows down and have the radio blaring "Dancing Queen." Don't bother changing, she will be in her pajama pants as well. That's how you guys roll! Yes, Pat can come.

PS. Birth-Control Pill....doesn't work so much for you. Just be glad it waited to fail with the said soulmate spoken of above.

As you know, the above pic is from your 20th birthday party. You will wish that you could totally forget this night!! In fact, pretty sure you block it ALL out ;)

I am tagging ALL my blog/facebook friends to do the same thing. It actually turned out being a little fun!

XOXO,

Miller

Three Piggy Opera

A couple of weeks ago, Malakai graduated from preschool. It was such a bitter sweet moment. Of course, I can remember like it was yesterday, bringing him home from the hospital on that brutally cold December evening.

I've never really thought this kind of stuff was a big deal. I mean, if you make a big deal out of EVERYTHING, then nothing ever really is a big deal. All I'm saying is if you celebrate preschool graduation, kindergarten graduation, intermediate school graduation, junior high graduation, high school graduation, then none of it is really a big deal because you're doing it all the time.
Needless to say, it was still nice to celebrate this accomplishment with Malakai and to kick off the summer vacation with a little celebration.

They veered away from the traditional cap and gown ceremony and made it more of a End of Year celebration. The first 30 minutes was spent with a performance of the Three Piggy Opera, which was SO freaking cute!! Remember the whole "Malakai not having a part" thing. Well it turns out, there were only about 6 parts and 50 kids, so he was the majority. As you can see from the pics, they were wearing pig noses, ears, and a beard. As they were filing onto the risers, Malakai shouts out "DAD! Check out my BEARD!" From the second they started singing, I had big, fat, tears in my eyes. It was like the past 5 years flashed in front of me.

Here is to you, my precious first child. When you started school this year, honestly I was a little scared of what it would be like for you. You loved to read books…as long as you could cuddle up close to mommy, and then take a wrestle break with Dad before finishing. You loved to write your letters, in shaving cream or in flour, but never with something as boring as a pencil. You weren’t interested in learning to write your name. You told us your Aunt Kiera knew how and she could just write it for you.

So what would Pre-school be like for you? Would you be able to pay attention to your teacher? Read through a book completely? Write your name with something so plain as a pencil and paper? And most troubling for me I wondered and worried...Would your teacher be able to see how truly amazing you are?

Oh son – you more than proved my worries pointless and calmed my anxious heart. You have had an amazing year. I’m so proud of you. You’ve flourished in the Pre-School social scene. You’ve completely captured the heart of your teacher, as I should have known you would. You’re reading and writing and learning so fast that I almost wish you could slow down.

I love how you’ve listened as you and your daddy pray each evening. You’ve heard him pray that you would be a good friend, and find someone who needs encouragement. You’ve heard him pray that you would consider others needs over your own. You’ve heard him pray that you would know that you are "the head and not the tail, above and not beneath". I love how you’ve adopted those prayers as your own. In your own five year old way, you’ve begun to ask God to show you what to do and how to love people as you go throughout your day.

I’m so excited at how you’ve grown over this past year. This year of firsts. This year of Pre-School. I’ve grown too. Congratulations to my precious baby boy!!

XOXO,

Miller

Playing Catch Up

Menu Plan Monday will return on Monday, June 21st. No sense of starting it back up this week since the kids are out of town for the week. Yes, J and I have to eat, however, I am not planning a menu, we are flying by the seat of our pants :)

In the meantime, I have A LOT of catching up to do! So, for those few loyal blog readers I still have out there, I have prepared a post for everyday this week. I just wanted to give you a preview of what you have to look forward to!

-Malakai graduates from pre-school/The 3 piggy opera

-Lots of baseball games

-Summer DIY projects

-Cardinals Baseball

-Many FIRSTS for both children

-Mother's Day

-Much more going on in the Miller home.....

Looking forward to sharing all the updates with you this week!

XOXO,