My Leave of Absence is Over...

2 months! I took 2 months off from my blog! A lot has been going on in my life and I really just needed to take some time to re-evaluate my priorities. I have been struggling. Struggling with the balance of life, family, career, running a household, and finding time for myself. As of lately, I have been craving at least 5 extra hours a day. I have neglected my friendships and it makes me sad. I don't have a ton of friends, but the ones I have mean the world to me and they are amazing! For so long I was in the mindset of trying to be everything to everyone—and doing a stellar job while I'm at it—that I didn't have a spare second to plug into my own needs or desires. So, through these past couple months, I have learned the following:

a. Accept imperfection

b. Share responsibility, and let go of the need to always be in control.

c. Choose my priorities

d. Open my mind to alternative ways of running things

e. Trust myself

This doesn't mean I'm not still struggling, because I am. But the above has helped the struggling become more of a friend than a foe.

So, for this Ten on Tuesday list, I am going to post 10 pictures of what you all have missed in the past few months. I hope to back date some blogs, so I will have them documented, however, I'm not promising anything. It's a fresh start from here on out :)

1. My baby turned 6! I can't believe it!! 6 sounds so old! He is such a perfect gentleman and he amazes me every day!

2. Christmas Pageants!! We had two in one week and they both did a fabulous job! Josh and I giggled the whole time at their cuteness :)

3. Christmas! We had a beautiful white Christmas. As always we missed spending it with our family, but we have started embracing our own traditions....just the four of us. It was a great day of lounging, playing with new toys, a movie, and dinner at IHOP.

4. New Years at the Meyers! This has become another tradition and it is always a good time for everyone! The kids celebrate at 9:00 and we are home in time to put them to bed and celebrate with each other at Midnight! This year was a little crazy since the day started out at 65 degrees and a tornado swept through the town of Fenton, where we live. Both the kids' schools were hit. It is such a blessing that they were not there! Definitely a New Years we will never forget!!

5. Lots of Soccer! After about 5 sessions of soccer, Malakai has finally picked up an understanding of the game and stopped flying around the field like an airplane. He has even began scoring goals! It is awesome to watch his growth in the sport :) Leila is quite the fan of his also!!

6. Crafts! We have had a FREEZING weather! Which means we have had to be creative with the indoor activities. Leila could do crafts 24 hrs a day!

7. A weekend with Baby Liam!! Kaci, Mallory, Liam, Abbie, and Shelby came down for a weekend and we had such a good time! I loved having so much family around for an entire weekend! My kids LOVE Liam and they were very sad to see him go!

8. Grandparents Day! Malakai had Grandparents Day at school! Unfortunately there was horrible weather across the state of Missouri and Maw Maw Miller was unable to make it. We were lucky enough that Poppy came down the beginning of the week so the nasty weather wasn't an issue.

9. P90X! Josh and I are on day 27 of P90X! It has SUCKED every step of the way! I think our main motivation is that we have yet to personally meet anyone who has completed the 90 days. Everyone we know owns it though. I know why they have never finished! An hour a day is A LOT! We get up at 5am...we didn't even talk for the entire first week because we were both so crabby. Along with the workout we are doing the diet and it has been a HUGE change! Protein Shakes, recovery drinks...we go through 4 jugs of egg-whites a week. It's brutal! But, we vowed to do it together, and we are committed to finishing. No pictures yet...the day 1 pics are horrible! If the day 30, 60, or 90 turn out amazing, then I will post. Ha Ha!

10. I guess that is about it...I look forward to being back in the game of blogging. I have missed catching up on what has been going on in the lives of all my blog family!

XOXO,

Through the eyes of a child...

I often tell myself that I need to take a step back and look at life and the events within it, like a child does. That innocence, cleanliness, and pure thought process they have is priceless.

As most of you know, Malakai recently had a birthday. My baby turned 6. More to come on that later. Anyway, a few weeks before his party, he was taking a shower, and I heard him calling for me. I went in there and he says "Mom, don't forget to send an invitation to Connor. Do you know the address to Heaven?" Immediately, my heart sunk. All the times Josh and I wonder if how or what he thinks about the whole situation, then he says something like that. Out of the clear blue. I mean, he talks about Connor all the time, and he prays to him every evening, and every evening he asks him to make sure he watches over Charleen, Lonnie, and Anna (Connor's parents and sister). But the fact that he is such at peace with the loss of his best-friend just melts my heart. It's like he doesn't even question it...he accepts where Connor is.

So, after some discussion, we decided we were going to attach a birthday invitation to a balloon and release it to Connor in Heaven. It was such a beautiful moment.

On the morning of Malakai's party, we got our first big snow of the season. I wasn't even awake before the emails and phone messages started with people that weren't going to be able to make it. Which I totally understood...I was just really emotional for some reason. Then I got a text message from one of my besties, Melissa, and she tells me "looks like the snow is Malakai's present from Connor." Duh! Why didn't I think of that! Of course it was!

It turned out being a great day, and Malakai is truly blessed with all the people he has that care about him in his life.

More to come regarding birthday celebrations...I want to spread them out :)

XOXO,

Fall Fun

I realize it is almost Christmas, however, I couldn't not do a post about our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We managed to fit it in before I left for Boston.

XOXO,

My Christmas List

I enjoyed so much reading my friends' Christmas lists, that I thought I would create one of my own. Some practical, some not so practical...but it's my list and I can put on it what I wish. I suck at buying things for myself! Josh and I don't even exchange gifts...we just fill a stocking for each other. The point is not to spend a lot of money, but make it thoughtful...he just loves it ;)

1. A kindle...or any e-reader. I am sure I am the only person on the planet who doesn't have one of these, I just can't bring myself to spend the money. I don't mind books...I just think it would be more convenient.

2. A curling Rod...When I was in Boston, one of the girls' did a demo of this thing in class and it was amazing! Love it!

3. My nephew Alex to know who I am and to know his cousins...they just adore him!

4. New Sunglasses! My Ed Hardy's finally broke...but I can't find any I "love" yet :( Actually, I am just waiting on Colleen to pick my next pair out for me since she did such a fabulous job on the last 2...

5. A Cricut. Again, something I have wanted forever...

6. Ballroom dancing lessons

7. A tropical vacation with just Josh

8. A $1000 gift certificate to Sephora...I need everything!

9. Josh to spend a week in my shoes at work. I don't think he really has a clue as to what I do all day. I think he would find it interesting :)

10. Plastic Surgery...the end.

XOXO,

Thankful and Blessed

Two words I have thought a lot about lately. I can honestly say that I am so thankful for everyone and everything in my life and I couldn't be any more blessed. Even with a random, very short-lived stomach bug sweeping through the house, affecting us and our guests at different times, we still had a perfect holiday.

Usually Josh and I go to Kansas City for Thanksgiving, especially since we don't go home for Christmas. However, things got flipped around this year and my dad, Lisa, Kiera, Grandma and Grandpa ended up coming to St. Louis. All stayed at our house, and I was in heaven hosting. Everyone got here Wednesday night and we spent the evening just catching up. My grandpa and I made a big breakfast Thursday and none of us got out of our PJ's ALL day. I ordered our dinner from Dierbergs, but this did not mean NO work. I still had to heat everything up ;) Dinner was DELICIOUS!! I would HIGHLY recommend it. As much as I love to cook, I did not want to spend ALL day in the kitchen and miss out on the opportunity to visit with family whom I don't see enough as it is. We ended the evening with some board games and wine next to the fire. It was devine.

After a full day of looking through ads, there was NOTHING that I needed or wanted that was worth fighting for this year. However, Lisa, Grandma, and I still got up and got to Target when it opened. By the time we got in there, the line to check out was FOREVER long and there was no way I was standing in it. So, we went to the cafe, ordered a coffee, and people-watched for over an hour. Very entertaining! We never did buy anything...I did do some online shopping that evening.

Even though we were missing a lot of family this year, having a few around is better than none. I don't have ANY pictures to share, so I'm hoping that Lisa will have a few. I have been AWFUL with picture taking lately! Here are a few...just not from this weekend.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Just a fare warning, you are going to see some pretty OLD blogs pretty soon. I still have some updating to do from September and October, that I don't want to be left out of my blog book :)

XOXO,

Miller

It's that time of year...

You know what I'm talking about! I know all of you are thinking about what you are going to do for your Christmas/Holiday cards this year. Were you able to capture that perfect picture? Are you running around taking pictures like a mad woman/man still trying to get that perfect picture?

The question is...what do you do once you get it? There are a TON of photo sites available to get your adorable cards from. I don't know about you, but I go for the WOW factor. I want people to open my Holiday Card and say "OMG! How stinking cute!" or "How freakin adorable!" There is one site that I feel delivers these type of cards and that would be....drumroll please....

The one and only SHUTTERFLY!!! I have been uploading my pictures to shutterfly for about 6 years now. I have ordered everything from photobooks, to thank-you cards to t-shirts!

Take a look at some of the cards from Miller Family History :) You can pick your own for 2010 by clicking right HERE!!!!

No sneak peak for what I have chosen this year...you will just have to wait till you receive yours through snail mail :)

I will tell you though, that I will also be getting some of the ADORABLE gift tags. There are so many designs to choose from and they add a nice personal touch to your gifts. You can find all the options Shutterfly has to offer right HERE!!!! These are a few of my favorites :)

And last, but definitely not least, why not get some of your gift shopping out of the way while you are visiting shutterfly.com??!!! People SWEAR that the best gifts that they ever receive are THESE photo calendars! They are perfect for grandparents and out-of-town relatives! I usually follow the same rule every year. I will make a 2011 calendar and the January picture will have been taken in Jan 2010, the Feb picture will have been taken in Feb 2010 and so on. That way it is easy to see how the kids have grown throughout the year :)

This year I plan on trying the Calendar Poster so J can hang it in his office :)

So head on over to http://www.shuttefly.com/ and check out all the fabulous gifts they have to offer. Remember, photos last a lifetime!!

If you are interested in getting 50 free photo cards, just check out THIS LINK!

XOXO,

Miller

Menu Plan Monday

I'm Baaaaaack! Yay! I actually missed cooking while I was gone...what is wrong with me? Here is my menu for the week. As always I am going for a quick/easy menu week since it is filled with activities. I am linked to http://www.orgjunkie.com/

Monday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Tuesday: Chicken and Broccoli Fettucini Alfredo

Wednesday: Alphabet Pot Roast
Carrots
Potatoes

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner
Surprise Pancakes
Crockpot Apples
Sausage Links

Friday: Volleyball Night...dinner out :)

Saturday: Upside down Pizza Casserole


1.5 lbs lean ground beef


1 (15 oz) can Italian-style tomato sauce


1.5 C shredded Mozzarella Cheese


1 (10 oz) pkg refrigerated biscuits


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, cook ground beef until brown; drain. Stir in tomato sauce; heat through. Transfer mixture to a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Flatten each biscuit with your hand; arrange biscuits on top of cheese. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until biscuits are golden. Yields 5 servings.

Sunday: Kid Friendly Orange Chicken

Rice

I hope everyone has a great week!!

XOXO,

Miller