prayer time and burps

So here's the background...

We have a continual struggle with our kids when it comes to prayer time. They both love to pray for our meals, but they DON'T want to do it at the same time. We'll often sing "Thank you God..." (to the tune Frere Jacques) but Tobin will get mad if Shira sings with him and vice versa. So last night, when we sat down to eat, my heart was swelling because Tobin was genuinely being great about singing like he meant it (instead of the usual TOP OF HIS LUNGS yelling) and I was afraid my heart would burst with the sweetness of it all.

And then...

(Tobin singing very softly)
"Thank you God...Thank you God.
For our food...for our food.
We have many blessings,
We have many blessings.
Amen, Amen."

(and Momma sighs, thankful for the moment of peace in a crazy day...)

(Momma says) "Good job Tobin , we’re proud of you."

(Tobin says) "Mommy, I burped when I said 'Amen.'"

(family laughter)

(Momma says) "You did…oh... OK."

And just for an equal measure of all things gastrointestinal related, Shira feels the need to chime in...

(Shira says) "Mommy – Zach can burp his A-B-Cs…"

And the moments of thankfulness for the sweet peace of knowing that my children were connected to God vanished - a whole 30 seconds after it happened.

Meal Plan Mondays

It's been awhile since I've planned any meals for our family. I've been using up some old stuff in the pantry - and it's time to get back in the groove of cookin' again! Here's what's on our plates for the coming week:

Saturday - Barbecued Hamburgers, baked beans, chips, watermelon
Sunday - Japanese! (Kevin's favorite - Happy Father's Day!) and Blueberry Cheesecake
Monday - Mexican Casserole, chips, guacamole
Tuesday - Baked Herb Chicken, sauteed zucchini, rice pilaf
Wednesday - Chicken Creole Cakes, pea salad
Thursday - Grilled Pork Chops, BBQ beans, coleslaw
Friday - Biscuits and sausage gravy, fruit
Saturday - ?
Sunday - BBQ Pork and Loaded Baked Potato Casserole, sauteed spinach
Monday - Beef Stroganoff, Caesar salad

Shira's Tea Party

Shira turned six years old this past Sunday. To celebrate, we hosted her very first "official" party - in the form of a fancy tea party! She invited 6 little girls over, and we have a very fun tea party. These are the girls, where we started out on our back porch - the plan was to have a "garden tea party," but although the weather was gorgeous - it was incredibly hot and muggy.

We made pink and purple bead bracelets and blew bubbles, and the girls played on the swingset. All that activity made them hot - so we moved the party inside!

This is our living room - where the tea party was relocated to. MUCH cooler - thank you, Lord!

The menu was chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, PB&J on Cinnamon bread, deviled eggs, olives, mini fruit kabobs, petit fours, chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, lime-raspberry bites and mints. Rather than hot tea, which I was afraid the girls wouldn't like, I made a great recipe from a friend of mine called Tea Punch - basically brewed decaf iced tea with pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange juice and gingerale. It was a hit! And my mom was sooo great to help with Micah while I was busy with the girls!

Hannah Hayley Milena

These are some of Shira's best buds...they all had a fun time. So sweet!

My mom ordered these amazingly cute teacups online for the party. They are tiny - they hold probably about 1/3 cup of liquid. The girls had a blast drinking out of the fancy cups - we sure went through the tea!

These are the favor bags. I wanted to fold the corners down and staple them to look like actual tea bags - but the bags were too full to do that, oh well. The gifts inside included a mini china tea set, a book called Ella's Tea Party, wildflower seed packets and a toy tea cup with mints it it and a bag of Stash Blackberry Herbal Tea wrapped up in tulle and tied with a sheer ribbon and artificial rose.

God did.

The sunset tonight was just gorgeous! All pink, purple and orange. Tobin's room has a huge picture window looking toward the west, and I went in to tuck him in bed for the night.

I said "Look at the pretty sky!"

He said "Yeah, it's pretty mommy. You know who did that?"

"Who, honey?"

"God did."

"That's right, Tobin. God did. He's pretty cool, huh? He's a great big God."

"Yes, mommy - and I want the angels to come down."

"Why, honey?"

"Because it's dark in here."

Anything to get me to leave the light on, huh? That boy is smart!

Me.

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Summer Fun

It's summer time! And we here at Miller Moments are busy! In a good way, though - not the hectic-I-can't-catch-my-breath way. I've got a new schedule with the kids - I work at the office in the mornings, rush home to make lunch for everyone, check email and do calls from 1-4pm. Then I make dinner, or do something fun with the kids for the day - then we're on into the home stretch of dinnertime and bedtime routine - which Kev mainly handles getting them to bed while I'm back on the phone again from 6-10pm. It's working out well so far. And business is extremely good - for which I am abundantly thankful.

My goal this summer is to do something fun with the kids at least once a week. Some of our plans include weekly trips to the library, a trip to the zoo, aquarium, Discoveryland, picking blueberries, Porter Peach Festival parade and getting BUSHELS of fresh peaches to can, 4th of July fireworks, runs to the local splash pad, picking blackberries and walking the neighborhood more! The kids also are signed up for a week at VBS as well as a week at a church Music Camp. I know they're going to love both - I'm excited for them!

beautiful.

THIS was awesome. Go and read it for yourself.