But the hard days of going to school all morning long are really tough on a little big guy.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
He said he wasn't tired...
But the hard days of going to school all morning long are really tough on a little big guy.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
K's birthday
What should I do for my husband's 41st birthday this coming Friday? I'd love to do something special - but my brain is fresh out of ideas. Suggestions???
Monday, August 20, 2007
Micah's new chew toy
Hi Momma! Boy, those toes sure do look pretty! 
What do you mean, I'm not supposed to chew on other peoples' toes? Why not?
Forget it! With toes that pretty, I'm just gonna have to have me a sample - just a little lick!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Meal Plan Monday
Here's my lineup for the next two weeks...
Saturday - Fruited Chicken Salad with Couscous / Breadsticks
Sunday - Garlic Herb Oven Fried Halibut, Charred Summer Vegetables
Monday - Parmesan Chicken Paillards with Cherry Tomato Sauce, Lemon Linguine, Green Beans
Tuesday - Anniversary dinner at Carraba's! (lunch will be Sesame Brown Rice Salad with Shredded Chicken and Peanuts)
Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff, Salad
Thursday - Cheese Blintzes, Sausage, eggs
Friday - Green Chile Chicken Casserole, Fiesta Rice
Saturday - BBQ Flank Steak Sandwiches, Coleslaw
Sunday - Moravian Chicken Pie
Monday - Don Pablos Chicken Tortilla Soup, Green Chile Cheese Cornbread
Tuesday - Japaneses Style Pork Cutlets, Iceberg Salad with Ginger Dressing
Wednesday - Fish Tacos with Big Mama's Green Sauce
Thursday - Corn Chowder, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches
Friday - Feta Herb SunDried Tomato stuffed Chicken, Orzo, Salad
Saturday - Mexican Soup
Sunday - Pork Loin Chops with Cinnamon Apples, Buttered Noodles
and at some point I'll be doing THIS dessert: Frozen Peanut Butter Pie
I'm thrilled that as I was putting the hyperlinks on each of these for the recipes to find that most recipes were recieving 4 or 5 stars - the highest reader ratings possible at www.cookinglight.com! I must have found some real winners! Most of these I've done before, but some are new...hope they're good!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Fave Food
I've seen this meme going around for awhile now - and I've been contemplating what restaurants I would choose. And it's been HARD. There are several reasons for this...
1. We're on a tight budget. We don't eat out very often - but when we do, we tend to eat a lot of the fast food variety - like Schlotzsky's, Sonic, Subway, etc...(see a pattern with the Ss???)
2. I'm allergic to MSG. And for anyone who knows anything about MSG, you'll quickly realize that it is in most foods that are created in restaurants. So while I love food, I don't love feeling like my heart is going to jump outside of my body for all the jitters I experience after ingesting it - so it has made eating out somewhat of a challenge. And food simply isn't as much fun when you have to drill the waiter and chef about every single ingredient.
However, because I love Kelly at Love Well, and I'm just so proud of her for blogging about food, even in the midst of feeling a bit green with being pregnant - I am going to persevere and DO THIS! Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite restaurants. (Oh, and by the way, the rule about LOCAL restaurants? Not gonna happen. I've moved and traveled WAY TOO MUCH to just stick to one locale.)
The rules, as such, are as follows:
1. Link to the name of the person that tagged you. Kelly at Love Well
2. Include state and country you live in. Oklahoma, USA
3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants. see below
4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged. Andrea, Alana, Katherine, Erin, and just for kicks - and to see if she does it - Ree
#1 - The Rheinlander, Portland, OR - I grew up knowing that my parents LOVED this restaurant. Any time they had a chance to get away from the three of us, they'd head to Portland, and a stop at this place was always in order. It's a fancy, celebratory - go here for birthdays and anniversaries kind of place. The German food is to DIE for! Their chicken schnitzel is perfect, I love the sweet and sour cabbage, their salad is heavenly, but the real star of the show is their Swiss Cheese Fondue. Oh yeah. And for Christmas two years ago, my mom got me their recipe book. So if any of y'all want the recipes to the aforementioned - I've got 'em!
#2 - Tin Star, Tulsa OK - This is a brand new love for me. It's actually on the opposite end of town from us, but a few weeks ago, we had to track down a pillow for Shira's new bedspread, and ended up at an unfamiliar Kohl's after church one Sunday. And of course, since it was Sunday, the pull to eat lunch out was strong - so we decided to try something new. AND OH MY WORD I AM SO GLAD WE DID! Tin Star is remarkably similar to Moe's Southwest Grill - but with an amazing difference. I like all their salsas featured at their salsa bar. Normally, I don't like any of them, because they are always too spicy for my delicate palate. But these are phenomenal! They have a Fire-Roasted Tomato one, a green one that I can only assume is Tomatillo and a Sweet Corn Salsa. Literally - I could make a meal just of these salsas! YUM! Needless to say, we're spending more on gas to make a trek back there SOON. Our family will have some celebrating to do in the next week or so - and my plan is to celebrate THERE!
#3 - Old Spaghetti Factory, Portland, OR - I'm sure that many of you have heard of this one. However, this ONE is the ORIGINAL. And beautiful. And overlooking the river. And did I mention beautiful??? Their food is just comfort - we went there a lot with good friends during the time that Kevin was a music minister in the Portland area. Sweet sweet memories of babies in bibs, lots of food, lots of conversation. I love their mushroom sauce, their blackberry cream soda's (you get to keep the glass!) and their pesto ranch dressing on the salad is absolutely heaven!
#4 - Cracker Barrel, anywhere, USA - I know, it's not original. But I love it! And the great news is that most of their menu items are MSG free - including their ranch dressing - which is hard to find! My favorite lunch/dinner meal is always the veggie plate - with a combination of turnip greens, mac n cheese, green beans, hashbrown casserole, fried apples and sweet carrots. Breakfast of course, is simple - eggs, hashbrown casserole, apples, grits and their biscuits just can't be beat. We've also enjoyed taking the kids there, because it's fun to get to shop with them while we wait for a table, or rock in the rocking chairs on the porch. It's really become a sweet family tradition to spend a lazy Saturday morning there occasionally. Both big kids love it. (Micah has yet to express an opinion...)
#5 - Makatos Japanese Steakhouse, Johnson City, TN - I looked really hard to find a website, but was unsuccessful. This restaurant is also great for the many memories it holds...I went there many times during college - with many the friend and many the fiance! (another story...) It is your typical grill in front of you Japanese steakhouse, but they do have the best shrimp sauce in the world, and their sweet carrots are pretty rockin', too! I love it so much, that I've done my best to recreate the recipes to make here at home - and I've come mighty close! Kevin declares it's his favorite meal that I make - but I use every skillet in the house to do so, so it's not often that we splurge on this meal! But when we do, it's always a lot of fun!
How about you? What are your favorite restaurants? I'd love to hear about them, so that one day, when Kevin and I retire and travel the US in our motor home, we'll stop by and try them out! Let me know if you decide to do this meme!
1. We're on a tight budget. We don't eat out very often - but when we do, we tend to eat a lot of the fast food variety - like Schlotzsky's, Sonic, Subway, etc...(see a pattern with the Ss???)
2. I'm allergic to MSG. And for anyone who knows anything about MSG, you'll quickly realize that it is in most foods that are created in restaurants. So while I love food, I don't love feeling like my heart is going to jump outside of my body for all the jitters I experience after ingesting it - so it has made eating out somewhat of a challenge. And food simply isn't as much fun when you have to drill the waiter and chef about every single ingredient.
However, because I love Kelly at Love Well, and I'm just so proud of her for blogging about food, even in the midst of feeling a bit green with being pregnant - I am going to persevere and DO THIS! Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite restaurants. (Oh, and by the way, the rule about LOCAL restaurants? Not gonna happen. I've moved and traveled WAY TOO MUCH to just stick to one locale.)
The rules, as such, are as follows:
1. Link to the name of the person that tagged you. Kelly at Love Well
2. Include state and country you live in. Oklahoma, USA
3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants. see below
4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged. Andrea, Alana, Katherine, Erin, and just for kicks - and to see if she does it - Ree
#1 - The Rheinlander, Portland, OR - I grew up knowing that my parents LOVED this restaurant. Any time they had a chance to get away from the three of us, they'd head to Portland, and a stop at this place was always in order. It's a fancy, celebratory - go here for birthdays and anniversaries kind of place. The German food is to DIE for! Their chicken schnitzel is perfect, I love the sweet and sour cabbage, their salad is heavenly, but the real star of the show is their Swiss Cheese Fondue. Oh yeah. And for Christmas two years ago, my mom got me their recipe book. So if any of y'all want the recipes to the aforementioned - I've got 'em!
#2 - Tin Star, Tulsa OK - This is a brand new love for me. It's actually on the opposite end of town from us, but a few weeks ago, we had to track down a pillow for Shira's new bedspread, and ended up at an unfamiliar Kohl's after church one Sunday. And of course, since it was Sunday, the pull to eat lunch out was strong - so we decided to try something new. AND OH MY WORD I AM SO GLAD WE DID! Tin Star is remarkably similar to Moe's Southwest Grill - but with an amazing difference. I like all their salsas featured at their salsa bar. Normally, I don't like any of them, because they are always too spicy for my delicate palate. But these are phenomenal! They have a Fire-Roasted Tomato one, a green one that I can only assume is Tomatillo and a Sweet Corn Salsa. Literally - I could make a meal just of these salsas! YUM! Needless to say, we're spending more on gas to make a trek back there SOON. Our family will have some celebrating to do in the next week or so - and my plan is to celebrate THERE!
#3 - Old Spaghetti Factory, Portland, OR - I'm sure that many of you have heard of this one. However, this ONE is the ORIGINAL. And beautiful. And overlooking the river. And did I mention beautiful??? Their food is just comfort - we went there a lot with good friends during the time that Kevin was a music minister in the Portland area. Sweet sweet memories of babies in bibs, lots of food, lots of conversation. I love their mushroom sauce, their blackberry cream soda's (you get to keep the glass!) and their pesto ranch dressing on the salad is absolutely heaven!
#4 - Cracker Barrel, anywhere, USA - I know, it's not original. But I love it! And the great news is that most of their menu items are MSG free - including their ranch dressing - which is hard to find! My favorite lunch/dinner meal is always the veggie plate - with a combination of turnip greens, mac n cheese, green beans, hashbrown casserole, fried apples and sweet carrots. Breakfast of course, is simple - eggs, hashbrown casserole, apples, grits and their biscuits just can't be beat. We've also enjoyed taking the kids there, because it's fun to get to shop with them while we wait for a table, or rock in the rocking chairs on the porch. It's really become a sweet family tradition to spend a lazy Saturday morning there occasionally. Both big kids love it. (Micah has yet to express an opinion...)
#5 - Makatos Japanese Steakhouse, Johnson City, TN - I looked really hard to find a website, but was unsuccessful. This restaurant is also great for the many memories it holds...I went there many times during college - with many the friend and many the fiance! (another story...) It is your typical grill in front of you Japanese steakhouse, but they do have the best shrimp sauce in the world, and their sweet carrots are pretty rockin', too! I love it so much, that I've done my best to recreate the recipes to make here at home - and I've come mighty close! Kevin declares it's his favorite meal that I make - but I use every skillet in the house to do so, so it's not often that we splurge on this meal! But when we do, it's always a lot of fun!
How about you? What are your favorite restaurants? I'd love to hear about them, so that one day, when Kevin and I retire and travel the US in our motor home, we'll stop by and try them out! Let me know if you decide to do this meme!
Friday, June 22, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, June 18, 2007
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
Friday, June 8, 2007
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. Wednesday, June 6, 2007
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!
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!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
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!
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!
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