On the Road Again

We drove to Indiana yesterday to be with family. He finally fell asleep after 5 hours in the car. Made the last 3 hours of the trip much less stressful.

For a two year old, he really does very well in the car. Of course, it helped that he had new DVDs to watch.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

The Adventures of the Miller Family Christmas Tree

Assembly of the Miller Family Christmas tree used to be rather uneventful process.

 Not anymore.

You see, this is the first Christmas that Snuggles is old enough to "help" with putting up the tree. 

While this was going on, I was in the kitchen fixing supper. I came out briefly to find this...

"The tree looks great!" you say.  Yes. Yes it does... only it's the wrong tree!  This is the "skinny tree" we purchased several years ago when our living room was too small for our tree.  But the skinny tree looked very puny in our current space, so poor Guitarman had to put away the skinny tree, go back down to the basement, and pull out the big tree.  He was less than excited.

Miller Family Christmas Tree: Take Two
(Note: At 1:18 Snuggles says "Christmas tree!")

After Snuggles helped take the branches out of the box, he sat on them.

Snuggles was so excited about the Christmas tree assembly process
that he insisted on helping put each branch on the tree...

... which, of course, means the process of assembling the tree took forever!

So we managed to put the tree together, but that was the only thing we accomplished the first night. 

Miller Family Christmas Tree: Take Three

(The next night, we managed to get the lights on the tree.)

 Miller Family Christmas Tree: Take Four
(The next night, we got the decorations on the tree.)



Right after I finished recording the video, Snuggles threw an ornament, and this happened.

 So we decided to put Snuggles to bed, and finish decorating the tree without him.
(I know, I know. We're party poopers. But we wanted to get the tree up before Christmas!)

Miller Family Christmas Tree: Take Five

When Snuggles woke up the next morning, we let him put the star on top of the tree.

[Yes, Guitarman is wearing Elmo pajama pants. Snuggles loves to be matchy-matchy with Daddy.]

And for the final touch...  Guitarman hung Taco's collar on the tree.

 I find it fitting (and surprisingly comforting)
that a little part of Taco will be with us this Christmas.

After 10 years...

This is why I still love my husband...

He holds my purse for me when I've got my hands full.  (Yes, he is purposely striking a "girly" pose.)

Hey, I said he holds my purse. I didn't say he was thrilled to do it.  *smile*

Sneak Peak

Here's a Sneak Peak of our 2011 Christmas Card... coming your way soon!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

10 Years

Well, the past year month has been so busy, that I've barely had enough time to think, let alone blog about what I've been thinking.  Great ideas went unshared.  Funny stories were left untold.  TSS (Things Snuggles Says) went unpublished.  But rather than trying to catch you up on the insanitythatismylife, I'll just list the things I've missed blogging about, at least what I can remember:

• Guitarman went to Honduras.
• I injured my back while Guitarman was out of the country, and I walked around moaning like an old lady for several weeks.
• We visited the pumpkin patch, where Snuggles enjoyed carrying around (and throwing!) pumpkins. Unlike his usual obsession with animals, Snuggles showed no interest in the petting zoo at the patch, preferring instead to ride in the pink car. (Much to Guitarman's shagrin.) Snuggles also refused to pose for photos. He might be smiling in like 2 of the 100 photos I shot.
• We broke up with our former landlord (who was a major jerk!), and moved to a new-to-us (read: smaller, older, more affordable) house owned by kind home-owner-landlords who care more about people than they do about doing being a millionaire real estate investor. (Seriously, folks, he was a real prime-time jerk!)
• My parents came to Tennessee to help us move.
• Snuggles visited the pediatrician for his 2-year-old check-up. Aside from allergies, asthma, and truck-sized adenoids that face almost-certain-removal, he is healthy. (Thank you, Lord!)  Snuggles now weighs.... wait for it... 27 pounds!  No wonder my back hurts all the time.  He is only in the 34th percentile for height and 40th for weight, but he feels incredibly heavy compared to how small he looks.
• Snuggles continues to impress the pediatrician (and everyone else) with his words and sentences. Basically he's a short little motor mouth. I have no idea where he gets that.  Ahem.
• Mother-in-law moved out of our house into a retirement home!!!
• We had some Fall portraits taken by an amazing photographer-friend.
• Snuggles turned 2 years old. (Yes, people, he is two years old! And yes, we're experiencing The Terrible Two's, which, as luck would have it, started around 18 months for us.)
• We observed the one-year-anniversary of when we moved from Idaho to Tennessee. (Can't believe we've been here a year. Time flew by!)
• I celebrated my 36th b-day.
• Mother-in-law moved out of our house!
• Clumsy me sprained my ankle, which resulted in an over-priced x-ray, and me hobbling around and moaning like an old lady. (Again!)
• We travelled to Indiana to celebrate Thanksgiving with family! Snuggles enjoyed time with his aunts, uncle, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles and his cousins! He did not, however, enjoy the car ride back to Tennessee.
• While in Indiana, Snuggles learned how to ride the battery-operated tractor by himself. (Well, almost by himself. He needed help steering.)
• Did I mention mother-in-law moved out of our house?!  (I really do love her.)
• I spoke in the employee chapel at work a couple of weeks ago, and shared what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving: My God, who gave me so many blessings in life, and who has always had His hand on my heart and life.  Of course, a shared that gratitude in the context of a funny story about how my parents drove me to college in our car, pulling an aluminum bass boat with all my stuff in it. I'll have to tell that truly humiliating story later.
• I switched from Android to iPhone. (This is a major step for me because I'm not a fan of Apple for a number of reasons.) I finally caved to Apple's obviously superior product, despite my misgivings with their business strategies, simply because I refused to replace my Droid phone for the 5th time.

Last but definitely not least, Guitarman and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary today!  (Guitarman and Melinda, sittin' in a tree.... )   Well... we're not actually going to celebrate our anniversary today because 1) We have dress rehearsal for our church Christmas Program this evening;  2)  Because I have a nasty cold/cough that limits our.... marital festivities (cough) to a card exchange, cyber kisses and "hubba-hubba" heckling from across the room.

I'm blessed to have Guitarman as my partner, my best friend, my live-in comedian, my cheerleader, my counselor, my hot date, my pastor, and the fabulous father of our sweet son, Snuggles. After all these years, Guitarman still makes me laugh and he still laughs at my stories.  Thanks for all the memories, Guitarman!  By God's grace, I hope we have many more happy years ahead of us!  I love you!