School Dance!

Bailey is off to his first school dance of 5th grade!! and looking uh...cool ??? in this get up!! A shiny sports shirt with plaid shorts....the kid must have gotten Jay's fashion sense! LOL Actually he looks kinda cute---when he arrived the girls were all over him....ridiclous!!!


Tonight Aiden's off to go bowling with Grandma Helen and Jay and Christian are hitting the High School game and me and Jillian...we'll I guess we're staying home....because someone has to be here for when Bailey gets home :)

Just before the batteries died...

I caught the cutest pictures from the pumpkin patch!! I just had to share them. The pumpkin patch is just not like they are up north....some times I miss my northern life soooo bad it aches...fall is pretty much that time. I miss the apple orchards, the pumpkin-patches, the hay rides, the crisp air, moving from shorts to jeans and short sleeves and tank tops to sweatshirts (I LOVE sweatshirts..adore them infact....if they're roomy and comfy!)

But I don't live up there--I live down here.....and the apple orchards and pumpkin patches I once loved and looked forward too don't exist down here....so I make the best of what I have. In the Valley we have a pumpkin patch that a local church does. I've gone there 2 or 3 years now in a row, normally, while it's not a northern patch it isn't too bad....but this year...this year was a pathetic showing. Maybe it was the lateness in which we went, maybe it's the heat, maybe it's PMS...I don't know...but the rotting, stinking pumpkin "patch" was a huge bummer. In fact, we left and went to HEB (our grocery store) and bought pumpkins!!

Jillian enjoying the pumpkin patch

While I was there though I got a couple cute shots of Jillian and some of her friends :) and in true "I'm-kinda-having-a-bad-day" fashion...the batteries promptly died.

FRIENDS!

"R", Jillian and "D" going into the pumpkin patch!!

She thought it was a "put-your-face-in-and-take-a-picture" type Pumpkin

if you look closely you'll see the girls posed in front of the decaying pumpkins....what better way to say "HAPPY FALL YA'LL" than posing your precious bundles of joy in front of a huge pile of rotting, stinking, fly-ridden pumpkins. LOL --- I just didn't realize how horrible that was when I took the picture...what is WRONG with me?!

That mound of pumpkins behind them...yeah, ALL rotten!! GROSS!!

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial AND GIVEAWAY!!!!

LOVE THIS SKIRT!!! I'm totally going to make my own version of it!! how simple is this?!?!

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial AND GIVEAWAY!!!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!

I've been busy entertaining (I don't do that very well...sorry guests!) My parents just left and arriving today is my mother-in-law....so in between these visits I got the urge to create...I feel it deep in my bones and nothing else gets rid of it until what I set out to do is completed....while the outfit isn't completed the tops are. So please check out my latest project---Jillian's Christmas outfit..one of them anyway--I plan on making another one with darker Christmas hues and more formal prints.

Jeans with ruffles or appliquéd or decoupage will be added to this fun set...I made the peasant top white to go with anything--even "Non" Christmas outfits....and the twirl top with Michael Miller fabrics, and the straps are suspender-clasped on!! (allow me to be boastful...but SUPER CUTE!!!) lol

Keep in mind this is a long top...so with her bloomers on it looks like an awfully short dress! LOL

Reality Check

I ADORE my baby boy! Honestly, I do. He's sweet, smart, funny and sensitive....but a little lost on fantasy Island (no not the one with de-plane, Boss...but in HIS OWN version of Fantasy Island)

Take for instance....this:

TRANSLATION:

FROM: ZALDE (no clue who this is)

TO: GOHAN (A Dragon Ball Z cartoon character)

I love you Gohan but why did you break up with me. I'm sorry.

Now let me clarify---

A: he's 7, spelling isn't his strongest suit.

B: He's obsessed with dressing up, acting out in pretend play, the character he's dressed up as

C: Did I mention he's sensitive and usually in his own world???

Bless his heart, he left this note on my dresser tonight and I read it, showed it to Jay and we both laughed out butts off.

Ahhh good times in the Miller house...good times indeed. I LOVE THAT BOY!! but he's one kooky kid :)

I'm still here!!

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I kind of fell off track when I went to my mom's (she's back from Minnesota) and I went to help her go through some things (She's moving to Florida---really, can't that lady sit still???) Upon returning home on Wednesday, I had exactly 1.5 days to prepare for a garage sale, then after the garage sale I had exactly 2.5 days to prepare for my parents visit down here, a football game and another birthday (my mom's) so I'm going with the excuse of...I've been busy.

So, last time I promised updates on Christian's birthday. Since he had school he had the option of staying home or going....oh what to do? what to do!??! he chose to stay home. (wow really!?) So we had a day of goofing off. I think all in all he had a good day. That night we made his birthday dinner (hot wings and fries) and had a DQ blizzard cake (oreo) and then POOF my boy turned 15!

For his birthday he got, Clothes (Hollister), a football, a new cell phone, new bedding (Vikings) as well as Drivers Ed and some cashola and a couple gift cards....pretty decent haul if you ask me.

On another note...I'm now making these little jewels for craft fairs....my model went from one extreme to the next (no smiles to full-out model mode) We have Archer Park coming up in 2 weeks and then on Nov. 7th we've got a craft fair at the boys' elementary school--time to get busy!!

!

Really...where does she learn that?! LOL

Football for Fifth Graders

This has been on busy week here at the Miller household! Tuesday was Bailey's first flag football game. He loved it! He played the entire game in 90+ degree heat...and had a blast!! Aiden and Jillian and ran around throwing the spare footballs and playing with all their friends. It was enjoyable for mom and dad too! :)

Bailey's team won!! YEAH! he's got three more games and one bye then it's over :( but that's OK because soon it's going to start getting too dark to have them play longer.

Pictures of my handsome boy playing are below (along with some of his brother and sister) The first are some of him warming up with his friends and their siblings. (I tell ya it's like a block party with all the siblings there to keep everyone occupied and all the parents are talking and cheering, it was really fun)

Then you'll see Bailey in the flags...that's the game :)

I'll update you on Christian's birthday tomorrow--right now I have to get to Rio Grande City, TX and watch Christian play football...I tell ya, it's go, go, go around here!

ROOT, ROOT, ROOT for the HOME team!!

Love him or hate him...he's all ours now!!

Ok so the Vikings aren't exactly our "HOME" team considering it's a 3 day drive to Minnesota...but you know what they say..."you can take the boy out of Minnesota, but you can't take the Minnesota out of the boy" or something like that, anyway.

DID YOU SEE THAT GAME LAST NIGHT!! WOW! It was great huh!?

VIKINGS WIN!!! with a gazillion (that's a technical term, by the way) Sacks and they looked gooooooooood doing it!

Bailey has his FIRST game tonight!! Wish him luck! I think he's nervous...it's Flag football and they only play those in our school district...so it should be fun to see him play. I've been waiting for him to find something worth joining. LOL...maybe this is it!! :) (pictures of that game will be posted tomorrow after his game :) kay?!)

have a great Tuesday!!

Two-rooms, 1 weekend...SUCCESS!

We did it! We switched Bailey and Jillian's rooms around! Moved out furniture, painted Jillian's old room, switched fans, curtains, and then piled all the furniture back in and hung accessories that needed to be hung on the wall for the past three years, on the wall! All in a weekend!

They look good!! I miss the pink and purple of Jillian's room, but maybe I can bat my eyelashes enough to have it get done after Christmas :) (I'll even toss in a couple "pleeeease" for good measure!) Jillian's actually mad that her room isn't pink. (YEAH ME--lol) so she's on my side. He doesn't stand a chance, does he?

Here are some pictures of the finished projects!

Jillian's room got a new bookcase/reading area. She has more space to play but less closet space...boo...but we can't have it all, can we? The big window let's in tons of light and really brightens it up. She still needs paint and her name hung on the wall.

Above the bookcase I'd like to get some letters and spell out "once upon a time..." (hoping for $$ for a cricut machine this year for Christmas!!) Also, would like to get a little reading chair for her in the corner where her princess throne is currently located. They have them at www.landofnod.com and www.potterybarnkids.com but they're like 100 bucks!! HOLY COW!! (and that doesn't include the monogrammed slip cover! Isn't that nuts!?

Her room is also waiting on some storage (that we've yet to purchase) that will replace the toy buckets that is currently located between her curio cabinet and her dresser. I want to get some cube storage with some buckets that match to go there. You can see the frames on top of her curio cabinet that will be hung up above her bed when I fix one of the frames that broke on the move down here. (Heading out today to get wood-glue).

For Christmas I'm making her a new bedspread too. It will be white/pink/lime green. (in this picture her comforter isn't even on the bed...lol, that's because it was being washed.

Now on to Bailey's room...

Obviously he had a fresh coat of paint. This room went from the top half was light pink, white chair rail, and purple/pink/white stripes around the bottom to--tan on top, "alligator hide" green chair rail and "coconut shell" brown on the bottom.

The fan was switched from Jillian's pink/purple/blue/yellow/green flower fan with butterfly pulls to the one that was in his room which is much more masculine :) His shelf got repainted in alligator hide green, he'll be getting a new valance and curtains too. I hope to convince Jay to have a desk built in his over-sized closet so he can do his homework there (there's tons of space!!).

We also added a cork board for whatever he wants it for and hung up the beloved poke'mon poster that Christian got when he was like four!! LOL.

***CAUTION***

Speaking of Christian...his birthday is Wednesday---FIFTEEN!!! he started his drivers education classes this weekend. It's Saturday and Sunday morning from October 3rd until November 22nd! (yeah you read that right TWO MONTHS long) crazy!! next week he has to go to the DMV and get his permit and vision test then he's behind the wheel.

Aiden is in heavy competition with the rest of the school (mostly his brother) to collect as many box-tops as he can...so if you happen to run across some on your packages and would like to help him out he'd appreciate it!! This is serious business folks...it's a party at the end of the year for the class that's collected the most. I hear lots of "HEY! that was MY box-top!" or "I'm going to eat ALL of this *holds up new box of cereal* so I can get the box top!"

Hey, I'm not too proud to beg...PLEASE send box tops to us!!! LOL

That's about it...Tonight is Monday Night Football...Vikings v. Packers....so guess where we'll be all night long!? Tomorrow is Bailey's first flag-football game and Wednesday is Christian's birthday, Thursday is Christian's football game and Friday I have a craft booth at the free music in the park night here in McAllen....so all in all it's a week of go-go-go. Sooooo GO VIKES!

Poodles and Zippers ...I DID IT!

I completed a poodle skirt for Jillian...it's a little longer than I wanted but it'll still be adorable on her. I have to complete the top, find a scarf and some keds-type shoes (I'd like saddle but they're like 30 bucks!!) did I mention I'm going to try to make a petti-skirt to go under this bad boy!? THAT'LL TAKE SOME WORK! LOL

anyway--I can't show you the WHOLE outfit, that would take away my Halloween posts! LOL...so here's the completed skirt...matched perfectly with the Alcatraz tee she swiped from Aiden :) (in case you haven't realized yet---when we're home we rarely get fancied up complete with hair, bows and clothes! LOL)

It was my first time doing a zipper!! I'm so proud of myself and would like to extend a HUGE thank you to YOUTUBE.COM for the video how-to! LOL

Jillian had a blast twirling around and around...I managed to snap a picture of her looking at the dog but she wouldn't stop twirling long enough to actually take a decent picture.

Football Blues...again!

Good news and Bad news...

Good news: Christian got to play quite a bit last night at the game vs. the McAllen High School, Bulldogs! (about every 3/4the play)

Bad news: Sharyland High School Rattlers lost 14-7. :( Bummer.

but the good news out-weighed the bad in this situation. We were happy Christian got to play and he looked good doing it. :) I went to the game while Jay stayed home with the boys. (Jillian came with me) She had the cheerleaders laughing and Christian could her hear yell "GO RATT-LERS!" on the side lines. Maybe Jay won't get his way--maybe...just maybe, she won't be the best football player in the family...a mother can dream!

All photos were taken on my phone--and I've not quite mastered getting them off there yet. When I do I'll post them here! :)

How's that for Service!!

Jay, Jillian and I headed to Pizza Hut (our usual stomping ground---just a different location) but we got there around 1:20 pm...maybe 6 tables were filled with people. We wait and wait...finally a waitress comes over and says "Just sit anywhere" so we weave our way through the restaurant around dirty table after dirty table...finally we arrive at a clean table in the back and settle in. We wait and wait for a waitress to bring menu's and I finally get up and steal one off the cash register, but while I was gone she came and dropped a couple off. So we figure out what we're getting then wait, and wait....and wait....and wait....and wait. FOR 20 MINUTES!!! we finally got up walked out. But I get ahead of myself...my laid-back, easy-going husband stops me at the door and says "hold on" then goes to the counter and asks who the manager on duty was. When she looked up and said "That's me" he said "my family and I have been waiting for 20 minutes for service" she was like "oh....uh, OK" then went back to what she was doing!!! He was soooo mad he demanded the regional managers phone number and is going to call them later! WOO YOU GO, JAY!! He was like "This is ridiculous! No one even took our drink order and you're not even busy!"

(no we didn't do this! LOL Pizza hut doesn't HAVE ketchup)

So, I think deep down he's hoping to get someone in big trouble--or at least a free pizza! LOL

Football Blues...

The QB for Christian's football team got injured last Thursday so Christian got to play 3 1/2 quarters, won (I mistakenly posted the score last time) 29-0! You'd think that would be good enough to continue being starter, wouldn't you? But, alas, it's not. They brought up a starter for the Defense and Special Teams to be QB and are currently teaching him ALL the plays while Christian looks on...again. He's so discouraged and bummed. He really loves the game and wants to play....I have no idea why they're not using him and going with someone else all ready playing quite a bit but I guess it's not my call....I just know I have a pretty upset (not boo-hooing though, after all, he's almost 15!) young man on my hands. Yet, he still goes to practice and tries his hardest...gotta give him credit for that, he's persistent. I think if given the opportunity to quit, he would have all ready. Football isn't so much fun when you just run drills and never get a chance to play in the games.

Ahhh, High School football in Texas....