New Seating Arrangements

Our new kitchen has just enough space for our table and nothing else. Therefore, there was no room for Oliver's big highchair. Thanks once again to my good buddy Craig (as in Craigslist) we sold our highchair in a day (for the same price I bought it for 2 years ago at consignment). Oliver then took over Owen's in-the-chair high chair, which he thoroughly enjoys.

Now Owen is the proud owner of a big boy booster seat, which he also loves. He thinks he is such a big boy now.

It is so fun to have us all at the table together now for meals. Won't you join us? :)

4th of July

Jeremy and I both love having people over to our house, whether for a meal, a playdate, to watch a game, etc. For the last year, we lived in small townhouse and we had very little room to entertain. I HATED IT! But now that we have a huge living room and a great screened-in porch, we couldn't wait to have people over.

On July 3rd, just two weeks after being in our new place, we decided to have a 4th of July cookout. We invited our small group, some other friends and family over to cookout. I think in the end we had a total of 18 people over and it was so much fun. The kids had a blast playing in the sandtable, the blowup pools, the playroom, the sunporch...everywhere. Jeremy grilled an awesome Boston butt and we had barbecue, sides, and homemade ice cream a

nd brownies. Though it was hot, the fellowship was awesome and we had a successful first cookout. Thanks to Caron for catching these great shots of the kids while I was busy getting dinner ready.

Matthew provided us with some music.

Owen LOVES Katie and talks about her all the time. I'm not sure the feeling is always mutual.

Nori and Matthew trying to figure out the bubble gun

John teaching Banner how to play frisbee

Dinner was yummy...Owen and Caroline at the kiddie table

On July 4th, we had a great family day! Jeremy grilled sausage and biscuits on the grill and we played around the house, while Oliver napped. After he woke up, we all went to the Y for a little pool fun and lunch.

Owen loves the pool at the Y...it's a wading pool so he can walk around in it by himself.

The middle of the pool is filled with sprayers and slides.

Oliver wants to jump in so badly. Poor thing, I made him wear this big ole hat.

We grilled out again for dinner and praised God for allowing us to live in a country where we are free to worship as we please. We are so blessed to live in this country and afforded many freedoms that we often take for granted.

We hope you had a great 4th!

Miller Family Fun Day

My mom has a huge extended family on both of her parents' sides. For the last few years, my cousins have hosted Miller Family Fun Day on the first Saturday in June. (The Millers are my maternal grandfather's family.) It is fun reunion type of event with lots of food, family, and silly games. Most of the family still live in Beulaville, NC but there are a few of us who travel down east for the always hot event. Seriously can't we pick a day in the fall instead?

This was the year of new babies. This was the first time this side of the family had met Oliver and my cousin Tonya brought her new baby girl, Presley, and my cousin Ryan brought his little boy Hayes. We also had all the other big kids (I think more than 20!) It was a great day and as always we love catching up with our family.

Catching up

Christina and Annette holding two of the newest Millers (Oliver is on the left, Hayes on the right)

Nana (my mom) and Owen shooting the water gun at Papa (my dad)

Owen loved playing the baby pools. He took every adult he knew over there to watch him kick.

Playing with all the girls
Some of my great aunts with Oliver
Cousin Tammy with one of the newest Millers, Presley
Owen fell in love with this inchworm riding toy. Good job Owen..safety first!
More cousins
Daddy is dinner ready yet?

Oliver @ 7 Months

Month 7 already? Oliver is changing every day and has such a fun personality. My friend Caron said the other day that she has never seen a little boy change so much every time she sees him (and she sees him weekly).

At 7 months, he:

• weighs: 17 lbs 11 oz (we know this thanks to an unexpected trip to the doctor for what I thought was pink eye. Thankfully it was just a bad summer cold that had traveled to his eye.)
• is wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. He is a lot longer and leaner than his brother at this age. He is wearing outfits Owen wore later because he needs to the length. Poor thing has lots of extra room on the sides though.
• is still breastfed and is now eating solids 2x a day. His food repertoire now includes: bananas, apples, avocados, plums, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, and prunes. He loves them all! He has also started to practice with puffs. He can get them in his hand but loses them in his fist.
• finally started sleeping through the night (it only took 2 nights of crying it out); now if we could only get him to sleep later. :)
• had his 1st tooth appear this weekend. He has been drooling non-stop for about a month now; he goes through several bibs a day trying to absorb all that excess saliva.
• is sitting up all by himself. He can also go from the sitting position down to his belly.
• loves water! He loves splashing and kicking in the pool and bathtub. Speaking of the bathtub, he is sitting up by himself in the bathtub with his brother.
• is inchworm crawling (puts his bottom up in the air then down enough times to move)
• is very ticklish and will laugh at any little funny face you make.
• has learned to defend himself against his brother already..pulling his hair is his latest move.
• has moved to the bigger carseat. He was just getting too heavy for the infant carrier and since we already had the seat from Owen, we went ahead a moved him out.

Busy Little Bees

The last few weeks have been crazy busy! I don't have any fun pictures really to post, but I thought I would update you on what we have been doing.

A few weeks ago I accepted a part-time job at the YMCA. I work in the Children's Enrichment Program Center, where we provide drop-in childcare for kids 6 weeks to 6 years while their parents use the facilities. For ages 1-6 we actually have a curriculum and rotate activities...it's not just free playing babysitting. The job is a perfect fit for me in this stage of life because the boys get to go with me, we get 50% off our family membership, and I get paid. So far I've worked 3 shifts, which are usually around 4 hours, and it's gone really well. Owen loves playing at the Y and Oliver is learning how to take naps midst all the noise.

Wednesday June 15th we picked up the keys to our new rental house and started moving boxes in. Jeremy took a few days off to help us make the move and we all thoroughly enjoyed having extra time with him. Thursday, my sweet sister in law Jen came over to help watch the boys so we could do some more packing and unloading. Friday, Jeremy's parents came into town and helped us pack and makes loads to the new house. We were very blessed by 3 awesome guys in our small group who came over on Saturday to load and unload all of our furniture on the truck. They were such troopers and we are forever grateful to them for helping us. A big thanks to my parents for watching the boys on Saturday.

After the move, we headed to Huntersville to celebrate Father's Day with my parents, brother, and sister in law. My parents came back over Sunday to say goodbye and do a couple of things around the house. Monday the 20th I completed the last of the cleaning and turned in the keys to our townhouse. I was so excited to be done with that place and that crazy rental company.

Moving with 2 young kids has been a challenge. Trying to find time to put stuff in boxes (and then unpackthem) has been interesting. Owen loves to "help" by taking stuff out of the boxes to look at it and taking it to his own desired location. He always finds the one thing you don't want him to play with of course. Surprisingly though we have everything out of the boxes and mostly in the right place. Jeremy finished up the garage today, which was the last "room" that needed organizing. We're slowly getting curtains and pictures hung and it's starting to feel like home. We love having more space most of all. Once everything is in place I'll try to post some pictures. Please come and visit...we love visitors!

Half Birthday :)

On June 2nd, Oliver turned 6 months old. Happy 1/2 birthday, sweet Oliver! The past 6 months went by sooo quickly!

At 6 months, you:

• weigh 17 lbs 2 oz (45%tile)
• are 27 1/2 in tall (85 %tile)
• head size: 17 1/4 (53%tile)
• are wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers
• still exclusively breastfed, eating every 3-3.5 hours
• take 3 naps a day, varying from 1 to 2.5 hours each
• still wake up once a night to eat (boo!)
• are a light sleeper and therefore do not transfer from the car to the house without waking up
• are very close to sitting up by yourself. You can sit for about 30 secs then topple over, normally because you are reaching for a toy or trying to suck on your feet.
• love eating oatmeal and started eating avacado on Tuesday.
• still suffer from reflux and must wear a bib (or 3) all day to keep your clothes dry
• very loud. You have definitely found your voice and love babbling at a very high volume. You are saying many consonants but no real words yet.
• like to chew/suck on everything...your feet, arm, a toy...really anything
• love to look at yourself in the mirror
• are very ticklish
• love to watch your brother and think he's the greatest thing since slice bread

We love you little buddy and feel so blessed to have you as part of our family!

This past Sunday we traveled to Boone to hang out with the Cox family. Jeremy's oldest brother and his wife were in town from Florida so we used it as an excuse to get together. On the way up there, we stopped in Lenior to visit Grandma Cox. She has been sick lately and doesn't travel, so we haven't seen her in ages. This was her first time meeting Oliver.

Group shot (notice Owen's new cheese face)


Owen took this picture (with Jeremy's help of course)

We then headed up to Boone for lunch at the park. For Easter, Emma made all the grandkids matching outfits. This was their first time wearing them all together. It is nearly impossible to get a picture of 5 kids 4 and under all looking. This was the best shot.

Our nephew, Landon
Landon's twin Bryson with Grandma
Bryson and Aunt Emily
Uncle Jesse teaching Madison how to throw the frisbee
Emily and Bryson again.
It was so great to see everyone and have everyone in the same place at the same time. Hopefully we can do it again.