Best Laid Plans...

Well, as you can see, we've been slack-a-lackin' quite a bit. Ha!

We will try to update the blog a bit more...maybe at least once a month. That may be doable...maybe.

In the next few days/weeks, we will try to catch up on everything and then keep up with this blog a lot better...but, if life gets in the way, we won't fight it.

So, that being said:

WE ARE BACK!!!

...we hope...

New Name...New Year...

Eech... We've been sooo bad...

After having to go through and change the name of our blog…since our domain (MillerMusings) expired and someone else snatched it up…we’re resolving to update our family blog more often than once a year now. We’re gonna aim for once a week at least.

So much has happened in the close to two years since we updated last. Miko and Tori are growing little bugs and are doing new things each and every day. PJ is still at home with them teaching them and learning from them as well. And Chad is still working on Minis with his own team at the same dealership. Our fur kid family is the same with Eros (who turned 18 in August), Fancy and Harlot (who both turned 12 in March), Sake (who turned 7 in December), and Wrangler (who turned 3 in February).

So, from here on out, we will post more often…even if it’s just a picture…it will be SOMETHING at least!

Catching Up...

My gosh, it seems life gets so crazy and time just flies by. We really wanted to try to keep up with our blog so much better than we have been, but we also don't want to miss anything happening in "real life" either. Our blog is important to us, but not as important as having family time.

Anyway, this post is going to be very picture heavy, just so we can catch up a bit and do a little "house-cleaning," if you will, on all the pictures we've been saving just to post on our blog.

We'll start with the last pictures of last year...Christmas, Christmas-Second-Time-'Round, and New Year's Eve. Then we'll move into this year...

First, the girls had a lot of fun in the snow...well, sort of. Tori didn't care too much for how cold it was.

Tori was a little unsure about the cold snow.

Miko was trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. Wrangler loves the snow!

This pic says it all...Miko loves the outdoors, Tori not so much.

This is when we knew it was time to head inside.

Then, it was time to start getting into the Christmas spirit. PJ had the girls do a Christmas tree art project to get things started.

The girls love to paint.

Miko really got into it.

Our little artist.

Tori wanted to eat the paint!

But, she did get some where it needed to be as well.

Our other little artist!

Miko put some finishing touches on before we had to let it dry.

After it dried, they used Q-Tips to put colorful "ornaments/lights" on the tree..
Mommy glued everything together, and Miko was quite proud of herself.

Miko's side of the dual-sided Christmas tree.

Tori's side.

We took our family pictures for our holiday cards. It was a lot of work, but afterwards, we always feel it is sooo worth it!

First we took a few pictures to show the girls how fun this could be...

Daddy with his girls.

Mommy with her girls.

Monkey-see-monkey-do!
We had the camera hooked up to the TV so we could see what the shots looked like. Tori saw Miko cover her face, so she followed along. Mommy just acted silly.

Then, we brought in all the furkids to get the final shot.

Our family 2011

First Full Week of 2012!

It was a busy week to say the least! Ha ha!

Chad purchased a second car for us. A '93 BMW 323iS. It's a beauty! He needs to do some work on it, but yeah, he's a freakin' BMW technician, we don't think there will be any problems with that! Ha ha! PJ normally names the vehicles, our mini van is Carson, but so far we haven't figured one out for this baby yet. One interesting and cool thing about this car is that when Chad was checking out under the hood, there was a Passort BMW service sticker on the fuse cover...that's the dealership he worked at back in Maryland!!! We're not sure if Chad ever worked on this particular car, but who knows!!!

Isn't it pretty?

Carson and our new baby...

We also ended up taking down the Christmas tree. Holy cow did Miko cry about that! She did not want us to put that thing away. You would think we were taking away her best friend! This was the first time we've put up a tree since she was born, and she really got attached to it. We told her we would put up another one next year, but if we're traveling, that's not going to happen because of the cats...we can't take any chances.

Our tree grew a creepy face and held up a sign telling us to take it down. Ha ha!!!

Other than Chad working and PJ petsitting for some friends of ours, that's pretty much all that really happened this week that was interesting.

Oh! But there was the two day fashion show Miko put on and insisted on pictures ("Mommy! Picture! Take picture!").

Her snow boots (which she's obsessed with), pretty shirt, leggings, and a skirt. The boots set off the outfit perfectly!

Snow boots again, mommy's Ocracoke Island souvenir t-shirt, and Tori's winter hat. Perfect! 

This outfit was so great we had to get more pictures of it! Ha ha!

Tori got in on it by picking out a shirt she likes as well. She chose a shirt that Miko used to wear. It's a koala shirt with other Australian animals embroidered onto the front of it that was a gift to Miko from a friend all the way in Australia. Mommy chose the jeans (a gift from Glamma) and shoes.

She wouldn't sit still for a good enough picture, but she's still so cute!

Lastly, this past Sunday, Chad looked outside while we were working in the girls' playroom and saw the perfect picture:

Wrangler and Sake enjoying the outdoors.

Next time we're gonna try to post all the Christmas, Christmas Second Time 'Round, and New Years celebration pictures.

Happy New Year!!!

So, it's now 2012. We really slacked off on our family blog last year. Oops! Life just got in the way a little bit more than we had planned.

2011 was busy with both Miko and Tori growing up before our eyes.

Miko is saying more and more things and testing her limits every day. Dancing seems to be her favorite thing. That and swimming and thrill rides (like children-sized roller-coasters, etc.). She kept busy and had a lot of fun this past year.

Tori went from being a baby to a little girl this past year. She started crawling, took her first steps, started eating solid foods, and has said her first words (mama was her first!). She tries very hard to keep up with her big sister when they play. Dancing also seems to be a favorite thing to do, and every time she hears music, off she goes dancing!

Chad had a crazy last year. He worked at the same company we moved out here for until September, then he was "let go." He was unemployed for almost the whole month of September, but then got a job at another dealership just south of Denver. He really loves his new job. He's so much happier now and really feels appreciated for what he does. We feel that losing his job was the best thing that could have happened since it got him away from a situation that just was not working for us.

PJ is still taking care of the home-front. She's getting into more and more craft-type projects and has actually set a goal to try to do a project a week...if not every day...in 2012. She loves doing arts and crafts with the girls and trying to teach them different things in the process.

The furkids are doing great! They're getting older, but there were no health problems at all in 2011 (knock wood!). Eros turned 16 years old, and can't hear at all anymore, but she's still a cuddle monkey and demands her treats every night before bed. Fancy and Harlot both turned 10 years old, and are still pretty anti-social...but they will come up to you for their bed-time treats! Sake turned 5 years old, and still acts like a puppy. And, Wrangler, he turned a year old and became a part of our family...he fit right in and is now Sake, Miko and Tori's best friend!

We are hoping to be a bit better about keeping up with our blog this year. Now, we can't promise a post every day, but we're hoping for once a week at least.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family that actually visit and read our stories. We love you guys!!!

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Christopher's 5th Birthday!!!

Christopher Jamar Sheler, Jr. was born on January 4th, 2006. Aunt PJ was in the delivery room with BobbiJo, Chris, and PJ and BobbiJo's mom trying to help out. Uncle Chad came up to the hospital later to join us in welcoming our newest nephew into the world.

On Sunday the 16th, we went down to Colorado Springs to celebrate the fact that he's been alive for five whole years! It's still amazing that it's been that long...it seems like it was just yesterday he was born!

Anyway, we got him a Star Wars mighty beanz carrier in the form of the Millennium Falcon with two mighty beanz of Chewbacca and Han Solo. It was sooo cool! After playing with the beanz, PJ has decided she wants some for herself! Ha ha!

Ready to open his gift

We couldn't find our scotch tape, so we had to use masking tape instead...ghetto-fabulous, we know!

Everyone was waiting with such anticipation!

What is it?!?!

He liked it!!!

We also got small gifts for the other kids as well. Connor got an Army doll, and Relena and Miko got an eyeshadow and lipstick set...Tori didn't mind not getting anything.

She's such a girl!

Miko dove right in!

Starting with putting on her lipstick!

Yeah, she's a pro!

Next came the eyeshadow...which went everywhere but on her eyelids! Ha!

Relena after doing up her face...

Miko with her face done up!

Tori enjoyed the bouncer that her Aunt BobbiJo brought out for her. We borrowed it from her and now Tori is enjoying it at home now, too!

Sake and Wrangler came along for the celebration...they played hard, then crashed in the hallway.

 

And, because of the pups, Connor wouldn't let his momma put him down until Chad took them for walks.

Later on, PJ took Relena in the bathroom to apply eyeshadow on both of them...they emerged with rainbow colored eyelids! Chad said they looked "80's glam-a-rific!"

Rainbow Power!!!

Trying to get a picture together to show our awesomeness!

You can barely see PJ's shadow...how sad!

Finally, we asked BobbiJo to take our family picture. She obliged, after she held Tori one last time - Tori was sooo tired at that point. Both girls and pups (and Chad) slept the whole two hour drive home. It was a wonderful time, and we wish we could do it more often!

Aunt BobbiJo with a very tired Tori

Happy but exhausted!

Happy Birthday, Christopher!!! We love you!!!

Busy Week!!!

It was a busy week, with no one day standing out enough to write about just it.

One day, Miko watched TV while eating her breakfast (she wanted a Pop-Tart that day). She stood on a crib mattress that she uses to bounce on. We wanted to get her a trampoline for Christmas (girl loves to bounce), but the funds weren't there for that kind of extravagant gift (maybe when she's older, we'll get her one of those big ones you put in the backyard!). PJ's best friend Ili had given us a crib when we were pregnant with Miko. The crib had some stripped screws and wobbled when we put it together, so we got a "mini" crib from a consignment shop to use. The crib Ili gave us sat out in our garage with Chad promising that he would glue the pieces together to make it more sturdy so Miko could use it...it really is a beautiful crib. Well, Chad never got around to fixing it, and Miko moved on to a big girl bed. Now Tori is using the little crib that Miko used. Anyway, we brought the mattress that came with Ili's crib inside so Miko could have something besides the couch to jump on. She loves it!

Another day, Miko and PJ decided to have a "craft" kind of day. PJ decided to make colored macaroni noodles. Miko got a small beaded purse for Christmas, and there's not a lot that will fit in it...although she did bend a puzzle piece enough to jam it in there. Ha ha! So, PJ made colored macaroni for her to put in there.

Miko, on the other hand, painted to her hearts content...by the time she was done, she needed a shower!

On another day, Tori decided to pose nice for the camera after she rolled over during tummy-time!

Then there was the day that PJ put Tori in the highchair while she was fixing dinner and Miko gave her a bunch of her favorite books and toys to look at and started pushing the chair around the kitchen. This was the result:

Now, during all this excitement with the girls, the furkids didn't want to be left out...namely our newest fur-son, Wrangler.

PJ will leave him out of his crate during nap times for a couple hours, and he usually does just fine. Well, one night we decided to see how he would do overnight with access to just the living room and kitchen. This is what we woke up to find:

Sake just wanted to get in the shot.

So, from now on it will be this:

 

At least until we feel we can try trusting him again! 

"I thought you had my back, Sake!"