My Family

The love of my life!

Caleb (19), Rachel (15), Ethan (12) and Cameron (17)

Goofs!

But how I love them!

Grandpa’s Button Box

Cameron agreed to have Sr. pictures taken, if Aunt Sue Ann would promise to let him borrow Grandpa Miller’s button box.  Well, he did, and so….

she did!  She brought it out last weekend, and he has hardly put it down since.  He’s having a blast with it!

Here’s a “rough draft” after just an hour or so of trying to figure the thing out.

Thanksgiving Fun

Once again, my sister and her family made the trip from Ohio to Iowa to visit us for Thanksgiving.  They arrived Thursday afternoon.  Unfortunately, on Friday morning, the barn where my BIL stores his farm equipment burned down.  They lost most of their tractors/combines/etc.  So Bill drove back home to Ohio on Friday to assess the damage and see what could be done.  We missed him for our big dinner and the opening of our Christmas gifts!  But were glad that Sue Ann and the kids stayed with us!

KT was thrilled with all the excitement!

Rachel and Madi during the Nerf war!

Ethan and Jordy in the Nerf War

(Bill and Caleb were not photographed…they were in hiding!)

Ron and Caleb deep fried a turkey…YUM!

The best turkey EVER!!

Look how they’ve GROWN!!

Cameron, Madi, Caleb, Rachel

Ethan and Jordan

Madi was happy with her Blythe set of littlest pet shop!

Jordan got a RC hotwheels car.  He was happy with it, too!

Ethan got an Iowa Snuggy!!!!  It’s AWESOME!!!

Rachel got 120 crayons!!! She was SOOOO happy!

Cameron got an accordian! HE was very happy, too!

Caleb got a mirrored rubik’s cube!  Talk about excited!!!

Big time RUSH!

Fun times with FAMILY!

No Thanksgiving is complete without PUMPKIN PIE!

And Rachel made it this year!  It was DELICIOUS!

SO glad you all came to visit.  Sorry it was such a short one!  Can’t wait to see you all again!

Passport Photo needed

Caleb needed me to take a picture of him for a passport application.  His LAST passport photo was when he was just a few weeks old.  He’s only changed a little since then!

He is hoping to travel to South Korea with his church, St. Paul’s Chapel in Iowa City sometime next August.  The group will spend about 2 weeks teaching Vacation Bible School.  There are still lots of details to be worked out, so really, that’s about all we know of the plans, other than that it will be expensive!  We will surely keep you posted as more details become finalized!

Yummy Hummus!

My AMAZING daughter was in FCS (Family Consumer Science) class this past trimester.  The BEST thing that happened in that class by far, was that she brought home a recipe for hummus.  It isn’t the traditional recipe, because it doesn’t have tahini in it, but that is WAY ok with me, because I never have tahini in the house. 

She’s made this for us a couple of times and Rachel, Ron and I just gobble it up.  We like it with crackers and pita chips and pretzel chips and melba toast.  YUM!

Extra Easy Hummus

• 1 (15 oz) can chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained, juice reserved
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 t. ground cumin
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 T olive oil

In blender or food processor, combine garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin, salt and olive oil.  Blend on low speed, gradually adding reserved bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved (add it slowly and check consistency often…you don’t want it to be too runny!)

Halloween Fun part 2

We had a surprise waiting for us when we got to Erik and Kelly’s.  Aidan had constructed a TOILET out of cardboard.  Ethan and Aidan decided to go to the Halloween costume contest as that toilet and a plumber.  It was SOOO funny!  They did great! They won FIRST place in the contest for their age group!  Way to GO!

Ethan, the “Leak Geek”  (yes…we got the kid a new plunger)

Isn’t this a CLEVER piece?

a “hole” for the candy to go down!

The prize winners!

Of course, WE think BOB is a first place winner, too!

Halloween FUN!!

We traditionally spend some time around Halloween with our friends Erik and Kelly and their boys.  Sometimes Kelly and the kids travel up this way, but this year, it worked out that some of us went to Missouri.  Cameron and Erik have been planning a fishing trip for this weekend since JULY!  Fortunately the weather co-operated, and they got two SOLID days of fishing.  They didn’t catch a lot, but they did catch some fish!

Ethan and I just enjoyed hanging out at the house (well…Kelly and I DID manage to get a yummy lunch at a local Mexican restaurant…THANKS, Kelly!) and we did some shopping, and lots of talking and cooking and visiting.

Adam is a charmer!

He’s painting the nose of Bob the Tomato

for his AMAZING Bob the Tomato Halloween Costume.  Didn’t it turn out GREAT?  Kelly did all the sewing and creating…I helped out a little with the face.  We were thrilled with how it came out!

Ethan and Aidan spent an hour or two carving their pumpkins.

pondering….

and cutting

and scooping

and…the finished product!

yeah…he’s an 11 year old boy!  Ugh!

The end…

I’m trying to not be bothered when Cameron does something for “the last time” as his senior year quickly goes on by.  But…I’m not having much luck.

After 4 years, and hundreds and hundreds of miles of running…

THE END

of Cameron’s cross country career. 

I cried.