Aamodt's Apple Orchard has been a family tradition since I was little and it has been so nice to take all our kids there the past couple of years. It's now becoming our personal Miller family tradition! The bummer this year is we went to late for u-pick apples so we were only able to walk around the grounds and get apples from the apple barn. Couldn't have been more beautiful out that day! Another tradition we do is go out to the corn maze. We had high hopes for making it out there again this year, but with freezing temps and hail we had no such luck. So we decided to hit up the local farmers market that does a decent Halloween display. Kids were able to jump in the bouncy house and crawl through the mini sized spooky house, pick out pumpkins, and act like zombies for a bit around the corn. Not what we pictured for that day but turned out to be a lot of fun and we managed to stay dry between the rain and hail. We even managed to carve pumpkins! Annual Taft/Winegar Halloween Party is becoming a fun tradition. Kids like carving their pumpkins and then voting on everyone's design!! Here's our 2013 crew on Halloween night!! Lot of candy and hot chocolate had by all. Fall is my favorite time of year! So many activities to do outside as a family, so many memories to be made!
In October we got to take a field trip with the little kids, for the first time both Kris and I were able to go!! There were bees bees everywhere but it was a ton of fun and the views were beautiful! Not going to let a pack of bees get the best of us ;) Sibling love on the hayride. My crew for the day! Kourtney's class had every parent come, so I didn't really have to chaperone, I just got to hang out with Kourtney all morning! Lucas and Dad got to hang out with one of Lucas's good friends from his class, Charlie! Lucas can't stop talking about how Charlie is going to go to Kindergarten with him next year! Love that we are beginning to make these school memories with the little ones just like we did with the older ones!
I don't really even know what to say, the start of this year was hard for me.... - Alexis's last year in middle school before starting high school - Derrick started a new advanced gifted/talented program - Lucas's last year of prek before going into the big kindergarten - And my baby Kourtney started preschool So many big milestones for the Miller's! Momma had a hard time containing the tears, but no tears from any of the little's! It seems like we just jumped right back into the school schedule and they have adjusted so great! This year looks to bring a lot of exciting projects, trips, and assignments. I know I say this all the time but I am so blessed which each one of these little bundles and they are always keeping me on my toes and telling me new exciting things they have learned. That is what is so wonderful about being a parent, you get to see the world all over again through your child's eyes. I'm lucky enough to see it 4 different ways! Alexis, 8th grade - 2013 Derrick, 5th grade - 2013 Lucas, Pre-K - 2013
Kourtney, Preschool - 2013 Trick-or-Treating was in full swing around here before it got dark! I love watching all the kids run from house to house with that look of pure delight on their faces. We had only 3 of the 4 kids for our Trick-or-Treating adventure this year. Alexis went over to a friends to have dinner and gallivant around without mom or dad. Well not really gallivanting by the sound of it, they were hardcore trick-or-treaters trying to get as much candy as possible before everyone's parents came to pick them up. I know she out did her brothers and sister! Sadly for her the out doing does her no good when she doesn't like most of the candy...good for the rest of us though. Back here at the Miller house the 3 younger kids started out strong going house to house at full speed. Kourtney and I quickly got left behind by the group and after only about a block and a half she was cold and wanted to go home to eat her candy {and eat her candy she did}. I think she ate over half her candy before the boys even got back. She just sat on the steps eating away and watching all the trick-or-treaters come to our door. Lucas lasted way longer then I expected and was keeping up with the older neighbor kids almost till the end! Best part was his Power Ranger sword lite up and you could see exactly where he was at all times! Derrick at first was upset that his older sister got to go out with her friends and he had to go with "the babies," but he quickly got over that as we gained neighbor kids in our group. He made out with a good haul and was happy in the end! We had so many kids come to the door we ended up running out of candy and had to take from the kids stash. They didn't mind because they liked giving out the candy just as much as they liked going trick-or-treating!
Since we have never lived by family and have been hopping from place to place every 2-3 years we have never had to figure out who, when, and where we would be for any given holiday. It's a whole mountain of craziness that I am not sure we are ready for. With 12 years of our own Miller traditions it's hard to just up and change all that. My family started a new tradition this year off the beaten path of the regular family required holiday's! We all got to dress up in costumes, play games, and carve pumpkins. No stress, no coordination, just go and play dress up! The kids already had their costumes but Kris and I had to go out on the hunt for a new costume duo. All of our costumes turned out great but you really don't want to know how long it takes to get everyone dressed, hair, make-up, and accessories together to look that good. The funnest part is seeing what everyone else came up with to wear! Next came the games! We did a fun relay racing game back and forth with broomsticks. Some people from the other team say my team was disqualified but Kourtney and I did all legitimate moves based on the rules, plus I had to carry Kourtney most of the way because of her stubbornness. I thought Kris was going to tackle me to the ground when I "bumped" his ball but he ended up letting us win! Pumpkin carving was just as fun! We all picked our own design and carved in teams. Kris and I had to switch around between the kids to help them get the guts out and trace their patterns but for the most part the kids did really good with it. Alexis and Derrick went at it and finished most of it on their own with a couple tips from us. Lucas dug right in but needed help with the sharp tools. Kourtney wasn't to fond of getting any of the pumpkin guts on her and constantly said, "wash hands, wash hands." Little Jack didn't get into the pumpkin carving either but was thoroughly entertained by Uncle Nick laughing it up and entertaining the adults at the same time! In the end, Alexis's spooky spider design won the carving contest; the winner got CANDY of course! The whole day was wonderful, filled with a competitive spirit and TONS of laughs! What I remember the most about growing up is the craziness that was all the neighborhood kids. I remember running and running for hours playing all sorts of different games of tag and hide-n-seek! Staying out till the last light of day disappeared and the street lamps came on. Spending every spare moment with these other kids that lived on my block. Today's kids have to set up play-dates and compare schedules before getting out and playing with their friends. Many times,the places we have lived, my kids didn't even know the other kids in our neighborhood. When we moved back to MN I craved for that neighborhood where kids were constantly running around together. Where the neighborhood kids were welcome in anyone of their houses! That my kids would have somewhere to begin to build roots and lasting friendships! After all the time and stress of getting this house I think we have found that neighborhood! There are kids of all ages running around together... Jumping on the trampoline Playing ghost in the graveyard Jumping in the leaves Riding scooters up and down the street When it is raining they come inside to play in the bouncy house and with the Wii or watch movies! Having lunch at whichever house they are at! They were even trying to set up the tent one night so they all could have a camp-out! I'm thinking this is going to be a nice "forever" house! At least for now... Before Kris left for his deployment we were trying to do some simple and fun family things just to be together out of the house. On this day we went over to the local marina and feed the ducks. The 2 LOs have never feed the ducks before but it use to be something we did ALL the time when we lived over in the townhouse. The LOs kept laughing everytime they threw the bread. Lucas was making me nervous cause he just kept holding the bread in his hands and the ducks would take it from him. The 2 BKs had a ton of fun too, I love when they can still have fun with some of the small things:) Alexis even came close enough to me to take a picture with her!!
When we were leaving the kids were climbing on the stairs being goofy as always. I love the last picture with all 4 of them, wish it would have been on my regular camera instead of my phone(beggars can't be choosers I guess;) |