Fun times in Utah

Ella samples her first RedVine. Many of you may now be thinking, "What is Jennifer thinking? What kind of a crazy-headed mother gives her not quite year old baby licorice?" I was asking myself the same thing when I pried it from her red, licorice-caked, sticky hand. One of those treats that will probably not be repeated until she has the ability to actually keep said treat in her mouth. It was fun while it lasted.

My dad is working on putting in his yard and brought home the tractor. Foster nearly wet himself in glee and Maya wished it had been a horse. They both had a great time taking turns "driving" it, reguardless.

Shortly after moving to Lafayette, we bought a season pass to the zoo. We go all the time and the kids love it! It is nice to go and not feel like we have to stay all day to get our money's worth. $60.00 well spent.

A picture of all of us by the petting zoo. Sorry about the clashingness and non-coordinatingness of the outfits. Not a planned family picture. How embarrassing. Courtney Price would be outraged!

Foster wrastles his first gator. Obviously, we were standing on the wrong side of the enclosure to get a picture of his face. When asked how it felt to stare death in the face, Foster replied "I felt ready."
Ella stares death in the face in her own special way. She was not too impressed with the overly friendly goats in the petting zoo.
This picture was not taken at the zoo but it is still blog-worthy. Pretty impressive that the world's largest boot decided to visit the fine city of Lafayette. You should've seen the guy they belonged too!

You gotta love the sister, matchy-match dresses! I'll enjoy it while it lasts and they don't have a say!

Sure to excite and amaze!

Right about now, I am sure you are all saying, "Wow! A new post from the Millers! Can this be? At last! How we have missed gazing at photos of the most attractive children south of the Mason-Dixon line. How we have agonized over not being able to read the witty repartee of the cleverest girl we have ever known." Well, I say, let your life continue ,and enjoy...




All I wanted was an award winning photo, but I don't think I would enjoy the award that this one would earn. Seconds before this picture was snapped, we told Foster about chiggers that live in the grass and burrow into your skin and make you itch like crazy. Maybe this was a mistake. I'm not sure why Ella's not thrilled. Perhaps this question could be answered with another question: Where is Maya's right hand and why is she the only one smiling?

"If I close my eyes and make a wish and throw my bread crumbs, when I open my eyes, if the bread crumbs are gone, then it means the magic duck has gone to make my wish come true." Did Foster's wish come true? A mystery. Actually, here's the real mystery. Do you notice the dog standing behind Foster? Well, as most of you may be aware, I (Jenny) am afraid of dogs and would not have calmly snapped this picture with such a savage beast standing mere inches from my child. I swear this dog was not there when I took the picture. The Ghost Dog of Lafayette strikes again. Wait, maybe it would the the Ghost Dog if the dog was there, but didn't appear in the picture. Hmmm. If anyone is up on their ghost-animal lore, I would appreciate your input.

Myself, Maya, and Foster enjoying the lovely, gurgling swamp. Maya and Foster tried to play that game where you throw a stick in on one side and then run to the other side of the bridge to see who's stick comes through fastest. I think it is safe to say, it was a tie. I'm pretty sure that, as the water was pretty much stagnant (not to mention gelatin-like), the sticks are still in exactly the same place as when they were dropped.

The camera is Ella's favorite treat. I was trying to get a picture of how pretty her eyes are and out came her two, razor sharp bottom teeth ready to have a taste. She's got a bit of an underbite, which adds to her fierceness, I think.

Well, hopefully it won't be another two months until we do our next post. Maybe we should start a collection fund of some sort to buy the Miller's a new computer? Just a thought. I will have to check the rules and see if Blogger allows such a thing. Maybe the Millers will just have to break down and buy a new computer so that everytime we go online, Jenny doesn't go into a blue streak of swearing whenever the computer decides to randomly shut down or freeze. On the other hand... having an excuse for being lazy and not updating the blog works too.

A day in the life of a five-year old superhero

I thought it might be interesting for everyone to see life through the eyes of our resident middle child and only son, Foster. From here on out, he will be narrating this post.


My mom has been telling me for days that I need ed to get a haircut, so I took matters into my own hands. Imagine my chagrin and surprise when, after pulling me out from underneath the table with the scissors firmly grasped in my hand, they were not thrilled with the results. I thought I would be saving them time and effort, but all dad said, while trying not to laugh, was :it's gonna be the #1. Mom just kept telling Maya atta girl for running away from me.
This is me after Dad got through with me. See the cool leter "C" on my forehead? It stands for "Cool Kid." How did I get that? Well, that's a mystery. The lady at the Dr.'s office asked what happened when we were there for Ella's 9 month check-up, and I looked at my mom and asked her: "What was I supposed to tell her, again?" For some reason, that made Mommy really nervous.
After we got home from the Dr.'s, I wanted to go swimming. My mom made me really mad and said I had to play in the baby pool because she had to take care of Ella and couldn't go in the big one with me. I actually think she is just wimpy because the pool is not heated and sometimes the cold makes it kind've hard to breath. Anyway, I showed her and punished her by standing in the baby pool and pouted like a...oh wait.
Well, that about sums up my life. It is a hard one, but someone's got to the the coolest kid in the Loosiana.

Tired and dirty!

This spring, Foster and Maya have set new, all-time records of how much dirt can fit onto one little body.
It feels good to be clean.
Ella got really sleepy while playing in her bouncer. Is this considered abuse?

The Millers "deaux" Mardi Gras

We have successfully weathered our first Mardi Gras season and wanted to share some of the highlights. We went to only two parades and had a great time at both of them. We first went to the parade in a little town called "Youngsville" the Saturday before Fat Tuesday. It was really fun and the kids got A LOT of "trash"! We went home with a shopping bag literally full of beads and plastic coings and little cups. We went to the King's Parade that came through Lafayette on Fat Tuesday and it was a blast! The floats and costumes were amazing and kids got a lot of beads again! To give you idea of how big a deal this parade was, the King had to pay $50,000.00 to be in it. Hmmm, two new, nice cars or three hours of royalty? We only went to the one parade on Tuesday, but there were parades going on all day long. It was a great time!

Maya, Foster, and a friend waiting for the parade to come.

Throw me somethin' Mister!

Jon and Ella all pimped out.

Yum!

Ella is signing!

Ella started signing a couple weeks ago and here is the proof! I worked with her on it, literally, only once. She has been, by far, the easiest of my babies to teach. She thinks it is really funny and giggles while she does it. She currently has "All done" and "More" in her repertoire but we are working on "Please." What a big girl!

Ella signing "All Done."

Me showing her the sign for "More."

Her signing "More."