Love this song...

Princess Miller

The video and pictures speak for themselves. We are wondering at what age we should start discouraging Miller's love of dress-ups and all things pink. He's as tough as they come, but having a just-older sister definitely has its impact on our little Miller Monkey... I can't wait to show his first girlfriend this picture... At least he's half pirate in this one. (Wait, is that a good thing?)

The Stack is GONE

Well, it's gone from our house, at least. Jeff mailed it in today--a day EARLY. He stayed up until 4:30 a.m. last night (well, this morning) and had to be up before 6 to go to school. He worked on finishing the National Board stuff every spare minute today, and he managed to get it mailed in on his way home.

He is currently celebrating all the late nights and early mornings with blueberry donuts, popcorn, and Mountain Dew. So Jeff...

I am very proud of him, and also very glad he doesn't have this looming over his head anymore. Yea, Jeff! I'll bet he gets good sleep tonight in spite of all that Mountain Dew...

The Stack

This picture sums up Jeff's life lately. I call it "the stack," and I keep finding it at various places around the house, sometimes organized neatly, and sometimes spread out over the floor of a whole room.

Jeff is working on his National Board teaching certification, and it takes A LOT of time and energy. My dad got his several years ago, and I remember him sitting in the living room floor until past midnight working feverishly. It has been a similar story around here lately. Lots of late nights and hard work on Jeff's part. I'm proud of him, and all of us will be relieved when "the stack" is mailed in to be reviewed on THURSDAY. Whew!

Miller Man at 2.5

Maggie has gotten her fair share of posts lately with soccer and singing and what not, so I thought I'd do a post just for our little man and record some of our favorite things about him right now.

Miller is a doll. And I'm not just saying that because he's mine (maybe I'm a little biased). He gives hugs and kisses constantly and just has the cutest little grin and the most precious way of saying things.

I love hearing Miller's vocabulary explode and hearing how he chooses to put words together to make complete thoughts. For instance, when he wants something, he says, "You get that for me, pleeease." (The "please" is a 50/50 thing. He's actually pretty good about it for his age.) And he hardly ever forgets to say "thank you!," at the top of his lungs, of course. (He says everything pretty much at the top of his lungs. Our children know no volume control.)

I also love that Miller enjoys playing with his sister. They play with toys and pretend, and have just started playing more organized games like hide-and-go-seek (He's pretty hilarious counting to three and saying, "I come geeet yooou!"). He makes four or five syllables out of every word. Cracks me up!

Miller is a fun-loving guy. When we pick him up from his class at church, nine times out of ten, his teachers will say something like, "Miller just has the most fun!" At first I wondered if this meant he was having fun kicking other children or stealing their snacks, but watching him play at home, I really see what they mean. He is full of life and is so enthusiastic about whatever he is doing, whether it be playing, eating, or jumping off the toybox. :-)

Speaking of eating...Miller always has some sort of food on hand and going into his mouth. It's part of who he is. He can constantly be seen with a bag of Doritos, a handful of peanut butter crackers--you get the picture. His favorite meal food is scrambled eggs. He goes to the fridge several times a day and asks for them. He also likes Toy Story Mac and Cheese. We're working on some meal alternatives.

Mills is on his way to being potty-trained. He decided a few weeks ago that he wanted to give the potty a try, and he will pretty much go whenever we take him. He wears a pull-up because I'm not ready for the accidents that come along with big boy underwear, but we're going to make the big leap soon and get rid of the daytime pull-ups.

Our little guy loves all things pink. Yep, you read correctly. I'm assuming this comes from having an older sister. You can see in the above pictures that he's holding Maggie's Hello Kitty ear muffs. This is so hilarious because he's such a little rough-and-tough tank, and his favorite color, exclaimed very loudly, is "PINK!" We dressed him in camouflage the other day, and he later walked into the living room wearing a pink tu-tu of Maggie's. We're taking lots of pictures and can't wait to share them when he's older...

He is just learning to sing, which I LOVE. He has pretty good pitch and can do an adorable rendition of the "ABC's," "Jesus Loves Me,Me,Me," and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." He also still sings "Mr. Turkey" daily. It's one of his favorites.

Of course, this age does not come without its share of struggles. Miller can throw an award-winning fit (still not quite like the ones his sister threw when she was his age), and he can be seen frequently squabbling with Maggie or with his buddy Colby. But that's all part of it.

We love our little 2.5-year-old and could not feel more blessed to have him!

This Little Light of Mine

A very interesting rendition

Norrises at the Zoo

Jeff's parents, his brother Thad, and our niece Hallie came to visit last weekend, and we went to the zoo! All three kids had a blast, and we loved getting to hang out with Jeff's family. Here are a few pictures...Pretty much all of them are of Miller and Hallie holding hands. They must love each other!
Hehe...how cute is this?
Miller was so happy to see Hallie. When I look at this picture, I wonder if he will be tall like his Daddy and Uncle Thad.
Riding the train...and still holding hands. :-)