Baby It's COLD Outside!

**My apologies for the lack of posting.  First we all got REALLY sick...for a full month (they tested us for Pertussis...it was that bad).  Then my computer broke, and Lucas' is not as readily available as I would like.  But, I mentioned that there were a few partially written posts...and there were!  So I'm going to finish and post them (be advised, they were written in January) while I try to desperately write an update post and birthday posts. **

The last few years, I have practically lamented the lack of snow.  If I wanted a green (brown) winter, I wouldn't be living in Michigan.  This year, however, we seem to be getting the weather we should have gotten the past few years - all rolled into 1 month!  I'm not complaining about the snow.  I LOVE all the snow.  It looks like the perfect Winter Wonderland!  I love it!  I am complaining about the cold.

We pulled out our science kit and did some "snow painting" - which is just a winter-themed way to learn more about color mixing :)

It has been beyond cold here the last few weeks.  Not just single digits.  Not just slightly negative temperatures.  We're talking wind chills of -30...for many days in a row.  We're talking schools haven't had a full week of school since coming back from break because they cannot open in the frigid temperatures (and when I say, "haven't had a full week" I mean "have only had 9 days of school in 4 weeks.").  Granted, the twins have only actually missed 3 days of school since going back - partly because they only go 3 days a week (so some of the cancelled days weren't their days to be their anyway), and partly because their preschool director is Canadian and has been the only school open in the county 3 times already.  

I decided to bring in some snow in which they could play, but just making mini-snowmen was not enough.  We decided to get out the hair dryer and melt them!

 I'm counting this as a science lesson about various stages of water.

However, on these days, we still find ourselves at home...looking wistfully at the pristine snow outside just waiting for us to play.  But it is just too cold.

We kind of loved melting the snowmen.

 In fact they made and melted roughly a dozen!

That cabin fever would set in was only a matter of fact, and I've been doing my best to hold it off.  But we can only play so many games, bake so many muffins, and watch so much tv before going insane.  For the 4th week of temperature-induced snow days, I had to get a little more creative (thank God for Pinterest...).

I still have a few more activities in my pocket for future snow days - because it is still January in Michigan...we have a lot of winter left and we do not expect it to get any better!

Snapshot

The good news is that, so far, I have 3 posts started and waiting in the queue.  The bad news is that I hadn't finished any of them.  However, grandparents were starting to comment on the lack of posting, so I figured I would quickly finish one and get it out.  It might end up a bit scattered, but at least it has new pictures, right?  Here is a bit of a snapshot of our lives right now.

Making muffins wearing their new aprons from Aunt Darleen!

 Allie's apron is made from on of Little G's.  It makes her feel so special to wear it.  Also, I may have let Ryan think his was made from one of Little G's too...because he was very upset at the possibility that his wasn't!

The big discussion every day is about what they want to be when they grow up, how they have to prepare, etc.  Allie pretty much wants to be everything she can possibly think of...

Allie:
Basketball Player (and football, baseball, and soccer - not all at the same school though...for as many years and colleges she wants to go to, this is gonna get expensive...)
Artist (she literally spends hours every day honing her various artistic talents.  Our house is overflowing with her art...)
Farmer
Chef
Truck Driver
Ambulance Driver
Bus Driver (she got a bit stuck in driver mode)
Super Hero (conversation  about her being a super hero.  Ryan: You can't be a super hero.  You can't fly.  Me: Not all super heroes fly.  In fact, I can think of a lot that don't fly.  Allie:  Yeah.  I'll be a different kind of super hero.  Probably one that runs really fast.)  Note:  she practices being a super hero by saving bugs, and worms.  The other day our church rented a gym for the afternoon and Allie spent at least 50% of her time there rescuing lady bugs from being squashed.
Picture Taker (just like me!)
Ballerina
Dance Teacher (Lucas told her the other day that she was such a great dancer, she could probably teach a class.  She really took that to heart and keeps asking when she can start teaching.  I worry, should we ever put her in a dance class, how this will play out for her teacher...)
Pilot
Scuba Diver (For some reason, she is convinced there are no girl scuba divers and that she will be the first.  I tried to tell her otherwise, but she could not be convinced)
Astronaut (with Ryan and one of their best friends from preschool.  They are all so determined that I can actually see it happening someday...and it brings a tear to my eye to think of 3 preschool friends all grown up and blasting off into space together)
Fire Fighter
Fairy (Obviously)
Writer
In a Band (maybe the singer, maybe the drummer, maybe both!) (She and Ryan have talked about starting up a band now...he'll play guitar and piano)
Jewelry maker
In the circus (She has so many amazing tricks!)
Hunter
Mommy
Someone that Loves (My favorite)

Covered in flour, she looks the part of a chef...

Ryan tends to be a little (lot) more focused.  He knows what he wants to be and very little steers him away from that.  Except the fact that he's confident Allie will need some supervision in her life and he should maybe stick by her.

Ryan:
Astronaut (Oh, the planning for this!  He has thought through getting his college degree and then astronaut training and has his career trajectory planned...and he had me do a little research to make sure that his plan was mostly accurate!)
Race Car Driver (When he retires from being an astronaut.  Because apparently you cannot be an astronaut forever, but you are never too old to drive a race car...)
Scuba Diver (Allie's Dive Buddy) (One of our church friends is a diver and they have learned from him that you always need a dive buddy.)
Wants to be a lot of the same things as Allie...because she will need a buddy.

Trying out the new tubes!

They are back at school after the (extra long) Christmas break.  Everything there continues to go well.  Allie is drawn to anything artistic, and the stacks of art projects (of various mediums) she brings home each day are a testament to that love.  We also have 2 art stations set up at home - one in the dining room the other in the basement.
They wanted to play at the park too.

Ryan loves baking, but currently he is on a reading kick.  Just after the break he graduated from the beginners drawers to the pink shelves.  This marks a big step in the learning-to-read process.  Currently, he is reading small books with short words (Sam and cat. Sam sat on cat.  Sad cat.  Sad Sam., etc.), and he is eating it all up.  Withing days of making it to the pink shelves, he had gone through the first 4 levels (drawers?  I don't know all of the lingo).
Apparently, sledding in the snow is super fun.

Their current favorite book is "Bowser's Take Over" - written and illustrated by Daddy.
Sledding with Daddy!

One of their favorite past-times is making up stories.  I frequently hear, "Once upon a time..." and then they finish with an adventure or a story about their day.
Sledding with Mommy!

They got ice skates for Christmas and it was finally warm enough to go out and use them (we've had a lot of sub-zero temps since Christmas).  They found ice skating to be much more difficult than they anticipated.  I was surprised how well they did the first time out - spending most of the time without even holding onto us.  I was most thankful for the helmets.  I couldn't count the number of times they bounced off the ice, but each time I was thankful it wasn't the helmet and not their bare head!

I should also mention that they had knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards on under their snow gear. We were prepared for LOTS of falling!

All the safety gear also made me feel better about their safety sledding the biggest hill they've ever been down later :)

 Also, exciting update, they have grown out of their egg allergy!  We tested it this past week, and there was no reaction!  They are excited to try all of the new things that they were never able to eat before.  Turns out scrambled eggs isn't their favorite, but they are pretty excited about the prospect of french toast.  If only we hadn't scrambled all the eggs...

And that is a brief snapshot of our lives right now!  I will do my best to finish the other 2 posts sometime in the near future...or at least before starting (and not finishing) any more posts!

Top 10 of 2013

I feel ashamed.  I really do.  I usually do our annual Top 10 of the previous year on New Year's Eve (once I think I did it on New Year's Day, but dated it so that it at least looked like New Year's Eve*...).  This year we are almost 2 weeks into the new year and no Top 10 post.  I almost decided not to do it at all.  I just couldn't find the time to go through every post, and write down my favorites, and cut out all but 10, and then rate them in the order of my favorite.  But I found myself with some "free" time tonight (read: I was tired and I didn't want to clean or exercise), so I decided to do the Top 10 post, but do it differently.  This year it isn't MY personal Top 10, it is the Top 10 posts based on how many times they were viewed.

That's right.  Blogger tells me how often you** click on and read each post. 

So here are the Top 10 most viewed posts of 2013 (click on the underlined, highlighted portion to go to each post):

10.  The Greatest Show on Earth - Our trip to the Big Top with Poppy, Nana, & the Beauties.

9. Another Week of Thankfulness - The most recent of the bunch and part of our 30 Days of Thankfulness.  Some of my favorite memories of the year!

8. April Snapshot - I love the snapshots too!  And you've gotta love a post that ends with both of them crying...

7. April Showers - A kind of random assortment of activities and interesting things that kept us busy during a very rainy April.

6. Cousin Sleepover - Truly one of my favorite weekends of the year.  I had so much fun with these 4 kiddos!

5. Bits of Tid: Preschool Edition - I love this one too.  Especially the videos of them reading.  They've been making even more books lately, and it is so much fun.  Is anyone else obsessed with how amazing it is to watch a child learn to read?!

4. Where Have We Been? - This should probably be the title of all my recent posts *hangs head in shame*  Now that Lucas doesn't have his class, we haven't been staying in-town each week.  I sort of miss our afternoon adventures!

3. The Mama & The Slipper: A Story of Love & Temporary Insanity - Ah, the lengths a mother will go to (and the temporary insanity that it my cause) to make their children's dreams a reality!  Funny story, I was in the preschool to take pictures and discovered that Allie wasn't wearing her slippers anymore!  Apparently, they are allowed to just wear their socks, and she liked skipping the step of putting the slippers on, so she just went without.  After all that work...

2.  Camping - This was definitely at the top of our list too.  Allie and Ryan started reminiscing in the van just a few days ago about our camping trip.  Allie told me all of the details of the "Bear Hunt," and Ryan talked about going fishing (and not catching any fish...wah, wah).  And I love, love, love the video of Allie singing her "Bike Ride" song.  True story - we went a lot more bike rides, and she sang the song at some point on almost every single one!

1. The Lake House - Truthfully, I'm not sure what happened here.  a normal post gets between 13-20 views.  The high posts were in the 50-60 range.  A few posts got near the 100 view range because I posted the link on facebook.  But this post got 453 views.  Over 300 more than the #2 post.  I can't help but wonder if something went wrong here (or if we somehow ended up in the top of the google search results for bee allergies...or something worse...).  Honestly, we look back on this week as one of the most traumatic of the year.  But there were so many blessings.  Finding out that Allie was allergic to bees when we were there to take action and had lots of Benadryl on hand.  Having friends in the medical profession who answer their texts right away - and amazing technology that lets the confidently diagnose from miles, and hours, away.  A fun night together at a hotel (not something we do often).  School shopping with the kiddos to kill time (they got to pick out the clothes - and those pieces are still their favorites!)  A wonderful time at the end of the week with Uncle Duck & Aunt Debbie.  A wonderful reminder for the year to come that in the midst of life's most stressful moments, there are still some amazing silver linings!

Finally, to keep up with the (newer) tradition of including some photos (and to try to atone for taking SO long to get up the Top 10 post), here are some photos of the twins on New Year's Eve.

 Lucas bought a New Year's Eve party kit at a garage sale this past summer for $0.50.  I thought it was a silly purchase at the time, but when he pulled it out and I saw the hats, cups, plates, napkins, beaded necklaces, and party blowers all still in plastic wrapping I agreed it was a great idea!

The kids loved the party blowers, but they had to stop with them once the cousins arrived because the youngest Beauty was already sleeping.

The "older" cousins got a special movie night in the twins' room - complete with a special cozy spot to snuggle in and special snacks!  The hope was that they would fall asleep watching the movie.  They didn't.  While they did not get to stay up to ring in the new year, they did get to stay up much closer than I would have normally allowed.  The perks of a cousin sleepover!

My favorite thing about this post is that I look back and really see how amazing the past year has been.  It makes me excited for a new year full of new experiences, adventures, and memories.  Here's to an amazing 2014!

* I'm totally going to date this post so that it looks like it was posted on December 31st too!  My OCD  just can't allow me to have this post in a NEW YEAR when it has been the closing post of every other year...

**It doesn't tell me how often you personally click on each post...just how many times someone somewhere has clicked on each post.  No worries.  I'm not spying and/or keeping track!

A Miller Christmas Carol

Oops.  Somehow I missed documenting all of Christmas.  It was a busy December...So, here it is in short form with Christmas Carol Titles:

"See Amid the Winter's Snow"
We drove 2 hours to see live reindeer and all Allie wanted to do was make snow angels (we didn't have any snow near us yet)

"The Friendly Beasts"

Everyone got a chance to pet "Prancer."

"5 Little Christmas Trees"

The twins School program.  Ignore the crazy eyes.  Taking pictures from far away and needing the flash means really strange red-eye corrections...

 "Les Anges dans nos campagnes"
Since their school director is Canadian, several of the songs were in french.

"Jolly Old Saint Nicholas"

 "Christmas Train"

 "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
Waiting for the Puppet Show.

 As usual, not sure about the (friendly) in the puppet show.

"Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer"
The church Christmas Program "Christmas Around the World."

 "Oh Christmas Tree"
Ryan essentially sang a solo.

 "Santa Lucia"
Following the lead of the older girls, Allie sang so quietly no one could hear.

 "Joy to the World!"
I love my little carolers!

"It's Christmas Day"
 
 "Christmas Present"

 "We Three Kings"
Or 2 Super Heroes and a Princess...

"Silent Night"
While the adults finished dinner, the twins snuggled on the couch with their new Curious George book and read together for longer than we all expected!

Our Christmas was wonderful.  Full of more stories and adventures than I could even recount (like the night when we housed 13 people and 1 dog due to an ice storm that knocked out the power at Lucas' brother's).  One of the best I can remember.  We hope yours were all the same, and here's to a few more posts in the new Year!

Clearing the Card

The memory card, that is.  As promised, here are some of the pictures from our Thanksgiving and Post-Thanksgiving Adventures

Ryan making the Apple Pie.  He did most of the work for the apple pie filling (and some of the crust).

Cousins!

(Watching Curious George while the grown up watch football/cook).

Getting our tree.

The wagon ride out to the lot with the trees we wanted...which ended up being far from the lot with the trees we wanted...but Ryan's favorite part nonetheless.

Allie found this stick and called it her "reindeer costume." I was unable to get a picture the rest of the day without her holding that in front of her face.

Not wanting to squash their eagerness to help, I sorted all of the breakable ornaments out and let them decorate with the rest.  Completely squashing my natural inclination to control (and thereby squash their eagerness), I let them decorate as they wanted with minimal input.

They even got to use the step stool so they could reach more of the tree (since, thankfully, the majority of our ornaments are relatively unbreakable).

And a few outtakes from our attempt at a classic "Picture in Front of the Tree"

The "Don't-Mess-With-Our-Tree" look.  Serious and Menacing.

"The Stinker"

Note: He is not doing what it might look like in this picture.  He was sort of dancing around, and she was making pretend mustaches with her finger...and then we ended  up with this gem where he lifted his leg while her finger was still up by her nose...

December came on fast and furious.  We've been doing our best to pare down and say no to anything that causes undue stress...but we've still been crazy busy.  I will certainly do my best to post, but first I have to remember to take my camera with me (which I haven't done for any of our December adventures yet...)!