Surfing in October

Apparently the weather has neglected to look at the calendar and realize that it's fall. Our temperatures have been in the upper 80s all week. In an effort to work with the weather rather than against it, we decided to spend Sunday afternoon at the beach. The boys went surfing, Jolie played in the sand, I sat under the umbrella and read. It was a wonderful trip all around.

2009-2010 Daily Schedule

As I think I've mentioned before, I work best on a general schedule. Without a schedule, I tend to be lost...time management goes out the window and I come to the end of the day feeling like I haven't gotten anything done.

My kids tend to have the same problem. Without some guidance, they would entrench themselves in one or two activities (primarily Legos and imaginary play) and disregard all other responsibilities (such as brushing one's teeth and changing out of their pajamas).

For both the kids and myself, I have come up with a guiding schedule to help us glide through the day. We have time to complete our responsibilities and still have time for some fun. The schedule is not set in stone, allowing for some flexibility.

How do you keep your family rolling along? Do you have a strict schedule, a guiding schedule, or do you just fly by the seat of your pants? I love hearing and learning about how other families structure (or don't structure) their day...so let me know.

Free Fun in the Sun

We spent a few hours at the beach this afternoon just enjoying some family time. Here are some photos from our wonderful day in the sun.








And because fun cannot be had without some sort of injury...here is Justin. This is what happens when flesh meets shells and sand. The thought that blood in the water might lure certain creatures to shore kept Mr. Justin out of the water the rest of the trip. Unfortunately that meant that he had to miss out on his own surfing fun, but the younger boys sure did have fun.

Happy Birthday, Boogie-man

Today, Jake turned 10 years old. We celebrated a bit early when we were visiting family a few weeks ago. He is now the proud owner of a surfboard! It's just a trainer, but it will serve him well for the next few years, I'm sure. He got to take it out last weekend to paddle around (of course I forgot the camera), and had a blast. He and Justin are hoping for waves this weekend so they can get out there and catch a few.

I can't believe how quickly the past ten years have flown by. It seems like just yesterday he was playing "knock knock" in utero, and now his feet are bigger than mine (which really doesn't take much...I wear a size 5.5). He is growing more mature and is becoming more reliable every day. I look forward to watching him grow into the man he will some day be.

I love you, Jake. Happy birthday.

Here are some photos from his Fiesta Celebration!

Beach Kids…Well, Sort Of

My hubby lived his entire childhood in the Sunshine State. I’m not sure that he actually left the state more than twice before he turned 18. Living in Florida, most people are no more than two hours from the ocean, whether it be the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. This was definitely the case for Justin. As a child, he was always at the beach. It is no surprise, then, that he took up the arts of surfing and skim boarding. You can imagine his excitement at our return to the state of his youthful adventures and his visions of spending ample time on the sandy shores, romping and playing with his family.

Daydreamed visions can be deceiving from time to time. I’m sure Justin imagined us driving the few miles from our house to the beach, jumping out of the van and running excitedly to the water, spending hour upon hour basking in the sun and enjoying the surf. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

I had a near drowning experience when I was 14, and don’t care much for the ocean. I’m not a strong swimmer, and rip currents are definitely not my friend. I prefer a river or lake to the ocean any day. Justin knows that I will not go in the water above my knees unless he is right next to me ready to save me if necessary. I am also a burner. I just think of the sun and need to reach for the aloe leaves. Instead of a tan, my freckles just connect.

Jake really enjoys the beach. Justin has started to take him out and teach him to surf. He can swim, but could use some fine tuning, which swim lessons this summer on base should help with. When he’s not trying to surf, Jake is in the water boogie boarding his heart out. If he gets tired, he’s content with building sand castles with Jolie and Jensen, but is really at home in the water.


Jolie hates the beach. She had her first Florida beach experience when she was about 6 months old. Justin dangled her feet in the ocean as a wave approached, and it was downhill from there. For a while, she hated the sand. We took a family vacation to Kitty Hawk, NC and actually had to carry her from the hotel room down to the blanket each day. She finally warmed up to stepping off the blanket the last day we were there. Now that she’s a bit older, she will walk down to the beach and actually enjoys playing in the sand. The water is another story. She, like me, prefers to stay dry at the beach.


Jensen has no fear of the water. He will take his sandals off and walk straight into the ocean. He is getting some exposure to the water and shows swimming potential. He doesn’t care for cold ocean water, but I’m sure if the jelly fish stay away this summer, he’ll be out enjoying the water with this brother and daddy.

Justin loves to surf and skim board while we’re at the beach, depending on the waves. He has gotten in the habit of checking the surf report every morning when he watches his morning news on the computer. The beach is relaxing for him, and I’m sure he’d spend as much time at the beach as possible if he could.


We may not be the picture perfect beach family, but I think we all get some much needed free recreation time during our beach adventures. I’m sure the kids will fondly remember their beach time, or at least that is what I hope. I bet Jake will be surfing before we leave Florida, Jolie and Jensen may dig their way to the center of the Earth, and once Jensen can swim, I’ll be able to relax under the umbrella and read a good book. We won’t live in Florida forever, so I hope that we can all enjoy it while it lasts.

Slowing Down a Bit

The last few months have been pretty busy around here for some reason. We’ve been running here, there, and everywhere to participate in all sorts of activities and events. Many of the activities have been homeschool related…park day, art class, PE, Lego club, Roots & Shoots, co-op, fieldtrips, etc. Each and every activity is loved by one or more members of the family, making them all seem like “needed” activities.

I am finding, though, that the more time we are spending out and about, the more tired and irritable each of us is becoming (not to mention the house is also suffering in our absence). I am truly coming to realize just what a homebody I really am. Because of this new revelation, I have decided that it is time for my family to slow down a bit (and trust me, Justin agrees).

After speaking with my co-op friends, we’ve decided to combine some of our activities to coincide with co-op, and to switch our meeting day to Thursdays (Fridays are our “pizza and a movie” night, and I just wasn’t getting home early enough from co-op of Fridays to get our pizza ready). We should be able to create a diversified offering of activities throughout the month that will be enjoyable for all of the kids (i.e. Lego building, arts/crafts, nature study/community service, fieldtrip), and cover most of the outside activities we’ve been participating in.

As of right now, the summer weekly plan is as follows:

Monday – Park day (rotate park location each week around town)
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday – Co-op (rotate location and activity each week)
Friday –
Weekend – Family activities (farmers market, beach/park, yard work, church, etc.)

Do you see those blank spaces? They bring a smile to my face. Actually, they probably won’t be blank for long. I need to fill in baking, grocery shopping/errands, canning (when the veggies are in season), etc. It would be great if I could pair grocery shopping/errands with our Monday and Thursday events. Because they each rotate around town, I should be able to get quite a bit of my shopping done before or after those outings, saving time and gas.

This has been our first week trying out our slower paced schedule, and I think it is working well. We are all getting back into our regular routines (i.e. exercising, chores, etc.); the house doesn’t look like it’s falling apart anymore, the kids are getting to bed on time (except Jensen because he just doesn’t go to sleep on anyone’s schedule but his own), and I’m not nearly as stressed as I’ve been.

I think spending some much needed time at home will be good for all of us…especially me.

She Finally Lost It

Jolie lost her first tooth on Friday. It has been holding on by a thread for the past few days. Late last week, she pulled me aside and asked me to look at a "cut" in her mouth. It was no cut...it was her adult tooth coming in behind the baby tooth. That puppy was ready to come out. She wouldn't pull it herself. I got the honor this time.

Jolie was blessed with the "first tooth bonus" from the Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy brings $5 for the first tooth and $1 for every subsequent tooth. Saturday morning I actually had to ask her what she had gotten from the Tooth Fairy. She joyfully ran out of her room with her wad of cash. Not long after, she wrapped her arms around me and whispered, "Mom, you're the best Tooth Fairy ever."

That's right. She's hip to the jig. Last fall she asked if fairies were real, and I asked her what she thought. She said no and seemed satisfied. A few minutes later she asked, "What about the Tooth Fairy, then?" As Justin whispered, "Don't lie to her," I asked her again what she though. She pondered again for a few minutes and said, "No. I don't think she's real. Do you give us money?" And from that point on, the innocence was broken. I asked her not to tell Jake because he didn't know yet, and we agreed that it would be our secret.

About a week later, Jake came out of his room and said, "So, the Tooth Fairy isn't real, huh?" I asked him where he'd heard that, and he plainly said, "Jolie." Of course, he decided to take it one step further and the inquired about Santa. I in turn asked him what he thought, and he said, "No, I think you and Daddy get us gifts." Well there you go. But wait. He had to clarify all mystical beings that bring him gifts, including the Easter Bunny. Again, I asked him to keep Santa and the Easter Bunny a secret from Jolie and Jensen, since they were still young...and as you can imagine, that didn't last long.

I'm not sure how much Jensen knows as of yet. I do know that he was sitting at the table the other day saying to his Legos, "Mommy and Daddy are Santa." I wonder who he heard that from...

Sadness from the Fish Tank

We lost one of our beloved gold fish this morning. Our four gold fish are about two years old and made the move from Virginia with us, so they are definitely included in the list of family members when the kids are asked who is in our family. They each have a name as well. At first, they were each a different color/shade with certain defining marking, but they are now all the same shade of orange, two with "fancy" tails, and two that are plain.

We lost Ally, one of the fancy tailed fish. When we got home yesterday from our camping trip, I noticed that one of them was swimming very slowly at the bottom of the tank and figured something was wrong, so I wasn't surprised when one had died this morning. After taking it out of the tank and checking on the others, I realized that it was a different fish that had died. The slow moving fish was still slowly swimming at the bottom. Wondering if something was wrong with the tank, I changed the filter and am keeping a close watch on it. I don't want to lose any more fish if I can help it.

The kids took the news rather well. I told Jolie as soon as she got up because the tank is in her room and I didn't want her to be alarmed when she noticed there were only three fish in the tank. We discussed that fish and animals sometimes get sick or just grow old and will eventually die. Jake got a slightly more advanced explanation, having a better understanding of the loss of an animal. Jensen, on the other hand, is still in the dark on the fish situation. He slept later than the other two, so I’ll have to give him the news another time. He isn’t really interested in the fish (unless he gets to feed them), so he probably won’t notice for a while.

My parent's dog just passed away as well, so they have had some experience in this area. Hercules was 13 1/2 years old and lived a wonderful life. He was the only dog that I had growing up and he will always hold a special place in my heart. Jensen still doesn't understand that he is gone, and keeps talking about Herk and how he is old and sick. I'm sure he'll understand more the next time we are at Mom and Dad's and Herk isn't there.

Losing a pet is so very hard. I don't want to go through a major loss again for a long time to come.

A Wonderful Weekend for Camping

We have been so busy lately that it was nice to finally slow down for a change. We have a local military recreation facility that has some wonderful campgrounds, paintball fields, playgrounds, disk golf, bike trails, miniature golf, and water access. The price was right, too, so we loaded up the tent, kayaks, kids, and dogs and headed over with our neighbors for some much needed R&R.

The site doesn’t take reservations for camping, so the kids and I drove over Friday morning to pay for and pick out our spot. We were quite indecisive and took nearly 30 minutes to find the “right spot.” We didn’t want to be too close to the bathhouse, but not too far away either (small bladders, you know), and we didn’t want to be squished between two big RVs (we have a tent, but our neighbors had a camper and we were sharing the site). We did finally find a great spot and were stoked. The kids and I loaded up the car with all but the kayaks in preparation for Justin to get home. He strapped on the boats and we were on the road.

We hadn’t been camping in over three years. Our last camping adventure was a wonderful trip we took down the west coast from the San Juan Islands in Washington to the Redwood Forest in northern California. It was a beautiful trip. We went whale watching, saw the Sea Lion Caves, a bunch of lighthouses, and the towering Redwoods. My parents and one of my sisters went with us on the trip. We all loaded up in our (no longer with us) Suburban, and saw the west coast. Seeing the Redwood Forest was one of my requests before we left that side of the country, and doing so in a tent was a wonderful way to see it.

We got to take the kayaks out for the first time this weekend. We got them about two weeks ago (our belated anniversary gifts to ourselves), and since Justin is now able to lift things and exercise again, we wanted to get them in the water and try them out. I LOVED it! I had never been kayaking before and to be honest have some fear of the water (a near-drowning experience in 8th grade will do that to a person), so I was surprised with how relaxed I was once I got the hang of paddling. It was so quiet out in the water. I could have stayed out there all day. Justin and I let Jake have a try with my kayak, and he was a natural. He loved it as well and has requested a kayak for his 10th birthday in June (we’ll have to see about that).

Due to the dryness of the area, fires were off limits, but who says you can’t cook S’mores over a charcoal grill? I’m not sure how good that actually is for you, either the charcoal flames or the S’mores, but I guess you only live once. Justin and Jensen had traditional S’mores with marshmallows, organic graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate bars. Jolie and Jake, on the other hand, are vegetarians and won’t eat gelatin that is found in traditional marshmallows. I ordered some vegan marshmallows online, but they didn’t get here in time. I tried making some marshmallows from scratch before Thanksgiving, but didn’t have any luck. I’ll try again, I’m sure, but in the mean time, the kids used marshmallow fluff (they weren’t too happy with that either because it does have some blue food coloring in it and corn syrup), fair trade chocolate, and organic graham crackers. There is a ricemellow fluff that is out on the market that I need to try and find for the next time we need “the fluff.” I just assembled the alternative S’mores the same way I would a regular S’more, and placed the whole thing on the grill grate (near the edge, away from the flames) so that the chocolate could melt. Everyone was happy. I think our neighbors thought we were funny for using alternative ingredients, but the kids enjoyed their treat.

We took a nice walk through the forest along the bike trail. There were wild blueberry bushes everywhere that had already flowered and were starting to produce fruit. Justin was excited to find the trail and might use it as a training area for his adventure races.

The fun had to end this morning, so we packed up and headed home, but continued the relaxation by watching movies all day (after putting away the camping gear, of course). We did well setting up and taking down the tent and accessories. We could have used some additional child participation, but I’m sure that will come with time. The dogs were doing quite well by the end, and I think they will warm up a little more each time we camp.

I’m itching to get back out there for our next camping trip. I’m hoping to see if I can get my parents and whichever of my sisters that are able to attend to meet up sometime next month for a little camping rendezvous.

It’s back to the real world tomorrow. I have a floor that needs to be mopped (it is Monday Mop Day), a yard that needs raked and mowed, a garage that needs to be cleaned out, and (hopefully) a garden that needs to be tilled. Slow and steady wins the race, but first I have to get a good night’s sleep. I’m not much good without my beauty sleep.

Here’s to positive thoughts and a great week ahead.

Happy Anniversary to Us

Today Justin and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

I am so blessed to be married to my best friend. The last ten years have flown by, as I’m sure the next ten, twenty, and fifty years will as well.

Honey, I look forward to what the future holds for us. I will always be “dreaming my dreams with you.”

Our Annual Winter PJ Ritual

For the past ten years, we have each gotten a new set of pjs to celebrate the winter holidays. We usually open them on Christmas Eve, sleep in them, and then open gifts in them the next morning. Each year, the pjs have a colored theme…this year’s color was blue (my favorite)…I believe last year’s color was blue too. I guess I should mix it up a bit next year.

I had been searching online for organic cotton fabric so that I could make the jammie pants. I made them the year Jolie turned two…they were blue flannel camouflage material and came out wonderfully soft. Jake is still squeezing his little self into his four years later (I made them big so he could grow into them). I found quite a few companies that sell organic cotton fabric, but the prices were seemingly pretty high. I was looking at $15-$20 per yard for organic flannel, and $12-15 for knits. Ouch! For the patterns I have, I was going to need 11 yards of fabric to make all five pairs of pants. You do the math.



I decided to give my local fabric shops a call just to see what they had in stock. None of the mom & pop shops had any sort of organic fabric. As a last ditch effort, I decided to check out JoAnn Fabric’s online store. To my surprise, they had organic cotton fabric! It is listed as a “cotton solid” and as a “quilting fabric,” and comes in eight different colors. In the hopes that my local JoAnn store would also carry the organic cotton, I stopped by while I was on that side of town running errands and found that they too carry the fabric. Of course I had my 40% off coupon with me, decided on the New Navy color, and got 11 yards to make the pants. It ended up that the fabric was already on sale ($5.99/yd; regularly $9.99), so I had to use my coupon on something else, which was alright by me. I was pleased that I had found the fabric for less than half the cost of other online companies.


The jammie pants turned out well. Since I didn’t make any of us jammie shirts, I had the kids wear their UU rainbow shirts that they had gotten last year, and we wore our UU principles shirts. The kids were all excited to open their winter pjs. They have each requested me to do an additional load of laundry here and there so that they can wear their pants again the following night.


I like our jammie tradition. Next year we will probably shift our jammie opening to solstice and possibly stay up all night wearing them. I have some other new traditions that I hope to start for next year’s solstice. I’m enjoying reading about other family’s solstice traditions on my UUHomeschoolers Yahoo! group. I look forward to morphing our holiday traditions into some that will be meaningful for our family for years to come.

Polie Bear Time

Jolie has started her own blog. The blog will be based on her written and illustrated stories, as well as her artwork and photography. She is very excited about her blog and has already added (or rather I added) two of her stories. I'm sure there will be many more to come. I hope you will check them out.

A New Addition to the Family

Surprise!

The Miller family has grown by one.

I’m surprised I was able to keep it a secret from so many of you for so long. I wanted to wait to tell everyone until he made his arrival.

Actually, he was sort of a surprise to us as well. I guess I never imagined that it could happen so quickly, considering how long it took last time.

We would like for formally introduce you to…




(Abe) Lincoln Miller




We got him Wednesday from a local breeder. Lincoln is a Great Pyrenees. The Great Pyrenees are in the same family with the Newfoundlands and Saint Bernards. He’s just about three months old and currently weighs 30 lbs. He will be about 120 lbs. when he is full-grown.


It’s kind of a funny story of how he came to us. I was reading through our daily FreeCycle posts online and saw a listing for an 11-month-old Cairn terrier puppy. Chester is half Cairn terrier (darn those breeders!) so I thought he might be a great addition to our family. I emailed the owner asking about the puppy’s gender, color, whether or not it got along with other animals and children…all of the responsible questions I thought. Well, two days later I saw in that day’s postings that the puppy had been picked up. I guess I asked too many questions and the people just wanted to get rid of a dog, not find him a good home.

While I sulked, I decided to look up Great Pyrenees breeders in our state.

[You have to understand that we have had a Great Pyrenees before. We got Ekimo when Jake was about five months old and he was about two months old. The two of them grew up together. He had what the vets considered doggy Irritable Bowl Syndrome or Inflamitory Bowl Syndrome. He got very sick just before Jensen was born and unfortunately had to be put down. Losing him was devastating. He had been part of our family for six years.]

I found a breeder and was admiring her dogs. Justin walked up behind me and said that I should call them. I was just looking, so I said I didn’t want to…so he did. He found that the breeder had a 4 month old male and a 3 month old male and female available as well as five day old puppies that would be available near Christmas. I was just looking for more information, but Justin was hooked. We had to really talk it over because this addition was going to be a big one for us. Adding another animal means that we no longer qualify for military housing (you can only have two pets in housing). It also means that it will be very difficult for us to find someone who will rent to us with three animals, to include a large breed dog, so we will need to purchase a home at our next duty station.

We went for a run and thought about it. By the time we were home we already had his name picked out. I called her back and Justin wanted to know if we could come and get him that day. He needed his health certificate done, so we had to wait until Wednesday.


Eventually I would like to breed Great Pyrenees dogs when we have our land in Washington after Justin retires. I figure I can grow Great Pyrenees and Angora goats side by side and it will be wonderful. I don’t think I’ll breed Lincoln. He will just be ours to love.

He is doing well thus far. He, Chester and DC are getting along well. I wonder if he looks at Chester as a giant chew toy sometimes (Lincoln is already three times Chester’s weight). DC was sure to hiss and bat at him right away to show him who was boss and he hasn’t given her a second thought. The kids love having him around. I’m not sure, though, if they enjoyed today’s poop roundup in the back yard. Lincoln is a much bigger dog if you catch my drift.

I was on puppy detail the last two nights, so I think Justin is planning to take over tonight since he doesn’t have to work in the morning. Lincoln is used to sleeping outside, so his first night inside he was a bit restless. He slept outside half the night last night (only because I was tired of fighting to keep him in) and he pawed at the door at about 2am to come back in for the rest of the night. We’ll see what tonight holds for us.

Though getting Lincoln was a bit of a spontaneous decision, we have yet to second guess ourselves. He is an amazing addition to the family and will be loved forever.