Happy Happy Easter (a zeb post)

It's a good thing that Nannie Annie doubles as the Easter Bunny because otherwise there would have been no goodies for the Miller household. I just don't love the idea of gifts on Easter. Maybe I'll soften up when Z is a little older! thanks for the stuffed carrot mum! zeb has enjoyed it :) Plus, we did have a great Easter dinner with homemade Idaho Potato rolls.
And Zeb did get to wear his little spring overalls for the first time ever today (yet another Gap deal that was purchased while he was in utero) and he borrowed some bunny ears for a photo op.
My favorite part of the day, however, was teaching my primary children about the Resurrection! these five and six year olds are so excited to learn and so much fun to teach! I tend to learn a lot from them as well.













Today has also been a day of tears for our little wombat. The picture on the left is Zeb's first experience with the potential and kinetic energies of a rubberband. He was royally miffed when it came back to snap his hand. Kent and I thought that it was pretty funny. He also had quite the fit today when we cut his hair. He is mortified by the clippers. His terror continued as kent tried to shower him off (pictured right). He hates the shower too I guess. He just looks so dang funny when he cries. I can't help but laugh and take pictures. Click on the pictures to get a real good look at his angry faces. You'll laugh too.

the best birthday EVER (long post!)

My goodness!! I am married to a good man! I live for surprises and thankfully Kent is both aware and consenting to my never ending insistence for them. I love not knowing what he's getting me for Christmas and birthdays. I love when he plans things unbeknownst to me! I love waiting for something great, but not knowing quite what I am waiting for! It really isn't fair since it means I oftentimes have some preconcieved notion or expectation, but with Kent, the best husband ever, I am rarely left despondent :) This birthday was no exception in his fabulous track record!

Last night we went and picked up dinner and then kept driving! I had NO idea what he had in store. I had searched online for any and all events occuring in Toledo March 21st and couldn't find anything that started after seven thirty where we could eat our dinner! The mini blizzard started up at about 7:30 so I knew we wouldn't be outside either. After about fifteen minutes of driving we ended up in Toledo's "Old West End". It's this neighborhood brimming with amazing old houses and buildings. I was simply enjoying the drive when we approached a ginormous mansion. I commented to Kent about how stunning it was and, voila, we pulled into it's drive. It was the "Mansion View" bed and breakfast! When we left Zeb with the neighbors, Kent had told them we'd be back in two hours-obviously a pre-planned deception.This place is astounding. And don't you love that it snowed that much just for me? We were the ONLY guests for the evening! We had the entire place to ourselves. The caretakers are the nicest people EVER and let us roam all over and look at everything. We got to watch movies and eat snacks in "sitting room". The bedrooms were really intense! Thank heavens Kent got to choose the least flowery and least pink (also the least expensive) room for me :) We slept quite well besides the fact that I woke up a few times in the night thinking that I heard Zeb crying!!
The woodwork was so intricate. The house was built in the late 1800s and was known as the finest house in Toledo. Many famous Toledoans lived in it and it's always been taken care of very well. Most of the exterior and interior work is original. We would highly recomend this Toledo jewel to EVERYBODY! It's definitely on the list of places to go while you live/visit here.













The best parts of the adventure were definitely the hosts and the breakfast. The hosts, Don and Brenda, live there as volunteers--the building is a non-profit historical site (perhaps why the pricing was so decent). They were such pleasant people. They sat and chatted with us after our breakfast. Brenda is an astounding cook. The breakfast was delectable. Since we don't do coffee or tea they made us the most delicous hot chocolate from melted Ghiradelli squares. It was so rich and good. We had parfait with fresh raspberries and bluberries and then omelets with asparagus, accompanied by more fresh fruit and hashbrowns and bacon.









Definitely a fabulous and unforgettable birthday surprise! Thanks Ralph. And apparently Zeb was wonderful last night! The Dockters may have exagerrated a bit about his behavior, but it was relieving to know he didn't drive them bonkers! --thanks so much guys!

p.s. the birthday gods have blessed me even more abundantly.... there's a 90% chance of snow in the forecast for my bday!!

happy birthday to the relief society (and tomorrow to ME!, Laney!, and jessica! ) and to the rest of you March birthdayers.

I feel like this week has been a week of birthday celebrations just for me!! really, most everything has been for Easter or the relief society, but it has been great nonetheless! Laney and Taylor were here Sunday, we had a great Easter party for playgroup wednesday, Kent didn't have school Monday (that's a celebration in and of itself), we had book club with amazing treats and walking group on tuesday, I went out with the sisters to the coolest girls house EVER today, we had the relief society birthday party tonight, my dear friend rachel (pictured above) gifted me with this lovely crown (which I wore for a bit and then told her she could actually keep it) and treated me to a viewing of her copy of Enchanted, and I was bombarded by cards (and some great rice krispy treats) from some great friends! it's not even my birthday yet! I am so spoiled and so dang happy. I told Kent that I feel like it's been my birthday everyday this week.

I share the month of March with the relief society and there's always a big dinner/party which usually falls in my birthday week! there is nothing better than extra festivities around your birthday (unless it's Christmas. I would be livid if I had a Christmas birthday). On March 17 the relief society turned 166 and tonight we celebrated! I am so grateful for the relief society (here comes a little bit of cheesyness). I think that the rs is so wonderful. I love the support it renders, I love the people that it brings together! Every relief society I've ever been in has been absolutely wonderful.

Happy Birthday to the Relief Society too!!

Here's the latest antic from Zeb's life. Kent loves to teach him tricks. This is one of many :) and don't mind the tomato sauce on his face-- he thoroughly enjoyed his dinner of tortellini soup. Just watch him try to make the sound that kent does with his lips. He's trying so hard. good thing this kid is so darn cute. He's been such a little bugaboo lately. Very demanding and non compliant.

His favorite spot is under the table climbing over each and every chair. I was so worried about Kent missing Zeb's first steps, but after this week I have no doubt that he'll be walking before June 1st. This kid is crazy mobile. I'm afraid he's going to be pulling himself over his crib railings pretty soon. He'll wake himself up at night and get so excited that he can stand himself up and look over the crib edge. He gets all riled up about it and won't go back to sleep unless we sing to him and rock him. It's pretty aggravating so I hope he tires of it soon.
oh, and sorry the tv is so loud in the background of the video! we are watching "Trauma: real life in the ER". Don't worry, we aren't watching it nearly as much as we did that first week and I think we are getting so used to these new channels that we'll be able to phase them out this week!

goodbye and farewell

We bid Laney and Taylor farewell this evening as they boarded the "megabus" to Chicago! They were only here for the weekend, but it was splendid. Today church was quite a riot. One girl in the ward told me that she saw me (actually Laney) and leaned over to her husband exclaiming, "Leisy is pregnant and really pregnant at that! how did we not notice it before?!". I thought it was hystercial! It didn't help that we wore similar outfits.
My primary kids LOVED it. One told her mom that it was "creepy"! Kids are so dang funny.
Besides the art museum and Pasta Fina, we just kinda hung out. I am posting this picture and laney will probably KILL me, but I just can't help it. We had quite a few giggle fits today. Laney told her Latvia appendectomy story at dinner (the sister missionaries were over and had requested it) and it just never gets old or unfunny. The worst of the giggle fits was in the car while we were waiting for the Megabus to arrive. This is where the picture comes in. We started giggling about giggle fits and then really got out of control when Laney started losing bladder control. She is almost 7 months pregnant and is somewhat excused, but it was insanely funny. We were all crying. The people in the car next to us must have had quite the show watching us all make fools of ourselves. Sisters are good for that (laughing and making you look foolish).
The week has been stellar, but we are ready to have our house back to ourselves! Zeb experienced EXTREME sensory overload and is completely off the semi-schedule he had. Let's hope he can make a speedy and full recovery so that Kent and I can get back to sleeping :)

happy saturday

This week has gone by FAR too quickly. I cannot believe that it's already almost Sunday. Grrrrr. We did have a nice last day of break.
We went to Fallen Timbers mall and got some GREAT gap steals. We got a cute little faux leather bomber jacket for Zeb next winter for seven dollars!!! I'll have to post pictures.

We also went to the Art museum. They had a glass blowing demonstration that was really amazing. Even Zeb watched intently as she turned this blob of glowing glass into a blue bowl! and we saw more of the exhibits. It is such an amazing museum. Definitely a gem of Toledo. After the museum Kent took melynda to the airport and I drove Laney and Taylor around to my favorite streets in Toledo. Melynda, thanks so much for visiting. We had a blast!
This evening we took Laney and Taylor to our favorite Toledo restaurant, Pasta Fina. It is absolutely delicious and decently priced. I don't even like Italian food and I think that the food is astounding. We'll take any and all visitors there -- yet another reason to come!

Friday Shmiday

Today we visited many of our favorite Toledo locations. We went to the "The House of Meats" in The Andersons (a really great local general store type of place- they have samples GALORE) in preparation for our Brazilian feast! Kent made a really good meal of feijoada, collard greens, pão de queso, and farofa. It was quite impressive. The first steps of the meal were VERY unappetizing. Kent had to cut the pig skin off one of the cuts of meat. Then he just dumped the meat on top of the beans and let it cook for five hours. That picture is our real dinner.

We also went to "Once Upon a Child" and Zeb got to pick out a toy from grandma pat. He LOVES this dinosaur toy. Our neighbors have it and he crawls over to their door regularly to try to get in and play with it. He has been entranced all day long. Thanks grandma. He finally has a real toy :)

His crawling has become rather adventurous over the past few days. His favorite activity is to crawl OVER everything, regardless of the convenience. His favorite climb is over the chairs under our table. He's so dang funny.
















This evening Laney and Taylor showed up! we ate the brazilian food and have been talking since. Zeb is still in heaven with all of these visitors. He hasn't been phased by Laney in the slightest. I guess it's totally normal to him that there are two of me.

Wild animals Galore!

The weather was superbly springy today. I think it got into the fifties! We decided to make today a theme of animals. We went to the zoo and had the place almost entirely to ourselves. a few of the animals were in hiding-including the hippo. I was beyond disappointed. We still saw plenty of lively creatures. Kent and Zeb loved the polar bears and I loved the cockroaches. Melynda loved the penguins and the monkey that hissed at me.The polar bear exhibit is really awe-inspiring. We just sat there and watched them for quite a long time. These ginormous animals just swim and play right at your face with only an inch of glass separating them from us! Zeb wanted to touch them.

We continued our animal adventures by going to The Lion King this evening. Thanks Sacks, for watching the rugrat!! It was wonderful. The music was amazing and the costumes were unreal. We, of course, had seats on the VERY last row again! and, of course, moved up to better seating at intermission. I really loved it. I can't believe how well they recreate the animals' movements with the puppets and costumes. It was just fun to be in the audience and experience the whole thing. It was quite exciting actually.
I love spring break and I love visitors.

Kirtland

I would strongly encourage everyone to go to Kirtland on a weekday in the winter! We were the only ones there and got EVERYTHING to ourselves. Compared to our tour of Nauvoo this past summer I was in HEAVEN. First off, we didn't have to melt in the terrible heat. Secondly, it was so calm. I posted the picture of us watching the movie before we saw the sites. It was just the four of us. Really, nobody else was there.
Thirdly, the scenery was wonderful. The snowstorm that hit Ohio last week dumped about 15 inches at all of the sites and they were beautiful! -although we are squinting in all of our pictures because the snow was so blinding.
Historic Kirtland was my favorite place. Having the "school of the prophets" room all to ourselves was quite the treat. Zeb got pretty excited there too! It was definitely his favorite spot. I loved the movie and visiting the rooms where so many revelations were received and where the church was really put together and shaped into what it is today. It was a far better experience than I had anticipated.























The Kirtland Temple was just plain great. Because we weren't in a huge group we got to see nearly every nook and cranny of the building. I had no idea that after the saints fled Kirtland the city used the temple as the public high school! 150 kids had to trudge up the insanely steep 66 stairs to get to class on the third floor. The woman from Community of Christ church was so pleasant. They take great care of the temple and I was more than happy to give my two dollars to visit. The spirit is still so strong and the building is miraculous. I loved it.












We promise to take you all there if you come and visit!!!! please :)

We gave Melynda the full downtown tour today! Here we are at the downtown library. We couldn't pass up the photo-op. Check out the rugrat's double chin. I think it may reach triple status soon. This is in the children's play section. Here we have "THE MILLER HIS SON AND THE ASS". Kent is "the miller" and Zeb is "his son", so does that make me "the ass"?

We also went to Tony Packos, one of our favorite restaurants in Toledo. Kent always gets the food that makes me grossed out. The sausage link about did me in! Zeb loved it though.