Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Where to Start

I have SO many pictures I don't even know where to begin to start putting them up! First of all let me say, we had a wonderful Christmas! Although I was missing my family and friends in Montana, it was so nice to be with the family we have here in Missouri. Also, it was REALLY fun to have Molly at Christmas. I don't know what we ever did without her!! I think she had a wonderful time opening presents, playing with the wrapping paper and getting to see so much family. Not to mention...she got totally spoiled!! She was so lucky to get so many new clothes, books and toys!!

Luke, Molly, Kelly & I had our Christmas Wednesday night, as we were headed for Carrollton for the rest of the week. Here are some pictures of Molly & Kelly opening their presents:


I love Molly's expressions in these two pictures as she shows off her new cow from Matt & new drum from Grandma Leila:

Friday, December 24, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas All Month Long

We have had such a great December. I feel like we have been celebrating Christmas all month long and it also felt like Christmas when we were in Montana. The shopping is finished up and everything is in the mail. I've already made one round of Christmas cookies & other treats and now I'm gearing up for the second round.

We had a Christmas get together with our friends at our house two weeks ago, since that was the only weekend we would have free between then and Christmas. We usually have a New Year's party at our house, but this year we are planning on being at Luke's parent's house for New Year's Eve, so we had to move it up. As a group of friends, we have been through a lot this year, including the arrival of two new members: Hallie & Molly.

Here's a picture of the guys with their baby girls:

It's kind of funny that out of the four kids, there isn't a single boy! I'm sure the girls are just going to have more and more fun together the older they get!

Last week while we were Christmas shopping, we had to make a very important stop at Santa's workshop. Molly had a list of Christmas wishes and wanted to make sure she got a chance to pass them on to Santa. She liked the big guy and I think they have a deal worked out :)

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with the extended Miller family and had such a good time. I really wish I hadn't forgotten my camera!! There are getting to be so many new kids within the Miller family and it was fun to have all of them (except Emma, but we will see her in a couple days) together. It was chaos, if you can imagine, but a lot of fun.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their December and has a wonderful Christmas. We have been so blessed in 2010 and are looking forward to what 2011 has in store for us!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

We finally got our house all decorated for Christmas Tuesday night:

And with the lights off:



Among the Christmas decorations we found Kelly's reindeer antlers--she was thrilled--can't you tell??

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

So Many Firsts

First Snow: It snowed every day that we were in Montana, so she saw plenty of snow!


First Applesauce: YUCK! Molly did not like her applesauce--as you can see by her expression. However, she has started to like it much better since then.


First Wedding: My cousin Kacie married her long-time boyfriend Jess the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The wedding was SO gorgeous and Molly was a good girl and had lots of attention.


First Thanksgiving: We caught Great-Grandma Sue sneaking Molly all kinds of little "snacks" while the rest of us weren't paying attention.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Pictures From Montana

I have a TON of pictures from our trip (Molly's first trip) to Montana. Here are some of my favorites:


Molly on her first plane ride. She did really well on 3 out of 4 of the flights. The last flight coming home was at night and she was tired and was not happy--but finally after screaming some, she did fall asleep. Minor details, right? The lady in front of us was pregnant and was maybe a little worried about what she was in for in the future--ha!


Molly got to meet her Grandpa Monty and all of her Montanan Great-Grandparents for the first time, along with lots of other family members. The picture above is of Great Grandma Be & Great Grandpa Max meeting Molly for the first time. Below is a picture of Great Grandma Sue checking out Molly:


Molly also had a great time with her Uncle Matt. He saw that she was working on her "skydiver pose" and thought he could probably help her out. Here they are "practicing".


I have more pictures I will post later of Thanksgiving and of my cousin Kacie's wedding.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Sitting Up

Molly is getting pretty good at sitting up on her own these days. She's a little wobbly and still topples over quite a bit, but she really thinks she's a big girl when she is sitting up by herself:


She also finally discovered her feet! She was laying on the changing table with her feet in the air and had kind of an "ah-ha" moment when she noticed them for the first time. Now she sees them and is pretty enthralled!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Family Tradition

The Miller family has a tradition of making their own pork sausages with a stuffer that has been passed down for generations. The time had come for the pigs we raised this summer to get butchered. Therefore, it was also time to make sausages. So, this is what they did 2 weekends ago. They have a special blend of spices that they have mixed in with the sausage while it is ground and then they run the bulk sausage through the stuffer. After this, the sausages are smoked. Luke & his dad with the stuffer:

Here are the hams, all seasoned up, waiting to get smoked:


And that, that's bacon:
Yum! We just tried the first of the bacon last weekend and it was delicious!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Just Saying Hello:


Only 13 more days until Molly's big first trip to Montana!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Walkin'

I still find it hard to believe that it's the first week in November and Molly and I are still able to go on our afternoon walks without freezing. Yesterday it was cool and windy, but for the most part I haven't had to wear more than a sweatshirt. I tend to bundle Molly a little too much, I think, but I don't want her to get cold.


Kelly likes to lead the way. I'm so thankful that we live somewhere that we can just leave from our house and not have to worry about traffic or leashes or anything really. Can you see the gigantic dinosaur bone in Kelly's mouth? She almost always starts off the walk with this in her mouth, drops it, and then picks it up on the way back. Seriously, I have no idea where she got this bone but she is very proud of it.


I ordered Molly this adorable hat from Etsy:


It's a little too big, but it's just the start of winter & I didn't want her to grow out of it before spring. She loves it (actually I have no idea, but it will keep her warm anyhow, and I love it)! Let's hope this long fall continues and Molly, Kelly & I can keep on taking our afternoon strolls!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Cow Sale

A couple weekends ago we took a trip down to Bland, Missouri to go to one of Luke's customer's Bull & Cow Sale. Luke had done the nutrition work for all the yearling bulls that the Gerloff's were selling and he was curious to see how they would do. We are also culling out some of our late calving cows this year so we thought it might be a good opportunity to purchase some replacements. Molly was a good baby and did really well in the stroller for the most part. She enjoyed all the "sounds" of the auction and walking around looking at cattle.

Well, it turns out we did buy a heifer & a cow to add to our herd. This meant that we had to wait in this line to load out:Needless to say, we got a little bored waiting in line and Luke decided to teach Molly how to drive:

Don't worry, we were not moving at this time:

The bulls sold pretty well and they were really happy with the way they looked, so I think they were pleased with Luke's work. Our new replacements have settled in and are enjoying their new home.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Food!

Molly's 5 month birthday was on Halloween: she's now 17 lbs and 25 inches long! Everyone keeps teasing us about having a fat baby, but I think she's just too cute. I looked in Luke's baby book and when he was 5 months old he actually weighed 18 lbs--so ha!

The pediatrician gave us the okay to start Molly on cereal once she turned 5 months old, so yesterday we gave her some rice cereal mixed with milk. I wasn't expecting her to really like it, but she LOVED it and ate a whole serving.




She even licked the side of the high chair tray where some had dripped:

We really had a good time feeding her as it is always fun to see her learn and try new things. After 2 weeks on the rice cereal, we can start her on other foods--then the adventure will really begin.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween

Our little punkin' wants to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!!




Molly turns 5 months old today!!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Pearl Snaps

Molly looked so cute yesterday in her pearl snap shirt. With Luke for a dad and me for a mom, I'm pretty sure she was destined to wear pearl snaps!

Little cowgirl Molly and her faithful cowdog, Kelly:

Taking a break to do a little reading:

She loves this Winnie the Pooh book because the pages make this crinkly noise when she touches them. She is all about toys these days and it's so much fun to see her figure them out.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Luke's Birthday

October 21st was Luke's 29th birthday! It was the first time Molly got to celebrate a birthday also. Luke worked in the morning and then we got to spend the afternoon together at home.

Opening presents first thing in the morning:
We worked on the fence a little--it was gorgeous weather, and then weaned our calves. They were pretty upset this morning:

Missing their moms:
Luke finished up the day with a little bow hunting and then dinner & birthday cake with Molly & I. It wasn't too much of a "party" but we had a nice, laid back day together.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Different Kind of Apple

So, I've noticed the focus of this blog has shifted from "what's different about Missouri compared to Montana" to all about baby Molly! I think it's great (and it reflects how the focus of our lives has changed), but here is something educational about Missouri to get me back on track.

In Montana we don't have hedge apples & in Missouri we do. Hedge apples are round, green fruit that fall from hedge trees this time of year. They're about the size of a softball or maybe slightly bigger and aren't edible for people. Horses and cows do eat them occasionally, but they can be a choking hazard. The wonderful thing about them is they are rumored to scare away spiders. If there is any chance of this being true and working, I'm all about it. I HATE SPIDERS!

While I was driving to town the other day I noticed a large pile of hedge apples all over the gravel road. Since I wasn't in too much of a hurry, I stopped and threw a bunch of them in the back of the pickup. Once I got home I spread them all along the sides of the house--by the window wells, next to the doorways, etc., in hopes of warding off spiders. Here's my loot:

I also decided to try something new this year, and gave a few hedge apples a different purpose:

I turned them into festive fall votives by carving out a place in the top to hold a pumpkin scented candle. With several of them together, I came up with a table centerpiece:


Spending more time at home has allowed me to get crafty and I'm lovin' it!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Thrifty Finds

This past weekend Luke convinced me to give the Rutledge Flea Market a second chance. The first time I went there I was totally not impressed and slightly frightened. It was a dreary day in the fall, cold and windy and there we hardly any people there at all. Pretty much everyone that was there looked like some sort of criminal hillbilly and was carrying around some huge gun. So, you can see why I wasn't feeling the need to "check it out" again with my little baby.

However, according to Luke, they've really cracked down on the illegal gun sales and I must admit, it was a whole different experience this time around. First of all, it was a beautiful fall day and there were tons of people there--rather normal, average people. A lot of the stuff for sale is mainly junk, but I did find a couple bargains that I was pretty proud of--all of which were for Molly.

First of all, I found a Bumbo seat for only $5! These sell for $30-40 new and I just washed this one up and it's in perfect shape. Molly really likes "sitting like a big girl" and it holds her in really well.

We also found some cowgirl shirts that were just too cute to pass up for $0.25 a piece:When you're a baby, can you ever really have enough overalls? We found some bib shorts that Molly can probably wear next summer, for once again, $0.25 each:
We also got Molly a Halloween costume for $2, but you'll have to wait until Halloween to see that one!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Spoiled

Grandpa & Grandma Miller spent the past weekend with us and enjoyed hanging out with Molly. Molly gets really spoiled when they are around because she gets SO much attention! She loves it! I thought this picture of Debbie and Molly was really cute:

They even watched Molly for us one evening so Luke & I could go on a date by ourselves. It was really nice to have a meal where we didn't have to rush through it because of Molly needing attention or getting upset. They did a great job with her and we really enjoyed the nice night out.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Love Notes

Back in September, we were able to meet up with our friends Greg & Lesley who had a baby boy about 6 weeks after Molly was born. They live in Oklahoma so we don't get to see them often & we were really excited to meet baby Tyler. We met them for lunch and it was pretty cute to see the two little babies lined up next to each other in their carriers. Tyler even brought Molly a little gift for their "first date". I'm sure we will be teasing them about this when they are teenagers--haha!

This is the Mizzou Tiger onesie that Tyler gave Molly:


Thanks Tyler! We can't wait to see you again. Next time we will be big enough to play.