James' Christmas List

tractors
backhoe
excavator
basically any toy machinery that typical boys like to play with
bike helmet (he has a bike)
clothes 2T and up

Oooooo so scary!

Here is Johanna in her costume. I will take more when we go trick or treating at the nursing home with my great grandma!

Johanna's Christmas List

Johanna wanted me to ask if her name could be added to the list of Christmas Lists at the bottom of the page. Thanks!!

Jammies size 12-18 months. We still need some more warm ones for winter. We currently have two spring type jammie sets, and two winter jammies. I prefer one piece fleece ones for winter, or anything that looks warm! For warmer weather, I like two piece sets cuz they make for easy diaper checks!!
bath toys
blocks
any great learning and development toys for one year olds

Rachel's Christmas List

Here goes-
Gilmore Girls (I need and want all the seasons except 4 & 5)
Gift certificates for clothes and accessories for student teaching (gap, target preferred)
Books- Math Doesn't Suck by Danica McKeller
gift certificate to education innovations (online)
Writing tablet that can hook up to apples, IBMs, and maybe even a Smartboard
Fun Math and Science things for teaching (i.e. Magic Sand- look it up if curious!)
I also have a huge list of books that I eventually want for my classroom I will type them up and post them at some point, soon.

Claire's Christmas List

Hannah Montana guitar - they have them at Toys R Us for about $30
guitar lesson book to go with guitar
"Hannah Montana" stuff for bedroom: posters, sheets/comforter set, or any other decor
clothes - size 8 - preferably "Hannah Montana"
SpiderMan 3 on DVD

ultrasound pics

Ihad to get another ultrasound on Friday and here are the pictures. One is a face shot - you can see one eye (the other is towards the bottom above the "MOM" and kinda blacked out) her nose and mouth. The other picture is a profile of her head.

Margaret's Wish List

Bible - preferably Life Application or similar - needs a good concordance
A handy-man to come help us with a few remodeling projects
A rocking chair for Evelyn's room
DVDs: Chicago, Ella Enchanted, The Holiday
A couple Mary Kay products - Beth is having a party on Dec. 5th so if you want to know what I want, please email her and order from her party so she gets credit

Claire's first game

Claire had her first game today. She looked good, but the team lost 4 to 1. Claire had our team's lone goal! Hopefully she'll keep up the good work.

The newest addition (for a few more months!)

Here are some pretty recent pictures of Johanna for comparison! They are within the last month or so. We have taken some very recent ones, but don't have them on the computer yet. I can't get over how much James looks like that picture of Margaret! ~Rachel

A surprising photo

This photo amazed me when I pulled it out of the storage container. If you look past the blue marker scribbles, I think you will see an amazing resemblance to James. I guess he is not "100% Bowman" after all. This is James's Mommy at 14 months of age.

Carrie and Brian

Carrie is three; Brian is one. They are wearing the corduroy outifts I made them for Christmas. Brian finally has some teeth.

Another adorable Miller baby

I think this is the only one who doesn't look like Johanna. This, of course, is Aunt Tessie at six months.

Aunt Carrie

Isn't she a little cutie? And another strong resemblance to Johanna.

Johanna's twin?

I was very surprised when I pulled this photo out. This picture is dated April, 1983---but if it wasn't for the darker eyes, I would swear it was taken in August of 2007.

Johanna's Daddy

No, Johanna, you are not looking in a mirror. This is your Daddy when he was just your age.

Good news and hopefully good news

Our good news is - Wes got a job!!! It is a temp job with a company called Excell (sp?), but it's doing stuff he likes, and it's long-term temp. Located at Polaris - conveniently close to both the gym, and looming-closer-LCT rehearsals. Wes is happy and I am ecstatic.

Over the weekend, Ernie was horribly sick with his 4th urinary tract obstruction of the year. This is a problem that costs us $600-$800 every time we take him in to the vet, and this weekend was the worst he had ever been. We thought were going to have to put him to sleep Sunday morning, but he ended up passing the obstruction himself.

The hopefully good news is (restrain yourself, Dad), that there may be a procedure the vet can do that will help out. He (Ernie, not the vet) is scheduled for X Rays in a couple of weeks to see what can be done.

Hi

Nobody's said anything in nearly a month.

HI.

Clare's softball

I emailed everyone with Claire's softball schedule. I know June is busy and with the games on Tuesday and Thursday it might make it hard to get to, but Claire loves having people come watch her play. Especially cause she can show off how she does her arm farts when she is on the bench.

Lizzie has earned her keep

Most of you know that Lizzie is currently staying with us. Yesterday she sniffed out a nest of rabbit kits and killed all 5 of them in about 10 minutes flat. (The kits were about 3 weeks old, I would guess, so not too speedy yet, but still....)

I was a leeeetle bit sad, because they were just reaching the cute bunny stage, but 5 cute bunnies right now translates into 25 more bunnies in just a few months, and no green beans in our garden at all this summer, so I got over my empathy pretty quickly!

Now I'm just wondering where the doe was, and if Lizzie can tackle something that big.

Good girl, Lizzie!!!

It's time!

Wes and I are excited to start our foster care/adoption classes on April 30th. They will run every Monday and Wednesday night through the end of May. Then, there's a sixth-month process during which we complete a home study (that's where the state comes to check that we are not dangerous criminals), then a few months longer for our children to actually be placed with us!

We are not certain at this point if we want to foster or foster-to-adopt, but at this time are leaning toward the latter. Once we become licensed foster parents, we have to take a continuing education course every year to remain licensed.

So, our paper pregnancy begins.