Christmas at the LA Temple

Last Monday night we drove down to the LA Temple to check out the lights. While not as spectacular as the ones on Temple Square, they were still beautiful and we had a great time walking the pretty grounds.

Once again, we slipped Benji into the Maggie Simpson snowsuit. 

That kid is too cute.

Peter was in heaven running around checking out all the different lights and chasing Daddy across the front lawn.

Benji trying to eat the fake icicles. Yum!

 Our eternal family.

Christmas in Utah, Christmas in California

Merry Christmas!!

We have spent a wonderful December full of comings and goings and lots of visiting. Here's a few highlights from the Millet household.

Peter and I made many, many sugar cookies one afternoon. 

I'm not sure why he's holding an apple here too -- maybe to show that yes, we did eat something healthy this month too.

Benji has been feeling good enough that we took him outside a few times on walks. 

Of course, we had to put him in the Maggie Simpson snowsuit. He continually cracks us up.

Peter probably visited Santa about 8 times this month. So don't be surprised that we didn't buy the over-priced pics of him sitting on Santa's lap at the mall.

The week before Christmas we spent in Utah with my family and had a great time. We went to the Dinosaur museum with all the cousins.

Peter's cousin, Carter (age 8), is the catalyst behind Peter's newly found Lego obsession. What follows is the result of Travis playing Lego's for a solid week and Carter pretending that his Lego's came to life. 

And then we went to my brother David's skating party. 

Peter LOVED this. He's been asking to go roller skating lately (I don't know how he knows what this is, but he did!) and so we jumped at the chance to hang out with David and my Mom while my Dad kept Benji.

At first we got him skates but after he struggled for a while with those, we traded them in for this three-wheeled scooter. At one point Peter said to me: "Momma, let's talk. Those roller skates were pretty good. But this scooter is much better." 

We then had the Lee family Christmas party and opened presents. It was crazyness with seven little excited kids running around but lots of fun too. 

Benji also started crawling in his very own little inch-worm shimmy thing this week. He's not really going very far but he sure is excited to get there. You just can't keep that kid down.

By the time we got home the night before Christmas Eve, we were beat.

But not too tired for Christmas morning!

Peter was so excited! This year he got his first Lego set and a 'red shiny fire engine.' Both of which he has been asking for for months. 

And yes, that lovely purple machine is a Dyson vacuum for yours truly. Our new house is 90% tile and wood floors and I la-la-LOVE this new guy!

Benji was most excited about all the boxes and paper being thrown around.

Travis and I both had the kids help us make gifts for each other this year and while Peter helped make me a pretty jewelry box, he put together this 'print' from Benji. 

And what are those three prints you ask? Well, just read the accompanying poem and find out...

"I'm just a baby now, but just wait and see

Before you know it, I'll shoot up like a weed.

I'm giving this gift so you'll have to remember

What a small boy I was this December.

One hand and one footprint I'm leaving for you

So that you can keep track of just how I grew.

And the one in the middle that looks like an inkblot

Is one that I made in a petite baby squat.

It was just because I thought it was funny.

That I left you an imprint of my wee baby bummy.

I just want you to know Mom, I love you immensely

Signed with love, your little boy Benji."

I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or cry on this one.

I think I did both.

And lastly, the boys in their Christmas morning church finery (and one of Benji as a Christmas ninja).

Merry Christmas!

The one about the Christmas Tree

This past week our dear friend Amber came out to visit us and we had a ball. She is soo very good to put up with our crazy. Needless to say, we loved having her here. On Saturday, she was able to witness the 8th Annual Millet Christmas Tree Selection. I tell you, it's a process. Travis is slightly particular about which tree we end up with. All I can say is -- Amber was a trooper. But once again my man came through and picked out a beauty. Although I did forget to take pictures while we were decorating, we did get to take a  few family shots afterwards. 

(Amber'll probably kill me for posting this one, but I love her face here!)

Behold, the Noble Fir

Oh how excited Peter is for Christmas. He's the first to run and play Christmas music every day and wants to know when Christmas Eve is all day long. We finally made a count-down chain to help him since he'd wake up every day and tell us: "Today is Christmas Momma!" and wound up very sad when we corrected him.

Benji adores his older brother. Seriously Peter could do anything and Benji would sit there and laugh hysterically at him. 

And no, Benji isn't standing yet but he sitting on his own and is *this close* to crawling.

Even heart surgery couldn't keep that kid down.

 Coming soon to a Christmas card near you...

J is for...

Preschool was once again at our house. It feels like forever since I've taught (which it has been since my nice friends have covered for me with all of Benji's surgery stuff).

Day one was great, it was just Bryce and Peter and we learned about Jellyfish, made Jewelry (necklaces and bracelets out of cereal - which was all eaten within a few minutes), and sorted Jellybeans.

Day two I had all four boys again and we had a great time. Crazy, but great. We read The Polar Express, made our our Jingle Bells, painted a Jingle bells with watercolor (which Peter LOVED -- that kid was so precise with his painting, Trav asked me that night if I had helped him), and played Jumping Jelly beans. Good times.

I just love being able to celebrate Christmas all month long...

Canned Biscuit Doughnuts

So I'm just gonna post this real quick cause I HAVE to share this awesome discovery. 

I love doughnuts. Love, love, love.

Problem is, I only ever want them at like 10 o'clock at night when all the fresh made ones have gone stale and by that point I really don't want to wait another 3 hours for home-made dough to rise. 

But I recently discovered a trick for making homemade doughnuts that I just know is going to change my life (and probably make it even harder for me to lose that baby weight). Using this recipe, we cut out doughnuts from regular old canned buttermilk biscuits, fried them in 350 degree oil and then finally covered them in cinnamon sugar and boy howdy were they ever delicious. Light, fluffy, and the best yet - nice and piping hot in just a matter of minutes.

In fact, this is all that is left of the ones we made this morning:

I think we just discovered a new Millet family tradition.

A whole lotta catch-up

So I'm gonna play a little catch-up here seeing as though things have been a little busy lately. Benji is happily home and physically doing great. The surgery was a success and it's like he has a whole new heart. Hopefully this will mean he'll start gaining some weight soon :) Sadly, Benji has struggled a bit with sleeping post-surgery. He's always been a bit of a mama's boy but that has increased by about 100%. After getting home he refused to sleep in his own bed and all he wanted was to be held, mostly only by me. The poor kid simply cried & cried those first few days. After losing most of my sanity after several very sleepless nights, we went back to the doctor and was told that he was in perfect health -- just suffering from severe separation anxiety and a form of PTSD. And that there ins't much we could do about it for the next few weeks besides baby him & give him lots of love. So back into the trenches we went with my saintly mom here to offer breaks as Benji would let us. The last few days have been getting much better, however, he still won't sleep in his bed for more than a hour at a time but he will take a couple naps in his carseat throughout the day and will go at least a few hours at a time each night. 

Did I mention he also cut his first tooth the day we came home from the hospital? 

Yup. Joy. 

So, we aren't moving too fast but things are slowly starting to look up.

****

To give a better idea of what life has been like at the Millet house the past couple weeks, let me illustrate this morning's conversation with Peter:

So I'm sleeping on the couch with Benji because he was doing his I'm-going-to-wake-up-every-hour-throughout-the-night routine and when that happens I usually wind up on the couch around 4am cause it's just easier to co-sleep with him. Anyways, I'm trying to enjoy a few more minutes of blissful sleep when all the sudden I hear the very, very soft ringing of a bell. When I look down, Peter is sitting on the floor next to the couch with a bell and when he sees me looking at him says, "Hi Mommy. I'm ringing the bell because it's time to get up. Can you wake up now?" No Peter. I don't want to get up now, but I will.

****

First up on the recap is Halloween. 

Pre-surgery we went to Lombardi Ranch with my mom and a couple of friends and had a great time.

 We rode the train

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater.

 Peter drove the old fashioned Paddy Wagon

And, of course, picked out pumpkins.

Then for the big day itself, Peter went as The Boy Who Lived. He was so dang cute.

Trav took him to our new ward trunk-or-treat and they had a great time.

Benji & I stayed home with my mom but we did manage to get a photo of him in his Frankenstein shirt.

Looking pretty good a mere 5 days after surgery, no?

Then my sister and her cute daughter Paige came out and helped me figure out how to get Benji to sleep. 

Benji loves his Aunt Tracie.

And his cousin Paige.

But most of all he loves his big brother.

And then Benji turned 6 months old last Sunday.

So cute, so happy (usually) and a mighty 11lbs 5oz & 26" long with 1.5 teeth and one wicked pirate scar down his chest. 

We love ya kid.

Now just let us get some sleep.

Home

You have no idea how happy were are to finally have our little man back home.

He flew through his hospital stay and we were able to bring him home yesterday.

Many thanks to everyone for all your prayers, meals, well-wishes, and help with Peter.

Our House!!

Finally, finally, finally -- we FINALLY bought a house! Yay! And although it happened to come at a particularly crazy time (two weeks before Benji's surgery! Yikes!) we are so very glad to finally be moved in and enjoying our new digs. Especially since it has everything we were looking for in a house for the past two years -- 4 bedrooms, 1 acre of land, an extra detached 2 car garage (which Trav has dubbed his Laboratory), and a wonderfully large kitchen for me.

This is a very poor picture of the front of the house at sunset, but it gives you the general idea.

Part of the huge back yard - Trav already has all sorts of wild plans for this space.

My kitchen

*sigh* 

It's my new happy place.

And our family out front last Sunday before church.

And is that a cat I see? Yep. Along with our purty new house, we happened to inherit a cat. Now, most of you know Trav's policy on pets (you have to be able to eat them once you get tired of them - hence the chickens) and my aversion to cats in general but this little lady stole our hearts. Mostly Peter's heart actually. 

It hung around for about a week before we finally all felt sorry for her and started to feed her. Then Peter named her 'Foxy.' We still don't let her come inside (try as she might) but we sorta like having such a sweet, pretty little kitty following us around all the time.

Since we've moved to the desert, our house came with another little added something. Last week Travis and I killed our first rattlesnake. 

Well, Travis chopped off it's head with a shovel while I held it down with a 8 foot pole in between bouts of terror. Frankly I'm still traumatized. I really, really don't like snakes. 

I think Travis however felt pretty dang manly.

He even saved the snake body to have a 'rattlesnake avoidance class' with Peter.

There you have it - give us a few more weeks to get settled in and I'll share more pictures of all the painting, re-carpeting and random projects we're working on.