Christmas Parties

We had a lot of activities/parties in December. Most of the time, I didn't photograph because I was too busy having a good time. However, here are some pictures I was able to take. Enjoy!

Mason and Hayley at our neighborhood Holiday Social.
Mason with his best friends, Ryan G., Patrick, and Ryan A. at the class holiday party.

Mason with his friends Jeremy, Jeremy's aide, and Ryan A. during a game at the class party.

Mason having fun at the class party.

Mason playing Holiday Jeopardy. Kiddo ROCKED it! I was so proud that he has some of my holiday spirit! ;-)

Mason and his teacher, Mrs. English. We adore her!!!

The Miller Christmas tree (because I forgot to post it before!)

The Three Little Pig Gingerbread Village that my friend, Lisa, made at the Annual Monaghan Clan Christmas Eve Party.

Mason and Cody at the Christmas Eve party.

Mason on Christmas Eve.

The Miller Family Christmas

I apologize for taking so long getting these up. With my Mom down here, I didn't want to spend a bunch of time on the computer. Then, once she left, we had some family time. Now, things are slowly going back to normal. Anyway -- enjoy!

This year's Christmas was a huge change for us. Mason is nine. Like most nine year olds, he found out the truth behind a huge holiday event. I think that was harder on me than him (and yes, I am being extremely vague because I don't want to say anything age-inappropriate for our younger readers!).

Mason on Christmas morning. We told him not to wake us up until after he had pressed preheat on the oven. Isn't having a nine year old wonderful?
All of our presents under the tree. Amazing how the older they get, the more the presents cost, yet the smaller they become!

G.I. Joe -- the great American hero!

Wrestling with one of my bows. The boys HATE my bows, therefor I put them on every present. Notice the thrown-aside underwear in the background from his stocking? He was NOT thrilled to open that!

Both of our boys digging into their presents on Christmas morning.

Mason loves the Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

He usually gets one book at Christmas. This year, he got three. The previously shown one, this American History encyclopedia (to find out all sorts of things about favorite topics of Paul Revere, the Revolutionary War, and Ronald Reagan), and Beedle the Bard.

Gibson tried very hard to carry both his new tug toy (by the way, the ONLY tug toy that he hasn't destroyed ::knocking on wood!::) and his new Nyla bone.

Mason and his new robot, I-sobot!!!

At least someone was excited about the new underwear!!!!!

Mason on the phone with Grandma, telling her about his loot and wishing her safe travels!

The reason for the pre-waking up preheating? Mark's french toast casserole! This picture does NOT do it justice. However, it does show how much we ate of it. This doesn't reheat well, so we took it down to the Monaghan clan after we had our share!
Christmas dinner, Miller style! Since we would be having our big meal when Mom was down (and since Mason and Mark made yummy shrimp and grits on Christmas Eve), we decided to be traditional and have Chinese for Christmas dinner! We had soup, a pu-pu platter, and tons of food! It was great! (And no cleaning up afterwards!!!)

Mason and Mark at the Chinese restaurant.

Me and Mason at dinner.

A very non-traditional Christmas, but we enjoyed it! We spent most of the day building Legos and playing with our new toys (and anticipating Grandma's arrival!).

Grandma's Holiday Visit

My Mom flew in to Austin late on Christmas night. Because of her late arrival, we didn't do much on Christmas Day (a new post will come about it!). We waited until Saturday for our big Christmas meal and presents. In October, I came up with an idea about what to get Mom. She's impossible to shop for because she has everything she "needs" and doesn't really "want" anything. Last year, she wanted an Austin sweatshirt. Anyway, I called my sisters up and got their input on my idea (and approval, since it was going to be a joint-present from all of us).

Mom and her new iPod Nano! She has a better iPod than I do now. I told her to bring down her CDs (all of the Celtic Women ones she loves!) because I wanted to burn them. OK -- so I lied. But, it was worth it, because I was able to download her CDs onto her new iPod. We also checked out iTunes and got her Brother Iz's Somewhere Over the Rainbow and National Treasure to watch on the flight home.

Do you think she looks excited?
Another present! These are her iPod speakers!

And her iPod workout kit for when she goes walking (the primary reason I thought of the iPod since she's been walking a LOT after school).

Mason and Grandma playing Rumikub, a Rohrer-family tradition!

Our post-Christmas table. Mason made me the little bowl in the front in art class. It was perfect for cashews!

Mason's turn opening presents.

Gibson was a bit jealous of Mason's new Ohio State lounge pants.

Mom learning to use her new iPod. I was SO proud of her because I assumed it would take awhile for her to "get" it. My Mother is very smart, but when you throw new technology her way, she needs to take down notes and write out each step. It wasn't the case with the iPod -- she got right on! (And jammed to Celtic Women for awhile!)

After a few days with us, we took Mom to Houston to spend some days at Jill's house. We visited with the Scaffidi's for a few hours while Mark worked in Houston.

Alec and Mason jamming on Guitar Hero.

Grandma and her Texas Grandkids (Ian, Mason, Mom, Maddie, and Alec).

Grandma and the boys (Maddie was away from the table).

After her visit to Houston, Mom flew back to Austin to spend one more day with us. Her visit over Christmas is always wonderful -- but too short! Hopefully, she won't make any more Christmas visits because she'll move here and can spend Christmas with Shelly! (Or better -- Shelly can come down and we can be a family again!!!)

Grandma and Mason.
Saying goodbye to Grandma with a send-off breakfast and hugs!

Attention!

I promise -- pictures from Christmas are coming soon!!!!

Merry Christmas from the Millers

The tree is decorated. The exterior lights are up. The Christmas cards are out. The presents are wrapped (and some shipped and delivered!). The cookies are currently being baked. It's Christmas time at the Miller home. My favorite time of year.

This Christmas is pretty low-key for us. We are going to the Monaghan's on Christmas Eve for their annual party. Christmas morning, we will open our presents (please, oh please let Mark's present get here by then!) and have french toast casserole. And then... nothing. We may go see Marley and Me and we are going to get Chinese for dinner (yes, how very Parker of us!). Then... we will go to the airport and pick up my Mom. Mark and I decided that our big feast will take place on Saturday, December 27 when my Mom is here. Bring on the green bean casserole

So, an unconventional Christmas... but I'm pretty excited to experience it.

Stay tuned in the next few days leading up to the holidays to check out pictures from December, including Mason's school party (My camera is charging and I can't upload the pictures right now).

Thanksgiving Recap

Hello blog readers! I can't believe that the weekend is almost over! Mason has had the entire week off of school, but it flew by too quickly. We have really enjoyed Gail's (Mark's mom) visit. She leaves on Monday. I hope to update later today with pictures from our Thanksgiving week.


I worked for 12 hours on Black Friday -- 3 four hour shifts with 2 two hour breaks in between starting at 4:00am. When I got home on Friday night, I was incoherent! I have never experienced Black Friday that early before (I have been to Target at 5:30pm, but never in time for store open/door busters) and it was completely crazy. When I got to the store, there were people camped out since midnight in lawn chairs and pup tents. I understand that a lot of people do this (my family included!), but I have always valued my sleep more!

We went to see Bolt tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse. When we first saw the previews, I thought, "Hey... I've seen this movie before!" Well, Bolt was REALLY cute. We all enjoyed Rhino, the hamster, the best. I think I'm going to go on Zazzle and get Mark a Rhino shirt for our next trip to Disney. In other movie news, the Alamo is showing both Gremlins and Christmas Vacation in December. We love going to the Alamo because you can eat an entire meal while you watch a movie. Mark and I are hoping on Friday to see Four Christmases while Mason is in school . This is the best date place for parents because you can get dinner and a movie at the same time, which equals less time to pay a babysitter! ;-)

Since I've been working this weekend, we haven't put up our Christmas decorations. Yet. We are later today. So, I best go to sleep and will update when our house is completely Christmasified. With pictures!! I will leave you with two pictures from Christmas 07.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! I will be updating soon with new pictures. For now, go over there ----------> and follow us!!