Rhett and Rad chat

Watching his dad cook bacon:

Rhett: It's lookin' and hot and ready to rock!"

Letting a very enthusiastic Ben out in the morning:

Rhett: BEN! You have to stop running to go pee!
Rhett: Watch Rad!
Rad: Pees in the grass.

Assuming the role of master, commander and trainer of his little brother:

Rad: Beck. Sit!
Rad: Beck. Stay!
Rad: Beck. Leave it!
Rad: Who's a good boy!

Putting toys back in the playroom:

Julia: Hey buddy. What are you playing?
Rhett: Wellll mom. I don't think you'd understand.
Julia:
Rhett: Because you're from an old generation.

Discovering the deceit of Saturday morning breakfasts:

Rhett: (takes a bite of his muffin) MOM.
Julia:
Rhett: This is NOT a cupcake.
Julia: mmmm...
Rhett: This is a MUFFIN.
Julia:
Rhett: You've LIED to me. A LOT.
Rhett: SHAME ON YOU MOM!

Recounting the weekend at bedtime:

Rhett: Mom, was it shots or arrows we went to last night?
Julia: ?....Oh! You mean Target?
Rhett: Yes! Target!

On a Thursday: 

Rhett: Why doesn’t Beck talk yet?
Julia: He’s just a baby.
Rhett: Is he just lazy?

Watching me get ready in the morning:

Rhett: Why do you have so many nipples on your face?
Julia: Eh?
Rhett: Those big red nipples.
Julia: You mean pimples?
Rhett: That's what I said!

Getting onto the couch and grabbing a blanket:

Julia: Ew. Why is this wet?
Rad: Oh. Dat's is where I'm putting my spit!
Julia: That's it. I quit.

Encouragement from my potty trainee in a public restroom:

Rad: You’re doing it Momma! Dat's great Momma!
Rad: You peed in the potty! HIGH FIVEs Momma!!!

4:32PM in the backyard:

Julia: New rule! We don't put our naked butts in people's FACES!
Rhett: Old rule...we don't say butts!
Rad: Timeout mom!

in which we sing happy birthday to the Easter Bunny

I had grand ambitions to really pump up the spiritual side of Easter with the boys this year and for once I feel like I actually did a better than mediocre job at accomplishing that. For once! These videos (1, 2, 3, 4) were a great resource in helping boost my spiritual instruction and Jake is always the best at reading scriptures with the boys.  

So on Easter morning when Rad kept belting out"happy birthday dear Easter Bunny!" and Rhett corrected him to sing "happy birthday to Jesus!!" I considered it a notable achievement. 

And because they both thought it was someone's birthday they assumed they should be the beneficiaries of some gifting. Hashtag - kid logic.

Some hastily written clues hidden in eggs led the boys to their loot. Rhett can read pretty well now so he assumed the role as super sleuth and because this was high stakes sleuthing he enrolled Rad as his side kick and insisted Ben smell every clue in order to get a leg up on finding the Easter goodies.  

As you can deduct I didn't even think to purchase Easter baskets, toys, candy, eggs, or anything at all for Beck for Easter morning because he is way too young to know and care and um...I'm a mean parent. But we did graciously let him chew on every plastic Easter egg he could get his hands on. So he was pacified.

Our church meetings don't start till noon and even though we have ample time every Sunday morning we are still always racing to make it to the sacrament in time (Our stats are about 50/50 right now....errrr.) So in honor of the sacredness of Easter Sunday we were determined not to be late. However. Despite doing two things we never ever ever do: 1. setting out the kids' clothing the night before 2. setting an alarm and YET we were still tardier than usual. Way to be, Millers. But we still got to take the sacrament, so yet another notable achievement for Easter Sunday.

After church we took some super successful family photos (thanks Andrea!) in front of the church doors because ambiance...

And then finally a super sweet framer of the the family.

With all the religious observance and picture taking, the boys were very concerned that the Easter Bunny had forgotten all about us as his mean parents made everyone wait to hunt sugar until after church.

This was the first year that we didn't have to explain the complicated rules of pick up the egg and put it in your basket and yes, you can have more than one egg in your basket at a time and yes, there is candy in every single egg. The only rule that need reiterating was that no one could monopolize all the goodies even if you were the oldest/fastest/loudest/only girl.

But they eventually all reigned victorious and were VERY proud of their findings.

All in all...a very successful day, I'd say.

I hope YOU all had a very Happy Easter and that you were able to spend the day with loved or liked ones. Happy Easter (Tuesday)!

worlds of fun

Spring Break 2016 is well under way, all two and a half full weeks of it. Even though Rhett is only gone from 11-4 every day and that Rad only goes to play school two mornings a week, it makes a world of difference having them home. Most days it makes the cozy and fun kind of difference, but two and a half weeks off means eventually we are alllll craving our usual structure like the wild and free spirits that we Millers tend to be.

Even after hitting up San Diego, parks and playgrounds on the daily, plus play dates by the truck load I realized that we were about to take another trip 

Destination: Crazytown,

Population: Julia and ducklings Miller

Thankfully our awesome town came to the rescue with (free!) entertainment aplenty which provided a pretty darn fantastic family outing. 

Believe it or not I only lost Rad once in the masses. He felt compelled to follow the Easter Bunny character away from his mother's apron strings. A kind grandmotherly figure found him and I heard over the loud speaker. "Will the mother of BRAD MILLER please come to the DJ booth? The mother of BRAD MILLER?"

Never leave me again Brad.

Below: Lots of pictures each worth a 1000 words. But no additional words added. Yay brevity!

Happy Monday!

Haaaaaave a good one.

Extra a's for fun. ;)

beck the birthday boy

He did it. He kept himself alive for an entire year. ;)

Beck hit the 12 month milestone one Monday and oh I know it's cliché to say that it's cliché to say, "I can't believe it" but...I can't. Rhett and Rad's first years didn't seem to go sprinting by like Beckett's did. Maybe it's because we really sincerely had zero idea what to do with extra colicky Rhett when we brought him home from the hospital and even though Rad was a super chill bean, the adjustment from one to two kids was rough and rocky for me SO Beck wins best first year award. Applause, applause, applause in his direction.

Let me see, let me see...what can I tell you about Beckett Alan that you don't already know? Lots, I'm sure.

- Beck is gunning extra hard to earn the "happiest baby" in the Miller history book and we're hoping his competitive streak runs out of steam approximately never.

- He's the most open-minded child about food (though you'd never guess...those sad, deflated cheeks) and will eat virtually anything. After eating an ungodly amount of food at each and every meal, he has zero patience for getting cleaned up and out of his chair. Shrill upon shrill upon shrill protests if a wipe gets near his face. 

-  He's the most narrow-minded child when it comes to sleeping through the night but...we won't get into that.

- I really love how he lights up like a megawatt every time Rhett comes home from school/the other room. He knows the fun people when he sees them.

- He adores Rad too, but while he adores, Rad ignores. Typically. I don't really blame Rad for not fully accepting his little brother after 365 days. Beck has been unintentionally ruining Rad's life since a scarily young age.

- Case in point: now that's he's mobile and has stumbled on what to do to get a rise out of Rad... which is to find one of his 89 miscellaneous beloved treasures of the moment (random junk found on walks, at the park, in mom's purse) and start chewing on them one by one.

- Unlike his other brothers who love anything and everyone, Beck prefers a more distant, stone cold glares at any and all strangers encountered in the grocery store. It's not personal...ok it might be personal. 

We love you Beck.

And we know you love us too.

And reeeeal fast a little glimpse at his birthday bash.

^^^ I'm really starting to get this, "elaborate first birthday" gig DOWN.

Except that all this elaborate party decor and the elaborate party that followed was all coordinated by Rhett.

Because on the eve of Beckett's birthday I had literally nothing planned for him. Which officially might make me the worst. Ever. But I'll assuage my guilt by telling myself that this is the case with all third borns.

Selfless Rhett and his assistant party planner Rad, decided Beck would enjoy going to Chick-fil-a and letting his brother's open all his gifts.

Although his eyebrows would indicate otherwise.

Rad was very gracious to offer Beck a straw as a birthday gift. At first Beck was grateful and amused and the realized he'd been scammed.

All the party animals say "Cheese!" Or don't.

So please join us, Rhett and Rad in sing-yelling...."HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you...."

Happy birthday to you dear Beck, happy first birthday to YOU. :)