Friday Favorites

A mostly weekly photo post with few words, 

but a moment from the week to remember.

Have a good weekend!

 Panera people-watching.

Open house

We, at the Miller's household have become (cue suspenseful music) flexi-vegans.

(Can I get a) WHAT WHAT??!! Well folks, after watching King Corn and Forks over Knives, we've decided to make some intentional decisions about how we eat. We do still eat meat (gasp), just not nearly as often. And to be honest, we're feeling great, have more consistent energy, and are eating more than we usually do. We have been blessed with kids that have never fought us over eating their vegetables, in fact, if anything, the kids don't eat meat. We have always had a hard time getting them to eat their meat, so we decided to just roll with it.

The biggest change is that our kitchen now looks like this, especially right after Paul's been to the farmer's market:

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, when blueberries were still at the farmer's market. Not so much anymore. :(

We've cleaned up our hand-me-down cast iron skillet and use it often.

We were really enjoying this new way of eating, then we started seeing these (for real? All in one place like this - oh gross!):

So we got out these:

and caught one big mouse. IT WAS DISGUSTING!!

We've had traps out for two more nights and haven't caught any more. He must've been a busy little big guy if he was acting alone. There were ...droppings... everywhere, except on one surface right under the shelving with all our daily-used plates and bowls - thank you Lord!!

Needless to say, the kids and I ate out the night of our discovery. We went to Panera Bread and they were so distracted people-watching that it was the quietest dinner I had had in a long time. Maybe we'll eat out more often.

Our vegan diet has been wavering lately. We've got to come up with some better storage options. If one got in, we know others will too, and the weather is starting to get cold up here, so everything's starting to come in. We found this little guy in our dining room one morning:

He's actually really small, I majorly zoomed in. I found him the next day in the living room corner. I think I'll let him stay. He's "nice" right? I'll let him stay until he gives me a reason to end his life. Hopefully he'll have a yummy winter and eat up all the other bugs that want to come into our "open house." Do you think he could kill mice too?

Happy autumn!

Friday Favorites...where did this week go?!

A mostly weekly photo post with few words, 

but a moment from the week to remember.

Have a good weekend!

Brother, taken by sister

My shoe obsession

They had been ordered.

And their future owner (yours truly) was apprehensively awaiting their arrival.

It finally happened, about a week ago.

And this momma could not be happier, well maybe it's her feet that could not be more thankful.

Truth be told, I have a slight obsession with Keens. They are my absolute favorite sandal. I know, some people have a very different kind of shoe obsession, but I shop for one kind of shoe: comfortable, and these are comfort to the max for me. I usually wear them every day well into the winter with wool socks. So, when my other pair was wearing down, it was time to order a new pair. I had the other ones for at least 2 years. I spent about an hour online lusting picking out which ONE pair I absolutely could not live without - I have to limit myself or I'd go crazy. In the end, I ended up picking out a pair that's exactly like my old, well-loved ones that I was replacing, just a new color. Why re-invent the wheel, huh?

So when they arrived, I was just about as excited as a toddler on Christmas morning.

 Ah, they even have "foot inserts" in them to keep their shape en route. What a thoughtful company. :)

Yes, my feet have been a lot happier this past week. Which makes for one happy momma too.

Friday Favorites

A mostly weekly photo post with few words, but a moment from the week to remember.

Have a good weekend!

 First homemade cookie - oatmeal raisin.

She's getting crafty again

What in the world am I doing?? ;)

Here was my train of thought (sometimes a dangerous train, I know):
I need to show Jesus to my kids more often.
How?
I need to see it in front of my face, all the time, to be reminded of it constantly.
But I want to do it in a "fun, include Ilana" kind of way.
Jesus left us with the Spirit, why not do something with the fruits of the Spirit.
Yeah, that would be a good reminder to myself.
hm...

We're doing a "word of the day" study over here at the Miller's! Yesterday's word was LOVE. We talked most of the day about it. What it means, who we love, how we show love. It was super fun.
Then Ilana colored love - what she thought it looked like. Then I painted the word on the bottom, just so I wouldn't forget. And hung it in the kids bedroom:

I'm excited to continue my word study with Ilana...and be crafty again at the same time!
It's a win-win.

Two sides, two ways

Ilana is a pistol these days. One day is like this...

and the next...

In fact most days, these moments could be one after the next. Her mood swings are amazing. I'm hoping these are just "typical" 3-year old antics, but she requires all of my patience every day. And most days, by the time Paul comes home I am very ready for a break. Oohh. And sometimes I catch her just watching me, as if she's calculating when her next "need" meltdown will be based on when I am most distracted or consumed with something else. Multiple times a day I hear "All by myself! Mommy! Help me! No! All by myself!! Mo-oh-mmyyyyyy!!! HELP ME!!!" Oh. my. goodness.

Lord give me patience.

On a totally different note, I took the two bottom pictures right after the other and I couldn't decide which one I liked better, and I still can't (with or without flash). I absolutely love how Ilana eats raspberries - on her fingers, just like popsicles. Excellent!