Behind on the Blog

Busy times in the Miller household.  I have not been able to keep up with all of the activity.  Last week was exciting.  First of all, it was a three day week for Derek and I which is ALWAYS exciting---less work and more play!!!!  Ashton started soccer practice with his 5 year-olds group last Thursday, with practices once a week for an hour, and will have his first game this coming weekend!  Zachary continues to have soccer practice twice a week for an hour and a half and will start games the weekend of September 21st.  Pictures to come soon!

Grandma Dixie and Grandpa Cliff came to visit us for a long weekend!  They got to enjoy soccer practices with us as well as tons of good food.  They were guinea pigs along with Derek and I on Friday, eating lunch with us at the new Indian Coffee Company restaurant in town.  Lunch was yummy.  (We can't wait to go back and try their breakfasts too!)  After lunch we walked around downtown Bartlesville and went to the Phillips Company Museum.

Dixie and Cliff were nice enough to drive their truck to Bartlesville from Indiana to bring us a corner cabinet that now resides in our dining room.  I now have a place to display all the fancy teacups that I have inherited from both of my Grandmothers!!!!  Yay!

We also used their truck to take our old, non-working 65 inch projection screen TV to the dump.  Derek says there is something very cleansing about tossing a giant TV off the back of a truck!  Anyway- we had a fantastic visit!  Unfortunately, I did not take many pics :(

Dixie and Cliff left Monday morning.  Monday evening, our friends Sergei and Lori and their three-month-old son stopped to stay with us overnight on their way back to Houston from the midwest.  It was wonderful to see them and meet their son, Constantin.  (He is in that stage where he is learning to smile and is completely adorable!!!!).  Snickers did great with a baby in the house.  She just LOVES kids!!!!

Monday and Tuesday evenings were long for me as I had dinner meetings both days.  I also had a lunch meeting with the director and coordinator of the Bartlesville Children's Musical Theater group on Monday.  They have asked me to be on their board.  I was very honored to be asked, especially for something that is dear to my heart as I remember my days playing in Michiana summer musicals in the pitt orchestra when I was in high school.  High time also that I volunteered to something and gave back a bit to the community.  I have a few things to follow up on before I fully commit my time, but seems like a great opportunity to get involved with music again!

In other WAY COOL news, if you remember back to last year where Derek gave me a Lego set geared for girls that depicted a girl lego minifigure that was in an "invention workshop" including a robot, microscope, and chemistry equipment?  I was then quoted in an American Chemical Society publication, commenting about how cool it was to have science toys geared for girls, but that the safety awareness of the toy was lacking (science girl was wearing sandals in lab, no safety glasses or lab coat!!!)  To refresh your memory, here is a link to the post.  http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i13/Safety-First-Flame.html

Well, Lego unveiled a brand new minifigure this week which is a female scientist with full science garb.
http://www.today.com/moms/last-lego-creates-female-scientist-minifigure-8C11083650

 TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!! She even has little light blue nitrile glove-colored hands holding her tiny Erlenmeyer flasks!  I would like to hope that my article may have played a small role to inspire Lego to take such a monumental step in toys!!!! (and yes, I have already ordered myself one!!!!)

Ok- time to go hang out with Derek for a while.  We are going to walk the dog, then watch an episode of Hell on Wheels Season 2.  I deserve to sit on my butt as I ran early this morning with Tracy and then went to spin class after work (totally addicted!!!).

Artwork from Ashton - made in PreK from the story "Lunch" by Denise Flemming

My first foray into tie-dye:  dying aprons over the weekend for United Way fundraiser functions that took place this week at work on Monday and Tuesday.  Our team was supporting raising money for the YMCA.

The end results turned out really well (I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome - unfortunately forgot to take end-result pics).