Wishes...

Today Hayden and I were in the car and he asked if wishes always come true. I explained that throwing coins in the water and making wishes before you blow out the candles was just something fun to do but what you wish for doesn't always happen.

It was quiet for a little while and then he said, "Well, I want my coins back!!! Why is it that adults give little kids money to throw in the water when you get no wishes!?!?!!"

That should stop him from ever finding gambling attractive and maybe he will be a good saver.

Christmas on Caddo

We have really come to enjoy Caddo Lake! It seems as though you can see Caddo Lake from most of Oil City and we can even see it from our house. Everytime we go over the Caddo Lake bridge Parker says, "Caddo Lake, see Caddo Lake, Mommy!"

Last weekend, we went to Christmas on Caddo, which is held right on the bank of Caddo Lake in Oil City. This was our first of, hopefully, many years to attend.

The boys telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Parker wanted Power Rangers and Hayden wanted Transformers.

Part of Christmas on Caddo is fireworks. While we were waiting we started taking pictures. It was so dark I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of but was surprised once the picture came up.

A nice lady took our picture.

The boys watching the fireworks.

Thanksgiving...

I love, love, love this time of year! Finally, I figured out why...it is like Christmas in that you get to eat alot and spend time with your family yet you don't have the pressure of buying gifts for everyone.

We had a great Thanksgiving! We woke up Thanksgiving morning and I made Pigs-in-a-Blanket for breakfast. We normally have a cold breakfast so that was a nice change. After we got ready, we headed over to my mom's house close to noon and visited with all of our family. We ate around 1pm and when I say it was good, I mean it was GOOD! So good I just ate some leftovers, yep, I am probably verging on getting some bacteria in my system from the leftovers being too old but it was worth the risk. They were still good!

After lunch, Chad went back home to watch the Cowboys win (and become 10-1) in peace. We stayed at Mom's and the kids played quietly (for the most part) and we looked at the sales papers, one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. We headed back home around 7pm. It was a fun night!

The next morning Michelle Jenkins and I planned to go shopping. My morning started off when my alarm went off at 2:55am. I was gone from my house by 3:15 and was at Kohl's at 4am. Why? I don't know. There was nothing I really had to be there for but we were having a fun time so it didn't matter. By 3pm I had gotten all of Hayden and Parker's Christmas bought and a few things for Chad, too.

Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with Chad's family, which meant more eating and family fun. We had a great time and wish we had more time with our families. It doesn't seem like there is ever enough time to do everything.

29 Days til' Christmas!

Thankfulness...

Chad challenged the church to use the alphabet to come up with 26 things we were thankful for. This is my list and I would love to see yours, too...

A…Air conditioning, I can’t live without it!
B…Babysitters, so I can go out on a date
C…Chad, my beloved
D…Dishwashers-when mine broke, I cried…see why I am thankful
E…Ears, I love to hear
F…Family-I’m so blessed!
G…Grandparents-God knew what he was doing when he made these special people
H...Hayden, my first born
I…Ice, especially from Sonic, love that crushed ice
J…Jesus, without His sacrifice nothing on this list would be important
K…K-LOVE, a whole new worship experience
L…Lip stuff, CARMEX!
M…Mexican food
N…Nertz, and the girls who play that with me
O…Oil City-the church, the people and all that are in it
P…Parker, my baby
Q…Quiet times
R…Royal Caribbean Cruise Line…what great vacations we have had
S…Sugie, my grandma…she gets her own letter, because she is that special.
T…Trees-beautiful and provide shade
U…Umbrellas
V…Vacuum, especially my Bissell Wet Vacuum
W…Water-good, cold and quenches my thirst
X…Xylophone, one of my good friends in high school played this, it is beautiful.
Y…Yearbooks, we all need a good laugh occasionally
Z…Zucchini, love it, especially at Shogun

He also reminded us that it is not only what we are thankful for but WHO we are thankful, too. Praise the Lord!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wal-Mart in the morning...

is quite pleasant. Yep, I'll never go with the boys during the day again, unless I just have to do so. After two different times of going to the grocery store with the boys (this week), who did good for a while and then got grouchy, I decided I would go in the morning before Chad left for work. I got up this morning at 5am and was out the door (looking awful) by 5:22. I was there before 6 and had such a peaceful time browsing the isles and not having anyone ask me for snacks, popcorn chicken or gum. Try it...hey, I've got an idea...instead of girl's night, let's have girl's morning at Walmart. Okay, maybe I'm going too far :).

Pockets in little boy's pants...

Should they really put pockets on little boy's pants? I mean, it might look a little weird but we would get used to it.

Right now, at 10:43pm, I am washing a load of clothes for the 3rd time because Hayden had a blue ink pad in his pocket. Fortunately, it only got on 4 things but unfortunately one of the things was one of Chad's new and really nice dress shirts.

We have found a lot of things in Hayden's pockets...crayons, gum, paper, rocks, money, little plastic toys, etc. This has to be the worst!

I guess this momma better get used to checking pockets since my little boys like to put things in their pockets.

God knew what was ahead...

When Chad and I were moving we found a letter Chad had typed. I guess it was kind of a diary entry and I want to share a portion of it with you. It is dated March 18, 1993...

"...I've been having alot of fun lately. Met new, and exciting people, that I have really begun to like. We all need change in our lives. It's all a part of the progress. One of the new people that I have met and became close friends with is Angela Pine. She is a very sweet, intelligent, compassionate, understanding person. We have much in common. She brings out the good qualities in me. She brings out a side of me I never really knew I had. She is just what I would want in a girl or companion. She's fun to be around. I could go on forever telling how I feel about her, but let me just close by saying I would say she is my "Dream Girl"- the perfect wife. Maybe I've gone to far."

March 11, 2000, 6 years and 51 weeks later, we became husband and wife.

Thanks to Michelle Jenkins Photography for the beautiful picture of us.

Almost free of our plumbing problems!

After not being able to use the sink and dishwasher for five days, we have finally found the problem and solution. Wednesday a plumber and some guys from church are coming to fix our problems. I am so excited and wish they didn't have to wait until Wednesday but you have to wait 48 hours before you can dig so you don't hit some other lines buried underground.

I'm thankful that our problems haven't involved more than just the sink and the dishwasher but it is still quite an inconvenience for a girl who likes modern conveniences. We have been trying to use paper goods mostly but there is the occasion when you have to use stuff that needs to be washed. One of my sweet church members stopped by last night and picked up two boxes of dirty dishes and brought them back straight from her dishwasher this morning. It feels good to have most of the dirty dishes cleaned and put away!

Talk with you all soon!

You know you need to get out when...

your happy to go see the gynecologist! Yesterday I had a day to myself and it was GREAT. It started with that aforementioned visit to the gynecologist, a short trip to Target, lunch with Michelle and her kids at ElChicos, and then some shopping with my mom.

Unfortunately, I came back to 6 guys at my house working on different things. First we had a painter here painting the carport area and it looks wonderful. Then there was the plumber who came because we were having some SERIOUS plumbing problems...let me make that WE ARE having some serious plumbing problems. The only things we can't use currently are the sink and dishwasher but the washing machine has been rigged so the water flows into the backyard because that pipe is backed up, too. I haven't seen the bathtub spit back up dirt in a few days so maybe that part is better but it is CRAZY around here. Then there was another guy here working on the toilet in our bathroom because it is not been on since we moved in. The other guys were here for moral support and knowledge. Anyways, after they left the kids and I ran to Wal-mart for milk and things got back to normal when we got back home (as normal as you can be with no kitchen sink or dishwasher).

I'm trying to look at the positive side, at least I don't have to cook any meals. We'll be eating frozen dinners until the sink is fixed. :)

Hope you all have a super weekend!

Home is where your STUFF is...

We are here, we are happy and we are MOSTLY unpacked! All we have left are those few boxes of stuff that we just are not 100% sure what to do with. We moved in last Tuesday with the help of Johnson's Moving (worth every penny!). They had us out of the old house in less than 2 hours and into the new house in less than an hour and a half. The kids stayed with DiGi and Granddad so we could get as much unpacked as possible and we got ALOT done.

With the help of a friend, Melissa, and her children, the boys rooms were completely unpacked within just a few hours of us moving in. They bought Kentucky Fried Chicken for us to eat that night and continued helping us unpack until we were too tired to unpack anymore.

Our church family has been so wonderful! They had our cabinets stocked with everything we use on a regular basis. Everything from deodorant to paper towels to bananas was in our cabinets! We have also had food delivered or bought for us many nights. It has been so helpful when there is so much you have to do!

So, here we are a week into our new house and I have already started painting. You know I love to paint! Girls, I might have lost my mind. The guest bathroom/boys bathroom is now lime green, yep, that is right, you heard me...Lime Green.

I found this great towel at Walmart that I thought would be fun for the kids bathroom. I wish I could show you a picture but am having trouble getting my picture up on blogger (anyone else?). Anyway, it is a fun towel with bright colors and one of the colors is lime green so that is what I spent my day doing. What did the kids do while I was painting? I knew you were thinking it. They played especially well today and it helped that Parker was "laid up" with a skinned knee and that Hayden felt sorry for him.

So, we are here and happy! I am thankful for the internet and us all having blogs so we can keep up with each other. I've got a few more blogs to post but will save them for another day.

Last post from Haughton...

Hi girls! Just wanted to let you know that we are moving tomorrow.

I am soooo ready to be in our new place. This house, strangely enough, doesn't feel like home anymore. It is amazing how you put brown moving boxes all over the place, don't cook for a week or more and take all your pictures down and realize this is just a house. All of my memories (and stuff) will stay with me and I am really looking forward to making new memories in our new home.

Chad feels like we will be back on the internet soon so I should be able to blog when I get sometime. Take care and I will be checking in on all of you soon!

Love you guys!

What was I thinking?

Will someone remind me to NOT make cupcakes for Hayden's preschool class two days before I move? I should have just bought them for time constraints but I know they are not as good as homemade (from a box) and I am cheap.

Today was such a busy but great day! Chad headed out around 7:45am to go to the church. The boys and I left about an hour later and met up with Chad's Dad and headed on to church. We had a great time at church and attended a class that is taught by some of our new friends, Shane and Melissa. After church we went to eat with some people from church at a fish place on Caddo Lake. Then we went to one of our church member's houses. He and his wife have a beautiful lot of land right on the lake with a swing hanging from a tall limb...the kids had the best time swinging and didn't want to leave! After that we went to the parsonage and showed it to Dad, who had not seen it yet. He was VERY impressed with our new house.

After all of that, I headed back home and Dad followed with his trailer to load up our swing set. All the while I am starting to make these cupcakes only to realize that my bowl, beaters, measuring cups and foil are all packed....yikes! I called my neighbor and they were so helpful sharing everything with me.

Anyways, my house is TRASHED but my sweet little boy will have his birthday cupcakes to take to school tomorrow and we will have survived another CRAZY day!

Hope everyone is good! Love ya!

Wandon...

The other day Parker and I were heading over to Michelle's house and because Parker pronounces Landon's name, Wandon, I said, "Are you ready to go to Wandon's house?"

He said, "Not Wandon, it's Wandon!"

I said, "Wandon?"

He said, "No, WAN-DON, starts with a P, WAN-DON."

I guess he was thinking since his name starts with a P then Landons would, too.

Packing...

This is a whole new thing for me. I have never packed up my whole family and moved. When I married Chad I brought my chest of drawers and clothes to the house we live in now. Since then we have accumulated two kids and all their things, bigger furniture, a treadmill and a karaoke machine (surely you have a karaoke machine...okay, maybe not).

I packed a little bit today but didn't make too much progress however Chad is like Super Packing-man. In less than an hour he had 8 boxes packed. Can you believe? He moved around alot as a kid so it must have come back to him.

The moving guys come NEXT Tuesday so we have to be ready by then. Until then we will be living among brown boxes. Which, can I just say something about those brown boxes? What a BLESSING! I sent out an e-mail for boxes and had four different people either let us pickup boxes or deliver them to our home. How nice is that? I tell you, I have the best friends. Not just the girls who gave boxes but MANY have been so nice to us during our move (okay, that needs to be another post because I could go on and on about my friends).

Love to you all! Have a super Tuesday!

Portrait Party...

There's Michelle doing her thing.

In the middle of moving my whole family to another city, I had a portrait party for Michelle Jenkins Photography at my house. It was stressful trying to get everything cleaned up and looking like we weren't moving but we had a good time visiting with all of the people who attended and who doesn't enjoy a good excuse to eat yummy ghost cookies and rotel dip with chips?

I couldn't resist this picture of Parker and Piper. Is she not the cutest thing or what? This was their goodbye hug. They play so well together and are really sweet to each other (and because of that Jinnie and I are convinced they will get married...can't you see the logic?).

Sharing Halloween Costumes...

Candy and I thought about this earlier in the season but I didn't get to post anything until AFTER I spent $36 on Halloween costumes. Costumes are SO expensive! Fortunately, my kids like to be things they can wear all throughout the year but when your kid wears, let's say a costume of Robinhood or Little Bo Peep, it will probably only be worn once.

My proposal is...If you have a costume that your child has worn in the past (and is still in good condition) that you want to share, list it in my blog comments. That way we can all share and maybe save each other some money.

I have a Spiderman costume that is a 4-6 and fits both Hayden and Parker. If you want to borrow it, you are more than welcome to, I just would need it mailed back to Oil City :).

Happy borrowing!

MY Hayden...

When Parker is referring to Hayden, he has started saying...

• That's my Hayden's room, my Hayden's toy, etc.
• This morning I heard...where is my Hayden?
• The other day at church...I wanna go get my Hayden.

I think it is so cute!

See that house?

That is where we currently live (don't mind the yard that needs to be edged and the packing materials under the carport). Two weeks ago we REALLY put some work into making the house look great so we could put it on the market. My whole family got involved and I am so thankful.

• Chad's dad came over and put up some blinds, fixed a light in the bathroom and put some quarter-round down all for a dinner of taco soup.
• My step-dad, Jimmy, came and did our landscaping. Jimmy said that working outside on landscaping projects is "relaxing" to him. You should see how beautiful their backyard is. The only payment they would take is our love.
• Chad's step-mom, Eloise, came over and helped us clean. She did things like clean our light fixtures, wipe down cabinets and wash our laundry, that hadn't been done in days. I don't know what we would have done without her helping us clean.
• My mom started helping Jimmy with the landscaping but ended up having her gallbladder out the next week and couldn't come back to help. The day she stopped by to "look at our landscaping" she was caught trying to fold clothes. We promptly sent her home to relax and recuperate.

Our family was great to us! After almost 8 years of living in a house there was alot of things that needed to be done. Having everyone come over and pitch in was special for us.

The best thing...after working a stressful weekend to get everything done, we put our house on the market Monday morning, the first person looked at it at 11:50am on Tuesday and she signed a contract 30 minutes later at 12:20pm.

Just another way God is involved in this!

First Baptist Church Oil City...

Wow! What can I say other than God is good! We are so excited about moving to Oil City and seeing what God has in store for us and the people of Oil City. Wait..wait, you want me to slow down, huh? I know some of you might be hearing about this for the first time so let me start from the beginning.

For about 6 months or so, Chad has felt like God was calling him to preach. For the past 15 months at a little church in Oil City, Louisiana members of the Pastor Search Committee have been meeting EVERY Wednesday night to look and pray over resumes to fill a much needed position. Through lots of prayers and events our resume ended up in the hands of that committee at First Baptist Church Oil City.

Within a few weeks of them having Chad's resume they wanted to hear a CD of his sermons so Chad mailed that to them. A week or so later we got the call that the committee wanted to hear Chad preach in person. That next Sunday Chad preached in Ida, Louisiana (a neutral location) for the congregation there and the Oil City Pastor Search Committee. For an hour after church, Chad and I met with the two men and three women who comprised the Pastor Search Committee and felt an immediate connection. We planned to pray that day and night and meet back together the next night at Red Lobster for dinner. They asked us tons of questions, we asked them tons of questions, we laughed, they laughed...it was just a great time with a group of people that we REALLY liked. That night they told us that they wanted Chad to come before the church in view of a call on October 7.

This past Saturday night we went for a Meet and Greet so we could get to know the members of the church and they could get to know us. Chad met with the deacons and then the members were able to ask us questions. Everyone was super nice and it felt so good. They made us feel like family. Sunday morning Chad preached and then at their Sunday evening services they had a special vote where Chad was voted unanimously to become the pastor of First Baptist Church Oil City.

So, I think you are all caught up now! This Sunday, October 14 will be our last Sunday at Eastwood and our first Sunday in Oil City will be October 21.

Bittersweet but I am trusting in God...I certainly don't want to end up in the belly of fish :).

Needing a facelift...

Not me, girls...my blog! Just because it is my birthday and I am 31 now doesn't mean I am going to go talking bad about my few "problem" areas.

I have been thinking my blog needed a change for a few weeks now and today is the day! For over a year this blog has only been about the boys and the sweet things they do. Since we are moving now I guess I need to update on more than just the boys so this will become a blog about us...

The Mills Family.

Enjoy!

We have our bed back!

After probably 6 months on and off of each kid coming into our bed at least once per night it is OVER! We have always had good sleepers (well except for that first year of Hayden's life when we let him sleep with us) and they like to sleep through the night, in their bed and like to go to sleep without too many problems.

Something started about 6 months ago when they just would keep coming to get in our bed. I don't mind it every once in a while but not EVERY night. It is just so hard to sleep with someone hogging the covers, kicking me and stealing my pillow. Half the time I would end up in the offenders bed because our queen sized bed is really only meant for two.

So, my friend, Jinnie, told me about a chart she was using to keep her girls in bed and it was working for her. I made Hayden and Parker their own "Sleepy-head Stay-in-my-bed Chart." Each morning they get to put a sticker on their chart if they stayed in bed. If they stay in bed ALL week then they each get their own dollar and we go to the Dollar Tree.

You might think, hmmm....The Dollar Tree? Kind of cheap, huh? Yep, and you know what the kids love it. I tell them they can buy anything in the whole store and let them have at it.

Since we have mastered the "staying in our bed" chart, I need to come up with a new chart for something they can do. Any ideas?

The painting of a Dallas Cowboys helmet:

I am quite proud of how this turned out! I didn't really want to paint the helmet because I didn't think I could do it but after seeing the cost of how much it would be to purchase the huge helmets that stick on the wall, I rethought my decision. First things first, I am NOT creative but I always got a "Satisfactory" for coloring in the lines in preschool so that helped.



I know you can't tell in this picture but I found a picture of a helmet, blew it up about 700% and then printed it on a transparency. I borrowed Heather Bloom's projector and projected the helmet on the wall. I traced it with a pencil and then started painting.


I took pictures of this and sent it to my Mom and some friends for "atta-girls." I was getting quite discouraged because this was such a long process. I would paint something and then would have to wait until that paint dried before painting something else.


The white part was the last big part to be painted.

This was when I had painted all of the black detailing on the helmet.

Ta-da! All done! This is what it looked like with the wall painted blue around it.

I really did enjoy doing this! It took a lot of time but I get to enjoy it every time I walk in his room. If we ever move, there might just be a big hole in his wall where that helmet was painted :~).

Hayden's New Room...

Well, you can hardly call this new but this spring I changed Hayden's room from boring khaki to Dallas Cowboys Cool! Chad is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and so it only natural that our boys would love the Cowboys, too. I talked Hayden into letting me paint his room blue and grey with a huge Dallas Cowboys helmet in the center.

I sent the boys away so I could really spend some time in Hayden's room. After a few days away at Grandma Sharon's they were ready to come home but I wasn't quite done with Hayden's room (still had more painting to do, bed was pushed along with everything else to the middle of the room, etc). He walked in to the house and went straight for his room only to say, "Wait, this isn't how I wanted my bed." Funny boy! A few day's later his room was done and he really likes it!

Some highlights from his room:

• He has a two and a half by three and a half foot helmet on his biggest wall (painstakingly painted by me) and Dallas Cowboy stars all around the room.
• Aunt Jinnie helped me make a cornice board out of Dallas Cowboys material to cover his window.
• I made a FREE decoration for his room by taking a pennant Chad had picked up for Hayden at a game and sticking it on to grey scrapbook paper and then putting it in a spray-painted blue frame. I had EVERYTHING so all I spent was time putting it together.

Parker's Room...

After over four years of Parker's room being decorated for a baby we changed it to a "big boy" room. This was actually almost a year ago but I am just now taking pictures of it (better late than never). It may be hard to tell in the picture but I spent 3 days locked away in Parker's room painting green at the bottom (for grass), black above that (for the runway) and blue for the sky.

Some special things about his room:

• All of the yellow markings are the real marking that are on the runway at BAFB (so I have been told). I did change the numbers to say "93" and "24" for Parker's birthday, September 3, 2004.
• He has a cool model B-52 that is suspended from his ceiling thanks to Andy Bloom who shared some of his toys with us.
• Michelle Jenkins made him a cork board that has airplanes and clouds on it to match his room.
• I painted a airplane on his big wall that looks like it just took off, leaving the runway!

Best Friends...

Last night Hayden was sleeping so it was just me and Chad awake with Parker. We were asking him all kinds of questions. I came to the question...Do you like Hayden? He said, "Yes, he my best fwiend." How sweet is that!

Parker is growing up...

Parker turned 3 yesterday. Time really flies!

We had a birthday party for him at my Mom’s house on Saturday night. Parker had a great time playing with his cousins and just enjoying himself. He decided he wanted to have a “Pwincess” birthday cake but I talked him into Cars, which was what he had told me all along until this “pwincess” thing came up. He got lots of fun toys and really cute clothes for the fall. Yesterday (on the day of his actual birthday) we went to the Betty Virginia Park with the Jenkins and Baird families. We had a picnic and let the kids play. I think he enjoyed himself!

There are some things that I want to remember about Parker being this age that make me so happy (I’m trying to forget anything that is bad):

*Parker loves getting his back scratched and will say “scratch ‘me’ back.” It is so cute because my brother and I always liked having our backs scratched and I was hoping one of my kids would, too.
*Parker is very good at picking up on things Chad and I say, which is why Parker says, “Chop chop, I not play that game” and “He’s getting my nerves.”
*When I sneeze around Parker he always gives me a “Bwess you.”
*Parker is good at getting his words mixed up and says stuff like, “I not can do it.”
*Parker likes kisses on the “wips,” just ask any of the nursery workers at church. Oh, and if you think you can avoid him kissing you on the “wips” you are wrong. He grabs your face and turns it to where you HAVE to kiss him on the “wips”.
*Parker is VERY concerned about Hayden getting hugs before Chad leaves in the mornings. He always says, "Hug Hayden," even if Chad JUST hugged Hayden.

I love that kid and could probably write a million more things down but I will add them as I remember them! I just feel so lucky that he calls me Mom.

Today or Tomorrow...

I can see where this would be confusing for a kid...

The other day Hayden said, "Is it tomorrow yet?"

Funny boy!!!

Good Mommy/Bad Mommy...

I may be setting myself up for something one day but today it worked out for me!

I asked Hayden if he thought I was a good Mommy or a bad Mommy. He looked down and started forming something with his fingers and said, "What's this?" I said, "A heart." He said, "You're a good Mommy!"

So sweet!

My baby's daddy...

I don't normally write about Chad on here but this was too sweet that I couldn't pass up blogging about it. Wednesday night I played cards with some friends and when I got in, about 12:30am there was an index card stuck to the door handle. It said...

"Angela, There is a message for you on the camera. Love, Chad"

So I go over to the camera to review the pictures and I saw these pictures...

Get it? I love you! It was the sweetest thing ever. He could have spent lots of money to buy me something but that free sign of love meant more to me than anything he could have found at a store. By the way, Hayden helped him take the pictures...what a good boy!

Where do they get this stuff?

This morning Hayden was trying to cut something that was hard to cut. He said, "God help me!" Then a second later he looked right in front of him (into thin air) and said, "Don't just stand there."

I couldn't help but laugh...

OVER YET!!!!!!!

For as long as Parker has been talking, when a tv show is over, he will come running to me and say, "OVER YET!" I JUST realized what that means...

I will always ask about a tv show, "is it over yet?" Isn't that funny. What these kids pick up on is too funny.

He nose better...

Well, it was bound to happen. I knew one of my kids would do something like this and I should have known it would be Parker.

Today, Parker was alone and quiet (should have been my clue) for about 30 seconds. Chad's mom (Sharon) is visiting and he told her he had gum in his nose. This is how the conversation went from there:

Me: No he doesn't.
Sharon: Parker where is the gum?
Parker: Right here (pointing to his right nostril).

I tilted his head back and saw a little pink thing in his nose about 1/4 inch up and I knew I wouldn't be able to grab it with my fingers. Sharon suggested us using tweezers to get it out. We layed him out and held him down on my bed and I grabbed the tweezers and went right in his nose and pulled out this...



I ran from the room squealing and went straight for my digital camera (a girl knows a good blog story in progress). I NEVER expected the whole piece of gum to be in his nose. How on earth did he even do that?

When asked "Why did you put gum in your nose?" He said, "Had to."

A Father's Day Tradition

I knew I wanted to do this with my boys, from before they were born. I love that I have these memories. We always put their dress shirts on and head outside to take pictures after church. Sometimes the boys are in a bad mood but I still snap away because it is a great memory.

2003:

2004:

2005:

2006:

2007:

Father's Day

We are so thankful for this Daddy! He is...


the doer of this hair...


the instigator of this face...

the football coach...

the teacher...

the family man (beautiful picture from www.michellejphoto.com)...

the over-the-shoulder 2 year old holder...

the teller of God's word...

Hayden's daddy and

Parker's daddy.

Thanks for all you do for us!

Hut-Hut...

"Quarterback Mills, takes the snap from Center Hayden."

"Quarterback drops back in the pocket. Wide Receiver Hayden takes the open field."

"Quarterback throws down field. Man open by the utility pole. Will he catch it????"

Ahhh, I always love seeing boys play football...especially mine. So cute! Chad bought Hayden an LSU football that is just right for his small hands. They have been throwing and catching the football for weeks now. Hayden likes Chad to throw it to him and Hayden jumps up in the air to catch it.