Week in Review

It's been a busy week here at the House of Miller. And, although the running joke is that Anne & Eric could just post pics of Gwen and everyone would be happy, they are about to swamp you with serious information that they find SO important about their daily lives that they HAD to share. We're talking earth-shattering here people. Read: glance at pictures and disregard all text information.

Eric: " Parents don't care about anything else......they just want Squeaky pictures."

Wednesday morning found the weekly assembly of CUPS (Coffee Under the Pretense of School) at the house. Angus and Alli were our special guests and make sure all of Gwen's toys were age appropriate. You will note that Angus is happily packing something large and metal over his shoulder. This is not considered one of Gwen's playthings but an extra part off the woodstove that he found spectacular and very manly. You can read Traci's account of the events here.

Nicole D. and Anne left with Miss Gwennie early on Thursday for a grocery shopping/see what's left of downtown field trip in Miles City. As you can see from the pic, they are busy knocking down what remains of the Cellar building since losing someone on a sidewalk to falling bricks doesn't exactly encourage tourism. Actually, everyone in the car was rather appalled at the mess in person. Miller House works hard to support the local grocery, Ryan's, in Jordan. However, we do buy some items in Miles to be more cost-effective. Anne is trying to turn over a new leaf (again) with better meal planning. Menu items include: Red Spice Steak Fajitas, Sausage and Zuchini Rice, Pepper Onion Mushroom Stirfry, Chili, Pizza/Calzones, Califlower-Feta Pasta Bake, Lamb Chops with Spinach Rice Pilaf, Enchiladas, Nan's Tortellini Soup and, finally, homemade mushroom soup. So far, the new Zuchini thingy has been served (strange texture, Eric loved it while Anne nearly threw up) and enchildas last night with John and Marissa (a staple diet here). It appears that there is now enough food pending any natural disaster. You should all really worry if we start hoarding toilet paper and building an underground bunker. Colin G, if you are reading this, we recommend showing up on either Lamb Chop or Calzone day.

The remainder of the week included a 6:30 am trip to Circle to pick up the Garfield County 4H's fruit order. Our kids were very effective at this new fundraiser, as the two pallets of mixed fruit boxes showed. Anne, Eric and Pohney sorted through the orders and got things organized while Gwen looked on from the warm pickup pulled in next to them. By the end, everyone was feeling a little more like mixed nuts than fruit. As evidenced in the photo, it was very cold and fingers barely worked. But the fruit boxes looked pretty darned neat with all of their colorful packaging. Then lunch was eaten at the Cafe and Gwen discovered that she loved the clam chowder served by her pappa. It began as a joke, then quickly became lunch - with onlookers laughing delirously at the 6month old's insane appetite.

The Millers are still social animals and Gwen is trying to learn pinocle, although usually she eat tries to eat the cards or gives up and sucks her thumb (which is fine, because her mother also does that when she is losing). So, the Downs and O'Connor families provided several opportunities during the evenings to test the baby's skills and let her parents pretend, for a second, that they are royal cardsharks. Which they are not. :) In her spare time, Gwen is also learning to play with more toys while sitting up. She occasionally falls over, but the majority of the time she is able to sit for 5-10 minutes at a time before deciding she needs to change positions.