The Mills' Kids

The Mills' kids have grown so much over the last few months I thought it is about time I posted some new pictures. Steven has grown so much. He is now taller than Katie and that makes him so happy. He's not done growing yet. His daddy is 6 feet tall and I'm sure he'll reach that at the least. I think Katie is about as tall as she's going to get and of course Shad is growing fast also. They grow up too fast. I'm so thankful for my kids. I love them so much. I look forward to each new day that Heavenly Father blesses me with them.

New Mills Family Update

It's been so long since I've posted on this blog. I want to start using this blog as a kind of Mills family journal. Hopefully I can stay on top of it this time.
We are enjoying this beautiful weather and the cooler days are quite welcome. Our youngest chickens have began to lay eggs. We had 4 eggs from the young hens today, one of which was a lovely blue green. I'll have to post some pictures later.
We are in the process of potty training Shad and it's promising to be quite an adventure. He makes it sometimes so that's a terrific start. Wish us luck on that.
Katie and Steven are schooling at home again this year and are doing pretty well. I know they would rather be back in regular public school but I'm very happy having them home with me.
I'm still cleaning houses and condos and Steve spends time helping an elderly lady out by running errands and taking her to appointments. We keep pretty busy but always enjoy our time together as a family just hanging out together.
More updates to come.

April Visitors, Fires, Birthdays and Pink Hair?!

Okay, so it's been too long since I've posted anything on this blog so it's time for an update on the Mills' Crew. April has been a busy month. My sister Sarah and my nephew RJ were in town for Easter weekend and we greatly enjoyed their visit. We always do. We had a big bonfire (this was before the burn ban of course) and roasted marshmallows. I made some baklava, yummy and we just had a great time. We went to see Dragonball Z and that was fun too. It was a good movie. While we were having the bonfire Steve's sister Shanon, along with her hubby Matt and their 2 kids Cameron and Ashton and their dog Sirius, came over and all the kids ran around the yard and played capture the flag and they had a blast. It was fun watching the kids have so much fun together. Shad wanted to run and play with the big kids. He was so excited chasing after them. We really had a great time.
I just wanted to give a quick thank you to everyone for all your prayers and concern for us during the horrible fires that have been burning so close to us. The fire has been less than 2 miles away from us. That's a bit too close for comfort. Speaking of comfort, the smoke was making us all uncomfortable. My throat was burning, Shad's nose was runny and Katie's asthma was flaring up. Thankfully the worst part is over. Katie washed all the ash from my van. I wish I had taken a picture of that for you. It looked terrible. You can smell the smoke when you go outside but it's not so irritating to the allergies now. Thankfully no lives were lost and everyone seems to be pulling together to help those who lost their homes. Thanks to our Father in Heaven for protecting us and our home and the lives of everyone affected by the fires. A special thank you to all the brave firefighters and forestry commission workers who risked their lives to fight the fires and protect people's homes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We've also had 2 birthdays this month. Steven turned 15 on April 17th and Shad turned 2 on April 19th. Steven loves chocolate, dark not milk, so I searched online and come up with a fudgey chocolate cake recipe. I found a cocoa frosting recipe to go with it. I wasn't sure how it would come out but let me tell you, it was the most scrumptious fudgey chocolate cake ever. Let me know if you want the recipe. I may just have to make one again this weekend. Okay, so Steven loved the cake. He had it for breakfast a couple days in a row. Healthy breakfast right!? So by Shad's birthday, I was so tired from work, being sick and running around to get everything done for b-days, I just ordered a cake from Walmart. I know, I'm such a slacker but it was a Cars cake and he loved it so much. He only really ate the icing but he loved that Lightning McQueen and Mater were on his cake. He had fun pulling them off the cake and licking the icing off of them. They both had great birthdays. My boys are growing up too fast. I love my boys so much. I'll add a couple of pics. Steven took a few interesting pics of himself.

Finally the pink hair. My lovely Katie likes to express herself in different ways and this time she wanted pink hair. I figure it's her hair and it's only temporary so I helped her out with it. Trust me a lot more of it would have been pink if were entirely up to Katie. By the way, she's got her driver's permit now and so my hair is turning gray. So I'll post a pic so you can check out the pink hair, not the gray. Love to everyone!

What's New With The Mills Crew

Well everyone in the Mills' house finally gets well and now we have to deal with the pollen messing with our allergies. Yuck! That's OK though, I'm just glad none of us are really sick.

Shad's ears are hurting again though. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and the doctor said his ears are full of mucus. He made an appointment for Shad to see an ear, nose and throat doctor and wrote him a prescription for an antihistamine for allergies. He didn't start a third round of antibiotics since the ear, nose and throat doctor is able to see him about a week. Shad goes next Thursday. What fun that will be. You see, Shad hates going to see the doctor. When the nurse opens the door and calls his name to go back to see the doctor he starts to fuss. It's so funny to see. He squirms and cries and grabs me tighter when the nurse tries to get his weight and measurements. He really loses it when the doctor tries to look in his ears or even just listen to his heart and lungs with the stethoscope. We usually have to hold him down on the table to get his ears checked. I believe the doctors get a little disappointed that Shad won't let them play with him. He won't touch the stethoscope to see that it won't hurt him and he won't even give them high five. He's my funny little man. I love him so much. Maybe he'll do better for the new doctor. Probably not but I can dream can't I. : )

Duke Blah, Go Heels!!!

So my husband Steve is trying to corrupt my sweet, innocent little son Shad. Here are the pictures to prove it. He even had him jumping up and down cheering saying "Duke, Duke, Duke!". Well, it wasn't exactly duke but you could tell that's what he meant. It was pretty cute. Bless him, he doesn't know any better. I'm going to have to buy Shad his first Tarheel outfit for his birthday. Steve's already corrupted my other children, I have to rescue Shad before it's too late!

Sick of Being Sick!

So everyone in our house has been sick in the last few weeks at one time or other. Shad has had a stuffy nose, cough, random fevers, vomiting and diahrrea over the past few weeks. He's been to the doctor twice only to be told he has a viral infection and it had to run its course. This past weekend his fever reached 103 degrees and we were back to the doctor for the third time 0n Monday. This time with a double ear infection, poor baby. I'm so tired because after being vomited on, pooped on, snotted on, coughed on, and of course cried on, now I'm sick. I've had it for 2 weeks now and can't shake it. Probably because I'm up and down all night with Shad so I'm not getting to rest so I can get well. Katie had the stuffy nose and cough with sore throat first and gave it to the rest of us. Bless her heart, she's finally starting to feel a bit better. Steve was sick with it for a couple days last week but he stayed in bed for like 17 hours straight and got better quickly, thank goodness. Steven has had stuffy nose but hasn't been feeling too badly so I'm thankful for that. I hope he doesn't get it too bad.
So, I'm so sick of being sick! Hopefully in the next couple days I'll get to feeling better. I'm sure after a couple days of antibiotic, Shad will be feeling better too. He had a rough day today with his fever shooting back up. It's so hard to get medicine in him. The easiest way is putting it in his drink but when his fever is up he will not drink anything. So we have to do it the hard way by wrapping him in a towel, putting the medicine in a syringe and squirting it into his mouth while he kicks, screams, spits, and sometimes vomits it all back up on me. It's a simply horrible experience for us all, especially poor little Shad.
Please remember us in your prayers and hopefully we'll all be well soon.
I have to say thank you to our wonderful friend Bud Barnett who has been so dear to come by and pick up Katie and Steven for church so we wouldn't all have to miss church. Thanks Bud! We love you so much!

What Do I Love?

This month has got me thinking about love and what's important to me. I thought I would list a few things that I love (in no particular order). Family seems to be the #1 item on my list. My family always comes first in my life as well they should.
I love my husband Steve and our beautiful children Katie, Steven, and Shad so much and am thankful every day that I get to be a part of their lives.
I love all my family; my mom, my sister, my brother, my nephews and nieces, all my in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. I think of all my family that I don't see so often and it makes me sad. I miss them all so much.
I love my friends too. I have a very good friend Diane who lives in Clover, SC whom I don't get to see very often though I cherish the time we do get to share with one another. Thank goodness for phones and e-mail.
I love my home and the feeling of peace I get when returning home from any trip long or short.
I love my van. It makes it so much easier on my back getting my sweet Shad in and out plus there's always room for a friend to ride along.
I love my church and knowing the truthfulness of the gospel of my savior Jesus Christ.
I love knowing that Jesus loves me and all my imperfections.
I love our prophet President Thomas S. Monson. It's such a comfort knowing that we have a living prophet to guide us in these latter days.
I love the temple and am so thankful that Steve and I were able to go there and be married for all time and eternity and have our children Katie and Steven sealed to us for all time and eternity,along with any future children [Shad so far :-)] we may have.
I love chocolate, most any kind will do.
I love blogs. It's nice to be able to share what's on my mind even if no one reads it but me. Too many times instead of blogging myself I'll read other blogs and I do enjoy it so much. I always get a smile, a laugh, a cry or an inspiration out of reading them. Thanks to all you bloggers out there.
I love hugs and nothing beats a hug from your own child. Especially when they're little and those tiny arms wrap around your neck and squeeze you tight. Melts my heart.
I love to bake. Cakes, breads, pies, cookies, it doesn't matter what I just love to try new recipes. They don't always turn out perfect but it's always fun.
My list could go on and on and on and on....so I better cut it short. I've been inspired recently by a blog I read. It inspired me to think about all the little things in my life each day that I love and that make me happy. I have so much to be thankful for and should remember those things each and every day. Thanks for letting me share. I love you all!!!

Joyful Christmas, Happy New Year, Fun Family Visits & Snow!

Wow, It's almost February and I've not even posted anything from Christmas yet. I'm behind. It's been so crazy with company and traveling, work and school. But I still wanted to take the time to say how wonderful Christmas was for our family. We all had a wonderful time giving and receiving presents. You can't pretend that it's not exciting to receive presents even if your as old as I am. Christmas morning was so fun and brought me so much joy watching the children's faces light up as they opened their gifts. It was lots of fun with Shad this year too. First thing he went for was a bowl of candy that Santa left out for us all. He brought me one piece after another in hopes that I'd open it and let him eat it. I gave in and let him have one lollipop then hid the rest. Once he realized that the packages contained his well loved Cars toys he was all about opening them. He loves that movie and he loves playing with cars so he was completely enthralled. Katie and Steven were happy about mp3 players, cell phones, and the Wii. Steve and I enjoyed our gifts as well but received the most joy from our children's excitement and happiness. What a wonderful day we had full of love, food, and the joy of being together as a family.


We've had lots of fun visits with family over the holiday season. My mom and step dad came to see us right before Christmas for a short, but hugely fun visit. Shad had great fun being silly with funny glasses with his nanny and greatly enjoyed playing with his paw-paw. The day after Christmas my sister and my nephew came to visit. Shad loves them both so much. We all do. They were here to bring in the new year with us. It's rare that we get to spend so much time together and we enjoyed every minute. They left to go home on January 2ND and then on the 9Th we got to see them again. My family got together in Charlotte for a brief reunion. My mom's side of the family: aunts, uncles, cousins, and my cousins children. It was a wonderful visit getting to see everyone that I hadn't seen in quite some time, years. There are 2 new babies other than Shad in the family that we got to meet for the first time; Anna Grace and Peyton. It was just so exciting having us all together reminiscing and now to see all our children hanging out together. It was wonderful. The trip broke us but it was well worth it to me for the memories. What a wonderful year 2009 is beginning to be! Hope every one's year has started out as terrific as ours.



Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures. I always have a hard time choosing so I probably post too many. Nah, you can't have too many pictures. So many wonderful memories.
Oh yeah, how about that snow. The kids had a ball-making snowballs! : ) Shad's face just lit up as he watched the snow falling from the sky. He marched around checking things out but didn't much care to touch it. Too cute! I wish it could have lasted longer. If it's going to be cold, we might as well have snow to make the cold more enjoyable!
Well, love and happiness to all!