Almost December...

The last couple of days...

We had Aurora this weekend, and we all went to see the new Disney movie "Tangled". It was in 3D, I think they are making too many movies 3D now, and it's an extra $3 a ticket whether you want it or not, and you can't use 3D glasses from a previous movie- lame! But the movie was actually really good. I laughed out loud several times- the horse is hilarious! We also had Beriah with us... here's the girls sporting their cool 3D glasses....

Aurora and Beriah...

Girls gone 3D...

We also saw Alex this weekend... it was his 9th birthday earlier this month, so we got him a tie (he likes to dress up). And some "Heeley" shoes, they have a wheel on the bottom by the back heel so you can walk or roll around. He really wanted a pair- and they were on sale!

We also saw Tessa- so cute!And Tae' and Nadia...Well, I saw 5 out of 10 Trigs, that's pretty good. I did get hugs from Iana and Aiden, too.

So today.... I went to Olympic College with Kent and we got him registered for his winter quarter- so stressful... our high school counselor signed the wrong form, so at his appt I have the wrong form... we try to get them to fax the right one, but that guy is gone and no one else feels comfortable signing a blank form- come OOOON work with me people, well, and hour and a half later we got it all straightened out. Kent is registered, paid for and not on any waiting list for his classes- and they are all at the Poulsbo campus mom! Now we just need to get Jade taken care of!

Have a great dry night if you can! I'll leave you with this family picture...

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

I am thankful for electricity...

I am thankful for heat...

I am thankful for PSE men and women working around the clock to restore lost power.

I am thankful for a roof over my head...

I am thankful for my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls- with frosting!

I am thankful for awesome family...

But most of all I am thankful to God for providing all these things in my life!

We had a pretty awesome Thanksgiving this year. Check out this 23 pounder...

I got this turkey recipe from my friend Christy, and it turned out great- thanks Christy! It has oranges inside it- can you see them? And orange peel shavings and other stuff on the outside, was really tasty and moist!

Kelsey is really diggin' the Christmas tree...The boys downstairs playing X-box 360. Kent, Mason and Denny- those boys are getting big!!

Misty's deviled eggs...Had to move my mom's Christmas decorations from the table to make room for the Thanksgiving stuff, but then the Christmas stuff goes right back! See the thanksgiving confetti?Jeromy getting ready to carve the turkey, love that face!

Yummy!Grandpa and Grandma... those plates look good!

Mason is such a cutie!

My little angel...

Yuck, I love Kent but I don't love what he eats. I mean- I like some meats, but eating it directly off the bone with veins and what ever else disgusting thing.... in his mouth- Gross! You might notice in the above picture Jade also likes eating the nasty leg... double gross!

Jeromy's turkey coma...

Kelsey's turkey coma...

Here's the group just kinda chillin' and letting food settle. We discovered my mom does this weird thing with her socks... I mean disturbing! Also found out my sister Misty does it, too. How many more of you are there out there? Weirdos! LOL!

One of my mom's amazing sugar cookies... can't quite shake that image of my mom and her socks can ya?

That's some cute grandkids there: Denny, Mason, Jade and Kenton!Now it is time....

Snowpocolypse 2010

Got that title from my cousin John and thought it was funny.

First off, I've been out of work for 8 days, tomorrow being the holiday will round it off at 9 days off. So weird. Last week I had 3 days off helping Jeromy with taking care of the affairs of his mother who passed away last week- thank you all for your love and support for Jeromy during this time. Here's my exhausted husband...

Had a weekend off.. nice... got some presents wrapped- I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet- don't judge me!

Then the Snowpocolypse of 2010 hit. It started out innocently enough. Pretty snow, just a light dusting- so the weather man said. We got 4-5 inches.

Then the power went out... but not before I got dinner cooked. Perfect timing actually. I had 3 burners going and the rice cooker going and everything had about another minute or so to cook and out went the power. We got candles and flashlights and had dinner by candle light... niiiice...

I also called work and said I wasn't going to risk driving in the snow- they of course- understood. So everyone in the house still had juice in their laptops so the kids did their thing and Jeromy and I watched a couple movies on his. Other than the bitter cold we were all right. Everyone was layered in blankets and we all slept pretty warmly. Was that some crazy wind or what? Our yard has tons of snow and top of that all the leaves and branches that got blown down!

The next morning it was soooo cold! We headed over to Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Lee's house. They didn't lose their power. And it was only going to get colder. We also had to maneuver a rescue operation. Kent's poor turtle Dynamite slept all night in the bitter cold- she didn't have her heat lamp all night. Kent lovingly held in a scarf on the ride over to my parents. He was really worried about her.That's better. Sitting in a warm stream of sunlight. Grandma also found a mini halogen light to shine right over the top of her.Grandma was in full blown baking mode... making cookies here...

I'm glad Jade likes baking with Grandma, I was never really into baking. Maybe when I retire...Kent chillin' with his best friend... laptop....Did I mention that my mom has been spoiling us with delicious food? She made us french toast for breakfast yesterday. A yummy dinner last night, oh and how about a piece of apple- pear pie???? It was delicious!

Called the shipyard emergency number and they announced that they were canceling swing shift- all shifts for that matter. You do not even know how happy that made me! Tell me to not go to work? And you're not going to use my vacation time? Just tell me to go home and you're going to just give me 8 free hours of pay? Ok I say.

Jade drawing. Both kids brought all their drawing supplies.I decided to work on my scarf. I bought this amazing yarn last month while Jeromy and I were on our anniversary trip and I just have not had time to start it. This yarn was beautiful and expensive. I would not have bought a scarf for as much as I bought this yarn, but it was just gorgeous. It changes textures and colors thru out the whole thing, but all staying in the same color family- sorta- my favorite colors of blue, purple, and then silver and sparkle thru out!When it got time for bed, I was feeling really fortunate. If we were at home we would be freezing and in the dark, along with over 50,000 other people in Kitsap County. But we were warm, full and had my parents fold out couch, and the kids had this memory foam thing to sleep on on the floor complete with grandma's home made quilts with love in every stitch. Come ONNNNN-- we are blessed! Look how cute Kent is coming down stairs and thinking he gets the bed! Nope!Then next morning, we decided Jeromy and I would make an attempt to go home and gather all our Thanksgiving food- cause we were planning to have it at our house this year. But with no power... well we just thought we'd cook it over at Grandma's house! We left the kids home cause I wasn't sure how the roads were going to be. This huge beam had fallen by the gas station right by our house, took down some power lines with it, could be why we lost power.

We also stopped at the super walmart for my parents to pick up a few things. It turns out we did have power when we stopped at home, but it must have just turned on cause the house was still frozen. Since we had already decided to just have turkey day at my mom's we stuck with that plan.

There's mom making homemade cinnamon rolls. I think we've all gained 15 pounds since we've been here.OK, now it's my turn to bake. Part of my Thanksgiving was that I was going to make my first pumpkin pie from scratch. My friend Maranda blogged one that she made with her daughter and it looked awesome and she said it tasted great. So I brought all the ingredients to my moms and the recipe Maranda emailed me. Here's the pumpkin...As soon as I cut into the pumpkin I had a sinking feeling. I think it had passed it's prime. It was totally mushy inside. My mom and I both decided it was BAD. LAME!!! I was totally disappointed. My big plans of making a homemade pumpkin pie slammed! Oh well, I'm just not a baker. But check out my mom's cinnamon rolls! She also had vanilla frosting to go on top... maybe we all are going to gain 20 pounds. And we haven't even had Thanksgiving dinner yet!I'll just stick to what I'm good at.... making scarves!!! I finished it! I wish I had a little more of that amazing yard, I would have liked to make it a little bit longer. But with tassles I think it will do. It is now my favorite scarf. I think it was the most fun to make, unraveling the different colors.This picture doesn't do it justice.There's my mom with her feet kicked up... master cook extraordinaire! But not before she made us all a yummy pot roast dinner. You're not making it easy to leave mom! So, now we are all getting ready for bed. Going to get up at 6am to start the turkey preparations. I got a new recipe for the turkey from my friend Christy, pray it turns out better than my attempt at the pumpkin pie.

Hug all those close to you tonight. Hope you're warm.

Jeromy's mom Teresa

Jeromy's mom, Teresa, Passed away last night.

It was kind of sudden. She has had some health issues in the last few years, but she was only 51 years old.

So far as we know she stopped breathing sometime early Wednesday morning. Her boyfriend called 911, the doctors said she went into cardiac arrest and was without oxygen for approx 30 minutes. She was in a coma when they revived her. After a day of testing, the results showed that she had zero brain activity with some heart and kidney damage.

With Teresa being single, and Jeromy being the oldest child, he had to make the difficult decision. He knew his mom would not want to live as a vegetable. And all the other family- they have a HUGE family- all agreed with that. So after giving all friends and family a chance to come say goodbye, at 3:45pm yesterday, life support was pulled.

Right after that, with a room full of family members at Teresa's side, Jeromy gave a prayer, thanking God for her time here on earth, that only He knew her destiny at this point, and thanking his mom for the good in her life that she passed on to him and everyone else. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. There's something about seeing your strong husband get choked up. I love him so much.

Teresa never woke up from her coma. She breathed on her own until about 6pm last night and then passed away.

Again, Jeromy being the oldest son, he had to make the next difficult decision. But Teresa's sister Tammy was there providing great support for him... and him for her as well.

He's taking care of all the details. Thankfully he has off all next week (Thanksgiving) so he's able to take care of alot of things at his mom's house.

Teresa Miller

1959-2010

Here's some pictures of Teresa and her boys.

Teresa and baby Jeromy... can still see his dimple in his right side cheek....

Teresa and her 3 boys, Jeromy and his younger brothers Billy and Adam....
Close up on Jeromy's face... so cute...A more recent picture of Jeromy and his mom (from my scrapbook) that's Aurora's little bright eyed face at the bottom.Jeromy and his brothers...Hug those around you. Life is precious.