Jam Session

I don't have the pictures to prove it yet, but Johanna loves to have jam sessions. She LOVES to play the piano. We sit together and I play and sing while she plays along. Her favorite is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I'll play and sing the melody while she just plays along. When I get to the end of the song she always says...."Gin" which stands for "again." We usually repeat this routine about 5 times during our jam sessions.

What some of you may not know is that I also have played violin forever. I started in fourth grade and played throughout high school. I even played for some musicals during high school. I played in the pit orchestra for My Fair Lady and Brigadoon. After high school I played for a local community theater and even taught some lessons when Brian and I moved to Kansas. The sad part is that I haven't played much at all over the past five or six years.

One day during our jam session, I got my violin out. I think this might be the first time that I really played with Johanna. She wasn't sure what to think. I think she kind of liked when I played Twinkle Twinkle, but I have to admit that I have DEFINITELY lost my touch. I started trying to play the Mozart song that we had to play for senior year auditions. Johanna stopped playing the piano, looked over at me, and started saying "No, No!" I stopped and asked, "Do you want mommy to stop playing?" She just replied "OK" which is her way of saying "YES, PLEASE SAVE MY EARS."

I guess this mean that I shouldn't quit my day job.

Birthday's and M&M's

One of Johanna's friends, Lindley, has her second birthday party today. The theme was M&M' s since that is Lindley's favorite candy. My friend Bri (Lindley's mom) did a great job with the party. There was lots of great food and plenty of chocolate!

They played one game where the kids got to fish M&M's out of a kiddy pool (minus the water) and put them into colored bags to take home along with their new M&M watch. I was helping Johanna from behind. I got two little scoops into her bag and I turned her around to move out of the way for other kids. When she turned I realized that she took FULL advantage of me not being able to see her face. She had completely stuffed her face full of M&M's. She had chocolate running down her chin and onto her outfit. She's my kind of a girl!!

I still just can't believe that she's old enough to go and play at a birthday party.
Here's a few pic that I took as we were getting ready for the party-


The following picture were taken on random days. The first is of her watching her favorite movie (Nemo) while holding her beloved Pooh.

Freezer Fabulous

I just have to share something that has been such a HUGE blessing in my life since school started. I have been doing freezer meals with three other girlfriends with families. It has been SO AMAZING! What a huge help with dinner every night.
Here's the lo-down:
We each make five meals and one dessert. The catch is that we make four of each recipe (one for ourselves and one for each other person). The meals all go in the freezer. Then, one day toward the end of the month we all meet up or coordinate schedules to trade meals. Thus, we end up with twenty dinners and four desserts. All I have to do is decide what we will want for dinner the next night and put it in the fridge to start thawing. By the time I get home from work the next day, all I do is pop it in the oven and viola......dinner!

It is sort of labor intensive when you are preparing your part of the meals. But, the end result is more then worth it. I can do up to three recipes (four of each recipe) in one day if I am home for a Saturday. I then do a recipe here and there when I have time until my recipes are done. I usually only spend about a total of four days working on my meals. After trading, I end up with a months worth of NO COOKING! The other great part is that it saves lots of money.

Maybe some day soon I will share what our September menu looked like! If any of you are interested in more details or recipes that work well, please feel free to let me know.

Mrs. Miller

Hello and welcome back to the world of Mrs. Miller. I have been called Mrs. Miller more in the past three weeks than the past three months combined. Yes, school is back in session. The room is decorated, the air is hot, and the kids are wound-up- that is August for ya. It was almost 90 degrees in my room today. That mixed with a bunch of seventh graders is a recipe for a crazy day.

I am enjoying my new job. It definitely has been a HUGE adjustment. It is still hard to leave Johanna, but she seems to be enjoying herself at the babysitters. It still is hard to not be with her all day, but we will all manage to make it through.

I am slowly finding my routine in my own classroom, which is good. The staff there is amazing, so I consider myself very lucky.

We had a three day weekend for Labor Day, and I was able to visit my best friend Meredith in Boston. It was a FABULOUS weekend. I saw a lot of the sights, but I also enjoyed just getting to spend time together. We did lots of things that I love. We did the tourist thing, shopped (we even found her wedding dress!), drank martinis, talked, ate too much, watched a girly movie, sang karaoke, slept in, hung out with other friends, and even had some time to exercise. It was a whirlwind trip since I was only gone for three days, but it was a great break. Both Mere and I had to go back to work on Tuesday, so it was nice to have someone to dread the next day with on Monday.

Brian and Johanna came to pick me up at the airport. I did really miss my family, so it was good to see them.

Tomorrow begins the annual big to-do here in Wooster. That's right, it's the beginning of the good old Wayne County Fair. I am sure those of you from around here have plenty of fond memories that involve hanging out at the fair. Don't ask me why we thought this was so cool. I still enjoy going a few times to get some good food. Ummmm....cheese on a stick is like food for my thighs and soul. I also enjoy doing some people watching and wondering where all the really big freaks come from. Do they really all live around here?

Here are some pics of Johanna to help appease the angry blog viewers!

The following pictures confirm that Johanna is a shoe lover- just like her mommy! She LOVES to try on shoes. She will walk around in my shoes for hours if I let her. There are also some pics of her putting on my clothes. This is another one of her favorite hobbies. The last pic is of her and her bff Katelyn. They decided to climb in the toy chest, even though Johanna knows that she is not supposed too. Johanna looks like she knows she is about to get into trouble for this!