Cody's Photoshoot

A photo shoot is a must for all Millsers babies when they are first born. So, armed with a gift certificate from our pediatrician's office, we visited Audrey Imfeld for a free photoshoot and lost an arm when we came out from the experience!! Here are the pictures we could afford:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What did you think of the pictures? Worth an arm?

My cutie patootie

my little grumpy face

Christmas 2009

Christmas snuck up on me and left me very unprepared this year. With Christmas cards unsent, cookies unbaked, gifts unbought, i was scrambling around Christmas morning trying to salvage whatever that's left.

With a late start, i managed to get us a Christmas morning picture without too many crying kids before the opening of the presents commenced.

The Christmas morning family picture

Tyler definitely led the presents count this year by a long shot. Some of them were even opened before Christmas due to several reasons, one of them being he has a instant gratification mother!!

Below is what most of the morning looked like : Tyler ripping apart presents as fast as he can, Alan helping him out and Cody staring and bored out of his mind. Me? Taking picture of course. :)

 

The presents opening scene

Check out those chi-chi's

So, after the presents were all opened, i left Alan to clean up the mess and ran off to Steffen's house for my next duty for the day- cook Christmas dinner. Steffen had just bought a house with a double oven and i thought it was super clever of me to delegate Christmas celebration to Steffen. But i ended up spending lots of time running back and forth that I'm not sure I'm as clever as i initially thought!

So, the next 2-3 hours, Steffen and I work on getting our Christmas dinner on the table. I did most of the cooking while Steffen did most of the prep work and cleaning up and as dinner was served, the house still looked spotless(never happens at my house!!) and food was presented beautifully. Good job, Steffen!!

  Food is served in Steffen's beautiful home

And as the host of the house, Steffen did the honors of carving the turkey which was a smoked turkey cooked by my friend Emilio. Oh yummy!!!

Steffen carving his first turkey

Steffen and I with the cakes that we made

After dinner was done, we relaxed and opened our gifts from our Secret Santa. Then we had some cakes and tea and played games and watched Notting Hill before we called it a night.

All in all, i think i consider this Christmas salvaged. :) Who needs any more fattening cookies and I'll get the Christmas cards out after Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas

Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas !!!

-The Millsers

Pies - fear conquered

One of my favorite thing to eat when I'm in England is their yummy savory pastries which include sausage rolls and their pies. Though I've been married to an English man for more than 6 years, I'm sad to say that I've never made any pie till this week, all because i was so afraid that it was going to taste horrible.

But recently while Evelyn was here, I found them eating frozen beef pies(multiple occasions) which even I found quite inedible and I figured if they can eat that, nothing i cook is going to be too bad! :)

So, with that i brushed off the dust off my cook book and took on my first beef pie. Surprisingly, it turned pretty good and it was easy peasy to make too(though it did take like 2 hrs to simmer). This week, i tried my hand on a chicken and leek pie which was even easier and yummier. I invited a few guinea pigs and pigs they were indeed. They chowed down my pie before i even had a chance to get a second piece. Pigs!!!

Anyways, there you go, I'm pie certified!

Chicken and Leek pie

Gingerbread house party

Following on from last year's successful event, our friends Elaine and Matt once again hosted a Gingerbread House decorating party, even when she is expecting twins!! What a trooper! She didn't even cancel when so many people actually bailed out on her party!!

Steffen helping Tyler with his house

I'm on my own.. :(

 

My Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House neighbourhood

Alan and I

Tyler didn't stay interested in his house for very long. He was off running around with the other kids before the foundation was finished. So, poor Steffen, always the best big brother, had to finish it up, even when he didn't even want to do a house in the first place!!

He did play(i mean wreck) with my house the next morning. He thought it was fun to peel off the hot tamales that was my driveway and throw it around and drove little cars into the house.

Tyler driving cars into the house

Our little drummer boy

I've always wanted to buy Tyler a drum set, but never found a good one to buy. Today while i was shopping in King Sooper, a drum set caught my eye and the price was even right - $12.50 and i was sold! And besides, it'd be his Christmas present!

When i got home, i asked Tyler if he wanted to open the box(praying that he will say 'yes', of course) and he did!! I know it's not Christmas yet, but what's the difference in a few days.

While assembling it, i wasn't sure who was more excited and it turned to be awesome!! Even has a foot pedal and everything. Check it out!!

Tyler trying out the foot pedal

A tap on the cymbal

Because it had a foot pedal and 2 drumsticks, I was relatively surprised how fast Tyler was using his foot and both hands. Quite good hand foot coordination!!

In full action!!

Tyler thought the drums were great! But he did feel that it needed a little something to make it awesome. So he stuck a fork on the cymbal!

His pink fork decoration

Cody's first bath

All the Asian readers of this blog are probably disgusted that i haven't bathed Cody since he was born! But it's not like i don't sponge bath him and besides, Colorado is TOO dry. And he did sorta have a slight cold. MIL thought it might be risky to give him a bath. So, there you go.. plenty of excuses.. :)

Tyler was very excited that we were giving him a bath and helped out.

Cody took on his first bath in good strides and seemed to really enjoy the experience. Didn't like the drying part though.

Cody relaxing in the tub...

Can't post too many other pictures because the photographer wasn't too discrete and exposed too much.

The Boys

Here are some pictures of the boys..

Little monk

 

Face of innocence

 Getting ready for Xmas

Reading under the xmas tree

Brotherly love even if it is only for a few seconds

Tyler's English/Feminine Side

While Grandma was around, Tyler and Grandma spent lots of time engaging in pretend play. And because she likes to drink tea being English and all, she thought her grandchild should have a tea set. We went out to look for one and found one. Only problem is that it was all pink and girly. We thought, ah, what the heck.

Tyler getting an early Xmas gift

 

 Mmmm.. tea..

Pouring tea

Grandma found it so funny when she asked for a cup of tea and Tyler just handed her a cup and the teapot as if to tell her to get her own!!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

 

  

Tyler's Winter Concert

We got a note from Tyler's school saying that his class will be performing in the Winter Concert and i was really skeptical when they said that they were going to sing. I was like, "He can't even talk, what do you mean sing?" But the teachers were all excited and said that they even had costumes made!

Anyways, all of us went(Alan, me, grandma and Cody) to give him support. And just like what i suspected, the only people singing were the teachers! haha!!

But let me tell you, the cuteness factor when they walked out with their little cut-out snowmen was something i will remember forever. And how they meandered around like little lost lambs was so funny and Tyler bouncing up and down during the song, made it all worthwhile.. :)

Even though their class didn't actually sing, i think they still stole the show!

Tyler's class performing "I'm a little snowman"

 

Tyler and his cut out snowman

The class after the performance

Gifts from Sharon

I consider Tyler quite the lucky kid as he even got Christmas presents from his hairdresser. How cool is that? And to top it off, the gifts were really nice!

Tyler loves his lunch bag and demands to drink from his water bottle everyday!

Testing out the zip and seeing what's inside

 

 Whoa.. cool water bottle!!

Cody's Full Moon Party

According to Chinese customs, when a baby turns one month old, a ceremony is held to celebrate her first full moon/month. So, to honor that tradition, we had a party for Cody. As a true Millser, Cody managed to invite 24 people to his party which dashed my hopes to have a "small" party.

Fruits, red eggs and my pink cake (it was supposed to be red!!)

The spread. MIL spent hours making the pie tee shells

Cody and us

A rare full family picture

My boys..

People who have kids and husbands must know how hard it is to get everybody to look at the camera. So, here are my best efforts. Of course, i don't have everybody looking. That'd be a miracle!!

Finally..  picture of Tyler and Cody

Pile on Daddy time...

And of course.. grandma time...