Taming the Hairy Beast

Eyebrows.

Us Miller girls, we got 'em. Some girls are born with narrow, shapely brows that need little maintenance but not us. Unlike the need for glasses and braces, we can't blame this fact on Chris' Miller genes. Nope... They come from this man right here, MY dad, Kelly Totero. See how lush and verdant his brows are? I used to tease him and say that the only things I inherited from him were his eyebrows and his belly! (I always wanted brown eyes and dark, wavy hair!) Luckily, Marissa and I have found a solution for keeping our eyebrows under control...

Eyebrow threading!

There is a little kiosk outside of Penney's on the upper level of Oak Park Mall where you can have your eyebrows beautifully shaped in as little as five minutes. (They also do mustaches and sideburns and any other unwanted facial hair, but luckily, we didn't inherit that problem!)

The operator rolls her thread through your eyebrows and pulls the hair from the root. It's much less painful that plucking and lasts alot longer.

Halfway done!

We stumbled upon this kiosk last May and first thought that eyebrow threading was some kind of new-fangled way to pierce. After watching for a few minutes, we were hooked and knew we had to try it!

It's amazing how precisely the operator can use the thread to capture wayward hairs.

All finished. Sleek and beautiful brows in just five minutes! Now we're ready for that family portrait shoot later today.

Sweet 16

Marissa turned 16 today. Where have all the years gone?

First order of business: Breakfast in bed made by Meagan.

Marissa has had a birthday tree since she was two. We take the ornaments off the tree on December 26th and load it with balloons for Marissa's birthday on the 27th. It's a bummer having a birthday so close to Christmas but we try to make it fun. Here is Marissa with her first birthday tree in 1995. Wasn't she cute?!?

Wow...a TV and DVD player for her room...just what she wanted!

Happy Birthday, Marissa!

Snowtime Fun

We're into day three of almost continuous snowfall and thought sledding would be fun. We went to Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park in Lenexa and had a blast. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be!

Mal, Lily, and Meg...first run!

Marissa and Chase...ready, set, go!

Chris is on his own. We tried to get Lily to go on her own but she had other ideas.

There goes Zippy!

Zoom!

Meagan going airborn!

Mallorie kickin' up some snow!

Now here's a couple of pretty snow bunnies!

Taking a break at the bottom of the hill.

Lily loved the snow!

Marissa chillin'. Peace!

A Christmas Story--Miller Version

There is a Chinese restaurant just a few blocks from my mom's house. One Christmas, three years ago, Chris became really sick and had to leave my mom's before dinner. On the way home that night, the kids begged me to stop at Dragon Dynasty for a bite. We had just watched "A Christmas Story," and they thought it would be fun. I agreed, so in we went. We ordered crab rangoon, fried rice, and egg rolls but were too embarrassed to ask the waiter to sing for us! Fa, ra, ra, ra, ra, ra, ra, ra, ra!!! A new tradition was born and we've gone there on Christmas night ever since...just don't tell Grandma!

Christmas Day at Grandma Vada's

As predicted, snow began falling late in the morning and continued throughout the day. Both of the McCoy families were snowed in up in Cameron so we had a much smaller group than usual at Grandma Vada's. While we missed them, that didn't keep us from having fun with our cousins that were there.

Tristan trying to get Lily to lick his finger.

That tickles!!!

Snoring and pretending to be asleep...he is such a happy baby!

Where's your nose, Tristan?

Where's your ear?

Chase relaxing with his grandma.

Marissa and Isabella being silly.

Uh oh...Isabella's got the camera. Let's see what she shot...

Who's that?!?

Chase, upside down!

Scary!

The grandparents with the Miller kids...

and the Totero kids.

The Totero Family.

Mom, Anthony, and Maria. (We miss you, Rhonda!)

The Miller Family.

Christmas Morning

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..." and I got one! Driving home last night was treacherous but the sun is shining this morning. More snow is predicted for later today. There's a driveway under there somewhere! You can see how much the wind blew last night.

Lily and I have matching jammies this morning.

Marissa's favorite gift.

A Massage Envy gift card...yeah!

A gun case.

Matching Snuggies!

T-shirts from Hawaii!

And a hot-air balloon ride...Wheee!

Look out...marshmallow guns!

Chase made us get up way too early!