Pizza for Taylor

You are clearly not disabled…

I remember when Miller could no longer tolerate his car seat without his saturations dropping, we would have to hold him in the back seat on the way to doctors appointments. I was always so afraid of pulling up at a stoplight next to someone and them seeing him out of a car seat. I knew that without being able to see the oxygen in his nose and the pulse ox around his little foot that they would judge us as unfit parents. Sometimes I would cover him with a blanket so people couldn't see, and other days I dared someone to say something to me! This post is a powerful reminder that you should never judge others.......

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-perryman-/to-the-author-of-the-anonymous-note-left-on-my-car-window_b_3806012.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

$25,000 donation to Circle of Life

Today The Miller McNeil Woodruff Foundation presented Circle of Life Hospice with a $25,000 donation!  This donation will go towards the recently launched, Circle of Life Hospice Foundation.  The purpose of this foundation in to help COL prepare for financial eventualities, such as maintenance for the inpatient hospice homes.  The regular day to day and monthly maintenance is already incorporated into the budget, but this endowment fund will prevent the necessity of having to raise emergency funds when major maintenance is needed, such as replacing a roof.  Part of what we loved so much about hospice was being able to go to the inpatient facility in Miller’s final hours.  It is such a beautiful, peaceful place and this endowment will help insure the beauty is preserved forever!  Thank you to all of our supporters who made this donation possible.  As we always say, if it weren’t for YOU we wouldn’t have the funds to do Miller’s work.  We are incredibly grateful…..

Big Brother and Baby Sister with Miller’s stone at Circle of Life Hospice House.  Cole is so proud to be Miller’s big brother and we hope to teach Mattie all about Miller so she will be just as proud……

Taylor McKeen Shelton

Our friends, Wes and Ella Shelton, lost their 14 month old son Taylor on June 15th to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC).  

Please check out their website at www.taylormckeen.com to learn more about Taylor’s story and help support them in discovering the causes of SUDC. 

Skipping Rocks

While Mattie and I took a nap, Cole and Patrick decided to skip some rocks and find a few crawdads:)…..

Bell Tower Magazine Article

The Bell Tower Magazine did a feature story on Miller’s foundation.  They did an amazing job and even arranged a fun photo shoot for our family:)!  You can check out the story by clicking on this link:  http://issuu.com/ua_fort_smith/docs/belltower_summer2013

THANK YOU to the Bell Tower Magazine for featuring Miller’s Story and thanks to Kat Wilson for the fun photo shoot!

To see more work by Kat Wilson check out her website at:

http://katwilsonartist.com/home.html

Branson

Nana and Papa treated us to a weekend in Branson.  We had a great time!  Friday night we at dinner at The Fish House (I think that’s the name of it?) and after dinner everyone except Patrick, Mattie and me went to see The Baldknobbers.  Saturday the girls spent the entire day shopping!  The boys started out with us but ended up going to play putt-putt and to see some fish.  Saturday night we went to Dixie Stampede.  It was a blast!  Of course, Cole loved it, but I think Mattie might have enjoyed it just as much!  I wish I could have gotten more pictures but we got in trouble for taking pics:(.  After the show Nana and Papa offered to take the kids back to the hotel so the big kids could go out on the town for a bit, but we let the old fogey come out in us and decided to stay at the hotel and have happy hour with the fam instead.  Sunday morning we headed home and ended the trip with lunch at Acambaro.  Thank you, Nana and Papa, for a wonderful weekend getaway!!!!!!

Mattie

I can’t believe Mattie is 11 months old!  Where has the time gone?  I feel like she should still be a newborn!  She has gotten VERY active this past month.  She finally started crawling this month and now that she is mobile she is busy, busy, busy!  We never really had to childproof our house for Cole and I can already tell you things are going to be WAY different for Miss Priss!  You can’t take your eyes off of her for a second!  She is very nosey and has NO fear!  She definitely keeps us on our toes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way:)! 

In this video you can tell her love of music and get a tiny glimpse of her new trick, blowing kisses!  She usually does it better than this, but it has to be on HER terms;).  Silly girl…..

Miller Time

Occasionally I will sit down and go through Miller’s old videos.  I could watch them over and over!  This is the one I happened to click on today so I thought I would share it with y’all.  Miss this baby boy…..

Fun times with Friends

Tonight we got together with 7 of my college girlfriends and their families.  It was SO much fun to see all of the kids play with each other.  It’s crazy to think we’ve been out of college for 11 years.  15 kids, 2 on the way, and 1 angel in heaven later we are still making memories.  Love these babies:)…….

Mattie’s Best Buddy

Mattie LOVES Nana’s old baby doll!  How funny are these pictures?!  LOL…..