we milligans are all doing well.
mark has been a bit busy with real work again! yeah! he got caught up today. then he got caught up in a fun trumpeting project idea.
hogan has taken off reading. he read an entire chapter book today! one that he's read before, but i was sure impressed at the accomplishment of 182 pages. and it didn't even take all day. i think he picked it up after lunch and plugged away at various times for the rest of the day. he actually worked on a book report assignment this morning, did his normal work responsibilities, and fit in plenty of play time besides!
owen helped papa in the basement for quite a while today. he helped me work on cleaning his bedroom after lunch. he has turned into a great helper. he helped his brothers and sister have lots of fun today too. some friends from church brought over a bunch of hand-me-over toys on Sunday. owen was pretty excited about playing with them. he is such a fun companion as he loves to make people happy.
leannora loves learning time. she read a book to me this morning. she helped me with meals, kitchen work, cleaning her bedroom, and kept nikao and able company so i could finish up some things. she would reeeeeaaally like a sister. a sister might be good to help even out the emotions of the lone girl. our new baby will be a pleasant help to fill the needs of our little aspiring momma.
nikao is now talking away. it is so fun to hear him speak new words each day. at supper tonight he saw a truck with flashing lights out the window. he was so delighted and excited to tell us all about it. his names for the milligan children are the best . . . able is "ahbull," nikao is "kayoh," leannora is "nohrra," owen is "oh no," hogan is "oowheyoowheyoh." there are a few other fun varieties for owen and hogan, but i'd have to ask them to help me remember them.
able is everywhere. a delightful, wonderful, happy boy that gets into everything and can figure out how to get anywhere. he is definately preparing to be a big brother. it's so cool how God is doing that in him! he loves to immitate, so he too is talking away. i've been trying to teach him a bit of self control. this morning i gave him one toy and told him to sit in one spot while i worked on breakfast. i had to remind him of his place and possession a few times, but he did get the idea of obedience!
our baby loves to wiggle and move around a lot. we all have fun watching the momma's belly roll. the not so fun part is when the baby positions him or herself in the momma's ribs. but this has only been uncomfortable for a short time now. even though this is baby milligan #6, i can not get over the wonder of this child in my womb. it is just soooo amazing that i am carrying a living, eternal being uniquely designed by God. and that very soon we will meet His creation.
we are 3 weeks away from our due date of february 20. mark thinks i'm going to be early. i don't have any guesses. almost everyone is wishing us a girl, including our children. again, i don't have any guesses or wishes. i'm so pleased to know that this child will be the perfect fit for our family at this time because God has planned it for us ahead of time itself. and besides, my past efforts at guessing were failed attempts anyway.
i don't really feel prepared for our baby's arrival. mentally, that is. we have been sooo busy with house and home and life that this child has been overlooked in some ways. i guess some of that might be normal with a big family though. but i still feel funny about that. mark and i haven't really even sat down to discuss or list names yet! i'm counting on all those prayers that have been pouring in over this new baby. we have really been prayed for among friends and church family, so i can rest in that!
i'm hustling and bustling at this nesting thing. but i'm lacking the energy required to do all that i'd like to accomplish. i think i used most of my nesting energies during the house transformation. thankfully, God has given me an extended grace period in my personality battles. before our remodeling adventures i pleaded with God to take control of my need for order. it has been exciting to experience victories in this. i'm reckognizing that it's beginning to wain, so i guess i need to renew my request.
some funny kim pregnancy facts . . .
i'm still sneezing - yes, i sneeze at meal times while pregnant (it's much nicer than morning sickness and throwing up, but it is gross when i have a mouth full of food and my hands are full) we just say hi baby instead of God bless you now.
i haven't shaved my legs in months. but they are not hairy, they are bald from above my knees and down! that's pretty cool! sorry guys if i gave you too much information. feel free to laugh a lot. (maybe i've got some weird nutritional or hormonal imbalance, but you won't catch me complaining)
oh, what was the other funny thing? . . . oh, yeah, i'm a holy moley momma. moles run in my family. hee hee. get it? guess it wasn't that funny, it's just past my bedtime. anyways, i've always multiplied moles with each pregnancy. i even have one in my belly button! but this time i've got little white ones everywhere!
well, ive procrastinated the bedtime thing long enough now. it's really no fun trying to wrestle the blankets with 40+ extra #s attached to my body just to roll over. not to mention having to go to the bathroom ???? x ? but then waking up to put on pants that don't fit and shoes that i can hardly reach to tie is equally difficult. really, i'm not complaining, it's pretty funny stuff that we go through. and you've just gotta think that God smiles when we laugh about his creativity.
well, kendra, you asked for it. i apologize for those of you who didn't know what you were getting into when you started to read the latest milligan post. any time kim is asked to talk, well, you're going to get much more than you've asked for. but if you ask my mom, grandma, sister, aunts or cousins, their over explinations might really give you the giggles.
goodnight.
Monday, February 2, 2009
cloud room update
the momma finally got around to updating the cloud room story. part one is posted in august. part two is posted in november. sorry, i put in the pictures way back when and just this evening got around to adding an attempt at a quick story follow up. i hope it's not to difficult to check out.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
more hogan photos
hogan so kindly has taken his own pictures of our progress. once again he has captured our adventures from such a great perspective - from the eyes of our children. he's also taken the pictures that we've missed. you know, we adults miss so much in our business of busy ness. oh, i'm so thankful for our children. we would miss out on so much of life without them!
mark has worked on quite a bit of our household electrical. hogan made me a special message one day as he was helping dad.
these are the best before and after shots! hogan just added all these pictures to our computer file this week. it was so fun finding that he got these.
AFTER:
AFTER:
IN BETWEEN:
AFTER:
IN BETWEEN:
mark has worked on quite a bit of our household electrical. hogan made me a special message one day as he was helping dad.these are the best before and after shots! hogan just added all these pictures to our computer file this week. it was so fun finding that he got these.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
BEFORE:
IN BETWEEN:
AFTER:
IN BETWEEN:
AFTER:
we almost completely lost record of this aspect of our construction adventures.
able became a mobile baby and also became aware of what happens when you touch the wood stove. he is our first child to experience a burn from the wood stove. we needed to keep him safe from his own curiousity and all the mess and dust and dirt of destructo, so we trapped him in the pack and play for a couple of weeks while his blisters were healing. amazingly, the hand injury did not phase him at all. he was happy here, but he was not such an amiable boy with his adventuring getting cut off.
i know we showed photos of our island already, but i thought this was funny that hogan was taking a picture at the same time as mark.
hogan got a much better picture of our new mud room paint, trim, and super fun letters!
and he's the first one to take pictures of the pretty new painted walls in the front room.
and of course hogan did a great job capturing the handsome features of my favorite man.
able became a mobile baby and also became aware of what happens when you touch the wood stove. he is our first child to experience a burn from the wood stove. we needed to keep him safe from his own curiousity and all the mess and dust and dirt of destructo, so we trapped him in the pack and play for a couple of weeks while his blisters were healing. amazingly, the hand injury did not phase him at all. he was happy here, but he was not such an amiable boy with his adventuring getting cut off. 
i know we showed photos of our island already, but i thought this was funny that hogan was taking a picture at the same time as mark.
hogan got a much better picture of our new mud room paint, trim, and super fun letters!
and he's the first one to take pictures of the pretty new painted walls in the front room.
and of course hogan did a great job capturing the handsome features of my favorite man.
Friday, January 23, 2009
remodeling adventures
here are some updates on our kitchen remodeling project
we actually spread into working on 4 rooms
amazingly enough, all this has been done in less than 2 months
whoa!
the kitchen is fully functioning now
a bit more finishing touches are needed before we can call it done
that might be a while
but that's okay
notice the mudroom in the background
oh this room is so nice now with paint and fun letters over the children's coat hooks and new flooring and matching painted trim
we just need a door that opens to the outside to finish it off
that's a big project a long ways away
we love having an island!
i think this is going to be a favorite spot
we had a jammy breakfast this morning
mark was embarrassed about his hair - thus the napkin on the head
but this gives an idea of the new dining room colors
ahh, no more boingey greens, just restful
i actually felt like the room was foggy before we put a bit of furniture back in the room
and then there's the front room
we call it the sitting room
my men did some amazing work in here!!!
they hung new drywall to fix the past plaster problems on the stairway wall
then while waiting for the mud to dry in the stairway, hogan and owen decided to rip off all the old wallpaper and grandpa strub skim coated all the walls of the whole big room so we could paint on smooth walls
but then these guys had to sand all that mud
three generations of cute dusty men, huh?
yes, they even let the pregnant momma play with paint
the only condition was that i could not climb a ladder
i even mixed this color myself with free paint from some of my dad's past jobs
1 part mcdonald's bathroom ceiling green - 1 part golden mist - 1 part stone house = honey hazelnut (grandma strub's name for the new color)
able really wanted to help and be a part of all the progress
every time i turned around i found that he had snuck into the work zone
he's a quick one
i just had to let him play a bit so i could snap this shot before rescuing him from the dusty mess
nikao loved helping grandpa work, but he didn't like the noisy shop vac
the earmuffs were grandpa's remedy
nikao has really loved helping anyone work and he's a great happy helper
almost every morning for the past 2 months he's been getting dressed making sure that we understand that he's ready to work
all this has been such an exciting adventure
the best part is enjoying the children as they discover their own adventures
we love living in our house again
though we're far from back in order, it's all livable
i feel like we are in a place that we can relax on the remodeling process and get back to some priorities of family time, learning time, and get ready for baby time
we've got less than 6 weeks left before our baby's due date
there's a whole bunch i'd like to accomplish before baby milligan arrives, but that's where that nesting thing comes in handy
hmmm, every time i post something new i think of all the things that got left out
so we'll have to continue updating more fun stuff later
we actually spread into working on 4 rooms
amazingly enough, all this has been done in less than 2 months
whoa!
the kitchen is fully functioning now
a bit more finishing touches are needed before we can call it done
that might be a while
but that's okay
notice the mudroom in the background
oh this room is so nice now with paint and fun letters over the children's coat hooks and new flooring and matching painted trim
we just need a door that opens to the outside to finish it off
that's a big project a long ways away
we love having an island!i think this is going to be a favorite spot
we had a jammy breakfast this morningmark was embarrassed about his hair - thus the napkin on the head
but this gives an idea of the new dining room colors
ahh, no more boingey greens, just restful
i actually felt like the room was foggy before we put a bit of furniture back in the room
and then there's the front room
we call it the sitting room
my men did some amazing work in here!!!
they hung new drywall to fix the past plaster problems on the stairway wall
then while waiting for the mud to dry in the stairway, hogan and owen decided to rip off all the old wallpaper and grandpa strub skim coated all the walls of the whole big room so we could paint on smooth walls
but then these guys had to sand all that mud
three generations of cute dusty men, huh?
yes, they even let the pregnant momma play with paintthe only condition was that i could not climb a ladder
i even mixed this color myself with free paint from some of my dad's past jobs
1 part mcdonald's bathroom ceiling green - 1 part golden mist - 1 part stone house = honey hazelnut (grandma strub's name for the new color)
able really wanted to help and be a part of all the progressevery time i turned around i found that he had snuck into the work zone
he's a quick one
i just had to let him play a bit so i could snap this shot before rescuing him from the dusty mess
nikao loved helping grandpa work, but he didn't like the noisy shop vacthe earmuffs were grandpa's remedy
nikao has really loved helping anyone work and he's a great happy helper
almost every morning for the past 2 months he's been getting dressed making sure that we understand that he's ready to work
all this has been such an exciting adventure
the best part is enjoying the children as they discover their own adventures
we love living in our house again
though we're far from back in order, it's all livable
i feel like we are in a place that we can relax on the remodeling process and get back to some priorities of family time, learning time, and get ready for baby time
we've got less than 6 weeks left before our baby's due date
there's a whole bunch i'd like to accomplish before baby milligan arrives, but that's where that nesting thing comes in handy
hmmm, every time i post something new i think of all the things that got left out
so we'll have to continue updating more fun stuff later
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The latest in kitchen work.
Able gets painting lessons from Grandpa Strub.
First the priming coat.
Then the new green!
Grandpa Strub sure trusts Hogan since he's letting him roll close to the cabinets!
Lots of industry!
All tuckered out.Friday, December 26, 2008
Okay Val, here's some pictures of our progress...
here's mark loading our dumpster in the driveway full of destructo materials - cabinets, old flooring, plaster, and carpet. i'm not really sure if they'll charge us for all the snow in there too?
old floor, new floor
laying down the lauan on the old wood floor to prepare for the new vinyl kitchen floor. nikao has loved helping papa on our kitchen project. each morning he lets us know that he is dressing for work.
leannora getting a turn at a new kind of kitchen work
even able got to "help" a bit. it's fun to watch him imitate the work that's going on. we've had to corral him in the pack -n- play some to keep him out of too much trouble.
part of kim's under construction cooking methods - stirring food on a step stool for the microwave on the fridge in the dining room
our "sink" is a couple of totes in the bathtub. this is Christmas day. grandma sara offered to do the dishes, but kim wanted proof of her 7 month pregnant belly and the daily adventures of remodeling.
we'll have to give a view of our other kitchen/dining areas spread over 4 rooms in the future.
unfortunately we missed some really great photo opportunities of trying to lay out, cut, and glue our new vinyl flooring. mark amazingly wrestled a 30x12 roll of vinyl out across the 18x10 kitchen, through the doorway, and into the 10x5 mudroom without creating any holes!
bill and sara helped us glue the stuff down and roll it out with our rolling pin on Christmas eve. but the pictures below show our progress and the new floors all installed!
grandpa strub came to help us and got to take part in the major transformation. today we accomplished installing can lights, paneling, and a few of the new cabinets as well as patching the mud room walls and kitchen ceiling.
wow!
(check this post out again as we might add a few photos here instead of creating a new post.)
here's mark loading our dumpster in the driveway full of destructo materials - cabinets, old flooring, plaster, and carpet. i'm not really sure if they'll charge us for all the snow in there too?
old floor, new floor
laying down the lauan on the old wood floor to prepare for the new vinyl kitchen floor. nikao has loved helping papa on our kitchen project. each morning he lets us know that he is dressing for work. 
leannora getting a turn at a new kind of kitchen work
even able got to "help" a bit. it's fun to watch him imitate the work that's going on. we've had to corral him in the pack -n- play some to keep him out of too much trouble.
part of kim's under construction cooking methods - stirring food on a step stool for the microwave on the fridge in the dining room
our "sink" is a couple of totes in the bathtub. this is Christmas day. grandma sara offered to do the dishes, but kim wanted proof of her 7 month pregnant belly and the daily adventures of remodeling.we'll have to give a view of our other kitchen/dining areas spread over 4 rooms in the future.
unfortunately we missed some really great photo opportunities of trying to lay out, cut, and glue our new vinyl flooring. mark amazingly wrestled a 30x12 roll of vinyl out across the 18x10 kitchen, through the doorway, and into the 10x5 mudroom without creating any holes!
bill and sara helped us glue the stuff down and roll it out with our rolling pin on Christmas eve. but the pictures below show our progress and the new floors all installed!
grandpa strub came to help us and got to take part in the major transformation. today we accomplished installing can lights, paneling, and a few of the new cabinets as well as patching the mud room walls and kitchen ceiling. 
wow!(check this post out again as we might add a few photos here instead of creating a new post.)
Christmas time
Here's the children decorating this year's Christmas tree. In case you're trying to figure it out, we tore off the plaster to start a project, then hung plastic and lights and ornaments. Yup, it's an odd year.
Grandpa Bill reads the children one of their presents.
Able enjoys his new ball.
Lots of giving.
Nikao's a tired boy after only half a day of celebrating.A Christmas visit at Great Grandpa and Grandma Hartzell's house
December 27
Grandpa and Grandma had prepared some grab bag gifts to share along with yummie snacks and goodies for our quick little Christmastime visit.
Hogan is holding Great Grandpa Hartzell's childhood teddy bear.It was repaired as a gift for Grandpa this year. Pretty neat!
Strub, Bentz, and Milligan family Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma Strub's
December 29 - 31
December 29, 2008Happy 4th Birthday Daniel Lee Bentz!
8 Strub grandchildren!
2 cute grand daughters!
thank you for the Christmas presents!
Hogan's helping with the gift wrap galore cleanup.Coming Soon:
Christmas Celebration 2009
We will be traveling to Hudson, WI January 8 & 9 to visit Uncle Matt, Aunt Monica, cousin Ava and to meet our new nephew Luke Elijah Milligan!
So here's handsome Luke at one month.
Bedtime stories with Uncle Matt.Even Ava tries to call her daddy Uncle Matt in all the excitement of cousin fun.
We made time to play with Matt too. Matt and Monica introduced us to a new game - Settlers of Catan. Mark was having fun playing with our new camera. He took the picture of the game, so maybe it's worth adding to the blog?
Mark played with different camera settings for quite a while. This was my favorite shot.
Ava is sure a cutie!This is her surprize look.
Well, we ended up getting to stay an extra day. That made time for more playing, yummy snacking, and Settlers fun late into the night. We had a rematch round. Mark won. I suppose we're all a little tired of Matt wining all the time. We also got to see the house that Matt and Monica currently have an offer in on in Hudson. That was fun too.
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