june rewind #3: my birthday surprise!

the kids and i drove home from atlanta on my birthday. it was a good trip home, especially thanks to tammy, who kept a very tired birthday girl company on the phone for the last 3 hours of the drive! :) that was a wonderful gift, tammy!! i had to laugh when i talked to brian, who was going to lunch at my very favorite restaurant with jonathan on my birthday when the kids and i had just eaten 89 cent burgers from the drive-through. but he made up for it that evening. :) he'd arranged for my mom, his parents, and jeff, kristie, and karina to come over for cake after just the 4 of us went to dinner. i was exhausted, but it was a fun little birthday party. kristie made a cute polka-dotted birthday sign for me, and my mom made my favorite cake: strawberry with buttercream icing. mmmm. i actually froze 1/2 of it in slices and enjoyed it again weeks later. :) thanks mom!!

and brian surprised me with a great great birthday gift! i am horrible to buy gifts for. i never can think of anything i want except like, finished kitchen cabinets, a new front porch, that kind of thing. :) so when brian said he ordered me something, i was honestly a bit nervous and curious. what could he have possibly ordered me? well then the very thin package came, and i saw the return address of blurb.com, and i couldn't believe it! we've talked about making my blog into a book for awhile, but we just haven't taken the time to do it. well, thanks to my marathon sunday afternoon naps, my sweet husband was able to sneakily design my first tenlittletoes book! he wisely chose to just print the first year of my blog, which was sept-dec of 2005. he was actually pretty brave to take on this project, knowing that the control freak in me likes to do these kinds of things myself. but he did a great job! he knows that i hate book jackets, so he designed the cover to have the pictures printed on the actual book (i think that's called image wrap). brian designed the cover to look like my blog design: clean and white. i thought that was a great touch. here's the cover:


inside, each post from 2005 has its own page (or pages!). the links are listed as footnotes. i haven't experimented with designing a book yet, but according to brian, you have a lot of freedom to put pictures where you want and to even add pictures that aren't in your blog. on that note, you can design whatever kind of book you want-- it doesn't have to be related to a blog at all! anyway, here are a couple of samples of the inside pages...

this post was long enough to stretch to two pages.

and here is my first post on tenlittletoes!

this book is definitely a treasure, and now i can't wait to get 2006 & 2007 printed! though those books will be MUCH bigger since i blogged for the entirety of those years. i love the idea of blogs... of online journaling. there's no messy handwriting, no mistakes that need white-out, and i just think better when i'm typing. i love being able to share the blessings and trials of my life with those of you that actual read this blog. that being said, though, there is something very special about holding a journal or other piece of written work in your hand. it is history. it is something physical to be passed down to generations to come. and it looks really great on my bookshelf. :)

june rewind #2: a visit to atlanta!

kim, christy, christie (holding noah), ashley, me
our only group shot the whole weekend! :(
we were too busy chasing kids & feeding babies to take pictures!!
the kids and i gave brian a great father's day gift... a day of peace and quiet! we headed out on father's day morning to atlanta for the annual reunion of my dear college friends. (i know brian missed us, but i bet he did enjoy a quiet sunday!) brian was concerned about me traveling with the kids by myself since i wasn't feeling so great, but i told him that i didn't feel bad enough NOT to go... so i loaded up the front seat with food, my ipod with tunes, and the kids with snacks, and off we went! God truly blessed our drive to atlanta. it didn't seem as long as i thought it would, and the kids were wonderful. the best part about the drive to atlanta was that i figured out how to feel better... before this trip, i was probably eating something every couple of hours, and i felt horrible! but you know there is only so much you can do in the car besides eat, sooooo, i ate! and ate! and ate! constantly! and guess what?! i felt GREAT! so i decided that this baby needed food every 30-45 minutes. while i was in atlanta, i checked the clock when i ate and made a mental note of when i needed to eat again. it was almost like feeding a newborn! ha! but i felt 100% better. praise the Lord! so that was worth the drive to atlanta right there.... but on to the real reason for my trip!

seeing my friends!

kim was so sweet to host us at her beautiful home this year. my kids loved being with her kids, paxton (almost 4) and lorelei (2), and her husband josh was such a servant while we were there. he grilled out deLICious kabobs, entertained the kids, unloaded our cars, etc. thank you, josh and kim, for your wonderful hospitality!

this year we got to meet two new babies!!!! christy brought sadie, her 8 month old sweetheart, and ashley introduced us to noah, who was just about 3 months old. oh how fun it was to pass those babies around!!! though i feel like i didn't get to hold them all that much b/c i was dealing with my own children. paxton insisted on calling noah "baby moses" for the first day, which got me laughing every time! caroline absolutely loved those babies, which is good news for the months to come. :)

ashley & noah, christy & sadie
look at that grin!
caroline is going to be one excited big sister in january!
evidence that i DID get to hold a baby!
we started off our weekend with a morning at kim's neighborhood pool. the girls were all so sweet to play with the kids, especially "aunt christie" who is like the pied piper. being a kindergarten teacher (and not yet having children of her own), she is eternally patient and knows just how to engage any child! here's a few pictures of the kids at the pool. it was rare to get all 4 kids in the same vicinity for a picture, but we managed to do it a time or two over the weekend. :)

ethan needs to teach caroline how to POSE for a picture!!
ok, this is better!
they actually did very well waiting to get in the pool!
sweet girls
baby noah is melting my heart...
i think i took 20 pictures of him sleeping by the pool!
that night, we headed out to stone mountain for the laser light show. we ate way too much food at a great home cookin' place and then climbed aboard a train for a ride around the mountain. a full tummy and a rockin' train are not exactly a good first-trimester combination, but i made it. :) ethan LOVED the train ride!!! i got so many pictures of him with a painfully huge grin on his face!! after the train ride, we found our spot for the laser show, and the kids had fun dancing to the loud country music (sorry, honey) on the big hill. the boys waved their laser swords with reckless abandon, and the girls danced without a care in the world in between the swooshing swords. kim and i held our breath the whole time, and i still can't believe that nobody got hit in the head. that was almost as impressive as the laser show. :) the kids loved the show, and the babies did GREAT being up so late at night. we rolled back into kim & josh's very late that night.

riding the train 'round the mountain!
paxton & ethan playing on the train
josh & lorelei
kim & noah
waiting for the laser show to start
our daring knights with shining laser swords
a view of our pre-show show...
you can see caroline dancing within inches of her life :)
a beautiful shot of the laser show
no, i didn't take it
the next morning, we visited the georgia aquarium. this is a HUGE facility with some beautiful animals. i would like to go back when it is less crowded and when i do not need a stroller! as soon as we entered the aquarium, we were greeted by "deepo" who looks amazingly similar to his star-struck friend nemo! during our trek through the exhibits, ethan had one request: "i want to see the sharks!" i kept telling him that we were getting to the sharks, and it turned out to be our last stop. so the poor kid was worn out by the time we actually got to the shark tank... so next time, (ya know, when i don't bring the stroller?), we'll start with the sharks. caroline was at a hard age for this kind of thing because i felt like she was too young to just walk around with me (w/ brian there, it would have been different), but she wanted to get out of the stroller every 3 minutes to see something. i couldn't blame her! there was a lot to see!! but the kids did great, and it really was a fun morning. thanks to aunt christie for helping out with the kids, and thanks to ashley and christy for bringing the babies along! it was not really a baby-type outing, but they were great sports and smiled through it all. :) i think they did have a little fun! (disclaimer: aquarium lighting & glass is obviously not optimal for taking pictures, but i think these turned out pretty well considering the lighting, etc.)

ethan & paxton with nemo, uh, i mean deepo
the kids could've watched fish all day
this is my favorite picture from our trip...
i love how ethan is standing watching the manatees!
a shot of the big tank with all the sharks
try getting 4 kids looking at fish to turn around for a picture!!!

that night, we went out to bahama breeze for dinner, and then one more evening of chatting before we headed home the next morning! we didn't stay up as late as we usually do on these reunions because the kids wore us out. :) but it was another wonderful year of catching up and fellowship. and lots of dessert! out of the usual bunch that makes it to the reunions, lynsay was not able to come this year because she was moving... and as we said last year without christie there, it was not the same without her. it's hard for us all to coordinate our schedules to make it a time when everybody that wants to be there can be there, but maybe next year, it will work out. these girls are so special to me, and i know i will do whatever i can to be there next year. it's too easy to get busy and lose touch these days. but thank you, Lord, for email and blogs and cell phones! today's technology does make it somewhat easier to stay connected, but our yearly get-togethers are still a necessity in my book! thank you, girls, for another wonderful reunion, and i am already looking forward to next year!

june rewind #1: a visit from friends!

my goal is to recap june before july ends! :) we'll see if i can do it!!


eric and kristi and kids came down the first week in june for a wedding, to see old friends, and to make a surprise visit to our youth choir's homecoming concert. (eric led the choir's summer tour when they lived here.) this was a wonderful bonus to the time we spent with them at the beach a couple weeks earlier. i was so glad we had all that time with them earlier, though, because when they are here, there are so many people who want to see them... so their visits are busy to say the least! but we squeezed in as many little hang-out times as we could. kristi was busy holding a baby in, and i was busy holding food down, so neither of us took very many pictures. i also rested in the fact that we'd just taken over 1200 pictures when we were together in may, so i gave the camera a break this go around!

we spent time at kj's with wonderful friends, as well as at kristie's, both where the kids stayed wet while we moms chatted away. we took the boys to get their haircut (steven's first non-home haircut!), and the kids played together at our house with my mom (thanks mom!!) while the adults went to a beautiful wedding. brian's parents graciously opened up their home to eric & kristi, so we spent a lot of time hanging out at nana & pappy's as well. (lydia & steven called glenda "mrs. nana"- it was so sweet!) it seems like we did more than that, but i was in a nauseous fog, so i am doing good to remember that much. :)

here are a few pictures from our days together...

these ladies are dear friends of mine and were also
special mommy friends to kristi when she lived here.
all of the kids of the moms above! (except ethan who would not get
NEAR the giant vortex water slide! but notice who is at the front of the line!!!)
the kids watching as ethan gets his haircut...
he LOVES going to see mrs. renee and sitting in the red car!
awww, sweet friends! this is right after the boys' haircuts
boat watchin' after dinner one night

it was a real blessing to see them again so soon after we'd just said goodbye. i'm smiling as i write this because now it is just a few more weeks before i get on a plane to go see them again! just me! to go see that sweet baby and play "auntie em" for a few days. i can't wait!

more june fun to come!

this girl loves her glasses

and this momma loves her girl!

smilin'!

i just have to share this picture of ethan & caroline from yesterday. they were "dancing" in the living room, which usually consists of them individually spinning around and caroline groovin' with her shoulders... but for some reason, the song playing must have inspired a little slow dancin'. this sweet moment quickly turned into a brotherly death grip from which i had to rescue caroline... but at least i got the cute picture first!

i am smiling because i am feeling really really good these days. i feel like most of my pre-pregnancy energy is returning, and i am up to being a fun mom and a slightly decent housekeeper again. all at the same time. it's amazing. :) as of this evening, i have a clean house and happy (now sleeping!) kids. i know i have many more tiring days to come, especially once my body is carrying a larger baby, but i am praising God for a little reprieve from pregnancy exhaustion.

tonite i am also smiling because brian just got home from a few days of work-related travel! just a few days seems like so much longer when he's gone... thank you, God, for a safe trip!

shepherd is here!

i am so excited to share the news that shepherd is here! kristi gave birth to this sweet 10 lb, 4 oz, 24 in. long baby boy at 3:44 this morning. everyone is doing fine, and i am told that he looks just like big brother steven! for all of you that have been waiting and waiting for shepherd to arrive, thank you for your prayers! i will share pictures as soon as i see them!

update:
kristi just posted a picture of shepherd on her website... check out that big cute baby! :)

june

well, june was pretty much a blur for me. my last day of work was the last week of may, and that came as such a relief. i could not wait to be home with my children every single day. and i could tell they missed my full-time presence, too. all i can say is (sigh)...thank you, Lord, for carrying us through this past year.

while the end of may brought a huge relief to be a full-time mom again, it also brought on a month of hazy-first-trimester-constant-motion-sickness. my poor kids. i was so excited to be home, and then i spent a month on the couch, miserable! don't get me wrong, i was very excited to be pregnant, but i did not expect to feel so horribly! the thought of food was enough to put me out of commission for a few hours, so i really don't remember what my family ate for dinner in june. i think we ate a lot of chick-fil-a. and i'm pretty sure my kids and i ate lunch every day. but i couldn't tell you what!

i have been feeling much better over the last few weeks, but i still feel like i'm catching up from june. catching up in so many ways... housework, time with the kids, etc. i was surprised to see that i wrote 8 blog posts in june, only to realize that only two of them were actually about june happenings... the other 6 were catching up from our beach trip in may! but we did do a few fun things in june, so i do want to catch up on here soon...

-eric and kristi and the kids came down to visit the first week in june...at the peak of my queasiness... it was a nice distraction and a wonderful extension of our fellowship a few weeks before that.

-in the middle of june, i traveled to atlanta with the kids for my annual college friends' reunion. we went to stone mountain, the aquarium, and did our usual hanging out! the kids did great, and it was a blessing to see my dear friends again.

-we left for atlanta on father's day and gave brian a gift of a niiiiiiice, quiet day with no hurried trips to the potty, no spilled anything, and no diaper changes. what more could a dad ask for!? but i know he missed us. :)

-i drove home from atlanta on my birthday and had a nice quiet celebration with family, and i got a great birthday surprise from brian! (you'll have to wait and see!)

and then i realized that i only had two weeks till ethan's birthday! ahhh! i was not in party-planning mode!!

-the last sunday in june marked the first sunday for our church's new pastor and his family to be with us. i will definitely write more about them later. in the few weeks that they have been here, God has blessed us through them in countless, countless ways. to God be all the glory.


so stay tuned to rewind with me. i look forward to reliving a little of june... but most of it i will happily leave as a first-trimester memory! :)

a sparkling fourth of july!

this 4th of july was full of new experiences for our kids! it was caroline's first time to enjoy fireworks, and it was ethan's first time to hold sparklers! just like last year, we celebrated the 4th with dinner at church, along with some patriotic praise & worship. we then headed down to the marina with our friends and family to get ready for the big show! ethan was a big boy this year and sat with his friends on the back of andy & cindy's truck. he was so excited about it, so i couldn't make him sit with us... we were right down the row of chairs from him, but i really missed sharing the fireworks with him! (just a glimpse of the reality of him growing up, huh!?) my mom said she felt the same way and finally went over to the truck to watch the finale with him! she couldn't stand it! :) caroline loved the fireworks and only took her eyes off of them to let me know she needed a popcorn refill. brian got some great shots of the fireworks again this year... but the wind was blowing in our direction, causing the smoke to block the perfect view of the show. the finale ended up being a lot of smoke! but despite the smoke, i think these still turned out pretty well. good job, honey! :)



i don't know what caroline enjoyed more...
the fireworks or the all-you-can-eat popcorn!
thanks, aunt kristie, for the hot air popcorn!
ethan with his buddies, joseph & avery,
on the truck with andy & cindy (joseph's grandparents)
here's caroline, savannah, and karina just loungin' after the fireworks show
for one second, i thought i was gonna get a picture
of all 3 girls sitting in their cute little chairs... almost!

afterwards, we hung around awhile instead of sitting in traffic, and cindy let the kids go to town with sparklers. i did not in a million years expect ethan to want to hold one. even avery, who i consider fearless, was apprehensive of the sparklers at first. after a few minutes, the kiddos all loved them. brian taught them how to make a circle with the fire, and he got some really neat shots. the kids got a big kick out of looking at the pictures of the circles they made!

ethan began enjoying the sparklers with me right beside him...
but before i knew it, he was happy to do it all by himself!

karina was such a big girl with the sparklers!
once aaron convinced avery that the sparklers were safe,
avery had so much fun!we have the cutest video
of avery spinning HUGE circles with these things!

ethan and natalie spinning away!
our sweet friends, jonathan & tammy w/ natalie, joseph, & claire...
thanks for organizing our spot at the marina! it was a "blast"- haha!

happy fourth of july from our family to yours. may we never forget the blessing of the independence of our nation, which was founded in dependence on our God.

4th of july- then and now

as i have been working on my july 4th post, i keep clicking back to the shot i got of the kids last year on the couch in their red, white, and blue. i can't get over how much they've changed in a year, especially caroline. so i thought i'd remind y'all of what caroline looked like before the curls took over!! :)

here's this year...



and here's 2007...



and "firecracker" does not even begin to describe this child...



more star-spangled blogging to come very soon!