another great website!

i know, i know, i'm supposed to be posting pictures from caroline's birthday... i honestly sat down tonite to do that. i really did. but after brian expressed his complete dissatisfaction in the one "the first thanksgiving" book that we have to read to ethan, i had to do a little online hunting and gathering (thanksgiving/pilgrimish/indian pun intended)... it's a totally secular book that i think i bought at a school book fair a few years back, and when i read it to ethan the other night for the first time, i found myself having to interject the actual pilgrim story and Reason for thanksgiving on every page! so when brian sat down to read it to him last night, i warned him that God was totally left out of the book. well finally tonite, after reading it ethan again, brian commented that the author of this book was "throwing into the air an undirected thanks". he was right. so why was i even trying to read it to my son? so i set out tonite to find a God-glorifying thanksgiving children's book. and google led me to this wonderful treasure of a blog! please go visit this christian children's book review blog. you will be so glad you did. i know i always say that. but i mean it. but visit when you have time to soak in all the books they suggest. i've spent at least an hour checking out the books they recommend. so go read away, and in the meantime, i'll get back to those birthday pictures...

happy Thanksgiving everyone. Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow! more on that tomorrow, hopefully.

a fun & yummy website to check out...

happy monday morning to all of you! i am working on getting caroline's birthday party pictures posted (hey! an alliteration before 9 am!), but in the meantime, click on over to this m&m's website to get some cute holiday dessert ideas. here are some of my favorites. you can click on the picture to go straight to the fun recipe!


ok, a little disclaimer about the dumplings... i absolutely refuse to combine chocolate and fruit, so if i made these, i would probably either leave out the chocolate or substitute it with something... i just thought they looked like really cute pumpkins! or maybe they're supposed to be apples... oh well, they're cute whatever they're supposed to be.



don't those look fun? there are many more on the website... go check it out! i think there are also activities and other neat things, but i got a little distracted with the desserts. :) have a great week and a happy thanksgiving!

a year of smiles

my mom made this cute monthly montage of caroline, and i just had to share...

a brother's birthday ballad

ethan is already reaping the benefits of his sister's birthday! we celebrated caroline's special day a little early with my dad & joy last night since they are unable to be at her party this weekend. they gave caroline (and ethan) the cutest bee bop band, which is a set of musical instruments with a bug theme. yes, i approved this gift... yes, i may change my mind in two weeks when i can't get the sound of the tambourine and beating drum out of my head! anyway, both kids have already had such a blast with the instruments, and ethan is pretty impressive with his ability to drum to the beat. today, he sang the entire happy birthday song while drumming to the right beat. pretty good for less than one day's practice, wouldn't you say? so of course i had to capture this sweet brother serenading his sister on video... and of course the perfection flew out the window once the green light on my camera started blinking! but these 2 videos are pretty good, i think. watch them both all the way to the very end if you have time (they're not real long). you'll be glad you did. especially the second one. i'm still laughing pretty hard about it.





i am thankful to say that i successfully dodged the flying drumstick... boy did that catch me off guard! and let me just say that it's a good thing that caroline was asleep during this video vs. sitting beside me or she might be permanently wearing a drumstick! oh boy.

next i'll try to catch ethan shakin' it with the tambourine and jingle bells. this kid is gonna have an interesting future in the music industry.... but his audiences better beware of flying instruments!

happy birthday, baby girl!

sweet caroline turns one year old today! i absolutely can't believe it. it seems like just a few months ago that we were welcoming her into our world, introducing her to her brother and bringing her home. what a whirlwind year it has been, full of sweet baby memories and plenty of two-under-two challenges. i have definitely learned that every baby is not the same, and we are still working on figuring out some things about our little birthday girl. :) while i am not quite sure how to get her to sleep more than 10 hours at a time, i can tell you for sure that she loves playing with her brother, she enjoys riding in a shopping cart more than any child i have ever seen (uh-oh, daddy, hide your wallet!), and like her mother and papa, she has never met a stranger. the resounding comments we get from strangers and friends are "she is the happiest baby" and "she is always smiling". caroline loves to be out and about, and she does not want to miss a thing! she is without a doubt a momma's girl, so my arm muscles are getting quite the workout these days!

caroline loves music, dogs barking, and cars whirring by our house. she is beginning to imitate words like "night night", "bye-bye", and "more". she cracks us up by signing "all finished" with every bit of energy in her body, sort of with the same gusto that ethan once used for signing "please". i'm laughing just thinking about them! caroline has already figured out how to climb up the slide in our backyard fort (with me right behind her), and she is so happy outside.

apparently someone told our little birthday girl that for their birthdays, girls like to have slumber parties where they stay up all night and get very little sleep... because that has been the trend around here for the past couple of nights! nobody has been invited except caroline, me, and a couple of pesky teeth trying to break through, so i wouldn't really call it much of a party... but this too shall pass, and before i know it, we'll be celebrating her second birthday, and i'll be saying, "remember when she was teething?!" ok, so maybe we won't reflect on that too much in the years to come!

we are planning a fun little bakery party for her this weekend-- i can't wait! so stay tuned for pictures of sweet caroline's birthday party! until then, know that we are celebrating this first year with our daughter and praising God for her life. may every day that we share with her bring glory to God!