amelia is 3!

my baby girl is three years old today!
 
we celebrated her birthday yesterday... more on that soon... and today, she got to go to her big girl sunday school class! she has been waiting months and months to join her friends in there!

i know it's been a quiet month here at tenlittletoes, but it has definitely not been quiet around our house!! christmas pictures are around the corner, and then i can't wait to share about amelia's little birthday party. it was a fun one. :)

we love our 3-year old so very much. amelia is still singing christmas carols at the top of her lungs these days. :) she is pretty much potty-trained, and she can't wait to be a big sister in a few months!

happy birthday, amelia lynn!

i have a sweet tooth...

and apparently, that carries over to the gender of my babies....
because it's MORE sugar and spice around here! yep, we are having a

girl!

here's a little peek at her sweet little face... she had her hand up by her mouth just a ready to suck that thumb!
 
we are so excited, and we will spend the next few weeks pouring over baby girl names!

december is flying by!

wow! a week till christmas! i thought i should pop in and say hi before the festivities really get going. what am i talking about?! the festivities have been happening all month long... i just haven't had a spare moment to share them. we've enjoyed our usual christmas traditions around here-- the jesse tree, the christmas cookie making... and this year, we've added some new ones. like mommy being sick the first week of december, which has really made it feel like christmas is approaching at a break-neck speed! (and you betcha i'm praying that sickness is not in the running for a christmas tradition!!)

it's been fun to decorate the new house for christmas, and we discovered how much easier it is to trim a tree when it is not in the corner of a tiny living room next to a big ole' couch! we have a beautiful picture window in our dining room that faces the street, so we also bought a little table-top tree and filled it with spazzy-blinking-colored lights. :) that will have to make up for the fact that we have not yet gotten around to putting up lights outside. maybe next year.

i am so excited that we are hosting christmas dinner at our house this year! we'll see just how many people will fit in my dining room! i'm still contemplating (chocolate) dessert ideas (thank you pinterest!), so if you have any suggestions, i am all ears.

thanks to the cedarmont christmas carols dvd (so sweet, by the way), amelia is loving singing christmas carols. she belted out "three wise men" in the car today, getting most of the words right. her face just lights up anytime she can follow along with a song. it brings me such joy to see her enjoying singing!

in addition to the excitement this month regarding advent and the birth of baby Jesus, our family has been eagerly anticipating my sonogram appointment this upcoming monday morning! we will hopefully find out whether this precious baby is a boy or a girl in a couple of days. it's been neat to talk to the kids about our excitement for this baby and to compare/contrast it with mary's anticipation of Jesus' birth. we discussed how we wonder if our baby is going to be a boy or a girl, who he/she will look like, etc... and then we talked about how much more mary must have been in amazement and wonder over the fact that her baby would be the Savior of the world!

and that reminds me... my mom introduced me to a new children's christmas book this year: song of the starsby sally-lloyd jones. (she is the author of the Jesus storybook bible, one of my very very favorite books.) this book is such a precious message of God's creation anticipating the birth of Jesus. it is so poetic and so hard to describe. if you love Jesus, just buy this book. you won't be disappointed. even if you own 25 children's christmas books like i do, buy it. this one is different.

i pray your family is enjoying this Christmas season!

time for tea!

caroline invited some sweet little friends over for a tea party to celebrate her 5th birthday!
 
before we get started with the party, i have to say that these pictures were taken under very very bad lighting conditions.... the night before the party, i asked brian to change out an outdated ceiling fan to a beautiful chandelier.... well.... the ceiling fan wasn't exactly installed correctly (in 1975), so it was not possible to hang the chandelier that night. and we usually get some nice light coming in through the picture window in our dining room, but it was a terribly overcast day. and to top it all off... the birthday girl's seat was the furthest away from the window... so the pictures of caroline and her cake, etc. are just dark and not the greatest. waaaaaaaahhh.

ok, whining over. on to the party! the decorations were simple and sweet.

as soon as the girls arrived, they were invited to get jeweled-up.
 
amelia was thinking, "how in the world am i going to eat with these gloves on?!"

while everyone was choosing their jewelry, they took turns making their tea party hats.

this is super easy... take 3 sheets of butcher paper and cover her head:

spin her around while wrapping masking tape around her head.

the girls will feel a little silly at this point, and frankly, so will you! :)

curl up the edges....

add some flowers and ribbon, and you have yourself a big 'ole tea party hat! here are the girls and their hats.

jewelry? check.
hats? check.
time for tea!

i had so much fun setting this sweet little table for tea. brian's great-grandmother's embroidery added an heirloom touch.
 
i was so excited when i found these dainty teacups and snack plates at goodwill! each guest took their cup and plate home as a party favor.


a tea party is not complete without scones with jam and cream!

ethan picked up a scone and said, "what are the rocks for?" thanks, son. so yeah, they looked like rocks, but they tasted like scones. and for the record, they were bite size scones. they were supposed to look like that.
 
lola was speechless over the devonshire cream...

and caroline loved the scones as well.

in addition to scones and tea cookies, we served mini quiches, fruit salad, veggies, and tea sandwiches.

the cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches were my favorite. i could eat a hundred of those light little babies!

with the help of some dainty tablecloths, my washer and dryer went undercover as my tea table.

a friend of mine graciously let me borrow her collection of teapots and teacups. aren't they beautiful? and we didn't even drop one!

caroline demonstrated proper etiquette for sipping tea.


one of caroline's friends was unable to come to the party, so there was room at the table for this little sister... she was just a tad excited to sit with the big girls!

this picture of caroline and claire is one of my favorites from the day.... they look like they're telling old stories from their childhood! and in the years to come, these girls will surely have some stories. :)

as i served tea, i was definitely pushing the sugar cubes. :)

i loved seeing the girls in their hats! they were all so polite, too!

savannah was so cute slurping down her tea...

amelia's dainty cup survived! can't you just picture her in 80 years!??! ha!

while most of the girls asked for pink lemonade for refills, cousin karina kept asking for more tea! that's my girl!

the girls all got down from the table to play for awhile... so the moms and grandmas got a little silly...

this is snobby, high-society me frowning upon heather's minature teapot... teehee!

love these girls!!!

don't worry.... we gave the hats back to the girls... and then it was time for cake! i love love love this picture of caroline with her cake. my precious girl.

my mom did a great job trying a ruffle cake for the first time. it sure was sweet-looking and sweet-tasting!

caroline loved each and every present given to her. "something to paaaaaaaint!"

i cracked up that brian got this moment on camera... c'mon, moms... you know you've done this at your kids' parties! "girrrrrrrrrls, let caroline open her own presents! and yes, she will get to your present in a minute! now scoot back so everyone can see!"

isn't this the cutest little cake stand that aunt kristie made out of a bowl and a plate?!

my little tea party girls... growing up way way too quickly!

i had so much fun getting ready for this birthday party! and i think my birthday girl enjoyed every little minute of it.

we are so thankful to celebrate 5 sweet years with our sweet caroline! happy birthday, baby girl.

five.

this girl turns five today. she is all girl.  her required daily wardrobe is a headband, a skirt and a cute shirt. she might wear pants if she can put a skirt on top. (good thing we live in florida.)  if it sparkles or looks remotely like a flower or could function in anyway as an accessory, she loves it.  if it can be cut out or glued or colored like a rainbow, she is all over it. she spends her days dancing to chris tomlin or to her latest made-up song... and every expression comes complete with a sparkle in those big, blue eyes.

she has inherited my bad habits of biting her fingernails and having a perpetually disastrous room... but she also has my love for all things people. she has not missed her long hair one bit, though i do every now and then.

her giggle is contagious, and her cheeks are almost edible. it blesses me so to hear her excitedly recite God's Word, and it humbles me to see her in tears after i've been too harsh with her delicate heart. praise the Lord, she is quick to forgive and quick to love... because i'm afraid that on most days, my impatience outweighs my compassion. i often find myself overreacting to her overreacting. (cue father of the bride: "why would i overreact? nobody in my family overreacts!"). but God is gracious, and each day brings new opportunities to take joy in my sweet birthday girl. His mercies truly are new every morning!

and this morning, this birthday girl will be the first to wake up to her birthday muffin in our new house! i can't wait to celebrate her.

happy birthday, sweet caroline. i love you.