one

How can it be? Our youngest little arrow celebrates turning ONE YEAR old today! Wasn't she just born? Wow! E' is amazing! She just started crawling a couple of weeks ago, so she's in no hurry to stop being our baby. She's into soft solid foods and has 1 and half teeth (the second tooth is still on it's way out).

Her personality is all JOY just like her mommy's! She doesn't really cry or fuss unless she's hungry or needs a diaper change. She loves to discover new things -- anything really :0) -- a scrap of paper found on the floor is a major treasure to E! She loves to talk! She says, "mom mom," "daddy," "kitty cat," "Nee-my-uh" (when she's calling biggest brother), "Ju-ah" (when she wants her sister), "Nana," "Yes," and her newest words, "Hi," and "uh oh." Ha! She doesn't say B's name yet. She just points or pulls on his pant leg :0)

I love watching her sibs love on her! Eszi (ya know how I have to nickname!) is pure delight! I marvel at the way people smile when she captures their eye. I am forever handing her off to someone we meet who just wants to cuddle her for a minute. She's in ministry already, dispensing love and JOY with her adorable smile and sparkling eyes wherever she goes!

Thank you Lord for the wonder of your creation as we watch E' grow into a beautiful little girl. May she come to understand and desire a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that her eternity might be spent glorifying You! And may that desire come to fruition soon and very soon!

Look at me being beautiful! Mommy's precious friend, Miss J', sent this super cute number as my welcome baby present! I am ooey gooey cute in it and it's soooo soft!!!

This is my brother's submarine. I LOVE it! No baby toys for me!

I am too fancy in my crazy pajamas!

this was taken one year and one day ago...
as we welcomed this little masterpiece into our world...


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ohh... and about the blog... I know I'm sooo slow and terrible about posting regularly! It's my heart intention to post at least once a month. Sorry I missed posting Christmas pics and winter pics... I have some that may appear in the next few weeks just 'cause they're cute, but I won't promise :0/ Thanks for extending grace as I endeavor to do better and be more consistent! -- all JOY, t...

There was a birthday...

We had our first big "with friends" kid's birthday party in August. We decided when N was a baby to wait until age 5 to have more than a family-only birthday party. Soooo... N turned 5 this year and he asked for a "house party." N made his guest list and almost everyone made it. We had a great time.

little party people

In lieu of a theme we just focused our party ideas on the things N likes best. He loves the drums, so we played pin-the-drumstick-on-the-drum! He lopves to play, so we had free play time and let the kids come up with their own fun. And he loves to cook, so we combined crafts and dessert by having the kids all make their own cookie. I made the dough ahead of time, spread flour all around the edge of the table, and lined up a row of bowls with different cookie mix-ins for the kids to choose from. We washed all their hands and then gave each kiddo a big ball of dough to fill up! We wrote their names on squares of foil and then baked them so we'd know which cookie belonged to which kiddo. Nope... I didn't come up with a great sugar-free plan this time. They did have raisins, cranberries, and nuts to fill with (along with two kinds of chocolate chips). As far as the dough though, it was a total sugar-fest and then they came out of the oven twice as big as I had intended! Oh well... they all loved it and it was early in the day so they had plenty of time to run it off before bedtime.

N with Grandmother and PaPa

N with Nana

The best thing for me was watching how grateful and thankful N continued to be throughout the day both in receiving each guest as they arrived and in receiving each gift with JOY and excitement. What a precious boy he is! I can't believe it's been FIVE years already!

time flies...

Wow... E' is ten weeks old! Time sure flies when you're having fun (or when you have a house full of toddlers)! Please forgive me for not posting pics more often. She's growing so fast! Here are some recent pics (double click on a pic to see a full-screen version)...

look at my long feet ;0)

excited wiggles

I'll stop crying as long as mommy keeps looking right at me

daddy gave me a bath in the kitchen sink

precious naptime sleeper
(she sleeps better if she feels cuddled by either arms, a blanket, or a couple of cuddle buddies)

E' can kick and wiggle, turn from her side to her back, and scoot towards you somehow (This happens when she's in bed with us because I don't feel like waking up to put her back in her own bed after deep-night nursing. We've never seen her do it, but she can find a heat-source fast!)

She can smile and coo (such sweet baby talk!). She's just starting to try reaching for things but she gets distracted when she sees her hand in the air and ends up just touching her face or watching her arm move around (hee hee!).

Best new thing: E' started laughing last week! Nice gurgly, drooly, smiley, giggles! PT and I will do just about anything over and over again just to delight in the sound of her little laugh. The bigs love it too. They try all sorts of antics to see if they can persuade her to giggle.

I'm so smitten! She's simply gorgeous! I might be just a bit biased though ;0)

birthday boy

B' turned two the last week of April! Nope, we still didn't have a big party - we just celebrated with us and Nana (my mom) after church the day before his bday. We'll save inviting friends for when he's 5 and mature enough to appreciate it for more than a half hour :0).


He's such a big boy! He's talking more and more everyday; impressing us with new phrases we didn't think he understood yet. He's already wearing 3T size clothes!!! He's tall for his 2 years and stocky too. He's not chubby though -- he's solid muscle with the strength to match. If only he knew how strong. When he runs to hug my leg, I have to brace for impact! And B' continues to be all heart. He lays on your lap, pats you (more like a smack) to make you feel better, and asks "wha's madder?" if you stop smiling. He has a serious throwing arm and can't wait for daddy to walk in the door after work so that he can grab the nearest ball and yell "daddy catch!" Apparently this game is no fun with mommy who only catches the ball 50% of the time. B' prefers a good catcher on the other end of his throws ;0) He'll say, "mommy missed. Sokay mommy," while looking oh so sad for me. (He says "sokay" instead of "it's okay.") Hee hee!

He's really gifted in the area of hand-eye coordination. He has a great arm for throwing the softball, kicks the soccer ball hard and straight, and is working on mastering a nice football toss. So far basketballs and golf balls (they have some wiffle balls to play with) are mostly used for playing catch. He naturally keeps his elbow up and uses his whole arm to throw; follow-through and all. Not bad for what comes naturally - we haven't taught him.

basketball goal bday gift from nana-- a great alternative to playing catch 24/7 AND he's learning how to dunk and how to shoot :0)

B' is wonderful. It doesn't seem like two years have passed already! In honor of his love for sports balls, I made him a sport ball cake :0) Fun! It was super easy. I skipped being artistic with frosting this time and just printed some clip art onto white cardstock on the printer, taped toothpicks to them like signs, and stuck them in the 8" round layer cake which was small enough to fit on a regular plate. YAY! Benjamin named them all for us: "soccuh ball," "football," "bay ball," "badket ball." I love what they come up with when they're still acquiring language!

Thank you Lord for blessing us with this soft hearted, strong handed, amazing little boy!

one month old

tiny toes!!! long, skinny feet!

I've been having so much fun watching E' change and grow, that I've neglected to stop and post some pics so you could share the JOY!

She's almost 5 weeks old as I post these pics. What's new:

• E' weighs about 9 lbs now! Wow!
  
• She can hold her head up and look around
• She has started to smile (yes, social smiling, not gas)
  
• She started cooing last week. She concentrates really hard and gets her lips pursed into an "oo" shape, then she'll finally get a tiny "ooh" or "aaah" out. So CUTE!!!

E' on her first stroller walk

meeting my Uncle Joey!

Uncle Joey was "stuck" in town when his connecting flight to a business meeting was delayed. E' thought Uncle Joey was the BEST! She smiled and cooed and stared and finally... fell sweetly asleep in his arms :0) What a fun, unexpected, wonderful time. The kids all thought Uncle Joey was fabulous. I love him too! Thanks Lord for such a great blessing!

Booties my sister Wendy crocheted for E'.

Wendy crochets a lot: blankets, granny squares, bun covers (she has girls in ballet), doilies, scarves, purses, grocery bags (as if I'd ever put groceries in it 'cause it's gorgeous). Anyway, she said she just thought she'd try a pair of booties! Talk about a FABULOUS first try! They are sooo adorable and they don't fall off either! I wish you could see the tiny green crocheted rosettes that button the straps on. I couldn't get a good in-focus pic of that detail. TOOOOOO CUTE! She also made a lemon-yellow pair for her.

wide eyed (with some baby acne)

I can't seem to capture it in a picture, but E's eyes are still dark gray, with lighter gray edges on the borders of her irises. All our kiddos have had some unique eye color for the first few weeks of life and then at some point their eyes have shifted to brown. N's eyes were the most fabulous dark, forest green color for the first few weeks of his life. J's were light brown. B's were gray. And in all three cases, we woke one morning to find their eyes were suddenly plain old brown ;0). I'm hoping E's eyes stay gray -- just for fun. But, if they turn brown she'll be just as beautiful!

pretty in pink

I love all the ruffly edges on this outfit! Pink is not my favorite color, but E' looks super sweet in pink, so I'm thankful for the zillion pink things that we have in the baby buckets from when J' was a baby. Of course, if you let me tell it, she looks good in EVERY color :0) What can I say, it's momma love!

two weeks

Wow -- two weeks went by REALLY fast! I intended to post pictures every few days since I certainly had the camera close at hand... but there are so many little cuties to spend time with and I'd have to take five or six seconds to turn the computer on in order to post something ;0) .

Look at all that hair. It curls up on the ends when it's wet, but goes straight again as it dries.

itty bitty E' and a 4 lb bag of sugar... just for scale :0)

E' is such a sweet little lady! We're having tons of fun watching her grow and watching the kids love on her! They all think she's fabulous! She's starting to get a baby double chin -- too cute!!! B' wants to hold her every time someone picks her up. He says, "Look at her?" and "hol' her? hol' her?" which gets louder and more insistent if no one hands her over fast enough. He jumps up on the couch, puts a throw pillow across his lap, and waits for you to lay her in his arms (which is really laying her on the pillow, but we won't tell B' that).


E' has such delicate understated features. She reminds me of a china doll. It'll be such fun to watch her grow and see if she stays dainty and slight or if she changes completely. What a wonder.

Here are some more pics of our youngest... what a JOY!

snoozing in mommy and daddy's bed

sunbather

(we always have a little jaundice to feed and sunbathe away)

they love to gather around the swing and talk to E' the minute I put her down

baby esther

Sweet babynew number 4 arrived on Monday, April 5, 2010 at 2:10pm.
We named our little lady Esther Amariah.

In scripture, Esther is a godly woman who demonstrates courage, faith, and humility. "Esther" means "star." Amariah (pronounced "am-uh-rye-uh") is a Hebrew name that appears in the book of Chronicles, meaning "promised by God."

Esther (just a few hours old)
6 lbs 11 oz // 18 inches long

This was our longest pregnancy: 40 weeks and 5 days! I was so glad for labor to start! We praise God for granting our prayers for a healthy baby and a natural, drug-free, vaginal delivery without any complications. We were able to labor at home and arrived at the hospital fully dialated. She was born about ten minutes after we arrived. It was whirlwind fast! :0)

They make these hats for the baby girls in the infant nursery at the hospital by cutting two slits in a little infant cap and pulling an accordion folded infant hat into the slits to create a big bow. :0)

Daddy and daughter (1 day old)

Esther has a sweet disposition. She already tracks and follows voices, especially her daddy's voice! She spends long stretches of time awake looking into our eyes, wiggling, and making faces. I love watching her stick her tongue out and move her lips open and closed as if she wants to say something.

tiny sleeper at home (3 days old)

"I see you mommy."

Isn't she fabulous??!!! What a beautiful little lady!
What an amazing blessing!

she's 3

(THREE!)

J' turned three a couple of weeks ago. Sorry I'm just now posting pics of her special day. Her bday fell on a Sunday, so we celebrated right after church when we arrived home for lunch. We made a decision when N' was born that we didn't want to get into the expense and effort of party throwing until the kids were old enough to understand what was happening and that it was for them. We've attended so many parties where the honored guest was asleep and the grownups were entertaining one another. We decided that at age 5 they would clearly understand the concept of birthdays and celebrating AND be able to enjoy sharing it with some friends. Soooo, it was just a family party: our fam, my sister's 3 girls, and Nana (my mom).

(The cousins gave J a "flower hat" and sunglasses, among other fun things, in her bday bag!)

(B tried on J's new flower hat.)

(J opening gifts: she loves puzzles! This one was from Nana.)

We've been to a few kiddo bday parties lately and J asked if she could have a cake with a picture on it for her birthday -- it was the only thing she asked for. So, we skipped our normal muffin-cake, cornbread, or other healthy substitute and went for the standard sugar-rich cake.

I haven't decorated a cake since before we were married (that means over 8 years ago!). I dusted off my decorating supplies, covered the blender in a cloud of confectioner's sugar while making a mountain of buttercream frosting, and baked a box mix lemon supreme cake. J wanted a dinosaur cake and I wanted a girlie cake, so I tried to combine the two. It didnt' turn out quite like I pictured it, but at three, J is easily pleased so she was happy with it. The dinosaur is a pteranodon -- J's current favorite dinosaur.

(What? You can't hear everyone singing "Happy Birthday dear...")

We don't typically allow the kids to have sugar, so this was a special treat! When we cut the cake after singing happy birthday, she asked if she could eat the frosting too. She had tasted the frosting the night before while I was decorating, but that was just a tiny lick off the tip of one finger. About a fourth of the way through her piece of cake she said, "Mommy this frosting is yummy and then it's yucky. Can you take it off my cake part?" I was a proud, pleased, happy mommy. She had sugar available and didn't even want it all! YAY! No such luck with N, he ate every bite. I still took B's frosting off -- I felt scandalous enough giving him the cake! :0) Go ahead and call me crazy... I can take it!

I can't believe she's actually 3! Wow! Time flies when you're having fun and Miss J definitely brings us great JOY! Thank you Lord for another year of life for our precious little lady.