ten little toes_ december 2005

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01/22/2006 12:0en little toes: December 2005

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F r i d a y , D e c e m b e r 3 0 , 2 0 0 5

happy birthday, rachel!

ok, rachel, i

don't even know

if you read my

blog, but just in

case you do,HAAAAAPPY

BIRTHDAY!!! (i

had to shout

since you're so

far away...) i

hope you had a

wonderful

birthday with

your new puppy

(read the post

below for hints

on how to get

that poop out of the carpet) and jazzercise. :) i miss you, and i love

thinking about all the hilarious and stupid memories we had living

together and braving graduate school together... and all those years at

harding, too. (i was just telling brian the other day about "good ole'

rach"!!!) :) i think about you when i tell a stupid joke (not sure how to

type that noise...click, click?? that doesn't do it justice!!), when i hear

someone say "ken" for "can", and especially when i hear that dumb

prince song we use to sing while cruising in memphis in the lumina

(which isn't real often, but i do get it stuck in my head sometimes). i

have you to thank for shining some light on what it's like to lose a

hubcap in ghetto memphis on halloween night, as well as having your

brakes catch on fire in the middle of downtown. i have so many

stories... but your birthday's gonna be over in 25 minutes, so i have to

hurry. :) thank you for being a part of my wedding, even if it meant a

A b o u t M e

EMILY

i am a new mom who is

seeking to glorify God

every day as i take care

of precious ethan! i am

a "retired" speech therapist. i am

married to brian, the love of my lifeand the best daddy in the world!

VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE

L i n k s

girltalk

my friend kristi

my friend amy

mama d

my friend lori

my friend susan

daily bread

my favorite photographer

the best candle- apple crumb cake

courtney sue

delicious cake recipes

memories media- custom slideshows

P r e v i o u s P o s t s

a shower, a tub, and a bunch of

pictures

welcome home, little laptop!

ortrait bab

t e n l i t t l e t o e ss h a r i n g t h e e v e r y d a y b l e s s i n g s o f G o d ' s l i t t l e g i f t t o u s . . .

BlogThis!


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whirlwind trip and then sleeping on my couch... the 5 minutes i got to

see you were good ones. :) i love your servant heart... i love your

willingness to do whatever for whoever, whenever. you're one of the

smartest people i know, and you always made me think about things in

a different light. the Lord was so good to have us meet during summer

experience before our freshman year... He knew i needed a friend like

you. well, i just wanted you to know that i love you, and i have this

guest room just waiting for you and ryan to come visit. (just give me a

day's notice to clear all the junk off the bed!!) :)

happy birthday, my friend...if i were with you right now, i'd

sing...."what makes you give your last cookie away? or help me clean

my room all day? why would you let me use your stereo? or save me

the middle of your oreo..." (no i have still NEVER EVER heard of that

song except through you, but i admit, i found proofthat it IS a real

song...) love you, rachada... happy happy birthday.

POSTED BY EMILY AT 12/30/2005 11:36:00 PM 0 COMMENTS

laundry musts for moms

ok, so who really likes to do laundry?? not me! i think my laundry

basket (aka, our loveseat) is always full of laundry when my mom

comes over to watch ethan... but i'm thankful to have a family that

needs their laundry done. i'd much rather be doing laundry for them

than to not have my sweet family!! in the last couple of months, i have

discovered two wonderful, wonderful laundry helps... i'm just a little

excited.

the first is oxiclean baby. it works just like the

regular oxiclean, but it's dye-free, fragrance-

free, etc... and does it ever make your baby

clothes poop-free!!!! it is wonderful. i can

dissolve some in a bowl in the bathroom, and

throw poopy clothes in there to soak, and even

a few days later (i know... i shouldn't leavethem that long, but i just told you that i hate to

do laundry!), throw them in the wash, and

those white onesies are white again! the only

time that i have to wash them twice is if i forget to soak them right

away... another thing that works if i don't want to soak them is to just

wet the clothes and rub some oxiclean on them. i haven't used the

baby sprayyet, but i may order some online. that would make my life

turtle, turtle

it's gonna be a long week....

if brian or i were selected to star as

jack bauer...

on a more serious (and real life)

note...

president logan is an idiot.

less than 24 hours till 24!!!!!!!

like front row at sea world...

A r c h i v e s

September 2005

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006


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even easier!! i've also been pouring a scoop into the washer as a

detergent booster. with ethan's clothes, i've been rinsing them twice

just to be on the safe side... but it's pretty free of everything that would

aggravate his precious skin. (i was using the regular oxiclean, but i

think it was too much for his sensitive skin.) anyway, i have found this

the cheapest at target, though all they have is the 1.5 lb. tub.

apparently, you can join oxiclean's "clean club" and get free shipping

for their products. i am going to call and check on that... anything that

saves me a trip to the store this time of year sounds good to me!!

a few weeks ago, i was stupid

and threw all of ethan's clothes

in as one load...with a few new

RED outfits i'd bought (finally!!

something that's not baby

blue!). of course, a sock turned

pink, as did most of a softprecious handknitted white

blanket. i was planning on

soaking them in tide (this must have been before i bought the oxiclean

baby...), but my friend carrie told me about shout's color catchers.

thank you, carrie! i had not heard of them, but now i see them in every

store. they look like dryer sheets, and you just put them in the washer

with your clothes. it soaks up all the loose dye that comes from new

clothes, or whatever would otherwise become the staining culprit in

your washer. they work GREAT!!! this is a great find for this mommy

who loves red on her little boy.

so now laundry is more of a challenge for me... will the stain come

out? how pink will that color catcher be when the load is done? i

know, i'm a dork. but i'm a dork in really clean clothes!! now if i could

just find something that automatically folds my clothes...

anybody have any other laundry secrets? i'd love to hear them.


God bless danny & rhema!

our friends danny and rhema are getting

married on sunday... what a wonderful

way for them to begin 2006! we are

unable to be at the wedding, which is


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several states away, so i just wanted to

have a little blog celebration for them. :)

danny & rhema, we are so excited for your

commitment to each other and to the

Lord. may He bless all the festivities this

weekend!! we will be praying for you asyou gather with family and friends to be united as one. marriage is

such a blessing... we look forward to your visit here in a couple weeks

and especially when you will be back in town with us for good later in

2006. we can't wait to spend lots of time with you then....

we love you and praise God for you!


W e d n e s d a y , D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 0 5

last christmas post, i promise...

just some more captured moments of my christmas baby...


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ok, i'm done. now i REALLY need to do laundry...


christmas memories

we began christmas day by worshiping with brian's family. his

grandparents' church has beautiful stained glass!

ya gotta love the christmas money from the grandparents! this year,

they gave out a stack of $1 bills instead of writing checks. (yes, we had

17 people in that living room opening presents...)


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pappy needs to buy the christmas baby a bigger hat! :)

kristie with aunt joanie's new dog, bailey.


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since uncle ryan wasn't with us, auntie kristie's finger had to do...

ethan knows that holidays=feast!

ethan loves mama hawkins!


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y'all are in my favorite color. :)

ethan helps uncle jeffy unwrap his presents.. he just wants the bow!


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daddy says, "get your own ipod!"

texas hold 'em became the family addiction last christmas... uncle tom

and aunt pam taught us how to play, and now every year, they'll have

to refresh our memory... and they'll probably make up some new rules.

:) we don't play for money, just bragging rights and something to do

while granddaddy and grandmommy watch the gaithers!

here's brian's aunts (from left, joanie, glenda, pam) somewhat paying

attention to the game... pam "didn't want to play" but then told joanie

what to do on every hand. glenda got her hands on the baby, so she

had no interest in playing...


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here's brian and "the tominator" after a good game. brian beat the

miami pants off uncle tom!! too bad you weren't playing for a dinner

at ruth's chris'...he learned from the best!

thanks for another wonderful christmas, everybody! praise God for

family. i am thankful to have married into a family so loving and as

crazy as me. :)


3 christmas outfits, 2 grandma's houses, and a partridge

in a pear tree...

so christmas day was

quite a day... since our

family keeps growing, we


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stayed at a hotel this

year... so ironically, there

was more room for us in

the inn. :) ha. this was

nice and quiet, but it

made for more

purposeful planning, as

far as baby supplies goes.

we split up our visiting

between brian's

grandparents, so i knew

we'd be back and forth at

the 2 houses all day and

not returning to the hotel

till bedtime. i filled two huge gift bags full of anything and everything

i'd need for ethan... diapers, wipes, toys, extra outfits, blankets, you

name it. then, we left one bag at each house for the weekend, inaddition to 1 of 3 pack-n-plays necessary for wherever we happened to

be when ethan's naptime came. these goody bags kept us from having

to hurriedly pack up things as we left the hotel already late every

morning... i over-planned as usual, but that's better than not being

prepared, huh? (and how was i to know that ethan would not poop on

3 outfits each day, like he does at home? don't worry, he got back into

the routine as soon as we got home!!)

ethan also greeted his first christmas with his very own fashion show.

if there would have been an announcer and a runway, it would have

gone something like this...

**insert cheesy announcing voice**

merry christmas, ladies and gentlemen... for our first outfit this

morning, ethan is sporting the church look. he is wearing a white

oxford shirt, khaki pants, and a red tartan tie that matches the

pastor's. in this outfit, ethan enjoys chewing on his collar and

squealing during the sermon to let the congregation hear clips fromthe manger scene in surround sound.


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next, ethan gets more comfortable in his old navy fleece. this one piece

would be a must for any child in the snow, but it turned out to be a bit

toasty in the christmas oven (also known as granddaddy and

grandmommy's house). i'm sorry to say that this wonderful ebay find

only lasted about 30 minutes due to the heat.

ethan ended his first christmas donning a striped outfit that nana

found for him before october. mom sure loves the stripes!


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after a long day of fellowshiping with family and opening presents (oh,

and stuffing our faces!!), we crashed back at the hotel. this picture

pretty much says it all.... (and as you can see, that last outfit was a

little on the snug side!)


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i hope your christmas was as enjoyable as ours was...even if you didn't

put 3 outfits on your kid that day. :)


ethan got genes for christmas

when you have a baby, everybody loves to give their opinion on who he

looks like...i love to hear all the comments, especially from those who

knew us as babies... as well as from people who haven't known us very

long who can see ethan in us! in ethan's case, most people are pretty

strong in their thoughts on this... they either think he looks SO much

like his daddy or that he really looks like me... i rarely hear that he's a

combination of us both.

while we were visiting brian's grandparents for christmas, i saw this

picture of brian at 8 months old on the fridge...it really does look likeethan, expression and all.


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i also have this picture of me when i was around ethan's age... at

christmas, auntie kristie captured a shot of ethan (enamored with her

foot!) that really looks more like me.


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isn't God truly amazing, the way He takes two individuals and creates

another being from them, holding onto characteristics and physical

traits from both parents? wow. i can't wait to watch ethan grow up...

to see how he ends up being like me and how he ends up being like

brian. hopefully he'll be more patient than me and be as observant and

smart as his daddy. he'll probably talk brian's head off as they work on

rockets or woodworking. :) and hopefully he can fix my computer

problems whenever daddy's busy...


2005 ornaments

brian and i wanted to start a tradition

of buying a special ornament for the 2

of us each christmas (thanks for the

idea, aunt susan!)...we wanted an

ornament that somehow represents

the past year, so i thought a family of

3 figurines would be nice, since ethan

was added to our family this year...

well, every ornament we found was

either completely cheesy or had 2 kids

with it.... i was just about to give up onthe idea when i found this lenox

ornament at dillards... it's exactly what

i was looking for, even though i really

didn't know what i was looking for!! :)

it's kind of hard to read on the picture, but engraved into it is "bless

this home" with the year below it. it is perfect because God surely has

blessed our home this year.


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we also want to buy a special

ornament for ethan each year.

you'd think it'd be easy to find a

cute "baby's 1st christmas"

ornament, huh?? well...

hallmark's were cheap andplastic... and the only ones that

had left were either spanish or

had ablack babyin it. i feel so

discriminated against as a white

american! haha. anyway, after

dragging around the mall a few weeks ago, we finally found this

precious baby boot at things remembered. we had the bottom engraved

to say "ethan's 1st christmas 2005", though they forgot the apostrophe

the first time... i had to give the girl at the counter a grammar lesson!!

we hope to have one of these for each of our children's first christmas.

it's such a cute little shoe. :)

just thought i'd share our special ornaments for 2005 as we prepare to

pack them away this weekend. brian says we're gonna have to get a

bigger tree in a few years..

POSTED BY EMILY AT 12/28/2005 10:37:00 AM 3 COMMENTS


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M o n d a y , D e c e m b e r 2 6 , 2 0 0 5

the baby's out of the bag!!!

NO I'M NOT PREGNANT... keep reading...

ok, i can FINALLY blog about

this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ethan is getting a

cousin!!! yay!!!!!!!! auntie kristieis having a baby!!!!!! she is due

august 7, which is nana's and

aunt pam's birthdays... how fun

is that? we were all keeping this

a big secret from the family until

jeff & kristie could tell them in

person at christmas. we all

pulled it off... i can't believe it. we are praying that this baby is healthy

and strong and that kristie continues to feel as good as she does now.

praise God for His Sovereign Hand in the life of this precious child. i

am way excited about being an aunt. jeff thinks i'm a little obsessed,

but he's never been an aunt before.

ps- don't worry if you can't tell what the picture is. it's a baby. i

promise... but it's the size of a raspberry, so there's not much to see

yet. but isn't that amazing that there's a little heart beating??! God is

knitting and forming this baby into His child, and one day, this baby

will be a 20 pound giggling cutie-pie (most likely with his daddy's fat

baby cheeks)... God is great.POSTED BY EMILY AT 12/26/2005 11:04:00 PM 2 COMMENTS

ahhh...home

we just got home tonite from a few days with brian's family. they are

precious, and i love every one of them dearly... but oh, is it good to be

home.

we ordered pizza when we were about 30 minutes from our house, sowe had a delicious dinner from our friend papa john as soon as we

unloaded the car... the living room is full of presents, luggage, and

baby gear. oh well... it will be just fine in our living room until

tomorrow. ethan is glad to be home too.... he smiled so big as he

looked around his familiar surroundings. i'm glad he likes his home. :)


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i have some great pictures to post as soon as i... you guessed it... get

the laundry done.

hope you all had a merry christmas.


T h u r s d a y , D e c e m b e r 2 2 , 2 0 0 5

prayers for a friend

keep my dear friends, eric and kristi, in your

prayers. their family has had an amazingly

hard week. kristi tells it better than i could.

i'm not surprised that, through all of the

heartache and pain, they continue to give

glory to God. they can see the bigger picture,the kingdom of God, the hope of heaven...

praise God for His peace that surpasses all

understanding.


W e d n e s d a y , D e c e m b e r 2 1 , 2 0 0 5

merry christmas!


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hope you have a great christmas, whether you're with family, friends,

or you're stuck on call at the hospital (oh, never mind, lynsay, that was

thanksgiving!) :) we are headed to spend christmas with brian's fun

and crazy family... it's always a blast. i'm sure i'll have plenty to blog

about after this weekend. i planned on making this a sentimental,

festive, christmas-y post, but i have too much packing and wrapping

waiting for me... so our family picture will have to do.


S a t u r d a y , D e c e m b e r 1 7 , 2 0 0 5

happy birthday, auntie kristie!

today is auntie

kristie's birthday! wethought a little

birthday celebration,

blog-style, would be

nice. here are just a

few of the reasons we

love you!!

* you are a

wonderful friend

and sister, andhave been for

several years, even

before we were

legally sisters. :)

* you encourage

me to seek God's wisdom in little, every day situations.

* you usually pick up the phone if i'm leaving you a message on

your answering machine. :)

* we always find something to laugh about.

* you make beautiful cards.

* you love ethan and make him cute knitted things.

* you are such a servant.

* you cut my hair. (by the way, i reallllly need that done before

christmas!) :)

* you share my love (and near-obsession) for photography.

* you understand my love for cake.


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well... the list could just go on and on. seriously, though, i love you so

much and am so thankful that we are family together!! those brothers

didn't know what they were getting into by marrying us!!! :)

click on hoops and yoyo to hear our favorite

birthday song! it's your birthday, it's your

birthday...lalalalalalala....


hobby lobbying

can i hear some cheers for hobby lobby? i love this store for several

reasons...

* it is a craft and decorating superstore at great prices

* it is located just one traffic light away from my house

* and most importantly, it is a Christian owned business thatPROUDLY wears the name of Christ.

i found this statement of purpose on their website a few months ago,

which was such a blessing to me. then, this morning, while printing off

their internet coupon (oooh! another reason i love that store!), i found

this message about Christmas & Easter. i am thankful that there are

still businesses out there that acknowledge God's hand in their


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success. what a testimony they can be. these verses come to mind...

1 chronicles 29:11-13

Yours, o Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and

the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in

the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, o Lord, and You are

exalted as head above all. both riches and honor come from

You, and You rule over all. in Your hand are power and might,

and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

and now we thank You, our God, and praise Your glorious

Name.

1 timothy 6:17-19

as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be

haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but

on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. theyare to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and

ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a

good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of

that which is truly life.

so as you are amid the hustle and bustle of christmas shopping, make

a point to support this God-honoring business. at least you know your

money is being invested in something worthwhile! i think i'll go right

now!! see you there. :)



suggestion for congestion?

my poor baby is congested.... he's still mr. happy most of the day, but

his little nose is taking a beating. thankfully, what's coming from his

nose is clear, but i'd love to nip this in the bud. any suggestions? i've

got a humidifier going for his naps and at night, we sat in a steamy

steamy bathroom last night for a little bit, and i'm trying to keep him

upright as much as possible. what else can i do?


S a t u r d a y , D e c e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 0 5

clop, clop, clop


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3 out of 4 of our husbands were

camping in honor of danny's

impending wedding, so a girls'

night was definitely in order! we

bundled up the kids and headed

downtown for a carriage ride. it

was just what i needed to hype

up my christmas spirit! a dead

van almost halted our girls' night, but theblue astro came to the

rescue!! you should have seen us all piled in there... one more kid, and

they'd have been strapped to the roof! (ha, just kiddddinggg!!!!!!!!)

here's a peek into our evening...

we strolled down the street in the cool night...

admired all the festive window displays....


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the boys were getting a little bored with the girly stuff...

so we found some men filling the streets with music....

the boys discussed it, and they decided it was time for that carriage

ride!

there was a little wait for the ride, so we snuggled close and sang along

to the christmas music blaring in the street.


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we piled into the "carriage" (aka, hayride set-up with christmas music

playing)...

and joseph found the big christmas tree at the civic center!


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apparently, ethan had seen enough...

after the carriage ride, we went to a great cafe and enjoyed delicious

hot chocolate to the tune of sinatra. the girls danced while the old men

played, and the boys sat and watched the instruments strum and toot.

(the instruments tooted, not the boys). :) you can see what part of the

evening natalie liked the best...


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it was such a great evening....maybe it can become a girls' tradition

every christmas... i'm sure next year, lydia will still be saying,

"horseeeees. go see 'em!"

thank you, Lord, for sisters in Christ and memories made!


aiden jeffrey middleton

aiden was born this morning at 7:50 eastern time by c-section. we hear

that everybody's doing fine, and dad even survived watching all the

needles. (a new respect for your wife, huh, ross??) :) can't wait to seepictures of ethan's new buddy. praise God for that baby!!!

update: 12/17/05- check out pictures of this precious little boyon his

mommy's blog. he sure is a cutie.



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F r i d a y , D e c e m b e r 0 9 , 2 0 0 5

coming soon: aiden!

amyis in labor!! yay!! we can't wait for little aiden to get here! rest

assured, i will post pictures when we get some. this picture is of amy a

few weeks ago. today is aiden's due date, so it sounds like he got the

message... say a prayer for ross, amy, and aiden today.


peer-pressure fitness

i am pretty tired of not having

anything to wear... they say it's

"9 months on, 9 months off",

but frankly, i haven't done much

(other than breastfeeding) to

work at getting this last bit ofbaby weight off. when ethan was

born, it was too hot to walk...

now it's too cold to walk. :) i am

full of excuses... and really, it's

not too cold to walk most days. i

have no room to complain that my jeans are still too tight. my fear is

that i will still not fit in my clothes by the time baby #2 comes along...


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and then i'll just grow exponentially over the next 10 years with each

child...ahh!!! honestly, i have never had much self-motivation for

exercise. it has always been a social thing for me. if my friends were

going, i'd go. janie and i had a great running routine going in high

school. i got up to a few miles, i think, didn't i, jane? i joined cross-

country my junior year in high school with melissa, but i quit when i

found out we had to run on the beach. rachel and i used to run around

harding park every night one year in college... but i don't remember

going much without her. i'd walk or run with rachel and julie in

memphis, but never by myself. when kristi and i were pregnant last

winter, we took water aerobics together...but if she was tired or

couldn't get a sitter for lydia, i didn't hesitate to stay home and sleep

the afternoon away (well... i WAS pregnant!). now, we walk around the

neighborhood with the kids every once and a while, but this tummy

isn't going away with "every once and a while". so, i have found a

friend who will be there night and day, at my beckon call, to exercise

with me.... her name is lara hudson and she has her own pilates video.i found it at wal-mart for $9.44! it has 5 10-minute segments that

target different parts of the body... i have never done pilates, but it

sounds great. i like the idea of 10 minute segments. that way, if i just

have 20 minutes, i can do 2 segments without feeling like i stopped in

the middle of a longer workout...or if i feel the urge, i can do the whole

50 minute workout. weather, busy friends, and really, time, can no

longer be excuses for me. brian and i watched the video last night

(over chocolate chip cookies) :) to see what it was like... let's just say,

i'll be working up to it!! i was sore just watching it. :) i hope i can

muster up some discipline to stick with this. and yes, i'll leave out the

cookies the next time i put the dvd in. :)


a new view of the world!

ethan continues to do

new things everyday!

he's almost got thehang of sitting up. he

can stay up for a

minute or so if i spread

out his squatty legs and

get him in the right

position...i try to stay

behind him to catch


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him from falling over,

but i can also put his

boppy pillowbehind

him for support. i had

JUST put away the

beloved boppy, but

alas! another use for it!

(thanks for the suggestion, mrs. cowden!) here's a shot just before he

toppled over...


my window

i try not to let my happiness and joy be determined by material

things... but i must say that i am very happy and joyful about my

beautiful new kitchen window...

we have these awful, ugly windows throughout our house that i would

love to replace someday, but it's just expensive (even when you're

friends with a family who owns a great window company!). ourwindows have that reflective film stuff on them, so you see yourself in

the windows some of the time, depending on lighting and such. my

sweet, closest friends all have cute windows over their kitchen sinks

that look outside-- they get to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, a nice blue

sky, birds flying around... i have a window that looks into the garage

(which i'm thinking was once a carport), and thanks to the reflective

film stuff, i get to see myself. woohoo. i already hate doing the dishes,


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so that doesn't help matters!

earlier this summer, my friend tammy (a fellow ebay addict) found

some beautiful stained glass windows for sale on ebay. they were put

up for auction by a local, and she bought a few in different sizes. i

LOVED the biggest one she bought and was contemplating buying one

for myself, but she decided she didn't need the big one.. so i bought itfrom her. i KNEW it would go perfect in my kitchen! it was an actual

window in an old house, so it had no frame by which to hang

it....therefore, it was another project for my sweet husband who

already had so much to do. the glass went underneath our bed for safe

keeping until he could get to it... then ethan came... priorities

changed... and the glass remained under our bed.

well, my wonderful mother knows how much i hate to do dishes, how

much i hate my windows, and how much i LOVE that stained glass...

so she had it framed for me for christmas! yes, it's an early present,

which i am usually not a fan of... but this time, i was all for it! we

visited a framing store and chose a beautiful frame. a week later, i had

a beautiful piece of art ready to display in my kitchen! brian rigged up

a very strong system to hold the frame, and last weekend, the project

was completed. i can't believe it. every morning i wake up and walk in

the kitchen and smile... here's what i get to see....


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eventually, we want to put lights behind it, but for now, we leave the

sink light on most of the time. :) it's still pretty, even with no lights

behind it. so, thanks for the idea, tammy. thanks for the frame, mom.

and thanks for the hanging, honey!


it's beginning to look a little like christmas...

we managed to get our christmas

tree up and decorated at the

beginning of december. :) we

were pretty proud of ourselves!

we went to lowe's and found a

great tree at a great price within15 minutes! (thanks, eric & kristi,

for doing the comparison

shopping for us.) :) when we

brought the tree inside, it was

EXACTLY the height of our living

room ceiling...so brian trimmed a

little bit off, and we were in

business. we have a much better

tree stand this year, so it took no

time at all to get the tree situated.

(unlike last year, when brian had to trim several knobs off the trunk so

that we could SHOVE the tree into the stand!) we listened to christmas

music and hung the lights and ornaments last weekend. it is quite a

pretty tree! the tree topper we just bought is a neat scrolly star. brian

put one light in the bottom of it, and when the lights are blinking, you

can see all kinds of scrolly shadows on the ceiling! i'm pretty

entertained by it. :) ethan loves to be underneath the tree and look at

all the lights. he also loved the chance to play with a few ornaments

before we hung them on the tree... his last opportunity to do that for afew years!! (i can hear us next year... "ethan, do not touch. ethan, do

not touch....") anyway, he was pretty impressed with the new addition

to our living room. i can't wait until he can understand the significance

of Christmas and Who we are celebrating. we are really looking

forward to establishing many traditions that treasure God. we've been

reading an absolutely fantastic book, treasuring God in our traditions,

by noel piper. i'd highly recommend it! enjoy these pictures of ethan's


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first christmas experience...

this is the only kind of snowflake ethan will see this winter...

nana bought us a family of jingle bell snowman ornaments with our

names on them. ethan loved hearing the bells jingle!


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he stared contemplatively at the lights blinking in the tree... check out

his hair- this is the worst i've ever seen it! the true definition of

BEDHEAD!

here's the book i mentioned... i mean it--it's a good one!




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daddy time

i love catching moments like this... ethan loves his daddy! he was on

his back looking at our christmas tree lights, and brian started talking

to him. ethan immediately rolled over to see what his daddy was

saying. we pray that he's always this responsive to his father's voice! :)

it's such a blessing to watch brian and ethan grow together as father

and son. ethan already perks up when he hears brian come home from

work-- i know he's got to be thinking, "good! somebody other than

that crazy woman in my face!" :) during our family worship time a few

weeks ago, ethan was fussy and ready for bed. as soon as brian started

reading Psalm 1, ethan calmed down, turned, and listened to brian

until he was finished reading. it will be such a blessing to watch their

interactions together over the years. in a few years, i can see ethan

wanting to follow brian out to the garage to see what he's working on...

or sit with him at the computer while brian explains things that are

way over my head... thank you, Lord, for both of my boys. :)


ethan goes bananas!

ethan has entered the world of real food... now that he is watching

every move we make as we eat and is grabbing at food on our plate, we

thought it was a good time to introduce solids. earlier this week, wegave him mashed up bananas mixed with a little liquid... he was

hilarious! he would grab my hand holding the bowl, open his mouth,

take everything on the spoon, swallow without spitting any out... and

then he'd make the most sour face! as if i'd fed him sour pickles or

lemons! and then he'd open his mouth for more. :) it was pretty cute. it

was probably the texture of the goopy bananas that brought on that

face... the next day, i put more liquid in with the bananas, and he


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enjoyed it much more. he laughed and giggled the whole time. here's

some shots that nana (aka paparazzi) took from his first banana

meal....


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happy birthday, tough guy!


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ethan's friend, joseph, turned 1 this past weekend. it was ethan's first

birthday party for a little friend! (mr. eric, your birthday was his first

party ever--at less than a week old, but i don't even think he was

awake for it!) it was a challenge trying to keep the birthday hats on all

the little guys! lydia had fun running around chasing balloons-- i think

she thought it was an extension of her birthday the week before.

natalie was more than willing to teach her brother how to dig in to the

icing. :) we caught a moment of all the little boys looking somewhat in

the party mood... though ethan seems more interested in the balloons,

and william seems more interested in steven!

here's some shots of the birthday boy and his cake. he wasn't sure if he

wanted to get his hands messy at first, but once he did, he did it right!


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happy birthday, joseph! we love you, and we're so thankful for you!


5 months old!


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M o n d a y , D e c e m b e r 0 5 , 2 0 0 5

caught up to december....

whew. that wore me out. ok, i'm finished catching up on thanksgiving

stories... i'm thankful for that!! stay tuned for december happenings.

this month always seems to get away from me. in all the hustle andbustle, i really don't want to let the important things slide. i read such

an encouraging post about this last week on one of my favorite blogs.

i'll try to finish catching up in the next few days. but i gotta go to bed...

i have an early morning waiting to greet me.


1-800-mohawk temporarily disconnected

so... on our last night with my

grandparents, we had ethan

all bundled up... it was rather

chilly outside. when we got up

to my grandparents'

apartment, we took off his


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layers and his little hat... and

WOAH! it was a different kid!

his hair was matted down on

top of his head! his mohawk

was gone!!!! i guess he had

been sweating in that warm

hat auntie kristie made (see

leaf pictures below for a shot

of the adorable hat). we

couldn't believe it. after a little

while, his hair started to come back to "normal", and the mohawk

returned.


uncle ryan


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ethan loved seeing his uncle ryan during thanksgiving!! ryan first got

to my grandparents' house during ethan's nap, and ethan woke up,

looked at ryan, and immediately smiled. :) it was pretty cute! ethan

loved playing with him, and he especially loved chewing uncle ryan's

fingers!!! we thought he was just really going at the teething thing, but

after about 10 minutes, ryan said, "he must really like my coconut

melon lotion." ha! needless to say, i sent uncle ryan to the bathroom towash that stuff off. on thanksgiving night, we went to visit josh &

amber, ryan's good friends. we had fun playing trivial pursuit, the pop

culture version, and MAN josh's mom makes THE BEST fudge pie.

amber, don't forget to send me the recipe!!! i learned that amber is a

faithful reader of ten little toes, so here's a picture shout out to amber.

:)



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ethan loves leaves!

my grandparents' backyard was FULL of leaves when we were visiting

them. fall leaves have always intrigued me since i grew up with a yard

full of pinestraw! (it's not so fun to jump into a pile of pinestraw, by

the way.) we bundled ethan up one cold morning so that he could playin the leaves the way i remember doing so many times at their house.

he loved the leaves! he tried to eat them, actually. here's some precious

shots from our chilly morning....


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look at all the leaves! (gram had to hold ethan up, since he's not quitesitting up on his own yet...)


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thankful for memories


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my grand parents have lived in the same house since they were

married almost 58 years ago. it is a precious house that i always

dreamed about living in with my family one day. my grandfather, being

the great handyman that he was, built on a second story (with his

father-in-law's help, i think), added on a family room and back porch,

and created almost an infinite amount of storage space for my sweet

grandmother, the queen of packrats. i love the built in bookshelves in

the dining room and the dresser in the wall upstairs! hardwood floors

creak as you walk from room to room, and the garage has the best

"mechanic" smell from my grandfather working out there all those

years. my brother and i stayed with them for a month at a time during

the summer when we were little. i remember sitting on my favorite

kitchen stool waiting for granddaddy to come home for lunch. he'd eat

a sandwich while watching "this old house", and my grandmother

would be cutting up a canteloupe for us to eat. i remember how she'd

save the rind and all the seeds for the birds. to this day, i still can't cut

a canteloupe how she did... i end up with a big mess, so i just buy the

slices at publix. (this is what's wrong with our generation!!) i

remember swinging on the tree swing in the front yard and swimming

in the creek running through their back yard. ryan and i would playhusker du with granddaddy and go visit grandmother at her

kindergarten. they always had the most beautiful flowers in their yard,

as well as hummingbirds and "red bluebirds" as i called them. we also

spent most of our christmases at this house. i have always loved the

drive from the interstate to their house, but it is especially beautiful at

christmastime... all the lights on these grand houses seem almost

magical. there was always the anticipation of "will it snow??" from us

southern kids, but it never did... until the next week when we had

gone home. as i grew older, new memories were made. i will never

forget backing out of their long, narrow driveway to go home.... my

grandparents always stood on the porch to watch us drive away, and

to this day it makes me nervous. :) i remember my grandmother

hanging aol cds in her big bay window because she liked how the sun

reflected off of them. :)

after 58 years, my grandparents can't live there anymore. an old house


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requires maintenance that my granddaddy just can't do. his eyesight

and his back aren't what they used to be...they're not much at all

anymore. they have moved into an assisted living home just down the

street from their house. it's really a beautiful place and is just enough

space for them. they get to visit with the other residents during meals,

and my grandmother has found several people she knows there (i

guess that's where i get it from!). it is slowly becoming home for them.

as we visited their house for one last time, it was easy to be sad. i found

myself just wandering around the house, trying to soak in every detail.

i wanted to cry, thinking that i'd never again get to watch wheel of

fortune with my grandparents in that den with the glittery ceiling or

pilfer through the dishwasher to find something to eat for breakfast

(yes, you read it right...the pantry overflowed to the dishwasher!).

though these gloomy emotions came over me, i found peace in the fact

that this house is just a house. all this stuff that i've grown up loving

and visiting is just....stuff (and a whole lot of junk!). one day, thishouse will be destroyed. everything will be destroyed, but my

grandparents will have another home, a permanent dwelling not made

with hands. one day they will live for eternity in a mansion in Heaven,

and there won't be junk and there won't be dust. Matthew 6:19-21 says,

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth

and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay

up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor

rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For

where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

i am thankful that i have Hope in more than a sweet little house

surrounded by beautiful trees. i am thankful that i have Hope in my

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He causes my heart to be filled with joy

instead of sadness, and He has given me a treasure greater than i could

find in the endless storage at my grandparents' house. praise God for

His gift of grace and mercy that allows me to look past the momentary

trials of this life to the glory of our eternal God.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are

wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an

eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not

on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is

temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.


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S u n d a y , D e c e m b e r 0 4 , 2 0 0 5

ahhh!

i have so much i want to blog about.... thanksgiving (still... i know!),

our christmas tree, our AWESOME stained glass we just hung in our

kitchen window, new pictures of my 5 mo. old cutie-pie.... but life just

keeps happening... i think i'll have time this week to catch up. i finally

did get all the laundry done, by the way. :) so practice patience a little

while longer, and i'll hopefully be back soon. :) hope you're all getting

in the CHRISTMAS spirit...


ten little toes_ december 2005

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