on the edge of early.

"mama, do your bible study."
she hands me my pen from the floor.
"here. color it."
once again, i find myself on the edge of early morning, with an almost three year old for company. currently, she's flipping through a library book we picked up yesterday, quietly telling me, "i like the girl stories, mom."
i suppose i shouldn't be surprised by my pint sized companion. it's the same story every morning. i hit snooze on my alarm too many times, finally summoning the strength to haul my body out of bed around 6:30; my only conscious thought of coffee. by the time i'm awake enough to even think about my bible and the study i'm doing, i can hear the pitter patter (or sometimes running thuds) of toddler size eight feet above my head. she usually climbs into bed with her daddy...but i know my moments alone are numbered. and sure enough, just as i'm getting into the groove of the study or of journaling or of prayer, i hear the whispered, "MOM!" from the top of the stairs. so much for getting anything else done this morning.
i know i should cherish these morning moments, alone with my eldest girl. someday soon, i'll miss her little whispered conversations, as she "reads" to herself beside me. these days ARE fleeting...no matter how interminable they may seem in the midst of them.
she's reading "fancy nancy", the quiet morning air filled with three-year-old pronunciations of "splendiferious" and "fushia" and "accessories", while i plug away at my study of james, trying to concentrate on truths like "faith without works is dead". the disparity is humorous...
the birds are twittering outside. the now-risen sun is slanting through the shades. the last sips of my coffee are stone-cold in my cup. i drink them anyway, shuddering slightly doing so. i quietly close james, putting my unfinished study away for the day. i hope that some of its truth has penetrated and that i will be changed for the better by His words. she tugs at the strings on my sweatshirt.
"mama. i want you. cuddle wiff me."
i've ignored her long enough...

while we're on the subject of birthdays, i figured i might as well post a bit about elijah's big day. he, like his mama, has a the terrible fortune of having a december birthday. so, instead of throwing a big party, we just did a small scale cake/singing party with family. he did, however, get quite a few treats in celebration of turning FIVE.

 the first being a big pile of presents when he woke up!

 from his uncle luke and auntie heather. if you look really closely, you can see the t-rex my brother drew on the package...

 LEGOS!

 the "big" present...

 an airplane he'd been wanting for forever...

 n, of course, making mischief!

 piles and piles of paper...(he's playing with a dragon...)

 pretty excited.

 after presents and breakfast, he had a bit of time to put one lego set together with his daddy...and then we were off to in 'n' out for lunch!

 he had to bring his favorite present...

 after lunch, we were off to the lego store! (it's a far enough drive that we don't get to go very often. this was his first time!)

 beeline to the harry potter legos! that's my boy!

 maybe a bit overwhelmed...

 making mini-figures...

 he got to spend some birthday money while he was there. he chose a police surveillance truck...

and then we headed back home. he was supposed to go see a movie with his best bud but unfortunately, his buddy was sick so he went with his daddy instead. they saw "puss in boots" and ate way too much candy. 

 he came home from the movie to more sweets, in the form of cake! lego cake to be exact!

 a little embarrassed during the singing...

blowing out FIVE candles!

can't believe my baby boy is five now. next up, school! yikes!

a little birthday celebration...almost a year later.

i don't usually like doing posts about events. mainly because i feel like all i end up doing is, "first we did this. then we did this. and then we did this. the end". boring and lame. but...i was looking back through pictures of lucy's second birthday party and realized i was pretty proud of how it turned out (thanks in a big way to my friend shannon). so...here's a post about an event in our little world. happy second birthday to lucy kate...way back in may!

we had planned to have her party at a park close by our house. but as the day of the party dawned blustery with a chance of rain, we made the last minute decision to move the party to our house. this, of course, created a ton more work for me (and shannon who arrived early to help me out!) as my house was no where near clean enough to entertain. we shoved piles of stuff in closets and behind closed doors (some piles remained in those places until the fall...oops!) and began to arrange the decor as best we could in my dining/kitchen area. the theme was "little birdie" and i love how the decorations turned out! a few pictures...

 table in the entry way...with a little book i made of pictures...

 gift table!

 dessert.

 LOVED the colors of the flowers...

 these little pictures were supposed to be set out on each of the picnic tables at the park as well as hanging from the pennant flag banner i made (and never got a picture of) but seeing as we had to move the party indoors...they just got set wherever we could stick them!

 nest cupcake.

goodie bags for the kids (they had little wooden bird houses for them to paint, along with some candies in plastic eggs...)

the party itself went just fine. our house handled the crowd without mishap and we didn't even miss the park. lucy seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the attention but she didn't cry at the singing and certainly didn't mind all the presents. a few more pictures of the festivities...

 overwhelmed birthday girl with her mama...

 the play kitchen is always a big hit...

 the candy was also a big hit!

 still a bit overwhelmed! my mom made her dress and pants...i crocheted her crown (the night before! gah! nothing like the last minute...).

 the general scene.

 more baby dolls! can a girl ever have too many of those?

 birthday girl's cake...

 naomi was taking a nap...but here's the closest thing we got to a family picture!

birthday girl with her favorite snack: strawberries!

lucy's birthday party happened a week after her actual birthday so we had to do a bit of celebrating on her actual day. here's a few more pictures of that celebration...

 balloons for the birthday girl!

 presents! shopping cart filled with books and a new baby (in the big bag)

 e, of course, wanted desperately to help...

 loving the new toys!

 homemade strawberry shortcake for my girl!

 a little shy...

 singing happy birthday...

chowing down!

can't believe that in a couple short months, she will be turning three! hate how quickly time flies...