More Dinner Conversations...

EMMALEE:  Daddy, Is your Papa and Mama dead?
PETER: Um... yes.
EMMALEE:  Oh... Did they have hiccups or frow-ups?
PETER:  They had both sometimes.
EMMALEE:  Did they go in two beds?

I just wonder what's really going on in her head sometimes?  I'm sure that conversation made total sense to her...

When I Grow Up...

At the dinner table tonight, Ethan announced, "When I grow up, I want to be a Daddy and have 2 kids.  And Daddy, when you grow up, you'll just be dead.  Right?"  Peter's reply: "I don't want to talk about it."

Bonnie and Clyde Treasures

After the playoff game, we drove to Nanna and PaPaw's house (Phil and Libby). We spent the night with them and decided to go on a treasure hunt the next morning. At the Bonnie and Clyde Trade show, we found lots of goodies! At the first jewelry booth, the seller gave Emmalee a bracelet. As Daddy bought a Christmas decoration, that seller gave Emmalee a teddy bear. Then we found a table full of "junk." But the kids, of course, managed to find treasures. Each item was 50 cents. Their Mimi had given them each a dollar. So they got to pick 2 items. Emmalee chose 2 books. Ethan chose this toy gun and a Santa sleigh. They were so excited to get these new items! As we walked along, we found some older antiqued toys (metal cars, yo-yos and Coke cans). All of these items were quite expensive ($30). Ethan spotted a rusty "delivery" truck with doors that opened. His eyes lit up and I knew he wanted it. There was no price tag on it, so I encouraged him to ask the seller about it. The man must have seen the excitement in his sweet face because the man said Ethan could have it for FREE. My precious boy thanked the man, took 2 steps, sat on the dirty ground and began gathering rocks and leaves to fill his delivery truck! Thank you, Lord, for blessing my family with so many sweet treasures!

The Playoff Game

Coach Dooley and the CLA football team advanced to round 2 in the playoffs! We were so excited that we packed up the family and drove 5 hours to see them play in north Louisiana. Poor sweet Ethan... He fell asleep at the end of the game. He slept through the band, the cheers and the buzzers. He woke up when we got back to the car. I asked him what he liked best about the game. "I liked when we winned!" But we didn't win. "Oh, then I liked when the band sounded like a train."

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,
I was looking around at the Bass Pro store today and found this really neat RED truck and it's pulling a boat just like my Poppy's. I'd really like to get this for Christmas, puh-leeze! Thanks!
Love,
Ethan

Practice, practice, practice

Ms. Lisa from next door gave Ethan this notebook for his birthday. This morning, he read ALL 26 pictures to me and told me how to spell each one! "Mom! Apple is spelled A-P-P-L-E! And banana is B-A-N-A-N-A!" Yes - 26 words! Then he got his pen out and began to practice writing. I think he's doing a great job! I'm so glad he loves to read and write!

How Does She Do That?

Emmalee often hides under her pillow at night. She says she's scared of Swiper (from the Dora cartoons). Sometimes, she falls asleep under her pillow. It makes me so nervous when I find her like this... But she is SOUND asleep. Don't worry, I moved her as soon as I took the picture!

Ethan's First Shave?!?

Ethan got a Cars shaving kit for his birthday! He couldn't wait to open it! But we told him that he would have to wait until morning. He was SO excite to get to do another task JUST LIKE HIS DADDY!
As soon as he got up Sunday morning, he was ready! He brought his stool from his bathroom. He lined all of the pieces up: shaving cream, brush, razor, comb. All he needed now was his Daddy!
Daddy showed him how to wet his face, then put the shaving cream on. Then Ethan watched as Daddy ran the razor over his face. Ethan mimicked Daddy's every move. Moments like this are priceless!
Peter is such a good Daddy. I pray that Ethan will always have the desire to follow in his Daddy's footsteps.

Happy Birthday on TV

Ethan and Emmalee love watching the Sprout channel. It's like pre-school on TV. They love the "Sunny Side Up" show where they do a kid style news show: talk about the date, weather and birthdays. For Ethan's birthday, we submitted an online birthday card. He was SO excited when he saw himself on TV! Such a fun memory for such a special boy!

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Ethan's daddy is the best! Ethan said he wanted a Cars party for his 5th birthday with chocolate cupcakes. Look what his Daddy made! It took Daddy about three hours to make a frost the cupcakes Thursday night (3 batches because he also made some for Ethan to take to school on Friday).  Then on Friday night, Daddy started to put it all together.  He spent nearly an hour just laying out the cupcakes and cutting the road in just the right shape.  Then it took another hour to add the grass and all of the signs.  He wanted it to be perfect for his little... BIG BOY!
Happy 5th Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Ethan rode his bike all the way to the park!

Ethan discovered Noah's old training wheel bike at Poppy's house over the summer.  He's been riding it up and down the driveway at our house most afternoons.  But today, he was brave and decided he was ready to go further...

Aunt Jill came over to help us.  Emmalee rode on the back of my bike and we set off down the street heading for the elementary school.  Just about a block from the house, Ethan got too close to the edge of the road and fell over into the grass.  He cried... I think it scared him more than anything.  But he eventually got up, dusted himself off and decided to try again!  So our adventure continued.  

It took us about 20 minutes, but we finally made it to the school playground.  As you can tell by the picture, Ethan was VERY proud of himself!!!  He is getting so big and accomplishing new things every day!  I'm pretty proud of him, too!

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Sweet Dreams

Emmalee is such a busy girl! She wakes up talking to all of her friends. "Good morning, Bunny! What should we do today? Do you think Mommy is up yet?" She climbs up into our bed and jumps on Daddy. "Can I have some Day Day milk?" And from that moment on, she doesn't stop. She dances and sings and reads and jumps and climbs and laughs and RUNS! She's a busy girl! At the end of the day, I tuck her in tight and close the door. I can still hear her singing... "Only a boy named David... When will my reflection show... Look at this stuffn isn't it neat, wouldn't you think my collection's complete..." She'll even ask for a cup of water. "Hey! Can somebody cover me up? My foot got out!". And finally, it gets quiet. That's when I sneak back in to her room and watch silently. She is always hugging a friend; Bunny, Bear Bear, Pablo... And she's quiet... And still. And I wonder how she can be so still... And I smile as I think of how many times she made me laugh that day... Without her, my life could be boring! But it's never a dull moment with Emmalee.
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Gotta Love a Bubble Bath

Ethan LOVES to take bubble baths in our large bath tub. He loves to make a bubble beard and bury his boats in mountains of bubbles. But his favorite thing to do is "wash" my tub. He scrubs every inch of it with his rag. In other words, I love to give him a bubble bath!
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Pony Rides

Ethan opted out of the hamster ball. He chose the pony ride instead. He waited patiently for his turn. Then he climbed onto the pony and beamed! He's quite the little cowboy!
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My Little Hamster

We had a fun family day today! We drove out to Oak Alley for the Arts and Crafts Fair. Emmalee spotted this ball from the parking lot and couldn't wait to get in it. She pushed past all of the big kids who weren't sure they wanted to try it. She climbed right in and RAN! She loved it. She is such an adventurer!
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Pul-eeeeze, Daddy

It was our first Friday night at home in a very long time - no football games, no weddings, no birthday parties. Emmalee looked at her Daddy and said, "I want pink cupcakes." That was all he needed to hear. In a matter of minutes, Daddy had all of his baking stuff out and the kids were proudly pretending to run a cupcake shop. They had an assembly line going: ice the cupcake, sprinkles and a cherry on top.
Peter - you are such a sweet Daddy! I hope the kids realize what a blessing you are in their lives.
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I'm Glad I'm a Boy

When Ethan was in Pre-School, he pouted and said, "I wish I was a GIRL!" When we asked him why, he said it was because all of the good costumes in the play center were for girls. Poor baby. This year in PK, Ms. Newton has SO many fun boy costumes. This is his "Daddy" costume.
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Always Reading

My sweet baby girl loves to read. When the house is too quiet, I go looking for Emmalee. I usually find her sitting at a bookshelf in a pile of books reading to herself.  She "reads" with such expression - acting out every part - with different voices for different characters.  She truly is amusing herself.  I'm so glad she loves books... and theater!  Maybe I'll get to be a backstage mom just like my mommy was for me...
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Just Another Day at "The Office"

Peter and I met on the stage at Christian Life Fellowship in 1999.  We sang together on the worship team for years!  But once Ethan was born, it was difficult to sing and watch him at the same time.  So I stepped down from the platform and joined the nursery staff instead.  Then Emmalee was born, so I continued to work in the nursery.  Now that Emmalee is THREE, I've wandered back to the worship team on my free mornings.  Ethan has been joining Peter at worship practice for over a year now.  But Emmalee has just begun to join us and is trying to find her place.
Today, the kids found "their place."  They crawled into Doc's pulpit and read their books while we practiced.  They told the other worshipers that it was their "office."  Too funny!  I'm glad they have such an imagination... and that they're comfortable in God's House!
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Ethan's Fish Tank

Ethan has been helping Mrs. Karen feed the fish at work for about a year now. This week, he came home and created his own fish tank.  He pushed two stools together.  There are people fish in his tank (dolls from Emmalee's doll house).  He feeds them block food with a green cup.  He has to take the yellow lid off of the tank so that he can reach in to feed the fish.  But he has to be fast so that his fish don't bite him the way Little Nemo bites Mrs. Karen!
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May he worship like David

When we chose Ethan's name, believe it or not, we found it in the Bible - 1 Chronicles 15:19.  Ethan was a part of David's worship band and he played the bronze cymbals.  Peter and I both have a love for music and we prayed that God would give Ethan a talent for music as well.

While I was pregnant with Ethan, I was an elementary music teacher.  The students and I sang to him every day. When he was only one month old, he attended choir practices with us in preparation for the Christmas services.  Now at the age of 4, he gets up every Sunday morning and goes with Peter to practice with the worship team.  They've been so kind to give him his own bongos to play during practice - and from what I hear, he can keep a pretty good beat!

The other night, I put Ethan down to bed at 8:00 as usual.  Around 8:30, I began to hear a noise coming from his room.  I was ready to fuss at him for not going to sleep, but as I got closer to his door, I began to smile.  I heard him belting at the top of his lungs, "He loves us, oooh how He loves us, ooooh how He loves us..."

"On my bed, I remember YOU.  I think of YOU through the watches of the night."  Psalms 63:6

Thank You, Lord for his talent and his passion... May he always worship You.

Here he is playing Chapel with his buddy, Reagan.

Emmalee is Beautiful

I decided to get a haircut today... and I decided to bring Emmalee with me.  Emmie has such sweet curls, but there's one patch that seems to grow faster than the rest.  I thought a tiny trim might shape it up and make it prettier.  So I told Emmie that we were going to get our hair cut together.  She said to me, "No, Mommy... I don't need a haircut.  My Daddy combed my hair this morning and he said that my hair is beautiful."

And she's right!  She is beautiful just the way she is.  I pray that she will always know how beautiful she is to her daddy!  And as she grows, I pray that she understands how beautiful she is to her Father.  I pray that she will always be comfortable and never insecure and that people around her will never be able to make her think otherwise!  She is a very pretty girl!  And I'm so proud of her!

My Little Worship Leader

I put the kids to bed at 8:00 tonight - as usual.  Around 8:30, I heard noises coming from Ethan's room.  So I stormed off to fuss at him about staying up too late.  As I got closer to his room, I could hear him singing - no - belting at the top of his lungs!  "I need You, Jesus to come to my rescue... Tell  me where else can I go?  There's no other Name by which I am saved.  Capture me with grace.  I will follow You!"  Now you know I couldn't fuss at that!  He was loving Jesus...

When I was pregnant with Ethan, I was an elementary music teacher at a Christian school.  Everyday, my students and I would sing to him.  In church, Peter and I sang on the worship team.  So before he came into the world, we were pouring God's love into Ethan through music.  I prayed that God would give him a love and a gift for music and that he would use it to glorify Him.

God has given him a love for music.  He sings all the time - makes up his own songs.  Now he goes to worship practice with Peter on Sunday mornings.  The worship team has been so sweet to him and has given him his own tiny set of bongos to play as they practice.  When his friend, Reagan, comes over to play - they "play chapel."  They stand on the stage (bed) and play their instruments and sing into the microphones, and love Jesus!

God's Word

Emmalee picked up her Toddler Bible last night and was reading... She turned to page one and said, "Jesus!"  Then she turned to page two and said, "Jesus!" This went on for a few pages until she reached the story about Adam and Eve... "Hi Daddy!  Hi Mommy!  Uh Oh - God said NO NO! Don't eat that!  Now you have to go to time out!"  Sounds like she's off to a good start...