My how time has flown....

from this:


to this:


in the blink of an eye!

Happy First Birthday Liv! A ton of pics to follow!

Busy Busy Busy....

I have so many thoughts racing around in my head that I want to post. There are a ton of pics in my camera that "need" to get out. I created this blog as a way to show pictures and give updates to friends and family who are not here with us in Indiana. It has proven to be such an outlet for me as well. It has been a nice place to organize my daily life and thoughts into tidy, semi-coherent blurbs that I can look back on. The last few days for us here at the E house have been busy with holiday decorating and planning. Instead of late nights blogging and surfing the internet, I have been doing late night shopping and never ending holiday decorating! This is the first Christmas we will be here in the Indiana house and it is like we are starting from scratch. I love celebrating our Saviour's birth - it seems I always want to maximize the season to the fullest extent in every way.

These words of Beth Moore stood out to me and I wanted to share them:
"It's so easy to cry out to God 'Heal my child. Fix my circumstance,' and not that these prayers are wrong, but if my motivation for my relationship with God is what He can do for me, a lust for His power may grow, but His greatest joy is to hear them flow from the mouths of those who want Him more than anything else He could give."

A humbling reminder once again that it is not all about me! :0) My prayer this week is that my motivation will be to give Him glory and that I will ultimately find peace in giving up "my way" and simply resting in His good and perfect will!

I was just reminded that I never posted mom's caring bridge link here. So TA DA - there it is.

Please stop in and sign the guestbook if you get a chance. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers!

and a few more just for fun......

of our goofing around shots. Brian Jr and Jax wanted to take some pics on their own with the new camera- hence all the awkward shots.... but all you FL folk can get a good view of my new black "do" Cleopatra coming at ya!

3 Little Indians......

Brian Jr did a great job in the Thanksgiving Play. We came up with an outfit at the eleventh hour....

I thought these mid-sneeze shots were cute:



"V is for voices strong and clear uplifted in a song. Around the glowing fireside, where laughing children throng". I think we all had his part memorized.....



Goofing around at home after the big day.



Brian Jr taking a turn behind the camera....

As you can see from yesterday's post.....

Brian is now familiar with the "blog thing" and will be posting on here too. Tag Team back again.....

The Many Names of Jackson

Jax, JaxJo, BigJax, JaxMan, but when asked what his nickname is he will undoubtedly respond... TEBOW... we call him JAXBOW during our lakefront football games every evening...jackson has come into his own this year and like his older brother is ultra competitive in whatever he does...the Jaxman is on his first team the Bulls down at the YMCA, and is playing 4 year old youth basketball...other than playing with Brian Jr, uncle Andy and Dad, Jax had never played any type of team sport...if his debut performance is any indication of the future WATCH OUT! Jackson Joseph made 23 baskets, that's 46 points in 3 six minute quarters...and had 3 first downs(on the button hook pattern papa BJ taught him) and 4 tackles to go along with his hoops...there is no shortage of power, strength, and energy when it comes to our little "jaxbow"...not many, if any can be the quarterback and powerforward, but we wouldn't be surprised if he pulls it off...and wouldn't be surprised if he does it wearing the Blue and Orange of the Gator, but he really loves Rudy and the Blue and Gold of the Irish ...no matter what he ends up doing you can be sure it will be full of energy...

Yay Olivia!

Olivia took her first steps! and she did it right before her first birthday! She is still very unsure of her steps and would rather crawl to get somewhere quickly - but she does walk to you if you ask. I think she will be taking off on her own soon. I promise to post the video as soon as I get it loaded.

Bragging on my boy.........

This is Brian Jr dressed up for MisMatch day at school. They have a different fun theme to dress up for on the first Monday of each month for school Spirit Day. This is what we came up with this go round. The teacher said he would have won the best outfit if he had not already won it last month for pajama day. :o)

He is loving his new school - he was Student of the Month in October and is in a play with the 3rd graders for Thanksgiving. He is reading like a champ and has the best handwriting I have ever seen! His teacher said he is such a joy to have in the classroom. I was wondering how he would handle the big transition to Kindergarten as Brian Sr had a bit of a hard time. Jr is doing well though and seems to love it! I however cannot get used to going to a different birthday party every weekend..........

Oh I almost forgot.....

to post pics of our Halloween night.

My Star Wars Stormtrooper and Little Aenakin






It was chilly so we only did the short circle.......... - but they got enough candy to last them for quite a while!




My ballerina baby





My Johnny Depp -er um- I mean - my Jack Sparrow......



A great night had by all - even Andy who retired his Darth Vader costume fairly early on.......

Liv got a hold of some candy......

and tried to figure out how to get it open so she could taste it.

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." ~Harmon Killebrew

Three is a charm!

Brian Jr had 3 birthday parties this year - complete with 3 different cakes and 3 different birthday song renditions. He had one with my parents while they were here, one over the weekend at Tokens and tickets with 13 of his classmates, and one at home on his actual birthdate. He milked it for all it was worth this year. It surely was one to remember. He said his favorite cake was the chocolate one we made together. So here it is in all its glory - and a pic of one happy fella enjoying every bit of it.

My Little Gap Model