the talbott family

Sweet little seamstress

2011-12-28T07:38:00.003-05:00

Snow Globe

2011-11-30T08:34:00.003-05:00

Our family has quickly become addicted to this catchy Christmas song, and it just so happens that in the official "Snow Globe" video, Matt Wertz found a pretty awesome banjo player for the job.

For those of you who don't recognize him, it's my talented brother. :)

Plus, if you love the song as much as we do, another friend teamed up with Matt Wertz to make some really awesome snow globe necklaces. They're so cute!

PS-No one asked me to promote their products. We just think they are awesome people doing really awesome things and wanted to show our support.

My Shopping Girl

2011-11-29T13:24:00.003-05:00

Carson begged to go shopping on Black Friday with me. Here she is at approximately 5:45 AM on the way to the mall. She was freezing & so sleepy, but very determined to go. I love my shopping buddy. :)

Homeschooling at its best*

2011-10-04T16:49:00.003-04:00

*Disclaimer: Every school day does not consist of beautiful weather and cheerful attitudes. That's why today had to be documented. :)

The Good Seat

2011-08-29T21:15:00.005-04:00

Carson and Eli rotate who gets "the good seat" at dinner.

Tonight it was Carson's turn.

She knew Eli would fuss about it, so unbeknownst to us when she was setting the table, she left this note by Eli's place...

...it was not well-received by Eli.

But it sure did get some laughs from Mom & Dad. :)

August 28th

2011-08-27T15:13:00.005-04:00

I wish I had some new words to share this year on 8/28, but the feelings are the same:

Three years have come and gone, but we still miss her deeply. The pain of losing our baby girl will forever be a part of who we are.

But also three years later, we are still rejoicing that in exchange for her little broken body, Elliana has been given a new, perfect heavenly body and is with the One who loves her even more than we do.

Here's last year's August 27th/28th post and some music for you:

**********************************************

Our sweet little tiny baby girl,

We are honored to be the ones chosen to carry you for 9 months in my tummy and then 27 precious days here on earth. Two years ago today, the Lord carried you from my arms to His - right up to Heaven. Though our arms are empty today, our hearts are not because we will continue to carry you each and every day until we're in Heaven with you. But until then, the Lord carries us each and every day. We love you and miss you, sweet Elliana Mae. Though we mourn, we also celebrate the day that you were ultimately healed!

Here are the lyrics to the song that is so special to us...

I Will Carry You (Audrey's Song)
by Selah

There were photographs I wanted to take
Things I wanted to show you
Sing sweet lullabies, wipe your teary eyes
Who could love you like this?

People say that I am brave but I'm not
Truth is I'm barely hanging on
But there's a greater story
Written long before me
Because He loves you like this

[Chorus]
I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry you
All my life
And I will praise the One Who's chosen me
To carry you

Such a short time
Such a long road
All this madness
But I know
That the silence
Has brought me to His voice
And He says ...

I've shown her photographs of time beginning
Walked her through the parted seas
Angel lullabies, no more teary eyes
Who could love her like this?

[Chorus]

Motherhood Is Application

2011-08-26T07:13:00.003-04:00

That's the name of the article I read this morning, and I'm thinking maybe it would do me some good to read it every day...

...before 3 sweet sleepy-headed faces greet me,
...before the sword fighting begins,
...before the living room has been transformed into a daycare center for 28 baby dolls,
...before "craft time" has left the playroom looking like someone has thrown up a jumbo size pack of construction paper (ripped into bazillions of small pieces) all over every square inch of carpet in the room,
...before I'm in the bathroom disciplining one child while another jumps off of the table and is crying because he's hurt, & the pasta on the stove is boiling over,
...before I am reading the bedtime story, praying for my babies, rubbing backs, getting the night light and fan *just right* and leaving the room, only to be called back because "my bug bite was itching and I scratched it and now it's bleeding and I need a band-aid."

You know, times like that.

If you are a mom, especially one with multiple young children right now, give it a read in your *spare time.* Oh, can't remember what that is?? Just give your kids a pack of construction paper, and you'll have a good 5 minutes before it's all cut up. :)

Here's the link: Motherhood Is Application

Elliana's 3rd Birthday

2011-08-01T20:24:00.007-04:00

The day started off with a lot of crying and reflecting on the summer of 2008. Reading through my journal and remembering what the Lord has brought us through was just what I needed. I read through every Bible verse I had written down in those 6 months--starting from my ultrasound and going all the way through the time she went to heaven. Sweet Eli & Carson gave me lots of hugs and were very understanding about why Mommy was such a mess. And my precious husband took a day off of work to spend the day celebrating Elliana with us. Here's a little conversation Eli & I had.

Eli: Mommy, you can see Elliana today, okay?
Me: I can?
Eli: We have a picture of her on our wall downstairs. Remember?
Me: You're right, Eli.
Eli: Do you know what picture I mean?
Me: Yes.
Eli: Can you see her in your mind?
Me: Yes, I can!
Eli: So you can see her! You don't have to cry because you can see her in your mind.

One of the gifts God has put in Eli is his sensitivity to others. He always has the right words and uses them at the best times. Back to Elliana's day...

Our first stop of the day was Publix to pick out what balloon a 3-year-old girl might want. We all agreed that Minnie was the best choice. Well, and the fact that Isaac grabbed the "mouse" balloon and refused to let go. So that's the one we got.

Last year we sent our balloon to Elliana at Colonial Lake, but with two wild boys running around this year, we decided we needed a place that had a barrier between the kids & the water. Our choice: Waterfront Park.

Carson is Mommy #2, and I couldn't keep up with Eli & Isaac without her help.
The perfect spot to send off the balloon...Not too many trees around.

On the count of 3, everyone let go.

Running through the grass to follow the balloon...

After it was out of sight, Eli found a "stage" and had everyone posing as statues.
Then precious Carson finally got her wish...to eat at Joe Pasta. The poor girl has been begging to eat there "because I love pasta" for months, so she suggested it, and it was right across the street from Cupcake, so it worked out perfectly today.

Isaac was there too, but he was past his naptime, and I wouldn't want to show you a picture of that. It would ruin everyone's sweet-little-angel image they have of him. :)

Then onto Cupcake. Elliana's favorite place. (Basically, I ate a LOT of cupcakes from there when I was pregnant.) Eli & I got double chocolate lemon, Carson had chocolate/chocolate (surprise, surprise!), and Chris had the one that we should have all ordered...salted caramel chocolate! YUM!
We came home to eat our cupcakes, and I promise we shared them with Isaac, who was about to fall asleep...

They are too precious! Notice Carson is missing her 2 front teeth...the first knocked loose by Eli, and the 2nd knocked out by Isaac. Brothers! :)
You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our Savior. Psalm 65:5

Squeeze the Cup

2011-06-08T10:02:00.003-04:00

Like most faces Isaac makes, we're not really sure where he gets them or what exactly they mean. But this newest one, well, we just can't get enough of it. He only makes it when he's squeezing something with all of his might. So anytime we need a good laugh, we grab the nearest object and ask the little Chunkster to give it a squeeze. This time, it happened to be the cup in the bathtub. Enjoy!

Eli's Idea

2011-04-19T08:56:00.002-04:00

Making an Easter Mountain

2011-04-18T07:11:00.004-04:00

I am trying to make more of an effort this year to really go through the Easter story with the kids, but as many times as I could explain the story, I think they really learn more by doing hands-on things. We have so many nativity sets where the kids can move the people around and act out the story of Jesus's birth, which really makes the story come alive to them. However, I don't think many stores are selling the Crucifixion/Resurrection sets. :)

So we are going to make our own. And you can too! Here's the link to John Piper's blog with the easy instructions. All you need is some playdough (they have a recipe to make your own), pipe cleaners, 2 twigs, and a small aluminum can.

Photo credit

6 years

2011-04-07T16:16:00.004-04:00

Six years!

That's how old my first baby turned today.
Six years ago, she made me a mommy, and she was (and still is) the sweetest little thing.

Happy birthday to my

beautiful,
girly,
patient,
motherly,
soft-spoken,
sugar-toothed,
helpful,
book-loving,
obedient,
mini-me

Carson!

Cookie Monster

2011-03-16T13:59:00.002-04:00

While the girls were out shopping last night, Chris and Eli made cookies to surprise us. Not just any cookies--they were FROM SCRATCH! And they were wonderful! Chunks demonstrated how an entire cookie could be consumed in less than 10 seconds. The boy inhaled it! Like father, like son, right? :)

And just because I thought it was cute, here are all 3 kiddos hanging out on the floor together.

Settling in

2011-03-10T20:47:00.002-05:00

I just realized it's been about a month since we've posted anything on the blog. Sorry! Needless to say, we've been a little preoccupied with packing, moving, & unpacking. Not to mention having 4 out of the 5 of us on antibiotics during moving week, celebrating Eli's 4th birthday, and experiencing the roller coaster of my Granny having a stroke & miraculously having no deficits from it! The Lord truly protected her--through the moments when Granny couldn't even write or think clearly during the stroke, she was able to *somehow* call my aunt for help. Our family has been blown away at how exceptionally well she is doing. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for her!

I promise we'll be back to more fun blog posts soon--but not soon enough, because we have a busy couple of weeks coming up with 2 trips planned, Carson's 6th birthday, plus a joint birthday party for Carson & Eli, and some visits from out-of-town family.

By the way, we love our new house and have actually enjoyed down-sizing and getting rid of all of the junk we've accumulated that we don't need. We will say that we miss having the Stiers & Gochnauers right there with us though, and Eli was teary today saying he missed his swings, since we left our swingset behind. Lucky for him, we are buying a new one very soon. Poor little guy.

A new tradition

2011-02-04T20:54:00.003-05:00

Our dining room has 3 little windows across the top of the wall, and it was difficult for me to figure out what to hang on that wall when we first moved into this house. We finally got this really neat wire thingy from ikea that has little clips hanging from it. Usually, the clips are displaying the kids' artwork, but we took it all down in December to display all of our Christmas cards.

Those Christmas cards are still up even into February because my brother gave us a great idea for a new tradition. Each night, we take down one card and our family prays for that family. Usually, we each choose a different member of the family to pray for. It has been so neat to see what Carson & Eli's little hearts have to say when they are praying...often, they are praying for other children in the way that Chris and I pray for them. It's precious.

It's so easy to sit down to pray and only bring our own needs before the Lord, but these Christmas cards keep us thinking of others. Our family has been so blessed by regularly praying for our friends and extended family. Once we make it through all the cards, I imagine we'll just start back at the beginning of the line and repeat the cards over and over until a new batch of Christmas cards starts to arrive.

So next year, send us a card, and we'll add you to the lineup. It's a win-win situation. We will be blessed by praying for you, and you will be blessed by being prayed for. Plus I love getting Christmas cards in the mail--one of my favorite things! :)

Dancing Chunky

2011-02-04T20:28:00.004-05:00

Dancing, according to Isaac.
(We still aren't quite sure where he picked up his moves.)

Enjoy!

The House

2011-01-28T12:28:00.002-05:00

Here she is

My favorite room

Their new rooms!

And my little buddy who is hanging out with me today and helping me pack.

Again.

2011-01-27T20:53:00.001-05:00

Yes, the rumors are true...the Talbotts are moving.

Again.

This will be the 6th address Chris and I have had in our 8 years of marriage.

It's totally the Lord. Moving is not something I had ~~much~~ any experience with as a child. The first place I ever moved to was my college dorm room. Honestly, this time we don't really want to move, but we know it is what the Lord is leading us to do.

When we bought our current home, we were both working & had two incomes. Now, I'm not. Well, actually I'm working a lot more, but I just don't get paid in my current position of home educator, meal maker, booger wiper, diaper changer, fight breaker-upper, boo-boo kisser, house cleaner, grocery shopper. You get the picture.

We love our neighbors (well, most of them), and it will be hard to say goodbye, although we will only be 10 minutes away in our new house.

The new house has a story of its own...

We listed our house 4 months ago, stepping out in faith because we knew that too much of our money was going towards our house, with little left over to bless anyone else, let alone even buy groceries. I will say though that despite the lack of money in our checking account, we always had what we needed. The Lord is so faithful to provide for us.

As soon as our house was listed, we signed a contract on a new construction--a bit smaller & definitely less expensive, but it was all we needed--but it was contingent on our house selling. They wouldn't build anything until we had a contract here. That contract expired around Thanksgiving, was renewed for another month, and expired again. So our new house was out.

Surprisingly, there was a huge amount of interest in this house with showings scheduled almost weekly, although no one would make an offer. The showings were very tiring, especially having to clean the entire house on such short notice, all while I have 3 kids here that needed me. Thankfully, Holly & Matt live right behind us and were able to take Jabez every time, so that I had one less thing to worry about.

So a couple of weeks ago, we did an open house. Chris was here to talk to whoever walked through the door, and the kids & I were at Holly & Matt's. Only 1 person showed up in the 4 hours that Chris was there, and all the guy wanted was to talk to the realtor about some other homes in the area. Chris's response was, "What about this house?" And the rest is history.

We got a contract last weekend and have been scrambling ever since to find somewhere to go. Throughout the time our house was listed, we were constantly searching online and driving around town trying to find something suitable, but never got really serious about it, knowing that without a contract on our house, we couldn't do anything anyway.

Consequently, we were left running around town like crazy over the last week to make arrangements. We've been back and forth between new construction & an older home that needed some work but that was in a great established neighborhood. And the verdict is...

Another new construction!

Actually, the same exact floor plan that we were going to build to begin with! The only difference is that the one we are getting has a better lot, and we won't have to move anywhere temporarily while our house is being built because this one is already complete and ready for us to move in! Thank you, Lord, for sparing us from another stint in an apartment.

Also, Chris just pointed out to me that this will be our lowest mortgage payment EVER!! If we hadn't have moved so many times before, we would be stuck upside down in a smaller house with a bigger monthly payment. And I can guarantee you that this was not due to any deep real estate knowledge of ours! If we relied only on our financial sense, we'd be in trouble. It was all the Lord.

We already have friends in the neighborhood too! The Lord has always given us someone that we know right down the street. That's true for every house we've lived in actually!

So, all that to say, we are truly blessed. We have done absolutely nothing to deserve it, and we know that all of the blessings of this house and the new house come only from the Lord. And let me just say that being obedient in actually selling this house was really, really tough. This was going to be our house forever. And we're leaving after only 2 years. I'm just thankful that God is in control & not me. I would have really messed things up by now. :)

Now, onto packing with my 3 little 'helpers.'

Talbott Family Soccer Match

2011-01-19T13:49:00.002-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

*compliments of Stevie Griffin

1 year old!

2010-12-28T00:06:00.004-05:00

One year ago today, our sweet little Isaac was born.

Happy 1st birthday to our Chunkerpants!

the one that screams Mamamamama for all of his needs
the little billy goat paper eater
the one who tucks his head down when he crawls in super speed
the best sleeper
the bottomless pit
the one who eats anything he finds on the floor
the one who is wrapped around his mommy's finger
the sunshine after the rain

Thank you, God, for Isaac.

Christmas Card Picture

2010-12-24T12:01:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!*

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

*Such a great picture isn't it? Before you start commenting on how wonderful it is that everyone is looking and mostly smiling, please keep reading. We aren't as picture perfect as it may seem, trust me! We had to combine a couple of pictures to make this beauty because we couldn't get everyone to look and/or smile at the same time. And by we, I mean my brother Stevie. I can take no credit for cropping little Isaac's head onto this picture. It really is the Chunky we all know and love, just not from the exact same shot the rest of us were smiling in. Regardless, I love this picture. It's all of us, just not all at the same split second. So there you have it. I feel much better confessing that to the world. :)

And if you'd like some awesome graphic work done, click on the link to Stevie's website below! Even if he wasn't my brother, I'd think his work was fantastic!

Happy birthday, Jabez!

2010-12-21T09:57:00.002-05:00

Our gentle giant is 10 years old today!

We honestly never thought he'd live to see the day, but we are thankful for 10 years of our sweet, calm, gentle, obedient, child-tolerant, protective Jabie.

On the Mend

2010-12-13T14:06:00.005-05:00

I just wrote a long post about everyone's sicknesses in the Talbott house over the last month, but I decided it was way too boring to read about, so I deleted it. Just know that we've been through 5 bottles of antibiotics, 2 bottles of Motrin, and 1 bottle of Tylenol, but the kids are on the mend now. No exciting adventures lately, but we have taken a couple of cute pictures...

My little loves

Even though we were stuck at home, we still got to play with Hayden because he was sick too.

sweet little Chunky
(By the way, I think Isaac has been called Chunk, Chunks, Chunky, Chunkster, Chunkers, Chunkerpants--you get the idea--more than he has been called Isaac. We need to work on that. :)

My favorite girl

The most destructive baby getting his one chance to touch the tree. This year the tree is in the playroom where we can close the door and keep Isaac away from it. I'm not worried about him breaking ornaments as much as I envision him yanking the whole thing down on top of himself.

2 out of 3 isn't bad, right?

Thank you, Shutterfly!

2010-11-18T20:30:00.004-05:00

Are we the only family on a tight budget this Christmas--actually not just this Christmas, maybe this year? Ever since I quit working, money has been tight around here, and with the holidays around the corner, I was getting sad that we wouldn't be able to afford Christmas cards this year...

...until Shutterfly started offering a sweet little promotion, where bloggers just like me could get 50 cards for free just by blogging about them!

I started looking for the perfect one for our family, and there are so many cute ones that I can't make up my mind! You can choose from folded greeting cards, flat stationary cards, or flat photo cards. I am thinking of ordering a set of the flat stationary cards and using them as Christmas postcards. Who needs an envelope anyway...at our house they go straight in the trash.

Here are some of the ones I love:

Ordering and personalizing the cards is so simple. (Our 2008 cards were from Shutterfly, and they were a piece of cake to make.) Taking a decent family picture is the tough part!

I have ordered other products from Shutterfly in the past, and I have been so pleased with their photo gifts, especially their photo books.

Here's the one I made for Eli:

Click here to view this photo book larger

And here is Elliana's:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Carson has one too, but it's not from Shutterfly, so you'll have to come by our house to see hers!

Thank you, Shutterfly, for your gift to us! We can't wait to make our cards!

I love him.

2010-11-12T08:38:00.006-05:00

Practicing his music before work this morning for the man retreat this weekend.

(edited to add: in no specific order. :)  I tried to mix it up a bit.)

Husband.
Father.
Coffee drinker.
Leader of our family.
Vacuumer.
Protector.
Beer maker.
Provider.
Police officer.
Worshipper.
My best buddy.

I love you, Chris!