Saturday, February 25, 2017

Hannah - 5 years

Our Hannah turned 5 on February 14th!  She had such a great day and we loved celebrating her all day (all week really)!  We sang happy birthday many many times that day! She got to pick the menu that night since she was the birthday girl, so we had a yummy salad and cake.  She wanted to get dressed up for dinner at home and wore this sweet dress in the picture below.  Sweet thing!  


A few of my favorite things about our 5 year old:

-She always cheers for the same team her Daddy is cheering for  - no matter the sport.  

-She's very scared of elevators, although we have seen some slight improvement in that area.  

-She loves playing school and is usually "Mrs. Powell" or "Mrs. Poe" (Emily's K and 1st grade teachers)

-She is so quick to pray for someone when they are hurt or sick (without any prompting).  One night Emily's tummy was hurting and Hannah just walked out of the kitchen and came back a few minutes later and said with a big smile on her face "I just prayed for you, Emily."  I've caught her doing this many times.  Sometimes I'll just see her praying quietly to herself and sometimes she'll come and tell me that she just prayed for someone we had just been talking about.  I'm thankful she is learning at an early age to seek the One who is in control of all things.  

-She loves movies - all movies.

-She loves playing dress-up and when she is at home is usually in some kind of dress up clothes.

-Hannah loves apples.  She doesn't care for bananas, but likes most other kinds of fruit.

-She loves to hug. Even if Bert is leaving for just a few minutes and will be right back he knows not to leave the house without getting a Hannah hug.

-Abby takes her afternoon nap as soon as we get back home from picking up Emily from school each afternoon so she is often getting sleepy in the carline.  Once we have turned into the school driveway and are sitting in the carline Hannah will unbuckle herself and get out and play with Abby and keep her awake, then when we get close to picking up Emily, she jumps back in her seat and buckles up again.  It's a big help.

-Claire likes to copy everything she does. If Hannah changes her sandwich order, then Claire changes hers too.  This annoys Hannah and she'll say "Wwwwhhhhyyyy is she copying me?!"

-She loves school and going to church and dance class!

-Her hair has been growing longer slowly but surely for a long time. I love her sweet curls!!  

-Her favorite color is pink.

-She LOVES dresses and skirts, and wears one or the other 80 percent of the time.

-Hannah went with me to the grocery store a couple weeks ago and a lady in the grocery store stopped us and said to Hannah "your smile has made my day."  We had seen her a couple times while shopping and apparently Hannah was smiling every time.  We stopped and talked to her for a few minutes and as we were leaving she said to Hannah "don't ever forget that your smile will make someone's day.  It's a powerful thing."

-Her smile shines through her eyes and lights up her whole face.  It makes me smile to see her smile.

-She loves to ride her bike and look at books.

-Nicknames - Hannah Beth, Hannie, Banana

-Bert and I call her Hannah Beth about as much as we call her Hannah.

-Hannah is SO helpful!!  She loves to help with most anything, but especially when it comes to taking care of, playing with or watching Abby.  If I'm looking for Abby I usually find Hannah with her and vice versa.  Abby is so active right now that sometimes I'll have to put her in the Pack & Play for a few minutes with toys so that I can get something done.  Hannah will happily stand there and talk to her and play with her the whole time she's in the Pack & Play and Abby usually calms right down.


-She is a tender-hearted little thing.  She cries genuine tears when people have been over at our house for a visit and have to leave.  

Interview with our 5 year old:  
What is your name?  Hannah 
How old are you?  4...I mean 5
Where do you live? I live in Greenville 
What is your favorite color?  Pink and Purple
What is your favorite toy?  Can it be Minnie?  I like Minnie. 
What is your favorite food?  Salad
What is your favorite drink?  Hot Chocolate
What is your favorite thing to do? Color pictures
What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to be a mom.  (Then she smiled really big and gave me a hug.)  
Who is your teacher?  My teacher is Mrs. Wentzel
Who is your best friend?  Marly (friend from church)
What is your favorite song? Oh my soul ("10,000 Reasons") 
What is your favorite book?  The Minnie Book
What is your favorite movie?  Aurora 
Who is the funniest person you know?  Jacob
Where is your favorite place to go?  Jacob's house
What does your Mommy always say to you?  Clean up
What does your Daddy always say to you?  Be kind to each other

We love you, Hannah Elizabeth Watts!  These 5 years have flown by but we're loving every day of it! We're so thankful God blessed our family with you!

Friday, February 24, 2017

Hannah's Princess Party

Hannah wanted to have a princess party this year and since we usually do a little bit of a bigger party for their 5th birthday, we decided it would be fun to have a princess of her choice come to the party. She decided she wanted Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and was so excited when I told her she was able to come!  

I ordered the cake (in the picture below) from Publix and thought they did a great job.  Mom, Dad, Bert and I were running around trying to finish up last minute things on the day of the party and I was running a smidge behind.  We ended up just deciding for Mom, all 4 girls and me to stop by Publix on the way to the party to pick up the cake.  When I got to Publix to pick it up (this was about 30 minutes before the party was to start) the top layer had fallen back against the cardboard box it was in.  There was no way I was going to be able to get it out without it falling completely.  The lady checking me out saw it at the same time I did and said she would run get their cake lady to fix it.  She said it would take about 10 minutes and it took closer to 20, but I was honestly impressed she was able to fix it at all.  I have no idea how she went about doing that...wish I could have watched her work her magic.  Anyway, we made it to the party a couple minutes after 2 (the time it was set to start), but we had a cute cake in hand, so all was well and everything else was set up and ready to go.  

We played a Rapunzel game where you had to see who could get their partner the most tangled up in "Rapunzel's hair." 

Bert thought we needed to do a demonstration for them before they started wrapping their partner up.  He enjoyed himself a little too much. :)  


 Claire and Mimi were partners.  


We also played a Sleeping Beauty game that was similar to hot potato. 


Aurora got there at about 2:30 and the girls couldn't have been more excited. They were all mesmerized.  When she first got there she had each one of them introduce themselves and do a curtsy.  I caught this picture of her talking to Hannah after she had met all the other girls.   


You can see Abby at the bottom of the picture below playing on the floor.  She was right in the middle of most everything they were doing.  Papa Stan was on Abby duty and he spent a lot of the party either holding her or chasing her around. Thanks Papa!!   


Hannah got to have a special dance with Aurora which she loved.  If you can make the picture bigger you'll see her sweet smile.  


Aurora also had a story time with them and then took pictures with each girl individually and then a group shot.  She did a great job and it was a really fun activity for a princess party!  




Singing happy birthday to our girl and watching her blow out the candles!  


The picture below is Hannah and her friend Marly.  Marly and her family started coming to our church last fall and she and Hannah have gotten to be good friends! Sweet things! 


Hannah had some friends from school and some friends from church, plus her sisters of course.  She did a really good job of making everyone feel welcome!  


I'd say the princess party was a big success!  I had planned to get a Watts family picture before the party started, but after the cake issues we were doing good just to make it there, so the picture didn't happen, but we were all there and we loved loved loved celebrating our little 5 year old!!

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Basketball

The girls played basketball for the first time this winter and have had a great season!  They were able to be on the same team, which we were very thankful for!  They had one practice a week and one game a week from December through February.  We saw improvement in their basketball skills and enjoyed seeing them work together with their teammates.  

This was the practice before their first game, when they got their jerseys.  They were so excited!  Bert, Claire, Abby and I would walk on the walking track above the court while they practiced.  We could watch them, but also enjoy talking and getting some exercise.  


Emily asked me before their first game....

"Mom, when we play basketball are we going to be on TV??"


We actually played for the church where our girls go to preschool since our church doesn't have a team.  It was fun to see some kids that we know from there.  

Their friend Waylon, who goes to MCBC with us, was on their team too.  He and Hannah are the same age.  





Emily getting a little Daddy coaching at half time.  


After each game they circled up and prayed together.  


Mimi and Papa got to come to a game and E and H loved having them there.  Papa took off work just to be there...that's true love!  


Towards the end of their last game their coach ask the ref if he would hold Hannah up so that she could make a basket.  He did and I was so excited I was able to get a picture of it (Bert wasn't able to be at this game because he was at a conference).  Both teams cheered and clapped after she made the basket and Hannah was smiling so big as she was running back down the court I thought she might burst.  It was precious.  


After each practice their coach would have them sit down and he'd take a few minutes just talk to them. They would take prayer requests and talk about different things, but everything he said to them was very gospel-centered.  

We were in the car yesterday and Hannah said out of the blue "Whatever you do, do it for God's glory!!"  I asked her where she learned that verse and she said "from my basketball coach."  We're thankful he took time to teach them about basketball and the Word.  


The girls received their first trophy and their were soooo proud of it.  They kept saying...."it's gold, it's real gold!"  


It's been a really fun season cheering on our big girls!  And they may not have been on TV, but we couldn't have been more proud of them if they were!  :)  

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

These Days

It's been awhile since I've done a "These Days" post, so some of the pictures in this post are from days in early January and some from last week. Life with four little ones isn't always conducive to blogging!

Emily got the game "Pie Face" for Christmas and we had so much fun playing it as a family.  When it would hit someone in the face the girls thought it was hilarious.  Emily fell in the floor laughing several times.  It was fun to see them have so much fun with it!  


Emily, Hannah and Claire have had SO much fun with their new trampoline!  They're out there on it most days.  They wanted Abs to come jump with them one day and as you can see she enjoyed herself.  


This picture popped up as a facebook memory.  I sent it to Bert and asked him "which kid?" He guessed Emily, which was correct, but I think she looks so much like her sisters did/do at this age.  It also makes me want to shed a little tear that Emily's almost 7. It goes by unbelievably fast.  


Abby likes walking around the house holding things in her hands.  She especially loves walking around holding baby dolls these days, sometimes they're about as big as she is.  


One of Emily's homework assignments was to write her word wall words in shaving cream.  Hannah and Claire definitely wanted in on that action!


"Will you take my picture with Abby?"  


The static has taken over around here.  The girls thought their hair was sooo funny!  


The night of the National Championship I wore my Clemson socks, orange leggings and my Clemson t-shirt.  I walked out of the bedroom and Claire said "Mommy, you match!!!"  Ha!  I obviously wouldn't have worn this outfit in public but I needed to be wearing as much orange as possible to help my Tigers pull out a win, which they did!  It was SUCH a fun game to watch!  Bert fell asleep during the 3rd quarter, but I woke him up during the 4th when it started getting exciting.  We were cheering and jumping all over the living room.  Thankfully the kids are hard sleepers once they are asleep.  


Just this year Emily has decided she is a big Clemson fan.  She talks about Clemson often and really wanted them to win the championship.  We let her watch some of the 1st quarter before we put her to bed.  She wore her Clemson t-shirt to bed that night so that she could cheer them on in her sleep.  The next morning I was nursing Abby when she woke up, so Bert had them go ahead and start their breakfast.  When I finished feeding Abby, Bert let me tell Em that Clemson won as he caught her reaction.  You can't hear her yell in this picture, but you can probably imagine it.  So precious!  


Snuggling with 3 of my babies.  They make me happy.  


Emily had a couple birthday parties to go to a few weekends ago.  She was so excited about the gifts we bought for her friends and wanted to write them all a sweet card.  She went to the trampoline and wrote each of her 3 friends a note like the one below and each note was so thoughtful and different.  


I let the girls paint my nails during one of Abby's morning naps.  Emily painted the first hand and I'm not sure I could have done a better job myself.  


Then it was Hannah's turn and she also did a great job!  


Claire painted my toenails on my left foot and it was so funny.  She was slinging that brush all over my toes and had paint everywhere.  When I took this picture she was only about 1/3 of the way finished with my foot so you can imagine how it looked when she was finished.  


Hannah still asks to hold Abby very regularly.  She also wants to help feed her baby food, play with her, or just keep an eye on her.  


They had "crazy hat night" at Awana one Wednesday and Emily wanted to make her own hat.  She had some help from her Daddy but she did a lot of it herself, and was proud of her creation.  


We had our annual Clemson girls weekend over MLK weekend.  It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and just spend time together.  Our yearly trip had been planned for MLK weekend for months, but it just happened to fall on the weekend after Clemson won the national championship. Clemson put on a huge celebration for the team and fans on Saturday morning and we were able to go to it since we were just staying 15 minutes away from Clemson.  It was so much fun to be there! 


 Angela and Tifany were actually with us this weekend too, but they weren't in the picture below.


Four of us out of the eleven had had babies in the last year and we were all pumping.  It was a running joke for someone to say "I've got to go pump."  Ha!  

Besides pumping, we also did a whole lot of sitting and a whole lot of talking and it was wonderful!  So thankful for their friendships!  


Bert and I have actually gotten to go on two pastors/wives retreats over the last two months with our local association of churches.  They were both just 24 hour trips, but so helpful and practical. Mom came up both times to keep the girls for the night.  We were so thankful we were able to go.  


Emily dressed up as a 100 year old on the 100th day of school.  We had to use a LOT of baby powder to get her blonde hair to look gray.  


One day I walked into the playroom and found Claire curled up in the chair feeding her baby.  I thought she looked so precious I had to run get my phone and amazingly enough she actually stayed in the exact same position.  


This sweet nugget turned 11 months on Feb 6th.  She's eating more solids, but has figured out that she can reject some of the veggies I've been giving her at supper.  She pushes them out of her mouth as fast as the spoon touches her tongue.  She's sleeping a little later these days.  Still goes to bed about 8 pm and sleeps until around 7:30.  Takes 2 naps a day.  Sleeps with a lovie.  Loves her bath and being with her sisters. Just before she turned 11 months I had to switch her to bottles because my milk supply took a nose dive.  I am still pumping throughout the day and I give her what I pump but we are having supplement with formula, big time.  She usually gets one bottle of breastmilk a day and the other 3 bottles are formula.  In just a few weeks we'll switch her to whole milk, but I wanted to keep giving he what breastmilk I had left for the next month or so to try to protect her against some of the sicknesses going around.  She's still having issues with a clogged tear duct on her right eye and they have decided to refer us to a pediatric ophthalmologist to talk about possibly probing that eye.  They'll have to put her to sleep so Bert and I will hate that, but it also breaks our heart when she wakes up and her eye is stuck together, so we'll happily have it done if he thinks it is time.  This year has flown by.  We couldn't be more thankful for this sweet baby of ours. 


I got to go to Hannah's Valentine's party at her school and I enjoyed it so much!  She introduced me to all her friends (again) and then we got to go out to the playground and she showed me all the slides she likes to play on.  She was precious and I loved getting to spend that one on one time with her! 


Hannah passing out her Valentine's to her friends!  She worked hard on them and was really excited to give them out.  


Emily won a Terrific Kid award again this year.  Each quarter a girl and a boy from each class get the award.  She was the girl for the second quarter in Mrs. Poe's class.  



Team Watts was there with bells on to cheer on Emily!  Emily's program started at the exact time Hannah is supposed to be at preschool, so we had to take her a few minutes late that day so that Bert and I could both be there.  


Mimi bought our family and Katherine's family tickets to the circus several months ago.  We were literally on the front row....such amazing seats!  


One of the acts made Em a little nervous and I caught her peeking through her fingers.  Cutie! 


This sweet thing curled up in my lap and fell asleep for a good portion of the first half.  She doesn't like taking naps these days and as long as she keeps moving she doesn't usually fall asleep but if she is still too long she's out.  Love my sweet 3 year old that thinks she's 6.  


We had such a fun time at the show!  It was so good, and we were especially glad we got to see it since it was the last tour for the Ringling Bros circus.  Afterward we met up with Mimi and Papa and Abby (Mimi was keeping Abby) for dinner to celebrate Brett's birthday.  It was a fun afternoon/evening spending time with family.  


Bert came down with the flu (he did have a flu shot) a couple weeks ago and it was rough.  He had never had it and spent days quarantined inside our room.  We are very thankful no one else got it!  
Claire visited him one morning while he was in quarantine.  He enjoyed seeing her cute face and hearing her talk even if he couldn't hug her.  


When he finally came out after almost 3 days in the room Abby would not let him put her down.  She missed her Daddy.  I DID TOO! Single parenting 4 small kids is no joke.  


Last Sunday afternoon Bert left for a meeting at church and Claire was standing at the storm door looking out at the yard after he left.  I didn't think anything of it and went into the kitchen to fix Abby a bottle.  After just a minute Claire started crying and I went to check on her because I could tell it was a "hurt cry."  I was in shock when I saw what she had done.  After I tried to pull her arm out and realized it wasn't budging AT ALL I started running around trying to find my phone. Her arm was stuck almost halfway between her wrist and elbow.  Thankfully, Bert answered and I told him in a panicked voice that he needed to "COME HOME RIGHT NOW!!"  He said that I said Hannah's arm was stuck...I thought I said Claire, but I was obviously freaked out so I surely wouldn't put it past me to call the kid by the wrong name.  He wasn't quite to the church yet when I called and turned right around and was back home in less than five minutes. As soon as he got home he started taking the door off the hinges and got her arm out in no time.  So thankful God worked it out so that he could get home quickly and get her arm out.  It definitely shook me up, but all was well. Claire is our adventurer.  She likes to push the limits and keep us on our toes even at 3.  And we love her. 


Abby's newest skill is to climb up on and stand in the kids plastic chairs.  Half the time I just have to keep the chairs put up because once she does it she's relentless.  She'll do it 6 times in a row and doesn't care that I tell her "no-no" and pop her hand.  


We've been having beautiful 70 degree weather for several days each week and we're enjoying it so much.  It's technically still winter but it's beginning to feel more like Spring.  Either way, we're enjoying these Winter/Spring days over at the Watts house!