Wordless Wednesday

Anniversary Date Night - 7 years

We had a Christmas dinner to go to on our actual anniversary so we decided to celebrate a few nights early.  We met Mimi in Anderson so that she and Papa could take the girls for the evening.  It was so nice to not have to rush back home after we ate dinner.  It's an odd feeling to feel as free as birds when you have 3 kids age 4 and under, but we definitely enjoyed it for one night!  

We started out our date night with dinner at The Peddler.  The Peddler is an amazing (and I mean amazing) steak house in Greenville.  A sweet couple in our church had blessed us with a gift certificate to this restaurant and we had been saving it for our anniversary.  We enjoyed every part of our time there.  The  food is amazing (Bert said he had the best steak he's ever eaten that night), our waitress was so sweet, and the whole restaurant is just so cozy!  So thankful we were able to go!!  

After dinner we stopped by the house to change clothes (it was cold outside!) and then drove downtown to walk around and maybe go to a coffee shop.  Once we got downtown though we decided it would be fun to go ice skating.  This is just reason number ten million we love downtown Greenville...they have "Ice on Main" in the winter months.  We'd never skated there before, but decided it would be fun!  I actually haven't been ice skating in about 10 years...and it showed.:)  I am either not as good as I remember or I really lost my ice skating skills when I don't use them!  I didn't fall (thankfully), but that's just because my hubby happens to be a very good ice skater and held my hand the whole time.:)  

We had SO much fun!!  

While we were out there ice skating together and laughing together we decided it was the best anniversary date night yet!!  So thankful for our marriage and for the 7 wonderful years God has blessed us with!  

Christmas Outfits

Mimi bought the girls these super cute Christmas outfits so I decided I wanted to try to get a picture of them.  Here are a few of my favorites....

Claire makes this scrunched up face all the time.  She's too cute!  

We're so thankful for these beautiful, sweet babies God has blessed us with!  Merry Christmas from the Watts girls!!  

Decorating Mimi and Papa's Tree

Mimi decided it would be fun to have Emily, Hannah and Jacob help her decorate her tree this year!  So after Bert's birthday dinner we all headed into the living room to do a little decorating.  They were all super excited!  

Claire was excited too!  She just loves hanging out with us!  

Look at this sweet picture of these sweet cousins.  They have so much fun playing together.  

The kids kept putting the ornaments in clumps on the the tree.  My mom loved it.  It made her smile to see the ornaments all piled on the same branch.  I'm a little too OCD to leave them like that on my tree, but I can totally understand why she liked it.  Love these little years.:)  

Mimi and her decorating helpers!  

Merry Christmas!!:)  

Bert's Birthday

Bert turned 32 this year.  His birthday fell the day after Thanksgiving this year and since we were still going to be traveling we decided to have a family birthday dinner for him on Tuesday night before we left on Wednesday.  The girls bought him presents ($1 presents from Target), made him cards and we surprised him by making him a cake.  

When he got home from work on Tuesday, Emily and Hannah were bursting to tell him about the cake that we'd made.  They kept asking me (when he was in the room) if it was time to give Daddy his cake.  He would smile and pretend like he hadn't heard.  

The girls couldn't wait one more minute to give their Daddy the gifts they had picked out and the cards they had made, so we did that before dinner.  

They worked hard on the cards and they were so cute.  I asked the girls both a few questions that I wrote down along with their answers in Bert's cards from them.  

Emily's Questions: 

What is your favorite game to play with Daddy?  Horsey and Piggy back ride

How old is Daddy going to be on Friday?  26

*She counted it up on her hands and was very confident with the answer above.  

What is Daddy really good at?  Preaching.

Hannah's Questions:

What is your favorite game to play with Daddy?  Baseball

How old is Daddy going to be on Friday?  3

What is Daddy really good at?  The ballgame.

When we were sitting down for dinner there had already been lots of discussion about the cake and we finally talked openly about the fact that there was a cake but decided we would wait to show it to him until after dinner.  Halfway through dinner Emily said "Daddy, you are going to love your cupcakes!!"  Then she leaned over to me and whispered loudly "I just told Daddy he was going to love his cupcakes to trick him, so he wouldn't know it was really a cake."  She had the cutest little proud expression on her face!:)  

This cake would win no awards, but it was made with love!:)  

We spent Thanksgiving in Jackson this year and then came up to Toccoa on Friday (Bert's birthday). Friday night we had a birthday dinner for Bert with my family.  Stanley had to head back to Atlanta on Thursday  night so we missed seeing him this Thanksgiving.  Looking forward to getting to spend time with him over Christmas.  

Family photo minus Stanley in Atlanta and Mimi the photographer.  

Happy birthday to my best friend.  Thank you for serving, loving and leading our family so well!  Thankful!  

Thanksgiving in Jackson

We spent Thanksgiving this year down in Jackson visiting Bert's family.  We had such a great visit!  

Grandmama helped the girls make fun Christmas ornaments for lots of people!  

She also let them help her cook all day long on Thursday.  They "helped" her with everything.  I'm sure it took her twice as long, but she was so glad to have their company.  And they certainly loved it!  

And then there was this little bundle of love who was just as sweet as ever.  

She loved this little folding chair.  She kept trying to get in it by herself, but needed help.  We obviously stayed right beside her to make sure she didn't take a head dive out of it, but can you see her joy when she was sitting in it?  So proud of herself.  Emily and Hannah actually loved this chair too and had an argument or two or three about whose turn it was to sit in the chair.  Ha!  

Claire was getting some Pawpaw time while her big sisters were cooking.  

Me and my little sunshine!:)

Hannah did a great job helping me make deviled eggs.  

I love this picture of Hannah below.  She was playing with her Daddy (while he was also watching a Thanksgiving football game).  He would tickle her and then turn back to the game.  She is just so expressive.  Her face lights up when she is happy or having fun.  

Uncle Michael, Aunt Sarah, Aiden, Millie and Billie came over on Thanksgiving evening.  It was great to see them!  

Claire letting Uncle Michael hold her for the first time.  She doesn't look totally sure about it (maybe it's the beard!), but if we had given her more time she definitely would have warmed up.:)

We decided to take a cousins' picture minus Alison and Stephen's kiddos.  Can't wait until ALL of the cousins are together. This picture below made me laugh.  Emily and Aiden were the only ones smiling.  She sat down right beside him and said "We're the big kids aren't we?!"  Ha!  He's just about 8 years older than her, but we didn't break that to her.  Hannah and Millie were ABSOLUTELY not in the mood, and Claire and Billie were just wondering what all the screaming is about.

Hannah, Millie and Billie took a break from playing to do a little coloring.  Millie and Billie are about 5 months younger that Hannah and it was fun to watch them play together!  

Mamaw (Bert's grandmother) got to meet Claire for the first time.  We just love Mamaw so much and it was so great to get to see her and have her love on Claire.  So thankful for her!  

The last trip we took to Jackson Bert's dad made the girls "pigs in a blanket" for breakfast.  They started asking him as soon as we got there (without any prompting from us....although we do like them too) if he would make them for them again!  By golly he was going to make it happen.  He woke up early the morning we were leaving so that he could go to the store and buy what he needed to make "pigs in a blanket" for his baby girls.  

We had a great trip to Jackson and a great Thanksgiving!  We have so so much to be thankful for!  

Decorating for Christmas

We decorated for Christmas the Sunday before Thanksgiving this year.  We didn't have an evening service that night so when the girls woke up from naps we got started.  Emily and Hannah were sooooo excited...it was fun!  

This little munchkin was sweet to just hang out while we were all working.  

The big girls were so excited about their luke warm chocolate break!!  

Hannah was putting all the ornaments in the same spot.  We kept going behind her and spreading them out.  Cutie.  

We moved our Christmas tree to a different spot this year and we're excited about the change.  

Crazy that this cute baby will probably be walking by Christmas.  

As I was decorating and trying to keep a constant (and I mean constant) eye on my busy 10 1/2 month old I kept thinking about the fact that she wasn't even here last Christmas.  Crazy.  I was soooo ready to meet her and have her in my arms.  

We had a fun afternoon/evening of decorating!  I'm definitely still very excited about Thanksgiving AND Bert's birthday AND my dad's birthday AND our anniversary, but we're already enjoying our Christmas decorations, listening to Christmas music and I've already watched 2 Christmas movies.  Merry Christmas everyone!!:)