Hannah's Birthday Party

Our Hannah Elizabeth Watts turned 3 on Valentine's Day!!  This year has been extra fun because she has been soooo excited about her birthday coming up.  Before this year she didn't really "get" that it was her birthday.  But this year, for weeks before her birthday, if you asked her who had a birthday coming up she would raise her hands, jump up and down and say "ME...ME!!"  Ha!  

She was also so excited about her birthday party.  She changed daily what kind of party she wanted. One day it would be Rapunzel, the next Frozen, the next Ariel.  I didn't ever let it worry me though because I knew she really didn't care.  She was just excited about all the festivities.  So was I!  

On Friday, the day before her birthday and birthday party, Hannah and Claire started coughing.  Not much at first, but as the day progressed it became deeper and more often.  Ugh.  They both stayed totally well all during the month of January and first part of February when Emily, Bert and I were all sick. Hannah hadn't been sick in so long and she got sick the day before her birthday.  Anyway, we decided that we would still have the party since both sets of grandparents and Uncle Stan were coming into town, but we did let her friends know not to come because she was sick.  

After an early morning Saturday trip to the doctor for Hannah and Claire we came back to the house to celebrate our girl!!  

Hannah opening up presents.  

Her sisters were big helpers.  

For weeks Emily has been gathering up things around the house or making things at home or school and putting them in a certain cabinet in the office to give to Hannah on her birthday.  She has been sooooo excited about her gifts to Hannah.  The day before her birthday she told me she needed to wrap her gifts.  We decided to put everything in this big bag.  She had made about 6 cards and she gave her several of her crafts from school and two different pairs of shoes she had outgrown.  Ha! Because Emily was SO excited about giving them to Hannah, I didn't have the heart to tell her that Hannah was going to get those shoes anyway.  When Hannah opened the shoes she got SO excited and said "Emily....these are like YOUR shoes!!!!"  Haha!:)  

Claire loved the paper.  She had a handful of paper in each hand for most of the morning.  She also took turned the corner on that day in her walking ability.  She used to walk several steps if coaxed, but starting on the day of the party she was choosing to walk a lot more.  You could almost see her balance improving as the day went on.  She still takes many many falls, but now that she's decided this walking thing isn't so bad she'll be walking all over this house in no time.  

When we first realized Hannah's friends weren't going to be able to come to her party I thought about not buying a pinata, but then I changed my mind.  I wanted this family party to be super special for her...I wanted my girl to feel SO loved even though she wasn't feeling 100%.

Bert bravely agreed to hold the pinata while the girls took swings at it.  Hannah kept accidentally hitting him and had us all cracking up.  

Emily was hitting the pinata but also had us cracking up because she was swinging so hard. She had some force behind it!  

Then we decided we'd put it down on the ground to see if that made it a little easier for the girls.  

When it was Emily's turn she said very excitedly " I have an idea!!!"  Then she took the stick and started trying to stab it into the poor pony.  Unfortunately for Emily this was a very well made pinata.

So Bert and Stan decided to finish it off.   

I do believe they enjoyed the task. 

The birthday spread.  Huge thank you to my friend Kayce for making the amazing and beautiful cupcakes. I'm so thankful to have such talented friends!!:) 

They were waiting patiently on their cupcakes.  

Family picture with our birthday girl!  

Hannah blew the candles out just as we started the Happy Birthday song.  She was ready to dig into that cupcake!:)  

Claire figured out who would give her food and stayed right beside Pawpaw the entire time everyone was eating.  She looooved the blueberries.  She hasn't had them before because they have been so expensive during the winter months, but we're looking forward to the summer when they are cheaper so that we can have them more often....all three of our girls love blueberries!

The birthday girl wearing her new dress and pulling her new suitcase.  She pulls it all over the house and tells us where she's going.  

We also played "try to knock the cups down" (at least, that's what we call it!). This is what you call a cheap but fun game!  

We tried to get Claire to take a turn but she just wanted to carry the ball around.  

My brother Stanley drove up from Atlanta on Saturday morning just to come to Hannah's party. We were so glad he could make it!  The girls LOVE their Uncle Stan!  

I thought this was such a great picture of my parents and Hannah!!  

Mimi and Papa with the Watts girls!

Grandmama and Pawpaw with the birthday girl!  

Grandmama and Pawpaw got up very early to drive up to Greenville.  They had to get back down to Jackson that night so they had a lot of driving that day (about 6 hours round trip), but they wouldn't have missed Hannah's party.  

Happy, happy birthday to our beautiful, fun-loving, absolutely precious Hannah Beth!  We had so much fun celebrating YOU!!!  

Ressie Grace

Our niece, Ressie Grace Sanders, is here and we are soooo thankful and excited!!  She made her grand entrance on January 12th, a little after 3am weighing in at 6 pounds.  She was just over 5 weeks early.  Later that day on the 12th they decided to transfer Ressie to Northeast Georgia Medical Center's NICU due to some breathing issues because she was so early.  Katherine had to stay at the hospital in Toccoa for a couple more days due to her c-section.  Can't imagine how hard that was for her to be separated from Brett and Ressie in those first few days.  

I got to go to the hospital the day Ressie was born and the day after.  I even got to spend the  night in the hospital with Katherine one night, but I didn't get to meet my sweet niece until she was almost 3 1/2 weeks old.  About 5 days after Ressie was born Emily and I came down with a terrible case of bronchitis so we didn't want to go anywhere near Ressie, Katherine, Jacob, Brett, Mama, or Dadddy.  Ugh.  Unfortunately we had to stay put in Greenville for a couple weeks.  

Last Friday (Feb 6th) I got to spend the day with Katherine and Ressie in the NICU.  I can't tell you how thankful I was to get to see and hold this sweet girl.   

I snapped this picture of Ressie just before Katherine changed her diaper.  Cutie!  

So proud of my sister!  She is the BEST Mama to this sweet girl.  Katherine has spent her days at the hospital with Ressie and then would go home to tuck Jacob into bed, sleep and start over in the morning.  It's been a long few weeks of traveling back and forth, but Katherine and Brett wouldn't have it any other way.  

On Friday morning, while I was sitting there with Katherine, the doctor walked in and told her that Ressie would be going home in the morning.  She couldn't believe it, but was soooo excited!!  

Jacob wasn't allowed in the NICU (no one under the age of 15), so last Saturday morning  (Feb 7th) when they were walking her out of the hospital was the first time he got to see her close up!  He was SO excited!  He is already such a great big brother!  

I have prayed for and cried over this girl over the last several weeks.  She is such a blessing to our family!  We are so thankful she is home and doing so well!!  Emily and Hannah ask for a "Ressie Update" several times a day. :)

We love you, Ressie Grace!  

Chairs (I mean, a Train)

The girls love the days when I vacuum the house because after they help me pick up their toys off the floor then they get to to play on the dining room chairs, which they think is soooo fun!  

This particular day they were on a train, but these chairs have also been a car, a bus and an airplane.  

Who knew putting a few chairs together could provide hours of entertainment?!  

Sweet Dreams

A few nights ago Bert went to check on the girls before we went to bed (as he always does), but this particular night he called me in there to look at Em.  He said it looked like she had fallen asleep as she was crawling back into her bed.  Ha!  I had to run get my camera.  She was sound asleep too!  

This same night I glanced over at Hannah and had to take a picture of her too.  She usually sleeps under the covers but wasn't this night.  She's always surrounded by her babies and blankets.  And bunny...bunny is always very close by, and usually laying on top of Hannah.  Sweet sweet girl.  

Since I had taken pictures of both of the big girls I obviously had to run get a picture of my Claire Bear too.  She likes to sleep sideways in the crib for some reason.  She ends up like this almost every night.  I guess she likes the feel of the slats on her head and feet.  It won't be too many more nights until she's too long for that though.  She loves that lovie!  

Sweet dreams baby girls!  

2014 Blogbook

It's always a fun day when our blogbook from the previous year comes in the mail!!  We're so thankful for these books and the memories they hold!  

Each book is filled with colored pages and a hardback cover and each book usually cost around $90.  My parents have given this to us as part of our Christmas present for the last four years.  We're thankful for that and believe these books are worth every penny.  Also, it only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to order the book...easy peezy.  

The girls go through spurts when they pull the blog books off the shelf at least once a day and ask us to read them a story from the books.  The last 3 weeks or so they (especially Emily) have been wanting stories read to them from the blog books all the time.  They just love it!  When we don't have time to read to them they enjoy just looking at the pictures.  

I got through spurts when I don't feel like I have time to blog or I'm just not in the "mood" but when I do I usually can just look back at a picture like the one above and I remember...that's why I do it.  Thankful that I enjoy doing it most of the time, but even when I'm not in the "mood"....it's worth it. 

Bunkbeds

All three shelves of this bookshelf are usually packed with children's books.  Last weekend, Emily and Hannah decided they wanted to "play bunkbeds."  At first when they told me what they were wanting to play I told them no.  It takes awhile to get all the books back on the shelves, plus they could fall, but then I changed my mind.  

Claire had fun playing with them, but didn't get the memo that she was supposed to be "sleeping" in her "bed."  Thankfully she had the bottom bunk.:)  

I love their imagination and that they want to play together.  :)

Claire's First Step

Claire took her first step on Thursday, January 22nd.  We were sooooo proud of our girl!!  That was just a few days ago, but she's already taken 4 steps in a row now.  My baby will be walking all over this house in no time.  

This was a 1 year portrait we had taken of her at Portrait Innovations last weekend.  Sweet thing!  

Just in the last few days she's started saying even more words.  It's a fun stage when they are learning new words every day!  She now says "no-no." I would venture to say that it is her new favorite word.  I was trying to get her to drink a little bit more from her sippy cup before I laid her down for a nap earlier today and she pushed it away and said "no-no" while shaking her head. Ha!  Well alrightly then.:)  It is honestly just so cute. Not as cute when Emily or Hannah tell me "No" to something I ask them to do, so I'll enjoy this cute stage while I can.:)  

If you say "Claire, where is the ball?", she'll crawl across the room to go get it and say "ball" over and over.  

This afternoon Bert told her he needed to change her diaper and asked her to go find her diapers.  She crawled all the way across the living room straight to the diaper/wipes basket.  But then when he sat down to change it she tried to crawl away.  Just wanted him to know she knew where they were.  It's just a little crazy to me to see how much she understands and I love love having her communicate with us.  So fun!  

When Emily and Hannah are coloring a picture on the playroom floor she will often crawl over and plop down right in the middle of the coloring book so that they can't color.  I'm pretty positive she knows that it irritates them.  Ha!:)  

She is slowly but surely getting better at drinking from a sippy cup.  I still have to offer it to her a million times a day and stay pretty focused to make sure she is getting enough liquids but we are getting there!!  

We just love you so much Claire Bear!  You are so much fun!!  And couldn't be any more cuddly or cute.  We love you!!