Emily - 4 years

Emily had her 4 year check up on Friday and she got a great report.  She weighs 33 lbs and 14 oz and is in the 40th percentile for her weight.  She's 39.1 inches tall and is in the 36th percentile for her height.  I knew before the appointment that she would probably have to have a couple shots, but I found out once we were there that she was scheduled to get 5 shots.  Shesh.  FIVE.

She had just gotten her finger pricked in the picture below and was about to get her shots.

She did so great and I kept telling her how proud I was of her.  On the way home when I would tell her she did a great job she would say...."no I didn't...I cried."  I probably would have cried if I had to get 5 shots too.  No more shots until she's 9....that sounds soooo long away, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it.

Emily's a tender-hearted little thing.  She gets her feelings hurt easily and loves deeply.  For about a year now EVERY SINGLE TIME we tuck her in for bedtime or naptime she has to tell us a "secret" and a "something."  As we're about to leave the room she'll say "Your secret is that I love you with ALL of my heart and your something is that I love you with ALL of my joy."  She would insist on telling every person in the house this same "secret" and "something" (word for word) before she would settle down to sleep. Every single time she said it you could tell that she meant it...it was heart felt. Sometimes we were tempted to want to hurry her along...I mean we knew exactly what she was going to say and we were ready for her to go to bed, but we always let her tell us a "secret".  In the last month or so she's started only telling is a "secret" every once in awhile.  We knew that this sweet little phase wouldn't last for very long, but it brought many smiles to our faces.

I decided to do a little interview with our big 4 year old....this is what she said:

What is your name?  Emily

How old are you? 4

Where do you live? Greenville

What is your favorite color?  Purple

What is your favorite toy? Princess Computer

What is your favorite food?  Raisins

What is your favorite drink?  Apple Juice

What is your favorite thing to do?  Read books and sing songs

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A Mommy; A Bride

Who is your teacher?  Mrs. Morgan

Who is your best friend?  Mrs. Martha

What is your favorite song?  Happy Happy Easter

What is your favorite book?  Llama Llama Nighty-Night

What is your favorite movie?  Frozen

Who is the funniest person you know?  Daddy

Where is your favorite place to go?  Church

What does your Mommy always say to you?  That you love me and go to time out

What does your Daddy always say to you?  Goodnight

We are so so so thankful for you Emily Jean Watts!  You are blessing and I LOVE being your Mommy!

Easter 2014

Easter morning started off with a little Easter basket fun!  Emily and Hannah were excited!  

A few pictures of the girls in their cute Easter dresses that Mimi and Papa bought them.  This was the first time all three of the girls were dressed alike, and it definitely won't be the last.  LOVE matching outfits.  I realize the day will come when they'll start complaining about not wanting to match their sisters (I certainly did my fair share of complaining about my mom dressing me and my sister alike), but I'll enjoy it while I can. 

So, so thankful for these three!  

I wanted to get one family picture and I actually meant to ask someone to take the picture for us before we left church.  I forgot, and we decided on the way home that we would set up the camera on the timer and just see what we could get (the girls usually require someone jumping up and down, dancing and standing on their head for them to all look in the same direction and smile...small exaggeration, but you get the point).  Anyway, the picture below was the second attempt.  All three girls were looking at the camera and I didn't even tell Emily and Hannah to hold hands. Cuties!  I was excited and shocked that we got a good one that easily...just doesn't usually happen with a 4, 2 and 3 month old.:)  

Happy Easter Everyone!  He died for you and He died for me, but death could not hold him....He is RISEN! 

T-Town

Bert and 21 others from our church headed to Nicaragua last week on a mission trip.  They had a great trip and saw many come to Christ!  The people down there are so loving and generous.  Our group went down there to serve, but Bert told me several stories of how the Nicaraguans were giving generously to our group...even when they had so little.  It was a good reminder of the fact that we need to worry less about the stuff we have and worry more about our relationships with others.  I really hope to be able to go with the group to Nicaragua one of these years.  

While Bert was in Nicaragua the girls and I headed to Toccoa to spend time with my family.  We also had a great week!  We had lots of playdates with Jacob, which the girls loved!  The first day we were there was absolutely beautiful so we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids in the back yard. 

My sweet Emily kept picking up eggs and running to put them in Jacob and Hannah's bags.  You can see her putting an egg in Jacob's bag in the picture below.  

Mimi kept Claire Bear in the shade for us!  Love my pretty (inside and out) Mama!  

My Aunt Renea (Nea Nea) and her husband, Mat, were also visiting this week from New Mexico.  They were already planning to come for a visit sometime in April or May and when they heard that me and the girls were going to be staying with Mom and Dad for the week they decided that would be a good week to come...although they were sad about not getting to see Bert.  

We had such a great visit with them!  I love love love spending time with my Nea!  She's sooo much fun (always has been)! Mat and Renea spoiled my girls all week by playing all kinds of games with them, reading to them, tucking them into bed, etc.  

Nea meeting Claire for the first time.  

The kids had fun with this parachute!  

It was pretty early in the morning and Emily got this idea to tie a string to the back of the wagon and hook the little riding toy up to it.  She was so excited about her idea!  Mat started looking for string and made it happen for her, then spent a long time just pulling them all around the yard.  

I've always called Renea, "Nea" or "Nea Nea", but Emily came up with her own name and has started calling her "Aunt Renea Nea!"  Ha!  Whatever floats her boat...Nea doesn't care.  

Another morning I went up to take a shower while Claire was taking a nap and this is what I came down to. Super fun, I tell you!  

We miss them already and look forward to the next time we get to see them!  

Papa Stan getting some cuddles with Claire!   

Katherine and Brett's church had an Easter egg hunt while we were in town so we decided it would be fun to take the girls!  

All the kids getting ready to go hunt...

Our three kiddo's!  Please take note of the purses that I found for E and H to use for Easter baskets in their Aunt Katherine's old closet.  Making do.  If they had been a few years older they might have had something to say about that, but they didn't seem to mind this year.:)  

Claire snuggled with me and slept through the whole egg hunt!  Sweet thing!  I got this Ergo before Hannah, but didn't really use it much with her.  I use it all the time for Claire though....she L.O.V.E.S it and so do I.  I get to snuggle with my baby and still have two hands to keep up with my other two...win for everyone!  

We tried to get Jacob to jump in the picture below with the girls, but he would have nothing to do with it.:)

She's really liking her bumbo these days...doing super great holding her head up!  

 I usually try to keep Claire awake for awhile after her feedings before I let her go to sleep (Baby Wise).  Papa's favorite job just so happens to be rocking babies to sleep, so if he was home he would happily take over when it was nap time.  He dubbed himself "the closer."   

It's so fun to me to see my kids' different personalities.  I mean, I realize I'm very different from my brother and my sister, but still a small part of me is surprised when I find differences between them.  Ha!  I'm thankful they're not the same!  Love all three of their different personalities and can't wait to get to know them better!  

Hannah is a dog lover....big time!  She was constantly playing with Tiger, wanting to know where he was, etc....thankfully he's very laid back and doesn't mind all the attention.  Emmy isn't scared of Tiger, but she just doesn't pay him too much attention.  

No trip to Toccoa is complete without a trip to Papa's office.  The girls love it there!  

We had fun dying Easter eggs!  Smidge messy, but fun!

We are thankful for my parents and for them letting us come play for the week!  It was such a great week!  

The Big Day - She's 4

One of the mom's asked Emily at her party how old she was and she held up 3 fingers.  I was a little surprised b/c she's been soooo excited about turning 4 and she's good with numbers and counting, but we all smiled and the mom tried to help her put up one more finger to make "4".  Emily quickly put it back down and said "but I'm not 4 yet...I'm still 3!!"  Okay, so she had a point.  She had two more days.  If you ask her now she'll proudly tell you she is 4. 

The night before her birthday she asked me if she was still going to have to sit in a carseat when she turned 4?  Ha!  Yes, and for many birthdays after that.  You're still my baby thank-you-very-much.  

We went in and decorated Emily's room just before we went to bed the night before her birthday.  She was sooo excited when she woke up!  

Her Daddy made her a pancake in the shape of a number 4!!  

A couple weeks ago Emily was playing with lego's and got very frustrated because they weren't doing what she wanted them to do.  She started wailing and said (through the tears) "Mommy, I want to be a grown-up faster! It's too hard being a little girl."  :)  

On her birthday, Emmy had a fun day of going to school and having an Easter party with her friends, getting many happy birthday phone calls, and playing with her sisters.  

Tuesday night we let Emily pick out the menu for her birthday dinner.  She was excited!

Her Menu:  "Pizza, broccoli, carrots, peaches, strawberries, juice and water." Yum!

The plan was to have her birthday dinner and let her open up her presents from us.  Well the dinner didn't go exactly as I had planned, so in an effort to be real, I'll just let you know how it ended up going:  

It started earlier that afternoon when I realized I didn't have strawberries.  I had given E and H the last of the strawberries for lunch that day.  That is what you call not thinking ahead.  Anyway, I decided to talk her into having apples instead of strawberries.  She wasn't overly excited at first, but quickly came on board with the apple substitute.  Phew.  Later I ran out to pick up the pizza while Bert was supposed to start the broccoli.  He called me when I was still driving to say that we didn't have any broccoli!  Ahhh...I had forgotten that the Saturday before when I did my grocery shopping (I went to two grocery stores) they were BOTH completely out of broccoli florets.  I meant to go back out to another grocery store later in the weekend, but obviously forgot (I'm not sure if you remember from previous posts but we had a busy weekend, in my defense:) ).  So, I stopped by Bi-Lo on my way to pick up the pizza because I couldn't not have strawberries and broccoli.  Then headed home with my pizza and broccoli.  I got everything ready for dinner and laid Claire down for a nap in the pack-n-play because she was fussy.  We all sat down to eat the yummy meal that Emmy had picked out for us.  Within 5 minutes of sitting down Claire was screaming, obviously not very excited about missing out on the birthday dinner.  So, I went to pick her up and try to calm her down while everyone was eating.  Within another few minutes Emily said she had to go poopy (For some reason we're going through a phase where Emily has to go poopy during most meal times.  It's not a short thing either, we're usually finished eating by the time she makes it back to the table.  It's special.).  She wanted her Daddy to come to the bathroom with her and tell her a story while she pooped.  Since it was her birthday and her birthday dinner he agreed and headed in to tell her a story.  So Emily's on the potty, Bert's telling her a story, I'm walking around trying to calm Claire down and Hannah's at the table by herself.  After we all finished our dinner it was time to call Aunt Carrie back b/c she had called to talk to Emily during the dinner craziness.  We called her back via facetime and then it was time to get ready for bed.  I was feeding Claire and as Bert walked out of Em's room after tucking her in, he said "We forgot to give her her presents."  What?!  Can you believe this Type-A, schedule-loving, list-making Mama forgot to give her daughter her presents on her birthday.  I felt terrible.  Not my best work.  About two minutes after Bert laid her down she got back up because she needed a sip of water.  We quickly decided (with just a look) to go ahead and give her the presents.  She was excited!  

So, the night might not have gone exactly as planned, but that's okay...it's probably good for me.  And she definitely still enjoyed it!  

Emily, you are one very loved little girl!  Happy birthday, sweet girl!  

31st

My birthday was Monday (7th), and I had such a great day!  So, so much to be thankful for!  

We decided to do my birthday dinner with my parents on Sunday night.  Just to recap the weekend: that was a Disciple Now for Bert, lots of party preparation for me and mom, late Saturday afternoon Bert found out that our pastor was sick and he was going to need Bert to preach for him during the Sunday morning and Sunday night services (Bert was happy to do it and did a great job), a four year old birthday party on Sunday afternoon, and a birthday dinner for me on Sunday night! Yikes!  It was a good weekend, but I was slightly worn out by the end of it...nobody can keep up that pace every weekend.:)  

Mom and Dad bought me my beloved ice cream cake (from Dairy Queen...no other ice cream cake will do) for my birthday.  I've been excited about it for a couple weeks now and it did not disappoint.  I was the one that stopped by DQ to pick up the cake on Saturday afternoon while Mom was watching the girls.  I realized that I needed to get the 8 inch cake so that it would fit in my freezer (we have a side by side and the freezer part isn't very wide...just a little over 8 inches to be exact).  Anyway, when I got to DQ I looked at the 8 inch and I looked at the 10 inch....there was only a $3 difference in the cost....the 8 inch pretty much looked like it was going to be big enough to give everyone two bites, max.  I decided to go with the 10 inch (even though I knew it wouldn't fit).  You can call me a pig, but remember this is my favorite and I've been excited about this for awhile and I only get it once or twice a year. :)  

I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do, but it turns out the cake is so frozen you can turn it up on it's side...like in the picture below...and it won't slide at all.  Good to know for future reference. Ha!  

The kids stayed and played with Papa Stan and Mimi on Sunday night while Bert and I went to church.  We picked up dinner on the way home and when I walked in the door I was greeted by them singing happy birthday to me and they had set everything up for my birthday dinner.  So sweet!  

My mom even hung up Emily's princess banner from her party earlier that day and replaced "4th" with "31st"!:)  

And the girls made me a happy birthday sign.

It was a great birthday dinner!  I felt very loved!:)  

Monday was my actual birthday and we celebrated again with a birthday dinner of tacos with just our family of 5.  Don't worry...we had plennnnnty of ice cream cake left over.  It's possible my eyes were a little bigger than my stomach.  

I'm thankful for my family and friends and for these 31 years where God has blessed me more than I could have imagined!

Emily's 4 Year Old Birthday Party

Emily's been talking about turning 4 and having a birthday party for about 364 days.  She's been soooo excited!  It just so happened that her birthday fell during a really busy time in Bert's schedule.  Emily's birthday was on a Tuesday this year and the weekend before her birthday, Bert was at a Disciple Now with our youth group and four other churches in the area.  The Friday after her birthday he's headed to Nicaragua for a week.  So, we ended up having the party on Sunday afternoon, April 6th!  

I can't believe she's 4, but what I really can't believe is that her being 4 means that at her next birthday she'll turn 5.  Now that's just old, and I recommend you not talk to me about her turning 5 at any point during the next year or I might cry.:)  

Here's the birthday girl before her party started.  

Her cookie cake with with a purple crown.  Purple is Emmy's favorite color. 

Some of the kids playing in the back yard while we were waiting for everyone to get there.  

Claire napped on Papa Stan's chest during the entire party.  They were both perfectly happy and content!:)

We played a relay game where the kids had to carry the balloons between their legs to the other side of the room.  It was cute!  

We also had an Easter egg hunt.

And fun with the piñata.

Waiting their turn to take a whack at the piñata...

Bert's face in the picture below made me laugh.  I don't think he's totally comfortable with any of his daughters swinging a large wooden stick.  

Emily had help blowing out her candles from her friend Brady.  

Emily was so sweet opening her presents.  She would open the card first and I would read it to her and tell her who it was from and this is what she did every time: she would gasp...take off running for that person saying "Thank you so much _____" and give them a BIG hug!  It was sweet because you could tell she really was so thankful and excited...she didn't even care what the present was.  After she got back from the hug and the very sincere thank you she would open their present.  Ha!  Not exactly how you are "supposed" to do it, but it was cute!  

Emily has a really sweet K-3 class this year.  There are 5 of them in their class and they go on Monday and Tuesday mornings.  All four of the other kids in her class were able to come to the party plus a few of her sweet friends from church.  It was a fun group!:)  

It was a fun party!  We're so thankful for our fun, sweet, helpful, and loving 4 year old.  The "BIGGEST sister" as she likes to call herself!:)  

Claire - 3 months

Claire is NOT a fan of tummy time these days.  She pretty much starts screaming the minute I put her down (she used to like it/tolerate it a lot more).  This is unfortunate for everyone since she has to have a lot of tummy time.  One day last week Claire was letting me know how irritated she was about having to be on her tummy and the big girls wanted to help make her happy.  So they got down on the blanket with her.  

When I roll Claire over to her back she almost always immediately calms down.  It's crazy!  She also strongly prefers to be facing out when you are holding her (her back to your chest).  This girl loves being able to see everything.  She doesn't want to miss a thing.  

After I rolled Claire over the other day I ran to get my camera b/c they were being so sweet.  When I came back they were holding hands like in the pictures below.  

-Claire's doing great in her bumbo these days.  

-Smiles all the time (by all the time, I mean a lot!).

-Smiles in response to us talking to her and smiling at her.  

-Making lots of cooing noises. I love it when she talks to us.  

-Sleeps about 8 hours straight every night.

-6 feedings a day.

-Still takes a nap between most every feeding. (Sometimes it's a short nap and sometimes long.)

Hanging out with Daddy...

Claire's last feeding of the day is usually about 10:30 or 11pm.  She usually just stays up with us (sleeps in our arms) until that last feeding at 11. It won't be long at all (we're talking weeks) until she's ready to drop that last feeding.  It will be nice because we'll have all three girls in bed and the house will be quiet, but we're enjoying these last few weeks of holding her in our arms while she sleeps.  It just goes too fast...sweet baby! 

He loves his girls....

She's rolled over maybe 4 times total.  One of these days she's going to really figure it out (and not do it by accident) and then they'll be no more tummy time for her.  Ha!  

She's still sleeping in our room in a pack-n-play.  Sometime in the next month or so we're going to make the big switch to move Emily into Hannah's room, move Hannah out of the crib and into a twin bed, and move Claire into her own room.  It's exciting, but yikes!  Wish us luck!

We love you sweet Claire!  You make us smile!  Happy 3 months!!