Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very busy, very fun Memorial Day Weekend this year.  We started it off with a birthday celebration for my mom at the Java Station in Toccoa! 

We surprised her with a Reece's Cup cake.  She has a deep, deep love for Reece's Cups so we thought it would be fun!  This was her reaction....she was excited!:)  

Happy Birthday Mimi!  

Back in Greenville, we took the kids to play at the park one morning.  They had fun!  One of us pushed Claire around in the stroller while she slept and the other one played with the big girls.  

These girls have the best Daddy!  

We love this park that is so close to our house!  

Friday afternoon we headed up to Davidson River Campground near Brevard, NC, to see some new friends who were camping there for the weekend.  It was about an hour and fifteen minute drive from our house.  It was a beautiful drive AND we got boiled peanuts! I had told Bert on the way that I felt like you are just supposed to have boiled peanuts for this kind beautiful drive through the mountains, and as soon as we saw a roadside stand I said we should pull in and get some. He didn't argue.  

Our friends have a 4 year old boy that is just 4 days younger than Emily, and another little boy who is 17 months old.  The kids had lots of fun playing together!  Claire hung out with the adults this trip, but she'll be playing with the kids in no time.  

I snapped the picture below right after Emily had dumped the entire bucket of water on herself.  The water was COLD, but she didn't seem to mind.  Thankfully, I did have a change of clothes for them, which was good because they both needed it!

We had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and then made smores.  Yummm!  

Hannah preferred to eat her smore separate.  

We decided that this might have been Emily's very first smore.  She LOVED it! 

The girls were tired and dirty when we left, but it was fun!!  Bert's sooo ready for us to take a family camping trip!  I'm still a little nervous about taking a 4 yr old, 2 yr old and 4 month old camping, but he's about talked me into it, so stay tuned for that.:)  

Saturday afternoon Bert took the youth group to the Braves game in Atlanta.  They didn't win, but the kids had fun!  The girls and I packed up and headed over to Lake Hartwell to spend the weekend with my parents.  Bert came over to the lake house after the Sunday night service at church and spent Monday with us.  It was fun!  

Claire got to take her very first boat ride.  Uncle Jimmy came by to pick us up on his pontoon after dinner one night.  It was a beautiful night on the lake...so peaceful!  

I'd say Claire was a fan!  

  

The first day on the lake Emily wasn't too sure about the waves.  She was just nervous and needed a little warming up!  By the second day she was good to go!  

Our music minister, Martha, bought the girls these cute matching bathing suits!  So sweet!  

Nappin' on the dock...

We always have fun playing with Jacob!  

Claire's first time in the lake.  Although, she didn't actually get in...she just snuggled up with Mommy and stayed as dry as a bone, so I'm not sure if we'll count this or not.  

It was a fun, relaxing weekend!  

Stanley's 25th

We headed over to Toccoa last weekend to celebrate Stanley's 25th birthday and go to my cousin's wedding!  I did a terrible job taking picture at Chris' wedding, but I must say it was one of the most beautiful wedding's I've ever been to.  We enjoyed it so much!  

Congratulations to Chris and Quintina!:)  

We also had fun celebrating Stanley!

The kids were helping Mimi "make" biscuits for his birthday dinner!  

Please notice the tea light that my resourceful mom found when she couldn't find any candles in the house.:)  

I'm not even sure who took the picture below, but I liked it.  Just look at Jacob's sweet smile!  

We got a family picture because we were all there together.  It doesn't happen all that often, so we have to make sure and capture it when it does.  Yes, Claire was wailing in the picture below.  She was exhausted and letting us know it.  :)

Stan loves them so much...the feeling is mutual.    

Happy birthday, Stan!  You're the best brother...E.V.E.R!  I'm so thankful for you and proud of you!  Happy 25th!  

First Swim

A couple weeks ago we decided it was time to pull out the kiddie pool so that the girls could get wet!  We filled the pool up from the spigot and then just let them hop in, so the water was cold!

It was their first swim of the summer and they had fun!  

Claire was taking an afternoon nap and didn't get in on the action, but it's probably for the best because I doubt she would have thought the cold water was very "fun." 

It was after the picture below that Hannah decided she'd had just about enough of the cold water.  Her big sister was getting too wild for her.:)  

Hannah had a lot more fun outside of the pool!  Emmy didn't even notice the temperature...she was just excited to have on her cute new bathing suit and be in water!  

I decided to brave the cold and get in with my wild child.  I enjoyed cooling off, but I have to agree with Hannah...it was TOO cold.  

We're so excited about sweet summertime over here at the Watts' house!:)  

Emily's Last Day K-3 Preschool

I canNOT believe Emily has finished her first year of preschool!  She's had such a great year and I'm so proud of her!  

Emily before her first, last day of school!:)  

Her class had a picnic to celebrate their last day of school.  I fed Claire at the last minute and then jumped in the car to make it to Em's picnic.  I was 5 minutes late, but as soon as I got there she was so excited to see me and said "Mommy...I didn't think you were going to come.  All the other Mommy's have been here for a really long time."  Shesh!  We had a fun time at the picnic!:)  

Me and my BIG girl!  

Emily and her classmates giving Mrs. Morgan their gift.  

Blakely, Mrs. Morgan and Emily

We loved Mrs. Morgan...Emily had such a great year and learned SO much this year!  There were just 5 of them in their class and it was such a sweet group (I also really enjoyed getting to know their mom's)! I think they're all going to do 3 day, K-4 at the same school.  It would suit me just fine if they just moved this whole class up together, but maybe at least a few of these sweet kids will be in her class next year!  I can not imagine her having a better year, a better teacher or better classmates. Thankful! 

Claire - 4 Months

Claire had her 4 month check-up on Tuesday!  She had a great check-up...she weighed 16 lbs 4 oz and was in the 93rd percentile for her weight.  She was 24.5 inches long and was in the 58th percentile for her height.  Dr. Shultz was very pleased with her head shape and ear alignment.  I'm still trying to keep her off the back of her head as much as I can when she's awake, but it's nice to know that I can lay her down on her back (she's sooo content when I do that) if I need to.  

A few things that I just love about my 4 month old...

-Claire is just a cuddly little thing.  I think (since this is my third baby) that it's finally registering with me that this time when they're so teeny tiny goes by so quickly.  I often just stare at her in my arms and can do nothing but thank God for giving her to us.  

-She's rolling over from her stomach to back more and more these days.  She still hasn't mastered rolling from her back to her stomach (probably b/c she's not a big fan of tummy time....why would she want to roll that way? :) )

-She sleeps in her crib, in her room, in a sleep sack, with her sound machine on. 

-She sleeps about 9 hours at night, from around 10:30pm to 7:30am. Her last feeding is at about 10pm.  I'm going to keep slowly moving this feeding back so that's she's sleeping longer at night. 

-She nurses 5 times a day.  No solids.

-She naps 3ish (sometimes 4, depending on the length of the naps) times a day.  I still don't feel like we're on a super great, consistent, nap schedule, hoping to get on a better schedule sometime in the next few weeks.  We'll see.:)  

-She doesn't mind her carseat or car rides.  

-She LOVES bathtime and splashes and smiles through the whole thing.  It's really fun to give her a bath.  However, she's not a big fan of getting out of the bathtub.  She starts screaming, and I mean screaming, almost immediately upon getting her out.  

-She really responds to seeing the 4 of us.  It's so sweet to see her smile when she see's us.  

-She won't take a  paci and hasn't started sucking her thumb. Maybe she's going to take after her sister Emily and not need either.  

-She also absolutely REFUSES to take a bottle.  She was doing great with the bottle for weeks (I was pumping and Bert was giving her one bottle every other day) and then I got mastitis two times in a row and Bert got sick and she ended up going about two weeks without a bottle.  Anyway, now she'll start screaming if she see's one.  Seriously.  Bert has tried to give her a bottle many times for over an hour each time and she screams and flails about and ends up falling asleep because she wears herself out so much.  It's exhausting and stressful for everyone involved.  We've recently taken a break in trying, because trying to give Claire a bottle is one way to ruin a perfectly good night.  I really would enjoy knowing that if I needed to be away from her for more than two and a half hours I could, BUT I'm super thankful that the nursing is going so well.  I'd take this over not being able to nurse any day.  

Here are 4 pictures from her 4 month photo shoot!:)

We love you Claire Bear!  Happy 4 months! 

Mother's Day 2014

Well, this was easily the best Mother's Day Ever!  I got to spend it with Bert's parents, my parents, my wonderful husband and all three of my sweet babies!  Plus the weather was beautiful!  

The preschool choir sang to start off the service.  Emily did such a great job and all four of her grandparents got to hear her sing in church for the first time.  I'm so thankful for Kristen and Niki and their willingness to work with these kiddos each week.  Emily LOVES choir and I appreciate both of you loving on her so much!  

After the choir sang it was time for Claire's dedication.  We promised before the church to do everything we could to point her to Christ by our words and actions.  We're so thankful for our church and the way that they come along side of us and help us in that effort.  We're praying right now for sweet Claire...praying that she would trust in Jesus and be a light for Him in a dark world.  

After the service we all headed over to Red Bowl for lunch!  I tried to make reservations at Red Lobster first (both my mom and Linda's favorite restaurant), but they weren't taking reservations, so I moved on down the list.  Red Bowl is actually one of my favorite restaurants...I was pretty excited!  

Bert and his sweet Mom

Me and Mama...I really do want to be just like her!:) 

Bert's parents had to leave for Jackson after lunch so that they could make it back for dinner with Jeff's mom.  My parents came back to our house for an hour or so before leaving for Toccoa.  Claire ended up falling asleep on Papa Stan's chest and you know how he has a weakness for sleeping babies, so they stayed a little longer than planned.  Would you believe that all 7 of us got a nap on that Sunday afternoon...at the same time....so peaceful!  

After Mimi and Papa left, the 5 of us took off for a walk around the neighborhood and then came back to play in the back yard.  The weather was absolutely beautiful!  At Emily's request we had a picnic dinner on the patio in the backyard.  We all enjoyed it SO much!   

I could not imagine a better Mother's Day!  So thankful!  

Weekend Visit

Bert's parents decided to come up for a short visit over Mother's Day weekend!  They got into town about lunch time on Saturday.  The girls were sooo excited about seeing them!  I'm sure they asked at least twenty times on Saturday morning where Grandmama and Pawpaw were!?!?  

Pawpaw reading to his girls...

Fortunately for our girls (since I come from a long line of non-gardener's), Bert comes from a long line of gardener's.  Bert has quite the green thumb...doesn't matter what he's growing, but he would agree that his mom is even better!! Linda brought up some pots and flowers and Emily and Hannah had fun planting with Grandmama!  

Grandmama and Pawpaw kept the girls for us on Saturday night while Bert and I went to a graduation party!  We love our girls more than we could begin to tell you, but we were commenting that night that it was so nice to not have to keep saying at dinner "Emily, Hannah, take a bite!"

Grandmama and Pawpaw with three of their grandbabies...

Thank you SO much for making the trip up!  We enjoyed having y'all here so much!  You are both loved!!  

Wordless Wednesday