Grandmama and Aunt Carrie

Bert's sister, Carrie, lives in CA but flew back last weekend for a wedding for their cousin at Jekyll Island.  We weren't able to go to the wedding, but after the wedding Bert's mom and sister headed up to Greenville to see us!  We told the girls about a week before they were coming and they were sooo excited.  Also, this was the first time Aunt Carrie had gotten to meet our Claire so it was extra special!  

They got here Monday evening.  We had a nice dinner and then made smores in our back yard.  I actually got this fire pit for Bert for his birthday last November, but we have only used it a few times.  We had so much fun making smores we decided we were going to use it more this winter.  

The girls roasting their marshmallows with a little help from Daddy and Aunt Carrie.  

They LOVED their smores! 

After the smore fun we let the girls play on the swingset for a little while before we had to head in for baths.  Emily and Hannah both wanted Aunt Carrie to push them. No one else would do.  

Aunt Carrie always brings fun gifts and crafts for the kids.  In the picture below they were working on a matching game where they got to color all the cards.  Hannah got to color one set and Emily got to color the other.  Emily was getting frustrated though because she was trying to stay in the lines as she was coloring and use different colors on each picture and Hannah was going much faster than her because her coloring was a bit more freestyle.:) Gotta love that sibling rivalry.  

It didn't take too long for Hannah to lose interest in the matching game, so while Aunt Carrie and Emily were playing that, Grandmama was reading Hannah lots of books.  

And this one was just as busy as ever.  

The next day we decided to have a picnic lunch at Falls Park.  We love Falls Park. It's just beautiful.  Aunt Carrie was able to squeeze in between the girls' car seats so that we could all ride in the same car.  Not just everyone could/would do that.  

Claire's newest trick is to take her socks off within a minute of being put in her car seat.  Every single time we get to our destination I'm hunting for socks.  Trying to keep her cute feet warm isn't as easy as you might think.  

When we got to Falls Park we saw these two guys getting kayaks off their car.  Emily asked what they were doing with those boats.  They overheard her question to us and asked if she had seen that waterfall over there.  Ha!  I thought surely they were joking. As you can from the picture below they were definitely not joking.  It was really very impressive.  Although I felt like Bert was a little too excited/impressed with the whole thing....don't get any ideas, Bert Watts.:)

Aunt Carrie with three of her nieces.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but she loves them SO much!  

We had a fun visit with beautiful weather!  Thank y'all for making the trip up after the busy wedding weekend!  Love both of you!  

Pumpkin Carvin'

Bert's got some real talent in the pumpkin-carving department.  The girls LOVE helping Daddy clean out the inside.  It took Hannah a few minutes to warm up to picking up the slimy insides (I can't blame her), but once she decided she didn't mind getting messy, she was good to go.  

Bert and his girls with the finished product.  

Emily has reminded us every night to light the pumpkin.  Fun memories with our sweet girls!:)

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch one afternoon after Bert got off work.  We had lots of fun!  The girls were very excited about helping Daddy pick out a pumpkin.  

Hannah kept finding the little pumpkins, picking them up and saying "what about dis one?"  Cutie.  I loved this picture of  her profile.  She's growing up on us.  

In the picture below the girls were in the process of chasing down a chicken.  Ha!  Thankfully, for the chicken, they didn't catch it.  

Here's our little 9 month old pumpkin beside the pumpkin.  Love.

We also got to go on a family hayride.  Emily had gotten to go on a hayride two weeks before when she went with her class to the apple orchard, so she was extra excited.  

It was a fun evening!  After we got back to the house we had dinner together and played together outside in the backyard.  My kind of afternoon/evening.  Thankful for my people.  

Emily

Emily's 4 1/2 now.  Her little classmates are already turning 5.  That means she's about to turn 5.  Time is flying by for sure.  

A few weeks ago her preschool class went on a field trip to an apple orchard.  This was her very first field trip and Em was beyond excited.  She was mostly excited about getting to ride on the big bus.  Ha! I was so excited for her.  I didn't get to go on this field trip, but I had a few mom's from her class send me pictures throughout the morning.  

Mrs. Roach's class.  

They got to go through a maze and Emily was leading the pack.:) 

As we drive to her school each morning (some mornings I take her and some mornings Bert takes her) we have a spot that we start praying.  As soon as we make this certain turn she says "Prayer time!!"  We both usually pray.  We pray that she would be respectful to her teacher and kind and loving to her classmates.  We pray that she would be an encourager and a light.  

I stopped by the preschool director's office a few weeks ago to pick something up and as I was about to leave she said "I'm sure everyone tells you this but you have a wonderful child."  She went on and on saying that she is just so special.  Finally, she was still trying to convey to me just how precious she was and she said "she just really stands out."  I'm thankful she's in a preschool program that loves her and cheers her on. 

One day Katherine and Jacob were going to come spend the day with us, but Jacob woke up sick that morning so they didn't get to come.  Emily and Hannah were disappointed as they loooove their cousin Jacob.  I was washing up the breakfast dishes when Emily ran into the kitchen and said "I have an idea!!!!  Wait right there!! I'm going to draw a picture of Jacob, then you can cut him out, then Jacob can still play with us all day today!!"  She was so excited and I was proud of her making the best out of the situation. 

Emily and "Jacob."  Jacob even got to go to Ingles with us later that morning.:)  

Claire has been getting bottles for several weeks now and Emily has been wanting to feed her ever since.  One afternoon I decided to let her feed Claire.  She was about to burst with excitement.  Literally.  Claire is such a good bottle drinker that she didn't mind one bit.  

We went to an engagement party for some friends from Toccoa a few weekends ago and as we were leaving Emily went around to each person in the house (there were a lot of people) and gave them a hug and told them bye bye.  

Emily, you are bubbly and smart.  You're the life of the party but also compassionate and thoughtful.  You are the protector of your sisters.  You are a precious gift and Mommy and Daddy are so so proud of the beautiful little girl you are becoming. 

Crawling

Claire is officially crawling. She's going from room to room...fast. I caught these cute pictures of her as she was crawling to me the other day.  

She really doesn't follow me around the house though (like E and H used to).  She's quite happy to just explore on her own.  Bert found her in the playroom one morning this weekend.  She had crawled under their table and was very proud of herself.  Cutie.  

This crawling stage is adorable and so short. Seriously, sometimes I just watch her as she crawls across the room and just wonder and this precious little gift that the Lord has blessed us with.  If you need me, I'll be chasing around my 9 month old.:)  

Anniversary Trip

Bert and I got to go on an anniversary getaway to Helen a couple weekends ago.  Our anniversary isn't until December 15th, but we've decided to start celebrating our anniversary early (we'll probably still go out to dinner sometime around the actual day), because the month of December just gets a little (lot) busy.  We had such an amazing time!  It was a pretty quick trip (one night) but so worth every dime we spent and every bit of planning that was required.  I couldn't begin to tell you how thankful I am for my husband.  

When we got there on Thursday night we checked into our hotel room and then went to dinner at a nice bed and breakfast that had a highly recommended restaurant.  Not long after we got to the restaurant it started pouring and the restaurant just happened to have a tin roof.  It was so fun to listen to the rain as we chatted.  It was so peaceful and cozy.  

Saturday morning we were up and ready to check out all the cute shops in Helen.  Bert and I kept laughing because we found out that the shop owners in Helen are on their own time table.  Most of them claimed on their signs to open at 10, but didn't open until between 11 and 12ish. Ha!:) It's just the cutest little town (made to look like an Alpine Village) only about 45 minutes from Toccoa, which is where we had dropped the kids off with my parents.  A huge thanks Mimi and Papa for taking such good care of our girls.  It's just so so nice to be able to get away and have peace of mind that they are being well taken care of.  So thankful!  It was the longest time I had been away from Claire (by a long shot) since she's been born and we both did just fine. 

The building to the right of this picture is where we ate lunch.  The sun had come out by the time we were eating and it was beautiful!  

After lunch we headed up to Anna Ruby Falls (about 15 minutes from Helen).  I've always heard how beautiful it is up there, but I've never had the chance to go.  It was only a 1/2 mile hike to the falls and the hike was beautiful and the falls were breathtaking.  We so enjoyed our time spent out in nature, even if I did have to wear my cute brown shoes (no tennis shoes) on the trail.

We had a fun weekend! So thankful for the man standing beside me. There is no one I would rather talk to, hang out with, or do life with. 

Hannah

This cutie is full of personality.  She's got sass and spunk and sweetness all rolled into one.  She has the cutest expressions.  She cuts her eyes often and makes this pouty face where she is trying not to smile, but can't quite keep the smile off her face.  It's adorable.  

This past Sunday I was getting Claire ready for church and Hannah walked into the room dressed like this.  I had helped her with the dress and bow earlier, but then she added the sunglasses (upside down of course), necklaces, my shoes, and a purse.  She said she was ready to go. Ha! 

We have the following conversation often....Hannah -  "Mommy....Mommy....Mommy....do you know what?"  Me "what?"  Hannah "I just love you so much!"  

If you call her anything besides her name (cuddle bug, cutie patootie, baby girl, Hannah banana) she quickly corrects you..."I not cuddle bug....I Hannah Elizabeth!!!"  

She has strong opinions and a tender heart.  She's going to keep us on our toes.  And we're going to love every minute of it.  

Love you Hannah Beth!!  

Claire - 9 months

Claire turned 9 months old last week.  That's basically a year.  Yikes.  She's just the sweetest little bundle of love.  She had a great 9 month check up which we are very thankful for.  She weighed 18.11 lbs and was in the 50 percentile for her weight.  She was 27 inches long and was in the 33rd percentile for her height.  The doctor said she expects her to have a growth spurt (height) in the next couple months, but she was very happy with everything.  

Claire at 9 months:

-Favorite Food: puffs, any baby food, broccoli, peas, other soft foods....still haven't found anything she doesn't like

-She's starting to crawl (will go about 4 or 5 knees in perfect form and then lunge) 

-She hasn't started pulling up on anything

-She just started sitting up from the laying down position this past week.  We just lowered her crib.  

-She's saying "Mama" and "Dada" often.  She's also said "Hey" and "Bye"

-She takes two naps a day about 1 1/2 hours each

-She cries as soon as we lay her down and will scream about 5 minutes before falling asleep.  

-She sleeps about 12 hours at night (from 8pm- 8am)

-She still sleeps in her sleep sack, with the sound machine on, with nothing else in the crib with her. 

-Her preferred mode of transportation is still rolling.  She's quite the professional.  

-I often send Emily or Hannah in to "tell Claire Mommy is coming" when she is waking up from a nap. She literally lights up when she sees them.  

-She's been getting 4, 6 oz bottles a day, but today we are making the switch to 3, 8 oz bottles.  I don't really think she's going to mind...she's a laid back baby.  

-She constantly watches her big sisters.  

-She said her first word on September 20th (8 1/2 months) Her first word was "Mama" but she said "Dada" later that same week.

-She got her first tooth on September 27th (littler over 8 1/2 months).  It didn't seem to bother her as it was coming in...she only has the one so far.  

-So she said her first words, got her first tooth and started taking a bottle all in the same week.  Exciting week!  

-She is on the move.  When I try to hold her in my lap to read her a book she often tries to shimmy down so that she can go explore the room.:)  

-She's been on formula/bottles for about 2 weeks now.  After round three of mastitis and then 6 plugged ducts in a row we decided it was time to wean the sweet girl.  I was so sad because I wanted to nurse her for her whole first year, but I totally agreed that it was best.  She had been refusing all bottles since she was about 5 weeks old, so the first day of switching her to bottles was hard.  For everyone.  Claire and I both cried many times.  By the end of the first day Claire decided she would go along with the whole bottle thing...thankful!   

We love you, Sunshine.  You bring all of us so much joy!!  Happy 9 months!