Daddy Daughter Dates

We love spending one on one time with our girls!  We really feel like it is so important.  They get so excited about it and we love just getting to give them all of our attention and hear their little hearts.  We've not been super great at it in the past.  It's something we have to be intentional about; it's not just going to happen.  

Bert has a yard work to-do list that would overwhelm anyone, but he spent most of his day off last week with his girls! They were sooooo excited about dates with Daddy!  

Hannah and Daddy...

Bert was hoping to take her to the park, but it was chilly and rainy that morning so they had to have a slight change of plans.  They stopped by the church and then headed to our local library.  They picked out books together and then Bert read them to her.  She LOVED it!! 

They also had a fun castle for them to play with.  

A little before 10:30 a bunch of kids and parents started coming in.  Bert didn't realize they had story time there on Friday morning, but it turned out to be an extra treat for our Hannah Beth.  She loved sitting with all the other kids.  They read books and sang songs. Bert said after every book or song that Hannah would turn around and give him two thumbs up with a cute little smile!  She thought she was such a big girl, and she is!  

Hannah had so much fun on her daddy-daughter date!  She came home just bursting to tell me all about it.  It was sweet.  

After lunch it was Emily's turn for her Daddy-Daughter date. She hasn't ever been to the movie theater and we decided since she's almost 5 it was time for her to go!  They went to see the new Cinderella that just came out.  I had heard from several moms that 3 might be a little young for the movie (its not animated) but it should be perfect for Emily's age.  

She wanted to bring her Cinderella book and she said she was going to turn the pages in the book as she watched the movie.  I'm not sure if she did that or not (probably not), but she definitely had that book in her lap and she was excited about it! 

She called me on the way home from the theater to tell me how much FUN they had!  I asked her if the screen was big and she said "Mama, it was HUGE!!!"  

It was fun to watch them so excited about spending them with their Daddy.  I love spending time with him too....he's pretty great!  

Family Lake Weekend

Bert texted me one morning at the beginning of February and asked me if I wanted to take a trip to the lake on March 12-14th.  My parents and aunt and uncle have a cabin near Toccoa on Lake Hartwell.  My grandparents and their kids moved the cabin to their piece of lake property when I was 2.  We have been going to it for family lake weekends/weeks/days ever since.  I don't think it has changed much at all in that time, which is another thing I love about it.  Soooo many great memories that I'm thankful to have!  

I of course jumped on it and called my mom to make sure she thought it would be fine for us to come up that weekend.  She said they would love for us to use it. It makes me happy just to be there.  I told Bert while we were there that I literally don't think you could be there and not relax...he agreed.  You can't get cell phone service, there are no TV channels to watch (although you can watch movies), and the lake is peaceful and beautiful.... P.E.R.F.E.C.T.  

Mimi met us at the lake house to let us in and also to bring us some groceries for the weekend.  We brought lots of food from home, but we still needed a good many items and mom volunteered to pick them up for us so that we wouldn't have to stop by the grocery store.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again....she loves us well.  

We started out our first night there with pizza and Mimi teaching Emily and Hannah how to play checkers.  Mimi had to call Bert for backup though as she couldn't remember all the rules.  Ha!  They had fun!  

When you ask Claire to give you a hug she snuggles her head to your chest and smiles really big.  She loves this "game" and we love the snuggles.  Win-win!  

Shortly after the picture above Mimi headed to Katherine's to help out with Baby Ressie for the night, with plans to come down to the lake the next afternoon and spend the next night with us. 

After we finally got Hannah settled down (E and C were worn out and went right to sleep), Bert and I enjoyed a fun game of Yahtzee.  I had to get my nightly hot chocolate before we played and I decided I would use this GA Tech mug just to get Bert riled up.  He just rolled his eyes and said "you would."  Haha!:)  We played 5 games and I won 4 out of the 5, but I don't want to brag, so I won't say anything else about that. :)  

On Friday it was rainy and cold so we decided to head to town and run a few errands.  

We stopped by Katherine and Brett's and Bert got to meet Ressie for the first time.  He loved getting to hold her while she slept!  Sweet girl!  

After that stop it was time to go by Papa's office.  The girls loooove going to Papa's work.  He was showing them some video of animal sounds.  They were enjoying it!:)  

Later that afternoon it was time for more games.  The girls had never played Twister before so we thought that would be a fun one to try.  Emily and Hannah were cracking us up.  

I don't think you can play Twister and not laugh.  After Emily and Hannah and I  played, it was time for Bert and I to play together.  We let the girls spin for us, but they were taking sooooo long to spin and call out our next move.  Then they would have a discussion about whose turn it was to spin next, all while Bert and I were trying to hold our pose in some crazy, contorted position! We finally had to just call it a game.  It was clear to us that we're not as young as we used to be!:) 

She looooves her Daddy, y'all!  She calls him DaDa, but she goes up an octave on the second "Da" every time she says his name.  She just gets so excited about seeing him!  

On Friday night Mimi and Papa had dinner with us.  The girls love playing with Papa.  He played "the bear" (where you raise your hands, "roar", pretend to be hibernating, etc). This is probably their favorite game right now. They ask their daddy to "be the bear" almost every night!  It just makes them cackle with laughter and they run to me asking me to "save us from the bear!"  He also took them on a horsey back ride, tickled them and just loved on them.  We're glad he stopped by!

On Saturday it stopped raining and we got to head down to the dock for a little while before we headed back to Greenville.  

Emily and Hannah had been planning on doing a little fishing with their Daddy and they were excited about it.  The weather didn't totally cooperate with us, but Bert made sure they got to "fish" for a few minutes before we headed back home.  They both loved it!  

Watts family lake photo!   

The weather was rainy and cold that weekend, so some might say it wasn't the perfect lake weekend, but I really do think it was perfect for us.  We just loved being at the lake house, spending time together, playing games, and looking out at the beautiful lake.  Looking forward to making more memories here with our girls! 

Wordless Wednesday

The Great Outdoors!

Spring has been my favorite season for a long time, but the last two years have taken my love for spring to a whole new level.  I couldn't begin to tell you how excited I get about the warmer temps, sunshine, seeing things blooming.  It makes my heart so happy.  It must have something to do with having toddlers, cooped up in the house for months on end, that desperately want to get out and run and dance and play.  

The kids have been excited too!  Hannah flying around on her scooter, Emily flying around on her bike, and Claire getting pushed around by me in her car makes for a great afternoon!!  

Another afternoon last week I decided to let Claire hang out in the Ergo while the big girls rode their bikes.  I really haven't used the Ergo much recently, but we both enjoyed it.  I love my little snuggle bug. 

Yesterday was a busy day and we weren't home much, but it was soooo pretty outside that after lunch I left the dishes piled in the sink and the dirty clothes in the hampers and we headed outside for some playtime before naps.  Claire was laughing so hard as Hannah was pushing her.  It was a sweet sound.  

Just for the record, Hannah picked out her own clothes.  She has on pink pants (backwards) that have a large hole in the knee.  She really likes them, and I figured soon enough it will be too warm for them and then they are definitely going to find their way to the trash.   

I realize it's not officially spring quite yet, but I feel like we're close enough, so happy spring everyone!! :)

Bunny Goes To Cousin Ressie

Everyone that knows our Hannah knows that she loves her Bunny and her thumb.  Together. So much!  If she is holding her Bunny then she is sucking her thumb.  If she is sucking her thumb and holding her Bunny then she is happy.  Both make her so happy.  If she is sad she runs straight for Bunny.  She couldn't go to sleep without Bunny.  Maybe a year ago or so, we decided to have Hannah start putting Bunny in the doll cradle when she woke up in the morning or when she woke up from naps, so that she wouldn't suck her thumb during the day.  We stuck to this pretty much, but many days Hannah would be up from her nap 45 minutes or so before I would realize she hadn't gone to put her Bunny up, but overall we pretty much stuck to the no Bunny while Hannah is awake rule.  She adjusted just fine.  When she went to her first dentist appointment last fall the dentist was soooo impressed with how much and how well she was talking for her to be a thumb sucker.

Let me just say that over the past 3 years I have heard countless stories of people telling me about themselves, their kids, friends or family members who sucked their thumb until they were 18 years old or older.  One lady even told me she would catch herself doing it into her 30's.  They all said it is such a hard habit to break.  Now please know I am not saying anything bad about thumb suckers.  I love my little thumb sucker with all my heart, but since it is such an addictive habit which can cause dental issues down the road, among other things, I wanted us to help my Hannah stop if I could (and sooner, rather than later). 

I had a feeling that if we got rid of Bunny that she might stop sucking her thumb, but it broke my heart to even think about.  Bunny was Hannah's little buddy.  She looooved her.  A few months ago we started talking to her about not sucking her thumb, just to see if we could possibly reason with her and get her to stop without taking Bunny away.  We quickly realized it was a lost cause.  During that time we asked her if she wanted to give her Bunny to baby Ressie, and she let us know that she did NOT.  She would say "no....that's MY Bunny" and start crying!  We were trying to warm her up to the idea, but it didn't seem to be helping so we decided to just not talk bout it anymore until we figured it was time to "give" Bunny away.

So, that's where we were for several weeks....no mention of taking Bunny away, no mention of not sucking the thumb.  Bert and I were just waiting for the right time and dreading breaking her heart.  

One morning I was about to dry my hair and Hannah came into my room out of the blue and said:

"Mommy, Claire don't suck her thumb do she?"  

Me - "No, she doesn't."  

Hannah "I know!! I can give my Bunny to Baby Ressie!!"  

I just said that was a good idea and thought she would change her mind 2 minutes later, but when she walked into the kitchen to eat breakfast she was sooooo excited about giving her Bunny to baby Ressie and told her Daddy it was going to help Ressie stop crying.  After 30 minutes of her being very excited about it, we decided we should probably go ahead and "send" Bunny to Ressie since this was probably about as good of an opportunity as we were going to get. Hannah was SO excited about it!  So, as we were trying to get Emily ready for school that morning we decided we would put Bunny in an envelope and let her "mail" Bunny to Ressie.  

She was soooo excited.  I don't think she quite understood.  

We were trying to act excited for her, but Bert and I were sad because we knew how sad she would be later.  

Sweet Emily was stressed.  She kept saying, "But Hannah will be so sad?!"  

Bunny was in the mail and ready to go to Toccoa.  Bert went and grabbed the envelope back out of the mailbox after I distracted Hannah inside.  

She really was only sad at nap time and bed time, but the next two days were rough.  That first nap after she "sent" Bunny to Ressie she just kept saying with tears in her eyes "but I don't have my Bunny....I neeeed my Bunny. Let's go get her. Ressie's not crying anymore.  I neeeed my Bunny."  It was pitiful and we were all down right sad.  Emily even offered for Hannah to have her Bunny.  Lots of extra snuggles those days.

Just a couple hours after the mailing of Bunny took place, Hannah came running into my room crying.  She had gotten a bad paper cut while she was reading books, so a band-aid was definitely in order.  The paper cut just so happened to be on the thumb that she sucked.  I actually really think the band-aid that we had on her thumb for those first few days really helped her to not start sucking her thumb even without her Bunny. 

Today will be 2 weeks since we "mailed" Bunny and I haven't seen her suck her thumb once.  Gooooo Hannah!  That first week we had her put a band-aid on her finger every time she went to bed (nap or bedtime) just to make sure she didn't suck her thumb.  She would take it off as soon as she got up.  She still asks for one some nights, and we just put one on.  

At some point over the last two weeks she has become very attached to her Minnie.  When she gets out of the bed Minnie is with her. Minnie is the one she is always holding when we check on her at night.  I'm not even sure who gave us this Minne, but know it is well loved.  

 

Before we mailed Bunny, Hannah took a nap everyday and fell asleep within 5 minutes.  Now, it's taking her closer to 30 minutes to fall asleep and some days she won't even go to sleep.  I haven't seen a big change in her night time schedule.  She's always been my night owl and had a harder time going to sleep at night.  

Hannah, I know it was no fun to give your Bunny to Ressie, but we are proud of you and we love you so much!!  

Clemson Girls' Weekend 2015

Our 7th annual Clemson Girls' Weekend was a big success!  Each year my very best friends from my days at Clemson spend a weekend together catching up!  I am so so thankful for this time!  One of the girl's in-laws allow us to use their beautiful house on Lake Keowee each year.  The house is only a 10 minute drive from Clemson, which makes the trip even more fun because we get to spend a couple hours walking around campus or downtown.  It's fun to think back on those four years together.  This May will be 10 years since we graduated....crazy!  

A few of us were able to meet for dinner in Clemson at Mellow Mushroom on Friday night.  The other 5 weren't able to make it for dinner, but got to the house shortly thereafter. 

My favorite thing of the whole weekend happens on Friday night.  We put on our pajamas, snuggle up under blankets, eat lots of yummy snacks, and spend hours catching up.  We go around the circle and each one of us gives a lengthy of update of how our last year went.  While the person who is sharing is giving her update, the rest of us will ask her questions that pop in our minds about things she is talking about or to follow up from last year.  This year it took us almost 4 1/2 hours for everyone to go (we stay up super late that night and sleep super late the next morning :) ).  We talk about jobs, family, church, struggles, praises, etc.  Every year there are tears shed by some of us.  Depending on what that person is going through, sometimes we stop in the middle of share time, put our hands on someone and just pray.  It is so encouraging to have these godly friends who are seeking to follow Christ and love their families well.  We may not live next door to each other anymore, but because of these weekends I still feel close to them and I'm very thankful for that!  

I took this picture from the upstairs, looking down on the living room.  We are in the middle of share time, but taking a short break.  Good memories!  

We spend lots of time around their big round table throughout the weekend.  Rachel's husband brought their daughter Larkin (7 months old) over for a few hours so that Rachel could nurse her. We enjoyed having a sweet baby with us for a few hours.  

After sleeping late, eating a late breakfast, and all taking showers we headed to Clemson.  We walked around downtown, some of us bought a t-shirt, but mostly we just enjoyed being there.  We were all very involved in FCA, most of us were in a freshman Bible study together, we led other Bible studies together, and we went on mission trips together.  I became a Christian at a young age, but I feel like when I got to college I really started growing deeper in my relationship with Christ. 

Jennifer left us for most of the day on Saturday, as she had to go to a funeral in Columbus, GA.  We missed her, but we were glad we got to hang out with her part of the weekend!  

After we went downtown we decided to stop for an early dinner before heading back to the house.  There are 16 kids (plus one more due in May!) between all of us, and while we love those babies sooooooo much, when we can enjoy a meal without feeding other people, running those people to the potty, or cleaning up messes we enjoy it.  :)

This is the first year in a while that we have all been able to come for this weekend. Usually at least one or two of us can't be there. Last year, Kristen and I both had five-week-old babies, and only came for the day on Saturday. It was fun to all be there together this year.

It was definitely a fun weekend!  I'm thankful for these life-long friendships, and thanks again to the Foster's for letting us stay in their lake house!  

Hannah - 3 years

Hannah had her 3 year old check up today and had a great visit!  She weighs 32 lbs 5 oz and is in the 65th percentile for her weight.  She is 36.8 inches tall and is in the 43rd percentile for her height.  Dr. Shultz mentioned that she doesn't yet have any of her 2 year molars in, although the first one is just starting to peak through.  Hannah identified shapes and colors correctly, she told the doctor her age and counted, and she said the genders of her family members.  We are proud of and thankful for our healthy 3 year old!!

Sleeping:
Hannah sleeps about 10 hours at night.  We put her to bed between 8 and 8:30 and most nights it is between 9 and 9:30 before she falls asleep.  She usually wakes up between 7 and 7:30 in the morning.  She's a night owl.  She's been fully potty trained during the day and night since last fall.  She usually naps from about 2-3:30.  She goes right to sleep when we put her down for nap time, unlike when we put her down at night.  She may not take a super long nap, but she sleeps every day.  She needs that nap.  Hannah sleeps with about 15 dolls/bears/blankets in her bed. We used to limit Emily to just a few, but we've loosened up in that area. We decided that isn't a battle worth having.  Although sometimes we have trouble with her getting up right after we laid her down to go to the bathroom (literally 5 minutes after she just went) or to tell us she loves us (5 minutes after she told us she loves us).  She can come up with some interesting reasons as to why she is up (one night she even asked with a big smile on her face, "Are you going to keep me?").  We sometimes have to take her babies (dolls, bears and blankets) out of her bed as a consequence because she keeps getting up (at night).  We always give her warning that the next time she gets up we're going to take her babies away...sweet girl!  She's gotten much better about not waking Emily up if she is the first one to wake up in the morning.  She usually opens the door quietly and leaves it open.  For a while she was trying to shut the door behind her, which turned out to be more of a slam, which woke Emily up even though she wasn't doing it on purpose.  They have a "Teach Me Time" clock that changes from yellow to green at 7:00am and they both know that if they wake up before their light turns green then they are supposed to just lay in their bed quietly and wait for it to turn green.  They almost never get up before 7.

Eating:
Hannah has actually gotten to be a little bit of a pickier eater over the last 6 months or so, but overall I would say she is still a great eater.  She eats yogurt and cereal for breakfast most every morning, sandwich, raisins and fruit for lunch, and whatever we are eating for dinner.  Sometimes, she just has to be encouraged a little to finish up whatever she is eating, but she will usually do it.  She loves macaroni and cheese, broccoli, apples, strawberries and blueberries. She's not a huge fan of bananas at the moment.  She also loves to help in the kitchen....to help cook or wash dishes or make sandwiches, etc.

Talking:
I feel like Hannah speaks fairly clearly.  Bert and I can understand everything she is saying, but others who are not around her as often are also able to understand most everything the first time she says it.  She does pronounce some words incorrectly but it's usually pretty easy to understand what she is saying.  She replaces "R's" with "W's" so when she asks for an update on baby Ressie she calls her baby "Wessie.":)  I think it's cute!  Other examples: "Pwincess Dwess", "Bootiful", and "Woom" for room.  I love this cute 3 year old stage of saying anything and everything, but just not saying it perfectly quite yet.  It makes me want to pull out the video camera all the time because I know in a few short weeks or months her speech will clear right up and I'll miss those sweet "R's" sounding like "W's".

A Few of my Favorite Things about our 3 year old:
-She loves to play the "Frozen" Memory Game that we have and she is really very good at it!

-She wants to use a "big girl cup" just like Emily.  At first she had a decent number of spills, but she's gotten pretty good at using it these days!

-She doesn't care for milk although she will drink some when encouraged.

-Hannah loves to make Claire laugh.

-She doesn't want anyone in the bathroom with her when she goes #2.  Emily was the opposite, wanting someone to tell her a story the whole time, but Hannah is quite adamant that we get out.  Ha!

-She gets soooo excited about bubble baths, movies, playing outside, playdates with  her "fwinds",  going to Mimi and Papa's or Grandmama and Pawpaw's, going to church, etc.

-She is a really awesome big sister and an amazing little sister.  She will go from cutting paper and coloring with Emily to playing in their play kitchen with Claire to singing and dancing with Emily to pushing Claire around in her little red car.  It's impressive!  She does such a great job at loving both of her sisters.

-She looooooves to dress up.  She wears a dress up dress 95% of the day if we are at home.

-Hannah has the most awesome expressions.  I love the way she raises her eye brows and when she smiles her eyes light up.

-She's not a big fan of socks even in the dead of winter.  I will ask her to go put on a pair of socks because her feet are cold and then an hour later I'll notice they are off again.

-She loves her red sparkly shoes no matter the outfit.

-If she sees a word that begins with "H" on anything at all she says "LOOK!!  It says my name...it says Hannah!!!!"

-She calls a "fort" a "fork".

-She has the most beautiful bright blue eyes.

-She's a superstar nose-blower. She did not get this skill from her big sister. :)

-Hannah loves loves loves to look at "pi-tures" on my iPad or phone.

-Her smile literally lights up her entire face and it's beautiful.

-Her hair is really starting to come in thicker, especially in the back, but she has some slow growing hair.

-She loves her dress-up high heels and is very good at walking in them.  She usually has a pair on if we are at home.

-She likes to look at the cereal box when she eats her cereal each morning.  I used to do this as a kid, but haven't done it in years.  I'm not sure who she saw do this, but I'm sure it was someone!

-We recently "gave" her beloved Bunny to her cousin Ressie so that Hannah would stop sucking her thumb.  It was traumatic for everyone involved for a couple days, but she is doing great!  Look for a blog post about that soon.

-We often call Hannah -  "Hannah Beth" or "Hannah Banana".

-She thinks it is soooo funny to pretend to be asleep as soon as we pull in the driveway.  We almost always play along saying "Oh!  I guess Hannah fell asleep!!"  She grins from ear to ear with her eyes closed.

-Hannah gives the best hugs and we call them "Hannah hugs." 

-A month or two ago she accidentally flushed her panties down the toilet.  I have no idea how she did it, but thankfully it didn't clog anything up.  Since that incident she hasn't wanted her panties or her pants in the bathroom with her at all.  She usually leaves them out in the hall, but if she forgets she starts hollering at one of us to move them out into the hall in somewhat of a panicked voice.  It really does freak her out for them to be in the bathroom.  Ha!:)

Hannah - She loves me (pointing to her bunny)
Me - She does love you, but do you know who loves you more?
Hannah - (Nods to say yes.)
Me - Who?
Hannah - Jesus.
*I was thinking of Mommy, but Jesus is most definitely the better answer!!!

Hannah - Mommy, I don't WANT to be a human.
Me:  But you are a human.
Hannah:  But I don't WANT to be a human.
Me: You don't?
Hannah:  No, I want to be a pwincess.

-She loves to dress herself.  We have an unspoken deal, if we are staying at home I almost always let her pick, but if we are going out I get to pick.  It is working well for us right now.  The outfit below is her favorite these days. Pretty much anytime this is clean, it's what she's going to put on. She looooooves these pants.  Cutie!

-Papa Stan (my dad) does such a great job of calling us at least every other day on FaceTime just to say hey and chat with the girls for a few minutes.  The girls loooove seeing him and showing him different things.  Hannah says most every single time we talk to him or anyone on FaceTime in the very sweetest voice you can imagine "Papa, can I come to your house sometime?!"  She asks this all the time.  It of course melts Papa's (or anyone she is talking to) heart.  The answer is always "Yes!!  You sure can!!!"  She recently asked this to a few friends at church too.  Ha!  

Hannah, you are an absolute joy!  You are beautiful, fun, spunky, smart, and sweet, but most of all you are LOVED!!  We hope you know how just how much you are loved by Jesus and by your family and friends. We are so so thankful to God that He blessed us with you.  Happy 3rd birthday, Hannah Beth!!