These Days

Paris Elementary hosted a Family Fun Fitness Night in mid-February. They only do this event every other year and our girls loved it!  They had different stations set up in different classrooms around the school.  

They especially loved getting taught by some Furman Cheerleaders.  Hannah has told me many times since that night that she wants to "take cheerleading."  

I loved this action shot that Bert got of Hannah jumping rope.  

Emily, Hannah and Claire all had dentist appointments and did wonderful!  A great report for all of them. 

We had a family movie night and all watched Paddington together.  It was a cute movie that even kept Abby's attention.  

Hannah got to dress up like a dalmation on the 101st day of school.  Cutie!

Abby is extremely picky about what she wears these days.  She has two outfits that she likes and everything else she pitches a fit about. On this particular day those two outfits weren't clean. I often will just put something on her and let her fuss as we run out the door, but on this day we didn't have anywhere to be so I let her decide.  I gave her about 10 options and she refused every one of them.  She finally agreed to this dress and so I put it on her.  Right after I put it on her she started pitching an all out fit.  It lasted for about 15 minutes and I just ignored her as she screamed.  She finally calmed down and I snapped this picture of the cute little stinker as she was realizing that she was going to wear this dress today.  She didn't want a picture becuase she was still irritated with me so she turned her head.  I'll call it right now....this girl has spunk.  

Abby loves the girls' dress-up high heels and walks around in them all the time!  

Many days during the last half of this month have been warmer so Hannah has gotten to have fun with her new bike!  

Bert also took Hannah on a daddy-daughter date to close out her birthday week.  They got slushies and then walked around downtown Greenville.  

Bert and the girls spent the night in the living room when I was gone on my Clemson girls weekend.  The girls slept in sleeping bags and Bert slept on the couch and they got to watch a movie as they were falling asleep.  They loved it!  

On Saturday of my Clemson girls weekend Stanley and Alisha had their engagement party in Winder, GA.  Bert and the girls came by the lake house to pick me up around 11am and we drove to the party together.  I was only gone for about 6 hours and I was glad I was able to be at Stanley's engagement party! 

After we ate lunch at the party Abby got down to play.  There were 2 steps down into another part of the room.  Abby fell backwards from the 1st step onto the concrete floor.  I watched her fall and it really didn't look like that bad of a fall to me.  I ran to pick her up and when I did she was screaming.  She ended up holding her breath as she was crying and within seconds she passed out limp in my arms.  It took her about 10 seconds (Bert says less than that) to come to and it was so scary.  In the middle of the craziness I didn't remember that she had been holding her breath while she was crying and we were worried she had passed out because of the fall.  It definitely caused a big scene and made the second half of the party a little stressful. She cried for about 20 minutes after she woke up from being passed out and then she fell asleep in my arms.  I was so happy to be holding her as she slept after she had scared us all half to death, you couldn't have pried her from my arms if you wanted to.  Next time she's holding her breath as she's crying I'm going to blow on her face to make her breathe so hopefully she won't be able to pull that stunt again.  

The girls has a play date with Penny and Samantha on President's Day since they were out of school.  They had fun dressing up!  Emily and Samantha are plotting how to buy Samantha a horse and it is THE cutest to hear about their plans to raise the money, build a barn, etc.  

Emily's friend Samantha had her birthday party at a horse ranch.  Samantha started taking horseback riding lessons about 6 months ago.  Emily was SO excited about getting to ride a horse for the first time.  No fear here.... 

Hannah was supposed to go too and play with Penny duirng the party but Hannah came down with the flu and didn't get to go.  I asked my friend Stephanie if she still wanted Emily to come to the party even though she had been exposed to the flu and she said they definitely did.  Em was soooo excited she still go to go.  

A few of the girls at the party.

Abby has learned how to ride this scooter and she is getting really good at it. She scoots all over our driveway and sidewalk on this thing.  

Sometimes we go to church early on Wednesday nights so that we can all ride together. Hannah was leading the "choir" on this night and Emily was up there singing her little heart out.  They love playing in the choir loft.  :) 

A few minutes later Mrs. Judy came in so that she could get ready to play that night and she ended up teaching Emily chopsticks.  Emily has been playing it ever since and she's so proud that she can do it.  Emily wants to take piano soooo bad. The plan is to let her start taking in the fall.  Mrs. Judy was so sweet to spend 20 minutes or so playing with Emily....it made her night! 

4-year-old's need a nap every once in awhile.  I especially loved that she fell asleep with her new glasses on.  

We had snack time outside on the patio one afternoon and enjoyed every minute of it! 

I loved this sweet picture of Abby jumping with Hannah!  Happy girls! 

Their school did a Book Character Day where they were supposed to dress up like their favorite book character.  

Emily was Nancy Drew.  She LOVES reading Nancy Drew books and was super cute with her little flashlight and note pad.  

Hannah was Billie B. Brown, which is a charachter from some books she got for Christmas.  

Both of their classes got to walk around the school in a parade, which they thought was so much fun! 

My friend, Stephanie, took these pictures for me.  

Claire spent hours working in the yard with Bert one Friday afternoon while her sisters were at school.  She was a big helper! 

February started out great, the middle was great, but the end was a little hard. Hannah got the flu, then Emily, then Bert and it's been stressful to take care of them while trying to keep the others well and taken care of.  As I write this (last day of February) Bert and Emily are in the bed and Hannah just went back to school today.  We're praying that no one else will get it and that by this weekend we'll be good to go. I'm so looking forward to the time change in March.  I love more day light and I love warmer weather and I love no flu germs.  February's been good, but bring on March!  

Hannah - 6 Years

Hannah turned 6 years old on February 14th.  It's hard to believe and the years are definitely flying by! Especially around her birthday I still think of the scare that she gave us after her birth, and I'm so thankful to God for protecting our girl and for all the nurses and doctors that got her breathing.  She's growing and learning so much right now and it is so fun to watch!

A few things I treasure about my 6 year old:

-She's learning to read and is doing such a great job!  She works so hard and doesn't usually get frustrated.  We've seen so much progress since the beginning of the year!
-She sometimes mixes up her b's and d's.  So when she's sounding out a word she'll sometimes say the wrong sound.
-She loves apples and would eat one for every meal if I let her.  She even loves to eat around the core after I have cut the apple up and given them all pieces.
-She's doesn't love pineapple, cantaloupe or bananas.  Unfortunately for her we have these fruits fairly often.  She'll eat them but sometimes has to be encouraged and she usually reminds me that she doesn't like them as I'm giving them to her. Ha!
-She had a fear of elevators last year and has gotten over that and now asks to ride the elevator every time she sees one (especially at church).
-She's in Ms. Powell's class and is having such a great year!  She loves school.  Her two best school friends right now are Penny and Kaiah and she talks about them often.
-She still uses training wheels on her bike but we're hoping to teach her to ride without training wheels this summer.
-She prefers to play with her sisters to playing alone.  Her favorite things to play are "house" or "school."
-Over the last several months she's developed a fear of fires.  She especially has trouble with this fear at night when she is trying to go to sleep.  Her class is going to visit the fire station for a field trip in about a month and she is nervous about this field trip.  She's been talking about it for months and about how she doesn't want to go.  We've promised her that one of us will be on that field trip with her.
-She loves dance class and looks forward to going every week!  She also loves going to the library, play-dates, any time we get to go to church, daddy-daughter dates, or even just getting to run to the grocery store with Mommy.  She loves to be out and about.
-She's a dependable little 6 year old.
-She loves to help with Abby and is such a huge help.  She just naturally wants to look out for her even without me asking her to.  When we're walking to the car at our house Hannah is quick to grab Abby's hand to make sure she doesn't run away.
-She does this quick nod/blink thing that is the cutest.  I realized the other day that she's the only one of our kids that does this.  When I ask her to do something that doesn't require an answer she'll do a really quick nod while she's blinking to let me know she's "on it."  It's her way of saying "I'll get it done." She's done this for years.  I actually was looking back at her 4 year post a few months ago and I had written in there that she was doing this back then.  So sweet!
-She loves gum and is the only one of our kids who asks for it.  She asks for it often.
-She's so quick to pray for people.  If she hears about someone who is hurt or see's someone on the side of the road in need she so often will say "we should pray for them."  It seems to be her first instinct.
-Hannah has a beautiful smile that lights up her whole face and she has an adorable dimple on her right cheek that I love.  I really do believe that her smile makes other people smile because she smiles so big.
-She asks almost every night if she can say the blessing before dinner.
-She's quick to say "Yes Ma'am and No Ma'am" and I don't usually have to remind her to do so.
-She has the sweetest curls but prefers for me to straighten her hair with a straighter.  I don't do it often, but she gets excited when I do. I personally love the curls, but what do I know?!
-She's sensitive.  She can cry at the drop of a hat and often does. If a grandparent has to go home or if a friend has to leave Hannah will probably cry, but she doesn't cry for long.
-She's prone to whine when she wants something, and it's an area we're working on.
-She doesn't like to have her hair dried with a hair dryer.  She'll say she wants it to "hair dry."  I haven't corrected her because I like hearing her call it "hair dry."
-Several people (teachers and staff) from her school have told us that she has a reputation of being the sweetest.  We've been told that the upper grade teachers are saying they want her in their class because she's so sweet and smiles all the time. :)
-I love her freckles....every single one of them.
-She loves movies and shows like no other.  We have to seriously limit her or I'm sure she would sit in front the the TV all day (which she did when she had the flu, and she thoroughly enjoyed it).
-She's a big sweet lover.  She gets that from her mom.
-She likes to do arts and crafts some, but not nearly as much as Emily did at her age.
-Her nicknames are Hannah Beth, Hanney and Han (we probably call her one of these more than we call her Hannah, when we are at home anyway).


Interview with our 6 Year old:

What is your name? Hannah 
How old are you? 5...I mean 6
Where do you live? At home
What is your favorite color? Red
What is your favorite toy? Minnie Dolls
What is your favorite food? Salad
What is your favorite drink? Gatorade 
What is your favorite thing to do? Playing with my sisters
What do you want to be when you grow up? A dentist. 
Who is your teacher? Ms. Powell
Who is your best friend? Penny and Kaiah
What is your favorite song? Amazing Grace
What is your favorite book? Minnie
What is your favorite movie? Veggie Tales
Who is the funniest person you know? Hudson (Burns)
Where is your favorite place to go? The park
What does your Mommy always say to you? I love you
What does your Daddy always say to you? I love you

Hannah we are so proud of the beautiful, sweet, and smart little girl that you are.  We are so thankful for your love for praying and we pray that your prayer life would help develop a close relationship between you and the God who made you.  You are a gift to our family and we are your biggest cheerleaders. We love you!

Clemson Girls Weekend 2018

Our Clemson girls weekend was wonderful as usual this year.  We did it over President's Day weekend (in mid-February) and had a great time.  All 11 of us were able to come this year, plus we added our friend Katie, who also went to Clemson with us and grew up with Keri.  We LOVED having Katie join us!  

My friend and college roommate, Sara, moved to San Antonio, TX this past summer.  She's missing the east coast, but she and her husband are getting settled into life in TX.  They've found an awesome church, have great jobs and are doing really well!  I especially loved getting to catch up with her!  She thinks they'll move back east at some point, but for now we'll enjoy seeing her at least once a year at our girls weekend!  

Angela, Katie, Tif and I were the models while Keri worked on setting up the camera for our group picture. 

Last year 4 of us were pumping but this year the youngest baby was 16 months, so no pumping was necessary.  Jennifer is pregnant with their 3rd though and due April 8th (Emily's birthday). 

This girls weekend is one of my favorite traditions of my whole year!!  I love them and their hearts for the Lord and their families!  I was so blessed to be able to walk through my college years with these girls by my side!  I pray often that all four of our girls are blessed with friends like this!

Hannah's Birthday Dinner

We had a birthday dinner for Hannah on Thursday the 15th.  Mimi and Papa drove over after work so they could be there.  The party theme was Minnie, obviously!  

I made a lasagna and salad to go with our bread, fruit and cupcakes. It was a yummy dinner and Hannah enjoyed it! 

Singing to our girl!  

I loved that we were all smiling!!  

Happy, happy birthday to our Hannah Beth! You are so sweet and loving.  You have a beautiful smile and bring so much joy to everyone who knows you!  We love you, we love you, we love you...more than you can imagine!

Hannah's Birthday

We woke Hannah up on her birthday by singing Happy Birthday to her, which made her wake up smiling.  She was so excited about getting to go to school and celebrate with her friends.  Jenna, another girl in her class, also had a birthday on Valentine's Day.  Jenna's parents came to the school during their lunch and brought a cookie cake and ice cream to share with the class.  They ended up serving the cookie cake up on the stage in the lunch room and before they started serving it to Ms. Powell's class they called Jenna up on stage so they could sing Happy Birthday to her.  Jenna wanted Hannah to come too so the whole lunch room (all of the kindergarten and 1st grade) ended up singing Happy Birthday to the girls.  I wish I could have seen how big they were smiling up there on stage.  I'm sure they were precious.  

Bert went to the school during their snack time that afternoon and brought a cookie cake to share with her class. Hannah was so excited to have him there!

Isn't my girl beautiful?!

Look at how much talker Jenna is than Hannah.  Hannah's 3 hours older than Jenna.  Sweet girls!  

After school we did more singing and then we raced off to get Hannah to dance class.  She thought it was a special treat that she got to go to dance class ON her birthday! 

That afternoon (her birthday fell on a Wednesday this year) Bert had to be back at the church a little early to meet with a family so we had about 40 minutes to have some more birthday fun!  

Hannah opened some cards from a couple families in our church that gave her money.  Emily was the card reader.  

This was her reaction to a $20 bill.  

Claire kept finding things in the playroom and wanting to give them to Hannah.  I helped her wrap up about 3 things (that we already had).  One of the things was this dog that Claire had gotten for her birthday....she wanted to give it to Hannah.  Hannah knew where it came from but she gave Claire the biggest hug and was so excited about it.  I love that Claire wanted to give Hannah something.  

Emily bought Hannah this Minnie mailbox.  Hannah still loves all things Minnie, so it was a perfect gift. When Emily got home from school she decided she wanted Hannah to have mail to go in her mailbox.  She had each one of us write a card to Hannah and Emily addressed the envelope, complete with drawing a stamp.  Emily was just about to burst to give Hannah  her gift and Hannah loved it and loved each card in it.  

We also gave Hannah a new bike, which she rode all around the house while I got dinner ready!  

After a quick dinner we raced out the door to church.  Hannah's birthday was busy, but fun this year!  Her birthday dinner was planned for the next night, so there was more celebrating to come, but we loved celebrating our girl on the actual day and making sure that our Valentine felt extra special!

Valentine's Day - 2018

We had a fun Valententine's Day this year.  The girls woke up to a small treat from us and enjoyed eating a piece of chocolate with their breakfast.  

Emily and Bert made this Valentine's box for her class. We only found out about the box competition the day before, so I thought it turned out really well.  

Bert surprised me with a dozen roses and the sweetest card.  His cards can make me cry in a hot second.  

He surprised the girls with a carnation each and a hand made card for each of them!

These carnations are still looking great almost 2 weeks later.  

I gave Bert a card and a bag of "nicer" coffee, so not quite as exciting as roses, but he's a fan of his coffee, so it worked for him.  

Bert makes sure all 5 of his girls feel very loved on Valentine's Day and every day!  

Boston Trip

Bert and I got to take a short mission trip to Boston, back in early February.   My wonderful mom came over on Wednesday to stay with the girls so that they could go to school Thursday and Friday.  They had lots of fun with Mimi!  

(Pay no attention to the paint swatches on the wall behind the girls in that picture! Our kitchen is in full reno-mode...post to come about that later after it's done!)

There was a group of 8 of us from our church that went on this trip.  Our church just recently committed to partner with a church plant in Boston (short term mission trip teams, financial support, and prayers) and part of this trip was us getting to hear from Jonathan and Chelsea Moseley about their heart for the city of Boston and their plans as they work to plant this church this a certain neighborhood.  

Riding the "T" to dinner our first night there! 

This is the hotel we stayed in.  There were 4 men and 4 women on the trip so it worked out perfectly for us to only have to get 2 rooms.  

We met up with Jonathan and Chelsea after breakfast on Friday morning and they gave us a driving tour around Mission Hill, which is the neighborhood where they will be planting a church.  Mission Hill has 5 hospitals in it, 5 universities and 5 housing projects all in about 1 square mile.  

Chelsea was 1 week away from delivering their first child when we were there...she was a trooper.  

Our group with Jonathan and Chelsea.  

They have a core group of 15 people right now and they're doing a Bible study on Tuesday night and one on Wednesday night.  They're hoping to start meeting as a church once a month starting in June and then start meeting every Sunday morning in September.  We're excited for them and praying for them!

The other part of this trip was to help another church in the area put on a Tim Tebow Night to Shine Event.  It's a prom for kids with special needs and it was wonderful!  

We got to the church early afternoon on Friday and they put us to work blowing up balloons and doing other last minute jobs.  

The event was even better than I imagined.  They had lots of food, a dance floor, balloon drop, build-a-bear station, karaoke room, make up and hair station, photo booth, and a separate (huge) room to pamper the caregivers of these precious children.  

We were glad to get to be a part!  

Each participant was announced and got to walk down the red carpet, while tons of people were cheering and clapping for them. 

The karaoke room was my favorite room.  The kids got to pick a song that they wanted to sing and then got up on stage and got to sing their hearts out.  I literally smiled the entire time I was in this room.  It was PRECIOUS!!  

The girl in the white sweater that is waving in the picture below.  She smiled and waved the whole night.  She would run up and give people hugs and wave people over to sit beside  her and then was so excited when you came.

At one point she waved at me and I thought she was waving at someone else so she ran over to me and grabbed my hand and brought me to the seat beside her.  She couldn't talk and if you asked her her name she couldn't answer, but I doubt I'll forget her.  She was a beautiful blessing to everyone there that night.  

On Saturday morning we got to do a little sightseeing before we had to head to the airport.  Boston is a beautiful city! 

The picture below was taken in May 2007....almost 11 years ago.  Bert and I went on a short trip to Boston to visit a high school friend and go to a Red Sox - Yankee's game.  It was a fun trip! 

We decided to reenact the picture in the same spot there in Old North Church.  It's crazy that in the picture above we weren't even engaged, and in the picture below we've been married 10 years and have 4 precious kids.  I possibly look a little more tired in the picture below, but I wouldn't trade a minute of the last decade.

Same thing.  Picture above was from May of 2007 and the picture below is was from Feb of 2018.  I love getting to go on adventures with my man!  

Just before we headed to the airport we went to the Quincy Market and ate some yummy lunch.

It was such a great trip!  I so enjoyed getting to know the ladies better who were on the trip with me, getting to see Boston through the Moseley's eyes, and getting to serve at the Night to Shine event. Very thankful!