These Days

September was a busy month!  

While we were at the lake over Labor Day weekend I took Emily, Hannah and Claire to the Stephens County Indians game (high school football).  It was fun to see so many people from my hometown and the girls loved getting to sit and watch the cheerleaders!  

Over the last couple months the girls have started enjoying bug hunting.  They didn't get that love from me, but I think it's cute to see them get so excited about finding a new bug.  

Grandmama and Pawpaw came up and spent Labor Day with us!  We loved getting to catch up with them and we got to drive them by the new house (that we would close on a few weeks later).  

Pawpaw treated us to dinner at Red Lobster that night before they headed back home to GA.  

Just 3 days after this picture was taken Jeff went to the hospital and they found out that he had had a heart attack and was in need of open heart surgery.  He didn't end up having the surgery until the next Wednesday but they kept him in ICU in a hospital in Macon.  Bert was down there with his parents and sisters (and other family) most of that week.  The surgery went well and we are thankful to God for getting Jeff to the hospital in time and for using the doctors to heal his heart!  

I liked this picture of Claire.  My serious girl!  

Here are a couple pictures from church!  We're thankful that the girls have such great church friends! 

Haley and Hannah

Jazmine, Gabe, Katelyn and Claire - cute 4 year olds! 

Abby Doodle loves her nursery friends!  

Emily and Marly

These next two pictures are from Claire's school teacher!  She LOVES going each W, Th, and Fri morning! 

Hannah got to go to a birthday party for her friend Harper where they each got to make their own cake.  She was soooo proud to get to share the cake with her sisters the next day at snack time. 

One week Bert was out of town and I was needing help getting everyone where they were supposed to go so my friend Kristin came to my rescue and brought Claire home from dance class.  Claire and Charlotte are quickly becoming good buddies!  

I love this picture of Abby's dirty shirt, dirty mouth, hat too big and huge grin!  This is a precious age!!  

Abby is no longer taking naps in her crib but a couple times a week she will fall asleep in the carline on the way to pick her sisters up.  Sometimes she falls asleep other places....she works hard to hang in there, but it's hard being two.  

Caught Bert reading to the two littles.  

These two surprised me when I found this cute selfie on my phone.  Ha! 

The Watts girls like a good dance party!  

I caught Hannah reading to Abby. Hannah is such a great big sister!  I especially love Abby's dressy dress that she was wearing around the house and her upside down sunglasses.  

The girls got to go to a cake wars birthday party for Shaelynn - boys against girls! 

Emily has learned how to put her hair up like this and she really is proud of herself.  She thinks it makes her look older.  She's probably right.  

We love these days!

Moving Weekend

Moving weekend arrived quickly and it was all hands on deck for sure!  Katherine took Emily, Hannah and Claire for the weekend which was such a HUGE help!!  They had so much fun playing with their cousins.  

They went over to Brett's parents' house and got to paint, paint their nails and ride the Sanders' golf cart! Fun for sure! 

Meanwhile, back in Greenville, we were a bunch of busy bees.  We filled our huge U-Haul up and needed another trailer.  Slightly embarrassing how much stuff we have even after I cleaned out as I was packing up!!  We were very thankful for my dad and brother and for a couple guys from our church that helped us make it happen!  

After everything was loaded it was time to clean so we could be ready for their walk through on Sunday afternoon.  It was a long, tiring weekend and we're glad it's behind us, but thankful things went smoothly.  

On Sunday night after church we took the kids back by our Pheasant Ridge house so they could see it one last time before we closed the next morning.  It was a little sad. My tender-hearted Hannah was sobbing most of the whole time we were there. 

Emily was 2 and Hannah was seven months when we moved into this house; we brought our last two babies home from the hospital to this house. We've had a wonderful 6 years here and we could not be more thankful.  

We closed on the Pheasant Ridge house at 10:00 am and on the Oak Brook house at 1:00 pm that same Monday afternoon (Sept 24th). Everything went smoothly except we had a piano moving company lined up to come to the Pheasant Ridge house at 9 on Monday morning to pick up our piano and hold it on their truck until we were ready for them to deliver it to our new house later that afternoon.  We had worked out price and logistics, but somehow they wrote down the wrong date and we found out at 9:20 (as we were driving to the closing in Spartanburg) that they weren't coming.  Bert and I started scrambling trying to get our huge piano out of our house.  We ended up getting a different moving company to come get it and move it to our new house (the other homeowners let us put it in there a few hours earlier).  We had to pay double what we were going to pay because it was a same day moving request, but at that point we weren't too worried about the price....we just needed it moved.   We had to sign one extra document saying that we would have the piano out by the end of the day (we ended up getting out by about 11) and that we would cover any damage that was caused by moving it out, but the new buyers were very nice about it.  

Bob and Sherry, a couple in our church who live in our new neighborhood, were going to to be on a trip the week after we closed on our new house and were so sweet to let us stay at their house while we painted, had carpet put in/cleaned, etc.  We were so thankful to have Bob and Sherry's house to stay in that week.  It was a huge help as we didn't want to move our stuff in until we finished the work.  

Here is a sleeping picture from Bob and Sherry's guest room.  Hannah was using Em as a pillow.  

The girls and I stopped by a couple times a day while the guys (Bert, my dad, Billy, Eddie and others) were working on the house.  The girls loved getting to check things out!  Here are a few pictures that I got of the four of them that first week.  

We officially moved in (and started sleeping in the house) on September 29th.  Everything had been stored in our garage for that week in between.  We've been unpacking boxes the last couple weeks and I feel like we're getting close to being settled (not decorated, but the boxes are mostly all gone). Also a huge thank you to my parents for putting in a bajillion hours helpings us get moved and settled!  We love y'all!! 

The girls love their space upstairs, the backyard and the cul-de-sac and Bert and I love the porch and taking evening walks on the beautiful golf course that borders our back yard.  We have a lot more work to be done, but we're so thankful to be exactly where we are!  

Last Lake Weekend of the Summer

Bert went on a short mission trip to Boston over Labor Day weekend and the girls and I headed to the lake to squeeze in our last lake weekend of the summer!  

Our weekend was relaxing and wonderful!!  

I took Abby on a jet ski ride one afternoon and she fell asleep on me while we were out there. Sweet baby!  

Mimi and the kids worked on this puzzle all weekend and finally finished it on the last day, but couldn't find one piece.  Mom bought the puzzle from a goodwill store so we're not sure if it was missing before they started or if it was lost in the craziness of the lake house....either is possible. :) 

Stanley, Alisha and Katherine also worked on the puzzle for a while.  Daddy and I did not (I really don't enjoy puzzles) and were made fun of for it. Ha! I used to not like Brussels sprouts though and now I do, so maybe one day I'll start enjoying puzzles.    

The girls LOVE "fixing" Papa's hair and "making him look like a girl."  

We had a great weekend and we SO enjoyed our time at the lake!  Until next summer....

Claire's First Day of Dance

Claire finally had her first day of dance class and she was soooo excited (and ready)! Of the three big girls, Claire has been hands down the most excited to start taking dance and it was the sweetest. She talked about it ALL the time and was very upset that her cousin, Ressie, who is a year younger than her started taking dance before her.  Ha! 

Emily and Hannah are taking dance (in the same class this year....woohoo for me!) at 3:30 on Tuesday's and Claire is taking at 5:30 on Tuesday's.  

I asked Hannah this past Tuesday if she still liked it (she's in a class a little above her skill level but is doing great) and she said she LOVES it!  

On Tuesday's at around lunch time Abby and Claire put on their leotards and leave them on for the rest of the day.  Claire puts hers on because she's so excited and Abby puts hers on because Claire does.  She doesn't miss out on much.  

Finally time to go to the dance studio for her first class!  She's so precious!!  

Charlotte is my friend Kristin's daughter and we LOVE that they're in the same dance class this year because we get to catch up each week while they dance!

The dance year is off to a great start! The schedule on Tuesday with everyone taking that afternoon (and an hour break between the two classes) wasn't my first choice, but it's actually working out great and I love that we knock it out on Tuesdays.