Bert's 36th

Bert turned 36 the Wednesday after Thanksgiving!  We celebrated his birthday in Toccoa on the Saturday after Thanksgiving by singing and have tailgate food while watching the Georgia/Georgia Tech game together.  I loved this picture of all the kids piled on him.  

The day of his birthday was a work day for him and we also had church that night (Wednesday night), but the girls were so excited to get to give him their cards and gifts before we left for church that night.  

The girls picked out his cookie cake and were probably more excited to eat it than he was! 

We love you so much, Bert!  I'm so thankful to get to celebrate birthdays with you!  Happy 36th!  

Lake House Work Day

We had a lake house work day in early November.  The guys worked outside and the girls worked inside.  We were super proud of all we accomplished!  

I was cleaning windows when I noticed Em high on a ladder so I ran out to get a picture of her and to make sure they were being careful with my baby!  

Lunch break! 

Emily and Hannah both worked really hard inside and outside and had a fun day too!  

Claire and Abby mostly played but I am not kidding you they literally played the whole day without fussing or needing anything from all of us!  They were little angles and we appreciated it so much! 

Now we're ready for our spring/summer weekends in 2019!!

These Days

Abby fell asleep in the car one afternoon and when I carried her up from the garage she just laid down on the kitchen floor.  I love sleeping pictures of my sweet girls!  

Claire at school!  She did a great job with those I's.  They work on a letter every week and I think they've finished through J.  

Abby and her buddy Evie have fun going to school on Wednesday's while Marjorie and I have a Mom's meeting at Taylors First.  They think they are such big girls! 

Our neighbor, Mrs. Margaret, has a dog named Beasley and the girls looooove playing with her.  Beasley has an invisible fence and the girls do a great job making sure they don't carry her over the line.  

We were in Target one day and Claire asked me to take their picture, so of course I said yes! 

Ressie, Jacob and Katherine came over to spend the day with us one day when they were out of school.  I loved getting to show Kate my house (she hadn't been to our new house yet) and spending the afternoon/evening catching up with her!  ...  Silly picture! So fun!  

Emily and Hannah entered a contest at school called Reflections.  The theme was "Heroes All Around Us."  Hannah drew a picture of my Uncle Bud, who served for many many years in the US Army and retired as a two-star general.  

Emily wrote a short story about a girl in the foster care system finding a forever family. Both of them worked hard and did a great job!  We won't find out if they placed as prize winners until February or March.  

Thankful for these days! 

Thanksgiving in Toccoa

We headed up to Toccoa on Thanksgiving day after dinner and all the kids fell asleep in the car on our way up.  The Friday after Thanksgiving we spent eating delicious food (we had our Thanksgiving meal with the Roberts side on Friday), enjoying being outside, and playing with Stanley and Alisha's puppy, Callie!!  

Mid-morning nap with Papa!  The girls were actually watching a show while Papa napped, but I took a picture because they all looked so relaxed! 

Stanley and Alisha got a precious dog a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and the kids had been soooo excited about meeting her!  

All the grandkids are in love with Callie and she seemed to like them too!  

Bert officiated a wedding the weekend after Thanksgiving and we had to go back to Greenville for the rehearsal dinner on Friday night while the kids stayed with my parents.  Mom got this picture of us after we got back.  Ha!  

Brett took these pictures of us on Friday afternoon because I wanted to maybe get a Christmas card picture!  We ended up using this first picture for the Christmas card photo, but I liked all of these!  

The whole crew including Callie! 

We headed back to Greenville on Saturday afternoon very thankful for our families and our time spent with them!  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving in Jackson

We spent Thanksgiving day in Jackson this year and had great family time!  

I took this picture of them at a fast food restaurant potty break on our way down to Jackson!  

Pawpaw pulled out his telescope so that the girls could look at the moon.  Hannah had been doing a study on the moon in school so she was especially excited!  

All the girls took turns cooking with Grandmama.  She is such a good cook! 

Emily and Bert snuck off for a walk through the woods that Bert used to play in as a kid. (Emily thought the woods were a good place to be a model! Ha!)

Just hanging out! 

Grandma (Jeff's mom) came over to eat with us and the girls enjoyed seeing her. 

Bert used the hand-truck to get the Christmas stuff out of the shed for his mom and then decided to give the girls some rides on it!  They loved it! 

Linda got these next two cute pictures and sent them to me! 

Thanksgiving Day 2018 Watts family photo! (No idea at this point what Claire was scowling about!)

Grandmama and Pawpaw picture just before we left! 

We had a great visit in Jackson and a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!  

Braces for Emily

Emily had a permanent tooth grow in behind her others and after taking her for an orthodontist visit he felt like it was time to put braces and an expander on so that they can widen her mouth and pull that tooth up front with the others.  They're only on the top and she'll have the braces on for about a year. 

I took a picture of her right before she went back to have the brackets put on.  

Work in progress...

Ready to go back to school!  

A couple weeks after this day (the one in the picture above) she had her expander put on and she was definitely less excited that day.  At first the expander made it difficult to talk, eat and drink.  Food still gets caught in it, but it's been on almost 2 weeks now and she is much better eating with it in.  Some sounds are still hard to say.  We have to turn a key on her expander each morning and night.  Bert refuses to do it, so I am the official key turner. I don't understand why he would be okay pulling their teeth (I don't even like to touch loose teeth...much less pull them), but turning the key gives him the heebeejeebies, but I'm fine with it.  I'm not sure exactly how long the expander will have to stay in, but I think I remember them saying 6 months.

The braces definitely make her look older and it feels more like we're losing our little girl, but it's fun to see her grow up and step into new stages in life! Love our girl!

Daddy-Daughter UGA Game

When Emily was in Kindergarten Bert took her to her first college football game and it is such a special memory for both of them.  He wanted to take Hannah last year, when she was in kindergarten, but we weren't able to make it happen because of scheduling stuff and game times (we needed a mid-day game, not a night game because the drive back home is so far and Bert preaches the next morning). Anyway, this fall we were determined that the two of them would go to a Georgia game together!  We kept it a surprise from Hannah until the day of the game and she was SO excited when she found out!!  

On their way to Athens! 

On the shuttle bus headed to the stadium!  

Getting ready for the game to start and getting to touch the hedges! 

She looks so little in the picture below!  Love that sweet, smiley girl!  

I was a smidge worried about my baby being cold after the sun went down, but Bert humored me by bringing tights (for her to put on under her jeans), a stocking cap, and an extra coat and he helped her change into them at halftime.  He said she was toasty warm.  

I love that Bert gets to spend this one-on-one time with them for a whole day and that the girls get to experience something with Bert that he loves so much!  It's a fun day with wonderful memories!  Claire's turn next!  

Potty Training Abby

I did the three day potty training method with Abby in mid-November.  It's hard to find three days in a row when I can focus on potty training and not leave the house.  I realized in early November that if I didn't do it on this one particular weekend that it wouldn't happen until after the new year, so I canceled a hair appointment and moved Bible study from our house and we made it happen.  

She was soooo excited about getting started!  Sweet thing!  

I have this exact same picture with all four girls on the first day of their potty training.  I love getting to be their Mommy!  

The three days of potty training were long and tiring and I may have complained to Bert, mom and Katherine more than once, but she did GREAT!  She hasn't put on a diaper or pull up during the day since that first day of potty training and she almost never has an accident.  My others had some trouble going poopy in the potty at first and with all three of them I ended up needing to make them a sticker chart to give them an incentive to go poopy in the potty, but Abby definitely hasn't needed a chart and has been totally fine going poopy in the potty since about day 2.  Go Abby!  

She still wears a pull up at night since I still have her in a crib, but she wakes up dry almost every morning.  In the last 2 weeks she has maybe woken up wet just one time.  

We're super proud of our girl!  

Diapers have been a line item on my monthly budget for 103 months, and I'm not sad to see it go, although I am a little sad that seeing it go shows me that my babies are growing up so super fast!  

3rd Grade Field Trip

I went on a field trip with Emily's class to a plantation and we had so much fun!  

They each got to make a candle!

I love getting to hang out with my girls one-on-one! 

Emily and Avery were in the same 1st grade class and now they are in the same 3rd grade class!  Avery's mom was also a chaperone on this trip and I had fun catching up with Katie! 

Mrs. Smith's 3rd grade class!  

Mrs. Smith is having a baby in early January so she will be on maternity leave for the new few months.  We will miss her for sure, but I know Mrs. Tessman will be a wonderful long term sub.  

Thankful for opportunities like this with our girls. We love our school!