Turning 8 on the 8th!

Emily turned 8 on the 8th of April, 2018!  Her birthday fell on a Sunday and she enjoyed getting to go to church and see her friends on her actual day!  Samantha and her family came to church with us that morning and we decided on the spur of the moment to have them over for lunch (Litter Caesars) and cake to celebrate Emily that afternoon.

Sonja, a lady in our church, offered to make Emily a Key Lime Cake for her birthday since Emily likes her cakes so much.  It's a little unclear if Emily asked her to make the cake or if Sonja just offered, but either way Sonja definitely wanted to and was as proud as punch to be able to make it for her. :)  

Singing to our girl!  

After lunch and cake it was time for Em to open her presents from us!  She opened some Clemson attire and books and then Bert rolled in her big gift...a new bike.  

It was an extra special treat for her to get to have her friend Samantha (and family) spend so much time with her on her birthday!  

We had a fun afternoon celebrating our big 8 year old.  We are so proud of the beautiful, smart, kind little girl that she is!  We love you, Emily Jean Watts!

A Birthday Lake Weekend (Spring Break - part two)

On Wednesday night after church we headed to the lake house.  We didn't get there until about 9:30 that night, but we wanted to get on down there so that we could have a full day there on Thursday.  

On Thursday we enjoyed playing games together...

Hannah and Claire made me laugh because they were just sprawled out (having a seat and laying down) while playing....we don't exactly play by the rules while playing Twister.  

We took a walk around the neighborhood (a couple laps each time) both days!  So relaxing and peaceful! 

Team Watts! 

On Thursday we also packed a lunch and ate down on the dock (at the girls' request).  It was a little bit more work that eating in the house but a lot more fun!  

On Thursday evening the Sanders family and Mimi and Papa came down to the lake to celebrate our birthdays (my birthday was Saturday and Emily's was Sunday, so we were celebrating a couple days early).  

After a very yummy dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs it was time for presents.  Emily got many things, but she was especially excited about the shirt that she changed into and basically wore the rest of the weekend and these shoes!  

Mimi decided to get us two cakes this year because Emily doesn't like Ice Cream cake and Mom knows how much I love it! 

I love having a birthday buddy!! 

This was a big birthday for me - the big 3-5!  

Everyone minus Stanley and Alisha!  They were missed! 

More game playing happened on Friday! 

Mimi came on down to the lake house mid afternoon on Friday and Claire talked her into (not hard) playing a game of Candy Land!  

We got our nice camera out and Bert took some pictures of the girls on Friday afternoon while we were outside just in relax mode.  I thought some of them were so good!  

We had dinner on Friday with Mimi and Papa and one of the girls got this picture of us just sitting around the table talking after dinner, so I decided to include it, because these are my favorite moments at the lake.  Just sitting around talking and enjoying being there.  

After dinner Papa cut down a dead tree in the front yard and the girls were pretty fascinated by it.  The whole process scared our Hannah Beth and she wanted to wait inside, but she wanted someone in there with her. So Abby, Hannah and I watched through the window while everyone else was outside on the porch enjoying the show.

Snuggles with Papa Stan after the tree cutting adventure!  

On the way home to Greenville on Saturday afternoon Bert surprised us by stopping by Clemson.  It was a fun treat to get to point out some different things to the kids about a place where I have so many great memories.  

Our little Clemson fan was giddy to get to see the Clemson field for the first time!  

Go Tigers!  

We love birthdays and we love Spring break and we love the lake and we love Clemson, so when you mix all that together you have two happy girls! :) 

Spring Break - Part 1

Spring Break was wonderful this year!  It was such a much needed, restful, break!!  We had beautiful weather and took full advantage of it.  We were in Greenville for the first part of the week and then went to the lake house for the second part.  

On Monday morning we headed to Runway Park to spend the morning with our friends, the Flemings!  Mary Pat and I packed picnic lunches for the kids so we could eat there.  They had a blast!  At the last minute I threw in the girls' bikes and they loved getting to ride those around the "runway."  

On Tuesday morning the girls and I packed another lunch and headed down to Falls Park in downtown Greenville.  We ate lunch and then walked around and enjoyed our beautiful city! 

On Tuesday afternoon, after Abby's nap, we headed up to the church to let the kids play on the new playground.  Bert met us out there after he got off and did some sliding with the girls.  

On Wednesday Katherine, Jacob and Ressie came over to Greenville to spend the day with us (it was their Spring Break too).  We met at Runway Park as they were coming into town and spent at least 2 hours there.  The kids had so much fun and the Sanders crew was impressed with this park!  

We brought 4 or 5 different riding toys (bikes, scooters and this big wheel) for the kids to ride around on.  I brought this Big Wheel so that my Jacob could ride on something since he's not supposed to ride a bike with his broken arm, but Ress Bess really liked it too!  

The girls took this selfie without me knowing it and I found it later that day.  

Spring Break was off to a great start! 

Emily's First Spend the Night Party

Emily decided a few months ago that she wanted to have a spend the night party for her 8th birthday.  We haven't ever had anyone over to spend the night with the girls (friends) and the girls haven't ever gone anywhere (besides family) to spend the night, so we had to really think about it, but in the end we decided to let her.  I used to have a spend the night party every year with just a few of my best girl friends and I have the best memories from them.

We ended up having the party on the first Friday of their Spring Break, so it was a fun way to kick off a fun week!  

Some of the girls tried to teach Bert how to do a cartwheel, but were unsuccessful.  I do have video.  

Two of the girls didn't spend the night, so we just had 3 spend the night (plus our girls). 

After playing outside for awhile, eating pizza and cake, playing a game inside, and opening presents we finished off the night with a movie and smores.  

The next morning they played a game of Pie Face while we were waiting on parents.  Cuties! 

It was a fun night of celebrating our 8-year-old!!