Friday, November 30, 2018

Anniversary Trip to Charleston

We usually take an anniversary trip in October, but this year we couldn't make October work since we moved at the end of September.  We were able to to bump our trip to mid-November and it worked out perfectly!  We left for Charleston on a Saturday and came back on a Monday (the kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday that week)!  

We did lots of walking through beautiful Charleston!  

We took a walking tour that first afternoon and it was so fun for our tour guide to point out some interesting things that we wouldn't have noticed.  

The Battery! 

This is a public street! 


The kids had fun in Toccoa while we were away!  



On Sunday we did more walking and shopping and eating, but we also spent time just sitting on a park bench and talking in this beautiful spot.  It was probably my favorite thing of the trip!  


This was the view from our room.  That boat was huge and Bert wanted to take a picture to show the girls! 


We walked out to take some pictures one evening before dinner!  We had such a beautiful weekend! 






Happy 11 years to us!!  

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

These Days

The girls take turns getting to ride home with Bert after church.  I snapped a picture of Abby and Bert walking across the parking lot one morning on their way to his truck.  They think it is the biggest treat to get to ride with Daddy and get so excited about their short little drive home! 


School was canceled one day due to weather so we spent the day playing with Play-Doh, painting nails and watching a movie!  We had a fun school-free day!  


Abby wasn't feeling well one day and got lots of extra Mommy snuggles.  Emily took this picture of me holding Abby while she watched a show and I read.  


We had a one night women's retreat, which was wonderful!!  Melissa did such a great job with it...already looking forward to next years!  


Photo booth at the retreat!  


The plan was to have our carpet cleaned and to not replace it since it was still in such great shape, but after a couple weeks in our house (and after the carpet cleaning had worn off I guess) the smell of dog came back, and we both knew we were going to have to replace it all.  My dad and two of his guys came up the day before the carpet was to be put down and took all of our old carpet up for us and painted the floors with a couple coats of Kilz just to make sure there was no remaining smell at all.  It was a job to get everything moved out of the living room (including our huge piano) and both of the girls rooms upstairs so that they could put the carpet down, but definitely worth the effort.  


We love the new carpet and our house has no smell at all, which is wonderful!!  



We also put carpet in both of the bedrooms upstairs but I didn't get a picture of those rooms.  

Hannah had a career day at school and she dressed up as a teacher because that is what she wants to be when she grows up!  


Paris Elementary had a skate night where all the kids got to wear their costumes to the skating rink!  I considered not letting Abby skate but she really wanted to so we let her.  She did great and didn't even want to hold my hand, but I usually made her.  



It was a fun night of skating and connecting with other families at our school!


The same day that Hannah had career day and dressed up a teacher, Claire dressed up for Fancy Nancy Day at school.  When the teachers were putting her in the car that afternoon they said Claire had the best costume!:)  While Claire and Hannah were dressing up for fun days at school Emily was getting ready for just another day and she declared that "3rd grade was boring!"  


I love our kitchen island.  It really is the best.  In the picture below the girls were all doing some work together, but this is also how they sit every afternoon when they get home from school.  They pull up two chairs from the other counter so that they can all sit together and eat their snack.  This is also our breakfast and lunch spot (we eat dinner in the dining room so that we can all sit together).  I feel like islands are so great for conversations and I'm thankful to have ours.  


I snapped Claire's picture in the carline one morning while we were waiting to drop her off.  She loves school and also loves sitting in the front seat when we are in the carline! 


We have two small groups at our church and we had a get together for both groups at a park near our church.  It was a fun night of fellowship with a bunch of cute kids!  


Abby still sleeps in a crib because she hasn't figured out how to climb out, but she did ask to have a pillow and blanket one night and she's slept with one every night since.  Sweet baby!  


I loved this picture of these three being silly.  And Abby in a fancy dress of course....she loves to wear dresses.  


I was at the store and Bert sent this picture to me and said the little three had been sitting at the island like this for an hour just coloring together.  They don't always play without arguing, but when they do it's the sweetest!  


Claire and Abby have become best buddies and love playing together while their sisters are at school!  They have so much fun together and play SO well together!  Here are a few pictures of them eating/playing/shopping with me during October!  





These days we're getting settled in our house and decorating for Christmas (I'm late working on the October blogposts!).  The busy, but wonderful Christmas season has begun and we are so thankful for these days!  




Halloween 2018

Halloween 2018 was fun for everyone!!  We had Moana, Elsa, Minnie and a Ladybug this year!  

Emily found this wig in the dress up clothes and I thought it was a nice addition that I didn't think about.  She was also wanting a Moana necklace so I did get creative there by getting a big hoop earring that I had and putting on on a necklace that wasn't being used.  She was pleased with her creative costume!  


Hannah was Elsa (at the Coronation Ball).  Many people thought that she was Anna and she was quick to correct them every time.  She especially loved her long cape.  


Claire was precious in her Minnie outfit even if she didn't want to wear her Minnie ears.  She said they wouldn't stay on and they bothered her!  Ha! 


Abby was a sweet little ladybug and kept up with her big sisters every step of the way!  


Posing on our front steps beside their pumpkins.  


It might be hectic getting them all dressed in their costumes, but look at how excited they are....these days are fun!! 


I walked them around the neighborhood to about 6 or 7 houses so that they could show off their costumes to some of our neighbors that wanted to see them and then we headed to the church for our Trunk-or-Treat!  



So many of our church members were so creative in setting up their trunks and made it so fun for the kids!  


We probably had 400 people from our community at the church that night for candy and hotdogs!  It's always a great event and this year was no different!

The candy (and begging for candy) in our house was out of control for awhile, but all is well now.  Halloween 2018 was a success! 

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween season this year!  We started it off with a party with our friends, The Dodges, at their house.  The kids painted pumpkins and the dads carved pumpkins and the moms tried to keep an eye on all the kids.  Becky made some delicious soup and we enjoyed being together on a beautiful fall night!  


Our neighborhood had a Trunk-or-Treat the Sunday before Halloween, so I took the kids to that.  Bert was in a meeting that afternoon so he didn't get to go, but we had fun!  


Claire's class got to dress up and have a Halloween party and her teacher dressed up as Belle!  They also got to trick-or-treat all throughout the church to all the different pastors and office staff (she goes to preschool at a big church).  


They also got to dress up in their costumes for their dance class during the week of Halloween, which they thought was great! 


Claire and her friend Charlotte were both dressed up as Minnie, although Claire refused to wear her Minnie ears.  Sweet girls!  


Emily, dressed as Moana, and Hannah, as Elsa at their dance class:


Hannah's class had a Halloween party and I got to help with it .  Another mom had planned lots of fun crafts.  All I had to do was bring the mini pumpkins and show up!  




I love getting to help out in the girls classrooms!  I love getting to know their teachers and friends better.  Sometimes it's hard because I have to ask/find someone to keep Claire and Abby, but it's always worth it!  

Hannah Dropped her Training Wheels

We had only been in the house a couple weeks when Hannah decided she was ready to get rid of her training wheels.  She mentioned it to us one day and then said it again one Wednesday afternoon.  I remember that it was a Wednesday because when she said it Bert had just gotten home from work and I was about to bring them in for an early dinner before we left for church that night.  As I was walking in to start dinner (frozen chicken nuggets --- our typical Wednesday night dinner) I told Bert that I definitely didn't think we needed to do that tonight since they only had like 15 minutes left outside.  Bert took one look at Hannah's pleading eyes and decided he was taking the training wheels off right then.  He said that since she was saying she was ready he didn't want to give her a chance to change her mind!  

When I came back outside about 15 minutes later to call them in for dinner I was totally floored and shocked and SO SO proud to see her riding all over the cul-de-sac by herself with NO training wheels and without Bert holding her up.  Bert said that she just took off and never looked back.  Not one little bit of fear and didn't even want him to run beside her.  Hannah is usually our cautious child until she warms up to something, but when she's ready then she's ready!  



GO Hannah Beth!!  We're so proud of you and excited for you!!