Sisterly Fun

I LOVE watching my girls play together...they have the best time and Ruthie just absolutely eats up the attention the big girls give her. The older she gets the more she wants to be right in the middle of whatever they're doing. The other day she discovered the window in the kitchen and Emmie came over to play. Since then they girls have had the best time entertaining Ruthie.

**if you 're trying to watch from your iPhone or iPad you have to click on the title of the video in thee upper left corner to get it to play**











(sorry about the crazy camera work on this one...I was trying to help Ellie at the same time I was taking the video)

9 Months

I am 9 months (and 1 day) old!

• I don't go to the doctor for a few more weeks so we don't know what my height and weight are.
• I wear 6-9 or 9-12mo clothes and size 3 diapers.
• I have blue-ish eyes (they sometimes look blue and sometimes look greenish) and light brown hair...just like my sisters.
• I have 6 teeth! I have 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. I like to practice using those teeth...usually on Mommy's leg..ouch! (It should be noted that this time last month I only had 3 teeth!) I also love my toothbrush!

showing off my bottom teeth :)

• I sleep from 7:30-7:30 or 8 and take a nap from 1-4ish. I will sometimes take a little power nap in the morning for 20-30min.
• I breastfeed 4 times a day and eat 3 meals. I LOVE to eat. One of my new favorites is cantaloupe. I also had pancakes and scrambled eggs this month...so good!
• I love to crawl and I've gotten REALLY fast. I still pull up to my knees on EVERYTHING but don't have a whole lot of interest in pulling up to my feet.
• I walk pretty well when holding on to someone's fingers.
• I'm babbling more. Right now everything is "ba-ba". I love to imitate the noises people make.
• I LOVE getting a bath with my sisters in the big bathtub...especially now that I no longer have to sit in the bumbo.

(it's not the bathtub but it's water...and I love it)

• My eczema is still pretty bad. We've found one concoction that sort of works so hopefully things will continue to improve.
• I'm really into baby dolls right now. I drag one around pretty much all the time and if you try to take me somewhere and leave my baby behind I tend to get upset.
• We're working on rolling a ball...right now my favorite thing is to chase them around. (Perhaps I think I'm part dog?)
• I love to swing. The higher the better!
• I love watching Franklin play and am always trying to play chase with him (and my sisters) but they're just sooo fast!
• The last few months I've been pretty cranky but this month has been great! I've learned that I can crawl through the house to get to Mommy or my sisters if they leave the room and that has made me much happier!

• I still suck on my middle and ring fingers on my left hand all.the.time. I had a pretty nasty blister on one of the fingers from where it was rubbing on my new teeth.
• I'm still very much a Mama's girl. I don't really want anyone else to hold me if Mama's around. I have gotten better about the nursery...I was moved up to the crawling room and I love being able to play and explore!
• This month I started going to My Gym. I have so much fun and love exploring everything there is to do.
• I love playing with my sisters. I light up when I see them and can't wait to play with them in the morning.

(This month the big girls taught me all about the doggy door...so much fun!)

• This month the big girls started back to school and I definitely miss them when they're both in school but I've enjoyed the days when it's just me and Ellie at home...I don't get to play with just her very often and she's so much fun! I'm always really happy when we get home from pickup and I get to play with Emmie!
• I'm really good at drinking out of a regular cup and I'm getting better at the whole sippy cup thing.
• This month I went to Gran and Grandaddy's for a quick trip...I enjoyed playing with their toys. While we were there I got to go visit baby Izzy (I thought she was adorable) and also got to visit with Uncle Blake and Aunt Emily.
• This month I went to the apple orchard for the first time. I was such a trooper being dragged around the orchard in the rain!

• I enjoy being read to, especially if I'm starting to get tired. I feel like one of the big girls when I get to sit on Mommy's lap to read.

Emmie at 9 months.

Ellie at 9 months.

Sky Top

Thursday was a half day at school (which for us means the girls just go from 9-11) and Emmie asked multiple times this summer about going apple picking) so Wednesday after school we headed to Greenville to my parent's house. Not long after we got there we went to visit Will, Griffin, and their brand new little sister Izzy! The girls (including Ruthie) had fun playing with the boys and I loved getting to talk with Carissa and snuggle little Izzy. Ruthie is really into baby dolls right now and she kept wanting to touch Izzy and look at her...it was sweet. When we got back to my parent's house Emily and Blake were there to have dinner with us. The girls were super excited to get to play with them. Funniest Emmie moment: E: Uncle Blake will you come play outside with me? B: well.... E: You're my best friend....of course Uncle Blake went and played outside with her :)
On Thursday morning we got up and headed with my mom to Sky Top in Hendersonville, NC to pick apples! It was overcast and misting but fortunately I'd actually remembered to pack all of our raincoats!

(Ruthie was the only one excited about getting a picture with Mommy.)


When we got to Sky Top we headed to pick apples. We stopped to visit with some sheep, goats and geese on our way...all three of the girls loved that. We made the mistake of hiking through the orchard to pick apples...that was a LONG hike back with 3 baskets of apples and a stroller straight up hill...ugh.



Next time we will pick whatever apples are closest to the front lol! Ellie enjoyed picking an apple...and then she was done (tired from hiking to get to the apples).


Emmie enjoyed picking apples and even attempted to climb a tree with my help...she wasn't so sure about that though!



After picking apples we got some yummy apple cider doughnuts and apple juice for the Es and apple cider for my mom and I. The doughnuts were so good and apple cider is one of my favorite winter treats! After our snack we headed on a wagon ride. The girls loved that and I think if it had lasted about 2 more minutes Ruthie would have been fast asleep...she was so relaxed!


Ruthie was such a trooper as we dragged her all over the orchard in the misting rain.



We headed back to Greenville after our wagon ride (and a quick run back through the store to pick out some pumpkins) and I think everyone but Emmie was VERY ready for naptime (and dry feet...our shoes and socks were soaked)! We stayed in Greenville until after dinnertime and then headed back to Columbia...with a delicious apple pie my mom made...yummmm.

I was very worn out by the time we got back to Columbia but I'm so glad we went and the girls have had fun telling everyone about their trip to the apple orchard!

Back in the swing of things

We are now almost done with our second full week of our school year activities. The big girls have had two full weeks of school, choir started at church for Emmie, they both had dance, and we had Wednesday night church. I was a little concerned about it being too much, especially for Emmie but all the girls have adapted very well. I think Emmie especially has enjoyed being back in a predictable routine...although she is quite tired by dinner time!
Emmie seems to be enjoying school. I haven't been able to get too much out of her about what she does at school but she seems to be having lots of fun! I know she plays "mommy and daddy" sometimes and there are apparently some little girls who play the "sisters"...Emmie of course is the Mommy. Last Thursday Emmie's teacher told me she was doing really well and was definitely one of the leaders in the class...no surprise there! Emmie is always telling me about different friends she's played with and seems to have made lots of new friends. On Tuesday and Thursday when I picked them up, Emmie was so excited to tell me that she saw Ellie on the playground (apparently Emmie is going out when Ellie is going in). Emmie was really sad when she realized she wouldn't see Ellie while they were at school so I think this has helped her a lot.
Emmie has done a great job getting dressed and making her bed every morning. After breakfast she and Ellie go brush their teeth and then we've usually had a few minutes for them to play before heading to school. I've loved, loved, loved not being rushed getting out the door...we've gotten to school early every day (except today when we had to wait 6 minutes for the moving train to go by...longest train ever)! It really helps that Emmie is completely independent in the morning (she often even fixes her own breakfast...I just have to pour her milk!) and Ellie is pretty independent for someone that just turned 3!
Ellie has LOVED school. She has been ready to. Go since Emmie went last year and school has definitely lived up to her expectations! Everyday she gets in the car and talks all the way home about every minute of her day. I love her enthusiasm! Ellie is starting to accept that she only gets to go to school on Tuesday and Thursday....she would be more than happy to go every day. She told me last Wednesday when we were getting ready to go to school that her back was cold. When I asked her what she needed for it she said "my backpack"! I have loved having Ellie home to play with Ruthie! Emmie tends to dominate any playing the girls do so it's nice for Ellie to get to have some time alone with Ruthie. I think Ruthie is learning that Ellie is always up to something FUN! Ellie also enjoys getting to play with all the toys by herself but she'd better enjoy it now because Ruthie is getting more and more interested in what the big girls are playing with!
Ruthie, as always, has seamlessly adjusted to our new routine. When it comes to fitting seamlessly into family life, Ruthie definitely takes the prize. All she asks is that she gets a good afternoon nap. I get Ruthie up between 7:50 and 8 every morning (if she's not already awake) which has worked out well because she normally wakes up sometime between 7:30 and 8. I get her fed, dressed and out the door to school by 8:40. We generally come home from school and take Franklin for a walk and then do chores around the house or play. Sometimes Ruthie will take a nap around 10:30 but I prefer for her to stay awake so that she will take a power nap in the carpool line. She's NOT a fan of sitting in the carpool line but she is getting better about it. I think my favorite part of the day is when we get home from picking Emmie and Ellie (on T/Th) up and Ruthie realizes that she gets to play with her big sisters! She gets sooo excited! Ruthie has been really agreeable about getting lunch about 30 minutes later than normal.
On Sunday nights Emmie has choir so last week Paul took her and Ellie to church (so the nursery workers didn't have to be subjected to mad Ruthie). Ellie LOVES to go play in the church nursery with her friends. Emmie seemed to have a great first night of choir and I know she's going to love it! I helped in choir this week and was so impressed...Emmie is going to learn sooo much this year! They split the kids into 3 groups and rotate through snack, rhythm, and the a "theory" type class where this week they used handbells, talked about octaves, and played songs on the handbells using "do, re, mi" format...very sound of music. 
Wednesday night Emmie has catechism class and last week they recited the first 5 questions one on one with their teachers. Emmie did great and I've been amazed at how quick she's learning them and because we practice them at home Ellie has learned most of them too! Last Wednesday night the score was Ruthie:1 Nursery:0. I think Ruthie lasted about 10minutes but the class I'm going to is in an auditorium and there's a little sitting room behind it so Ruthie and I sat back there and she could crawl around and play and I could still hear the speaker...win, win! The nursery is really hard for Ruthie on Wednesday night because she's so tired and there are different workers than on Sunday (she has pretty much the same ones every Sunday and is starting to do better). So our new Wednesday night plan is for her to sit in the back of the class with me...Ruthie even had a friend to play with back there this week! This week I started Bible Study on Wednesday morning and I was really worried about how Ruthie would do in the nursery as it was nap time but she did great (ate a lot of Cheerios but whatever keeps her happy!).

I think we're off to a great start to the school year and I can tell it's going to be a fun year!

Top Turtle

Today Ellie was the "Top Turtle" at school. Her class is the Terrific Turtles and so when it's your day to bring snack you get to be the line leader and do the weather at circle time and you are the Top Turtle. Ellie was sooo excited to be the Top Turtle. She wanted to take cheez-its and fruit (specifically cantaloupe, strawberries, and grapes) for snack and apparently the snack was a big hit with her class, especially the fruit (by the way I loved finding out at 10pm last night while cutting grapes that they were NOT seedless...so I got to dig the seeds out of all of them...yippee). The Top Turtle gets to help pass out cups and such at snack time and Ellie has been looking forward to this all week and it did not disappoint! As soon as she got in the car she was telling me all about getting to help.
The other really exciting thing about being Top Turtle is that you get to bring something in for show and tell. Last year Emmie took her Mousie twice and took a toy the other times. I thought for sure Ellie was going to want to take a toy. When we first discussed it she thought maybe she'd take a book...my sweet girl LOVES books. She quickly changed her mind though and thought she'd take her favorite blanket (or as she refers to it..."the blanket I like to cuddle with"). On Tuesday the Top Turtle brought a toy so I thought for sure Ellie would change her mind. Nope. She was set on taking her blanket. It's funny because she's never really sucked her fingers or taken a pacifier and has never had a security object. Lately though she's become really attached to the quilt that Kristy made for her when she was born and her striped pillow from Aunt Emily. So today for show and tell her blanket from Kristy went to school...Ellie was so proud to show it off to all her friends!



PS. If you're in Columbia, check out Kristy's booth at Martha's Market at Union UMC on Saturday from 9-2 :)

It's good to have big sisters

They teach you great things like how to crawl through a doggie door!






Emmie and Ellie have both, independent of each other, shown Ruthie how the doggie door works (I only managed to get Emmie on camera).





Knock, Knock.



Who's there?



Ellie Belly!





(And then Ruthie tried to actually crawl out of the door.  My life just got a little crazier...but a little bit funnier too!)

First Day of Preschool

Today was Emmie's first day of 4k and Ellie's first day of 3k. The girls go to Spring Valley Presbyterian and this year, Emmie will go 5 days a week from 9-12 and Ellie will go Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12. Ellie has been ready for preschool since Emmie went last year and she has been beyond thrilled with all the back to school activities this week.






A few weeks ago we got letters from their teachers telling us which class the girls would be in. Ellie has Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Terri. They were Emmie's teachers last year and we've known that Ellie would have them this year. I've been so excited about the wonderful year I know Ellie is going to have with her sweet, sweet teachers. Emmie is in Mrs. Jessica and Mrs. Shelley's class. When we got her letter I kept thinking that I didn't know these teachers and didn't even recognize their names so I was a little nervous about that and I think Emmie was too. About that same time I took the girls to get new tennis shoes. They both picked light up princess shoes of course. Ellie's have Belle and Emmie's have Rapunzel.







Paul and I went to the parent's meeting Tuesday night. While there we learned that Mrs. Jessica was one of the Letter Land teachers last year. Emmie had talked about her all the time but she had called her Mrs. "Ah-Jessica" so I totally thought that was her name! Emmie LOVED having her for Letter Land last year and I was so impressed last year with how much she learned about letters so I was so excited to find out that we knew, and liked, Emmie's teacher. We also met Mrs. Shelley, Emmie's other teacher, who I think is new and is so sweet and a great teacher for Emmie. I left Emmie's room feeling great about her upcoming school year! (Also there was a mom in Emmie's room who remembered us from My Gym...she remembered that my girls were the ones with the big bows...YESSSS!) On our way out we swung by Ellie's room to pick up her folder and say hi to her teachers. We also felt the need to warn them that they were NOT getting another Emmie...we had to give them a head's up about our sweet but wild girl!




Wednesday morning the girls and I headed to Meet the Teacher. Emmie's class was first and as soon as she saw Mrs. Jessica she ran in and gave her a big hug. She then ran over and started playing with her new classmates. She's only with 2 or 3 kids from her class last year but she knew some of the others from playing on the playground last year and she had some new friends to meet to.


Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Jessica

Having fun!

After the girls played for awhile in Emmie's room (even Ruthie got in on the fun!) we headed to Ellie's classroom. Mrs. Terri wasn't there as she's off on a fabulous vacation but Mrs. Elizabeth was there with big hugs for both girls.

Mrs. Elizabeth

Emmie and Ellie immediately started playing and Ellie was thrilled with all the beautiful princess dress up dresses. Ellie brought one over immediately for me to help her put on and started trying to take off her clothes...I had to quickly remind her that she had to leave her clothes on while playing dress up at school...oh my!

A princess dress and a book...where more could a girl want?

There's a little girl named Emerson in Ellie's class (and an Ellie in Emmie's class so that's kind of funny) and she knows Emmie from last year...they bonded over being Emerson's and little Emerson used to come in the morning on her way to her class and give Emmie a hug. So when Emerson came in on Wednesday morning she was being a little shy but as soon as she saw Emmie she smiled and ran over to hug her and Emmie, Emerson, and Ellie had a great time playing.

Sweet friends!

Ellie got to meet a lot of the other kids in her class and we even learned that there's a little girl with the same birthday as her :) There's also a girl in Ellie's class who has a brother in Emmie's class. When we left Meet the Teacher the girls were so excited to come back the next day for school.






This morning was the first day of school! We picked out clothes the night before and the girls did a great job getting up and getting dressed. They made their beds while I fixed breakfast (Emmie by the way did a superb job especially considering she's on the top bunk!) and then after breakfast they went and brushed their teeth. We took some pictures and then I realized we were AHEAD of schedule...mark that down as probably the only day this year we will be ahead of schedule!


They played a few minutes and then we gathered up their princess backpacks (a back to school gift from GG and Papa) and headed to school!

Ready for school!

Ellie was super excited but I could tell Emmie was nervous...she only ate half of her cereal at breakfast and was really quiet on the way to school. We dropped Ellie off first (Ellie is in the first classroom and Emmie is in the last one at the end of a very long hall....I'm going to be doing a lot of running this year!) and Ellie found her name and hung up her backpack. Mrs. Elizabeth was waiting at the door to give all the children a hug as they came in (see why I love these teachers!) and Ellie gave her a big hug, walked in, and didn't look back!

We headed to Emmie's class next and Mrs. Shelley was waiting in the hall to greet everyone. Emmie hung up her backpack and smiled for her picture. When she went into the classroom she learned that she needed to wash her hands and sign her name on the paper...the same routine as last year. You could see her relax once she realized the routine was familiar. She gave me a hug and off she went!


Ruthie and I went and ran some errands and walked Franklin and then headed back to get Ellie. They split the three year old class in half and one group goes the first part of the morning and the next group goes the second part. It's really great to keep it from being so overwhelming the first day and gives them a chance to learn the routine in a smaller group. When I picked up Ellie, Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Preston (who's helping until Mrs. Terri gets back) said that Ellie did great and they really enjoyed her. Ellie had lots to tell me about her day...she found a GOLD princess dress (the most thrilling part of the day for sure), learned where the potty was and informed me that it's a LITTLE potty (also exciting when you're a short 3 year old), and she got to play on the playground which she has been begging to do for a few days so I'm really glad she got to. She said they also read some books and when I picked her up she was sitting with Mrs. Elizabeth reading...my Ellie Belly loves to have someone who will read to her...I'm pretty sure she would sit and listen all day! When we went back to get Emmie she reported that she had a great day and she had lots to tell me about her new friend Ellie (apparently they hit it off right away) and she seemed to really enjoy all the kids in her class and her teachers (she was not as easy to get info out of as Ellie was).
Both girls are so excited to go back to school...Emmie goes back tomorrow and Ellie goes back Tuesday (and I think Ellie's a little happy that she doesn't go to school tomorrow so that she can play with all the toys at home all by herself...haha!).

PSA: why you should wash your apples

Isn't it funny how a child's mind works and the connections they make?

The first time Emmie saw Snow White she fixated on the fact that Snow White didn't wash the poisonous apple. I mean was just really distressed by it...and then life moved on and she mentions it every now and then but I just smile and nod and make some comment about how we always wash our apples before we eat them and move on. 

When Emmie asks for an apple she always reminds me, as I'm getting the apple out, that we need to wash it. I've always just assumed she was so adamant about this because she's a rule follower and likes order. We wash it and move on.

The other day we were in the car and a song from Snow White was playing and as the girls were talking Emmie informed us that Snow White didn't wash her apple and as always I smiled and nodded and said something about how we wash apples blah blah and then I was ready to move on. Emmie wasn't done though...she very adamantly insisted that you have to wash your apple or it's posionous and you'll fall asleep for a long time like Snow White. I tried to explain to her that this wasn't the case but she was not budging...so people...you'd better wash your apples! (And then you can eat the entire apple except for the seeds like Emmie does.