22 Months

I am 22 months old!

• I wear a size 24mo shirt and 12-18mo shorts. I wear a size 5/6 shoe and a size 5 diaper.
• I sleep from 8pm-7:40am (I'm pretty punctual with my wake up time!). I take about a 2-3 hour nap after lunch.
• This month I'm loving cheerios with milk (and I do pretty well getting it all into my mouth), sweet potatoes, palmetto cheese and crackers, doughnuts, and ranch dressing with a side of carrots. Mommy is excited she finally found a vegetable I will eat.

• I love to wear a hat.

• I have a job. My job is to get the paper every day and bring it inside. I LOVE my job. When I see the paper I say "da-da" and run go get it! Someone has to look out for my daddy!
• In the last week or so I've really started talking a lot more. One of my new words is "mess". So appropriate!
• I have started playing more with my sisters as a group. Perhaps I won't be scared of them forever!

• Anytime I get a bump I want some "I-th" for my head. (Ice) I prefer to use our boo bunny. It makes things all better!
• I have FINALLY started being happy in the nursery at church. The last 3 weeks I've been so happy! Mrs. Beth and the nursery workers are SO glad!
• Since I've started talking I've been much happier.
• This month I went to GiGi and PaPa's. I had so much fun and I went on my first boat ride!

• I have a really funny personality and I love to do silly things.
• My favorite books this month are Huggy Kissy, Brown Bear, and my truck book. I do still love Clifford too!
• This month I went to Hilton Head and we stayed in a hotel. I did SO well sleeping in the hotel room with everyone else.
• Sometimes I just like to yell really loud. It's fun!
• I love anything that has to do with water. I love the pool, ocean, splash pad, bathtub. It's all wonderful and I get so excited when it's time to play!
• Whenever I see anyone cry I want to hug them.
• I love to be one of the guys. I get really excited when Mommy picks out a polo shirt for me to wear because that's what Daddy always wears. I love to help Daddy, PaPa, and Grandaddy too!

Emmie at 22 months.

Ellie at 22 months.

Ruthie at 22 months.

Celebrating Ellie

In our family, when it's your birthday you get to pick everything we do (and eat!). All the kids really enjoy getting their special day but nobody enjoys it as much as Ellie. She is my child who values the gift of making memories so much more than physical gifts so a day to do her favorite things is the best gift for her! She plans for it all year long and she thoroughly enjoys every second of the day where it's all about her. Every year she tells us that it was the "best birthday EVER" and this year didn't disappoint!

The kids got to watch a movie when they got up since Ellie LOVES TV. They used to often watch TV in the morning when they first got up but since we got rid of our cable they generally don't watch TV. Ellie picked Charlotte's Web to watch. She also got to open her present from her siblings. They gave her a mermaid Barbie and a pack of Tsum Tsums. She was so excited about her gift!

We started our day off with chocolate doughnuts for breakfast.

Paul bought her flowers for her birthday!

JP also enjoyed his doughnut!

Then we went to the last day of swim team practice which also happened to be Fun Friday. On Fun Friday you get a special snack after practice. This week it was...doughnuts! Ellie was ecstatic...2 doughnuts in 1 day!

Pic with Annie, Ellie and Ruthie's mini team coach!

We headed home after swim team and had lunch and the girls got to watch TV during naptime.

After JP's nap we headed to Edventure (our children's museum) at Ellie's request. The museum wasn't very crowded so the kids got to enjoy all the exhibits. While we were in one of the rooms we saw someone in a "behind the scenes" room that had a lizard out so the kids were watching through the window. She opened the door and let them pet the lizard and then invited them to come back and do a craft! They used markers, coffee filters, and water to make beautiful butterflies!








After Edventure we met Paul at Moe's for dinner. Ellie loves Moe's! After Moe's we went to 32 Degrees, a yogurt place, for dessert.




When we got home Ellie got her present from Paul and I. I was really excited about her present because she had NO CLUE she was getting it! I had American Girl dolls growing up and my mom saved all of my dolls and their outfits, trunks, and accessories. Each of the girls gets to pick the doll they want. Ellie thought she was going to have to wait until she was 7 to get Addy (the doll she picked) because that's when Emmie got her doll. Actually Emmie getting her doll at 7 had more to do with the age and maturity of Emmie's siblings so Ellie got her doll this year!

While everyone else was getting ready for bed Ellie got to play with her doll all by herself. She LOVED the time she got to spend exploring Addy's trunk without anyone interrupting her.

Once everyone was in bed, Ellie got to stay up with Paul and me for a while. We had a blast playing Headbandz with her! I love the special time we get with each child once a year...that extra 45 min or so is my favorite time of the whole day.

Ellie also had lots of family and friends call her during the day to wish her a Happy Birthday. She so appreciated every one of those calls and is still talking about everyone who called her! (She also gave everyone a full run down of her plans for the day down to the last detail!) As an extra special treat, Gin-g was visiting Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde and their crew so she got to FaceTime with all of them!

We had lots of fun celebrating Ellie and she is still talking about her "best birthday EVER"...and starting to plan for next year!

Emmie goes to Greenville

Last week Emmie got to go to Greenville by herself to stay with my parents for a few days. She was SO excited and had a great time! She was a little nervous about going and had to make sure to get big hugs from all of us and she definitely FaceTimed us more than the other kids did when they were gone. She had lots of fun though and can't wait to go back!


She started out getting a PB&J sandwich in the car on the way to Greenville...a big treat in our family!
They had to first make a trip to TCBY! I think Ellie has convinced her sisters that they love TCBY as much as she does!


Gran took Emmie to the store to pick out a new coloring book and crayons and a new Barbie. She also picked out a treat for each of her siblings and my super Type A child remembered there were glue sticks on her back to school supply list and so she got a pack for her and one for Ellie.


She went to the pool with Gran and Grandaddy.



She helped Gran with the dishes. She loves to help clean!


They made chocolate chip cookies to bring back home for Ellie's birthday.


They went to the Children's Museum. Greenville has a great children's museum and the kids have been once or twice before and absolutely loved it! Emmie had such a great time that she spent FOUR hours there before my mom convinced her that maybe they should leave since it was 2pm and she still hadn't had lunch!

My mom said Emmie spent a ridiculous amount of time organizing the grocery store shelves. She's so Type A!

The family that lives across the street from my mom has 4 kids who are all about the same age as my kids. Emmie and Kesley are big buddies and playing with Kesley was at the top of Emmie's Grennvile to do list! They had a wonderful time!

Emmie helped Gran make biscuits to bring back to Columbia. Everyone was very excited to see the biscuits but nobody was as excited as JP who had inhaled at least 2 of them within about 10 minutes of my mom walking through the door!



Emmie got to go to Jelly Beans to get her hair cut. The kids love to do this when they go to Greenville!



She went to Grandaddy's office to visit. She happened to be there while they were having an ice cream party! She told Grandaddy that she was pretty sure mommy wouldn't have given her that much ice cream!

She finished her Greenville trip with lunch with Gran and Grandaddy at Chick-fil-a.




We were pretty happy to get our Emmie back! Ellie learned after Emmie went to GiGi and Papa's house that she does not like being the oldest...too much responsibility! The kids all missed having Emmie around.

Funny story: We told Ruthie a long time ago that everyone has to have a visit with the grandparents before she gets to go again. Apparently she thought that meant she got to go IMMEDIATELY after everyone had a turn because she couldn't quite understand why I wasn't packing her bags so she could go back to Greenville with Gran! We're pretty sure when she does go back she'll have to stay for a month...she comes up with new things she wants to do every few days and has me call Gran so she can tell her. The list is probably a few pages long by now!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Dear Ellie,

Happy 6th Birthday sweet girl!

It is so hard to believe that you are 6 years old and about to start first grade! This has been a year of many firsts for you. You started elementary school, started taking golf lessons, started piano lessons,  you learned to ready, and you decided that being the oldest child is not so much fun (you have to do WAY too much!).

I love your sweet personality. You tend to just go along with whatever is going on. You rarely get too upset or too excited. (As a side note, we refer to you as "eyeore" as when you're disappointed you will look at us with your big eyes, yoru shoulders will droop, and you'll say "it's okay". Honestly, it gets you what you want almost every time...especially if there's a grandparent involved!) Your even keel personality makes your "excited" moments SO much fun! I LOVE when we find something that truly excites you. You love celebrations and you love traditions. You get really excited about things such as Christmas Eve (when we have treats and watch a movie) and your birthday. You spent all year planning what we would do today and it made me so happy to hear you say multiple times that this was "the best birthday EVER"! (Which is what you say every year and I love it!) I am so glad that your 6th birthday lived up to all of your expectations.

Ellie, I love the joy you find in the simple things in life. You definitely get excited about things such as new toys but you find true joy in people and experiences. You love getting to spend time with family. You don't have hoards of friends but the friends you have you love dearly and they mean the world to you and I know you are such a good friend.

I love how comfortable you are with yourself. You are, and always have been, so content to just BE. You love to play with friends or with your sisters but you are also very happy to play by yourself and sometimes  you will just separate yourself from everyone else and go spend some time alone. You are definitely my introvert!

I have always assumed that you were a follower. You have always just gone along with what Emmie wanted you to do and been happy to follow along. I  have been fascinated watching you in school this year as you have been a leader in your class. I can't wait to see these leadership skills develop as you get older!

You are also my logical and perceptive child. You have always been my child that notices the little details in life that other people so often overlook. I love seeing life through your perspective. You are SO smart. It is very hard to pull things over on you. You are quick to "put the pieces" together. I have always been amazed by your law-gi-cal mind. 

You had such a great year in kindergarten this year. I wasn't sure how you would feel about kindergarten since you pretty much learned everything along with Emmie last year and you tend to be my lazier child. I was a bit worried that you would be bored since you knew most of the material already. However, you LOVED every minute of school. You loved your teacher and your friends. We discovered that you have a love for art and you looked forward to art class each week. We were pretty impressed with some of the stuff you brought home! You did very well in math and your teacher always commented on how well you grasped the concepts being taught. This spring you started reading on your own and you are now reading chapter books! You LOVE to read. You always come out to the car with a book in your hand and it makes me smile and reminds me of myself. I am SO happy that you love books! I have also loved seeing how different your tastes are as compared to Emmie. The books you gravitate towards are often books that I got for Emmie and she never picked up. I love that you are your OWN person. This year we saw your writing improve leaps and bounds. You always struggled with writing and at the beginning of the year I would have to sit with you and help you with every single letter. At the end of the year your teacher told me how much you love to write. She said that she would ask everyone to write a sentence or two and you would write a paragraph! It made me so proud to know that not only had you improved but you had mastered an area that was difficult for you!

Ellie you make me laugh every day. I just never know what is going to come out of your mouth. You definitely don't have a filter! Whatever you are thinking just pops right out. My favorite is when you pop out a big word. You LOVE words and you love learning new words and the bigger the better!

Ellie I am so thankful every day for you. I often think of those first few months of your life that were SO hard. I think of how we struggled to get you to eat and sleep and just how grumpy you were. I never dreamed that you would have turned into such a laid back, happy kid.

I am so looking forward to what this year brings. You're starting first grade, going to Disney World, and many more fun adventures!

I love you Ellie Belly!

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