Haircut

For the past few years Emmie has been growing her hair out to donate. She saw a video at bible school a few years ago about a girl who donated her hair and since then she has been wanting to do the same! This summer her hair finally got long enough to donate and she was so excited (but a little nervous!) to go get it cut!

before

the big cut!

after!

She was pretty nervous about having so much hair cut off after having long hair for so long but she is loving it! As soon as we went outside she notice how much cooler she was without all that hair!

PS. Also, she and Ellie now look pretty much like twins, especially from the back, and so now I call them the wrong name all the time.

Celebrating JP

We had a wonderful 2 days celebrating JP turning 3! Friday was his actual birthday so the day was all about him!
After we dropped Ruthie off at school I took him to Chick-fil-A for a birthday breakfast (I had free chicken minis!) and some play time. After CFA we ran some last minute errands to get ready for his birthday and then did a super exciting thing...we went to the car wash! JP LOVES the car wash. He was quite thrilled.

After that we went home and read books until it was time to pick up Ruthie. After naps we headed to the Plex for the activity that JP had been waiting DAYS to do...bounce houses! He spotted them when we went to the trampoline park the other day and I promised him we would come  back on his birthday and do the bounce houses. He had the BEST time...and Evelyn, who is like another sister to him, came along too.

After the bounce houses we headed to meet Paul at Moe's for JP's birthday dinner and then off to Duck Donuts for dessert!

After eating we headed home to let him open his presents. We already had his family party where he got his gifts from Aunts and Uncles and grandparents so he had cards from family and presents from us. He got $3 from each of the grandparents (he loves "moneys"), a Winnie the Pooh card from Aunt Ruth and Uncle Ben, some superhero dress up outfits from the Novaks and a Spiderman action figure from his sisters, and a big firetruck from Paul and I. GiGi and PaPa also sent JP some pictures of Paul when he was around JP's age. JP loved the pics! He and Paul went and played with his new toys while I put the girls to bed. They had a great time! We thoroughly enjoyed spending some alone time with our sweet baby!

JP went to bed on his birthday a happy boy. He felt very celebrated all day...from bounce houses, to cards, to birthday phone calls/face time lots of people made our boy feel oh so special!

On Saturday we celebrated his birthday with his friends with a party at My Gym! He didn't really know what to expect because we didn't do birthday parties last year because we went to Disney and  Ellie is the only birthday we've had so far this year and she chose to have a friend over to spend the night. But by the time the day was over JP thought birthday parties were great fun and he's ready for the next one!

Dear JP

Dear JP,

Happy Birthday sweet boy! I can't believe you are already 3! I still remember holding you in my arms for the first time and you were so shocked and overwhelmed with the great big world! Since that day 3 years ago you have more or less decided that the world is ok. You have adapted to the wild and crazy family you found yourself a part of. And sometimes, though you might not admit, you think your people are pretty great.

I love watching you and seeing how different you are from your sisters. You are a boy through and through. You love to make noise (although you don't necessarily want someone else making noise...you still hide from the vacuum cleaner).  Every thing you do comes with a sound effect and you think any *ahem* noises that come from your body are hilarious. You love superheroes, trucks (especially fire trucks), trains, blocks, sports and your absolute favorite toy is your sword that you got when we ate at Cinderella's castle at Disney World last year. You can be rough and tumble and you get into things that your sisters never would have even thought of. You love Franklin but aren't so sure about any other dog. You love cats...especially our next door neighbor, Robbie and Tim's cat Keekers.You love bounce houses and trampoline parks. You enjoyed the pool this year, as long as you didn't have to get your face wet. You love, love, love the beach and are always asking me when you get to go back. You are a man's man. If there is an adult male around you'll be right beside them. You love to be one of the guys. This year you have made some friends who are your age (you've always had your buddy Ruth at church and she is still one of your favs!) and I love seeing you interact with them and how excited you get when you see a friend!

You can be loud and rough and wild but you also have a sweeter, calmer side. I have loved seeing this sweet side come out recently.  You LOVE to crawl in my lap and read books. And you want me to read them over and over and over again. If you're getting sleepy you will wrap your arms around my neck and lay your head down. If you're scared or tired you'll hold your arms up and say "hold you". You love to sing songs...especially the ones you learn in Sunday School. The other day you were looking at your Jesus Storybook Bible and you kept singing "Jesus Loves Me". So sweet..

This year has been a year of milestones. You started talking so much more and I have loved hearing all the funny things in your head. This year we ditched the pacifier completely. You actually did remarkably well with getting rid of it at night! This year you were potty trained. You figured it out pretty quick but it definitely took a while for you to be super consistent (it didn't help that you got really sick with pneumonia about a month after you were potty trained). But now you wear big boy underwear all the time and are doing great! We still have the occasional accident but you are getting better and better about telling me you need to go ahead of time! This year saw you sending your best buddy to preschool 5 mornings a week. That has been pretty hard for you but you're adjusting and you are already looking forward to it being your turn in preschool next year! This year you moved to a big boy bed and you and Ruthie started sharing a room which you both love.

I love to watch you with your sisters. They love you to pieces and you are becoming a little more willing to join in with whatever they are doing. You still prefer to play with them one at a time though! I still remember when we brought you home from the hospital and they crowded around you and your eyes got so big and you looked terrified. You pretty much reacted like that around them for the first year or so of your life. Emmie is your nurturer. She loves to read to you and take care of you. Ellie loves to be silly with you and makes you laugh. And Ruthie is your partner in crime. The two of you are going to give me lots of gray hairs! You LOVE having Ruthie in the room with you and she loves it too! If Ruthie isn't in the room at bedtime you are so sad. I had been separating y/all at naptime so that you would actually nap and not play but I finally had to relent and let her sleep in your room at naptime. You were just so sad without her. (And y'all have done an amazing job at not playing and taking naps...now if only that would transfer to bedtime!) And this year you will get your first cousin...you are pretty excited about the new baby although you were a little perplexed when we told you the baby was in Aunt Ruth's tummy!

JP, I can't wait to see where life takes you. You are all boy but you are growing up with 3 big sisters. Your life is never going to be boring for sure!

I love you sweet boy and I am so looking forward to all the fun adventures we will have this year!

Love,
Mama

2017

2016

2015

A Day for JP

It's been a rough week for JP.   He was stuck inside all weekend because of the weather and then Monday Ellie was sick so he spent an hour Monday morning at the pediatrician's office. Then Emmie had a dentist appointment Tuesday morning so he had to go to that. He was just pretty much done. So I blocked off this morning so we could have some time that was all about him. We dropped Ruthie off at school early and headed to Hiwire to jump on the trampolines! He was SO excited when we walked in! He had a great time playing (and I got a great work out!). His favorite things were to swing on the ropes and drop into the foam pit and playing a game where we pushed each other in the foam pit. I had the best time just BEING with him. It is so rare for us to have time together where we're not doing a "task" such as walking Franklin, going to the grocery store, or running other errands. We went to the kid jump this morning and we were the only ones there...even better!

(his favorite game...pushing each other in the foam pit!)

(sorry for the crazy camera work at the beginning...I was trying to video him so I could get the great giggles at the end!)

When we left Hiwire we headed home to get him a snack (because the boy must eat about every 2 hours!). We left early to go pick up Roo so that we could stop and get chick-fil-A for lunch as a special treat.
Apparently jumping on trampolines is exhausting...I woke him up from his nap when it was time to go pick up Emmie and Ellie and he went right back to sleep in the car.
I'm hoping as this school year goes on I will have many more opportunities to have fun adventures with my last baby!

Ruthie's First Day of Preschool

 Today was Ruthie's first day of 4k! She has been SO ready to start school pretty much since school got out last year. This year she will go 5 half days. Yesterday we went to Meet the Teacher and Ruthie got to play in her classroom and meet the other children in her class. She has 2 friends from her class last year that are in her class this year and my college friend and sorority sister Lisa's daughter is in Ruthie's class as well so that's really neat!

Her adorable shirt is courtesy of Grace at Blythewood Embroidery. And her skirt is courtesy of Blue's mom Lee...she's the one we get all of Roo's cute clothes from and she is my "go to" when I'm hunting down a specific item!

 JP is going to miss his buddy.  He missed her so much today and could not wait until it was time to go pick her up! He doesn't even realize yet that she'll be gone 5 days a week this year instead of 2 like last year!

This year her teachers are Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Teresa. Mrs. Shelley also taught Emmie and Ellie and Mrs. Teresa has been at the preschool for a very long time and has taught many of our friends and so we know she's wonderful as well! We're looking forward to a wonderful year!

Ruthie had a wonderful first day today. She walked right in like we'd never had summer break...I barely even got a hug! When she came out to the car after school the first thing she asked was when she could bring her lunch and stay after school! This girl is READY for big things!