Summerville Trip

We got to Paul's parents house every Memorial Day weekend. Paul plays in a golf tournament and the girls and I hang out and have fun with Paul's parents!
Friday we went to the beach. This was Ruthie's first trip to the beach and she wasn't so sure about the water especially since it was pretty chilly. She did like the sand for a little bit and she definitely enjoyed people watching! The big girls had a BLAST at the beach. I think they would have stayed all day...especially Emmie!










She really did have fun in the sand....she got upset when I was getting the camera...of course!




Saturday we went to the pool. Emmie did great going under the water and Ellie practiced her swimming too. Ruthie had fun playing in the water as well!





Saturday evening we went to Miler (where Paul played golf) for dinner and dancing. There were lots of other kids there so Emmie was in her element! Ellie enjoyed her steak (of course!) and had fun dancing. She was so cute...she came and asked Papa to dance with her! We had lots of fun visiting and catching up with people that we only see a few times a year.

tired baby!




check out Paul's socks...oh wait...no socks, just a crazy golfer's tan!




Sunday we took the girls to a local playground which they thoroughly enjoyed. I was so impressed with Emmie as she was hanging on some rings that were set up like monkey bars and went all the way across without any help!
We came back home Sunday evening and spent today unpacking and getting ready for the week ahead (lots of stuff going on...Emmie's last day of school, a doctor's appointment, haircuts, and Emmie's dance recital on Saturday).

Ruthie's Baptisim

Ruthie was baptized on Mother's Day and it was quite the day! I was thrilled to have her baptism on Mother's Day and so happy that we would have our family together for not only the baptism but to celebrate our mothers!


Paul's parents had the girls Friday and Saturday while I worked and my parents came on Saturday. The girls, Paul, and the grandparents had a fun Saturday of swimming at the hotel pool where my parents were staying and cooking out that evening!




Sunday morning when I was getting ready for church Emmie came in my bathroom and said her stomach hurt and then laid down on the bathroom floor. The poor girl was very pale and clearly not too far away from throwing up. I managed to get her off the floor and dressed and everyone else dressed (the big girls were wearing matching dresses) and as I was putting on my shoes to walk out the door the explosion happened. It wasn't pretty. Fortunately, after she got everything out of her system she looked and felt much better. Unfortunately the explosion required a last minute wardrobe change for me and her which meant Ellie also needed her dress changed so they would match! It was CRAZY getting out the door! (And somewhere in the middle of that we realized that one of the girls had outgrown her white church shoes so we had to track down everyone's sandals!)




By the time we got to church Paul's mom was feeling really awful and was super pale. She made it through the baptism and then she and Fred left with Paul and Emmie (we didn't want to share her germs with her nursery friends!) and Gin-g and Fred ended up going back to Summerville. They both ended up sick before all was said and done.

Paul's brother, Blake, and Paul's parent

Ruthie did excellent in church before the baptism and during the baptism. She wore the dress my mom smocked that Emmie and Ellie also wore (and I hope one day their children will also wear it...I love having a dress to pass down!) Ruthie was her normal, easy-going self! Ellie was hilarious. When the service started she leaned over to Ruthie and said "shhhh". She did that probably 3 or 4 times. It was all I could do not to laugh aloud! During the baptism Dr. Thomas talked about how the water was just water but it represented the blood of Jesus. Well when he went to baptize Ruthie a fair amount of the water went on Ellie's head and she started crying inconsolably. I know she was very startled by the water. My mom later said that Ellie probably thought she had the blood of Jesus on her head!! Poor girl...she was traumatized!

my parents

Our girls have all been baptized by different pastors but I think it makes each of their baptizes unique and special for them. Emmie was baptized by Duff James who married Paul and I (and he and his wife have 3 girls too...all born within a few weeks of our girls...in fact, Kristi and I were due the same day with the middle girls! Duff and Kristi are planting a church in Asheville now). Ellie was baptized by the wonderful Sinclair Ferguson who, when I was pregnant with Emmie, preached one of my all time favorite sermons. Ruthie was baptized by Derek Thomas. My big girls LOVE Dr. Thomas and get so excited about going to the children's sermon to listen to him and we've had many wonderful conversations about God that stem from what they've heard during the children's sermon (including a long conversation about whether squirrels go to heaven after a children's sermon where he asked the question if dogs go to heaven). We feel so honored to have had these three Godly men be a part of such a wonderful event in our children's lives.
Blake had come from Clemson, after going to prom the night before (he's a high school guidance counselor). He and my parents came over to the house for lunch after church. We had a fun lunch and enjoyed our company. Poor Blake came all the way for the baptism, which meant so much to us, and to see his mom and he only saw his mom for a few minutes and then he ended up with the stomach virus the next day.




We were also glad that Uncle Ben (aka The Giant) got to watch the baptism from Arkansas (and I'm sure he was glad he didn't have to worry about the stomach bug!).

The whole group!

(By the way, Emmie ended up being just fine after the one time she threw up but woke up screaming two nights later saying her ear hurt so we trekked back to the doctor for the third child in 2 weeks to be diagnosed with an ear infection. The poor thing was in so much pain for a few days and I even had to go pick her up early from school on Thursday because she was just miserable. We go get her ear rechecked next week and I'm really hoping it's all better...I'm ready for everyone to be well again!)

Do Re Mi

When we were at Suzy and Clyde's for the cousins weekend the older girls sang a lot of Sound of Music songs. A few weeks later we were walking around the neighborhood and Emmie started singing Do Re Mi. The girls sing it ALL the time now (in between singing Frozen of course) and they're so proud that they're singing a song that their cousins sing. I got some videos today of them singing...so cute!


(In addition to Emmie singing, I really love the way Ruthie is snuggled up with her!)



Ellie still needs some help with the words but she is quite enthusiastic! I love how she points to herself when she does "mi" and earlier she was running across the room during the "fa" line.

Swim Lessons

The big girls had swim lessons this past week. We did them with Palmetto Aquatics. The lessons were rained out on Thursday but Paul took the girls today to their last lesson. The girls had a different teacher today and had back to back lessons instead of their lessons being at the same time...which worked out very well when it came to taking video of their accomplishments! All the girls teachers were great. We started the week with Emmie crying through most of the first lesson and Ellie screaming and crying through most of it and now the girls are so ready for the pool to open! Ellie spent all winter telling me she would NOT put her face in the water and now she loves it. Ellie was really funny because on the second day of lessons she still wasn't thrilled but Emmie's teacher was telling Emmie to put her arms over her head and Ellie started doing it...her teacher then realized that Ellie wanted to do what Emmie was doing so she used that as motivation to get Ellie to go under the water and swim lessons were a success for Ellie from then on! I also think I've convinced both of them to let me teach them this summer at the pool. (I taught swim lessons through most of high school and college.) I think they could both be swimming by the end of the summer if they'll work with me!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had such a wonderful (and kind of wild) Mother's Day. We had Ruthie's baptism this morning at church which was wonderful and I will blog more about it once I get the pictures. (It was so crazy getting to church this morning that I didn't get any pictures with my own camera!)


I am so blessed to be the mother of these three sweet babies. I love being a mother and I love my little girls! My daily life is often wild and crazy chasing these three girls around but I wouldn't change a thing about it!


I am also so thankful for my own mother. She has always been there for me and I definitely appreciate her so much more now that I'm a mother! There are so many times that I tell my girls things and after I say them I realize that it was something my mom used to say to me! I am thankful every day that my mom's cancer was found early and that she was so strong though out her treatments. She is a true fighter and I admire her strength and her faith so much. I'm also thankful for all the help my mom has given me over the years as I've adjusted to being a mother myself. For all the nights she stayed at our house when I needed help with new babies, the many days she has kept the girls while I worked, the many meals she has fixed for us (including today!), and the fact that she is always just a phone call away.



Not only was I blessed with a wonderful mother but also with a wonderful mother-in-law. She raised a wonderful man who is not only a great husband but the best daddy to our little girls. I am so thankful for all the love she gave him and for instilling in him the values that have made him such a great husband and father. She has always been so wonderful to me and I'm so thankful for the way that I was welcomed into the Edwards family! She is such a good GG to the girls and is so good at making them feel special. She also has spent many nights at our house helping me take care of new babies, watched the girls while I worked, and made us many meals.



My girls are also lucky enough to know their Mammy. She had 6 children and raised them to be wonderful, wonderful people. She has created a legacy of faith, family, and love that has been passed down through the generations and will continue to be passed down.


I'm also thankful for all those who have "mothered" my children. Their teachers, babysitters, our friends and family members, and countless others who have prayed for them, watched out for them, and loved on them. We are so blessed to have each and every one of y'all in our lives...it truly does take a village to raise a child!


I'm especially thankful today for our sweet friend Clara. She has been our Friday babysitter since I went back to work after Emmie and she'll be leaving us at the end of July (it's really lots of good things happening...she's having another baby and I'm going PRN). Even though we'll still see her often it will definitely be a big change. I had such a hard time going back to work after Emmie was born and what really got me through the tough times was knowing that my baby was in very capable hands, whether it was with a grandmother or with Clara. My girls all love Clara so much (and I'm pretty sure they think Mary Ruth is their sister!) and Paul and I are so thankful that God provided such a wonderful babysitter for our girls...we feel so blessed!


And finally, this is the first Mother's Day since my grandmother died. She was such a big part of my life, especially when I was a child, and I'm so thankful for all the wonderful memories I have of her!

Muffins with Mom

Today was Muffins with Mom at Emmie's school. I found a babysitter for the little girls (thanks Mary!) so that Emmie and I could have some special Mommy-Emmie time. Emmie's teachers are wonderful and they and the kids had been hard at work making LOTS of surprises for the moms. I'm so impressed with everything they did...as someone who just did handprint art with three kids, I can't imagine doing it with 10 kids...eek!


We had some yummy muffins which we ate on our beautiful placemats.

(In case you can't see it her answers were...she makes our quilt, she paints my nails, she draws me a picture, she takes me to school, she takes me to dance each day.)

We also had some flowers on the table that were in adorable flowerpots!

I love the caterpillar!

(For some reason I haven't been able to add photos to the blog from my laptop the last few days so I've been taking a picture of the picture and adding it from my iPad which isn't a big deal except in pictures like this one that was sooo pretty on the laptop but didn't do well when I retook the picture.)

Before we left we all got a bag. I will be proudly taking mine to work with me tomorrow. :)

What we've done and what we're doing....

We have been busy, busy, busy and I've gotten way behind on the blog so here's what you've missed!

Before Easter I took all three girls to see the Easter bunny. It was quite the adventure. We went to Sandhills because I knew in the past that it was a lot less crowded than the mall therefore decreasing the chance that the kid behind us in line would pinch Ellie right before it was our turn (which is what happened with Santa). Sure enough we were the only ones there (until Mason and Madison got,there) so the girls had all the time they wanted to check out the Easter bunny without having to get too close. Emmie was all about the bunny and Ellie eventually warmed up to him. Ruthie did ok sitting with him for the pictures then she was done. I was so pleased we got a pretty good picture!

We went and picked strawberries with Clara and Mary Ruth and had lots of fun. The strawberries were ok but the girls and i went back today and they were so good...we will definitely be having some strawberry pie this week!

Ruthie started rice cereal and loves it. It was a pretty messy venture for the first week but she seems to have the whole eating thing figured out now...still messy but much less than before!

Ellie has had a congested cough for a few weeks and when the rest of us didn't get it I figured it was allergies. Well she was pretty puny two Saturdays ago and she ran a low grade fever from Saturday night to Monday morning. So when we went to the doctor for Ruthie's four month appointment I had him check Ellie out and she had bronchitis (which I knew) and an ear infection...no idea she had that! Even after we left the doctor and I asked her if her ear hurt she said no...tough little cookie! 

So we got her antibiotics and she started to get better while the rest of us (except Paul) got the crud. We ended up back at the doctor on Saturday morning when Ruthie woke up wheezing and she's now on a nebulizer a few times a day. 

We've been playing outside a lot and enjoying the nice weather. Sometimes when the shade doesn't come to you, you have to make your own shade!

We went to my friend Kelly's wedding and had lots of fun...she had the best dj!

We spent all day today working on Mother's Day presents. Someone needs to take pinterest away from me!

We have lots going on this next week. We have an extra My Gym class for Ellie since we missed last week and then missed our make up class Saturday because we were at the doctor with Ruthie. We have Ruthie's baptism on Sunday and then the next week is teacher appreciation week at Emmie's school and I'm helping with that. I also have Muffins with Mom on Thursday morning at Emmie's school and I'm so excited! They've been working hard on lots of surprises. (Emmie had paint or marker on her the other day when she came home and she got mad at me when I asked what was on her because it's a surprise!)