Henry is 8!

Wow! Eight years old as of February 26th! Henry is such a fun kid, and he's had a great year. He grows and matures a little each day, yet his sweet, fun-loving self doesn't change! I'm realizing I didn't do a 7.5 year update, so this one has a little more than normal. See below for a bit about him. Pics are out of order but I haven't posted any of him in so long that I tried to include highlights over the whole year.

 1. What is your favorite color? Turquoise

 2. What is your favorite toy? Art stuff

3. What is your favorite fruit? Vegetable? Strawberry, carrot

4. What is your favorite tv show? Wild Kratts/Word Girl

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? pizza

6. What is your favorite outfit? Turquoise Nike shorts with yellow stripe on side and Nike turquoise shirt

7. What is your favorite game? Golf, air hockey

8. What is your favorite snack? Muffins

9. What is your favorite animal? Deer, squirrel, lizard

10. What is your favorite song? All Slugs and Bugs

11. What is your favorite book? All Boxcar Children

12. Who is your best friend? Dawson, Carter, Jackson

13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play basketball, ride the Flickr

15. What is your favorite drink? Water

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Gray blanket

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? El Olmeca, Handels ice cream (Oreo is his fave!)

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Architect or Zoologist


-Henry is in 2nd grade in Mrs. Shirley's class at PCS. This has been his best year yet. He says Mrs. Shirley is the nicest teacher he's ever had, and I agree! She is sweet and encouraging-very gentle spirit. This is his last year to do part home school with me, which is surreal! Next year he will go everyday, but MWF will only be til 12:30. It is flying by! Henry still isn't much for reading "just for fun" much to my chagrin, BUT his reading has really taken off this year as far as fluency goes. He would prefer art class to anything else, though! His favorite school buddy is Jackson, but he seems to get along with everyone fairly well-especially the girls! :) He's had some play dates with Jackson and also another school buddy Hudson.
-Last summer he attended a golf camp, this fall he played soccer, and in winter was basketball (his favorite). He also did a basketball day camp hosted by the PCS basketball team one Saturday this winter. He takes golf lessons a couple times a month, and I don't know much about golf, but he can hit it way farther than I could! It is a great thing for him and Steven to get out in the backyard and do, and it's fun to see him make such progress. Henry also loves to swim, and he's probably meant to be on swim team, but this mom didn't want our summers dominated by that, so we just swim for fun! He is usually under the water more than on top and is always flipping around and "porpoising". He is also known for getting out, wrapping up in a towel, and laying directly on the warm concrete. We call him a beached whale when he does this:) We got to go on a cruise last August, so he experienced his first snorkeling and had a blast!
-Henry is tender hearted and sensitive to others when they are sad/upset. If anything has happened at school he immediately off loads it when he gets in the car with me. So and so had to have his dad called (in a concerned way), so and so was crying and I asked if there was anything I could do...stuff like that.
-He is also still a great gift giver and will work and work on homemade gifts to give us for different occasions. It is definitely one of his love languages! He got a Hobby Lobby gift card from Grandma for his bday, and he went and spent it all on necklace making supplies for both grandmas and me. I kept trying to get him to get something for himself, but the joy he got from picking it all out and coming home to make them and then give them far surpassed anything else he could have picked! The boy loves a good craft!
-He's a great brother (most of the time-haha), and is a great sport about doing girl things with the girls. He doesn't care what it is as long as he can play WITH them, so he will happily play family, babies, be the prince and dance with them when they play dress up, etc. He's gotten into the Star Wars movies (finally?), and has been watching them all with Steven. Poor guy asks to play Star Wars with the girls, but is denied most of the time. He loves to act out stories and can get the girls on board with this...he directs and has them do all sorts of things! We put on a Thanksgiving skit for family this year, and he loved it.
-I may have written this already, but his aunt asked him who makes the decisions in our family, and Henry's reply was, "Mom thinks of the ideas and dad says yes or no". This was hilarious and so true!
- Henry isn't a super competitive kid, but he loves to play board and card games, and this is when we see his competitive nature come out. He loves to win-and especially to beat his parents-haha! Some favorite games are Monopoly, Uno, Sorry, Hot Lava, Sleeping Queens, Guess Who?, War...anything really!
-He finally learned to whistle, and now he whistles ALL.THE.TIME! We had to make a rule for no whistling during schoolwork, bc it was getting excessive! He is also such a little singer and is constantly singing or humming something...if he's not whistling! He's still participating in church choir and has music  weekly at school. People still come up to us and tell us what a great voice he has when they've overheard him singing. He is known at school for all the singing he does....he's usually first in the halls (with all the other teacher kids!), and sometimes he sings everyone's name as they come through the halls....the boy is going to be great in some drama productions some day!
-He finally also learned to ride his bike! He's always preferred the scooter or flickr, and Steven would make him on and off practice his bike, but I think he just always felt a little too unsteady. His bike was always so tall, too, that he didn't have the stability he needed. Anyway, determination and gaining some height helped and he got it in just a few days! Now he rides it ALL the time! A new world has been opened up to him, and he loves the freedom of riding around the neighborhood and we all love our family bike rides now.
-Henry is a nature lover and is always gathering treasures from the yard or pulling flowers to make into a bouquet for me. His room is full of all sorts of collections...shells, rocks, random nature finds. Sometimes I go clean in there and can't believe the things he's brought in! ;)  
-Henry has a special relationship with each of his grandparents, in particular with his great Grandma DeWitt (91). He is so good to sit by her and carry on a conversation when we get to visit. He truly loves it-we don't have to persuade him to interact with her. He does puzzles and plays Uno with her. He tells her stories and shows her treasures from his room, and she eats it up! It is very sweet. They have their own little way with each other that is hard to describe. Henry has also had some really fun time over the past year with Grandpa in his woodworking shop. They plan something, draw it out, make it out of wood, then paint it. Henry loves this...it's right up his "planner" alley.
-One more thing! He has taken on pet responsibilities in a big way! His fish Jack has lived for over a year now, and in December we added a dog (I need to post on this!). Henry is awesome to walk/run Goldie, let her out of her crate in the morning, feed her, play with her, and keep her out of trouble. He has shown great responsibility here, and best of all, he LOVES her! He thinks she is the best and cutest dog in the world. :) They have bonded beautifully, and we are so happy to see the boy with his dog.

There is so much more, but I must stop! We sure do love you, Henry, and look forward to this next year with you. You are a great kid.

Present time! This was on his actual 8th bday.

He requested an Oreo ice cream cake. The grandmas came one day to help us celebrate at home since we didn't have a big family party for him.

Gatlinburg (Anakeesta) in Feb. We got a cabin one weekend just for fun and had a blast! Chilly, but fun.

A school project. He gets SOOO into them! He has to create a visual and prepare a speech. He does this completely on his own. Even when I want to help, he does NOT appreciate it. Which is great! It's truly student led! I think this was fog??

Scarecrow in October (girls were Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion). He also wore this for school spirit week "S" day in Feb. I heard afterward that Mrs. Shirley was sweeping up hay all day from this costume. Oh dear!

We stopped at the Birmingham Zoo on our way back from the beach in October. Lorakeets!

PCS family ice skating night in January. He's independent now!

Third quarter Krispy Kreme report card donuts.

Henry dancing with a princess. He's a good sport.

Another school project-all his design, but got grandpa involved with the wood working part. He was SOO proud of this ark. He made all the tiny animals out of clay to go in it.

Apple bobbing at Aunt Mae's in October.

A crab friend! Navarre in October. A wonderful trip!

PCS mile run for Presidential Physical Fitness in September. He did  great! It was SOOO hot.

Snorkeling in Mexico in August (cruise).

Exciting night in August-went to Slugs and Bugs Live concert and got to meet Randall Goodgame. We got autographs!

Fall soccer

Cruise in August! The waiter was doing a magic trick with Henry.

Another school project. Beginning of 2nd grade-a timeline of his life.

First day of 2nd grade! August 2019

Grandparents Day in September. So proud to have the grandmas in his classroom! Grandpa and Peggy also visited.

Henry went through a phase of making this dessert for everyone last summer-sherbet with frozen blackberries from our own blackberry bushes!

We had to capture this SINGLE scoop of ice cream from Handel's.....what do you think a double would look like???

Ut basketball game in January in Nashville. We gave him his ticket in his Christmas stocking. John, Dawson, and Carter went, too!

Asbury car show...a real Delorean!

You ARE awfully sweet!

My mom came many Wednesdays during the school year to play with the girls while Henry and I did homeschool. Such a blessing! This was a very rare time when we left the house, but I think we went to get free Dairy Queen ice cream cones??

Very loose front tooth! April 2019

Hammock reading on a homeschool day!

Orange Beach trip in April 2019-over Easter. Our week long October trip got cut to only 2 nights due to hurricane evacuation, so we needed to go back to get our full fix!:)

The tooth is out!

Easter April 2019

His Easter gift was Betta fish supplies, so when we got home from the beach he went and picked his fish (Jack) from Petsmart! He has loved this!

Golf camp summer 2019 at TopGolf. This was dress in you favorite team attire or something like that.

BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER

Our Thanksgiving pilgrim (we put on a short skit for family)

Decorating gingerbread houses at church in December.

The whole family got to watch one of his basketball games in December before our family Christmas celebration. Heather had "cousin crew" shirts made for all 6 cousins, so this was the perfect time to wear them!

Love at first sight! Christmas day 2019.

Ruby is 3 and a half!

On January 9th Ruby turned 3.5! Our baby! She is at a great age, and I love her little personality. She is such a mild mannered little one, and has continued to be the sweetheart of the family. Here is a bit about her at this age.

-If you can't tell from the above, Ruby loves to dress up! She is always proud to show a hat or costume off!
-She has lots of cute phrases: I missed you really much, mom. Cheers! (for everything including body parts like bottoms, nipples (with her sister-haha!), and things like pants, food, fingernail paint), Silly goose!, She says a W for L-so cute! can we listen to Swugs and bugs?, Zwip up my jacket, gwubs for gloves, watt for lot-I want a watt! she's always asking-what can I do??
-She's been playing rather than sleeping some during nap time. Once she was quiet going to nap and I checked on her. Undies and pants inside out. Shirt all wrapped tightly around her. Another time-pants on backwards, socks stuffed in leg of pants. Falls asleep that way. Stinker!
-She locked herself in one of the bedrooms at grandpas. He had to take the door off the hinges to get her out! She wasn't scared-just talked to us through the door the whole time.
-She gets in trouble for poop and pee talk-sibling get in trouble, too, when they join in. Potty talk never gets old I guess!
-I love picking her up after preschool each day. She's so excited to see me and tell  me all about her day. She loves preschool and does so well there. Best buddies are Reid and Piper, but really all of Annie's buddies, too. Once I picked her up and she immediately said, I need more food in my lunchbox!! Sometimes the girls go sit with Henry in the second grade line to wait for me-they look so big!
-In the bathroom, she went through a phase of always saying to me-I’ll wipe the peepee and you wipe the poopoo(she was fully potty trained at Christmas, so this post has a lot of potty talk since it was on her mind a lot!)
-Can I soft her? This is what she asks when she wants to pet something-babies and animals!
-Funny with her tenses and phrases-Did you saw those girls and boys? Did you saw that noise?
-Saying when I’m a big girl...or when I'm a first grader....
-Don’t want monsters to get me-random comment one morning
-Naming her babies Jade, Jude, Ruby. Loves playing with baby dolls!
-I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up-said she wants to be a mommy take care of a baby. I asked her what else? She said-put baby to sleep and work in the kitchen. 
-Loved sand at beach!!Ruby isn't real prissy about getting dirty or sandy or clothes being itchy or anything like that. She doesn't throw fits like someone else I know;) about things like this.
-She says "Cheddar cheese?" instead of pretty please (got this from Annie)
-Got her out of her crib and she gave me big squeeze and said-m, m, m you’re the best mommy in the whole world!! When she wakes up we talk about her messy hair in the back and how it's a rat's nest...now she volunteers that "there was Little Mouse in my hair"!
-Asks, Momma, can I count these? Can we line these up and count them? Mom, let me count these girls. (Me and her in car). Henry is a boy, daddy is a boy, Annie is a girl...etc. She counts really high (50?) and knows her ABC's. She can spell (orally) her name and write an R. She can trace really well and stays in the lines when coloring.

Here are some random things...
-where’s the poles? (Tadpole)
-Look at my "oh yeah" dance!
-Asked for warm water to drink for a while...anti cold water!
-Everything is "last night" and "even I"
-She still seems like a leftie?? She still uses her right some, but kicks left footed and leads up stairs left footed, so those seem to be indicators like they were with her brother!
-Calls me "little mommy"
-Mingo for flamingo
-"Can I wear my strap clothes? Bc I wanna look cute" (referring to her dress with spaghetti straps)
-Said she ate the "heart" (peach pit) and the stem of the peach I sent her outside to eat!
-My poop is coming out! My burp (aka her gas) smelled like poop! (gross to include I know, but also hilarious!)
-Kept talking about the dark after kiddie carnival. We drove home in the dark which she never gets to see-she's always in bed before that happens!
-Prass-stick for practice
-Hannah-tizer for hand sanitizer, loves to use it
-Adores chap stick

We love you, Ruby Jane! Can't believe you are 3.5!

Annie is 5 and a HALF!

Being a number and "a half" is a big deal when you are little! Annie turned 5.5 on November 26th. She is growing up so quickly! She's matured so much over the past 6 months. Below are a few notes to remember about this phase in her life!

In mid-November Annie had spent some time with her buddy Nora Kate, and she came home saying she was ready to go get her ears pierced. We had offered before, but she said she thought she was a little bit too little still:)

Ruby watched intently the whole time and held Annie's had for moral support!

She was so brave! She teared up right after it was done, but didn't actually even cry! We were all surprised since she is usually pretty emotional, but I think since it was HER idea, she was determined and all in! She did great!

This is on the 26th-special Thanksgiving project at school!

That evening we went to top golf. It was our last day of school before Thanksgiving break, so we did something to celebrate!

Helping me with some Thanksgiving side dishes at Grandma's house! 

-Annie goes to preschool 3 days a week. She LOVES school! She could have gone to Kindergarten this year, and I think she would have done just great, but I am so happy to have another year with her before we begin the full-on school routine. School has done a more intentional job this year to make it a "teaching year" and we bought preschool curriculum for them to use. She is SO proud of each thing she brings home from school each day. I've done a little with her at home, and she is definitely an emergent reader! It will not take much for her to put it all together-and she wants to read so badly! She knows all letters, sounds, blends, and reads many CVC words. She writes her name well and copies everything she sees in writing with pretty good accuracy! She can count to 100 and identify her numbers...loves all art/craft/cutting projects the awesome preschool teachers do! Some of her best school buddies are Owen and Connor (of course), as well as Mae, Viera, Anna, & Scout.

-Annie loves all things girly. If it's sparkly and pink or purple, she's a fan. She loves to paint nails, shop, dress up, etc. Some more favorites are swimming, her ballet and tap class, and cooking with me! She always begs to bake! She's started getting into WellieWishers (thanks to buddy Nora Kate!), and we've had fun reading the little chapter books together and watching a few episodes about these American girls.

-Annie is my shadow. She loves to help and clean. She's really good at it! She also is great at helping me find things I've lost (remote, glasses, etc!). I have really come to depend on her and she is an awesome helper. She is by far the most affectionate of our kids, and she adores snuggling, hugging, sitting close and holding hands. She tells us she loves us SOOOO much and that we are the best daddy and mommy in the world, etc. Very sweet. She and Steven in particular have a special bond in this area-I think they share this love language! She knows where to go if she needs prolonged snuggling.:)

-Annie has started talking about spiritual things much more lately. She is really taking it all in and can re-tell many Bible stories. She loves hearing from The Jesus Storybook Bible and her prayers are so sweet and heartfelt! This is another sign of maturity for her. 

Below are a few random notes about our 5.5 year old that I've occasionally jotted down. 

-Talking on a pretend cell phone. Sounds like such a teenager. "Yeah, girl". 

-Says, "Amen. Praise God." after each prayer! 

-We went to Sound waves with all the family (indoor water park) and while we were there having fun, she said, "I hope Grandma DeWitt and Belle aren't lonely". They had stayed at home:)

-I had painted my toenails, and she saw them and said, "Look at Mommy's toes! That color is lovely!"

-She had 6 inches cut off her hair in July. I was DONE with tangles! And wet swimming pool hair!

-Sweet prayer in September-"Thank you God for making the world and for sending Jesus to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins. Thank you for making us and this whole beautiful world. I love you God." 

-"Did you see Ruby? She's so cute today!"

-"Get to the HQ!" Says this while on playground with her school buddies (I think she actually says HCube-haha)

-She spent a couple nights with Grandpa and Peggy. They bought her some mermaid babies and she mothered them the whole time. Grandpa said she had been pretending nurse her babies! As soon as I picked her up, she said in the car, "When we get home, I have to milk my babies." She was taking the mothering very seriously!

-She loves to pretend to be older than she is...she will take a pretend Diet Coke around with her and talk about "drinkin her diet coke". Ha! She cracks us up! I probably wrote this on a previous post, but another time she was pretending and said, "I'm smokin' and drinkin a Coke!" Where does she come up with this stuff?? Ha!

-Loves "cheese grill" (what she calls grilled cheese)

-"All I can say is-today is a GREAT day!"

-We were talking about what we wanted to do when we grow up, and out of the blue, Annie said, "When I grow up all I wanna do is drive and honor God." 

-"Chop, Chop!" She uses this phrase when I'm hurrying everyone along.

Ruby Birthday Party

Ruby LOVES Pinkalicious and requested this theme for her 3rd birthday quite a while back. It was fun and easy. On the 13th we had a swim party with church friends and our wonderful family who always comes to help celebrate.

Big girl ready for her party!

The pink table! We kept the food inside bc it was so hot out!

These 3 ready to welcome friends!

I put a few Pinkalicious quotes around.

Ruby was happy with all the pink sweets! I tried to make the cupcakes look as much like the ones in the book as I could!

Grandpa and Peggy are always so good to come help celebrate.

Ruby's good buddy Avery from Harvest campus came! You wouldn't know it, but Avery is actually 4 months older than Ruby. She's just so petite!

Here are her party guests! The part that Ruby talked about the most afterward was that while everyone was eating I read Pinkalicious to the kids. She loved it!

She was a happy little party go-er!

This girl is always thrilled with a baby! I forgot to picture it, but we sent a party favor of some green goodies and put the quote, "To return to normal, you must eat a steady diet of green food." It was a great end to a fun day!

Ruby bday celebrations

Ruby's birthday celebrations started one day early with a school friend swim play date. Everyone came & enjoyed swimming for a couple hours, and I had a cake to share. Super low key, but a perfect way to get together!

John Lane, Reid, Annie, Ruby, Owen, Connor, and Piper! Ellis and Aidan were there, too (Henry had art camp)! So thankful for these dear friends (and their mamas!).

Ruby was thrilled that the Swanners brought her a gift-glow in the dark nail polish and "her own" bath bombs! We had a bath and did nails ASAP after this gift!

On her actual bday, Tuesday, we ended up having a super fun but super busy day! The girls and I dropped Henry at art camp and then got a donut for bday breakfast at our favorite donut Palace! Then we headed to the splash pad for a couple of hours before picking Henry back up.

No better place to go on a hot July day!! This girl love the splash pad.

Next we ran and picked up Henry and headed to Cow Appreciation at CFA. It just so happened to be on her bday! We met up with our friends the Stubbs. We had a crazy experience-the power went out completely while we were there (like as we were ordering)! We got most of our food, still, but had to sit in the heat in a very odd environment! I noticed the "Crisis Management Manual" was out on the counter! Those poor workers!

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After naps and Daddy coming home, we headed to Chuck-e-Cheese as promised. The 3 kids were so thrilled. It was basically empty, so we had the run of the place and they had a ball. Here they are dancing with Chuck.

Celebrate! I'm 3!

Back at home we opened family gifts and had cupcakes!

Henry is such a gift giver-he made a card for her and put in a secret pocket with $3 of his money for her (because she's 3 of course!).

Our big gift to her was this "real" baby which has proven to be a winner.:)

Happy siblings!

Sweet 3 year old girl. We love you!

*Ruby is 3*

Our sweet baby turned 3 on July 9th. Hard to believe! This is her first "favorites questionnaire"...I loved hearing her answers! We had lots of fun celebrating her. More on those celebrations soon!  For now, here are her faves.

1. What is your favorite color? Pink, orange, purple

 2. What is your favorite toy? Baby

3. What is your favorite fruit? Orange, peach

4. What is your favorite tv show? Daniel tiger, Pinkalicious

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chicken nuggets, pb sandwich, pizza

6. What is your favorite outfit? Shorts

7. What is your favorite game? Hide and seek

8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish

9. What is your favorite animal? Cat and dog

10. What is your favorite song? ABCs

11. What is your favorite book? Micky Mouse books

12. Who is your best friend? Clayton and Piper

13. What is your favorite cereal? Krispies

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing-Mr. Eugene’s playground (our neighbor), play basketball and run around

15. What is your favorite drink? Juice-Apple, chocolate milk 

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Purple blankie, pink bunny and dog stuffed animal (so many stuffed animals...every night is different on what she's attached to)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? scrambled eggs, granola bar

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? some cheese and some eggs and some cakes

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? paint nails (like this-and she shows me)