Happy Together

6.05.2022

Henry is 10!

Ugg! Double digits!! Crazy! But good, too! Our boy had several fun celebrations this year, and here is a bit about them!

We started celebrating early with a visit from grandpa and Peggy to watch the kids play basketball, then have lunch and exchange gifts (Grandpa is February bday, too!).

Henry got a science kit from them that he had been wanting!

Here’s Henry on his actual birthday-wore this silly hat and sticker all day at school and his class sung to him. I forget what a privilege it is to be so near my kids at school-I see him at minimum at break and lunch each day!

It was a school night, so we made a quick run to his restaurant choice (cracker barrel) and opened family gifts.

Our gift to Henry was a trip to Soundwaves in Nashville the following weekend for him and 3 friends. This was his “friend party”!

We also gave him Yahtzee and his own Rook cards! Annie gave him bath bubbles and gum, Ruby gave him a battery operated spider and gum.

Then that weekend we had a visit from family! They got to watch both kids play their last basketball games.

Henry was thrilled to have people to play games with!

Henry improved throughout his season and had a great experience!

The coach told the announcer it was Henry’s birthday and had the audience sing to him!

After their games, the grandmas met us at the house for pizza and cookie cake.

And a few more gifts! Sign from grandma.

Kids are always excited to get their $20 from grandma Dewitt!

It was a rainy day, so we played games all afternoon, then went to El Olmeca for dinner where Henry got his annual whipped cream in the face! He’s a glutton for punishment!

Steven, Henry, Jackson, Dawson, and Carter all stayed overnight at the Opryland Hotel.

They had a big time!

Saturday evening they walked around the hotel.

Road trip! With a van full of kids to Nashville!

Sunday after check out they came to the grandmas house where she had lunch and ice cream cake for all!

Learning the surfing techniques!

The birthday crew!

Checking out some of the hotel sites!

Happy birthday, buddy! We love you!

3.17.2022

About 7 year old Annie

Below is a bit about Anne Banan at this age and a few pictures.

Annie loves all animals and thinks Goldie is the best , cutest, smartest dog ever.

Pretty Princess!

This girl sure loves her horses!

Rock on

Father daughter banquet in February

The kids played spring soccer through PCS. Nothing super strenuous, and the girls got to be on the same team. It was the perfect speed for our family.

Annie adores kindergarten and her teacher Mrs. Killough. She does great on our 2 homeschool days, but makes it clear she’d rather be at school! She started kinder on 9/1-no fear, only excitement. I hear her playing school at home with Ruby and pretending to be Mrs. Killough.she sounds bossy:)

Grandma made her an amazing “Laura and Mary” dress as Annie calls it. Adorable!

Celebrating the 100th day of school

Bonita Springs on spring break

Annie was baptized on Valentine’s Day. She had been asking for the longest time! Family came and we celebrated afterwards with lunch and fruit pizza.

This girl loves to bake and got an easy bake oven for Christmas. She was sooo proud of her creations. “Bakers gonna bake”

What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite toy? Cozy dozy koala
What is your favorite fruit? Peaches, Favorite vegetable? Cucumber, raw broccoli
What is your favorite tv show? 101 Dalmatians (show), chip n dale
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza
What is your favorite outfit? T shirts and shorts
What is your favorite game? Sorry, greedy granny
What is your favorite snack? Peaches, pretzel/goldfish mix
What is your favorite animal? Horses
What is your favorite song? I Whip my hair back and forth by Willa from Pandora
What is your favorite book? American girl, Barbie, boxcar children, little pilgrims progress
Who is your best friend? Nora Kate, Owen, Ryan and of course my family. I love all the girls in my class!
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Jump on trampoline, swing on swing, go to neighbors to play in yard
What is your favorite drink? Grape juice
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Pink blanket, stuffed animals-mainly tigey
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Banana bread, donuts, favorite cereal? Multigrain Cheerios
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Waffle House, Culver’s (for the “smooth ice cream”-she wanted to just get vanilla but we talked her into adding m&ms)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A horse trainer

Annie has always had her own language that cracks us up. She doesn’t let not knowing a word stop her, and just makes up something close because the girl is gonna TALK. She is such a talker! Some things I’ve written down are:

Why not? We’re on convation!! (Vacation)/Look there’s mr mayor! (Talking about mr Swanner in carline)/Shucks“Kuh tater bus” for Decatur bus/Round of a clause for round of applause/Apple critters for apple fritters/Gasp! What communion elephants??? When communion elements were mentioned at church/Beef turkey for beef jerky/Ice kickles for icicles/She nippled me (trying to say Goldie nipped me)/Do they have peanuts on the Bread?! (Talking about Sesame seeds on her hamburger bun which evidently she loves)/This one is flated (for inflated)/Praying for everyone we are “sheeping” (we are part of a shepherding ministry at church and pray for our “sheep”)/Great Friday for Good Friday/samage for massage/fairy go round (for a merry go round)

Getting us to practice “he is risen” motions for Easter service

Kids saying she’s a pot head (literally-she had a pot of her head and was being goofy)

Onomatopoeia-learned from her teacher and kept talking about it!

She loves to read and has made progress to become a great kindergarten reader! She quickly checked bob books off the list and loves picking easy readers out at the library. She reads with a lot of expression and volume as you can imagine.

I had put her to bed and was in the hall doing laundry. She came out to go potty and said, I already miss you! She is very loving and demonstrative about it.

Slowest eater ever-still have to set timers to make her hurry up. If it’s something she likes it’s no problem, but otherwise it’s torture! She does not like pbj which is a problem bc we have it daily. She just has to suffer through it.

Loves playing basketball in driveway-she’s more competitive and worked at Getting baskets in hoop. Loves family bball games when we play

Signs of summer-Line on nose and green chlorine hair

Lost first tooth on 8/7 while camping, 8/21 lost her second tooth while golfing in Decatur!

She’s a great cleaner still-I can put her on any cleaning task and she’s fast and does a good job! She’s also good at organizing and keeping things neat. She organized the attic for me once! For fun!

Very sensitive to movies and sad stories right now-Cried hard about benji-very sad about animals being separated from owner or mom and babies, cries about watching Alice in wonderland and similar “scary “cartoons, yet loves watching Star Wars. She’d rather watch a show than movie bc she’s not as emotionally invested.

Can you just glue hot it back? (For anything that breaks around the house)

Accepted Jesus-1/5/21 after big talk w Steven (she had been having more and more God talks with us since the summer), baptized 1/14/21

“I gotta scream my screams out!” (dance party in the living room )

Annie is 7!

Annie turned 7 on May 26, 2021. We had lots of fun celebrating-its such a busy time of the year that I always hesitate to plan something, but then I’m always glad that I did. She’s only little once! We celebrated with cousins in Lexington on the 21st (Layna’s bday and we were there for Camden’s graduation party). We celebrated with small group friends over Memorial Day weekend and had her school friends over for a swim party the first week that school was out as well. Lots of fun!

We love you Annie! Hard to believe you are getting so big! Seven will be a special year for you, and it is a joy watching you grow!