12-22-16

Isabella's first tub bath - I think she liked it!  Anna Claire certainly enjoyed watching it!

ADD PIC

12-18-16

Ac is watching YouTube videos of how to draw and doing some neat stuff!

12-17-16

Baby cord fell off finally. Looks great!

Eliza says "it taking too long!!"

Annna Claire says, "mom I can spell DVD!"

Juliana replaces "F" where other letters should be--when we correct her she thinks it's hilarious; says the correct sound and then goes right back to saying the f -- "frink" instead of drink for instance. We tease her all the time--do you want a frink?? Hahaha!

12-30-16

Playing the Mario brothers game lots and an epic mickey game that someone gave us a long time ago. She and Andy are enjoying that one particularly!

It's been fun watching her play. She wants to make us do the hard stuff instead of practicing herself though. ;-)

11-18-16

Girls are having a blast camping with daddy tonight! He has the lantern at the empty pavilion and they're telling stories and having a ball. :-)

Sunday past-- Anna jewel deese (almost five) stopped me in the hallway and said, "I told
Matthew that he was going to marry me, and he said no! That he was going to marry Anna Claire!" I told her, that's ok--you'd probably rather not marry your cousin anyway. She just looked at me like I was a weirdo. Hahah! Kids are so funny!

11-8-16

Andy has been roped into coaching 1/2nd grade basketball for upwards so since he will already have to be there for practice and games we may let Ac play......have to check
That it's not too late to get her in--

11-1-16

Juliana had a bad nightmare that really upset her....she dreamed that I had an "egg head" and that someone broke my head with a hammer!!!!!!!!! I thought it was hysterical but it really upset her! Then she didn't want to nap because she was afraid she would dream that Daddy had an egg head!!!

11-3-16

10-29-16

Ok the pics by Wendy of the girls in their costumes are going to be adorable!!!!!! Eliza busted her chin right before we went but she was in show off mode and was ready to be funny for pics. Wendy said, "this is the talker, huh?" Hahaha!


Eliza hurt herself pretty good--tried to get out of the tub alone and they'd made floor slippery. Usually I put a towel down when I turn the water on for them, but Andy handled it for me while I'm
Useless and I didn't think to tell him. 😞 busted that little chin and she just is just crying for her Nani and pawpaw.

10-28-16

On a happier note---the big girls had a BLAST at the big indoor pool today! They were giddy about it when they got home!

They've decided they need to do it every week this winter! Haha!

Made a different meatloaf recipe tonight--in a muffin pan and the girls LOVED it!!! Anna Claire said "can we have this every Friday?" And j said she was going to eat it ALL gone because it was cute! Who knew you just had to make food cute for them to eat it?!?!

10-27-16

Glitter pumpkin shirt Anna Claire and I made tonight!

10-26-16

After tons of searching stores and online, I finally found the perfect coming home dress for Baby Isabella!! And the boutique even cut me a deal!

10-25-16

This walking the mall is for the birds at this stage of pregnancy! :-) Ha ha!

She very well may be a big baby. She certainly hurting me enough at this point. :-(


She doesn't have sweet gentle little kicks anymore, now she has take your breath away kicks.

10-24-16

Was praying with girls before bed and as usual they interrupt with their own additions to the prayer. I let them do it because I like them learning to talk with God spontaneously. Well, I was praying and then Eliza said something and Juliana pops in and says "and thank you for giving us a new baby!" So sweet! They are all three so excited and ready to meet Baby Bella!

10-22-16

Juliana "I'm never going to make our house dirty because it smells GOOD!" (I melted some
Of that smelly good stuff in my thing earlier.) pumpkin spice......☺️

10-21-16

Pics don't do it justice but my valance looks fabulous!! I'm so excited!






I'm so happy with my little sprucing up of their bedroom!

10-17-16

Baby has hiccups today for the first time that I've been able to notice. :-)

10-08-16

I didn't make it--she did!!! Turned out cute, huh?! :-)

10-05-16

Great dr visit with Juliana today. Saw dr Williams who was thorough as always. Discussed ongoing constipation problems--going to retry miralax in a smaller dose and see how it goes. She has gained 5 inches in the year and 3 lbs! This puts her at 80% height and 50% weight! Hilarious how different she is from
Eliza and Anna Claire! He says this is fine because it matches her growth curve for the last year or so. Pleased overall. She was too shy to say numbers 1-10, even though she knows them, but oh well. :-) she did NOT appreciate the finger stick to check her blood count! :-)

9-30-16

Anna Claire mailed her first pen pal letter to Sophia yesterday. She's super excited to hear back from her, so I reallyyyyyy hope she will respond. ::fingers crossed::

9-28-16

Anna Claire is loving her geography class at coop. She is learning her continents and oceans, etc. she came home excited knowing most of her continents today.

Also enjoyed doing origami this week in art class. :-) made paper dog and paper fox and was quite proud.

Juliana got home from
Vacation Sunday and said "our house is so pretty! I like it...." Super sweet. Makes me happy.

9-14-16

Had a blast at the zoo today. Ate breakfast at a wonderful local joint with Kenny and Nancy and Ariel, then he went back to work and they went with us to the zoo. Tiny zoo, but the girls had fun! Rode a kiddie train and a camel and the carousel so it was a big time. Sleeping now. Andy and Ac gone to ride bikes at chickamauga. First thing Anna Claire said when she woke up was that she wanted to go hiking with daddy again today. :-)

Any restaurant that has a TOY basket gets a thumbs up from me!!!!! Our breakfast place did!

9-13-16

Anna Claire was EXHAUSTED and actually asked to go to bed, believe it or not!!! No nap today, and walked six miles with Andy! She loved the hike though--he said she did great. They saw a caterpillar and a deer and a centipede and a defunct waterfall (not enough rain). Good day for them.

Drove to try a local pizzeria that Kenny recommended near the incline--girls loved it! Then we drove home over lookout mountain and found some pretty overlooks to enjoy! Pleasant evening!

9-10-16

Ac ate a half sandwich and then wanted to eat the rest of Eliza's waffle. Juliana told Anna Claire that "if you eat waffle AND sandwich you will get fat like daddy!"

9-9-16

Ac is cracking me up!

Ac said to me last night as we saw the moon from
The car--

Mama is there really a man on the moon.
I said, Well there have been people to fly to the moon in a rocket and walk on it. They're called astronauts.
Mama, I want to be a policeman who lives in space and I'll come home to visit on Saturdays. That a good idea?

I spent a lot of time with her making Perler bead projects yesterdayand I could tell that it did her so much good. After she went to bed, she got up to potty and as she walked Across the hall she spotted me and signed "I love you" to me.

Ac said to me today as we saw the moon from
The car--

Mama is there really a man on the moon.
Well there have been people to fly to the moon in a rocket and walk on it. They're called astronauts.
Mama, I want to be a policeman who lives in space and I'll come home to visit on Saturdays. That a good idea?

I spent a lot of time with her making Perler bead projects today and I could tell that it did her so much good. After she went to bed, she got up to potty and as she walked Across the hall she spotted me and signed "I love you" to me. So super sweet. Love that precious girl so much.....hope our relationship is always strong.

8-29-16

Ballet teacher came out and told Andy that Anna Claire was doing exceptionally good. Didn't say anything to other parents--singled her out. 😊


I was proud of her! I thought she looked REALLY good the last time she went, but what do I know about ballet, right?! 😉

Eliza calls her sisters cutest names--or maybe cute because of how she says it! She still calls Anna Claire "care" and Juliana had graduated to "juniana." she herself is Wiza!

Ac 6 yr checkup
3 ft 11.5 inches tall
60 lbs
Bw 80-90%

Up 3.5 inches and 11 lbs since last year!

Looks great!

8-24-16

Just left tag agency--got tag, didn't have screwdriver and got stopped by police. Haha! All is well though--everything in order. :-)
Yeah--more hilarious is that Anna Claire had to tell the policeman that it was her birthday and she was making cupcakes!

8-22-16

I'm tired and heading to bed. Having a lot of heart palpitations the past couple of days, but today especially and it makes resting hard.

08-22-16

Look I'm daddy!!

8-21-16

Went home to eat a quick breakfast after I finished the snack, so I changed Ito more comfortable shoes for while I was at home......AND FORGOT to change back for church until I pulled in!!!! Oops! :-)

The girls were so excited to start ballet yesterday! Anna Claire
Has asked me twenty times at least to start back. I hope she enjoys! She worked hard yesterday for her new teacher and I was proud of her for the effort. I hope she can find her niche and something she loves, whether it's gymnastics, ballet, art or whatever!

Juliana has never gone to ballet before and she was SO. EXCITED! Everything was wonderful for her: wearing her hair in a ponytail, her leotard, her tights, all of it! She went right in with her teacher (I was concerned about this and didn't think twice about mama not being in there (very proud since Juliana can be unpredictable in this regard). It was a great experience!






Oh, and we started our first day of homeschooling also! Anna Claire was a great student and I was pleased overall with how it went. A little more review than she really needs, so in not sure how to proceed in that regard. I'm
Sure it's going to take a while to get our sea legs, but I sure hope we love it! I certainly love being with her! She's growing too fast and i live in constant second-guessing myself if I did enough, spent enough time, loved on her enough, quality time, etc. I deal with it with the other girls also, it just feels like time is flying so fast with Anna Claire these days--I can't believe we are in first grade already!


I had my glucose test this morning at my appointment with Dr. Lazenby also. I am anxious to hear about this because i know I have been eating SO BAD this pregnancy. I absolutely dread losing this weight. :-( excited to
Meet our new sweet baby Isabella though!

Anna Claire still says several words in cute "little girl" ways. She calls Andy "Dat-Dee" instead of a hard D sound like DadDy. It's sweet. My dad corrected her the last visit and i had to scold him. :-) I think a sweet last remnant of being a tiny girl!

One thing she still says also is "cheese Bikkit", instead of calling it (at McDonald's) a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. Haven't ever really thought twice about it, but Saturday when she rode with the Monks to the lake for the youth lake trip, they ran through medina kids....asked her what she wanted and she told them, a cheese bikkit. So they ordered a cheese biscuit. Then as they handed out the food she says, "hey, there's no egg on this!!!" They didn't know and so they truly ordered her just a biscuit with cheese! :-) I guess she learned her lesson about being more specific!!

8-7-16
Juliana just tried to cut Eliza's hair in the back room and cut her earlobe instead. She bled like a stuck hog but is okay otherwise. :-)




She didn't take it lying down...."NO NO NO JUNIANA! No cut Wiza ear!!!" While wagging that little finger!

8-7-16

Juliana just tried to cut Eliza's hair in the back room and cut her earlobe instead. She bled like a stuck hog but is okay otherwise. :-)


She didn't take it lying down...."NO NO NO JUNIANA! No cut Wiza ear!!!" While wagging that little finger!

Eliza sleeps with Anna Claire EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. You would think Anna Claire would get tired of it, but she loves it! They've started taking "bath showers"
(Showers in the bathroom that has a shower/tub combo) together too. I love how good Anna Claire usually is with Eliza! The funny thing is, both big girls are good with Eliza, just not with each other! Haha!!!

Painted with Anna Claire today and it was a joy. I have no real skill, but she loves the one-on-one time and I enjoy being creative with her!



We also got to go to breakfast together today while the littles went to Playpals. I used the time to talk with her and read a book about her body by Jim Burns. I was concerned that we hadn't really done a good job discussing our bodies and who should see her clothed/unclothed and good touches/bad touches, etc. Andy and I agreed that we should probably be more direct with this, and it went great. Whew!!

We think we've settled on a name for Baby #4: Isabella Noelle. :-) naming children is soooooo hard! I wanted Noelle for a first name since she will prob be a December baby, but Andy liked it better as a middle name.

During our visit with my parents, at some point my dad told my mom to settle down. It was said in jest, but boy did it make an impact on Eliza! She turned to my mom and yelled in the bossiest voice a two-year-old can muster, "SETTLE DOWN, Nani!" Of course my dad thought that was hilarious, and from then on every time my mom would say anything towards him, dad would prompt Eliza to tell Nani to settle down! It was pretty funny. To be so little, Eliza has a very bossy demeanor when she wants to. :-)

About a month ago in Sunday school, Mrs. Kara (Brannon) asked Juliana what the baby's name was going to be. Juliana replied, "baby elephant!" Ha ha! The things that a three-year-old will say. :-)

Great family night. Cow appreciation day at chickfila, so we threw something together last minute and went! Girls were soooo excited (you would think we never eat out) and they even got to get ice cream by trading in their book. Made for happy little girls. Then we had a singalong with the windows down on the way home. Now they are watching Netflix with daddy before bed. Sweet times with sweet girls!

Eliza cracked us up--instead of her usual "dat yummy!" She said her ice cream was "dee-wicious!" Our laughing made Juliana laugh and then she had to repeat dee-wicious over and over again!! :-)

Anna Claire was Miss Independent and had to get her own refills and extra sauces--good thing she is cute! (And boy is she ever a cutie! I swear she gets prettier by the day!)

Andy has been gone this week and I've been killing myself trying to work on projects that are long overdue around the house. Sometimes (heck, who am I kidding--most of the time) I just don't have stopping sense!

My constant self-doubt is whether I'm doing enough to bond with my girls, to teach them to know Jesus, to model godly womanhood and marriage to them, to just enjoy them and love them. Parenting is so hard, if you want to do it well.

Anna Claire is beautiful and vibrant! She has learned to drive pawpaws golf cart and is soooo proud of herself! Her manners are seriously lacking, despite our efforts, but she is wild and tender and prissy and tomboyish all at once. She makes me crazy when she doesn't take a nap because she is so wired, but I wouldn't trade the way she loves me for anything.

Juliana is a pistol. At times, She is the most generous and wiling to share of the sisters, then she can flip on a dime and be hot tempered and ready to hurt someone over nothing. Her sass is getting her in trouble pretty frequently right now, but her smiles and laughter are infectious! Truly, her personality affects the whole room--if Juliana is grumpy everyone is aware and feels it, but if she's "up" then everyone around her usually is smiling. She's really thinned out and lost all the baby look to her. She's built just like her daddy and is slender and lithe.

Eliza is ROTTEN. I think she is the most mischievous of the three. She loves to hop where someone was previously sitting and yell "I got your spot!!" She is so verbal and LOVES music! Can sing more songs than I know! Her favorite (well, all three girls current favorite) is the "finger family song". She is still way attached to her pacifier--I can't imagine how we will break her, but I'm sure we will figure it out eventually.

Eliza is the most content to play by herself and requires the least entertaining. She is also the most willing to work at a problem. For example, I've been trying to get Juliana to learn to buckle her car seat herself for a while and she wouldn't even try. Eliza got a wild hair to do it herself and figured it out two days ago. I praised her and was sooo excited, and Juliana got jealous! The next day, guess who decided to learn to buckle themselves??! Juliana did NOT like being outdone by little sister! Haha!!

Currently we are leaning towards naming our last blessing Isabella Noelle. I really do like it, but I'm always so hesitant to commit to a name....hard hard hard to name children! :-)

Memorial Day 2016: Anna Claire drew this sweet note and picture for me and left it in a mason jar on the counter for me to find later! What a treat when I did see it the next day! She is such a thoughtful child!

6-29-16

Got Anna Claire a short read along chapter book with cd from the library and I bet she has listened to the whole thing ten times!! She loves it!

Juliana loves these things that publix makes in the bakery--like a cross between a cinnamon roll and a honey bun---labeled as a "cinnamon frys" --she LOVES them! (Child after my heart.)

Anna Claire lost second bottom
Tooth 6-19-16. She is so excited and we are having to caution her not to "make" any of her other teeth loose on purpose! :-)

6-19-16

Andy suggested Isabella Noelle for a baby name. :-) it's certainly better than my moms suggestion of LORRAINE!!

Believe it or not, Anna Claire TRIED and LIKED salad today at Olive Garden! We were so proud!

6-15-16

Our view from the room! Having a blast!

Dad took anna Claire fishing and She played with a couple of fish while they were still on the pole. They were happy when they got home. He had stopped and bought them a slushie from somewhere.

Anna Claire lost her first baby tooth ever today--started getting wiggly Friday night and she worried herself silly all day yesterday. She was just giddy today when it came out! So proud! It's her bottom middle left tooth looking at her.




Eliza loves to sing and can sing all of Jesus loves me and zaccheus--I can't believe how she remembers the whole song! I don't recall either of the other big girls having that good of a memory for songs at this age!

Me and Ac watched fireworks from the rec field in our front yard together tonight. The other girls watched a bit then got scared of boom booms. She sat in my lap and it was great loving time with my precious big girl.

Eliza fan sing the whole Jesus loves me--and it is the cutest thing. Ever.

Juliana doing great-eating well and really coming out of her shell.

5-28-16

Ended up getting free tickets to beauty and the beast local show last night and took all 3 girls. It was fun. I think Eliza enjoyed it the most.

She kept scolding the beast saying--no no no be mean! You be nice!

Juliana got really excited when she came out in the yellow dress and wanted to meet the "real belle", so we had to do that afterwards.

5-21-16

Anna Claire and I Made this for Ms. Craig - we had fun doing it together!

5-12-16

Look at this sweet picture Ac drew for me!!






Close up of mommy and daddy-see the baby in mommy tummy--so sweet! She is so excited!

5-9-16 - Anna Claire Field Day

Their class was "The Cool Kids"

Anna Claire wanted Daddy to call me after school today just so she could tell me she loves me. So sweet!

5-8-16

Juju loves steak!! I think she wanted to eat all of my Mother's Day steak from longhorn!

5-4-16

Thankful for the wonderful Sunday School teachers that invest in my babies!  Isn't this a cute door decoration that Drenea York did for Eliza's class?

Little girls accompanied me to the doctors office today and they were fascinated by all the things they could see from the 6th floor!

5-2-16

All looks to be ok! They are chalking it up to implantation bleed--which seems a bit late to me, but oh well! Relieved. Good strong heartbeat. 😊

5-2-16

I finally have a child who enjoys coloring!  Eliza is the only one of my kids who likes to color. Anna Claire likes to draw, but not to color.  Eliza spent a lot of time on her page, changing colors and being very diligent!

5-1-16

I think I may be miscarrying--got a good bit of blood in my panties. I'm okay if I do, but just a bit disappointed.

5-1-16

How many loveys does Eliza need to carry inside at once?  

 Anna Claire is proud of her crown that they made at church tonight at church!

 (Below: L-R: Judson Tyler, Hamp Skinner, Ally Kole Skinner, Deacon Clark, Anna Claire, Autumn Clark, Juliana)

4-27-16

Oh, the love of a sweet little girl!  I'm already starting to show a bit in this pregnancy, but since we don't want to tell anyone until our first ultrasound, I'm trying my best to dress to hide the bump.  I put on some black capris with a shirt and a jean jacket and came out to get the girls ready for church.  Anna Claire saw me (and boy, was I feeling fat and ugly) and said, "Mama, you look beautiful!  I want to look like you!!" Talk about making your heart smile!  So, we got her a denim jacket and we matched as best we could on short notice.  I know the day will come when dressing like Mama would mortify her, but I'm so thankful for my Mini-Me today and her sweet love!

4-26-16

Dress Up Time: Double Elsa edition!

4-21-16

Had a blast today--made a treasure box craft w Ac and then a map for Juliana to follow. Fun! Then learned to play old maid and go fish--liked both but especially go fish. :-) Anna Claire has a longggg way to go on being secretive with her cards! Hah! Had to scold Daddy for cheating repeatedly!😀

I don't know how Eliza will deal with a new baby usurping her place in the family. She got THOROUGHLY put out with her daddy today for holding Juliana in his lap instead of her. I mean, really fighting mad. Eyebrows knit together and arms crossed and the whole works! "Daddy no hold juju! Daddy hold me!!"

4-21-16

Had a blast today--made a treasure box craft w Ac and then a map for Juliana to follow. Fun! Then learned to play old maid and go fish--liked both but especially go fish. :-)

4-21-16

Anna Claire never fails to entertain. We've not introduced the girls to Santa, Easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc, but we've left the issue alone so as to not cause problems with their friends who DO believe. Well, apparently Anna Claire has learned all she needs to know about the tooth fairy from Yo Gavba Gabba and I heard her educating Jukiana on all the finer points: 1) tooth fairy is nice, 2) comes when you are asleep; 3) leaves you two gold coins; 4) has wings. Then she summed it up by singing the tooth fairy song from YGG. Cracks me up. Even using vibrato in the song. She's such a goof. Juliana took this educational session VERY seriously.

4-18-16

4-18-16
Eliza loves men! She picks them out, renames them Pawpaw and immediately turns on the charm. She made this mans morning at breakfast today. So sweet. Love to see how she brightens their day!

4-13-16

My crazy girl swimming for the first time this season!  She was afraid she would have forgotten how since last year!  COLD!!!!

Earlier today we had to take Eliza for a checkup.  As we went in, Juliana started to worry that they would give Eliza a shot.  I assured her that she wasn't getting one today.  Well, when we got inside, I remembered that they needed to do a PKU stick.  Uh oh.  Juliana DID NOT APPRECIATE the nurse "hurting Baby Liza."  She mashed those eyebrows so far together and gave her the most hateful look and said, "You no hurt Baby Liza!"  I told her she was trying to help, but of course, that didn't register at all!  Hilarious how she wanted to take care of her.  Then as we left, she held her hand and said, "Baby, I will take care of you."  (In the tone of voice that the rest of us hadn't been doing a very good job taking care of her at all!) hahaha!

4-12-16

Took Anna Claire with me to vote after gymnastics. She was really intrigued by the ballot counting machine!




Anna Claire had school field trip today to see a children's concert at Covenant UM. Last year it was really good but this year was a dud. Kids still had fun being together!

4-9-16

Courtney Raines had a gender reveal party today. I wasn't really lookin forward to getting out today, but it turned out to be really fun! She had colored silly string to spray at each other and Anna Claire was COVERED!!! She looked like she'd been attacked by a giant spider!












Then afterwards she helped me do my grocery shopping....she said "mama, I want to get big so I can help you."