Saturday, July 16, 2016

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. :-)



Tuesday, July 12, 2016

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!)






Friday, July 1, 2016

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!