Caroline's Christmas Program

The last day of preschool for the semester included a fun Christmas program at Caroline's school.  I loved watching them sing songs about Jesus' birth.  You just never know what you'll get with little ones; it is a hoot to watch!

The whole preschool paraded into the gym and got in their places, after lots of waving to parents and camera flashes.  Preschool parents will not hesitate to act a fool to get a picture.

Caroline was front and center and sang like a pro!  They sang songs to tell the story of Jesus' birth and celebrate the Christmas season.

After the show, we had food and fellowship with the other families before saying peace out to preschool for a nice, long break!

Happy 9 month birthday, Charlotte!

Charlotte girl, you are 9 months old today!

Milestones this month: You have two new teeth on the bottom!  I will miss that big toothless grin, but it is exciting to see those pearly whites come in, too.  As your Papa says, you're ready for steak now!  You are crawling all over the place and pulling up to stand.  You've even let go for a few seconds.  You took your first tumble down the stairs this month (only half way since our stairs curve).  You love table food!  Oh, we also found out you are not allergic to peanuts this month as I discovered Caroline gave you a big bite of her peanut butter and chocolate cookie.  Some people fearfully introduce peanuts to their 18 month old in a hospital parking lot, and then there are the Stouts...

You are still happy, happy, happy!  We do see a little spunk come out when you get really mad about something, but it's pretty rare.  You love your big sisters!  They can pretty much do anything to you and you think it's the best thing ever.  Emma Grace shows a lot of maternal instincts with you and is very sweet.  She loves to tickle you and talk to you and you just laugh and laugh at her.  You and Caroline have a different relationship.  She puts things on your head, swats things near your face, and is a little rough with you.  But you get so tickled by her!  It actually eggs her on to do more!  I feel like you two might get into trouble one day because she does questionable things and you think it's funny and she does more.  Not exactly a good combination!

You are still a great sleeper.  You sleep 12 hours at night and take at least 2 naps during the day.  You still take a cat nap while I'm fixing dinner some days.  I have to wake you up ALL THE TIME because it's time to go get a sister from school or take a sister to something.  You still wake up with a smile!  I promise, when your big sisters are out of the house, we will just stay home and take naps all we want.  What 16 year old won't want to take naps with her mom?

You babble and babble.  We hear lots of sounds but, so far, you aren't repeating anything we say.  I can't wait to hear those first words from you!  Your Daddy and I are in a battle to see whose name you will say first!  When you're not doing baby talk (or screaming and squealing...Lord help me), you have something in your mouth.  Everything goes straight into the mouth.  I won't go into detail but I've changed a few diapers and discovered you swallowed something tiny.  Yikes!

We love you dearly, Charlotte, and feel so incredibly blessed that you are part of our family.  We love you.  Happy birthday!

Charlotte's Dedications

Charlotte has now been doubly dedicated to the Lord (does that double our responsibilities?) after we had two separate services for her.  Her first service was at our church in Greensboro.  Our family and some friends were here to witness us dedicate her to the Lord and promise to raise her in a way that hopefully leads her to Christ one day.  It was a really special day for us!

The Stout Five!

With Nana and Papa:

With Cee Cee, Granddad, and Dee Dee:

My friend took pictures for us but the lighting was bad.  But thankful we have photos to remember this day!

Our pastor read the verse we chose for Charlotte from Zephaniah 3:17 which says, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you.  He will quiet you with his love.  He will rejoice over you with singing."

I can't go forward without sharing a story about our time on stage.  The pastor slipped up and said Emma as he was introducing our family.  It was like it happened in slow motion.  My heart skipped a beat, I head my breath, and thought, "wait for it...wait for it..."

"It's Emma Grace!!" she quickly responded.

Imagine the boldness (and truthfully, simple innocence) that allows you to correct your senior pastor on stage in front of hundreds of people.

Following church, we had everyone back to our house for lunch and cake.

Flash forward a month and we went to Jacksonville to do it again in the church I was raised (and married) in.  We nearly didn't since it was such a busy time, but since we had with the other two, I just kinda wanted to finish strong.  Also, it allowed more family and friends to celebrate with us who weren't able to come to Greensboro so it just kinda worked out.  Again, our intention is the same.  We are promise to teach Charlotte the bible, take her to church and other activities that foster community among other believers, and hopefully live out what we teach in a way that will encourage her own relationship with God.

My mother-in-law took great pictures but most of them also had my backside in them and...I just can't.  But, here is the pastor showing off Charlotte to the church (and big sisters were happy to follow).

We had a little BBQ reception after church and, of course, cake.  It was fun visiting with our people.  I had the idea to make some cross ornaments with our verse from Zephaniah that people could take home.  My father-in-law turned my vision into a real product and cut the crosses for me.  Then I went hunting in their yard for tree limbs, borrowed some spray paint from my dad, and voila!

We are thankful and humbled that God saw fit to entrust us with Charlotte.  We love you, Charlotte girl, and hope that one day you will come to truly understand the words in your verse:

God is with you.  God will save you.  He delights in you.  His love will quiet you.  He rejoices over you with singing.

Thanksgiving

I spent a lot of Thanksgiving thinking about last year at Thanksgiving.  We were at Disney and Miss Charlotte was in my belly.  And now she's here and is the icing on our family cake.  Also, we weren't in Disney this year so we had to weird thinks like eat turkey and not walk 73 miles.  And just to be clear, the Thanksgiving Day Parade has NOTHING on Disney.  Nonetheless, here's a little Thanksgiving recap.

Caroline's preschool had a Thanksgiving program that was just about the cutest thing you'll ever see.  Granted it was IDENTICAL to Emma Grace's Thanksgiving programs she had at that school for two years, but it's different when you have a different child up there.  Caroline, our box of chocolates, leaves us rarely knowing what to expect.  Will she stand there ticked off that she had to wear that dress?  Possibly.  Will she smile and stand quietly?  Yeah, I can see that.  Will she clap and sing her heart out?  IT COULD TOTALLY HAPPEN.  I JUST DON'T KNOW.  She was neither ticked off nor quiet.  She did all the hand motions and knew all the words AND she was front row which is like the triple threat of parental videography and photography.  She may never participate in another preschool singing program, but we will always have that one time where she sang, she clapped, and I had a clear view.

 Please see these hand motions.  ON POINT.  C brought her A-game.

After Caroline's program and EG finished up her lessons in the big league of Kindergarten, we set off for Jacksonville.  We got to spend time with both families and all came together for one big meal on Thanksgiving day.

I didn't really take many pictures, but please see this one of J and his mini-me reading the paper.  

Happy 1st Thanksgiving, Charlotte!

And, finally, my three greatest worldly blessings, all in one camera frame.

We're going on a tree hunt

We've started this fun tradition (I think we've done it the last four or five years except for last year when we had just come back from Disney) of going to the mountains and cutting our own tree.  Because of a busy few weeks after Thanksgiving, we ended up having to go the weekend before.  Normally I like to wait until we get through one holiday before we start another, but sometimes you just have to break the rules.  Granddad, Cee Cee and Dee Dee came with us as we hit the road for Boone!  Our first stop was to the Daniel Boone Inn (it's really Dan'l but I can't bring myself to type that...but I guess I just did) for breakfast.

Then we ventured off the beaten path to our Christmas tree farm.  The tree farm had a hay ride that Emma Grace and Charlotte went on (Caroline wanted to stay with the grandparents) and we even saw Santa and had hot cider!

Upon arriving, we were told that they were trying to clear off the front lot and all trees remaining were $25.  I don't know if you know us that well, but that pretty much guarantees that we WILL be purchasing a tree off the front lot.  The trees left were mainly pretty large, definitely larger than we would normally get.

 

Which brings me to my next point...

Have you ever been picking out a discount tree and become all wrapped up in the money you're saving that you perhaps don't make the best decision?  JUST FOR EXAMPLE: Perhaps you find a beautiful 11ft tree that would normally be over $100 but today it's only $25 and maybe the ceilings in your house are only 9ft and it might not even get through your door but it's only $25 so we'll just figure it out later.  All hypothetical, of course.

Except that's what happened.

We bought a tree that technically would not fit in our home because how can you NOT buy it when it's $25?  If the 6ft tree is $25 and the 11ft tree is $25, then we have to get the 11ft tree because...JUST BECAUSE.

We got that baby tied down (and by we I mean the muscles in the group) and went back into Boone for a little shopping.  We stopped at Mast General Store because you just have to.  The grandparents loaded the girls up on by-the-pound candy purchases.  My favorite purchase was a glass bottle Coke and popcorn.

But I bet you want to know how the tree story ends.  We got it into our foyer (again, we = not me), which happens to be two stories, and quickly realized that's where it was staying unless we wanted to cut off the top half of the tree and have a bush.  I don't know about you, but a Christmas bush just doesn't have the same ring.  We cut some branches off the back so we could push it up against the wall as much as possible.  And as long as you open the door ALL THE WAY BACK, visitors can easily slide past the tree and only knock off a few ornaments in the process.  

The sad part?  Except for having to scoot buy it every time we go upstairs, it has actually become quite normal feeling to have an 11ft tree in the foyer.  We are in trouble because no tree will ever compare to 2014.