A few days with my biggest

Last month, Jereme took Charlotte and Caroline to Jacksonville for a long weekend.  They left Thursday after Caroline got out of school.  Emma Grace obviously had school on Friday so she and I stayed behind.  We didn't tell Emma Grace about the plan because we knew the disappointment it would bring.  But when I picked her up from school on Thursday afternoon and didn't have her sisters, she wanted to know why.

And this was her reaction:

In between her crying she kept saying, "But why couldn't they wait for me?  Why did they have to go without me?"  It really broke my heart.  I told her that it was nothing to be sad about because we had some REALLY fun things planned and that her sisters probably didn't have ANYTHING fun planned.  

(That was a lie but it felt right in the moment.)

But we really did have fun.  We went to her dance class and then had dinner at Freddy's that night.  It was so fun!  Dinners in our family are loud and busy and it was so fun to sit in quiet and eat with her.  We talked at our leisure.  I later told Jereme it reminded me of band class (my faint memory of band class).  It's sometimes hard to hear one instrument with all the noise of the others.  But when you get that one instrument to play by itself, it's beautiful.  That's how I felt.  Without the noise of her sisters, I could really hear her and loved hearing what she had to say.  

Also, I let her get root beer.  So she pretty much loved me in that moment.

She had school the next day (and I may have cashed in an old gift certificate for a massage, but that's another story).  When I picked her up, we headed to the nail salon for pedicures.  This was her first one and it was SO FUNNY.

She was really interested in the magazines (which are trash).  I very briefly let her look at one and texted Jereme a picture of her reading Glamour and he said "GET HER A HIGHLIGHTS MAGAZINE!"  Because the nail salon has children's reading material on hand...

She also played on my phone and drew me a picture.  She's so sweet.  But, seriously, you should love me.  I didn't get my first pedicure until I could drive myself there and pay with my own money.  YOU ARE LIVING THE DREAM, GIRLFRIEND.

But here's the best part.  Witnessing a 5 year old and a lady who is...how do you say it...not too familiar with the English language?  THAT IS FUNNY STUFF.  They talked the whole time.  I don't know if either of them understood the other.  When we got in the car, Emma Grace said she thought that lady was speaking Spanish.

Emma Grace's last big request was the indoor pool, so we did that on Saturday.  We met some of our friends there and she had a ball.

I had so much fun with my big girl.  It was a special time to share with her and made me remember all the things I love about her.

Tea at the O. Henry

While here for Easter, we took Cee Cee and Dee Dee to tea at the O. Henry for Cee Cee's birthday.  Emma Grace and Caroline were so, so excited to go.  Emma Grace had been studying about kings and queens at school and felt like she had a good sense of royalty and tea parties.  She informed us that we should stick out our pinkies, put our napkins in our laps, and also called the waitress OUR SERVANT while she was in ear shot.

The O. Henry is super fun and has really good food and tea.  And I'm not even a tea drinker.  It was fun to have some girl time (but we did miss Charlotte).  I was nervous about a little blonde girl making us pay for a broken tea cup, but she did really well on that front.  On the sugar cube front?  Lord, have mercy.  She chugged the tea like juice and kept dropping in sugar cubes before we could stop her.  I'm not exaggerating when I say I think she had probably 10 sugar cubes before we left.  

Happy Birthday, Cee Cee!  We loved celebrating with you!

Easter

We had a great Easter this year.  Emma Grace and Caroline both can tell you what we are celebrating at Easter (that Jesus was punished for our sins, died on a cross and buried, and rose from the tomb) and what it all means (that we are saved and will one day live in heaven forever).  I'm so thankful for our church that helps us teach those things!

Also, it kinda blew my mind that it was Charlotte's second Easter with us.  I can't really think about it because it all just means she's not a little squishy baby anymore.

The weekend before Easter, our church had a program for the kids.  They had games were the kids got candy for playing, food for everyone, and an Easter message.  It was unseasonably cold and we had to ditch our dresses.  Thankfully, we had some Lilly that saved us from looking too drab.

The Thursday before Easter, Caroline had her school Easter party and egg hunt.  I love that she gets to do these things now!  She had a lot of fun!

Friday morning, we did a fun activity with the two big girls where they buried jelly beans.  We talked about how Jesus was buried just like these jelly beans.  We found a big rock and put it on top and waited.

Our friends hosted an egg hunt at their home on Friday afternoon for a bunch of our church/Sunday school friends.  Jereme was off of work so it meant he got to come too!  They started off our time with reading from the bible about Jesus' death and resurrection.  They asked a question to all the kids and Emma Grace raised her hand and gave a perfect answer and I got a long distance high-five from another friend because nothing is better than your kid making you look good at the Easter party.  

Then it was time for the hunt!  Some of the eggs were empty like the tomb and Caroline was not a fan.  She started picking up an egg, shaking it, and putting it back if nothing moved (which soon turned into a fit when we told her she couldn't do that...see how we've now balanced ourselves out from getting the questions correct earlier?).

We all brought food to eat and then the kids played.  Here are Emma Grace and Ellie swinging.  Ellie was in Jereme's Awana group this year and he started coming home talking about this girl who reminded him so much of Emma Grace.  Turns out Ellie is at the same school as Emma Grace and they have become friends and they are in fact just alike.

And here we are, The Stout Five, in all our glory.  Love my people.

That afternoon, I couldn't find Charlotte and she was being really quiet....

Dad, Mom, and Dee Dee all came for the weekend and we had fun being with them.  Sunday morning, we woke up to check out the baskets and see what was going on with the jelly beans.

The girls were excited to see that the big rock had moved away and the jelly beans were no more.  Instead they found little lollipops in their place.  

 We had church and lunch and then spent a little time relaxing before having to say goodbye.