Emma Claire's Teacher Letter

I can not believe that this is Emma Claire's last year in preschool. Next year she will be in kindergarten! Where has the time gone? We'll talk more about it later because I am already starting to shed tears.

Cindy Douglass will be in Emma Claire's teacher this upcoming school year and before school started she wanted to the parents to write a note about their child to help her best know how to serve them. I wanted to record that letter before I turned it in so that Emma Claire could read it when she gets older.


August 30, 2011


Cindy & Starla-


Emma Claire is so full of life. She absolutely thrives on learning and loves to experience new things. She is “all girl” who dreams of princesses and long twirling dresses, but she has a precious streak of red-headed country girl—digging in the dirt is a happy treat…in her dress, no doubt.


Emma Claire is a natural leader who doesn’t mind assuming authority and delegating responsibility. And, she’s sensitive to the “least of these” around her who have few friends. She’s curious, inquisitive, and thoughtful. Her wheels are always turning seeking to understand how Jesus is God, and what happens when we die. She loves to talk about Jesus dying on the cross, and isn’t shy to ask a complete stranger if they “know God.” Today we even had a service man at our house and she asked him if he knew that “we were ALL children of God”. She understands the concept that we are all sinners and that the only perfect sinless person who ever lived was Jesus and she loves to share that story with others.


As parents we strive to help Emma Claire be the best person she can be and serve God in all she does. We remind her that foolishness is sin and that to honor God we seek to make wise decisions in all that we do. As most children her age do, Emma Claire struggles with arguing and trying to get her way. As parents it is very hard stay consistent with correction, teaching her to honor others before herself and to obey those in authority over her. We have to remember that if we are honoring God first then these things come out of the overflow of that relationship. Our prayer is that one day Emma Claire will make that decision to have faith in Jesus and to let Him rescue her from the evil of sin and death.


Emma Claire loves just about anything. She is one of those children who will get so excited about just the simplest of things. She enjoys barbies, babies, writing, coloring, drawing, art, playing anything pretend, movies, music, and Bible stories. Emma Claire has a HUGE imagination and just loves all that life has to offer. She absolutely adores her little brother and will often put his interest before her own.


One thing about Emma Claire is that she can go from a low sad to high happy in just a matter of minutes. You will see this when I drop her off in the mornings because she has always had a hard time separating from Mommy. But once I’m gone, in a matter minutes she is off enjoying whatever the class activity is. You will also see this when she doesn’t get her way. One thing I am very proud of Emma Claire for is that she realizes when she needs to take a time out. If she is involved in something and she feels herself getting upset she will say she just needs a few minutes by herself. I will usually tell her that she can have a few moments alone but when she comes back she needs to have a change of heart with a new attitude. Usually within a few minutes she is back up and playing and back to her happy self. When I see Emma Claire at her happiest it’s when she is learning something new and getting to experience something with excitement.


We see Emma Claire as a happy but critical learner. She thrives on understanding new concepts, but she doesn’t simply take someone’s word for it. She wants to know the “why” behind the “what,” and we see this as seeking understanding. Knowing the answer is one thing; knowing why the answer is what it is and how to apply it is another—this is what Emma Claire is after, and this speaks volumes about who she is as a person.


We are so excited about his school year and know that Emma Claire will gain so much from being in your classroom. We will continue to keep you in our prayers as you seek to serve and love these children everyday. Please feel free to let us know if there is anything we can do to serve you.


Benjamin & Ashley Quinn


She also asked us to list some of our short term and long term goals for her so that she could be working on them in the classroom.

Short Term Goals (by Dec. 2011)

• Separate from Mommy easier in the mornings.
• Quicker to obey the first time.
• Play well with others.

Long Term Goals (by May 2012)

• Recognize letters and sounds better.
• Become a better listener, listen more - talk less.
• Exercise self-control (over reacting).

I am so excited to have a teacher so eager and intent on wanting to know the best way that she can help serve my child!

An Earthquake & Hurricane Irene

All in the same week I experienced two of the worlds greatest natural disasters!

On Tuesday afternoon, around 1:50 pm, I was standing in the kitchen when I heard everything in the second floor attic starting to shift around making this loud popping and cracking sound. I quickly walked into the living room when I felt my legs begin to shake and my pottery on the shelves begin shifting. Not knowing what to do I ran to the hallway and then looked out the front door expecting to see a tornado. Everything was perfectly calm outside and the sun was shining bright. By the time I decided I might need to get the kids out of the bed because I didn't know what was going on it stopped. At first I thought that it might have been an earthquake but then I shrugged it off thinking it was just some military airplanes that were flying too low causing our house to shake. I went on about my business and later turned the news on to find that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake had hit about two hours away in Virginia. Crazy, huh?! Earthquakes don't hit on the east coast and we are a LONG way from California. Once I realized what had happened it really took me a moment to let it all sink in. It was truely amazing that no one was hurt and that there was minimal damage from such a strong earthquake for the east coast.

Two things I learned from the earthquake: 1) You don't run to the hallway when a earthquake hits. You either go outside or stand in a door way. 2) I don't know that having the pottery displayed above my windows is a wise idea.

Did I mention that Benjamin was out of town during the whole experience. Crazy.

Only 4 days later I found myself preparing for another natural disastor.  We had a catergory 3 hurricane, Irene, heading straight our way. I have never been in a hurricane either so I really had no clue how to prepare. Thanks to the internet I spent Friday making sure we had everything we needed in the case we lost power for several days.

Chicken noodle soup for dinner and sweet treats to help pass the time away.

Lots and lots of batteries, candles and flashlights. We also get all of our water from a well which is wonderful thing because we don't have to pay a water bill and we have really good drinking water, BUT when the power goes out we also lose our water because our pump stops working. So, I spent time scrubbing our bathtub and then filling in it with clean water to have for a couple of days.

Three jugs of fresh water and one jug of tea and a fully stocked pantry with several cans of fruit and ravioli.

Emma Claire and Camp were also ready to go!!

Benjamin made it in Friday night around midnight. Thankfully is was one of the last flights they had running because they were shutting down everything going up and down the east coast. (he was coming from NYC) Could you imagine if he got stuck there? I don't even want to think about it.

The wind and rain begin not long after midnight and continued on all day Saturday. Amazingly enough the power never stayed off for long periods of time. We did lose our cable and internet for the day, but we were still able to go to the bathrooms and flush our potties. : ) We did have really strong winds and in a neighborhood with lots and lots a trees it did leave for quite a bit of clean up. I am so thankful how the Lord took care of us during this storm. There are so many people still left without power and have lots of damage to clean up.

I borrowed this next picture from my friend Stephanie because I didn't dare go outside and brave the wind around all of my trees. You can tell just how hard the wind was blowing. We had gusts from 50-70 mph all day.

The neighbors out cleaning up.

Left: Our neighbors across the street had quite a bit of clean up to do. Right: You can't tell it very good in the picture because the leaves are the same color as the grass but we had lots and lots off leaves all over the place.

Heading over to the neighbors to help clean up.

Everyone pitched in to help!

After an afternoon outside everything is picked up and cleaned up! Thank you, Lord, for protecting my family during these storms.

Found This Little Guy Trapped Inside My Bird Feeder Today

I did release him right after a snapped these shots. : )

Pool Party at the Schmidts

Today we got to go over the the Schmidts for a pool party! Liza has been wanting to get together with her buddies and we were finally all able to get together today. The kids had such a blast!

Left: Dylan Myers. Right: Emma Claire, Camp, and Alyssa spent most of the time mixing up who knows what!

Left: Josh Myers. Right: Alyssa and Emma Claire

 Left: Camp's buddy, Olivia Schmidt.

 Left: Emma Claire & Alyssa Borror. Right: Liza Schmidt

Thanks for such a wonderful time Cheryl, Liza, & Olivia. We can't wait to hang out with you again soon!

Over the handle bars

Emma Claire went over her handle bars for the first time yesterday. I fully expected a blood curdling scream followed with a half hour of mommy time and attention. But instead, she jumped up and yelled, "Awesome!"

BQ2

Where's Sissy!?!

Waterpark Creation

When we have a 'stay'cation we create our own water park in the backyard! : )

Sibling Love

I love that on most days this is how I see my kids riding in their car seats from my rear view mirror.

Emma Claire & Strangers

Emma Claire has the best photogenic memory and remembers every little detail about everything. She also never meets a stranger. It doesn't matter who you are she is going to invite you to our house to come over and play. For example while we were at Walgreens today she told the lady checking us out that she was very nice and may come over to our house anytime. In most cases this is great except for when she starts telling complete strangers where we are staying.........

While we were in Myrtle Beach she did just that. We had met some adults at the conference Benjamin was working at and of course Emma Claire began carrying on a conversation with them. She soon invited them over to play and told them that 'we were staying at Staybridge Suites room 207 and that they could come over and play anytime'. Of course we laughed because we didn't even realize she knew what room we were staying in and we weren't too worried about the people knowing where we were. However, the next night we went out for dinner and Emma Claire quickly started talking with our waitress about how she would like for her to come over and she would love to paint her fingernails for her. She said "I'm staying at Staybridge Suites in Myrtle Beach in room 321 and you can come over at 1:00 tomorrow when you get off and I will paint your fingernails pink for you." I think my mouth dropped to the floor when I heard her telling a complete stranger and everyone in the restaurant who was listening this type of information. The funny thing was that just that day we had changed hotel rooms to 321 because we decided to stay another night and ours was already booked. I couldn't believe that she had so quickly picked up on that new information.

Needless to say soon and very soon we are going to have talk more serious about being friendly with strangers but not letting our guard down so easily. I think we could all take a reminder about not getting so comfortable with our surroundings that we let our guards down.

Happy Birthday, Babe!!

29 Reasons Why I Love You on Your 29th Birthday-

1. You love me unconditionally.
2. You make me laugh even when I'm in a bad mood.
3. You are a wonderful father.
4. You work so very hard to provide for our family.
5. Even though you work a full time job and are a father of two crazy little ones you have still worked hard to complete your schooling and have done great at it!
6. You don't mind to play the part of the nutcracker with Emma Claire or aka Clara.
7. You will also play the part of  a ballerina if need be.
8. You will get down in the floor and play rough with Camp because that's what he loves.
9. You love God and have such a passion to serve Him.
10. You are OCD and can't stand mess which means you help keep the house clean.
11. You vacuum every nite after dinner.
12. You start trying to clean off the table even before we finish eating.
13. You love to stay at home as much as I do.
14. You are the only one who knows how to make my coffee or hot tea just right.
15. You lead our family well.
16. You are very intentional about being involved in everything the kids do.
17. You don't care if I cook supper every night and you like to eat leftovers.
18. Your alarm is a bull horn and you always hit snooze 3 times.
19. You play chase with the kids every night before they go to bed because that is their favorite game.
20. You never meet a stranger and will carry on a conversation with someone everywhere we go.
21. You are very competitive and won't let me just win at anything.
22. You want to turn our bedroom into an office.
23. You let me take your work shirts to the dry cleaners so I don't have to iron them.
24. You love to shop.
25. You are always looking to take me on getaways.
26. You are going to turn 30 before me.
27. You will watch the kids to give me some time to myself so I don't lose my mind.
28. You understand how much I love sleep.
29. You always tell me I love you before we go to sleep.

I love you so much! I hope that you have a wonderful 29th birthday!

Myrtle Beach, SC ~ August 2011

This past weekend Benjamin had a work conference in Myrtle Beach, SC so we decided to tag along as a family. I'm so thankful that he has decided that if he has to be gone more than once a month then he wants it to be arranged where we can go with him. It means two things: 1) he won't be away from us as often and 2) that we get to go on some fun little trips. : )

He was there for the Coastal Evangelism Conference at Langston Baptist Church in Conway, SC. The pastor is the father of a good friend of ours, Ethan Drum.

While he was at the conference everyday we stayed here and LOVED every minute of it!

I'll throw in a plug for Staybridge Suites because we loved it that much. We had a room with a living room and a full kitchen including a full-sized refrigerator, stove, and microwave.  It also had a door closing off the bedroom and bathroom which was a big deal for this momma. Camp goes to sleep much better if he is in his own room where we aren't bothering him.  The kitchen was wonderful for being able to fix the kiddos lunch and keep their milk and juice cold in the fridge. The hotel also had a full breakfast bar cooked each morning and on the weeknights they also served dinner; both were included in our room costs. Everything was very clean and family oriented. We spent several hours at the pool everyday and most of the time were the only ones there. I'm guessing because it's a beach town most vacationers were at the beach.

There was an airport close to the hotel and Camp got so excited to see them fly by. They were super close!

The hot tub made a perfect kiddie pool. Except for the fact that Camp kept trying to drink the water out of the drain. : )

Left: Emma Claire makes me laugh because she can make a friend anywhere. Right: After pool time we would go back to the room for lunch and a nap. Then.... back to the pool. : )

Left: There was a pond behind the hotel that made for great exploring!

 Right: He is so Rotten!

 Right: We also had plenty of rest time, movies, and cuddling. It was definitely some much needed rest!

Since Daddy spent every day working we decided to stay another night at the hotel and spend time playing as a family. We even had the pool all to ourselves for a couple of hours!

The kids were such fishes this week. Because we don't have a pool we aren't around the water that much but they loved spending every minute swimming in the pool.

Left: Getting ready to do a ballet jump!

Before we headed out on Sunday we loaded the kids up and headed to the beach for a couple of hours. Emma Claire was so excited and asked everyday when she got up if it was beach day!

 The kids loved running from the waves together! We had to keep a close eye on Camp because he would just take off into the water like those waves were nothing to him.

Left:  This picture was taken just after we had made the kids get out of the water because we had seen two sharks swimming within 15 feet of us. No lie. Benjamin grabbed Camp and I grabbed Emma Claire and we RAN! Not a fun feeling for mommy when my babies were in that water. From then on we just let them play in ankle deep water.

After we finished up at the beach we quickly went back to the hotel to clean up and then head to the Tanger Outlets for tax-free weekend. Did you know Myrtle Beach has two Tanger Outlets?!? Of course we had to hit them both! : 0 Right: A vacation is not complete with getting ice cream!

Camp was so exhausted by the time we left.

Thanks, Daddy, for letting us tag along! We had a wonderful time and it was so good to have this time as a family.

P.S. I promise that I was on this vacation! I was just always behind the camera. : )