I can’t believe you’re ONE. It does not feel like a WHOLE year has passed since you’ve been born! And yet, here I am staring at the calendar… December 4th is here, again.

Getting to know you over this last year has been such a joy! You are the sweetest little baby-girl, with an easygoing personality. I’ve heard third-borns are special like that. People always comment on how “petite” you are. And it’s true, you are a delicate little thing. But great things come in small packages, and I have no worries that you will be catching up to your big brother and sister soon! In fact, I know that you will grow way too fast - so you can stay tiny for as long as you want! ;)

I’m praying for your next year of life to be full of fun and learning. Watching your mind begin to develop into a little person is one of my favorite things! You can now say, “Hi mama!” and “Hi dada!” while waving with your little hand(s). You say “hi” to the Christmas tree every morning when you wake up (it’s the cutest!) and you blow kisses and play peekaboo! You love when we play games and I can make you giggle. And really, I end up laughing the most.

Hannah has called you “Chlo-Chlo” since birth and now we all do! We also refer to you as “cute-cute” a lot. Because saying things twice just emphasizes the point!

Speaking of Hannah, she just adores you! She has become such a little mama to you and you have been so patient to let her. It is going to be so fun to watch your sister relationship grow!

Micah and you have such similar personalities and I adore it! Even though you look a lot like your sister, you remind me more of him as a baby. He loves to make you laugh and any time he can steal some one-on-one time with you is his favorite. And as the third born, you’ll take any one-on-one time you can get too!

I just want you to know, that getting to be your mom is one of the greatest blessings of my life! I am so thankful that God gave me you. Especially when, just a few years ago, I doubted if I’d ever be able to have children. I’m sure no one looks at me now, three kids later, and thinks about that. But I still do. I still remember the pain of waiting for you.

And now, I live with a different type of pain. A pain that is magnified on days like today… watching you grow up.

(Below are photos from a small birthday celebration we had for Chloe over the weekend! Shoutout to my friends, Jackie Marsh, for baking this AMAZING cake and Nick Carter, for taking a few of these pictures for us!)

October has long been one of my favorite months. It feels like the month that kicks-off ONE BIG PARTY that everyone celebrates until the end of the year! It’s also the month I went on my first date with my husband 13 years ago (getting old!) so there’s something nostalgic and romantic about it. And like a typical Florida girl, I get warm fuzzies as soon as the temperature starts dropping below 80 degrees.

This year it took a lot longer for the weather to cool down, so we kept postponing our annual pumpkin patch trip until last week. Micah, Hannah and Chloe FINALLY got to pick out their pumpkins to perch proudly on our doorstep! I’m thankful for traditions and the memories that go along with them. I can remember going to the pumpkin patch with Micah for the first time - and now here we are with three children and I couldn’t imagine life without any of them (although, I do sweat a little more than I did with one!)

Chloe’s first pumpkin patch experience was so fun! She was super laid-back and chill the whole time. I just love my easygoing, third baby. Can’t believe we are coming up on the big ONE soon!

This morning we joined tons of families in our community and “officially” started back to school! Even though we homeschool, I want my kids to be in sync with their friends and peers when it comes to the school schedule. So today was the day! I planned on getting up before them to cook breakfast - but they must have been super excited, because they woke an hour earlier than normal! So we started our first homeschool lesson together in the kitchen. ;)

They helped me crack and scramble the eggs and measure the cinnamon and sugar for our cinnamon toast. We sat down for breakfast around 8am and started our morning routine. I read to them from The Jesus Storybook Bible while we ate. Micah got his first bible at church yesterday and was eager to look up verses to read along too! This was probably my favorite part of our whole day and something I have been looking forward to doing with them for awhile.

After bible and breakfast, I had Micah and Hannah grab their backpacks while I hid their school supplies and books they would need that day around the house. Then I let them have a little scavenger hunt to find them! This was a last minute idea I found while browsing some ways to make their first day of school special for them.

Once backpacks were packed and on their shoulders, Hannah really wanted to go outside and ring the doorbell to come to “school!” I’m sure any watchful neighbors were humored by that.

They have been so eager to dive into their Math-U-See curriculum so we started with that first! I actually let them do a few pages over the summer, so they were already familiar with it. It was nice to have the video lesson to watch with them before we began. It helped to hear from someone other than me for a change. :) 

After we finished math, we started our new The Good and the Beautiful curriculum for Hannah (Level K Primer) and Micah (Level K). I was impressed! I appreciated that Hannah’s lesson was really short. She could do more, but I would much rather have to add things on top of the curriculum than feel like it is way too much for her to complete or enjoy. Micah, on the other hand, took about an hour to complete his lesson for the day. There was everything from reading, phonics, spelling and poetry memorization. I felt like it was a perfect starting point for him!

We finished everything around 11am and then headed to Chikfila for a celebration lunch on a job well done!