Scenes From Our Weekend

Elle went to the races this weekend and was our good luck charm both in corn hole AND in horse picking!

Nap time always works in the baby carrier {especially with Daddy}

He didn't mind one bit, trading in his bow tie and bourbon, for a baby on his belly while hobnobbing with the South's finest ....love him for this {and so many other reasons}!

 Even Elle was enamoured with Cole Babb's madras!

Elle's first game!

What a perfect day with wonderful friends and our little family!

Love to you all,

M, Em, & Elle

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our little family!

And what a special Easter it was. . . our prayer is that one day soon, Elle will realize the weight of this day, the immeasurable price that was paid for HER on that cross and the incredible power of His resurrection!!  

Easter is always such a beautiful reminder of new life. . . dogwoods blooming, Michael's garden growing, and babies crawling (well ALMOST crawling around the floors!)  

And this year - perhaps more than ever before- we are also reminded that Jesus' death and resurrection not only promises us eternal life, but also abundantly full life here and now.

Because Jesus paid our debt, we are free to live eternally; but we are ALSO granted the freedom to live and experience more in this beautiful world than our hearts and minds could ever imagine. 

We have the chance now to spend our days living the most remarkable of stories.

His dreams are much, MUCH bigger than ours. . . we can't wait to see where HE leads our family this year!

Look at that baby giggle. . . 

My prayer is for THAT kind of JOY this year!

Happy Easter to you ALL!

Love,

The Knotts Three

5 Months!!

Five months of pure BLISS with this fiesty, happy little girl!

She sure does make this parent thing seem easy....always smiling, giggles on command, and sleeps like a champ!  We truly couldn't ask for more!

Love you, Elle Belle - so VERY very much!

Elle Lately

It's official...she's stolen our hearts!

Just when we think we can't love her any more, she finds 500 more ways to enchant us with her joyful, exuberant spirit.

Though she can't quite put it into words, our Ellery Gray has quite the way of letting us know she loves us fiercely.  

Here's about how it goes when she sees a face she loves . . . 

shakes with joy,

bunches up her nose,

squeals with delight,

opens her mouth,

leans in for a kiss &

buries her head in your shoulder - nuzzles in real tight.

That's an Elle greeting!

And there's nothing like it in this whole world.

{I sometimes disappear for a little while just so I can come home to that goodness}

During her fifth month, Elle has sunbathed on the boat, planted a garden, helped Mama decorate homes, learned to hold her own bottle, endured her first real cold, taken many jogs in the Bob & made friends just about everywhere she went!

{Such a big girl!}

{Sometimes all the kids come on a walk}

{Elle loaned me her stroller at the flea market....she much prefers Mama's arms anyways!  She made SO many friends that day!  One gentleman even wrote her name down, saying he'd watch for her in the movies. . . she had a whole crowd enraptured with her giggles and smiles.}

{Helping Mama & Daddy decorate the latest Knotts Builders model home}

{She thinks everything is funny these days!  Especially the "ABC song" and just about anything Daddy does.}

Every day with her is a gift and we can't wait to see what next month holds.

We love you, Elle Belle!!

Hello Spring!

Spring is here and SO much more filled with life this year than ever before.  

It's hard to believe that this is Elle's first everything. . . first GREEN leaves on trees, flowers blooming, lettuce growing in the garden - everything is twice as magical this year!

We've had such a fun start to the season.  Lots of family time, loads of walks and runs (in her new Bob stroller- thanks to Pops & Lula), and so many park play dates with friends!

"Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

Hosea 6:3

I read this somewhere this week and was again reminded of how blessed I am to experience all of these FIRSTS with Elle:

"Our children are the warmth that we leave in the world long after our own fires are extinguished. The gravity of those early years is hard to imagine when we dream of writing headlines, performing surgery, drafting legislation or publishing books, as opposed to changing nappies, mediating Lego disputes and doing the bedtime routine – but it’s profound.

Once kids start school, they enter a vortex from which they never return to be fully, totally ours again; time with them is negotiated around a timetable of school days, weekends, social lives, activities, term dates and holidays.

And they emerge young adults, with dreams, plans and all those forks in their own roads to navigate. Much of their journey will be done without us. We will never stand by their side as we do in those first five years.

So for those of you fidgeting at home today with a restless baby, for those who have been interrupted by a toddler 20 times while you read this, I can promise you one thing. You will never regret the sacrifices you make for them now.

It may not be possible to fully appreciate the beauty of this time while you are in the midst of it. But one day, sooner than you can imagine, you will be standing on the other side of this chapter, trying to remember how their skin smelt, how their body felt sitting on your hip, head on your shoulder – and you will be filled with gladness for every moment, good and bad, that you experienced with them."

Each day with our sweet girl is a gift!
Her open mouth kisses, morning smiles, contagious giggles, sweet spirit & exuberant personality are the good stuff of life.
Soaking it all in. . .

From her tiny little toes . .

 
. . .to a face that melts our hearts

We love you, Elle Belle!

Happy Spring

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
Isaiah 43:19