I guess most of you know that I live in the country. And when I say that, I mean the COUNTRY. I never really thought it was strange or different growing up. I remember my sophomore year of college, my best girlfriend asked me what I did over the weekend and I said something to the effect of "I went to the barn at my grandparents' farm to see the baby goats." You can imagine her reaction. I am so glad that my girls will have the best of both worlds. They will know about shopping malls and movie theaters, nice dinners and weekend road trips to fun cities. They will also know how much better home-grown strawberries taste and that you don't have to rinse them off before eating them. They will know how to hop a fence and will learn to wave when the tractors roll by, it's most likely their ...
ella
School Girls
The fact of the matter is, I cried. I'll be honest, I've been pretty excited about Ella's first year at Elementary School. I never thought I'd be emotional or upset to leave her. She has been talking about "big school" all summer and we were well prepared. She went shopping with Garan for fabric for her dress, Ella & I made new hairbows a few nights ago and we ordered the perfect pair of shiny, purple shoes. Josh & I went for parent orientation on Monday afternoon and on Wednesday we were able to take Ella back to tour her room and meet some new friends. We spent some time last night packing her backpack, ironing her clothes and getting her lunch together in the fridge. As prepared as we were, I wasn't really ready. I woke up with little arms and legs over my back. She ...
July Update
Why don't we discuss some other pictures of my littles from the FIRST WEEK OF JULY! Y'all, I am taking pictures, I'm just not managing to get them uploaded and blogged in a timely fashion. Surely the cuteness of these two girls in their 'kinis will more than make up for it. Ashley invited us over to their new house to celebrate Westin's first birthday. My girls are a little crazy when it comes to birthday parties and had a blast. Sophie went from ant hill, to water slide, to hosepipe, all followed with a walk from plate to plate to sample everyone's goodies. For whatever reason, my children do not discriminate when it comes to food. They will eat off of anyone's plate, with or without permission! Ella had a lot of fun, too, but she was a little timid about the water. She only wanted to ...
D Day
Last Tuesday was destined to be fairly traumatic. Sophie had her 15 month check up and as bad as those vaccinations can be, she wasn't the one I was most worried about. It seems that since Ella's 4 year old checkup, the vaccination recommendations have changed and the doctor didn't want to wait until her birthday. We decided to kill two kids, er, birds with one stone and let them head to the doctor together. I knew I should just plan to stay home with them afterwards because Ella is afraid of everything and I knew she would be dramatic. To ease the pain of four vaccinations each, I thought it was only fitting that we head to the new Krispy Kreme for hot donuts fresh off the conveyor belt. Who doesn't love KK, right? These photos are beyond deceiving because Ella hated the experience and ...
So, about the beach…
Before we left for the beach, Ella had her second dance recital. As I'm sure you know, most every ballerina gets an arm full of flowers to celebrate her performance. Last year, Ella got pink roses and as beautiful as they were, we left for the beach the next morning and never got to enjoy them. I talked with her about waiting to get flowers when we got home from vacation, but she opted to pick out a prize at the beach instead. She was such a big girl about not having flowers that night, knowing she would be rewarded in a few days. I imagined her picking out a necklace or a new bathing suit or even a silly, unnecessary souvenir. I was not prepared for Courtney. Josh's eyes lit up one night in the camper and I knew what was about to happen. He whispered in her ear that there were crabs you ...
Around Camp
Around camp we... played with our toys, learned some new games on the iPhone, doodled and crafted, read and drank Dr. Pepper, practiced our bike riding skills, went on wagon rides... over, and over, and over, we played in the dirt, and even hung out with our sweet daddy! ...
Splish Splash
I used to laugh at those of you who insisted a pool was a necessity for vacation. My response was always that we had one of those at home and when I was on vacation I wanted my toes in the sand. My experience was once of being young and dumb with no one to care for but myself. Vacations consisted of an endless stack of summer reading and plenty of time to catch some z's. That... was before I had children. Gulf State Park has always been on the primitive side of beach vacations, but I have never complained. Bike rides, ice cream cones and card games has been the norm for our family trips as long as I could remember. When I heard they were building a pool at the Lake Pavilion, I even chuckled to myself that we would NEVER waste our time at the pool when we could be beach-side. Fast forward ...
Sun and Sand
What's a vacation without the beach, right? I used to be one of those girls that could wake up and head to the beach at 7 o'clock and stay until sunset. Being a mom changes your schedule. Not only do we have to break for lunch and nap time, but I am considerably more hot natured post-pregnancy and need some air conditioning in my life! Since we have to drive to the beach, there is no "running up to the room" to fix a quick snack, we take it all with us. The Gulf State Beach Pavilion is our favorite beach in the state. It is beautiful and the facilities are so nice. I can remember for several years after Hurricane Ivan that we toughed it out with no real shade or restrooms and it is so nice to have a beautiful pavilion back. There are showers and restrooms, plenty of picnic tables and a ...