Living, Loving, Learning

Brandy and Myles hosted a wonderful pool party yesterday!!  We had an amazing time!  Griffin is a little fish and Lucy is well on her way growing her fins.  These boys were so so happy to be able to spend one more afternoon together before their long summer vacation separation.  They are too funny!  Remember this colored sunscreen from the 80's??  I have been looking for it for soooo long and finally found some .  It looks silly, yes, but when you are spending a lot of time in the water it is sooo helpful.  When the color wears off  you know that it is time to apply sunscreen again.  Perfect for our fair skin and my OCD concerning sunburns!

Lucy had her very first dance recital last night.  I have to tell you, it was a major dream come true for me.  From the moment the ultrasound tech told me, "It's a GIRL", I started weaving dreams for this wee one.  I am not sure why a dance recital was one of my first and most vivid daydreams, but there it was.  I feel to blessed and thankful that not only did that day come, but Lucy loved it and had an absolute blast participating.  Truly a miracle when one considers the type of child she was for the first 2 1/2 years of her life!  Part of what made this such an extra special experience is that we were able to go through it with a couple of our dearest friends.  It was so fun for me to be able to spend the practices and the flurry of activity leading up to the big night with my dear friend Mandy and also make some new wonderful friendships with other Moms in the process.  So this is the best family photo out of about 20 taken...

 This fall we have gone to a couple of  the local high school football games with our dear friends, the Adlers.  Brandy's Mama is an AMAZING fabric artist, and she made Lucy and Myles matching t-shirts.  I mean, come on, could they be any cuter??!!!  (Sorry for the blurry photos, it is hard to catch these two in a still moment!)  If I was down with arranged marriages, the paperwork for this union would have already been drawn up!  Myles is such a love bug and he finds Lucy totally irresistible.  He is always trying to sneak in a hug or pat, much to Lucy's dismay! It is totally adorable! As much as she acts like she doesn't want the attention sometimes, all week it's Myles  Mybles this, Mybles that!   Griffin has been loving going to the games too!  He spends 5% of the time watching the game and 95% of the time hanging out with his good friend, Danye.  It is such a safe place, we felt good giving him ...

Well, the weather doesn't reflect it yet, but our summer ended a couple of weeks ago with Griffin going back to school. Now, another boy is gone too! Lucy's dear friend Gabe starts pre-school this week and so he won't be able to join us for our standing Wednesday playdates. This was the last playdate for these 5 friends for a while. This is the first time they seemed to really play together at the playground vs. parallel play. They had a great time huddling, assigning parts and setting a new world in motion. And WOWZA that playground is DIRTY!!!!

We got to go camping AGAIN! I feel so lucky. This time we went with our amazing friends Dan and Brandy and their wee one, Myles (or Mybles if Lucy is calling him.) Myles is Lucy's best bud and he loved Griffin big time. They had an awesome time playing together all weekend. We went to a campground in LBTL National Park. It was a beautiful campground, clean, quiet and shady (so important as it is SUPER hot and humid down here now!) We actually saw a decent amount of wildlife just at the campground. Deer, normal and albino skunks and an ARMADILLO! He was soooo cool looking. We kept thinking, it can't be and armadillo, could it? But after some asking around we found out that recently there have been many in the area. On Saturday we drove down to the south end of the park, into TN, to the Homeplace, a working 1850's farm. It was children's day at the farm and there was so much for the kids see and do. We had such a good time despite the heat. The kids were so interested i...

We have been able to have a few really fun park play dates lately. Just thought I would post the best pictures from those days because I think I was the only one with a camera. Enjoy Ladies, you and your kiddos are so important to us, we love you!

Lucy is having the best birthday week EVER! On Wednesday, the playgroup decided to have an adventure and we gathered up the carpool and headed to the CMOE museum. We all had a blast, the Moms as much (or even a little more) than the kids. I mean who wouldn't have fun with 5 amazing, smart, healthy, kind, fun 3 year olds!! There was so much to see and do there, and we had enough time to let everyone explore each area as long as they wanted. Curiously, their attention spans were very similar and they were all ready to move on at the same time. I love seeing their unique personalities and all their individual little friendships forming. This post is picture heavy, but as I was the designated photo maker, this is the best of the 180 photos I made that day. They had a room with a stage, loud music and a bunch of chairs. It took these 3 about 10 seconds to figure out what to do....Lucy and Myles are a tad bit more reserved, but they joined them on stage about a minute later. I...