Things around here....

It has been a busy few weeks around here! Besides our usual summer fun, we have had a family reunion weekend ( and I mean weekend) with tons of new family to meet. Sophie has been in swimming lessons every morning for two weeks, and we have a shower/brunch at our house to prepare for tomorrow. In the midst of that, our house was hit with strep, hand foot and mouth disease, and now I have laryngitis. Lovely! We will see how two girls do with a mommy that can't talk. There will probably be no trips out for us today... I could see that ending not so well with a little one that loves to run!

Despite our busy schedule, we have our favorite week of the year coming Sunday. It is our annual Fathers Day trip to the mountains! Our good friends have a family cabin on the Toccoa River in North Georgia. The cabin is awesome... three floors of open spaces, family games, and three huge porches. The best part? The river is perfect for tubing! Whenever Lee and I get hot or stressed during the year we remember that river and look forward to freezing and catching up with old friends as we float past beautiful scenery. Sophie and Harper love it as well. Their pal Charlie will be there, and the kids have a blast. Charlie has a little brother coming in September, and we are doing our best to make some matches in the years to come!

For a few girly updates- Harper is our songbird these days! You can tell what her favorite tune is, because she knows the ABC song, Twinkle Star, and her newest is Baa Baa Black Sheep. She walks around with a song in her head most of the time. It is so cute to watch her just bounce along to the music in her mind! Sophie has enjoyed her summer so far. Swimming lessons started a little rough, but she is learning to love her time with her teachers and has impressed me with getting the steps of swimming. She is definitely not a fish yet, but working on it!

A Grand time

My sister and I decided a few weeks ago that our kids needed a getaway annually at a fantastic place... you know, we would sacrifice and take them there, just so they could have a memory of their time each summer. We just KNEW they would love the Grand Hotel in Fairhope. We decided why not make our annual spot somewhere we would enjoy too!! We had a great time watching the cousins play. They all had fun, Lori and I only had one for real fall down moment, and no one stared too hard at us as we tromped through the restaurant with five kids! Score one for us! We made our trip just in time, one day ahead of the terrible oily goop that is now washing ashore. I guess next year that means more pool time!

My new Site

I started a new blogspot today called "My Naptime Hobby". I am going to start putting all my sewing stuff on a site so all those who don't see posts or get pictures emailed can see my projects! It is called naptime hobby because that is my best time to sew. (You can find the new site under My profile. Follow it!)

The ironic thing about setting up this new site is that Harper was playing in the playroom while I was dragging pictures onto the site. So, honestly, my full attention wasn't on her. True to little Harper, she got a SACK OF FLOUR and just dumped it on the floor. And that, friends, is why I only do stuff during naptime.

Summer Mission

See those sleeping little Angels? See how they are stuffed in that bed? We are not cruel parents, making our kids share a small space. They actually WANT to be together! I have said since we found out that we were having girl #2 that I wanted them to share a room. My sister and I did, and although there were lots of arguments growing up, we truly enjoyed sharing a room. Lee didn't believe me. So now that both girls are old enough to have some sort of say about bedtime, they request to be together, even if it is in a little toddler bed!

So, our mission this summer is to take both girls and make one bedroom for them. I am SO excited about this project! Now all I have to do is pick the perfect theme to match both personalities....

Summertime...

Sophie finished school last week. She only went twice a week, but getting us all ready for two days without Sophie was enough for her first year! With all her activities (and my days with just Harper to tote or entertain while Sophie did activities) is over. It was hard to explain to a three year old with other three year old friends who also didn't understand that they wouldn't see their teacher this summer, would not be together next year, etc, was a little difficult. When we left her end of year party, all the little friends just said see you next week, or whatever the equivalent is in little kid speak. So Friday, the first official day with no schedule, I had to make a point.

Sophie got up, and ran to our room, earlier than usual. "Hey mommy, is today Summer?" I explained it was. "So today is it. Summer. Okay, so what do we do for Summer?" After an hour of failed attempt of my explanations, we loaded up the car and headed to Target for all things summer. I called a few friends, and two hours later, introduced summer to my girls. Two pools that made mommy blue from blowing them up, filled with cold water. A slip n slide that looked way cooler on the box than what we actually could do with it. A cooler full of cold water and capri suns, at kids reach at all time. Sunscreen. Aloe. Rice Krispy treats. Water Balloon remnants littering the yard. After 6 straight hours and two water logged kids, Sophie declared summer was fun.

The next weekday our neighbors happened to move and we inherited a semi-new trampoline. After a safety net installation, day two of summer was spent jumping our hearts out. Summer is even cooler now.

Day three of summer was spent at the YMCA pool with friends, splashing indoors with no worries of sunscreen burning our eyes, or grass getting in our wading pools. Yep, the summer is definitely awesome.

Today? We are going to the grocery store... for every summer needs a day off too, right? But don't worry, I will think today and have a fabulous Friday planned!

I love being a mommy of one little girl that knows there are fun things to do, and one little girl that gets excited because big sister tells her to.

Typical Wednesday

Here is the email I sent Lee earlier to keep him updated on our day

Subject- 9:48

just finished cleaning the playroom with NO help. i bribed with chocolate to no avail. i walked out of the playroom and found harper ON TOP OF THE BAR. i guess she climbed on the stool, then the bar chair, then the bar. i got her down, saw sophie's books were all pulled down and all the princess stuff was out, which I had already cleaned. cleaned it up. walk back into the playroom and harper is now in the bitty baby high chair wobbling back and forth... all kitchen food pulled out again. get her out, put up food, walk into living room. she is now on the end table HOLDING THE LAMP.... with the light on. I think they are both going for a two hour bath.

Sayings I won't correct

Now that Sophie is getting older, we are really on her to speak very clearly and get ready to enter the big world with understandable language. However, today, there are certain phrases I have decided I just won't fix:

"Mommy, I am sweatering!" She isn't a fan of the heat.

"I want my bear cubbers". That is what she says when she is tired and cold, meaning the bear quilt better come soon.

"Him hurt him Hiney." Never fails, everytime she watches three little pigs she bursts into laughter and yells that when the big bad wolf falls into the bucket of boiling water. What is getting funnier is that Harper now does it too!

There are tons more, and next time she says one, I may have to update the list...