Anticipation....

The Carly Simon song is definitely in my head today. Despite having a crazy busy week with getting out of our Summer laid back routine into VBS craziness, I am on cloud nine. Why? It is my third favorite day of the year!

My first fave day of the year is the day before Thanksgiving. I don't know why... I guess it is just the day before holiday season begins, it is usually cool, and we always have fun stuff to do, whether it be cook great food, prepare for family visits, or pack cute clothes to head to a feast. My second fave day of the year is Christmas Eve. It has always been the most exciting day, and has excelled in excitement with the addition of my own children and nieces and nephews having that Christmas spirit. I love candlelight services, I love driving an looking at decorations, and I love picking out cute PJs to have photo ops in the am.

But my THIRD fave day is the day before Market! My best childhood friend and I braved out four years ago to Market in Atlanta after we both found out we were having little girls a week apart. We knew then we had a tradition started. Since then our crowd has grown, with the addition of my sister, neighbor, and mutual friends. It is the one time a year all of us moms get to shop in THREE buildings 13 stories tall of great stuff, marked at wholesale prices. I don't carry any diapers, or fruit chews, or sippy cups. I carry water for me, a pack of gum, and I only go to the restroom if I have to go. We don't worry if we wait two hours to eat that someone will show out, and we definitely don't worry about bedtime or naps. It is an awesome experience for a mom to check out of that daily life and go wear yourself completely out somewhere other than the local YMCA pool.

I love my life, I love my little girls, I love my friends' kids, and I love my husband for giving the opportunity to play mommy all day long. But I think I love him JUST as much that he sends me away for two nights with some cash, credit card, and the promise to only call if needed!

And that is why I will toss and turn with excitement all night!

Happy Fourth of July!

Why we love Blue Ridge

As I mentioned before, we just took our annual Blue Ridge trip. We look forward to this time each year. It gives us a chance to turn off electronics, (including hair dryers... therefore few pictures of me...) do nothing more productive than running after fireflies, and building memories with close friends. Still don't understand the draw in Blue Ridge? Let me give you a better picture.

This is what it is like in our house normally. Note the mound of laundry, and the little girl who has lost a nice bow, but ironically found chocolate somewhere in her reach...

To kids, enjoying every moment spent on a huge front porch....

Only 50 more weeks until our next trip!

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....