October 01, 2012

Splish Splash...

Her 3 Year Old Birthday Bash!
{Posted in October, sheesh! Hang in there with me - life gets busier the bigger they get!} 


Summer birthdays make for easy peasy birthday parties. 

















Lucy Mills had a wonderful birthday party and we are so thankful for sweet friends and family who celebrated this milestone with her.  More birthday pictures to come! {Hopefully.}

August 22, 2012

Catching Up on the Rest of Summer {iphone}

Is it fall yet?
I am so over this heat and ready for all things pumpkin spice and football related.
It has been a fun summer though and with lots of travels for this typically homebound mama.

But I will start off with a picture of what life looks life having a toddler aged boy in the house...
Yep.  That would be the entire roll of Charmin Mega Roll, Extra Soft toilet paper.  Oh McClain, your nickname around our house has gone to Superbud to Wild Man.

Here we are at McClain's 18 month check up back in June.  Healthy as a horse. 

 I went to Greenville in June to have some sister time.  Susan and I went to the Lady Antebellum concert and it was fabulous! Preconcert we indulged in the most amazing skinny margarita on the planet.
A quick pic at the concert.   
 We had a blast together even though around the late hour of say 10:30, my sis looked at me and said You're ready for bed, aren't you?  Goodness gracious when did I get old?!

I took Sweet Girl to her 6 month post op eye appointment in June.  The good news is her eyes are straight as arrows.  The other news is that her left eye still has an astigmatism.  We have to patch the other one 1 to 2 hours a day in hopes of strengthening the weaker eye.
That afternoon while she was wearing her eye patch PopPop came over for a fun game of this one or this one?  If you have never played, it's a complicated game where the children guess which hand he put his college ring in.  I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried y'all.  The children love this game and play it with each other now.
The swimming pool has been our saving grace this summer.

Tickling the ivories.
In June Lucy Mills attended vacation bible school at a local church and she loved it.  I wasn't sure how she would do being gone every morning that week, but she had a blast.  McClain had a hard week without Sissy Mills being home as often.  He kept asking for her all.morning.long.
In July we lived out of these things.
Life at the beach.






I love having a little girl!  I took Lucy Mills to get her first mani/pedi while at the beach. Like mother, like daughter.

When we got home from the beach Travis took the children's car seats apart to give them a good cleaning.  I think we could have feed a small country with all of the bits and pieces of goldfish, french fries, etc that were hiding in those chairs!
Don't their legs look long in the picture?

I am probably the last person to find out about Puddle Jumpers.  Not the shoes, the water floats! They are the cutest, safest water floats that I have found for the children.  And they are super easy to take on and off of them.  The kids apparently loved them too and not only wear them in the pool but out of the pool as well.


Here is what I have in mind for Lucy Mills' 3rd birthday. (3rd!!!)

Watching a little Olympics with Daddy and eating potato chips.

What happens when Suggie babysits...
Those would be the frozen vegetables that Wild Man got out of the freezer and decorated my kitchen floor with.  He won't eat them cooked but frozen, he likes them.  Sheesh!

Travis had to work in Las Vegas last month and I got to go with him! I was so thankful that my wonderful in-laws took great care of the children so Travis and I could enjoy a fun trip together.  While there I meant to take pictures of the beautiful hotel, the mountains, the swimming pools, the casinos...nada.  Didn't take a picture of any of those things.  What I did take one of was the world's biggest chocolate fountain.  The thing was massive!
Basically you know the way to my heart now.

With the very first paci's they had as infants.  Tear.

My new favorite way to do Lucy Mills' hair.  I start doing a French braid on both side and then combine them into a ponytail.  It's super quick, keeps her hair out of her face, and we still get to wear a big bow.

Well that should at least catch us up for the first half of summer.  More memories coming! 

August 02, 2012

For the Sake of Comparison

Here is a look back at our first summer at the beach.
I remember thinking how much life had changed with one child.  Vacation wasn't vacation anymore, it was work just with a change of scenery.  Lucy Mills was 11 months old in this picture and McClain was due to arrive 4 and 1/2 months later. 

Summer 2011:
 Lucy Mills was 23 months old and McClain was 7 months old. 
Both were at such sweet ages, both were babies. 

Summer 2012:
Lucy Mills is 2 years and 10 months here and McClain is 19 months. 
While looking back I often do miss them being tiny babies, but I have to say that I love the stage we are in.  The childrens' individual personalities are developing and they are so much fun to be around.  I love that they have each other to play with, talk to, and experience life with.  

July 15, 2012

More Beach Time

They could have sat here all day playing in the sand and watching the tide roll in and out.
The first few days at the beach Lucy Mills was cautious and would not walk into the water without holding my hand.  Eventually she warmed up and this was where she was happiest.
Lucy Mills and Anna Heath jumping the waves together.  Sweet girls!
While the girls were doing their thing, McClain was doing his...
flirtin' with pretty girls on the beach.
 Literally, he would go up to any girl on the beach, lift up her hat and plant a big wet kiss on her lips.  Apparently his charm worked because no one ever complained.  This happened everyday y'all.
I felt like his theme song for the week was I'm Sexy and I Know It. 
Heaven help me when this boy is a teenager!
Maybe Miss Rule Follower can help us straighten him out.
Every morning she would come get in bed with us and say Mama, I need to snuggle with you.  Followed with can we go to da ocean dis day? 
Sure.  We can go to the ocean this day.

July 12, 2012

Sweet Summertime

Can we just live here? Is the question I was asking myself during our 10 days at Litchfield.  
Having Daddy all to ourselves, no meal planning, bills to pay, errands to run, floors to clean, and the only decision I had to make was were we going to the ocean or the pool.  Yes, vacation is a wonderful thing.  
It's an added sweetness that I have the joy of seeing my children sink their toes into the same shore that I did as I child.  Lucy Mills and McClain are the third generation in the family to make summertime memories at this beautiful place. 
Travis and I enjoyed the children so much this trip.  They both really took to swimming and we couldn't tear our little fish away from the water at the end of the day.  
I loved our walks on the beach, watching McClain nose dive into the ocean waves, seeing Lucy Mills' confidence grow in the swimming pool, sipping wine on the balcony at night, getting mother/daughter pedicures, hearing little voices ask for more "sunscream," sleeping in until 10:30 one morning thanks to my loving husband, having sister time at the pool, seeing the F-16 fly over on the 4th, and many more memories. 
Time is flying by.  These are the moments I desperately want to bottle up and revisit over and over again.