in a nutshell.

well, september is nearly gone and i've only posted 3 times this month.  that is a sign of too much busyness!  it's a shame because sarah kate is at the peak of cuteness - could she get funnier, sweeter, cuter???  and i have been too "busy" to write any of it down.  and now i'm too tired to remember it all - we have had a bout of sickness with hayes who is all better now but boy was she sick this past weekend. she had a rough go with a high fever and a strep diagnosis. 

 and then there is beau....i'm praying for some good news tomorrow and will update after his appointment but as of now things aren't going well with him.  if his body can benefit from the addition of a new medication then we'll be good to go for a while, but if not - well, if not then our only hope would be a pacemaker and that's just not a common procedure in the vet world and is not the route we will take.  i'll know more tomorrow afternoon.

so anyway, here are the past couple of weeks in a nutshell....(or in pictures with captions)....

a couple of weekends ago we went to the zoo in columbia - mainly to see the elephants (sk's favorite animal) and giraffes (dumbo's favorite animal)

pic in front of the elephants (or the elephant's hiney rather)

feeding the giraffe some lettuce

better shot of the giraffe

this was actually before the carousel started so of course someone had a hard time sitting still and decided to use sister's shoulder as a step to try to climb to who knows where.  

"milking" the cow

miss independent - she loves to try to escape!  i run miles and miles each day chasing after this one.

a little instragram love.  sk was embarrassed by her clashing plaid family.

striking a pose!

so anyway, that was a fun day!

as for the non-zoo days.....

took the devil to the vet.....checked out just fine.

our paci obsession is in overdrive - between the teething and the sickness and starting school - she LOVES them.  here she is with one in her mouth, 2 in her hand, and she's headed up to bed where she has a million more stashed in little secret places around her crib bumper.  houston, we have a problem.

progress.  we aren't really riding the bike yet, but we're pushing it!  gotta start somewhere!!

let's face it - some people are just way cooler than others.  hayes is one of those people. and she's also a trouble maker, she's loud, she's snuggly, she's got more energy than i've ever had in my whole life, she's clumsy, she's brave, she's incredibly smart and coy, she's exhausting, she's friendly & outgoing, and she's so much fun.  she'll be 15 months on sunday and i WILL do a monthly post after that.  it's time.

sweet school girl - loves her after school snack

reading her favorite book

late summer swim with the cousins this past weekend at mimi and papa's

mimi rocking very sick baby hayes in the wee hours of the morning this past saturday.  poor baby's temp climbed to 104.6.  she was burning up.

so papa drove us to urgent care.  hayes is smitten with her papa and we were glad he was able to go with us while mimi stayed with sk.

sk and i went to see branda and josh's new house on saturday night.  sk and benton had a good time in a dirt pile before we left - she was so proud of her dirty little self!  

this baby girl is all better!  we took a wagon ride to our neighborhood playground late this afternoon and she had the best time (as did her big sis!)  AND it actually felt fall-ish in the shade!  we are some big time summer loving lucy girls but fall is inevitable and we are ready!!!  bring on the pumpkins then bring on the christmas fun and then bring on the snowy blowing rock trip.  we are ready for all of it.

more to come (hopefully sooner than later).

a few days in the life....

of hurricane hayes....in no particular order...

driving...

getting down to the tunes flowing from the boat speakers.....

driving.....

sleeping on the boat (sitting up!).....

sleeping in the car (first day of school).....

driving (someone loves sissy's car!).......

sleeping while mommy runs.....

eating (who needs hands?).....

eating (waiting for lunch at charleston's cafe).....

climbing (this has become a problem over the past few days....may have to put all chairs away!).....

"get down, hayes!" so she does "get down" just not down from the chair.....

not sure?  hayes is trying to use the chair to get on top of the table.....

climbing....hayes made it on the table this day but was well protected by her cautious big sis.....

climbing....hayes's favorite part of the day might be bathing (but she hears "sit down hayes" the whole time).....

being still.....this is so rare.  being cute...always!

love our little hurricane!  whew.

school days.

today ended the girls' first week of school and i so fortunately am able to document this week as a complete success!  for both.  hayes gets tired towards the end which i already knew would happen.  she's a trooper though!  she only goes on tues and thurs from 9-12.  i pick her up about 11:45 though.  today she was just crouched down playing with a little spin toy when i came in.  no meltdown at drop off or pick up.  she is in the same room where she goes during church so that probably helps a lot.

the big shocker is that sk does not get in my car at the end of her day all tired and grumpy.  she is going monday - thursday from 9 until 1.  she has been on cloud nine - happy as a clam!  i hope this continues throughout the year.  it's the first time that our transition from summer schedule to school schedule has gone completely smooth.  usually she is just so completely worn out!  anyway, we are proud of them and are excited about the year ahead.

first day pics....

and looking back on sk's 4 "first days" of school at mppc-learning center....

1 year old class - started september 2010.....

2k class - started september 2011......

i remember in this pic - she was catching a few more seconds of jake & the neverland pirates before heading off to school.  also, this is the year that she had the same teacher as she does now.

3k class - started september 2012....

and now, 4k class - september 2013

i really need to do a post devoted just to sweet sarah kate.  and i need to do hayesie's 14 month post but neither will be done tonight!  but sarah kate is just more imaginative and creative than ever and is just so funny!  

love those girls and am praying that they have a completely positive experience at school this year.

the lucys lately (a wordy weekly update).

what a whirlwind kind of week we had last week!  just had quite a few things on our calendar, but we still managed to squeeze in some late summer fun.

tuesday at the beach....

thursday was "meet the teacher" day at the learning center.  sk's teacher is actually her same teacher from her year in 2k!  we love love love "mrs. keller" (but have to call her "mrs. smith" this year....you know, since sk is an "upper classman" and all she'll call her teacher by her last name...haha! sk says, "mrs. smiff.")  and hayes's teachers are the same 2 ladies that sk had when she first started school in the 12-17 month class.  

both girls are excited!  hayes didn't want to leave her classroom after we met with her teachers.  i wonder if she'll cry tomorrow when i drop her off for her first day?!  and when it was time to leave "mrs. smiff's" room, sk said, "not yet, we haven't had snack yet!"  ha...she thought she was there like a regular ole school day i guess.

sweet girls after meeting the teachers and visiting their classrooms.

how precious are these girls!  i love them so.  we have really had a great summer together - i enjoyed them so much!  

i took the girls to the aquarium on friday.  it was the first time hayes has gone since she started walking. i can remember sk's first trip to the aquarium after becoming a walker....it was so fun!  she was a little more into staying beside me though!  hayes is quite adventurous...glad i have my big girl helper....

friday afternoon i took sk to a birthday party at the rec center over on isle of palms.  no pics from that, but i did want to note on here that apparently she loves soccer.  she was ALL about it.  funny seeing her prissy, cautious self run around with all the boys on the field but she was holding her own and was very very proud of herself.  

saturday didn't end well.  too bad 'cute' can't win a ballgame...

ahhh, tough loss to clemson.  hayes is all about calling the dawgs!  she can't really do it yet but she can spin her fist around and loves to watch her sis do it.  

so, we were in mt.pleasant seafood grabbing some shrimp for a low country boil on saturday and a man in the store said to sk, "what team are you rooting for tonight?"  and sk said, "the georgia bulldogs."  then she skipped off and looked and me and giggled, "because i am a georgia peach!"  ha!  she wants to be a georgia peach and gets so frustrated with me when i tell her that she's a south carolina girl.  she's so torn.  she loves charleston.  and she loves georgia.  see - she's like me.....the only thing that would make charleston any better would be if it was charleston, ga.  =)  oh, she also looked at the mounds of cold, raw shrimp and told the man, "we don't like this kind of shrimp.  we like the orange kind."  she's so funny!  i just laughed - yes sk - we like our shrimp orange (aka cooked!)

yesterday we went to church.  sk went down to the children's sermon and the minister was talking about being brave and then she asked the kids to raise their hands if they knew how to swim.  i couldn't even see the kids but all of a sudden i heard sk's voice speak loud and clear, "well, i know how to swim like a mermaid!"  ha!  cracked us up.  sk pretends to be a mermaid a lot and lays on the side of the pool with her legs out and crossed at the ankles (and then she tries to swim with her mermaid "tail").  to my knowledge sk has always remained completely silent during the children's sermon...until yesterday!

that brings me to today...labor day!  for 4 years in a row we did a lucy family picnic downtown for labor day.  but it is still so hot here so we changed it and had our picnic on the beach.  we left the house about 11, got on the boat, and took the boat over to an island where we set up camp for a few hours.  we had the best time!  we definitely have beach/boat lovers in our girls.  they just love it.

praying for a great first day of school tomorrow!!!

(what a wordy post this turned out to be.  bleh.)