the lucy's lately.

i obviously have fallen behind on documenting our days.  got busy i guess.  but there are things that i never want to forget so i'm going to do a little recap of our recent days (weeks really)!

we took our 5th MLK weekend trip to blowing rock, nc.  it was sk's 4th blowing rock trip.  it was h's first!!  and it was also the first time that we asked people to join us.  what better friends to plan a trip with than our favorite family - the kriner's!  we all had a blast.  j & a went to college up there so they took the twins off to do their own thing some.  we all went ice skating together, lunching together, sledding together, played in the snow together and of course the girls just enjoyed playing in the house together.  we had plenty of snow on the ground, very cool temps, and plenty of sunshine in the sky.  

the kriner family with the snowman.  jk later decapitated the snowman with his boot.  luckily sk did not see this disturbing action take place.  she thinks the snowman's head melted. ha!

little hayes just went along with everything we did!  sweet little snow baby=)

falling asleep while being in charge of the baby is acceptable behavior when the "baby" is the 4th born.  see...she's fine.  other acceptable behavior for the 4th baby in a family...1)not using highchair covers 2)reusing bath towels 3)letting baby wear stained clothes 4)letting baby play on the floor while the older children are dancing & playing and having to jump over baby to get through the living room 5)not having baby back in her crib for scheduled naps 6)forgetting to feed the baby solids and 7) using tap water to make bottles instead of using nursery water every time (sk NEVER had a drop of tap water...haahahaa!)

sledding! sk had already gotten off but these 3 enjoyed sledding so much!

cousins!  where's hayes??

here i am!  nevermind that it's cold in here - go ahead and get the pic.

sledding snow sisters!!

haysie loves auntie ash!

ready to ice skate!!

ava & bryce were pros!  by the middle of their 2 hour time slot, ava was skating without the walker.  bryce could go fast and felt good using it (i would have needed one, thank God for hayes - we watched from the side!)

i'm sorry if this picture gives the impression that sk enjoyed her time ice skating because she did not.  she hated every single minute that she spent on the ice. she was so afraid of falling that she didn't even try really.  she cried.  am i surprised - absolutely not.  please meet miss overly cautious.  sk has had the same cautious personality since before she was born.  she was nearly inactive in the womb - never passed a kick count.  she was very weary about leaving her cozy home in my belly and arrived a day past my due date.  she never ever fell while learning to walk - she would just very slowly ease herself down until she was safe on the ground.  she never tried to climb out of her crib.  she never climbed on anything actually.  she does not run fast.  she cannot do somersaults without alot of assistance.  she does not use the pedals on the tricycle because she prefers her feet to be firmly planted on the ground.  at a very young age she began telling trey, "be careful daddy" anytime she saw him climb a ladder to do household chores.  she does not really jump in her jump house - just skips around.  she does not put herself in any situation where she does not feel 100% in control of her body.  luckily, rides are fine - like any disney world ride & sledding.  ice skating is obviously not fine.  we tried - we did not succeed - we will try again next year!  i'm sorry that she is fearful but at the very same time i'm glad she's cautious.  maybe she'll always proceed with some caution!  she told me on the way to school this morning, "mommy, i'm not old enough to drive yet."  i said, "no you are not.  when you are 15 you can drive with my help and then at 16 you can drive all by yourself."  she thought about that and then said, "you mean, i'll sit in your lap?"  i nearly spewed coffee because it tickled me so.  seriously, if her personality stays the same she probably will want to just sit in my lap at 15 while i show her exactly how to drive.  i got tickled picturing us driving around town like that!

catch a nap where you can, sister!

making & eating smores

oh here is an appropriate ice skating pic.  this is how we felt.

walking around downtown br after lunch.  sk looks annoyed.

 just playing around downtown!

more sledding pics:

sk & brycie

the 3 amigos

jon-jons and brycie

all the girls with frosty

the lucys!

beau beau dog was there as usual.  little buddy had his winter coat on but has an appointment for a haircut this coming friday.  

the 3 girls put on a magnificent show for us.  lots of singing and dancing - i have a pretty funny video that i'll try to upload but it probably won't work.  don't know why i'm not able to do that on here!

meeting up for one last meal near charlotte before parting ways.  sweet cousins=)

and just to compare, this is sarah kate on her first trip to blowing rock:

trey and sarah kate (sarah kate 6 months)

 & wearing the same cold weather gear:

hayes - 6 months

and another.....

sk in her little snow suit...

sarah kate 2010

hayes 2013

and finally, our annual boot pic...

so i guess this post ended up being just about blowing rock.  i took about 400 pics so i guess it deserved a post of it's own.  half of those were taken while holding a baby who was trying to eat my camera so i just had to snap away not really knowing what i was taking a pic of.

more posts to come about our last few weeks.  and i have a really funny little lady turning 7 months on wednesday!!  will post her monthly pic on that day.  can't believe it!





“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

my favorite people.

love them (even dumbo)!

is it friday yet?

so funny because on sunday in church when one of our associate pastors was saying the prayer she prayed that everyone would realize that it is not important to fill their calendars up and to be so busy with "stuff."  that it's not how full your schedule or calendar is that makes you important or worthy.  

2 things.....1)i wonder if her prayer would be worded that way if she had kids...ha!  2) i must have not taken that prayer to heart because oh.my.goodness. my week is out of control busy.  and i guess she's actually right because several things on my plate i have brought upon myself.  i've volunteered to do a couple of things and then said "yes" to everything we were asked to do as far as playdates and such.  add that to school, dance and sk's new art class along with getting my hair did (THE most important thing this week) and our church oyster roast and taking dinner to friends who had a baby and hayes' 6 month appointment and drinks with friends i haven't seen in years.....yikes!! and no i do NOT feel important at all.  it's absurd & i feel like hiding (or maybe sleeping until saturday would be nice? or at least sleeping until i get my hair done on wednesday because my roots are now just plain embarrassing!)

at some point tomorrow my big girl and i are going to step into the kitchen and make some cupcakes.  because she has been asking to make cupcakes for days now & i promised that tomorrow is the big day.  papa's birthday was saturday so we want to invite him over for dinner and cupcakes on thursday night.  my dad is her "bestie" and we get to see him every thursday now which is one of the highlights of her week.    

all that to say this - i am going to document h's first christmas soon! just not right now!  too many pics to go through.  

and let's just pray that i can remember to look at my calendar and make it to all my "stuff."  and honestly, a funny thing about my scheduling issues this week -  today i called the pediatrician's office to find out what day/time h's appointment was because i was at disney when they called to schedule it & i didn't have my calendar with me.  today i was sitting down feeding hayes so i thought it was the perfect time to call & ask.  well, they told me and i repeated it over and over in my head so that i could go write it down when i was finished feeding but by the time she was done eating my mind had already wondered off to something else and i totally forgot the time. HA! real life folks.  at least i know the day.  it's the 10th....i think.  guess i'll call back tomorrow.  i KNOW it's not tomorrow.

i do not like picture-less posts so i'm posting a few from sunday

these pics were not taken free of charge.  i paid sk with a candycane for her cooperation.  the other day i gave her a nickel for her piggy bank for sitting with hayes in a pic.  i'm probably not going to win any parenting awards in this lifetime.  could probably write a best seller on how to effectively bribe your kids though.  i'm sure there will be some repercussions, but for now i have these really special pics (memories) of how sweet & smiley & precious & perfect my little angels were. (laughing!)

hayes would have actually earned 3 candy canes for her photos.  still have a couple years before we introduce candy, plus she luckily isn't in the bribery stage yet.  

sarah kate lucy, you give your sister a kiss right now if you want that candy cane!!!!


look who is sitting up!  she's still a bit wobbly and needs some support but she'll be steady in no time!!


reaping the benefits of her hard hard work....


good night.
=)

a disney christmas 2012.

we took sk down to disney for just an over night trip on december 20th.  we had tickets to mickey's merry christmas party that thursday evening and then regular park tickets for friday.  so late morning on thursday we headed to orlando leaving hayes in folkston with her mimi & papa.  sk didn't know where we were going, but sometime after st. augustine she saw a disney billboard and guessed it.  we shrugged it off and told her it was just a billboard but boy was she excited when we headed into the park entrance!  she knew for sure that she was at the most magical place on earth!

we had alot of fun.  we rode everything that we can ride - she still isn't quite tall enough for thunder or splash mountains but other than that, we did it all!

waiting for the parade to start:

some of sk's favorite's from the parade:

we stayed late and watched the castle slideshow and the firework show.  sk slept through all of that.  we boogied over from our parade spot to the castle & she fell asleep in the stroller.  just like last year.  one day she'll make it and she'll love it!!  trey and i enjoyed it=)  how she sleeps through the loud fireworks and music is beyond me!

friday.  so, the temps on thursday were in the 80's.  friday?  50's.  it was cold, but we were ready for it and ended up staying at the magic kingdom from 10 until about 6.  

sk told sleeping beauty, "hey, i dressed up as you for halloween!!"

she loved rapunzel!

here are 2 of my favorite peeps waiting in line for something!  she was always glad for trey to pick her up during our waits (which were nothing basically).  however in may, who did she want to hold her when the lines were long and i was 7 months pregnant and it was 90 degrees and i was unknowingly losing amniotic fluid by the second?  me.  right. of course.

always a relaxing good time on the people mover.

we missed the rest of our kriner family this year.  and it really did go by SO fast.  but i'm glad we were able to celebrate christmas with sk at the big mouse's house.

more about christmas 2012 to come!

hayes's big day.

~And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”~  -Acts 2:38-39

hayes was baptized on december 16th, exactly 3 years to the day after her big sis.

dougie, yaya, jon-jon, ashley, ava, brycie, sarah kate holding her bff,  mimi, mommy holding the special girl, papa, & daddy

she cried.  imagine that.  she was reaching up for our preacher's face and was going to do just fine, but then he, well, he baptized her.  not a fan of strange men putting water on her head i guess.  it was fine, though.  gary asked sk if she wanted to walk down the aisle with them and she said yes.  i feel like i was just watching him baptize sarah kate and introducing her to her church family.  now it was hayes's turn and baby sarah kate was walking beside him.

i thank God for our church.  we are blessed to be a member of this congregation and we feel like we chose a place where our kid's faith will be nurtured and will grow.  a place where they will learn & where they are loved and cherished.  most importantly we feel that they will have many opportunities to participate in meaningful experiences that will help them see the importance of keeping Christ in the center of their lives.

it was an uplifting day!  we were surrounded by "my whole family" as sk would say.  we all ate lunch together at one of our favorite mt.pleasant restaurants.  i reserved a table in a private area and it was really nice.  we really appreciated all of our family driving to charleston during such a busy time of year!

Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit,
Cleansed by the blood of Christ our King;
Heirs of salvation, trusting the promise;
Faithfully now God's praises we sing.