lollipop girls.

we had some birthday beach pics taken of the girls in july.  i'm still sorting through them but i love these tutu/lollipop pics.  sk the actress in full effect….  

celebrating 5 and 2 with lollipops and tutus and the beach and sweet summer time. 

 lucky little charleston girls!

sarah kate goes to kindergarten.

sarah kate has completed her first week of kindergarten!! 

we woke her up at 6:30 so that we could leave the house by 7:20.  she is normally a late sleeper but she very happily hopped right out of bed.  this was the case ALL week!  she was excited each morning….oh how i wish that excitement would stay forever!!  i used a chalk paint pen to make her sign.  she has wanted to be a doctor for a long time now so i knew she'd say that.  she has a fabulous teacher and assistant teacher - we are blessed and thankful.

what a cutie pie!  there were no tears (from her).  she took it all in quietly and i wanted to just die when it was time for us to leave her.  but she got in the car monday afternoon all smiles and full of energy!  my mom was in the car with me and asked what her favorite part was and she said, "i loved everything!"

i have a few more pics from my cell phone that i'll add later (maybe….let's face it, i'm not a good blogger anymore!)

we are so proud of sarah kate!  for being so brave and positive and happy and for just enjoying herself! such a blessing.  hayes and i do miss her during the day, but the time goes by fast.  we are enjoying some one on one time…sk and i had 3 years of that so now it's h's turn i suppose!  it has been HOT here so hayes and i have either gone to the pool or beach everyday since tuesday!

i know the newness of kindergarten will wear off and we'll probably go through tired days, grumpy days, and off days, but for now i'm just going to enjoy every second of my extremely HAPPY kindergartener!!  we are loving her stories from school.  more to come (hopefully)!

st. john

trey and i went to st. john for 4 nights.  it was heaven.

we took the girls to folkston on july 24th and flew out of jacksonville the next morning.  it was our anniversary trip and i'm so glad we decided to go to caneel bay.  what an awesome resort!  

it was a trip full of relaxation!!  aside from snorkeling each day and hiking in the mornings, we really just relaxed on the beautiful beaches, read books, talked, floated in the beautiful crystal clear waters, sipped on pina coladas, enjoyed massages in open-air beach cabanas, enjoyed a sunset cruise, ate scrumptious dinners and of course enjoyed all the beauty & sunshine that was all around us!  

trey getting his float on ;)

our resort is a national park as well so there were friendly donkeys, deer, iguanas and mongooses all around.  

these iguanas were lounging by the bar.  i also spotted some on a basketball court when we went off the resort to walk around the town of st. cruz.  they are big!

hiking

sunset cruise (in the cabin because we went through some rain - only rain we had the whole time thank goodness!!!!)

selfie on the first night

then we wised up and decided to put the camera on auto - big dorks, but how else do you get "couple" pics to document that yes, you went on a kid-free vacation and no, it was not a dream??

our underwater snorkeling pics are on another computer, but i'll add them when i can.  we saw so many sea turtles! it was so fun!

we had the best time and i'm so thankful that we got to go!!  we are REALLY thankful to my parents for keeping the girls.  we know it was a lot to ask and that they can be a handful.  they had a great time!  they swam and swam, went to build a bear, played at home and outside, and went shopping for new cowgirl boots!  going to jax twice meant going to moe's twice so sk was in heaven.  we are very grateful for the time we were able to spend together in such a beautiful place while our girls were with their beloved mimi & papa.

now back to reality. back to getting sk prepared for kindergarten….another post for another day.

FIVE!

i'm way behind but my big girl is due a birthday post!

she woke up a happy little five year old on july 6th.  she opened her presents from her mommy & daddy….

finally….an elsa dress!

new rod and reel from daddy (which she has already caught a shark on…maybe more on that in another post)

sk (with her wet nails from her new beauty kit) proud of her mulan dress, frozen night gown and sleeping beauty night gown.

ready for church

birthday lunch of choice: welcome to moe's

and later that afternoon we converted our living room to a movie theatre where sk and her friends (& ava & bryce!!) watched frozen, ate pizza & cupcakes & cookies & popcorn & princess gummies, played pin the carrot nose on olaf, and dance & played. 

mimi & papa came to celebrate….papa doesn't like to miss a good princess movie

i would make a horrible photographer…i didn't realize ava and sophia really couldn't be seen.  anyway, the birthday crew.  seems elsa is a strong favorite!  

movie time!  that is a coffee stain on our rug.  and it drives me completely insane.  trey says we'll replace it when our kids are older and quit making messes.  well really??? guess who spilled his coffee there!?!?

dancing during 'let it go' of course

see, there's papa…enthralled.  i wasn't joking, he really loves princess movies.  

sk had the best day from beginning to end…she loved her 5th birthday so much!  the day after her birthday, the girls and i drove down to our family beach house in fernandina for a week and we had so much fun!!  i'll have to do a post on that as well as other summer happenings.  both girls had their milestone appointments and all is well - will document soon.  for now i am busy packing for a little trip that i'm so so so excited about. ;)

sarah katherine lucy - you are FIVE!!  can't believe it.  can't believe in just a few weeks you are heading off to kindergarten….you are excited!! you are a sweet, creative, giving, caring, sensitive, quirky, sometimes moody, smart, and cautious.  but along the cautious lines you have really reached some milestones this spring/summer and made great gains in physical areas:  you are a very good swimmer!  lots of practice this summer has given you confidence and you can now swim all around the pool.  you can swing all by yourself - no help needed at all.  you ride your bike all around the neighborhood & to the pool - with training wheels but still….it was a big deal for you since you were terrified to ride when you first received your big bike for your 4th bday.  

more to come!  we love you SO much, sarah kate!

she's two!

hayes is 2!  her big day was sunday and she enjoyed her birthday so much.

good morning birthday girl

hey lookie there….the 2 year old shared one of her birthday balloons with sissy!  it's a birthday miracle.

my sunglasses loving girl got a new pair for her special day!  she's loving her new baby doll furniture from her mimi & papa.

ready for church….precious birthday girls!

love this girl!  she has a big ole personality!  i can't believe it has been 2 years since we welcomed our little 5 pounder into the world.  sometimes it feels like she has been here as long as sk.  can't imagine life without her!

birthday brunch at red drum

birthday brunch with yaya & dougie

cupcake celebration for both girls while yaya and dougie were here!

clockwise from top left: just born baby hayes,  just getting home baby hayes,  hayes & mommy on her second birthday, & hayes on her first bday.  she's so stinking cute!  

some things hayes says:

"where'd daddy go?" 

"where'd trey go?"

"where'd sissy go?"

"where'd sarah kate go?"  (she says sarah kate perfectly.)

notice a pattern….we LOVE asking where people have gone.  so you can imagine how much fun mommy had this past week while sk was at camp.  i may have been asked 50 million times where sissy was.  dance. dance. dance. dance. dance.  finally i turned it around, "i don't know hayes, where DID sissy go?"  her answer…"art."  

"i do it, mama."

"i need paci, mama."

"i need snack, mama.  need snack."

"i need milk."

"i need pretzels, mama."

"i sorry, mama.  timeout?"

"NO!"

"i need shoes."

"i need crocs, mama."

"i need toms, mama." (we are opinionated about our footwear).

"NO!"

"i get dressed, mama."

"mama watch this!"

"more cheese pease!"

"where lamby?"

"sissy whiney.  sissy timeout?"

"daddy's a stinky boy!"

"trey stinky boy."

"need diaper change, mama!  poo-poo.  hiney." (then she laughs.  awesome.)

"NO!  MINE!" 

"NO SISSY. DAT MINE!!!"

"sissy share."

"scuse you, mama." "scuse you, chair." (scuse you anything that is in her way!  never "excuse me.")

"i need glasses." 

"toe hurt, mama, kiss it!"

"i see dolphin."

"ice ceem!!!"  (she's a big fan).

yesterday hayes said this to me…."where'd beau beau go, mama?  jesus."  i guess she has heard us talk to sissy about it so much.  i told her that beau beau was probably chasing birds in heaven and sarah kate said, "i bet everything is prettier in heaven.  i wish i was with beau beau."  so sweet….she wasn't being morbid or depressed she was just wanting to see the beauty!

"mama hold you!!!" (when she wants me to pick her up.)

favorite books:

the very hungry caterpillar, brown bear brown bear and goodnite moon.

favorite color: BLUE

favorite food: cereal, scrambled eggs, peaches, cheese, yogurt, yogurt covered raisins

favorite snack: pretzels, bunnies and fruit smoothie pouches

favorite activity: playing outside, swimming, boating, building blocks, coloring, jumping up and down in her crib or on the little trampoline

i'll record her stats after her appointment later this month.

mary hazel lucy!  you are TWO!  and you are very smart, very funny, very impatient, very talkative, very active, very sweet, very stubborn, very independent yet very needy (yes…people can be both extremes apparently), very silly, very very coy, very bossy, very cuddly, and very precious.  we love you!