Hanging out and The Aqu@rium

Taking turns with the Leapster.

such focus!
What was that??
Yep, this is how the Pixie and the Princess like to hang out.
OOH...Mama would never let me have this!
Enjoying it while I can, that's not water!
At the Aquarium, well the Gulfarium..
Ummm, nope not gonna pose here.


Kasey getting up close

You want me to look where???



Yesterday, Ms.Debra hung out with the kids at home while Daddy and I went to enroll the Princess in her Pre-K and do a few errands. Let me tell you it was so strange not toting two little girls around with us! But a nice break, we were able to pick out some things for the house, get the paperwork done for the Princess to start school and even go to the store before heading home to cook dinner. Thank you Ms. Debra!!!

As you can see the girls were showing her how they like to dress, yes they were in those dresses for about half the day. Sadly though, it all has been a bit much for the Princess and she had what can only be described as a Meltdown that started last night and went on through this morning:( So today Mama made the tough decision to stay home alone with her and sent everyone else off to the Aquarium. Not an easy thing but the right thing. She cried her little heart out for a few minutes but then seemed to accept that they really weren't waiting any longer for us, pulled herself together and asked for lunch and then a nap. She was an angel the rest of the afternoon and this evening. I don't know but I think it was just the stress of company, trying to be good and being completely over tired. So a tough decision and not easy to say to her "No, they are going, WE are not" but definitely what she needed. Hopefully that will be the only thing she misses out on these next few weeks.

You can see the others had a good time checking out the dolphins, and sea life at the Gulfarium, though Ms. Debra thought it was a bit pricey. Not to mention HOT so I'm sure that didn't help. She tells me the Pixie was very good so I am glad they had a good time at least. By the time they came home, the Princess and I had taken advantage of the quiet and cleaned up the house to get ready for tomorrow's cookout.

We are so excited that Ms. Melissa is coming and bringing the boys, we have set up a pool and I think we are setting up the bounce house in the back yard as well so tomorrow should be full of lots of photo ops! Happy 4th everyone!!!

**Busy,busy**

They made it!!
The pixie, Karen, the princess, and Kasey
The pixie get cozy with Karen, a common sight.
Not so common, but I promise just before Debra got the camera, she was sitting just as cute as ever with him. lol
Aren't they cute???
Such silly fun
Playing at Chick-fil-A
Again with the silliness, but such a cute silly.
Beach kisses for Daddy, this was her trying to get him to take her back in the water.
Checking it out
I won't let go if you won't.
Getting brave and going out to play in the waves with Daddy.
Yes, I think we have cured her of her hesitation, we now have 2 beach babies. :)
Loving the sand
The whole gang, most of us wet just out of the water.


As you can plainly see, we have company. And we are having a blast having them here. Believe it or not, I keep forgetting my camera when we head out the door, good thing Debra doesn't! You'll have to thank her for the above pictures, left to me, we wouldn't have any. I have been fighting a losing battle with a summer cold and I am going to give that complete blame for my lack of posts this week. And it really was a blog worthy week.

We celebrated 3 years of having the Princess in our arms on June 27. A little hard to believe that just 3 years ago we were in China getting ready for our trip home. I tried off and on that whole day to do a post but just couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the words I wanted or the pictures I wanted to use. And we have been having serious Internet and cable issues so just when I would start, we would lose the signal again. So between that and being at a loss for words to express the emotions I just couldn't seem to get it done. But I promise you we did celebrate, and thought of our travel group, exchanged pictures with them, found some on Facebook, got some started on Facebook, talked about China and told the Princess what it was like holding her for the very first time. It was a good day. :)

And then our friends from SC arrived on Monday!!! Oh and we met the Princess's teacher and toured her prek classroom on Monday afternoon. I feel very confident that we have chosen the right place for her, loved the set up that she has, and the Princess is very excited to start school now. We came home to find our friends had arrived and spent the evening catching up and watching the kids get to know each other again, and well actually meeting the Pixie for the first time.

Tuesday we laid low and then went out to eat at the Olive Garden and watched my youngest flirt with the waiter something awful. She is such a ham but I am happy to report was on much better behaviour than the last time her Daddy and I tried to take her out to dinner. Maybe the trick is having a nice looking waiter. LOL

Today, goal number one has been to wear these kids out. We took them to Chick-fil-A for lunch and let them play on the playground there, came home crashed for naps for a couple of hours, got up and hit the beach. It was perfect, not too hot and they all had a blast as I'm sure you can see from the pictures. Then we loaded back up, came home got everyone cleaned up, fed and by then it was nearly bedtime. Tomorrow I'm not sure what we have on the agenda, but some time over the next few days, we are going to see Fireworks, a glass-bottom boat ride, and an aquarium. I promise, I will remember the camera! On Saturday we are having a cookout and our friends from TX will be here, can't wait for the Princess to see B again!! So like I said, busy, busy, busy. I'll post more pictures when I can and as long as the Internet is cooperating!!

What a w@y to say Good-Bye

Our neighbors moved this week. For their last couple of days here they had a condo at the beach and they invited us to spend their last evening with them. The girls all had a blast. The Princess and her friend, jumping and splashing in the Gulf and the pixie and her friend each doing their own thing in the sand. After dinner we took them all back down to the pool. The Princess surprised me here by opting to spend most of her time sitting on the side with just her feet in the water, but the Pixie surprised me even more because once she relaxed, she had a BLAST! I could hardly keep a hold of her and she kept flipping herself onto her back so she could look up at the stars. She was just a kicking and splashing, having a great time. I think the Princess may have been missing Daddy at that point, he was away for a few days this week.

All in all they had a terrific time saying goodbye to their friends. I know they will miss having the girls to play with but we wish them all the best at their new location. :)

The Pixie's Dr's appointment

First official Dr appointment with our pediatrician went well. We got the referrals we needed, blood work done, and shots all up to date. She still weighed in at 28lbs and was 34" tall, so while all that food she's been eating hasn't gone to her weight she sure has been using it to grow.

Pl@y B@ll and more

So typical, the Princess paying attention and wanting pictures, the pixie in her own world doing her own thing. lol


Hmm, do I want my sister sitting next to me or not???
Taking off!
Love the look the Princess is giving the Pixie here.
So you can see that her hair is getting longer in the back, love those ringlets!

Could she be any cuter???
Yep, apparently!

Play ball! A swing and a miss. LOL
Hugging the bat, not exactly what I told her to do. haha
So funny!

What Mama???


We had a busy day, playing outside, playing inside and just your every day sister stuff. The Princess wanted to get a bat and ball the other night at the store and while I don't think she's a "natural" by any means, she sure manages to have a lot of fun and that's all I care about. :)

It doesn't seem to matter what we do, she manages to see the fun in most everything and giggles galore.. I absolutely adore that about her.

Getting pics of these two together will likely always be a chore. They are such opposites. The Princess is a true cuddle bug and loves to hug on people and put her arms around you. The Pixie while she is discovering she likes hugs, she only likes the ones she initiates. So here they were sitting side by side being so cute and the Princess tried to put her arm around the Pixie to pose better (so SHE thought) she no sooner touched her arm to the Pixie and the Pixie was taking off with a screech... aye... this is going to be so much fun. Basically the Pixie just needs to learn to trust that the Princess isn't trying to hurt her or confine her, that she just like the companionship and the Princess needs to learn to give the Pixie some space. Sounds simple right??? Sure it is. Wish us luck. :)

We have the Pixie's 2 year old appointment in the morning, hopefully the insurance is all straightened out. We are looking forward to finally speaking with our pediatrician more about her, finding out her current measurements (cause she has been growing like a bad weed) and just in general finally moving forward again. I'll post later this week and let you know how it went.

F@ther's Day

The girls got up and gave Daddy some Father's Day presents yesterday morning. The Princess was really excited about having presents for Daddy, she's been telling him all week that we bought him presents, yeah no such thing as surprises around here, but at least she refrained from telling him just what it was exactly that we bought him. Don't you just love our wrapping paper?? It was definitely that kind of a week... sorry Daddy.

We spent a pretty quiet Father's Day, continuing to get some things done around the house, exciting huh?? The heat is pretty bad right now so spending time in the A/C not such a bad thing. And the picture where Daddy is lounging, that's when he was on the phone with Papa. :)

I hope that all the Dad's out there had a very Happy Father's Day!

And yes, we are constantly telling the Princess to get her hair out of her face, now you know why it needs to be pulled back in one way or another all the time. LOL