Blog | Baby 2
June started with B’s first Field Day! I volunteered for a couple of hours that morning, and had a great time watching all the kids have tons of fun. B did a GREAT job in the sack race, and had fun trying to hit the target to douse her friends.
Her favorite activity (at least while I was there) was this sponge game where one person fills up the sponge and then squeezes the water all over another person. She and Essa thought this game was fantastic!
She got drenched!
Per B, her favorite activity, however, was getting a snowcone at the end of the day. 
Next up: a fun day on the lake with some friends – the girls LOVE going out on the boat! Hawke and B ready for some boat fun!
B hanging out on Miss Alecia’s paddle board (Miss Alecia paddled her around for a while – rough life…).
We spent the day hanging out, swimming in the lake, and generally having a marvelous time! M refused to nap during the day, but she basically passed out on the ride back in.
B also started karate. She LOVES it! I expect she will get her yellow belt shortly. We are really looking forward to watching her grow in this sport.
Then, we went to the annual Gator club picnic. The girls are ready for some football!
They even had orange and blue cupcakes (all gone…).
The girls had a fantastic time (like they do every year) playing on the huge playground we don’t normally get to go to (not open to the public). During all the announcements, M did me proud by doing an impromptu (and loud) “Go Gators!” while shaking her pompoms!
This picture is just because I think M is cute…
Did I mention M likes berries?
Yes, I am a slacker. Sue me. In all honesty, I’m not really sure where June went. Or the last part of May. I do have pictures, so I will endeavor to do a few posts covering the last 2 months…
After our short (but exhausting) trip, B went back to school, and M and I spent a lot of time picking (and eating) strawberries. That child LOVES berries in general, and especially loves strawberries. I am not exaggerating when I say we have gone through at least 30 lbs of fresh strawberries in the past couple of months. And she is not slowing down. The first time we picked, I picked a lot, but she picked quite a few herself. All by herself!
Here is her haul.
Of course, she ate most of those right there under that tree (our favorite farm has the BEST shade tree to sit under while eating their delicious strawberries). Yum!
This is a little messy…
but who cares?
The second time, all four of us went. Apparently, I didn’t take any pictures – too busy picking!
The third time, we picked a ton in 30 minutes! Apparently, the Tuesday after Memorial Day (which means they have been closed for at least two days) is PERFECT for getting lots of yummy strawberries. This time, M picked by taking them out of my basket and putting them in hers. No matter, we still had fun!
All of the strawberries we picked from our local farm (upwards of 15 lbs) were gone by mid June (some we froze and put in smoothies).
For the second half of our trip we visited the other side of my family. First stop was at Aunt Sherry and Uncle Jim’s house, where we also got to see my cousin Melanie, her husband Chris, and all their kids (Alivia, Preston, and baby Rylan)!
My aunt and uncle have the perfect “speedway” in front of their house, and the kids had lots of fun riding big wheels and the jeep round and round and round.
Preston is really concentrating…
I love their expressions!
Then, we headed to my grandmother’s house, where we also got to see my Uncle A, Aunt Jenny, cousin Gwyn, and Uncle Mike!
M is just another in a long line of grandkids to play on this goose…
The girls had a blast playing Frozen and going fishing.
It was a very quick trip — too much time in the car and not enough time visiting. But we did the best with what we had. And the girls were GREAT! If only we all lived closer…
The girls and I went on a whirl-wind road trip to visit family. Thankfully, Tatie Kat came with us to help – HUGE help when you are on a long road trip with two little girls…
First stop was at Cousin Jenna’s house, where we got to see Uncle Andy and Aunt Marilyn, and meet Cousin Bobby and baby Dylan! I forgot to take pictures with everyone (too busy visiting), so you’ll have to settle for the few I did get.
B loved spending time with Jenna (and I loved getting to snuggle with Dylan)!
Baby Dylan! What a cutie AND a sweetie!
Next, we headed to see Auntie Fifi and Great Grandma (along with several more cousins). Again, I wasn’t always great at getting pictures with family (didn’t get any with Steve or Kay), but I did manage to get a few more. Auntie Fifi has a basement full of old toys, and the girls were in heaven. B played mostly with barbies and a rocking horse, and M played with all the classic toys.
M LOVED this train!
We visited Great Grandma every day we were there. It was bittersweet, but her face just lit up when she saw the girls.
London Bridge fell down…
B and Cousin Linda reading…
The girls could NOT get enough of Emma…
We also spent some time at the beach – B had a hard time grasping the concept of a lake having a beach (it is huge, so I totally understand her confusion).
What a face!
Gathering treasures!
Auntie Fifi!
That was the end of the first half of our trip. Next up – pics from the second half!
Why stop having birthday celebrations if you don’t have to? Palm Sunday weekend, Nana and Poppa came to celebrate with B (more pics on that visit later). What could possible be in that oddly shaped package?
A guitar! One very happy girl!
She also got an Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood that weekend (with M).
In all, the girls got to do FOUR egg hunts – one in our neighborhood, one at school, one for the town, and one at our friends’ house. M was quite good at it by the end.
Good Friday was an off day, so we did the town egg hunt (with face painting), and decorated eggs.
Then it was time for more bday celebrations – a mani/pedi from Tatie Kat!
Easter Sunday was a fun day, but first, Mama needs some pictures!
The cake we made for Easter dinner:
And then it was off to Hawke’s house for the last egg hunt and Easter dinner with friends. More pictures first, of course…
Can we go yet?
Yes!
This is heavy!
Check out all my eggs (I didn’t get a picture of B’s eggs bc she was too fast at cashing in on her prizes)!
Can you believe there were bubbles in those eggs?
It was a great two weekends with lots of fun with visitors and friends!
O.k., so I am a little late. But my computer died a few days before the big day, and I am just now getting back up and running.
The day before her birthday, B got all dressed up for her “school celebration.”
I swear, she was almost as excited about the school celebration as she was about her real birthday. She and Samantha (same class; met on first day of kindergarten) have the same birthday, so they each brought in treats. B chose chocolate chip cookies, and Samantha chose cupcakes. The kids all gobbled them up and had a great time!
Then, the morning of the big day finally arrived. I gave B the present from us first; she had been asking about this dress for weeks! Ta-da! Queen Elsa (B style)!!
She had a great time opening and playing with her presents that morning.
Then, after some quiet time, it was finally time for the big birthday party! B and Samantha decided on a Frozen themed party, where B was Elsa and Samantha was Anna. I am sad to say, I completely forgot to get a picture of just the two of them. 
But, sometime soon, I’ll get them together so they can both dress up again and I’ll get a picture then.
Here is the cake. B requested “snowball” cookie pops (Tatie Kat and I made them the night before – I think they turned out great!).
And Samantha wanted cake:
We decorated with Frozen themed balloons and colors, and had Frozen games and crafts. B and Samantha made crowns:
M opted for reindeer antlers:
We also had “pin the nose on Olaf,” where all of the kids had a turn.
The result:
Poor balloon Olaf didn’t make it. Somehow he escaped from his string, and got stuck in a tree. The kids tried to climb up to get him down, but as you can see, he floated away (the tiny white dot is Olaf):
Here are a few pics of the kids at the party. Here’s B with her sweetheart, Charlie:
After the playground part, the girls got to invite a friend or two over to watch the movie. We ended up with 7 kids, including the little siblings. All were entranced. And ALL of them sang along to EVERY song!!
Of course, we needed Olaf popcorn…
That night, we had one very tired and very happy birthday girl!
The next day, she opened all the presents from her friends, and opted to play with pretty much all of them (unlike her birthday, which had beautiful weather, the next day was kind of gloomy). She entertained herself for hours building legos and doing crafts.
And to top it all off, she got to use her new fishing pole to go fishing that afternoon!
Fantastic birthday weekend!
As I was walking on the beach the day before we left, my friend Lisa texted me and asked if I had seen the weather. Nope. I had not…On Monday we drove to Atlanta without any difficulty, but by the time we got there, it was clear we were not leaving anytime soon. My friends were beyond gracious and accommodating – we were only supposed to be there one night, and instead invaded their house (all four of us, including Jason’s immense computer equipment he borrowed from the local company he was supposed to be visiting) for four days! Four adults that need to work + four children…We made it work tho! The girls had a great time playing together and visiting. And I LOVED getting to spend some unexpected time with my very dear friend. It was hectic, but we all have precious memories I will always treasure.
B and her snow buddies. I am pretty sure she only took off that dress when we made her…
…I’m not exaggerating…
When it finally stopped snowing, it was just beautiful outside. And my friends have so many wonderful birds in their back yard – we had a great time bird watching!
And then we went out to play. We really weren’t prepared for the weather – no boots, hats, coats, gloves, etc. My friend gathered up enough to make it all work, and we just wrapped M’s feet in plastic bags.
B actually loved shoveling!
We arrived home four days late and with J instead of without him. Crazy trip, but fun!
We had this grand idea. Jason had a business trip in Atlanta during B’s break from school. So the girls and I decided we would all head to the Gulf coast for a few days, stop in Atlanta to visit friends, drop him off for his trip, and head home. The first part of the trip (the beach part) went off exactly as planned. We had a great time, and this time, the girls LOVED the beach! And I mean LOVED it – both of them!! Frigid waters? B kept insisting she was NOT cold. In some pictures below, she looks like she is huddling over bc of the cold, but really, she is just holding her treasures (bits of sand dollars, shells, etc.). We visited family, high school friends, and generally had a marvelous time, even if we were only there for 3.5 days.
On our way down we stopped for a break, and decided a local ice rink would be a fun distraction.
B chose to go skating with her Daddy.
The beach!
I was impressed – she never once complained about having to carry her treasures…and I’m pretty sure she carried them for about an hour.
While at the beach the second day, B decided she was Queen of the Ocean – she is commanding the waves…
…and jumping over them…
Intense Olympics watching with Mimi
Warm enough to wear her new dress (with hair “Elsa” style)!
We had a blast! And then we headed for Atlanta…
M finished up her week-long bday celebrations with a visit from Nana, Poppa, and Tia! Tia got M some new coloring books and some really nifty crayons (shaped like Mickey and various animals) – perfect for her because they are interesting, and because they don’t break as easily as regular cylindrical crayons. Yay!
Nana gave M her very own, Nana-special, homemade quilt, and Poppa built M a case for all her blocks. Perfect!
Tia taught B how to braid, and M joined the fun (hence the beginning of M’s incessent chatter re: “you hair is messy” followed by lengthy attempts at fixing the “messy” hair.
B had a GREAT time seeing Frozen again (with Nana, Poppa, and Tia), only this time it was the sing-along version. We also headed over to the children’s museum to share the fun with our visitors.
B driving the bus.
B and M surfing…
…and racing their cars…
As always, the visit was too short!
The girls were super excited about the possibility of snow. We had just a bit the week before, but it only lasted a couple of hours.
Then came round two! It all looked very promising the night before.
Unfortunately, that was about all we got. While we did not get enough snow to build a snowman, we did get enough to make it pretty and to have lots of fun sledding down the hills in the neighborhood.
It’s been so cold, our lake partially froze!
M was sort of o.k. with sitting on the sled…
but when Jason went over a bump in the grass and she tipped over and got a face full of snow, which she tried to remove using her very snowy mittens, she was NOT a happy camper. So, she spent the most of the sledding time with me or Jason.
B and her buddy tackled the hills. They started with the small ones behind our house.
But eventually tired of that and wanted to tackle the big hill. I only have video of that, so you’ll have to take my word for it. They had a blast! After naps, we went out for a little bit more. This time, M decided it was o.k. to stand on the snow. And she had fun watching B tumble down the hill.
A great day! But we sure were glad to get some warmer temps!
