Summer Reading

We participated in the library's summer reading program again this year. This is Grace's third year and Kate's first. Grace really got into this year and made sure everyone wrote down her books. She was very excited at the prospect of prizes. We really owe most of the reading to her grandparents who very dutifully wrote down all the books they read to the girls- especially Nana and Grandma! We did misplace the lists for a few weeks but even with that Grace had 1,700 pages and Kate had 850. Grace quickly decided that Kate wanted to share her "tickets" and picked out a bouncy ball, a book and maracas for their prizes. Thanks everyone!

Surprise Birthday Trip

I was able to surprise Jack with a trip and concert for his birthday. We had a great time seeing Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson. The weather was iffy but it only rained for a few minutes. We had a great time at the 5 hour! concert and enjoyed a night away. Special thanks to Gayle and Mac for watching the girls- they had a blast too!

Tink!

The five weeks of Grace's "summer school" flew by so fast. We received a calendar the first day of school that outlined the themes of each day and the activities. Grace was obsessed with this calendar and after about two or three reads, memorized it. She knew all the themes and reminded us what was coming next. She was most excited about the last day which was a Disney dress-up party to end the summer. There was no question about who she would be- Tinkerbell!

Grace May Be the Oldest...

But she's not ummm.. the fastest....

They all started in the same place when they spotted something...

Trip to Chattanooga

We took a quick day trip to Chattanooga to drop off some baby clothes and pick up a filing cabinet Craig and Laura had been keeping for us. It was a great coincidence that my Uncle Pat and Aunt Tina had decided a few days before to stop there also on their way to Florida. Grace loves Uncle Pat and Aunt Tina and was glad to be able to spend a couple of hours with them. Grace thought she could show Uncle Pat how to use the iPhone...Grace picked out some books for Aubrey at the bookstore and took the liberty of reading them before actually giving them to her- just to be sure they were ok...Kate is just trouble...Chattanooga has some great parks near the water so we decided to take a picnic lunch. After lunch Uncle Craig showed Grace some of his soccer skills. Then we wondered over to a great hill that everyone was sliding down on pieces of cardboard. We all took a turn- even Kate! It was lots of fun!Grace and Laura had a little trouble getting going...I still cannot believe that Grace went along with this plan...Jack figured out he could go faster without the weight of any kids so he did quite a few runs on his own ;o)

Kate- 8 months!

You are getting to be such a big girl! You have really mastered sitting up this month and starting to really play with toys. And you started crawling! That really changed things around here. You can move very fast and you love to put things in your mouth- two things that don't make a good combination ;o) You dropped your evening nap and just take two long naps during the day and going to bed a little earlier- at 7:30pm, same time as your sister. You still sleep well although you have figured out how to throw your pacifier out of your crib so we will come and rescue it.
You definitely know your dad, Grace and me and your face lights up when you see us. But, you are really starting to get upset when someone other than us is with you. You are still saying "Dada" a lot but have added Mama and a few times Papa. You still love to eat and are eating two meals a day with the same bottle schedule as before.
We are so blessed to have our sweet Kate!

Last Day at the Beach

Grace squeezed every last minute out of our beach vacation. She loved the beach and making sandcastles! Kate liked it too- mostly because she liked to eat the sand ;o)

We were sad to leave- it was a good trip!

Beach Pictures

Chillin' at the Pool

We did another beach trip in the morning, this time with Melissa so it was a little easier. Grace caught up on her reading.

Melissa had to leave mid-morning and Grace was very sad to see her go. "We redheads have to stick together."

The conference sponsored an afternoon ice cream social and balloon animals for the kids. Jack took an excited Grace while Kate and I relaxed by the pool. Kate snuck in a quick nap ;o)

Then the girls had a blast in the pool. Kate was quite the water bug- she loved it! She kept throwing herself up and down to make a splash. I was trying to take a picture- this is all I got...

Carnival

One of the nice things about the Bar conference was it stated it was family friendly and it actually was. The first night of the conference they had a family carnival- complete with games and ummm... tattoos.

In the afternoon our friend Melissa came over from Mobile to spend a couple of days with us. We were glad to see her but never anticipated the response she received from Grace. I guess since they both have red hair Grace decided they were soul sisters. Melissa, who Grace has seen a dozen times and treated no differently than anyone else before, quickly became obsessed with Melissa and wanted to be with her all the time and do everything with her. Melissa handled it well and Grace had the best time with her new BFF.

The Carnival was fun- Grace played lots of games, getting prizes and yes, when I turned my head for a minute, got a tattoo. We all know how I feel about that so we'll just leave it at that...

The only traumatic part of the evening was when the Geico lizard came within view. Grace was horrified at the sight. Between Melissa, Jack and I we did our best to shield Grace but it was a little rough in a two room function.

At the end of the evening there was a nice firework show. It was pretty good- apparently Kate was appalled about something....

It was a fun night.

Hanging Out at the Beach

Jack had to go to his conference first thing in the morning but that didn't stop us from hitting the beach (I will admit I did try to let that stop us but Grace was insistent). Somehow Grace, Kate and I got all our stuff down to the beach all by ourselves and set up camp. Grace couldn't wait to make sandcastles and check out the water. She even made friends with another family and helped them with theirs. Kate didn't waste any time before she dove into the sand. Grace took full advantage of all the "vacation" snacks

After about 30 minutes Kate gave into her morning nap- such a sweet baby!
As Grace and I were playing I looked up to see this water spout in the sky. We quickly packed up our stuff and headed to our room for an intense sand brush off.Later in the afternoon Jack was able to join us for another trip to the beach. Grace was so excited to show Jack how to make a sandcastle.