Beach Baby

In case you missed the memo last year, we have a beach baby!  Nora loves any kind of water and the sand isn't too bad to her either.

Oh and in case you missed the last 8 years' memos, we go to the best beach ever each year.  And it helps make it even better that family lives there already!

I already mentioned that this year was far different than the past 7.  We had to "give up" the annual beach month.  (Don't worry, it will be back next year!)  Thankfully we got to go for a week though.  (Note:  I have the BEST aunts anyone could ask for.  They let encourage Nora and I to come with them year after year!  It's okay y'all can all be jealous.  They're really THAT great!)  So here's pictures from this year's jammed pack week:

Ruby, Suzy, & Nora playing the piano at The Johnsons

Nora thinking she's a big girl with someone's DS

Ruby & Aunt Molly helping Nora swim

Nora being entertained.  They never let her get bored.  =)

Goggle girls Lily & Suzy

Smothering love.  More proof Nora was always entertained

Elle with Millie & Nora in their floaties.  (Too bad it's sideways...)

Riley loved giving all the kids wagon rides. Especially Nora & Millie since they were quite light compared to the others. 

The wagon riders.  They loved it!

Suzy relaxing on the beach in her matching sunglasses & swimsuit.

Lucy waiting for her wagon ride.

Riley entertaining with sand & water.  He's going to be such a great big brother to

Suzy & Riley with the dead seahorse Riley found.

Close up of the cute {gross} seahorse.

Polka dot girls.  Love.

So sweet.  We have the best Tutu!  Lily & Riley playing with Tutu.

Isn't that cute? Riley's giving the girls a ride on the paddle board.  Beau was probably entertaining the rest of the kids. =)

This girl loves to get you all sandy and wet!

Oh, but she's getting good a throwing tantrums, too!

(Sorry it's sideways) Nora fell asleep in the wagon on a walk with Karen.

Seriously lucky me & lucky girl.  That's a good baby!

Isn't that the life!

The kids made up a game of who-can-stay-on-the-paddle-board-longest. 

More polka dot girls!  Nora & Elle.

A wagon on the beach with big buckets of water to play in is pure genius!

Another walk with Aunt Karen.

Such a cute picture! This is how they carried the paddle board in from the ocean.  They are all such good kids!

The little girls with their "babysitter", Ruby.  She LOVES them.  Like loves to hold, squeeze, kiss, whatever them.  That's like true family love. <3

Like every year, Nora & I had a fabulous time.  There is nothing like Siesta Key, family, the sun shinning, white sand, clear water, and a slight breeze.  Only thing that would have made it even better was if Aaron could have been there with us.  We sure did miss him!!  Nora & I are so blessed to have family that loves us & wants us to tag along and even more blessed to have Aaron working hard for us, even while we're playing on vacation.  We love you family and Aaron!!  XOXOXO

Family Time

Okay, I'm a procrastinator.  Pretty sure my picture would is next to the definition.  Here it is almost October and I haven't caught up on blogging from the second half of July on.  Bear with me.  Here's part 1 of 4:


Since we had big plans for this summer (that trumped our annual month at the beach) we decided to start our summer month together here in SC.  To kick it off we had a colorful birthday party.  Ruby is in love with peace signs and tie dye, so a rainbow/peace party is how we helped celebrate the lucky 7.

We ate outside at the Ponderosa (Mom's yard) and even roasted marshmallows around the fire pit.

Elle & Lucy eating

Nora loves eating out there and we love the clean up!

We had some fun party activities like:

Ruby & I making gumball necklaces

Writing birthday wishes on a wish lantern (and setting it off after dark)

Rainbow nail painting with Emma, Riley, Suzy, Lucy, Lily, & Beau

The party decorations:

The 3 girls (all 7 now) Suzy, Ruby, & Lily

Ruby in front of the candy table.  Lots of colors between the rainbow snacks & candies and yummy peace sign cookies! 

The front of the house

Ruby had a great birthday and we're so glad we got to celebrate it with her!

To continue the fun, the next day we spent a day on the lake.  Tutu & Rara rented a pontoon boat for the day and everyone enjoyed cruising around Lake Wylie.  The kids also enjoyed swimming in the lake (some of them for the first time).  Here's the only picture I took.  The kids are swimming around an island to burn off a little energy.

The rest of the week was jam packed with fun.  We went to Reed Gold Mine one day.  They told us 1 in 5 pans finds gold...0 in 8 for us.  Oh well, it was fun!  Another day we went to a local petting zoo.  The kids got to "pet" animals from goats, horses, rabbits, to a dog, cat, and pig.  It was definitely exciting for Nora.  She LOVED the horses and kept wanting to pet their soft noses and heads.  Guess she'll be one of those want-a-pony kids.

Grooming the pony

The petting zoo part

Riley playing with the rooster, goats, and pigs

Nora meeting Patrick the horse with Rara

Suzy petting the pony

Nora touching Patrick's face

Nora starting to crack a smile.  She loved him!

Nora being soft (which can be rare lately!)

The group (with Nora climbing on  a horse)

Suzy & Beau "suiting up" to ride

Elle being...well, Elle. =)

Hannah (Steve's granddaughter) showing us how it's done.  (She 's had horses most of her 8 year life.)  We loved having her stay for this fun week!

Emma riding all prim and proper.

Nora also enjoyed the rabbits

Lily & Lucy in a bunny cage

Ruby with a bunny

The week ended with 2 cars making the trek to Sarasota, FL for the beach early Friday morning.  Thank goodness for lots of kids to entertain Nora in the car because the drive took us at least 11 hours!  

The 2nd Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread:

Nora {The cowboy boots are just a bonus}

The 2nd Best Thing Since Sliced Bread:

I am in love with pinterest.com.  It's so neat to be able to "pin" (or bookmark) things I like and save the ideas for later.  It is pure sweetness for party planning, craft ideas, and recipes especially.  It makes all my bookmarks organized and easy to look at because it uses pictures.  You also follow others to see ideas they like so I can get ideas without the work of finding them.  An added bonus:  I won't loose my ideas if my computer ever crashes again because they're saved online!  

If you want to jump on the bandwagon, leave me your email and I'll send you an invite.  I LOVE IT!

Our Daily Vitamin D

I snapped a few pictures of Nora today during our daily dose of Vitamin D.  She amazes me how much she's grown up this summer.  It's so fun!

I walked back into the kitchen for a minute and when I came back outside Nora handed me a freshly picked tomato.  The ONLY tomato left on our plant.  Our plant that I watered for months and then decided to ripen while we were on vacation.  I can say I honestly never got to eat any of the fruits of that labor.  Nora on the other hand...

Well, the evidence is on her shirt.

Must not have been too tasty if she handed it to me.  Oh well.

I was moving the outdoor furniture around until I heard this squawking.  Nora was slightly panicked because this little friend was trying to share her castle.  What, you can't see it?  She's pointing to it.  It's a green lizard.  She did NOT like it being anywhere near her.  Well, that is until I gave her a stick and *may* have shown her how to poke near it and make it move.  

 We are SO blessed with this little girl.  She loves to play.  Especially outside.  Her newest trick on this toy is riding backwards.  Even while holding a stick (incase her green friend comes back perhaps?).  That's talent she was born with.

Note:  I WILL catch up on blogging soon.  I have lots to blog about from our summer of fun, fun!  Be on the lookout, but don't lookout too soon.  =)