The Good

My parents' house. It has come to be a trip that we talk about months before we leave and talk about memories months after we return. It is cool, relaxing, full of new adventures, and best of all--the home of Nana and Papa. I love watching my parents with the kids (and I love the 2 extra sets of hands!)





I took the kids for a week, and then was joined for almost another week by Chad. And the biggest treat was that my brother Chris, sister-in-law Cortney, and amazingly precious nephew Ben joined us for part of the time.

I cannot do justice to Cortney's account and the way she described our family time on her blog.


Despite a few illnesses (and by "a few" I mean strep throat, hand-foot-mouth, stomach bug, ear infection), we enjoyed and took advantage of each and every day. We even squeezed in a mini-birthday celebration for Caroline!


When I taught 6th grade, we would begin Monday mornings talking about The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of the weekend. Our list of The Good for this trip is entirely too long to note. The Bad was probably the flight delay and late arrival back to Atlanta. And I just have to include the trip's Ugly: Caroline had been battling an ear infection all week. While on the flight back, she was complaining about her ear hurting, but the lights in the plane were off and little I could do. Once we landed (after midnight) and the cabin lights turned on, this is what I saw:
Actually, this was after a little cleaning. The poor girl! And you can only imagine the looks that I got from every passenger as they de-planed!

But don't get me wrong...I would trade a year of 'Bad's and 'Ugly's for the 2 weeks of Good that we had!

First Day of School and More Birthday

You would never know it from my blog, but we actually went on an awesome 2-week vacation up to New York. But because we got back on Caroline's birthday with a week of partying (3-year-old style!) and starting school to follow, the pictures of NY will have to wait. At least one more day!

School started for both girls yesterday. Because the week has been so filled with birthday, unpacking, and readjusting to the heat, we barely were ready for school! But by the wee hours of Tuesday night, hair was trimmed, lunches were made, school bags were packed, and clothes were ironed. No tears this year, though Chad and I have already started mourning the fact that this is the last year of preschool for Aly! We will try to savor every last moment.

Ready to conquer the world!

The beginning of school also marks the beginning of some time I've really been looking forward to: some one-on-one time with Jack. He is sucha happy, laid-back baby that he often ends up sitting (or laying) to the side while the more...high-maintenance... girls steal the majority of my attention. I can't wait to finally get a chance to get to know this sweet guy a little better:


In this week of "birthday" which began with a small party at my parents' last Thursday, we ended our week-long celebration today with cupcakes in Caroline's new classroom. I guess she is now officially three!!

Believe it or not, the BEST picture we could get all together!

Birthday Girl!

We had a couple friends over this afternoon to help celebrate Caroline's birthday. She and Aly talk about their birthdays on a nightly basis, so this afternoon was a long-time-coming. After changing her mind about 10 times, she decided that she wanted a Clara and Nutcracker birthday. Happy third birthday!

"Clara" waiting on her guests

Aly strikes a pose

Happy Birthday to you!

The scene towards the back of the house

Visions of ballerinas danced in her head
(this is honestly how we found her!)

Birthday Ballerina

Wow! What a month! So much to write about and so many pictures to share, but today I just want to wish Sweet Caroline a happy third birthday! We got back home from our vacation in NY at 2 am this morning but heard Aly singing "Happy Birthday" to her best friend bright and early. We had a great day with our absolutely wonderful, happy, joy of a daughter today. More pictures to follow...

Checking out the mirror

New Baby Doll

Wizard of Oz dolls

Daddy's Girl

Bang of a Weekend

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! We had an incredibly fun and relaxing weekend...nothing says summer like the July 4th!

A kitchen tea party

A walk in the park, collecting cicada shells

Fourth of July party with friends

A talk with Daddy

Aly rides a bike!

We've been practicing all week, and I think she's almost got it!

Pillow Talk

One of my favorite things about the girls sharing a room is that I get to eavesdrop. As soon as Chad and I tuck them in and leave the room at night, Caroline usually says, "A-yee, wanna talk?" They plop themselves on the sides of their bed and have conversations like only a 4- and almost 3-year-old can. The first thing that they were talking about tonight while their mama stood 15 feet away listening was about our upcoming trip to Nana and Papa's. Aly was excited to surprise them (they definitely know we're coming!) and Caroline couldn't wait to feel the airplane bump (definitely not my favorite part!) When I went back about 15 minutes later, Aly was telling Caroline about everything there is to look forward to at the dentist. I wish that I could tape these conversations to listen to years from now. Sweet, sweet, sweet.

The following pictures have nothing to do with this post, but I wanted to include them for Nana and Papa...

Baby Blue

And just one guess at what these two are doing!!