Myrtle Beach 2008

On Friday June 13th we set out for our annual trip to Myrtle Beach (my 16th year!) with my mom's side of the family (though this year it was just my mom, dad and Kevin who went). We all look forward to this week with great anticipation starting the day we leave for the next 51 weeks!!! Here are some pictures of our trip.

Alaina & Cami sleeping in the car

Cami's 2nd birthday! sweet sistersdaddy and his girlsour little family

cami putt-putting (this is one of the 3 times she actually tried hitting the ball!)

alaina taking a putt-putt break (she was tired from all her putts!)

alaina asked adam to make her a mermaid...

three generations

my family

awww...

adam and the girls playing in the sand

my baywatch beauty

alaina trying to body surf!

the annual picture

my bro kevin & his adoring nieces

cami in her bikini

me and cam

alaina going underwater (she did this and swam for the first time this week!)

adam playing in the ocean, doing back-flops into the waves (he's crazy)

with our extended Myrtle Beach family (us + the Moloney's)

alaina and molly

Now back to reality... ugh.

Summer's here

Wow - I can't believe it, but summer is here! Alaina has completed KINDERGARTEN (!) and will be moving on to first grade in the fall. But before school was over, she had "Spring Fling" - a celebration of the year in her class. The entire school (pre-K to 8th grade) participated in a parade...

and then we moved into the classrooms. It was really nice to see all the things the kids prepared for us, including nursery rhyme skits (Alaina and Brant did "Little Miss Muffet")...

and songs sung in class...

Cami is doing great being a "big girl" - she's transitioning into panties and doing well. Isn't she cute? :)

She's also becoming quite the dancer - she has a big sister to keep up with, ya know?! She has started moving her hips while dancing now and it's the cutest darn thing!

Alaina is still fascinated with the outdoors - and insects! She found this caterpillar this weekend, which both of the girls were enamored with for the entire afternoon and evening!

Alaina has now been out of school for over a week and she's attending a summer camp each week for 4 weeks. She's having a blast! She really enjoys the time there, which makes it easier on me. I want her to feel like she has a summer vacation from school, but with working parents, that's hard without spending boatloads of money on pricey camps.

I have 3 weeks off in July, so we'll be spending some fun time together, just us girls, for those days. Alaina will be in a ballet camp for 2 of those weeks, though only for 4 hours/day, so we're excited to sleep in and slowly get ready those 3 weeks and head to the pool each afternoon when the weather cooperates. There's a GREAT public pool about 6 blocks from our house that a ton of people from our "community" go to almost each day. It'll only cost me and the girls $3/day to go! So I'm definitely looking forward to those fun afternoons in the water.

We're hoping to make it there tomorrow for a trial run. :)

I've neglected you.

Sorry. :)

I get so caught up in "relaxing" in the evenings after the girls go to bed that I don't post on here very often. I'm seeing a pattern though, that's for sure. Lots of posting, then no posting, then I feel bad, so I post a lot again, and the circle continues.

We've been busy I guess since Spring Break. We've been spending a great deal of time outside in the yard, getting it ready for the spring and summer plantings. Adam's been working like crazy and we've accomplished quite a bit.

With all the digging in the yard, Alaina has learned that she LOVES worms. She tries to keep them - she quickly learned that keeping worms in potted soil makes them die, so that ended quickly. Cami just throws them (literally) back into the dirt when she's had her fill.

Adam ran the Mini Marathon again this year. (I opted out because I learned last year that I'm a very poor runner and that my knees hate me for running.) He beat his time by more than 11 minutes! He ran 13.1 miles in under 1:51. Pretty impressive. The girls and I had fun waiting for him near the end to cheer him on the last 1/4 mile. Here's the unimpressive (and only) picture I took (I can't get Blogger to post it the right way).

This past weekend was Alaina's Spring Ballet Concert. It was sweet - she did a great job. (She just loves ballet.) We had quite the section with me, Adam, Cami, Nana, Papa, Uncle Kevin, Grandma, Aunt Jenn, Vanessa, Aunt Clea (Jenn's mom) and Grandpa and Grandma. We cheered loudly for her! :) (she's on the far left below)

Alaina is nearing the end of kindergarten - just 2 more weeks of school left. Can you believe it?!?! She's going to be in FIRST grade! Craziness I tell you.

And Cami - she turns TWO in 1 month and 2 days. Sorry no pictures of her - I haven't been very good at taking pictures lately unless it's an "event". She is doing good on potty training though - she's still in pull-ups, but making it through awake times with just 1-2 times per day of wetting in the pull-up. She doesn't like wearing panties, which is weird to me, since they HAVE to be more comfortable than pull-ups, but she always says "no" to them. We'll keep trying. I think it's the only thing that'll get her dry all the time. We had to do the same thing with Alaina. I sure am happy not changing as many diapers!!

And she's talking much more - still struggling with complete words, leaving consonants off the beginning or end. But I'm also comparing her to Alaina, who spoke very quickly at a very early age. Cami is putting more words together though and I can almost always understand what she's saying at least.

Well, off to watch American Idol. I think Syesha's getting kicked off tonight, so I must go see! :) You know, the night Alaina was born Kelly Clarkson and that other guy with the afro were singing in the finals. It was turned on right after Alaina was pushed out. I have a sweet spot for the show. :)

Feeling old...

Alaina's reading. Yep, actually reading simple books. I felt old when she went to kindergarten, but feel much older now that I have a child who's READING.

Our niece is with us today - my sister-in-law's grandmother died late last night, so Ness is spending the day with us. At the table during lunch just a few minutes ago, I looked at Adam while all the girls were singing crazy loud, and said "THIS is why we're not having another child!" It was so nuts. We were totally outnumbered and they were all just feeding off of each other's little antics.

Thank goodness for birth control.

Spring Break at Casa de Hern

As you may know, our good friends the Hern's moved to Puerto Rico last summer. What a great place to go for Spring Break!!!!!

On the plane (Cami's 1st!)

Adam's favorite pasttime (though not 1 on 3 when the kids cheat!)

Amy at the beach we "snuck" onto :)

Alaina (you'd think she was born in the ocean)

Alaina & Jackson riding the waves

And Luke, happy to be away from his pool

Cami refusing to smile for the camera

Little Man Emmitt

Sweet friends (they were born 3 days apart)

The plane trip home :(

We had a great time with our friends. We had gracious hosts. The kids played and swam. Kevin told great bedtime stories that the White family made an appearance in - then he and Adam watched Sweet Sixteen basketball each night. Amy and I hung out after dinner our last night there and talked for hours.

Good fun. Sad to say goodbye.

Easter

Lots of pictures coming, rather than words.

Coloring eggs...

Easter baskets...

Easter dresses...

Except for an explanation of Cami's forehead.

After church on Easter, Cami fell down the steps at church and smacked her forehead on the edge of concrete steps. Ouch. Nice Easter "egg" huh?

YEA for Cami!!!

Today, Cami went potty on the "big girl potty" for the first time!!!!

Cami found some of Alaina's first panties about 2 weeks ago, when we were getting down the next size clothing for the spring and our trip to Puerto Rico. Ever since, she's been asking to wear them. She LOVES to wear them, and then gets mad when she has to put a diaper back on - BUT, she would NOT go to the bathroom on the toilet. She would just hold it as long as she could (up to 2-3 hours!) and then pee all over the floor.

Today, she did that same thing. Was dry for hours and then peed on my bedroom floor. (Luckily, we have no carpet in our house, so cleaning it up isn't that big of a deal.) So, I finally decided to ditch the panties idea and not let her wear them for a while. Well, after a LONG time of fighting to put a diaper on, she told Alaina and Alaina's friend Addie that she had to go "poo-poo". (She calls both #1 and #2 "poo-poo".) I ignored it, and she kept coming back to me saying it. So, I thought, what the heck.

I took her diaper off, put her on her little seat on the toilet, and walked away to finish making lunch. All of a sudden I hear her tinkling away!! I looked over and she was looking at me with this HUGE grin on her face!

Hopefully she's not scared of it anymore. I'm tired of diapers. :)

I'll post more this weekend about Easter and our trip to Puerto Rico. We have fun pictures to share!

Love you all!
Katie