Independence Day

We had a great Fourth of July, spent at home with our little family and friends. Your daddy had two days off work and we purposefully had no big plans. We all felt spoiled with his extra time at home. He is such a wonderful daddy to you girls and gets better as time goes on. We spent some time on the back porch with lots of water since it's been so hot. We also went out to our garden and picked lots of vegetables to make a salad for our cookout.

We had Tori & Steve and their son Aidan as well as Laura & Ben and their son Rex over to our house to grill out and shoot fireworks. Olivia, you were ready for bed by 7pm and slept right through all the booms happening outside. Charlotte, you stayed awake past your usual 7pm bedtime and enjoyed the fireworks. However, you were pretty cautious with the ones daddy was lighting on our driveway because they were a little too close, even though you were safe. You liked seeing them light up in the sky, far away. Finally, about 8:30 pm you told me you were sleepy and wanted to go to bed. Your dad and I are so thankful that you told us in such a nice way instead of getting grumpy. You have always loved your sleep! Meanwhile, our friends and their kids sat out on the driveway, watching and lighting fireworks until nearly 11 pm! We had such a wonderful time together and with our friends.

Birthday At The Beach

Happy First Birthday, Olivia!! We were fortunate enough to celebrate your birth at the beach this week. Your sweet daddy continued his tradition of making his girls' first birthday cake. You loved his homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing. We opened presents and your big sister helped you break them in this week. Practicing your walking skills has now become a priority of yours as well as growing two front bottom teeth. We discovered your love for all things beach...sand, sun, waves, and seashells! Grandma (your great-grandma) and Gma enjoyed hearing you talk out the world's problems and couldn't believe how much food you eat! Here are some pictures to really tell the story of the week.

You two loved the party hats and Charlie thought you had to wear them
any time you ate cake the rest of the week.

Olivia definitely enjoyed the cake daddy made her!

Pretty typical of our family right now.

Fun with new birthday toys!

Olivia crawled up to sit on mommy.

Playing on the porch after hosing off the sand.

Big girl standing and walking!

Most of the crew, minus daddy and Olivia (who were in the tent taking pictures).

Big girl knows what to do on the beach. Daddy and Charlie
plotting something!

Afraid if you took your eyes off the fish, they'd get you!

Our sweet family.

The Clemmons'

Charlotte trying to keep Olivia from crawling into the water. 

Memorial Day 2012

I hope that as you grow up in our family, your dad and I are able to respectfully teach you what Memorial Day is all about. Yes it means you're off school and that dad is out of work for the long weekend and that might be all the holiday is to most of America. But as a military family, we can't help but to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country. To stop and put yourself in the shoes of the spouses and kids (several who we personally know) who lost their husband and dad to war really puts the holiday into perspective. Your dad and I chose to honor those soldiers with a Crossfit workout called Murph. This is a workout created in memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, age 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28th 2005. It consists of 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats, and 1 mile run. Since we were out of town visiting family and couldn't participate in the event at CrossFit SolaFide, we decided to do the workout together at Boiling Park in Canton, GA. You have the option to partner during this workout or do every rep by yourself and that is what we committed to doing. I am mentally weaker than your dad and 1/3 of the way into the workout I asked him why we didn't split the reps between the two of us. He somberly responded with, "Because there's a man who can't do any of these reps and his family wishes he could." Needless to say I toughed it out without another complaint. Your daddy is such a strong man and provides such stability and love for this family.

It was brutal but we got it done side by side...every rep.

Once we finished this doozie of a workout, we headed back "up the hill" to Chrissy and Poppie's lake house. Gma and Papa had made it to the house by then and you girls were in heaven with both sets of grandparents with you for the weekend. We really enjoyed getting away for the weekend and being able to relax with our family.

Family lake time!

Too precious for words.

Forgot to mention the epic blowout that Livi had in her car seat and PLAYED in!
This was the most still you'd ever been during a diaper change and I was thankful for it
as I changed you in the van. It's like you knew how gross it was. Had to wash your whole car seat.

Developments Every Day

What an exciting phase of life we are in right now! You girls amaze your dad and me every day with the new things you learn to do. When your daddy comes home in the evening, I have to catch him up on all that you did that day. Here are some of your recent developments...

Olivia is saying "bye bye".

Olivia's favorite word is "ball".

Charlotte's first time up to bat.



Charlotte's developmentally appropriate drawing of the family.
Circles for head and body with limbs coming out and a face with eyes, nose, and mouth.



A Week in Your Lives

I managed to snap some good pictures of you girls this week. I looked back on the photos and saw your beauty, creativity, seriousness, emotions, and your determination. This is a pretty good representation of your typical week at 11 months and 2.5 years old. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that there are some difficult times between all of these beautiful moments. But when I'm managing an emotional melt down, changing diapers and wiping bottoms, rushing you to bed for your much needed nap, or quickly getting dinner on the table for hungry girls...I just don't have time to grab the camera. 


"Dad can I play in the rain?"...."Sure baby."

 

Sunday morning before church...

...playing on the back deck, looking beautiful!

LOVE your new scooter ("roller skate")

Very serious!

Couple days of severe allergy/sinus junk.

Livi getting more mobile

Plank high fives at your first Crossfit Preschool class.

Quietly playing "together" while I get us packed to drive to Chrissy and Poppie's house.

Copy Cat

We are being watched! Olivia, you are picking up so much around you! You're not even a year old yet and you are trying to participate in life with us. It is amazing to see such a little person try to use objects the way we use them. Here are some examples:

Hair bows go here but I can't get it to stick!!

Daddy's hat goes on my head.

Sunglasses go up here somewhere, right?

You couldn't get them on but sure look cute with some help from sister.

The top of the pot goes right here!

Shoes Shoes Shoes!

I'm pretty sure it's official....Charlotte walks in heels better than I do. You go into my closet nearly every day and pull out my high heels and clop around the house. You even RUN down the hallway in those things. Then you kick them off and go for another pair. Now understand, you wear these things more often than I do. I might wear a pair of high heels once every two weeks and that's a generous estimate. God made you this way because you certainly don't get this girly tendency from me. We will see how this love for shoes manifests throughout the years, but for now we are just enjoying how cute you are in your mama's shoes!

Rustic brown for your everyday errands.

Black patent leather for those fancy occasions. (Even has the foot turn!)

And of course your summer wedge.