Beach Babes

Eeek long time, no blog. We went away for a glorious week at the beach with my family at Emerald Isle. I have to say, I think it was my favorite beach week ever. There was much rest and much food and it made my heart so joy-filled to see the boys enjoy the beach whole heartedly.
   Finley is a beach babe to the max. Give the boy some waves and some grains of sand and check back on him again in 10 hours, he's a happy camper.
    Cole loved the shells, throwing them in the water and the sand. He loved the water as it came in, hated it as it came out as he felt like he was being pulled backwards and would get a pinched look on his face and walked in slow motion. That never got old to see :o) He had his toddler moments throughout the week as he adjusted to new settings but whenever he got overstimulated I just stuck him in the Ergo front pack, we would just walk the beach together and he would sleep on my chest. And I loved that.
I'll let the rest of the 9890342 pictures do the talking...

                                               Cole was psyched about our new beach chairs.

Our car ride was AWESOME. 3 hours, no stops. First time Pat and I emerged from one of those with our sanity intact. Thank you ipad.

We snuck in a date night one night. Did I mention how much I loved having family members there to play with the boys?

When you see this face, you know he's up to no good.

4th of July morning Pops made the trek to Dunkin Doughnuts. We all loved the doughnuts, Cole loved stacking the coffee cups and creamers for an hour.

Fin and I made a red,white, and blue cake. He was so proud. We let Fin stay up for fireworks and he was a good sport until our next door neighbors started shooting off fireworks 5 feet from us and then homeboy was DONE. And by done, I mean he sprinted off towards the house with my mom trying to catch up so she could comfort him.

Uncle Will for a whole week to ourselves? Yes please. Fin enjoyed being his roomate, I don't know if I can say the same for Will as those 6 am wakeup calls came dang early :o)

On Thursday, a lot of family on my dads side came down to join us. We love hanging out with all of them, they're so fun. My cousin has a five year old girl Emily who Fin has a love affair with, and identical twin 3 year olds, one of which is my god daughter. The kids all had a blast together.

Sarah was the pide piper here.

Of course Nutella was involved in this beach vacay. Nicole and Rob brought it and one night they went back to their condo early b/c they weren't feeling well so we had to send this picture of us devouring their goods. Also, recipe for heaven=Ritz cracker, peanut butter,nutella. Amen.

Our front yard. Not too shabby.

The last two day there was a ridge of "cliffs" which the boys loved jumping off of. I may or may not have totally bit it standing on one when it collapsed, I can't rightly say.

Toesies in the water

Jumping waves with Nanny.

My little brown boy.

The men heading out into the waters.

He's grinning b/c he probably just killed a sand crab. He loved to hold them in his little hand like it was his friend until the poor victim wiggled no longer.

Digging to China

The twinsies. I'm an expert at telling them apart so I can say with certainty that Sydney's on the left, Ashley's on the right. Either that or Ashely's on the left and Sydneys on the right :o)

Last day at lunch, my dad made Papa Jack's famous hotdogs. It was loved by all.

Cole was a big fan.

Uncle Will eating so daintily.

My favorite thing was everyday we would put the boys down for naps and Pat and I would take a nap and we would all sleep for 2+ hours. Blisssssssss. The last day I let Fin nap with me in my big bed as a treat. We woke up nose to nose and he smiled so sleepily and cuddled into me. Sometimes I feel like I could burst with love for them.

Now we're settling into old routine of the boys not having everyone at their beck and call, I have to cook again, and Pat's back to work. Which is ok too because I love vacation, but I love my little nest as well. Laundry and all.

Remembering Cindy

Today was a sweet day of remembering. My next door neighbor Cindy passed in February and today would have been her birthday. My neighbor Merideth and I went to find her gravestone and took the kids there to celebrate and remember her. That may sound weird to take kids to a cemetary but this is a beautiful place that has headstones dating back to 1837. It was a gorgeous day and the kids loved running around, playing on the stones, and I know Cindy would have been happy that they were happy there. Death is not something we should fear as Christians. Cindy came to know the Lord right before she died and so we celebrate the woman she was here and that she has new life in heaven.

Cindy had such spunk and zest for life. She was devastated when she found out she had esophageal cancer. I remember being with her in her doctors office when she found out she was dying. I was there,8 months pregnant with Cole, and we both thought she was just going into to have a chemo treatment. But she came out crying that the doctor told her they couldn't do anything more. We left there and drove to the ABC store because that is where she wanted to go and when someone finds out they are dying, you take them ANYWHERE they want to go.

The cancer progressed slower then any of us expected. I popped in often to visit her with the boys and bring her brownies or a drink from Sonic. The boys LOVED her and loved to visit. Even though she became like a skeleton, Fin never knew she was sick until she had passed. I never told him b/c I didn't want him to view her differently.

When Cindy's friend Mike moved in to take care of her, I went over less to give them space, but I always thought of her and couldn't imagine going through what she was going through.

The last time I saw Cindy, she was a shell of a person. NO ONE should have to die the way she did. There was no dignity in the death that she experienced. She was sweet and attempted cheerfulness but that cancer was just evil. I couldn't imagine it could be like that.

She is finally at peace now and I'm so glad for her. Today remembering her was a sweet day. I'm glad she is in heaven and I think she would have loved to see all the kids jumping off of gravestones, climbing dirt hills nearby, and having races in the grass.

Happy Birthday Cindy. You were loved.

Sunday Summer Evening

I love Sunday evenings in the summertime. We usually have a really chill afternoon after church and naps and it's just sweet family time. This Sunday night we met Pat's sister Kerry and her family at a new Mexican restaurant to try out. I would have pictures of us all eating our chips and salsa except Cole lasted about 10 minutes in there (that's being generous) before I had to take him outside and walk around in a random field while everyone else ate.

Stinker

Why do I ALWAYS get the highchair that has a broken buckle so that he can't be contained. Lesson learned, we will not be taking homeboy to a restaurant again for a long time. It's not that it's awful, it's just that we don't eat out a lot so for us to spend money out, I want to be able to enjoy it. If he's going to be nutso, I'd rather just stay at home, save money, and eat a peanut butter and banana sandwhich. We went through this same stage with Fin at this age and now he's a dream to eat with so this too shall pass.

Right when we pulled into the driveway at home an icecream truck pulled into our street so Fin ran inside to get one of his dollars and bought a spiderman icecream. Perfection to a three year old.

He is always so sweet to share with his brother.

You're not eating it right unless you're covered head to toe in a sticky mess and need a bath afterwards.

He takes his icecream eating skills seriously.

End the night with the boys tucked in bed, Sarah coming over to watch 'Sister Wives', Pat running out to get us icecream, and I'm a happy camper.

To Market, To Market

While I don't enjoy grocery shopping for the most part, I do enjoy the ritual the boys and I have created on our grocery shopping day.
Every Thursday morning we impatiently wait for the store to open at 7am (oy). At about 5 till, I load the boys up in the stroller, jammies on and all. We grab our cloth bags and head out. I love walking early morning b/c it's slightly cool, the birds are crazy that time of day, and we usually see some baby bunnies on our route. We stop to get our cash out for our grocery and gas budget for the week at a local Cashpoint and then we head into Food Lion. We're usually the only ones in the store at that time of day (shocker) and all the employees know the boys and I by now.

Once we get to the store, Fin's allowed to get out and walk beside me and I use his seat and the big basket under to load up on groceries. I would have taken pictures in the store but I usually shop at a sprint, pushing the double stroller, while trying to keep a running total in my head of how much everything costs so I don't go over budget.

Fin loves getting to walk home alongside me. It's only about a half mile and he usually has his teddy in one hand and a random object in another. In this case it's a bandana.

Check out his shadow. We decided it was longer then daddy was tall.

Cole and the groceries. Notice diapers resting on top and Milk resting on the step on the bottom. We max out our space. There may have been a time or two that Cole has had a paper towel roll on his lap, I can't rightly say.

My view.

Fin uses his "super boy power" to climb this big grassy hill and walk alongside me.

My "sunflower" Fin picked for me. He ALWAYS finds me flowers and brings them to me anytime we are outside. I love his sweet heart.

We always treat ourselves to some sort of $2 breakfast from the grocery store on our grocery mornings. This morning it was powdered mini doughnuts. We find that we (I) operate best on the reward system.

While it can be a little stressful juggling both in the store, I actually look forward to our Thursday mornings. Probably because it means I'll have more in my pantry then a box of rice and half a banana :o)

Fathers Day Bonanza 2012

We celebrated Fathers day all weekend long. And what a blessing to have such great men in our lives to have a reason to celebrate!

Friday night we hung out at Pat's parents apartment pool. Pat got his workout pulling the kids around on a giant raft while he ran through the water. Resistance training. What a great dad.

Cole doesn't put his toe in water that is not bath water temperature, thankyouverymuch. So he spent his evening hovering at the edge and pushing a raft in the pool.

Fathers day morning we patiently (hmm) waited to wake daddy up. Fin and I and Cole made a card tracing handprints and Fin listed his favorite things about dad. Then Fin wanted to give Pat an old Skynyrd cd that actually was coincidentally Pat's cd that he gave Fin. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

After we made Pat breakfast of coffee, sausage, omelet and mini muffins, we headed to Hemlock Bluffs to go hiking and running. Pat ran one way on the trail, I hiked the other way with the boys and then he met up with us halfway through. It was a beautiful cool morning.

Pat was stretching beforehand and Fin decided he needed to too.

Leaves...they never get old to boys.

Me and the boys. Love that Cole still loves the backpack. I kept hearing "Hi mama" softly in my ear the whole time.

The next 2 were taken by Fin. He gave Pat a stick and said, "pretend it's a sword".

He gave me a stick and I had to pretend it was a toothbrush.

Cole walking the path less chosen. Ha!

So we had a great day as our little family and then in the evening met up with my family at a park to celebrate my dad.

Fin played with this faucet non-stop.

Pops and Fin

A little froggy friend joined us on our ventures.

God has blessed us with great fathers and blessed me especially with an amazing father to my children. Couldn't ask for more.