A Fancy Night Out

Ever heard of Fancy Nancy? Well, let me introduce you...

Fancy Nancy loves everything fancy. Her favorite color is fuschia, because that's a fancy word for purple. She writes her name with a pen that has a plume......that's a fancy word for feather. She decides to teach her family how to be fancy, because they don't know how. She gets them lots of accessories. And then decides that her family is posh.....that's a fancy word for fancy. They get all dressed up and go out for dinner.

Meet our fancy, I mean posh, family...

...and we didn't go out for dinner, but we DID go to Dairy Queen for ice cream......with all of our accessories.

It was stupendous.....that's a fancy word for great.

Princesses always wear tiaras...

...and at our house, they're super cute!

Swimming Lessons

We decided to line up private swimming lessons for Chloe this summer. I thought this would be a great age for her to have some one-on-one time with someone and make some progress in the water. She did great! I was very proud of how she walked right in and got in the water.....even though she was meeting her teachers for the first time. She went for 30 minutes, Monday-Friday.....so five days of lessons. Although she is not swimming by herself, Kevin and I felt like our money was well spent for the instruction she got and the continued increase in her comfort in the water that we see.

Here she was on Monday afternoon as we headed off to swimming lessons. And you can see Claire in the background.......Claire was such a trooper that week. She never cried about not being able to swim and she fell asleep in her seat every afternoon while Chloe had lessons. I was proud of her too!

Friday was the only day that we went in to watch. Monday-Thursday, I took Chloe in and went back to sit in the car (so as not to distract with my presence). On Friday, her lesson was moved to the morning, so Mommy, Daddy, and Claire went too. We all went in to watch for the last 10 or so minutes of her lesson. She was excited to show us what she had learned.

*Side note: I didn't crop this picture on purpose......check out this fabulous pool! I took this picture from under this huge cabana that sits by the pool......complete with a full kitchen, flat-screen TV, changing room/bathroom, cushy outdoor seating, and beautiful decor! Wow!

Chloe and Miss Mandy before we left........see you next year!

In Full Bloom

Our yard is in full bloom these days! And we have had so much fun watching the different flowers open up and display their colors. Kevin has gotten into the habit of going out and taking pictures, and they have turned out beautiful! Going outside to see these beautiful flowers makes the unbearably hot temperatures a little more bearable! Nature is a wonderful depiction of God's glory, isn't it?

Chloe's "Big Church" Debut

Each Wednesday night during the school year, Chloe participated in our preschool choir at church. It met right before the regularly scheduled Wednesday night activities. Chloe loves to sing and sings A LOT at home! She looked forward to Angel Choir, as we call it, each week. One of the last Sundays in May, the kids sang two songs in our morning church service. What a big girl! She did so good!

An Idea to Remember

As the last week of school approached, I was racking my brain to think of a little something to give Chloe's teachers as a "thank you" for a great year. I had talked with someone who had bought this lemonade mix and tumblers from Crate and Barrell. I thought that was a cute idea, but not easily accessible to me.......for obvious reasons! So.....this is my DIY take on the cute idea (and it cost me less than $5 each).

During my weekly trip to Wal-Mart, I bought 2 containers of Country Time Lemonade which were a little less than $3 each. Then, I went over to the summer/picnic section and found these green plastic tumblers in a 4-pack for $1! Last, I bought the spool of wired, plaid ribbon for about $2 to coordinate with my yellow and green color scheme. The night before Chloe's last day of school, I got it all out (along with my roll of clear cellophane wrap) and ta-da! I added a label that I printed with a little rhyme about "lazy summer days in the shade sipping lemonade."

The disclaimer......this probably doesn't interest many of you.....however, this idea turned out so cute and was a big hit at school! So....I didn't want to forget about it. I'll probably use this one again. So.....this is my way of not forgetting........

Thanks for sticking with me!

The End of Another School Year

The second week of May, Chloe finished another year of preschool at our church preschool. This year, she attended a 2 year old class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She LOVED it! Each Tuesday and Thursday, she got to ride with Daddy to school and that time was very special to her. The last day of school was a little program for all of the 2 and 3 year old classes.

Thank you to Miss Kristian and Miss Dawn for a good year!

Who needs a sprinkler?

When you have Daddy to spray you with a water hose!!!

One recent weekend day, I was inside cleaning and heard lots of giggling and squealing outside. Daddy and the girls were having so much fun!!

As I once told my sister, "Sometimes, Daddys are for fun and Mommys are for clean-up!" I love to watch these girls and their Daddy have so much fun together!!

The River

My parents have a place at Lake Blackshear/Flint River.....whatever you want to call it! With the roll in of spring and summer in Georgia (not sure you can really call the few nice days we have "spring" but anyway), we have taken advantage of a few weekend days at the river.

They include lots of this......

*Side note: I mean, look at her! Can she be any cuter? And she really feels cool when she puts her glasses on her head......cracks me up!

And now, lots of this! I feel like we should be starting up a redneck joke right here.......

Kevin wanted me to turn the picture upside down so that his car was sitting in the canoe.....ha! That was the joke with some of our neighbors.....that they saw a boat carrying a car!

Here was one of the inaugural rides in the canoe after we got it there......Daddy, Claire, Reesie, and Chloe.

Even Ma got in on the action and took a ride with Kevin.

We are looking forward to many more days of fishing and many more canoe rides as we enjoy our time at the river over the summer and the many years to come!

Hilton Head - Day 5 (the last one!)

Day 5 (Friday) brought with it more pool and play time! Pool time for the girls...

and play time for the boys!

If you look closely in the picture above, you can see the alligators to the right of the pin just off of the green! The picture below is a closer shot.......and the arrow is pointing to Kevin's ball!! I asked him what he did......his reply, "I left it right there!"

Dinner on Friday night was a bit of a fiasco! Who knew that a plain old Mexican restaurant that serves cheese dip would be so hard to find in Hilton Head! I'll spare you some details, but here is a picture of the girls and I eating our Burger King/KFC that we finally got and ate in the car. We did this while Beth, Gary, and Kevin ate at a more authentic Mexican place in a strip mall. Kevin and I both were frustrated with how the night went.....but it was out of our control. However, what we were so proud of were our girls. They were such troopers and never complained....even though our night was very long and tiring. The picture below was taken about 8:30ish and they were eating...........that gives you a good idea of why I decided to call it a fiasco!!

What a great trip! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, Beth and Gary, Mom and Dad..........we had a BLAST!!!