The bumble bee will help!

Yesterday I took the kids to the park. We were meeting our friends Sarah and Preston there for a picnic and play time. Before we left home, I let the girls pick out a special plate for the picnic. Of course there was only one bumble bee and they both wanted that plate. Chloe said it first so I let her get it. Carly was not too happy with it, but I told her she got a choice between a plain white one or an animal. She settled on a hippo. We went to the park. They were walking on these wooden planks like a balance beam and Carly slipped off and scrapped up her shin. And you know the girls, very loud when it comes to pain (got that from their Dad). At that point Sarah and I decided it was time to feed them anyways, so I carried Carly to the table. Chloe was very concerned and kept saying the bumble bee will make Carly happy. Oh yes, Chloe sacraficed her plate all to make her sister happy. I thought that was the sweetest thing in the world!!! How do they learn to be so compasionate towards one another?? Maybe because we do kiss every boo boo and make sure they are all fixed up when they are hurt - makes them a little too dramatic for me, but if it makes them compasionate for life, I'll take it!!! I love how they take such good care of one another - and Harper too. They can't stand for him to cry when he is hurt and always want him mended asap. Anyway - just wanted to share a heart warming moment for me.

Keef

My cousin Keith came to visit yesterday. The girls were really excited to meet him (again - saw him last year in NY) because he is a pilot!!! Oh, Chloe was thrilled since she flys all planes (remember the beach trip). Of course it took them a while to warm up (the cookies helped), but we really enjoyed his visit! "Keef" has been their hot topic of conversation today and I am sure he will be on the top of their list for the next few weeks. Their favorite toy is their airplanes from Uncle Chris - Keef flys them.

Socks??

Today I was quizzing the girls on some brain quest cards. Chloe and I were going through them and she was doing quite well. It is so funny to see the little things that they forget from season to season. Here is a little background knowledge: I have gotten them a bunch of new shoes lately. The question was: What do you put inside the shoes? It had three little pictures, one of which was a pair of socks (the answer). She looked for a while and said "Paper!!" Oh yeah I was laughing. She couldn't remember that you wear socks with your shoes because we are still wearing flip flops!! So none of those pictures fit the bill - all her shoes that she has been getting has paper in them!!! Oh 3 year olds are great!

Crab Legs!

Every night before we put the girls to bed, we have been sitting out on the balcony watching the ocean. We always see people out there with flashlights. The girls were asking why they had the lights. I told them they were looking for crabs. Yesterday we were driving around looking for places to eat and Matt was saying how he wanted crab legs. We decided against this messy meal. Well their little minds work kind of like Google. You type in several key words and it is always interesting to see what comes out. So, this morning we were all sitting out on the balcony and there was a guy on the beach with a metal detector. He started digging in the sand and Matt was watching intently. He looked at the girls and asked what they thought he was going to find in the sand. Chloe looks at him and says, "Crab legs!" It was too cute.

Having fun in the sun!

Since the last blog we have done some fun stuff. Thursday we went back out to the beach after nap. The kids played in the sand and then we went to the indoor pool because it would get chilling when you got out of the outdoor pools. Then we went to Carrabas for dinner - Yummy!! Yesterday, we went back out the beach in the morning. It was windy so the kids weren't too thrilled to have the sand pelting them in the face - didn't cry, they just wanted to go to the pool. We stayed out until naptime and then came in for lunch. I then went to the outlet mall!! I enjoyed 3 1/2 hours of silent shopping!! I really only got stuff for me - crazy! Then I came back and picked up Matt and the kids. We went to Barefoot to see if we could find any alligators. We went to eat at Wild Wings Cafe.

On our alligator hunt, we saw this fish and Carly said she

needed her picture with it. They never ask to get their

picture taken and this is what they deemed picture worthy.

Then we proceeded to Broadway. We went to find the kiddie rides. Harper rode his first carousel ride!! He was so funny - no smiles - very serious. He liked it, but showed no emotion! The girls also went on a train ride and an airplane ride. The airplane ride was one of those that you could pull the handle to make it go up and down. Now this brought me to tears! The girls were so excited we went over how to pull it to you to go up and push it to go down. (I failed to tell them to hold it for a while). Well, the girls were all bucked in - Chloe in the yellow plane and Carly in the red plane. Now the ride begins. Chloe's plane starts going crazy!!!!!!!!! It was rapidly going up and down, but the plane was barely spinning. Matt and I were laughing so hard we couldn't talk the child through it. We couldn't stop laughing!! I was literally crying for 10 minutes after this whole ordeal as well. Finally, Chloe stopped pulling the handle and it stopped going up and down and just stayed in one spot - at the very top. All we could hear was her crying and through the tears, her saying, "I'm all done!!!!" Now, Carly never touched her handle and was just spinning on the bottom and never moved. As soon as she heard Chloe crying, of course she started crying. This all didn't last too long before the woman stopped the ride and got them off. She got them out and handed them to us. Oh, the tears. They were telling us all about the horrible experience. We asked Carly why she was crying, and she said she couldn't see Chloe!!! That was probably the funniest $6 I have ever spent - at the girls expense of course, but still hilarious. And of course this was the one day we didn't bring the video camera with us!! They are in good spirits today about the whole thing. They even said they would attempt it with me in the plane with them - we will see. After that - we went and got ice cream. We got home around 10, but we were up this morning to see the sun rise at 7. This is a great vacation!!Carly in the red plane - so excited for the ride to start
Chloe with her hands on those handles!! She is crazy.

Harper's first ride on the carousel

On the dinosaur

Matt took the girls for a walk on the beach this morning. They got cold and came back after a very short distance.

We are here!!

We are finally at the beach!! We are having a terrific time and enjoying the gorgeous weather!! It is probably in the low 80's and beautiful sunshine! We left the house yesterday around 10 - the girls were so excited! We only stopped once to eat lunch - Bojangles. All 3 of them took a nap, so when we arrived around 2, they were ready to go. I checked in and then we got them out to show them the ocean. We didn't tell them that we were there yet, so when they got to the top of the steps leading to the beach - their little faces were glowing - that was so great to see!! We got to our room and quickly smelled that it was a smoking room. I called down to the front desk to see if they could switch us and she said they were booked. So Matt unloaded the car and brought all the stuff to our room - we put everything in the right room, but still were not thrilled that it smelled funny in there. We got the kids ready to go to the beach and then we stopped at the front desk to complain. They switched us!! We went from the 9th floor to the 2nd. So we headed back up to the room and had to re load everything back on the cart and bring it to our new room. (It didn't take too long). THEN, we went to the beach!! THEY ALL LOVED IT! We played and played - the girls even had enough courage to go into the water!! (ankle deep of course - and Harper just goes with the flow and does everything!) We took the kids in to take a bath and Carly was upset because she wanted to get in her pjs. Then we went to Johnny Rockets for dinner and did a little browsing at Barefoot landing. This morning we woke up (Harper slept in till 8:30 ish) and went down to breakfast - worked out for us because kids 3 and under are free!! We had to hit up a Wings for a beach bag (that's the one thing I forgot Mom - oh and sunblock too!!) We played all morning at the beach and the pool and now the kids are all sleeping!! It feels weird to go to the beach and not have to plan other things to do - they are just happy on the beach and we are just relaxing!

The girls getting a thorough explanation about how the closet doors work - after, of course, Chloe's finger was pinched!

Injuries so far: Chloe's finger, Mommy's thumb (there was a small light thing on the check in desk and Chloe had her hand in the towel and took the glass cover off - it was hanging- so she gave it to me with no towel covering my hand, and sizzle!!!! - Yeah it hurt), Carly's foot, a couple of head bumps, and I think that is it - the boys are doing good so far - well Harper has eaten half of the beach!! - Yes I caught the boy licking his legs to get sand off!! - Oh wait - I forgot Harper plumeted into the hard sand - so hard his head bounced and gave him a nice goose egg on his forehead.

Here they are all enjoying a cookie I baked before we left. They were being so patient as we were switching rooms!!

Yes! Sitting in the ocean

The girls trying to go to bed - before dinner!

Hats they got at Johnny Rockets - Chloe said she needed to show Grandma - so here they are (they have since been broken!)

Barefoot Landing

Sunrise this morning - Carly made sure we were up at 6:45 so we wouldn't miss it!

Playing hard!

A book of Lasts

Last night while Matt and I were doing our rounds before bed (we go and kiss all of our babies every night and tell them how much we love them), I remembered a book that my Mom and Dad had given me when I had Harper. It is called, "Let me Hold you Longer." It is a children's book, but it has such a great story. It talks about how you document all your kids firsts, but never their lasts. Oh, I cried as I read it to Matt (yes I made him hear a children's story before bed). My babies are growing so fast and pretty soon they will be doing all sorts of new things, but one day they won't come in crying because their belly hurts. I thought about the other night when Carly couldn't fall asleep because her belly hurt. She was up and down and finally at 9:30 I told her to come lay in the recliner with me. She was so sweet. I gave her some medicine and just held my baby girl. One day she won't need me any more to hold her to make her feel better. That now seems so far away, but I know it will come sooner than I think. I am so thankful that I can stay home with my kids and spend such quality time. I can't believe I have been doing this for 3 years!!! Well, on that note, Chloe is sitting next to me wrapped up in a blanket in the recliner, so I am going to snuggle with her and hold her extra tight!!!!

Wheelbarrow

Matt and I were reading in our Night Light devotional the other night and I really enjoyed Monday's topic. It was discussing faith and trust. The story went something like this: There was a circus performer that wanted to tight rope across Niagra Falls pushing a wheelbarrow. He was an amazing circus performer and his reputation had preceded him. He asks you if you think he can accomplish this. You have FAITH that he can and you respond, "yes." Now the performer looks at you and says, "if you really believe that I can do this, then get in the wheelbarrow." Now here is where the TRUST comes in. Matt and I discussed how this is so true with your faith in God. We always have faith, but do we always give Him our 100% trust that he can handle every thing we give Him. In every thing that we do, do we jump in and let God take complete control - do we REALLY TRUST HIM?? Matt and I are challenging ourselves to make sure we "get in the wheelbarrow" no matter what - even if we think we can handle every thing. I never really thought about the difference in those 2 words, but it makes perfect sense to me now. Having faith in God is definately different than trusting God!!

Cheerios

Yesterday the kids were have a Cheerios snack, and I started laughing at something Carly said a long time ago. Several months ago I took her to Harris Teeter with me to get some donuts for Matt's work meeting. Ironically, the Krispy Kreme truck was there doing a delivery. Carly got so excited when she saw the truck - "CHEERIOS!!!!" is what she yelled!!! I couldn't stop laughing! She has never had a donut, so the only thing she could think of that look like one was a Cheerio!! I still don't think she has had a donut yet, so maybe one day I will get her going with the right schema!!

5 Blue Paw Prints!!

Reilly started school (yes - Kindergarten) a few weeks ago and she is starting to get the hang of it and all it's rules! Everyday, if they are good, they can get a blue paw print. If they get in trouble once they get a green face. She was having quite a few green faces, so I decided to give her a little incentive to get those paw prints. I told her once she got 5, I would take her to do something fun, just her and me. She was very excited about that!!! Well, yesterday she did it!! So I took her out for ice cream! She got to get whatever she wanted - she settled on chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone with sprinkles!! Oh boy did she love that. She ate the whole thing in record time and she told me she couldn't talk. When she was done, they had some hoola hoops sitting out and we both got a good work out. She has never hoola hooped before and she liked shaking her "booty." I told her now she needs to get 10 paw prints and I would get her a hoola hoop. She is excited!

Grandparent's Day

Yesterday was Grandparent's day! My kids are so lucky to have all their grandparents close by! We went and visited everyone and brought them some brownies that the girls made. I was even able to go see my Grandma and Grandpa! It is nice to let them all know that they are appreciated.

Grandma Kay and Grandpa Eddie

Grandma!

Reilly and Reagan came by too!!

We had to go see Grandpa at work! The girls like to see his potties!! (He works in the plumbing department)

End of the Pool

I can't believe summer is over!! Especially since it is still 90 degrees outside! Yes, I will admit I have been a very slack blogger these last few weeks. I have been busily helping Nichole get into her new house and setting up our Sunday School room. Nichole finally is in her house and is getting settled in. Here are a few pics of our last days at the pool - thanks Daralyn for taking pics!

Chloe haming it up for the camera
Harper eating his lunch! He loves his wagon!