Beach with McCoys

Bibi and Gogo with their grands.

My dad is known for bringing a bushel of boiled peanuts to the beach every year. This is the within the first hour of our arrival... he's indoctrinating Bruiser on peanuts and making a good friend. She loved them! Who doesn't???

Glad we brought that tricycle. The kids fought over who would ride it and then compromised on at least riding on the back if they couldn't drive.

Cautious girl surprises us and rides the go carts with Daddy!

We had such a wonderful time getting together with the Davises and my parents for our annual beach trip. My parents are so generous to use their vacation time and dollars to take all of us on with them to Garden City Beach, SC every year. When people ask where that is, I always say "just north of Pawleys Island" about which Lover makes fun. He says, "just say it's Myrtle Beach." I refuse. I have trashy associations with Myrtle and like to think that GC is a good ways south of there. I digress.

The funnest part of the trip was seeing how well all of our children got along. My sister has 4 ranging from 8 to almost 2. They all played so well with my girls and enjoyed each other's company. They'd disappear for lengths of time without any parental intervention (is that good?)... we loved it.

We all ate peanuts and drank our favorite beverages (some are pregnant remember!) and enjoyed good fellowship.

Oh, something I've wanted to add to my posts is what book I'm reading at the time so I can look back and remember.

At the beach and since, I've read:

Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Just finished Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Starting on Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Frank (never read her stuff)

Bruiser's First Haircut

I had to do it! I love a bob and can't stand the straggles, so, against many people's wishes, I cut off the curls to go for the neater look. The curls are still there and add much body though. She did very well and didn't seem to notice what I was doing. I need to find a pic of Nucky's first haircut... that was more challenging.

My Big Girl

During her "room time" lately, she's wanted to play car. She'll go all over the house and collect our small chairs and make a car to drive her babies around.


In the front yard baby pool. The girls have really enjoyed a "little" dip in the water and it sure saves on a pool membership! Honestly I am so grateful we didn't join the pool this year b/c we haven't been in town much AND b/c Bruiser is a crazy girl at the pool. She literally stepped into the side of the big pool last time we were there. It was silent (I was standing right beside her) and turned to find her a foot below the surface of the water. She dropped like a rock to the bottom. Gave her a good scare, but I'd bet she will try it again. I'm going to get her a bumper sticker that say "Ain't Skeered" for her scooter.



Reading to little sis. It's rare to catch moments like this around our house!

Nucky is growing up so quickly and I think that I hardly notice it or am saddened by it. That makes me sad. Everyone says they grow up fast, and I think as a mother of little ones, you're so ready for them to move on to the next phase. I look back at some pics of her when she was little and hardly remember. I want to cherish her more than I do. I love moments when I can just look at her playing happily and being kind to her sister. I love hearing the funny things she has to say. Last night when I tucked her in, she asked me to go check on Sarah (a doll who she puts to bed in the basement most nights before she goes to bed -- mind you, she puts the doll to sleep in a bouncy seat on a different level of the house in a far corner... why? who knows). She said I needed to go tie Sarah's shoe and buckle her in her seat. Then she told me when I go in there that "she might be a little bit sad, so just be gentle and tickle her a little bit." I'll have to remember that advice when this next little person comes around.

Catching up/Bruiser

This should be the title for every post. I think I'll just look at this first year of my blog as a trial run. Ok, no more comments about my lack of good bloggership.

Things to catch up on:

Bruiser will be called such b/c she cannot stay scratch or bruise free. She seems to run into trouble however she can, but a primary way is in our driveway. The girls have great fun riding "scooters" (nothing like scooters) down our sloped drive. When Bruiser first started doing it, I could see the danger. My mom insisted on a helmet, but we never got one... hmm, might've been a good investment. Here are some pics of Bruiser. She got a black eye at my parents' house falling into the corner of the TV cabinet.