1st day of school

Jonah started school in September. He goes 3 days a week to the church down the street from our house. The school reminds me of school when I was little even down to the smell of it. Jonah had a little trouble with us leaving him at school for the first couple weeks. Now, he runs into his classes with all smiles. He does like to stall my departure but asking for hugs every step I make to the door.

I absolutely love looking through his school bag at the end of each day. There's always an art piece to hang on the fridge. Jonah always says, "Mommy, look what I made for you."

Our days at the beach

A week at the beach will spoil a person. No agenda, no meetings, no desks, no computer, no connections. . . it was wonderful. Only decisions to be made was "beach or pool?" and "SPF 30 or 50?" The ocean was beautiful at Cape San Blas. CSB has to be one of my favorite places to vacation to in the U.S.
The kids took awhile to adjust to the sand. Jonah hated the "yucky sand" and McKenna tolerated it. By the last day of the vacation, Jonah finally warmed up to walking on the sand. They were both a handful the whole week but I manage to capture and lock away some precious moments of them in my mind.

The 4th of July

The 4th of July is always a fun day for our family. The Dunwoody parade starts right in front of our house. Jonah was more interested in the candy that the floats threw out to the crowd than the actual parade. McKenna has a good time smiling and waving at everyone. Our friends, Dave & Thais and their son, Olen, joined us. We spent the rest of the day in the pool and ended up missing fireworks b/c everyone was in bed by 8:30pm. And when I say "everyone", I mean Jonah, McKenna & James!

Family Pictures

Our Baby Girl is 1. . .

Sweet baby girl. . . you are 1 now. You went from a baby to a toddler so quickly. You're constantly on the move and demand the attention of mommy & daddy. You're a snuggler and it's so nice to feel that wanted. Your smile brighten up our days and your chuckles at your brother silly ways warms our heart. Your desire to keep up with the older kids has shortened all your milestones or your just incredibly smart! happy day to you McKenna. . . love, mommy, daddy & jonah

Vacation | Before & After Children

A vacation for James and I three years ago would have consisted of the following:

• a flight to a tropical destination
• driving the countryside in a rental car looking for beautiful coastal cities
• stopping at various hotel/resorts and picking the one with the best ocean view
• sleeping til 10am and spending the day on the beach
• eating meals whenever we got hunger and filling the in between time with cocktails

A vacation now for us with two kids goes more like this:

• 6 hour car drive to the beach with mommy trying to entertain the munchkins when they are awake
• carrying two pack 'n plays and lots of toys in the Sequoia
• sleeping in the same room as the kids & waking up at 5 am every morning
  
• spending from 9 to noon on the beach with one kid who cries if sand gets on him and the other who is delighted by a bucket of water
• routinely eat meals and putting kids down for naps
• enjoying the one hour of quiet time after the kids go to sleep with your spouse before you pass out from the exhausting day of managing the kiddos

And the pictures below sum up our whole vacation at SeaGrove Beach - - -