Birthday-part 2-Beach

So, as we arrived we saw these flags flapping wildly in the wind (click on it to enlarge). Dangerous currents. common. check. Dangerous marine life? are there man-eating crabs? turtles migrating that would shoot poisonous darts if you were in their way from nest to ocean? no. sharks. enter water at your own risk (which is what all bodies of water in the state of FL technically have to say because if it's not sharks, it's alligators. really.)
Sadly, Haley was very busy with her friends and I didn't get many pictures of them. I was really paranoid about getting my camera covered with either sand or salt water, or worse yet stolen by the many non-American speaking people that surrounded us and stared at the camera. and circled our seating area.
Love this one of Sierra, H. and Kristen. It was the roughest we've ever seen the Gulf Coast due to the red flag conditions. I wondered but forgot by the time I got home, what weather was churning in the gulf to create such.... Atlantic-ness (but the water was August-Atlantic Ocean temps).
Love this picture of big/little sis. They are growing up way too fast. I love them so much.
No, he's not really *that* much taller than the girls. But they are slowly accepting the fact that not only will he be taller, but stronger as well. Good thing they listened to their mother when they would pick on him as a baby when she told them that "one day he'll be bigger than you and will remember all these mean things you're doing to him." actually, I don't think he remembers anything but being smothered in love. and water.

remembering.....

Robin's dad, brother, our Grandfather........ our nephew Stefan, our friend Val's husband (currently in Iraq until July).... remembering this weekend, amidst our celebration of Life, the sacrifice of service these men (and many, many others like them) for our freedom and safety. God bless America...

Pool Party

well, I just realized I was too busy playing hostess last night to have taken pictures of the pool party, but here are some of my favorites from playing around with my new camera today.

love how many water droplets he has on his face that don't even seem to bother him!

Sweet Sixteen Part 1

K's friend Caroline from ballet (to her right) spent the night and went to church with us this morning. of course Drew and Chris were here (and we were glad they were, they single-mouthedly blew up the pool toys/gifts).


of course someone had to help open presents (cell phone, anklets, sample pack of jelly belly jelly beans, sweats, nail polish, and the pool toys-seats with squirt guns attached)


J and O tried them out first as all the big kids ran out the door after lunch to see a movie (last night they saw Prince Caspian ($9.50 each!), I forget the name of the movie they saw today but it was at the dollar theater).

We didn't do cake yet...........more pics to come!

Will I die?

We had a pool party yesterday after the girls' recital (sorry, I have no pictures of them in their ballet costumes, only in the fin'ale, i'll post them later). One of the families that came brought drinks. After they left, this was the only one left. We heard M. ask "will I die if I drink this?" and we said, " no, why?" and he said, "because it says DIEt Coke." and he was being totally serious. I never get tired of seeing life through the eyes of a newly-reading 5 yo. how fun!

Jobs, part 2

Yesterday at CFA, if you wore the number 9, you got a free chicken sandwhich.
There was a moon/tigger bounce (which P. wanted nothing to do with, despite N and our friend Lindsey, working the booth, both trying to talk him into it.




















There was a muscle man contest, which P. agreed to do with Dad, but Dad was the one who got it to the top. Way to go Dad!

Jobs, part 1

H. has been babysitting this little boy (Gabe) 4 days a week for the past couple of weeks and for the next week or two. It's not her favorite thing to do (it gets boring after a while) but she is faithful and very good at it. He adores her, and gets so excited when she pulls into the driveway (driving) in the morning. We had fun giving P. a play date, and swinging on their swing. and of course, they always LOVE to see themselves in the camera immediately after. That's technology I never would've dreamed of. Makes you wonder what picture taking will be like when their kids are teens.

Post prom

These pictures are not for your general enjoyment. *We* don't even enjoy them, but we will enjoy the memory of them years from now, when we may have forgotten how silly teenagers are, and how quick-witted K. is.








Apparently, it was really hot at the prom, and several guys decided to take their shirts off, but leave their vests and jackets on. Later, Drew said to K. ," you know when I took my shirt off you were saying to yourself, 'Dangggg'." to which she quickly quipped, "yea, I was saying, 'danggg... you're white!" He thought that was hysterical. it was the first thing he told me when he walked her to the door (and into the house) at 12:30am.

Teeny tiny?

There's a boy (cute, black) that works with K. at CFA who met H. and thought she was "so cute and teeny tiny I could fit her in my pocket." He just goes on and on about K.'s "little" sister (get it?). Last night, after dropping K. at work, H. was driving home, but we went through the drive-through to get P. an ice dream cone (that's what CFA calls it because it has a dreamy amount of sugar in it).

Aerius (the cute, black boy, whose name we really have no idea how to spell) was working the drive-through window and just about wet his pants when he saw H. driving. "You?" he said. "YOU drive?" and erupted in laughter. He went on to comment how he had "just about given up on life, but seeing you saved me." He then went on a diatribe of how he could take her home and put her on the shelf, she was just so cute. and little. funny. but it made our day. and apparently his as well.





Here's to our teeny tiny teenager, a week before her Sweet Sixteen.
(pictured with Gabe, the boy she spends most of her time with these days...). babysitting.

Friends

O. and Martha-Elizabeth after a refreshing swim (pool temp has increased to 74*!)







N. and Ty throw a baseball in the front yard.










The puppies LoVe Drew. At least he only lets them lick his chin now instead of his tongue (ew).

Teaching labs to swim?

Who said labradors are water dogs? R. decided to teach them how to swim.









Poor puppies. They ran over and huddled together under the trampoline (farthest spot from the pool) and wouldn't go near R. the rest of the night. Maybe that was his initial intention....

Prom-Leon

Do we *have* to get close?how's this? better?

alright, but we'll still pretend not to enjoy it.... (that's Ty in the background, he was getting dropped off to go the FSU baseball game with R. and N. tonight). As with all the pictures, you can click on it for a larger (very large) version.

This one pretty much shows how they truly feel.

But silliness eventually prevails....

New Camera/ 1st pictures

Muscle pictures (doesn't N. look like the pale version of the Hulk?)

beauty....

bravery.....

boy