This was a jam packed weekend. Daddy flew out to New Mexico to help our good friend Steve drive to his new home on the East Coast. This left me solo with my three little ladies. No need to worry about keeping them busy because I had the pleasure, and I do mean pleasure, of hosting Charlotte and Henry for first night of Daddy's cross country trek. The 5:1 ratio wasn't so bad! It was the first time the girls had a friend their age sleep over. The girls had so much fun running around after each other and little Henry just toddled along after the excitement. Unfortunately, I was too busy to pick up the camera and catch the many sweet and funny moments.
This morning, we had a full beauty salon operation in our house. We painted finger and toe nails, rolled our hair in curlers, and put together the most lavish princess attire we could find. Oddly, my girls are not into princesses and have very little knowledge of the Disney princesses. We did the best we could and, in the end, the girls looked pretty darn cute. Once everyone was satisfied with their appearance, we headed off to Charlotte's 4th birthday tea. Miss Melissa had the house decorated beautifully and the tea was a big hit, especially with Adeline. She adored her dainty tea cup and was the last child left at the table. Never have my girls experienced such an exquisite spread!
The beautiful birthday girl!
Soon after the tea, Sleeping Beauty arrived. She talked like a princess, sang like a princess, and giggled like a princess. She was very impressive. All of the girls gathered around while she sang (check out her set of pipes in the video below) the popular Disney princess songs. My girls were memorized. Adeline tried to imitate hand motions while Lila and Savannah hummed along.
We most likely overstayed our welcome because the girls were having so much fun. I finally strapped everyone into the car seats four hours later. Instead of killing time at home in anticipation of Daddy's return, we went to our local pool and enjoyed a refreshing swim.
We began our Holden Beach tradition 8 years ago. It was a shot in the dark. I was ecstatic when our friends said yes! Never did I think they would still be saying yes eight years later.
The tradition began with one child in the group. We have been productive, or should I say "reproductive," over these past eight years haven't we?
We spend less time at night circled around around board games and more time working or reading. This year we found ourselves cracking the laptops open instead of beer and waking up at 7:30 instead of 9:00 a.m. I guess we have grown older and dare I say wiser over the past eight years. It was, after all, the first year without sunburns. In fact, we all like to huddle under the umbrella in hopes of keeping the wrinkles at bay too.
Gone are the days of photographing couples. Those days have been replaced with countless shots of our children.
Year II couple shot - the last one. . .
What is true is that these wonderful people have grown to be a part of our family. Our kids look forward to the beach each year and so do I. I hope we find ourselves trekking to Holden Beach for many more years to come.
Our second year. . . (couldn't find a picture of year #1)
Here are the annual beach portraits. Savannah is the only one I don't have a great shot of. She was just getting sick on the day we had her out.
I could look at these pictures all day. It reminds me of how lucky we are, how much fun my girls are, and how fortunate I am to be loved by these wonderful, sweet girls.
Adeline's love affair with giraffes started in the NICU. She had the Cadillac of isolettes because, at the time of her birth, she assumed the, "Sickest and Tiniest Baby" label. The isolette is called a giraffe isolette because it goes from looking like a typical isolette. . .
to looking like a giraffe very quickly. It gives the doctors full and immediate access to the baby in distress.
Every since her NICU days we have enjoyed Adeline's true attachment to giraffes, even if we kind of pushed them on her in the beginning.
On the way to North Carolina we stopped at the Baltimore Zoo. We had our fingers crossed that the giraffes were in the mood for some tasty bamboo at the feeding station. Imagine The Belle's excitement when the giraffe walked right up to us and ate the leaves right out of our hands! Miss Adeline, who balks at the smallest creatures, stood strong and brave while reaching out toward this enormous animal. She really does love giraffes.
All three girls fell in love with boogie boards this year. To my surprise, Adeline was okay being pushed around by the waves, and at times, being thrown from the board. As long as she kept her head above water, she was okay. Lila, who I didn't ever catch on camera, walks out like a big girl and, with my help, hops on the board and rides the waves by herself. The last couple days she was more tentative and has played lifeguard to all the young ones. For some reason she thinks everyone is going to drown. Savannah is completely independent and worries me much less than I expected. She enjoys the BIG waves. It is a good thing that she has a wave riding partner because waves are always more fun when enjoyed by two.
Here are clips of Savannah and Adeline enjoying some time on the boards. I never knew when Adeline and Lila were going to be aggressive and go deep. My luck had it that I never had my camera on these days.
When getting ready for bed, Lila hopped on the potty. I walked into the bathroom a few moments later and Miss Lila was holding her nose (while sitting on the royal throne) and declared, "It is stinky in here Mommy. Stinky, Stinky!" 'Who made it stinky in here Lila?" I asked. "I did!" she says :)
