playing catch up

Whew ... what a busy month! I have a lot to do to catch up with the blog. First of all, there are Easter photos but I have misplaced my USB cord (oh no!) so it may be a bit before those are up. We went down to Charleston for the house hunting expedition #2 and found a great house that we have a contract on. It is a short sale so anything can happen so cross your fingers for us! If all goes well, we will be closing on June 1st and our new address as of June 30th will be 452 Barbadian Way, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464. I took a million photos of the house but will only post a few here ...

Front of the house ... it is a 'Charleston single' and in traditional style they have built it close to the neighboring lot on one side and given us a small side yard on the other side as opposed to the more common backyard.

side yard & porches

view of the marsh and Wando River from the master BR

kitchen

just past the kitchen is a screened porch and a detached garage

dining room

family room with pretty views of a pond across the street and marsh beyond the lake

Some friends from ATL joined us at the beach for the weekend. We had fun dragging them here and there. There was just too much to see in one weekend! Here, we were on our way to the beach.

the kids hanging on the porch in the AM

We were able to take the girls to the beach several times thanks to small breaks in the rain. It was too cold for swimming suits but we 'made do' in play clothes. They had a lot of fun splashing in the tide pools as they were warmer than the ocean and the waves tended to knock the girls over. This is Meredith ...

Hannah ...

On the way to the beach, we happened upon a lizard. The girls thought it was super cool until it hopped off Alan's arm and crawled down Hannah's leg. She wasn't a fan after that (not that I blame her though I wish I would have caught it on a video camera!) The 'ick, get it off me!' response must be tied somewhere to the X chromosome ...

pre-lizard ...

The girls have an obsession with the 'big girl chairs' and love to climb in and out of them and climb in them and demand food (even if they just ate!) I forsee fading out of the highchair and into the booster chair. We got them boosters the other day and now if I try to put them in highchairs (for messy foods) they say "new, new" because they want in their "new" booster chairs.

This was the first time we took the girls to the beach this past Charleston trip ... the water was stinkin' cold but after a while, we just gave up trying to keep them out of it and let them splash around and throw shells ... shoes, clothes, jackets and all! Hannah got tired of being wet and cold but Meredith stayed out there with Alan for two hours! He eventually made her come in to get warm! She loved it! I can't wait to be able to take them when it is warm outside ...

with Mommy ...

with Daddy ...

Here are a few pics from home the weeks before we went to Charleston ... here the girls are walking 'like a tapir' from the Go Diego, Go! Show (prior to this particular show, I didn't even know what a tapir was ...). They really are getting into their shows now and will play along and clap their hands and follow instructions (like here ...) and it is really cool to see them "get it." When something bad happens in the show they look upset and say "Ugh, Oh!" ...

Like most toddlers, they have really run headfirst into the independant stage and are always saying "self, self" ... as in, I want to do it myself! Hannah tries, and occasionally accidently blows a bubble ... but usually she just gets soap all over her mouth (yuck!) Meredith will sit and buckle and buckle over and over ... she has some good concentration and determination ... when she gets it buckled and needs it unbuckled (she hasn't figured that out yet) she looks at me and says "hep you ... hep you ..." as in, Mommy, help me ... it is too cute ... I guess she thinks that when I say "do you want me to help you" that the way you ask is to say "help you" ... I love it when toddlers mess things up like that ...

Here, Meredith was plucking one petal at a time off of a flower ... in my mind I was saying ... he loves me, he loves me not ... Oh, I hope it is a loooooong time before they get their hearts broken by a stupid boy!

I try my hardest to get a good photo of the girls together as several family members have asked for one ... but this (or a binky photo as the only time they sit still is when they are tired) is what I get ... the backs of heads! They love to be on the go! The only time they are not on the go is when they want me to cuddle with them.I just thought this was a cute photo. They love to feed each other, their baby dolls, me ... I love the way Meredith has her mouth open while she is feeding Hannah ... just like Moms do when they are feeding babies their baby food ... they climbed in this bouncy chair themselves ... they have taken to trying to both fit in one small space ... they do love to be together and it is so sweet to see.