Lake Moultrie

I have been trying to get this posted for a while but had so, so many pictures to get through. I hope I posted the best ones though I have to admit it was a little overwhelming and I have a little Miss Caroline who is waking at the moment ... we will see how long I can stretch it! My uncles on my Mom's side have a lake house out at Lake Moultrie (about 45 minutes from our house.) The house has been in the family for years and I have been going to it summer after summer since I was possibly younger than even Caroline. It was fun to spend time out there with my side of the family. Grayson seemed to love being around the babies (Sylvi and Caroline) while Landon has always been a favorite with the twins. It reminded me of being out there as a child. Thanks to the Otts for letting us spend some time out there! I will get on with it as she is starting to fuss and the twins are waking now, too!

Brayden and twins feeding ducks

Landon and Grayson giving the girls a ride!

Cute Sylvi!!!

Caroline smiling up at her Aunt Kristi

Do I have something on my head?

In the bounce house ... it was fun for the kids (and Sarah =) for a while but it is a bit hot to use for very long!! I will be glad when Fall comes around and we will likely use it all the time!

the Finley girls and Whitaker boys feeding ducks

Landon and twins catching up on some TV

Poor Brayden spent a lot of the time under the weather but here he is having fun playing hungry hippo with the twins ...

the boys did a little fishing and here are their crickets they used for bait ... all the kids were pretty interested in the crickets ... however, I was not interested in the crickets and as soon as Grayson learned that little fact he got lots of pleasure out of chasing me around with them =)

We did not spend any nights out there as we are so close and space was limited and I am chicken to try and handle my 3 little ones overnight away from home by myself ... therefore many car naps were had that week!

The first day we spent out there, Caroline took a 4 hour nap! Unheard of for her ... or any of my kids (or probably anyone else's kids for that matter)!!
Hannah could probably skip naps without too much trouble ... but Meredith, she is like her Dad ... she needs her sleep ... she and baby doll (whose name is also Meredith =) took a nap the second day we were out there ...

One of the rainy days during the week, we took all the kids to the Aquarium ... my sister has great pics of all the kids getting their faces painted that I will have to get at some point ... these are the only ones I had ... yet another car nap ... Here is Meredith ...

and Hannah ...

girls will be girls!

All of the girls are really fun right now. Three years old seems to agree with the twins and they seem to enjoy being a little more grown up. They are playing well together and are finally wanting to learn how to be more independent. They are trying to dress themselves and they put their own shoes on and even occasionally we head out without the paci and blankie! We really have much fewer meltdowns and fights than we used to. It has been a good few weeks and I really hope it continues! Caroline had a fussy few weeks at the beginning of July but is doing MUCH better now and is really back to her normal self. She had her 6 month check-up this week and she had a big growth spurt so maybe that was the cause of the fussies! She is now 75% in height at 26.25 inches and 40% in weight at 15 pounds 2 ounces. She is sitting pretty well though she is a little too "busy" to want to sit still. She is a little mobile and scoots herself around on her belly a bit though traditional crawling may be a month or two away. She is a champ roller and it is really fun to watch her play. She is doing great with her solid foods and I started her on Cheerios this week. She concentrates so hard on getting them in her mouth. It is too, too cute! Well, I will let the pictures do the talking ...

Sweet Caroline ...

So, I took Caroline to the doctor a few days ago and left Alan with the twins ... well, he is playing with PlayDoh with Hannah and realizes that Meredith is no where to be found. He went all around the house looking for her and found her asleep in the chair in our bedroom ... now, this would NEVER have happened on my watch ... putting herself down for a nap ... must be nice to be Daddy!

Cluck, cluck Hannah is a chicken! This is part of a fun art set the twins got for their birthday.

Oooo, oooo, ahhh, ahhh Meredith is a monkey ...

The girls love to help me with my herb garden ... we check on them everyday!

It has been so hot here, we have been playing on the upstairs porch a lot ... it is nice and shady and breezy up there ... we have 3 kid rocking chairs that were a gift from my parents when we moved into the house ... well, of course, the twins always want the same one ... sometimes it works out like this and sometimes not ... shortly after this photo was taken M scooted H out of the chair and a fit was had ...

Caroline wasn't quite digging the rocking chair yet ...

Twirling twins ...

Arabesque!

Me and my mini-me ...

you turn around just for a minute and ...

the twins feeding their baby dolls ... so funny how much they copy me ... Hannah even walks around with ponytail holders around her wrist like I always do!

Triple decker ... (obviously they don't really sleep like this ... they were playing and I popped Caroline on top just for fun)

birthday!!!

We have been so busy lately that my blogging has taken a hit for two reasons ... one for being busy and two for having so many pictures to go through that I get overwhelmed at which ones to post! As for general news, the twins are doing great with their potty training and do really great all day but they are still in diapers for naps and nighttime and probably will be for a while. At least I can now send them to school on the 24th with confidence that they will be OK and not embarass themselves with an accident. Speaking of school, they start in a few weeks and I have also signed them up for an art class. I am excited for them and think they will really enjoy it. I hope it goes better than last year! We have been talking it up and they seem excited to go back to school. I will start with the twins' birthday and post a few more posts over the next few days. The girls had a fun birthday weekend with both sets of Grandparents in town and their little party at Gymboree.

What is this squash crap? Where is MY cake?!

Bubbles!!
M's toosh and H's face

Meredith

Hannah

We celebrated the girls actual birthday at home ... Alan was off work and we met his parents out for dinner at On The Border as the girls love mexican food! We got them this great little bounce house and a few other little things ...

Elefun!!!

princess outfits from Grammy & Grandaddy