Random Summer Fun & Cohen the Ladybug Girl!

We are really in full summer gear now and its hard to believe that today is officially the first day of summer.  I LOVE summer and all the fun that comes along with it.  It is so much fun to be able to enjoy the warm weather and play outside.  I have some cute pictures that I've taken that I want to have when I make my blog book so I'm doing a post that's full of random summer pictures so far.  Cohen loves having summer play dates.  Last week her friend Rylie came over to play.  The girls had a tea party outside, played in the pool, dressed up, colored and just enjoyed seeing each other.  This week Cohen got to see another friend from school, Madison, at the library puppet show.  Cohen is doing the summer reading program.  This week we saw a puppet show that she really enjoyed.  She has a certain number of books to read and I think the goal is 100.  Cohen has completed 32 and the next goal is 50.  I  think she will have that goal after this week.  If I would, she would sit and let me read all day long.  I do enjoy reading to her though and it is fun for both of us to go pick out new books.  Our days stay pretty full and we also love having those days with no where to go but to be able to play in the "pool" here at the house.  I also have a list of things I want to do here at home like organize different things so that is on the list of things to get done.  We are really enjoying our summer so far and I hope we have more fun days ahead.  I feel so blessed to be able to spend this time with my girls!

Kate has learned how to get on to the picnic table bench 

Loves the water!

Brock cooling off!

Hopscotch!

Cohen even shares her popsicle becau

Kate is walking so much now!!  Here she is practicing!

She is so cute walking!  She is still a little wobbly but I love it!

More play time fun with Kendall and Juliette

Kate enjoys the water table

Before long Kate decides to join the big girls!

Tea Party with Rylie

Sweet sisters!

I have a cute story about Cohen.  Cohen is so silly and so funny.  She really keeps us entertained!  Our sweet neighbor, Grace, brought over a birthday present for Kate.  Part of the gift was the cutest pair of ladybug wings.  Naturally Cohen thinks she should go ahead and play with it first so she decides she is going to be Ladybug girl.  If you're not familiar, there are children's books about Ladybug Girl and Cohen loves them!  She has a few here, so she went to look at the book to get her "costume" just right.  She had Grace help her and Grace did Cohen's hair, which was done very well!  I know who to go to when Cohen needs her hair fixed and even better, she didn't cry for Grace.  We were having dinner with some friends later that evening and Cohen insisted on wearing her costume so everyone could see how "fancy" she was.  We said she could but Kelly did make her wear sandal instead of the boots :)  This was the finished costume...

Cohen & Grace (we love her)

Cohen's Hair compliments of Grace

7 Years and Counting!

Last Monday Kelly and I celebrated our 7th anniversary.  Its hard to believe 7 years have flown by already and so much has happened in those 7 years.  I have to say my favorite part of it all has been having that one person to travel through life with.  Kelly is my best friend and he is a great husband and father.  We have definitely been with each other through good times and bad and I love having that lifelong partner to do all of life's adventures with.  We went out to one of our favorite restaurants, P.F. Chang's on our anniversary night.  I had to get a few quick pictures on my phone to at least have one to remember our anniversary!

Last night we went on our "fun" anniversary date night.  I have been wanting to go to one of the art bars in Athens and do one of the paintings there.  I've had my eye on several paintings and the owl was one of them.  Kelly was such a good sport and agreed to let me pick the painting even if it meant he would have to paint a pink girlie owl painting :)  We really had a fun time and I will definitely be going back!  If we have a date night again I have agreed to one of the more cooler, guy friendly pictures.  I think we both did a pretty good job though:)

Official artists:)

WHO'S is WHO'S??

Waterpark Fun

When the summer started, I asked Cohen what she wanted to do this summer and all she has said is go to a waterpark.  Yesterday we had a fun play day at the water park with some of our friends and we had a blast!  My friend Rebekah and I loaded up her car with all our bags and babies!  After working on car seats for about 15 minutes we were ready!  We headed to the Frances Meadows Aquatic Center and met up with our friends Amanda and Erica and let the kids run free!  This place is very nice and perfect for kids!  It is smaller and clean-2 important things when you have small kids.   Cohen loved the pool and lazy river and Kate just loved it all.  We will definitely be planning more trips down there!  As a Mom its nice to be able to watch your kids and still have "talk time" with your friends.  That makes for a great day :)

This week Cohen and I have tried to take advantage of the sunshine when it was out!  I'll put Kate down for a nap and thats when Cohen & I head outside for some pool time.  Its easier to watch Cohen alone outside at her pool.  I worry about Kate getting too much sun and Cohen can be all over the place.  Plus, this has been some alone time for the 2 of us.  She really loves to go "surfing" down the little slide as she calls it.  She is quite the ham sometimes.  The funniest thing is how she wears her goggles all the time.  Last summer she loved wearing those goggles too and she is too funny in them!

Here is a link to a video of Cohen playing in the pool and "surfing" down the slide:

http://youtu.be/KQ5DcWtBFk4

Kate's (rescheduled) Birthday Cookout

We like to celebrate birthdays in this house several times!  haha!  Last Friday we had Kate's birthday cookout with our family.  This was supposed to be last Friday, but Kate was so sick with her sinus infection that we canceled.  She was so much better this week and was really into her party.  She was napping when we got everything started, but she woke up ready to eat!  I think she had learned what was going on since we had celebrated a few times before this.  When we brought the little cake out for her she was making all kinds of noises ready to get into it.  She had learned to babble when "Happy Birthday" was sang to her and when I sat the cake down in front of her she went face first for it.  If the high chair tray had not been in her way we would have seen a lot more face eating I believe.  She practically ate the whole cake by herself and we had to take her outside to hose her down before even getting her in the bath tub.  Cake was everywhere, including up her nose!  It was so fun to watch her though.  After her bath she sat down to open her gifts.  Her first gift was a swing from Papa and Grannie, and she sat in that swing while opening the rest of them.  It was cute to watch.  We had a fun time with our family and we appreciate everyone coming to celebrate her special birthday.  I think the celebrations have now officially ended but I will continue to sing "Happy birthday" to her when I need a picture.  That seems to get her attention (for now!).  Happy Birthday precious baby!

Can't figure out that candle

Going in head first

Loving her swing

Myrtle Beach

I am very behind on blogging so I'm hoping to get several posts up.  We'll see how that goes.  Last week the girls and I went with Larry & Lydia to Myrtle Beach for a few days.  We were taking a short vacation to get away.  Kelly had to stay back for work.  We left on Monday morning and we came home on Thursday.  It was a short trip but a nice getaway.  It was Larry, Lydia, Davis, Cohen, Kate and myself in our car, and later on Monday Sara, Aunt Vicki, Savannah, and Addison arrived.  The only negative part of the trip was that it rained pretty much the entire trip :(  When the rain stopped we had to deal with cooler than normal temperatures too.  The girls were able to have a little pool time and beach time and to be honest they probably weren't at all bothered by the weather.  The afternoons were clear and nice and we enjoyed one night at Barefoot Landing.  The kids were excited to see the tigers and Cohen and Savannah had a blast getting to climb this tall "spiderweb" to the big tall slide at the top.  They really amazed us all doing it all by themselves and helping each other!  Savannah would give Cohen a boost if she needed it and then Cohen would pull her up.  It was precious.  They can make a good team when they need to.
Suzy & Denny were also down at Myrtle Beach at the same time, so the girls and I went to their condo one afternoon to spend some time with them.  Cohen enjoyed their lazy river and indoor pool since it was still chilly in the outside pool.  Who would have thought June could be so cool!?  It was a fun time regardless and we enjoyed the family time!

Ready to swim!

Cohen smiling for me halfway to the top!

Playing with Pop

After a while Kate would shiver so bad!  

Since we left on her actual birthday, we had to have a party and cake!  Cake Pop that is!

Cohen & Savannah being mermaids!