going private

After months and months of nagging from Jon, I am finally giving in. If you want me to add you to the list, them please leave me a comment and your email address if I don't have it.
Thanks!

she swims!!!

Well, I said in the post above that I thought Mamie would be wearing her floaties forever, but she won't :) On the last two days of lessons, it finally clicked and she is swimming by herself. She still needs lots of practice, but loves it, is not afraid anymore and wants to practice all the time.

Mamie taking off from the steps to swim to her teacher.

taking a big breath

and going again!

Lilly was already swimming, but here she is practicing breathing to the side while she swims.

The two wild ones. Hollis did great too--he had NO fear at all.

July is flying by...

One month from today, Lilly will start kindergarten. I am getting a little bit sad about it and feel like the rest of the summer is going to be over in the blink of an eye. We have been staying busy--we went to Huntsville for a few days to visit CJ and Pop last week, and we've had lots of fun with friends, swimming, and going places.

I took this picture from the kitchen window after the rain the other day. There were actually five bunnies, but I couldn't get them all in one shot. They hung out for over an hour, just cleaning their little faces, eating grass and clover, and playing with each other. We watch them run at each other and jump up into the air--I haven't figured out if they are fighting or playing, but it is pretty hilarious to watch. I had pet rabbits growing up, so I love them. Every time we pull in the driveway, you can see white tails and bunnies hopping off. There is never a day that goes by that we don't see at least one. Mamie has named one of them "Hopper." Of course there is no way to distinguish between them, so they are always "Hopper" if there is one bunny in the yard.

Creative Discovery Museum

We went to the Discovery Museum in Murfreesboro last Friday with some friends. It was really fun for their ages and I would recommend it if you haven't been. We packed lunches and ate there at their covered picnic area.

Mamie played on this for a LONG time--spinning arund and around...

If you ask any of the kids in our group what their favorite thing at the museum was, they would probably say the conveyor belt. Not sure why, (there were several "more exciting" things there) but they loved it. Even the big kids could not get enough of it. I bet they filled up 20 baskets of plastic vegetables while we were there.

Daddy's little grocery worker sorting produce ;-)

And the surprise of the day was running into Jon's cousin, Allison, who lives in Murfreesboro! This is her little boy, Sean, who we hadn't seen in a LONG time! They were celebrating his 2nd birthday. He's a little cutie.

Shoveling coal

Funny how manual labor seems so fun when it's at a museum, but at home it's not.

Meeting Snow White

Mamie, Lilly, Frances, Libby, and Lexi all decked out in their princess attire

Listening to Snow White read a book. I caught Mamie scratching her nose--it looks like a pick, but it's a scratch!

Making snow.

Swimming Lessons

Mamie, Lilly, and Emery ready to swim

Hollis practicing his kicking

Mamie practicing blowing bubbles

Not sure what Lilly is doing here. But can you tell she is having fun? She is already swimming pretty well on her own and loves it, she just needs a little help with becoming a stronger swimmer.

I'll have to give an after-lessons report next week and let you know if Mamie learns to swim on her own. If she had her way, she would wear floaties forever.

happy 4th

a very rare thing--Mamie smiling for a picture

Lilly wanted a picture with her doll, Lily Anna, since they matched :)

Wild man Hollis in the bouncy house

Watson baby #2 is on his way...

the carman clan--minus me, the picture-taker :(

my girls love those earplugs--lilly wanted hers in before it even got dark.

before and after

I was going through old pictures on the computer today and started looking through the pictures of our house renovation from start to finish. It's been a very fun process and I have learned a great deal. I wish I had the money to just do it as a hobby--ha!

I really never thought I would see our driveway again at this point. Jon spent a lot of time shoveling mud and gravel off of it to finally uncover it again. I also split the rear end of my favorite jeans wide open stepping up onto that porch with no steps on it. I really wished I knew Spanish that day. Everyone there got a good laugh (myself included).

our bedroom before... (it had a door)

and after (with a window in its place)





standing in the kitchen looking toward the dining room before...

and after (with the wall removed)



view of eating area off of kitchen before...

and after as an office/workspace





tiny kitchen before...

tiny kitchen after...



den before and after...

sisters

You may remember me talking about my friend, Chesley, who took these pictures of the girls back in December. Well, she is now "official!" She has started a photography business. You can see her photography blog here. I am so proud of her and know she will be successful--she is great with kids and has a real talent for photography. My girls were NOT cooperative at all on the afternoon these were taken, so I was amazed she got anything. Here's a little sneak peek--I haven't gotten to see all of them yet. Thanks so much Chesley! I love them!

beach

We just got home from spending a week at the beach with my parents, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. It's the first time we have all been on a family vacation together that I can remember. We had a great time and ate a lot of delicious seafood. Mamie was really sick for most of the trip (even though you can't tell from these pictures), and only got to go out to the beach in the mornings because of the medication she was taking. She was pretty pitiful, but was happy as long as she had sand to play in. My pediatrician thinks she has Lyme disease, which totally freaked me out. She had a tick on Mother's day, and at the beach she had fever that would not go away, a horrible rash that kept getting progressively worse, swollen lymph nodes, achey legs and arms, runny nose, no appetite, etc. Her doctor even gave me his cell # and called me to check on her a couple of times, which made me feel like it was even more serious. After a couple of days on the medication, her symptoms started to improve a lot. She still has a rash, but it is so much better. She will have to be on strong antibiotics for a couple more weeks. We just took her out in the mornings with a hat and a ton of sunscreen and tried to keep her under an umbrella.

Hanging out with aunt sissy while we waited to eat.

CJ and Pop at dinner the first night

At dinner the first night--the night I thought Lilly had been abducted and freaked out. I tore open stalls in the women's and men's rooms looking for her. I was a total psycho. Screaming in the restaurant, almost knocking down an elderly couple on the stairs... Jon was running around outside looking for her, my mom and Dylan were looking, the manager and servers were looking everywhere and the manager was about to make an announcement and lock down the restaurant when we found her--at the table in my sister's lap. Too crazy to even believe. I stayed scared for about three days after that and didn't take my eyes off of her. It is the worst feeling I have ever felt in my life.

Dylan, Lilly, and Mamie

Happy in the sand

We went to the Track one night after Mamie started feeling better. We all rode Go-carts and the girls rode rides. Lilly was such a sweet big sister--there were a few kiddie rides that they stood in line for, and when they got to the front of the line, the person working told Mamie that she wasn't big enough to ride them. Lilly wouldn't go on anything that Mamie couldn't ride on--she rode all the "baby" rides with Mamie because she didn't want Mamie to be left out.

Oh, and at dinner before going to the Track, Jon gave me a fried oyster from his plate and I bit into it and about broke my tooth. I thought it was a piece of shell, but when I spit it out, it was a pearl! Pretty crazy.

Uncle Tim's delicious seafood stew at Stinky's

The best family shot I got with my camera. Of course, Mamie isn't looking, and the lighting is a little weird, but at least we're all in it!

The girls LOVE their cousin Dylan. They would follow him anywhere.

My sweet sister

Deb, Dylan, and Tim

Me and my sister and mom

The boys

This is what happens when you tell 2 little girls NOT to get sandy or wet while we take family pictures on the beach. They both ended up going home in just their underwear.

Lilly took this picture of us one night at dinner. Jon is busy telling her not to drop the camera in case you are wondering. Pretty funny angle--we look like giants and my arm looks bigger than Jon's. Oh well :)

I made these crab dresses for the girls. That's how Mamie felt :(

Not the best picture, but it is the first time I have ever gotten Mamie to put her head through one of those things.

At Seaside after dinner at Bud and Alley's on our last night. Mamie carried that gold purse with her everywhere.

Oh, and the last crazy story for our very eventful beach vacation--I watched a guy do a back flip in the waves and land on his head in the sand. His brother dragged him out of the water, I sent Jon to help him and I called 911. He couldn't move half of his body and was in agonizing pain and could hardly breathe. All the fire/rescue people finally arrived and took him to the hospital and we found out the next day that he broke 4 vertebrae in his neck and had to be flown on a helicopter to Pensecola for surgery. We were all so relieved that he wasn't paralyzed. His parents were there and his mom was crying--it was so scary. Also, did you know that when you call 911 on the beach, they keep asking for an ADDRESS!? I was telling them what neighborhood we were in on the beach, and what road we were off of, and a restaurant right next door and they kept asking me for an address. Really? Just remeber that if you are ever attacked by a shark or hurt on the beach, you need to know the county you are in and the address. Seriously. What in the world?