Grand Haven for the Fourth

Our family headed up to Grand Haven, MI, for a week at the beginning of July to celebrate the Fourth with Ben's family.  Unfortunately, we seemed to have brought the heat with us.  Usually our summertime trips to Lake Michigan provide a much needed break from the scorching SC heat, but not the case this year.  The temps in the midwest were just as hot as the southeast.  We're going again in August--hoping for nicer weather then!  Despite the heat, we had a great time.

 Bodie loved his first trip to a beach--and looked adorable, I might add.

 If you saw my post about Emery's birthday you know she received a pink Power Wheels Mustang from my parents.  Much to her delight, Grandma Slagel drives a red Mustang during the summer.  Emery and cousin Austin are wild about this ride and insisted on riding in it anytime we had to get in a vehicle.  Although Linda has had this car for years (10????), she rarely drives it and I don't think Emery really remembers much from last summer's trip to MI, so the car was a huge novelty for her.  Of course Ben and I argued over who got to drive it.  Manual, GT, convertible....super fun.

 Even though the air was 100 degrees, Lake Michigan was still brisk.  Nevertheless, Emery and Austin both jumped right in and played in the waves for hours.

 When not swimming in the lake, Emery was a little fish in Grandma and Grandpa's pool....

 Or having ice cream on the boardwalk....

 Or playing in the new splash pad downtown....

 Or boating on My Three Sons....we spent A LOT of time in or on the water during this trip!

Blogger is giving me fits and messing up the order of my photos!!!!  Anyways, Emery also enjoyed playing with a lot of neat old toys Grandma had saved from when her boys were little.  Bodie loved boating--but then again, Bodie loves everything!

 We celebrated Emery's third birthday with a Minnie Mouse themed pool party at Thornblade Country Club.  Such an easy party!  The club did most of the work (the food was delicious) and all of the cleanup.  If I hadn't gone so nuts with the party favors (monogrammed towels), things would have been a breeze.

 My friend Cindy ordered this costume for her daughter's birthday party coming up this weekend.  She offered to let me borrow it if I could find someone will to play the part.  Easy peezy!  I asked our sweet next door neighbor and she found me an available friend ASAP.  Thank you, Joy!

 Emery wasn't too sure about Minnie--nothing like her immediate bolt towards Elmo last year.

 My stacks of finished towels.

 Each kid also got a Minnie cookie.

 Avery, Kristin and Brooke LOVED Minnie Mouse.

 Alison and Kelsey with the large rodent

 Ben started a wrestling match with the Ragsdale kids at the end of the evening.

 The birthday girl and her friends had so much playing ladder golf as the sun went down. 

Happy birthday, Emery!  Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know.

Emery is 3!

 Emery is three years old!  Baby girl turned three on June 16th.  We celebrated the night before with my parents at the country club.  My parents started a silver Tiffany's charm bracelet for Emery on her first birthday and get her a charm each year.  The bracelet is so special to Emery and it's really starting to look good now that it's getting full.  In honor of her dance class, my parents chose a little pink ballet slipper for Emery's new charm.  It's precious.  Doesn't every girl react this way to a little blue box?  I know I do!

 The big day!  We opened gifts on the porch over coffee (and chocolate milk)

 In addition to her charm, my parents also gave Emery this amazing pink Power Wheels mustang.  Emery is in love with it!  Both sets of grandparents went completely overboard this year.  Emery is one lucky girl!  Ben's parents gave Emery a microphone and a very generous deposit into her college account. 

 Froggie co-pilot

 Still working on steering

Jamming to the radio.  We ended the day with a Minnie Mouse pool party.....but that deserves its own post! 

Emery's First Dance Class

 Emery began dance class last week.  I have to admit that I was terrified leading up to this class.  I'll be honest:  Emery's behavior in gymnastics and Kindermusik the past several months has been challenging.  I never know how she's going to react (shy, loud, sweet, crazy, obedient, irrational, boisterous, perfect....she's full of surprises).  In fact, I even tried to become a Kindermusik drop out back in April, but Emery's sweet teacher, Miss Cindy, convinced me to stick it out.  We tried dance for several reasons--Emery loves to dance, the class is not a parent/toddler setting, and her best friend, Harper, is in the class.  Emery couldn't wait for Tuesday to get here.  She wore a tutu every day and "practiced" her ballet.

 The big day finally arrived!  Yay!  I couldn't have asked for more from my child.  Emery was a perfect angel.  Who knew that removing Mommy from the classroom could have such an impact!?!?! 

 The little princesses started off with tap and then switched to ballet halfway through the hourlong class.

 Changing into her ballet shoes.

Emery and her classmates (I love that the class is so tiny) received stamps after class.

I'm in Trouble

I will never be able to discipline this child. He's got me wrapped around his chubby little finger.

Officially Summer

 The pool is open, thank heavens!  Emery spent every waking moment at the pool its opening weekend.  Bodie and I joined her all day Sunday since the weather was a little cooler and breezy--perfect for Little Man.  I'm thankful that Bodie seems to enjoy the pool lifestyle as much as his sister.

 We kicked of summer with our first wakeboarding/surfing session of the summer.  I lugged my camera all the way down there and then only took two pictures.  This is Taryn Scher up on a wakeboard for the very first time!  Ben and I went with a group of his golfing buddies, plus a dear high school friend of mine, and their wives and we had a great time.  Lots of good sports.

 Bodie has discovered the Exersaucer this past week.  He is three and a half months old and continues to be a joy every single minute.  He is the happiest baby I have ever met. 

 Emery and Ben harvested a bunch of green beans from our garden the other day.  We ate them last night and they were delicious!  Our tomatoes should be ready any day now.  This is our third summer planting a vegetable garden and Ben gets better results every year.  Emery loves helping him.  Every evening when Daddy gets home from work he takes E out into the backyard to water the garden and check its progress.  It's pretty cute, I have to say.

 Bodie loves his nightly bath.  It might be his favorite part of the day.  He was having so much fun in there one night this week that Emery insisted on joining him.  She continues to be a very sweet older sister.  She loves her brother and he is fascinated by her antics. 

 Emery had her gymnastics graduation yesterday at The Little Gym.  We've been taking year round classes for the past two years but are going to take the summer off so that Emery can try dance.  She's very adamant about taking dance classes, so we're going to give it a shot.  Her dance class is also at The Little Gym.  We love it there!  She starts in two weeks.  I'm probably just as excited as she is!  This will be her first class that is not a parent/child setting.  I hope she listens to the teacher! 

 Emery loves the balance beam and the uneven bars at gymnastics.  It's amazing to see her progress.  Harper is taking the same dance class as Emery this summer--obviously.  Those two cannot stand to be apart from each other!  They even want to dress alike lately.  It's pretty sweet.  First thing Emery asks in the morning is "are Harper and Davis coming over?"

 Geez--I just cannot get a decent picture with my kids!  Neither is looking at the camera and I'm losing my shirt. 

Receiving her medal of achievement from Miss Brittoni.  We love Miss Brittoni and The Little Gym!

What I do Instead of Sleep

 Several months ago I bought an emroidery machine so that I could monogram Emery's clothes (and now Bodie's) on my own instead of paying someone to do it for me.  Then, I discovered how much fun appliques are.  Now I am a fully addicted to my machine.  Thankfully, I have friends who are bringing me clothes to monogram for their children.  I recently did a bunch of dresses and tee shirts from Old Navy and Wal-Mart for some of Emery's friends.  A $9.00 dress from Old Navy and a $3.00 shirt from Wal-Mart are so much cuter with a monogram!

 I took a break from monogramming for my best friend from college, Katie, and her little girl, Ella, to come visit.  Since they were here Mother's Day weekend, my mom, Nanny, Alison, Hayes and Kelsey all came to stay, too.  We had so much fun that I didn't stop to take any pictures except for a few of the children (and Nanny).  Unfortunately, we had craptacular weather and the kiddos were confined to the house or porch the entire time, but it didn't seem to bother them one bit.  Below, Nanny checks in on Emery, Ella and Hayes blow bubbles.

 The children played so hard that Hayes passed out face down on the kitchen floor as Alison was getting her car packed up to leave. 

Thanks for coming to visit!