Scoots turned 1!!!

We had a great time on her birthday last week. The big girls waited anxiously all day to help her open her gifts! Thanks so all who sent them!! We got a small individual Tinkerbell cake for Evie to eat. Problem is- she didn't eat it!! She put her hands a bit in the frosting trying to touch Tinkerbell. She licked her fingers and then decided she didn't want anything to do with the cake- very anticlimatic! She enjoyed her gifts and her cards that played music. It became late that night and we had to get up super early the next morning for Ella's dr appt 1.5 hrs away at 8:00 a.m.! I'll post some of the cake pics later!

So, we postponed traditional b-day photo shoot until Saturday. We took her to one of the local piers in her tutus and took some pics. She of course didn't cooperate and look at the camera much, besides scooting to me so I'd pick her up. But here are a few!

Kindergarten- Ella style and a neighbor

Well, the first week of kindergarten is over and I survived- haha!! Ella LOVES school, her teacher, the teacher's assistant, and met some new girlfriends. Emery and I have had some good quality time together, which is good for both her and I. She sure misses her sister at school, but enjoys being the only 'big' sister around for Evie. Ella is a chatterbox as usual as soon as we pick her up from school. She has a grin on from ear to ear, and we get to hear all about her day! Here she is in front of the house before we left at 7 AM! That's right people- this girl is up at 6:15, takes a shower, eats breakfast and is ready to leave for school at 7! I pick her up around 2:15ish.

And here she is at school before walking into her classroom.

This is her table, it has 3 boys at it!! Ella has 13 boys in her class and 8 girls.

This is the teacher's assistant putting on Ella's name tag for the first day.

This is Ms. Formo- Ella's teacher. Ella likes her because she is pretty! I like her because she is very calm with the kiddos, and very much a southern gal! She'll be great for Ella!

This is Ms. Phillips, Ms. Formo's teaching assistant! She's great too!!

And last but not least our neighbor. I'm terrified of spiders thanks to that movie Arachnophobia, but I knew that living in the south we would have more of them. I also remember that from our vacation to St. Thomas a few years ago, that spiders and webs were good, you weren't to destroy them if possible. Obviously ones right around doorways to your house, in your house were ok to destroy but if they were out of the way, to leave them alone. Apparently the same goes here. There are some huge magnificent webs along the golf course in the trees and bushes. However, I hadn't seen one up close until we noticed this one in our neighbors yard across the street. I was too scared to get close to it, but this is what I got. Apparently this is a male (the females are 2-3 times this size) Black and Yellow Garden Spider or Argiope. In Florida they are called Banana Spiders because of their yellow body. They are harmless and eat tons of insects and other spiders. They also eat their web every night and spin a new one. They are good to have around- at least I'm told that! I'm just glad he's across the street! There is one on the golf course that is a female, and her body is a bright yellow. She is easily 3 times the size of this one. If I get the guts, I'll go take a pic of her! And her incredible web!!

Hope you had a great weekend! 1yr pics of Evie coming soon!

Can you believe she's 1???? :)

Wow- my baby turned one on Thursday! Time has FLOWN by!! If you had told me a year ago where I'd be today- I wouldn't have believed you! Things have changed so much in the past year, and Evie has grown so quickly. I need life to slow down, for me! My girls are changing and growing up too fast, and I feel like I'm missing so much of it.

I'll post some pics of her later so you too can see the birthday girl, but for now you'll have to settle for a video! You'll soon understand why the girls and I fondly refer to her as 'Scoots'!!

Poor Casey...

Well, I knew the time was coming when we'd start to have health issues with the dogs, but I didn't dream it would be Casey first. We've been fairly lucky so far, the dogs have been fat- but overall healthy and happy. They are losing weight pretty good here in SC due to the walks two to three times a day, so that was improving as well. But last week Casey started limping. We thought at first she hurt her foot on a walk, but it didn't get better. It soon turned into not putting any weight on that back leg at all.

Tad took her into the vet yesterday to find out what the problem was. The devastating response was bone cancer. Poor Casey has bone cancer in that back leg. It has spread throughout the leg, but has so far stayed contained to the leg. We have to take her to a vet an hour away for a bone biopsy soon to ensure it's bone cancer and how far it has gone. The most likely outcome is we will have to have the leg amputated. How far up? We don't know yet, and won't know until after our appt with the surgeon.

Poor Casey even had the other back foot bleeding on Sunday from having to hop on it while on walks. The nails slightly drag on the pavement, and by Sunday evening's walk were all bleeding. The stress of using only one back leg is causing trauma to the other. Thankfully the vet saw this and gave us an adorable pink/white leather boot. The girls think it's great! It is pretty cute if I say so myself.

So, it looks like soon we may have a 3 legged dog. While I never envisioned this, at least it's just a leg. It reminded us both of how quickly we could lose them now that they are 9.5 and 10.5 years old. It could be any day. We are not prepared for that, and neither are the kids. We can all help Casey get through this knowing it's just a leg. We are just thankful it's not her life. We can enjoy more time with these kind and wonderful dogs before they leave us.

Hug your dog tonight and be thankful for any wonderful ones you have had in the past. They truly leave their mark on us for life.

She's going to Kindergarten....

Can you believe it? My baby is going to Kindergarten tomorrow :( Ella is so excited she giggled all evening. I on the other hand, well, I'm going to be a mess tomorrow. I know she is ready, and this all day kindergarten program will be good for her. Her teacher is young, vibrant, and cheerful (and Ella thinks she's 'beautiful') will be a very positive influence on her. I'm just not ready to let go. Time at home with her has gone too fast. I'm not ready for her to grow up, I need more time. I don't think I'm the only one. Emery is going to go crazy at home without her all day long, 5 days a week. It should be interesting!

I have some other pics to post too that I've taken over the past few weeks, but had to get these out here first. We took these tonight in front of her school. I consider these her first day of school photos. I'll take some of the real thing tomorrow- but I had to capture her excitement for school!

Enjoy!

Living by the sea....

After driving through the Smokey Mountains we stayed in Hickory, NC. We went shopping for bunk beds the next morning, but couldn't find what we wanted. Plus the girls were tired and cranky. They were ready to see daddy. So, we left for the last leg of our trip.

We made it to our new house about 6:15 that night. And BOY was it good to see Tad!! It was a wonderful reunion! I never want to be apart from him that long again- and neither do the girls. They were attached to his side for a long time.

Well, since we were now by the ocean, that was the first thing we had to do on Saturday. The girls loved it!! They didn't care for the saltwater too much- but have adjusted now. I had a hard time adjusting to the sand, but it's such a fine sand that I adjusted quickly. We dined at Sharky's diner in Ocean Isle Beach that night- such a beautiful place! We drove around a bit after dinner to look at how beach houses are built, and all the vacationers!

We went to the local water park the following day with just Ella and Emery. They had a great time!! We'll definitely be getting passes to go back next year!

Since then, things have gone pretty quickly, I'm sad that our summer will be ending in about 2 weeks when Ella starts school. I'm hoping to still go to the beach after we pick her up while it's still warm out.

Our favorite beach is Sunset Beach- it's just BEAUTIFUL!! Wide beaches, clean sand- hardly any shells, and very family friendly. A friend has even loaned us her pass to her HOA beach house right on the beach. It's so nice because after being at the beach we are able to take showers outside below the beach house. We take a change of clothing, towels, and ride home clean and refreshed after spending a few hours at the beach. A few weeks ago we left the beach just as a storm approached. It was pretty cool to watch. The girls were giggling with excitement as we showered in the thunder and could hear the rain. I have to admit that was an amazing experience!

We attract a lot of attention at the beach, mostly because of Evie's famous scoot. She can MOVE across the sand, it's hilarious to watch. You can hear everyone around us talking about it and watching her. We get LOTS of comments! She even leaves this track behind her- looks like a giant tire! She gets covered in sand. She likes to crawl in the holes the big girls dig, and play in the shallow water. Ella and Emery like to dig holes and try to catch fish. The beach wears them out!

This same friend has also given us her pass to her HOA pool- a special treat for the girls and me! The girls can swim easier there, but Ev can't crawl around much so its a little more difficult for me. But, much cleaner. We try to go to both a couple times a week after I've done some chores in the morning, and Ev has gotten a good nap in for the day.

We've explored the local Children's museum and built bird houses there, enrolled both girls in school and bought school supplies, visited Southport, NC and Bald Head Island, dined in new restaurants, and have cooked and created new recipes at home. We'll definitely be exploring Bald Head Island again, it is super cool!

In fact, I think we are adjusted and loving sea life. Last night we had a traditional 'sea' meal. 2 lbs of shrimp marinated and broiled, corn on the cob, bread, and fruit. I wasn't brave enough to get the shrimp from a farmers market/roadside stand, but I will next time!

We still want to go on a fishing boat expedition and ride horses on the beach, and a bunch of other stuff but we have plenty of time to do all of that!

Lots more to come soon!

Love you all!

The Smoky Mountains

After Lexington we drove wouth through the countryside and to some craft towns/villages. We found chocolate covered blueberries, some gifts for the David's, and a totally cool craft cottage in the middle of nowhere. The trip out of Lexington was breathtakinginly beautiful. We kept driving and made it to Middlesboro, TN, or was it Middlestown, or Middleton? Well it was something like that, I was too tired to notice or care! They had a nice clean hotel room and a comfy bed, that was all that mattered.

The next day we stopped for lunch in Pigeon Forge. I thought it was a pretty neat place, reminded me of Branson, MO. Then we went through Gatlinburg, TN. Wow!! That was an incredibly neat, beautiful, and fun looking town. I would LOVE to go back there. It was so darn cute and located in a beautiful spot in the mountains.

Then we drove on this scenic drive through the Smoky Mountains and it was INCREDIBLE!! It was the most beautiful drive I've been on in a long, long time. Nana was loving it too, like heaven on earth! There were so many beautiful places to stop and look at the creeks, an overlook, or take a trail. It was amazing and breathtaking. Of course I had to stop and do a small photo shoot with the girls. They were somewhat uncooperative as usual, but I managed to get quite a few anyway!

We also stopped at the top of the mountain on the North Carolina/Tennesse border and went to see the overlook. Emery got so excited! She shouted to me 'Mom, look!! There's God, he's all over the Smoky Mountains!! Look Mom!!' It was so stinking cute. I wish I could have gotten that on the video camera. Even the people around us got a good chuckle out of it as she pranced around all excited!

We had promised the girls something fun after we got off the mountain (not a good choice on my part!). There were supposedly a Santa's amusement park, and a few other things. Needless to say the Santa's amusement park was about to close (and not worth the $$) and the other attractions were either closed or defunct. Poor things, it's hard being in a car that long as a kid without wearing off some energy! So, we trekked on to Asheville, NC. There the girls found one of their favorite restaurants, Texas Road House, the girls were excited! It wasn't something fun, or would wear them out, but it was something familiar, and that helped with the crankiness. We were even able to push on to Hickory, NC after dinner. Which on our way we say a black bear trying to cross interstate. Thankfully he figured out that was the wrong direciton and headed back into the forest! Hickory was the last stop before our new home. The hotel had a pool and our room was only 2 rooms away, so the girls were thrilled. They got to wear out some energy. Amazing what a pool can do to my children's attitude!

Here are tons of pics from that day through the mountains! Enjoy!