High heels and dirt

Kayla (barefoot, outdoors): Mom, will you help me get on my swing so my feet don't touch the dirt?

Me: No. It's summer. Your feet are supposed to get dirty.

Kayla: This girl is not getting dirty!

Only our daughter would swing in butterfly wings and high heels. 

Grandma A said "good thing she can't visit the farm!" (Meaning, my Grandpa and Grandma's Ohio farm that they sold a few years back).

Funny thing is, all four Kindergarten classes at Kayla's school took an all-day field trip to Upland Hills Farm, an hour bus ride away, on Friday. There was a hayride, a storybook hike through the woods, a playground, and a farm animal show. Kayla announced half way through the day that she'd rather be at school. Haha!

Oh, our non-outdoor, non-nature lover daughter. Farming or working outdoors are not in her future.

Six... almost

Every child that celebrates a birthday in the summer gets to have a "pretend" birthday at school. The teacher sent home a calendar with those student's names and the date of their "birthday". Kayla's pretend 6th birthday was Wednesday May 29.

Why is a birthday celebration so special in Kindergarten, you ask? Well, you get to stand on a chair while the class sings Happy Birthday to you!

She choose Air Heads as her treat! We bought 50 of them, bundled two together with a ribbon and bow and shared them with her class, teacher, principal, and special friends.

Her pretend birthday morning

We woke her up that morning singing Happy Birthday to her. And I felt okay about it. It felt natural. She just seems six. Five was hard, six will be easy. Don't get me wrong, I can't believe she'll be six and a first grader, but it just feels... good.

Our sweet, precious little girl. Growing up so fast.

Memorial Weekend

A long weekend that went by waaaay too quickly.

Kristi came and stayed with us. We went to see the new animated movie "Epic" (definitely a must-see in 3-D!). Enjoyed BBQ's with friends.

We soaked up plenty of blue sky and sunshine, only from indoors. It was too cold to do anything outside the first four days of the holiday weekend. I was very angry that the girls had to wear their winter coats to school on Friday. Winter coats! Really, on the first weekend of summer? I washed and put that coat away weeks ago! Finally, on Memorial Day, we got to enjoy our day outdoors with a friend and family cookout.

Kicking off our weekend by making colored frosting for graham crackers and painting terracotta pots for planting the beans in that the girls grew at school

Epic in 3-D 

 BBQ with friends

(There really was a BBQ going on... this is just how the girls were spending their time...)

Happy start of summer!

Sweet sleep

"Now sleep, sweet child of mine, while the stars shine above. 

I love you as much as a mother can love."

Mother's Day

How did I spend Mother's Day? Having a delicious brunch in the Atlanta airport food court with my three favorite people. Okay, so it was not delicious at all, but I was with the three most important people to me! And that's all that mattered. It's not the place, it's not the food, it's not the things, it's the people - my family. I strive each day to be a better mommy to my two precious gifts.

I got to snuggle this little sleeping girl in my arms during our 1.5 hour flight. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, I wanted to take in all of her features and remember her sweet, quiet breath.

And I got to sit next to this sweet little girl, and rub her leg.

My angels. It's an honor to be your mommy! I am so blessed!

Sweet Georgia

We're baaaaack! After a three year hiatus, our family finally returned to Atlanta to visit Amy and Matt in early May. The last time we were there Kayla was two, going on three and Khloe wasn't with us yet! For this trip, we prayed and prayed for warm, sunny pool weather (what else would we go to Atlanta for?) and we got it! We had a few great days at the pool and our rainy day was a planned trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Thanks for having us Matt, Amy, Tuesday ("Two-day") and Remy!

On our way!

How should you start all family vacations? By reading the safety card in the seat back pocket in front of you. Check. 

 This was also our last trip ever fitting four people into three seats on the airplane. For fitting four bodies in three seats, we do amazingly well. It's actually quite cozy and fun. I'll handle being a human jungle gym on the airplane if it saves us an extra ticket, but in order to make that happen, we had to make Khloe a one-year old. It's amazing that we can carry a child onto an airplane and no one checks her name, identification, or age. So technically, it was easy to squeeze out one more trip since her birthday was "May 19". But alas, those days are over.

A trip to the park

The Chattahoochee is a beautiful river that flows through downtown Atlanta, and it's right in Amy's backyard. Each time we visit we explore a new part of the trail system and river. To have this amount of access to outdoor recreation in an urban setting is so unique - it's one of the reasons we love Atlanta and think its a beautiful city. 

Run, Khloe, run! Little Miss Independent

 POOL!

 "Dadda, more throw high in the sky?"

 I think Matt was always finding funny cat videos to entertain the girls with, but I heard him laughing just as much as the girls.

 Is there a lizard in this bush? No....

I think I saw it go in here! Do you see it? No...

Aaron literally spent hours walking the street, yard and other people's driveways stalking lizards. He wanted to catch one so badly. Finally on the last day, SCORE!

 The Georgia Aquarium - the country's largest! Large is an understatement. It was impressive! We spent over three hours there and only got through half of it.

 This was a very cool tunnel where there was a whale shark! And scuba divers!

 Whale shark (Aaron's all-time favorite animal ever)

 A beluga whale tank in the Arctic Exhibit

 Oh Daddy, you are such a brave, brave soul. You crawled through the tunnel in the penguin exhibit so the girls would go through. We couldn't pull Kayla away from this!

 Why? Why do aquariums have mermaids? The Georgia Aquarium is recognized nationally for being a leader in marine life research and education, and they have to include mermaids? What message does this send kids, especially little girls? Of course our girls would somehow find these. The North Carolina aquarium was selling mermaid toys in their store, and so did the Georgia Aquarium. Of course these are the only items ours girls picked out in the store. "No, you may not purchase a mermaid at an aquarium."

 We got tickets to see the 30-minute Dolphin Tales show in the 500-seat auditorium. Wow, we were all amazed! It's certainly not like the Sea World shows Amy and I remember from 30 years ago or even the show Aaron and I saw on our honeymoon 14 years ago! I'm sure Kayla's mind was completely blown. Imagine not even knowing that you could swim in a huge tank with dolphins while being thrown in the air, dolphins jumping all around you with lights, lasers and water flashing everywhere? Yeah, mind blown. Khloe had to be the trainers biggest fan; she clapped and yelled "Yea!" after every trick.

 The dolphin's tank - watching them swim before the start of the show

 

Thanks for an amazing visit!