Folly Beach

My dear friend, Heather Berry Main, was married to her long time love this weekend in Folly Beach. It was a beautiful barefoot beachside ceremony. It gave Greg and I a wonderful reason to spend a weekend at the beach. My parents, as always, graciously agreed to keep the girls so we could enjoy the weekend without having to adhere to schedules and tantrums. The weather was wonderful, the scenery was amazing, our condo was perfect. It was an all around wonderful trip.



The view from our deck:


The chairs on our deck:


The wedding:

Emerson's First Birthday party

Wow. Emerson is a year old. Already. I still can't believe it. Where in the hell did the time go? When did my baby become a year old and my other baby is going to be turning 3. If it wasn't for all of this gray hair, I would think I still belonged in college. Of course, I had this patch of gray in college too. Maybe Greg is the cause?
Anyway, we had her party this past weekend and all of her cousins (except John Lawrence and Mac) and little baby friends were there. The weather was gorgeous so we took advantage of it and had everyone out back. It is wonderful to be able to have all of her friends and family together for birthdays. It means the world to all of us.

You know I had to make her a dress for her big day!

Baptism

It only took 2.5 years to have little Avery baptized. But we are very happy to have waited and to have had the girls baptized together. Uncle Danny and Aunt Allison were chosen for Avery's godparents. They have loved that little girl so very much from the second they saw her (and really before that) so it was a no-brainer. And she loves them just as much. It is really sweet to watch her crawl up into her Godfather's lap and drink her milk. Or to go over to her Godmother, put her arms in the air and ask to be picked up and held. She kind of milk's the attention she gets from them. Danny and Allison have the ability to put a smile on her face in the fowlest of her moods by just calling her name. I only wish I had that power!

And our good friends, Matt and Kelly Yale were picked to be Emerson's Godparents. The four of us (the Yale's, Greg and I) clicked from the first night we hung out and it has been like that ever since. They are two of the nicest, generous, most genuine (and FUN!) good-hearted people you will ever meet. And their connection with Emerson made that choice an easy one. Their love for Emerson is about as special as they come. Kelly is the sister I have never had and I thank the heavens every day for putting her in my life. It is an honor to have them become more than just friends.

The whole day was very special and was celebrated with my parents as well as the Slocums (Julie, Ashley and Cole) who drove down here from Chapel Hill to spend this day with us. It fills our hearts to know that there is so much love in our girl's lives. And they love them all right back. Avery continually talks about her Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I can tell she is very happy to be able to see everyone so often. Neither Greg nor I had the luck of growing up surrounded with extended family and it means the world to us to give that gift to our children. Thank you to everyone to making the long awaited day such a great one!

Easter

We had a wonderful weekend. We spent Easter this year down in Greenville with my parents, Danny, Allison, Sam and Hudson. It was full of fun, food and laughter. We dyed eggs and ate Easter dinner on Saturday then woke up early on Sunday and looked for all of the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid for the kids.

Pure bliss

Greg and I got away for the weekend while my wonderful parents had the girls at their house. We went away with a very near and dear friend of mine, Courtney, to her lake house on Lake Lanier outside of Atlanta. We had a GREAT time. We got there a little late on Friday night where Courtney and her boyfriend, Scott, waited to eat dinner with us. We ate, drank and caught up. It was so nice to fall right back into a relationship with someone you haven't seen in 2 years.

Here is the view from their deck at night:

And the view during the day:

On Saturday, after sleeping in until 9:30, we lazily got up and Courtney made breakfast for us. Then she and I ran to the outlet malls while Greg and Scott worked on cabin stuff. After spending too much money, we made our way back and opened a bottle of wine and the beginning of many beers. Here are Courtney and I:

Then we woke up and left on Sunday morning. It was the kind of weekend Greg and I needed. And the girls got to spend some quality time with Granny and Grampa. Although Avery didn't feel good all weekend, she spent the rest of this week asking when she was going to Granny and Grampa's house.

Potty training

Well, it has begun. And I must say that it has been going pretty well (knock on wood). I forgot to take her to the bathroom when she got up from her nap and she had an accident. Other than that, we have been accident free for two of the three days we have been working on it. I would have to say not bad at all (again, knock on wood).

We used to call her Baby Avery and I never thought she wouldn't be our little baby. Even after having another baby I thought I would always look at her and she would be my baby. But she is turning into a little girl each and every day. And the biggest eye-opener was seeing her sweet little biscuits in girl undies. It brought a tiny tear to my eye. So now I have asked Emerson to stop growing hoping she would be my baby forever. I know that isn't how it works and I never thought I would want a permanent baby but as the days pass by and my girls grow bigger I find myself wishing them to slow down just a little bit. I am finally the one telling my friends to hang on to each day with their babies because they fly by too quickly. Sigh.

You know I have to post the most recent pics of my angels. It is scary how much I love them. Even after a day of colds, potty training and a husband at an awards banquet. Almost makes you want to go upstairs and wake them up for another hug..........Almost.

Avery's first boyfriend, JoshMall:

Doing what they are always doing: hugging

Work it, Girl

I recently decided to enter the girls in the Regis and Kelly Beautiful Babies contest. I haven't heard anything so I am going to assume we didn't make it to the final 20. Oh well. I have another year to enter both of them and 3 more to enter Emerson. Below are the pictures I sent of each of them.

In the quest to get the right pictures, Avery and I had a little photo shoot. She did really well but I don't even want to think of how many times I said "Avery, smile". Anyway, here are some of the best ones!

There are entirely too many more. To see more, continue on to: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BaMnLlo3bsX6

Next week is Emerson's 9 month check-up. Yes, I said 9 month. I can hardly believe it myself!