Summer....already???

So we took advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend and got outside. How could you not like to stand there in shorts and t-shirt and feel warm, maybe even hot. Me and Rich cleaned the flower beds out, as they were really bad and look great now. Olivia was outside off and on, but every year she cracks me up, she will come out and then "it's too hot out here", "there's too many bugs and bees", seriously every year this happens and it makes me laugh, but oh well, sit in the house you just spent the last 6mos. trapped in, it doesn't bother her. Logan ran. He was so happy to have both feet on the ground and gone, you almost felt happy for him, although he doesn't come back after he takes off, remind me of anyone??

I decided to bite the bullet and let them paint outside on Sunday, really hoping to grab his attention long enough so I could keep cleaning. Really the picture lasted all of about 3min. and then he was off again. He did seem to like the paints but maybe too many other interesting things to do outside.

Lazy day of summer??? Even the cats found a cool place to hang out.

FYI...If you go to barnesandnoble.com/summerreading they have a program that if your child reads 8 books during the summer they qualify for a free brand new book. All the info. is on the website. I think there is a age range on it and it might start at grade 1.....worth checking out

There is a very long and drawn out story about this turtle toy. I tried desperately to get this for Easter and even tried all over including NC and it was sold out everywhere, Easter is the new "Spring Christmas" apparently. Anyway, of course after Easter I found it, back home and finally got it and I have to say, he loves it, but I need to sit down with Logan and work with him on it. It has a lot of functions for the price and it's not like all the other toys in the toy department.Logan's new trick is putting his hands behind his back while he's walking and just walks around and looks at you like "What's up" and gives you this smug look. It's so funny and he just keeps going......hilarious!

Standing for a pic with hands behind his back......it's so stinking cute.

You know she's getting too old when she knows how to pose for the camera........i'm worried.

This is what happens when you give a boy chocolate/banana pie........expected! Logan's been trying very hard lately to use his spoon and fork. Yeah! Also he's been saying more words also lately and that music to my ears. Wish you could hear him say Olivia, because it's priceless!

This is the last of the vacation pics, I promise! I wanted to get a pic of this Bar/Restaurant in North Myrtle called Oscar's. It was a Steeler bar. It was painted in Black & Gold and had Steeler stuff everywhere. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera in the car with us when we went by it the last time. It was pretty neat to see their are Pittsburgh fans in N.C.!

This is our family pic of the Cherry Grove Fishing Pier (that the "borrowed" man taking the pic cut off). Once again someone forgot to tell Rich to take the camera off from around his neck! Seriously, poor guy!

Grandma & Grandpa Nagle. Poor Logan, could barley see outside with the sun and then the wind cutting across, most of his pics are with his eyes shut!

Goodbye Beach!

This was our condo, someone forgot to mention that I am deathly afraid of heights and our room was the second floor DOWN from the top........I survived.
Shouldn't every child have a empty beer can to play with on the beach!? Why buy the expensive toys.

Sandy Goldfish anyone??

These two were mostly glued at the hip the whole trip....good thing they get along better now!

Just reminds me of Laverne & Shirley.....don't ask why, I don't know!

Here's a shocker......Logan running toward the water.

VACATION

Yes, we made it back and we brought everyone back with us!! I thought I should start by saying it was a fantastic vacation and I would do it all again. I decided that I would give you a take on our vacation through my eyes and what I say and thought. Nothing like a vacation through a mother's eyes!

Olivia: This was her first trip to the ocean and she was mesmerized. Nothing disappointed her, not even the cold water. She had to be at the beach and in the water or looking for sea shells. Her goal was to pick as many shells as she could find and mission accomplished. She was just as glad to see different scenery like the rest of us. Olivia is my ocean girl, I don't know how many times she told her dad this was the best vacation ever and how awesome he was, that made me smile.

Logan: Little, Strong willed, Logan........Let me say, you could have never asked for a child to handle a ride that long (10-12hrs.) in a car seat like he did. Thank heavens for car tv's! Seriously, he was a champ. Logan didn't start off his week real great. Now he has this new found freedom of walking and he just figured he would start walking for the ocean and not stop. Yes, he did that and wouldn't stop and when you would grab his hand so he didn't get pushed under, he threw a fit. You couldn't hold him, walk with him,nothing. I was to say at this point a little frustrated. We had tried to get him to walk on the beach with us and if he wasn't headed for the water, he wasn't happy, try to take his hand and he would sit down and scream.......yeah, this little quiet boy! I tried the stroller and needless to say, he was going to hurt himself in it trying to get out. About 3 days into it he finally got the "just" of it and would walk with us (sometimes the opposite direction we wanted) and I even let him fall down and get back up the 300 times he did. All in all, he really did good for 1 1/2 yo. We went to visit the aquarium and he sat in the stroller and loved watching the fish, go figure he sat that long.

Rich: Ah rich, if he didn't get stuck looking like a tourist and carrying my camera the entire time, he wasn't photographed! Most of the pics of him are with my camera around his neck because I was chasing Logan and didn't want the camera to get wet. Rich is a natural born water lover. Thank God there's one of us. You can't get him off the beach and a way from the water. He got to spend a lot of one on one time with Olivia and that was good for them. Rich even went out in the icy cold water to make sure the girls swam in the ocean........bless his heart

Me: A vacation to me is to get to see other places and how pretty the world is. I love to travel and see other states. You could never get me to fly and miss all of that (ok, I won't fly anyway). I am very partial to the south and especially the Carolina's. They are gorgeous and people are very nice. Anyway, one thing i noticed was there was no computer and "house" phone. Do you realize how much simpler life can be without those pressing issues! I loved watching the kids and seeing how much fun they could have and be creative with what they didn't have. Olivia was the perfect age for going there this year and Logan will never remember but he was priceless in his own ways. I should be in perfect shape and my thighs should have shrunk with all the times I carried that uncooperative boy across, around, and up the beach!
I watched my daughter see the ocean for the first time, I watched my son learn to be independent, and my husband got to get away from work and spend some one on one time with each of us, and me, I got a camera full of pictures, lots of memories and some down time. Nothing says living like getting up in the morning, sitting out on the balcony overlooking the ocean, and getting dressed to go to the beach! PRICELESS

Drive and Easter

This was a picture taken, had to be in West Virginia, say what you want but they do provide some beautiful scenery. It rained almost our whole 1/2 trip to Virginia where we stayed the first night, this was taken when it decided to give us a break.
Olivia did not ride with us going down, she rode with her cousins, so Logan had mommy all to himself in the backseat and loved it.

Easter Sunday and everybody forgot their baskets (imagine that, seriously). As a last ditch effort I came up with the idea of just buying colored straw and having the kids lay it out so the Bunny could put their loot on that. We could have bought more baskets, but really who needs more Easter baskets?!

Time for the egg hunt.....at the beach! Doesn't every egg hunt need to be at(near) a beach! Logan got the obvious ones and then threw them only to run to the water..........he's all boy!

Ah, just the sight of a palm tree and lounge chairs makes me smile......once again, shouldn't every Easter egg hunt be by the beach!

More later................

Vacation!!

Why is it so incredibly hard to pack for a vacation? I have been packing so much each day and I'm exhausted, and tomorrow will be the worst of it, you know, all the last minute stuff.

We are off to Myrtle Beach S.C!! We are traveling half way Friday night and the rest Sat. morning. Everyone is really excited. After the snow falling here on Tuesday, we can't wait to get away. We need everything where we are staying, right down to the towels, so I have my list(s) and I've checked them twice and hopefully I got everything.

I don't have any new pics (yet), but I'm sure I will be able to provide some really good ones when we return!! We will be gone for a week, so everyone have a very nice Easter (the weather is supposed to be nice) and I hope the Bunny brings you lots of candy!!

Till next week................

PARTY

Once again, my Aunt Cookie has out done herself with the cake. Always the best cake maker/decorator in the land! We Thank You and Love you!!

The day started out with some crappy weather, but soon after promised to be a nice day. It all started with the annual town Easter egg hunt. I chose to stay home with Logan, not to temp getting him sick for vacation next week, after all it was only 32 outside and windy, any other time, I would have taken him also.

Olivia's glasses appeared in time for her party (go figure), but ok, they went along with her theme and I let her go.

For the first time you get a look at my new "mom" haircut. Every so often I feel the need for change, drastic change, and I have to say, I LOVE IT!

I was just in time to catch the big girls jumping with the little girls. Just wanted the pic for future reference!! GOTCHA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Finally, the day has come. That's Olivia words anyway. Oh, I ask, where does the time go? I remember it like yesterday, or shouldn't have been only yesterday, that this little bumble of joy entered this world, and life as I knew it, changed forever. I had finally had a mini me, a girl, a little spit fire nonetheless. She was and is, so beautiful and creative. A long way we've come in 7 yrs. You never know who they are going to be or turn out to be, but I have to say that I have high expectations for her and someday I will know what that future will be, but for now, I will enjoy the present and accept what that brings us and take in every little detail that she points out to me that I have forgotten....that is my promise to you, Olivia!! HAPPY BIRTHDAYHELLO FRIEND

April Fool's Day

It's very hard to believe that Olivia is going to be 7, very hard. I remember thinking 5 was getting too old and where did the time go. I had to laugh the other day when she come home to say "mom, spell I CUP". Well, I cracked up laughing, knowing where this was going, come on, you all know you pulled that same joke one time or another! She's getting older and knows way too much and it scares me! I know I'll be in panic mode when she hits like 12 and 14 but really, even at 7 they know way too much, makes me think I was so out of it when I was her age.....

She has many plans for her big day, so many I've lost track. She's a planner, like her mom, and she's been planning. I'm just happy Saturday is going to nice outside! She wanted cupcakes with squirrels on them for school, and we all know she has the wrong mother for that job! It's a joke within her class about squirrels, they all love squirrels, hey every animal needs their own following..........