VBS

My girls had a blast at VBS this year.  We will be singing the Fruit of the Spirit song and He Will Come and Save for days to come.  I love hearing the girls singing through out the house .  Allison loves to just sing and makes up half of the words to her songs.  Lauren amazes me with her ability to carry the tune and sing so sweetly. 

Last year Allison was in the nursery for VBS and didn't really get to enjoy all the fun of Vacation Bible School, but this year, she had a wonderful time being in the class with her sister and all her friends.  Lauren's friend from preschool came to VBS along with her little sister who is Allison's age.  The girls loved having visitors with them at "their" church!   

Here are a few pictures I got from the week.

Allison with Lauren to her left

Allison singing

Brooke, Lauren, Allison and Lindsay singing

All the kids at VBS posing for a group shot

Mackenzie and Lauren enjoying watermelon one night

This shot was taken during the BIG SHOW on Sunday

Sweet Dreams

We are in the middle of Vacation Bible School at our church and the girls are getting to bed late!!!  Nothing like sleeping angels.

Lauren, always a thinker, even in her sleep

Allison falls asleep with both of her arms up under her pillow.  Through out the night, she sits up and falls forward on her legs and sleeps in that position.

Hilton Head Beach Trip

We had another wonderful week at the beach this year.  I am so thankful for my parents for sharing their time share with us.  We have really fallen in love with Hilton Head these past two years.  It is such a wonderful family atmosphere and the girls absolutely love the beach and the pool.  The girls had really improved in their water skills this year.  Both girls would go all the way under water.  They would jump off the side of the pool without someone there to catch them. Lauren loved her goggles.  We need to get her some nose plugs.  She loves to hold her nose!  Allison just plugs her nose by sticking her fingers inside her nose.  We all tried to tell her that it works better if you squeeze your nose closed instead of plugging it with your fingers.  But she just wouldn't listen.  Wish I had gotten a picture of her nose "plugged"!

The beach was great.  The girls stayed in the ocean quite a bit.  A guy found a starfish that had washed up on the beach and we got to hold it before returning it to the water.  Another guy was fishing and caught a sting ray that the girls got to see.  We saw quite a few dolphins.  I actually got to "swim" with them, for free.  There were about 10-12 swimming within 10-15 feet of me one afternoon.  Bill got a great video of it, but the video is too long to post.  I don't know how to edit it to post just part of it. 

We saw alligators this year swimming in the ponds throughout the property.  Last year we didn't get to see any, so we were thrilled to see them this year.  I didn't have my camera for any of those sightings, though.  We also saw a snake outside our deck.  And the frogs croaking at night were quite entertaining.

The girls enjoyed making donuts at a place called Flamingos.  We went there for breakfast one morning and they got to decorate their own donut. 

Here are a few (OK a lot of) pictures we took.

               Dad, Mom, Me, Bill, Lauren and Allison on our deck

Lauren, Daddy and Allison enjoying the pool

Lauren enjoying swimming

                             

                This was one of the girls' favorite things to do, have Daddy throw them up in the air

                                     

                                Uncle Bill and Allison building sand castles

Allison lying in a hole they dug in the sand and then filled with water

The starfish we got to hold

                    

Sweet smile from Lauren

                                              Another sweet smile from Lauren

Lauren playing in the ocean

Lauren and Allison sitting in the ocean....wish I could have heard their conversation

Uncle Bill and Allison lying in the ocean.  Daddy and Lauren on out in the water

Sweet smile from Allison

Allison and Uncle Bill.  I love this picture.  A wave had just crashed around them.

Daddy and Allison in the ocean.  The waves were kind of rough this day.

Allison, Daddy and Lauren......where's the rest of Daddy???

Allison buried in the sand.  If you look closely, she's a mermaid!

Allison decorating her donut at Flamingos

Lauren with her donut at Flamingos

OK,  this drives me crazy!!!!  The pictures are all centered on my screen, but when I preview the post they are all out of line.  I don't know how to fix that, so I'm just going to push publish!!!  Sorry for the alignment!:)

Too Sweet

It's nap time and Allison will not stay in her bed and go to sleep.  After several trips in to my room where I am working on a Vacation Bible School lesson, I tell Allison to get in her bed and stay there.   When I finish the lesson plan, I take it downstairs and put it on the counter so I will remember to take it to church.  Bill is not downstairs where I last saw him.  I check upstairs in the bonus room where Lauren is and he is not there.  I look out in the yard, not there.  I check to see if his car is in the driveway and it is.  After another look upstairs, I peek in Allison's room, because she is finally quiet, and this is what I saw!!!

I love these two!!!!

Allison turns Three

At 6:45 p.m. this evening Allison turned three years old.  I don't really like having birthday parties on a different day than the real birthday because it seems like the actual birthday is kind of a let down.  But after celebrating with her party this past Saturday, we enjoyed the day doing what Allison wanted.  I offered to take her to the Bounce House, which is where she wanted to have her birthday party, but she chose to go to the park today instead.  We enjoyed the morning playing at the park and then had Chick-fil-a for lunch.  After taking her nap, she got to eat the last of her birthday cake and ice-cream.  That girl loves sweets!!!!

I can't believe she is getting so big.  Today we got rid of her booster seat that she has been sitting in at the table.  She thought she would not have to take her nap, but I kind of used the cake and ice-cream to bribe her into napping.  She may be trying to give up her nap, but when she doesn't sleep, she has a really rough time in the evening.  (So does Mommy)  For the past couple of weeks, she has been sleeping without a pull-up, so I am thrilled to say we are now a diaper/pull-up free family!!!!  Woohoo!!

I would like to write more about things Allison is doing, but it's really late and I wanted to get a post ON her actual birthday.  Here are some pictures of when Allison was born.  Since Allison came by emergency C-section, we did not get a many pictures of her right away.  It seemed like forever before I got to hold her.   By the time I got out of recovery from the C-section and in our room, it was getting late.

The first one is of my grandmother holding Allison when we first got settled in our room.  I love this picture.  My grandmother didn't want to even look up for the picture.  She was so enthralled with baby Allison.

This was the first time Lauren got to meet her baby sister.

My Mom, Lauren and Allison

The grandmothers with the girls

Sweet baby Allison with her dark head of hair

Uncle Bill with his new niece

Lauren Graduates from Pre-School

Lauren celebrated the end of her preschool years last night with her  Pre-K graduation.  I can't believe  she has completed two years of preschool and will be ready for kindergarten in August.  The four year old classes and the Kindergarten class presented a wonderful program, complete with receiving diplomas for their accomplishments.

 

Here is a picture of Lauren coming into the auditorium for the program

Lauren sitting with her class waiting for their turn to sing.

Lauren singing with her class.

More singing....I love her friend Darrah's face in this shot!

A group shot of the program......there are a lot of four year olds at WEK

Lauren receiving her diploma from Mrs. Cheryl

Allison, Lauren and her friends Esther and Ariel.....they have been together both years of preschool

Allison, Darrah and Lauren

What a wonderful first experience for school Lauren has enjoyed at WEK.  I am looking forward to teaching there next year with my friend Cindy.  Allison is more than ready to begin her school experience there in August.  I had to carry her out of Lauren's class every morning because she wanted to stay at school with Lauren.  I'm so thankful that both girls really love to go to school.  I pray that love for learning continues with them all the way through college and throughout their lives.

Allison's 3rd Birthday Party Weekend

We celebrated Allison's 3rd birthday on Saturday. The entire weekend was extremely busy beginning Friday morning when Allison decided to give herself a haircut!! I was upstairs making all the beds and straightening up the rooms when Allison came into my room. I looked at her and said, "What did you do to your hair? Did you get it in a ponytail?" Well upon closer inspection she had cut her hair. The left side was cut right at the bottom of her ear. The right side was cut above her ear. All I could say was, "Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!!!"  These first two pictures almost remind me of mug shots!!!  I think Allison was quite proud of her new hair cut, but I just could not believe how MUCH she cut!  She cut her hair another time, but it was just a small amount and you couldn't really tell it, but this time, she cut almost all of it. 

                                   

I called my friend Krissy who lives close by and asked her for a recommendation for someone to "fix" Allison's hair.  I was afraid to take her to just any place because I didn't want her to come out looking like a boy, or like she had a bowl on her head.  Krissy was kind to call Kelly, the person who cuts her hair and got us an appointment for 1:30 on Friday.  I didn't get a picture of Allison after Kelly cut her hair, because it was nap time and Allison was about to fall out in the floor while she was getting her hair cut.  She did fall asleep on the ride home and after that I wasn't thinking about pictures.

Friday evening I cooked dinner for brother Bill,. fixing one of his favorites, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peas.  I made him a yellow cake with chocolate cream-cheese icing.  The girls were so excited to help Uncle Bill celebrate his birthday.  We had a fun evening!

Then Saturday morning I made Allison's birthday cake.  She picked the Little Mermaid theme for plates and napkins.  So I made her a chocolate cake decorated with Ariel and Flounder.  She was pretty pleased with the results.  I am NOT a cake decorator.  I keep telling Bill I'm going to start buying their birthday cakes instead of trying to make them. 

Allison's cake

We had Allison's birthday party at Fountain City Park.  The girls were both so excited to have a party at the park.  It was an extremely hot and humid day for mid May, but we had a nice picnic table in the shade and enjoyed eating cake and ice-cream and opening presents.  Allison, Lauren, and cousin Parker loved playing and swinging.  Bill and I loved it because the grandmothers chased after them at the park!:)

Allison ready to cut the cake

Lauren, Allison, Parker and Grandma getting for the candles to be lit

Allison with blue icing on her face

More blue icing

She was ready to start opening presents after we finished cake

Allison got a Snow White and Cinderella doll and a princess book from Aunt Jen & Uncle Dave

Allison giving Lauren a kiss for her birthday card from Lauren

Allison got a new bike helmet, an Ariel dress up dress, a camera, a Croquet game for outside, a new baby which she has named Haley, a couple of princess dolls, clothes, pajamas, a hippity hop ball, a bubble bucket, an Ariel water slide for the bath tub, and money.   We all had a wonderful time celebrating my baby's 3rd birthday.

After the party, we rushed home, got the girls in the bathtub, and then Bill and I headed off to his High School reunion.  The grandparents kept the girls while we were gone.  It was a long day, but we had a good time.  Bill really enjoyed seeing his old high school friends.