Crazy-ness!

Obviously, it's been a while since the last post. Things have been a bit crazy around here for sure.

Sadly, our Chocolate Lab, Hoops passed away very unexpectedly on July 13th. He was only 5 and a half years old, so we were blindsided by this. It was a huge blow to our family and we miss him very much.

C got to spend her 2nd birthday at the beach at Dad and Deryle's place at Oak Island. It was a different experience for us, as we've always been in the late spring or fall. Being there in the summer was fun though. We got to see the town in action! The girls had a great time as usual and it was a good chance for us to recover from the loss of Hoops.

This week, we've been busy running here and there, doing this and that. I don't think we'll slow down until the girls start pre-school in September!

Ainsley's 4th Birthday!

Wow. I simply can't believe that 4 years have gone by! It's amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun. It seems like just yesterday when I was 37 weeks pregnant, didn't have a bag packed, thinking A still had plenty of "cooking time" left. Wrong! She was ready and now here we are. :)

I spent most of the day icing A's birthday cake. She wanted a Cinderella cake and that's what she got. Daddy worked from home today so while C was napping A and I headed off for some Mommy/Daughter time. We went to a cute girly shop called Libby Lu for A's make-over and hair up-do. She had a fantastic time and the ladies in the shop are just wonderful at making our princess feel like a real princess! A loves girly stuff and this store is right up her alley! After she was all dolled up, we headed over to the cookie store and got some cookies for a snack. A even wanted to bring some home for C!

When we got home, we had just enough time for me to change shoes before heading off to dinner. **Back track a bit here** A has been talking of her plans for her birthday for months. Her plan was to go to the mall for cookies, go to Libby Lu and have dinner in the city. Nachos for dinner to be exact! **Story resumes here** Since it was rush hour, we decided to skip the interstate and take city streets uptown. A fell asleep on the way, so she missed seeing most of the big buildings on the way into town. We got to dinner at Rock Bottom where we ordered A her very own plate of nachos. The staff was kind enough to split some off of ours so she only had chips and cheese. It was perfect--exactly what she wanted! The plate was HUGE and she almost ate every single one of them. Our dinners were wonderful too. After eating, we headed out to walk around uptown to check out the big buildings since A slept most of the trip up. We saw a horse and carriage ride stand and A was hooked. She wanted that buggy ride. Daddy was happy to oblige, so we loaded onto the carriage and took a ride around the city. It was such a fun trip and it was awesome seeing the delight in A's eyes as we rode through town. C of course was her usual "ham" self and was happily waving to the cars and people walking on the street. I think this might have been the highlight of her day!

We finally made it back home for cake and presents. A had a blast opening her gifts from Mommy/Daddy and from C. We sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles (twice) and dug into that cake that I spent so much time icing this morning. It was all worth it though. ;)

The River

We spent the 4th of July weekend on the Pamlico River with our good friends Forrest and Elaine. (And their baby, Mackenzie. She's just about 8 months old.) A and C had a blast riding on the boat and even hopped into the tube for a slow ride with Daddy. I was definitely proud of them for being so brave!

Shortly after my turn on the tube, C wanted to swim with me, so she got into the water for some river play time. Daddy decided he was going to jump in and splash us and not 5 seconds after he jumped in something grabbed me! It was a jelly fish (the river is brackish water, so it wasn't unusual for jelly fish to be there) and it had wrapped it's way around my entire left leg. It hurt! I was screaming trying to get C away from me towards Daddy, while trying to get back to the boat as fast as possible. Once we were all in the boat, I had a chance to survey the damage on my leg. It wasn't that bad, but there were definite welts on my thigh and behind my knee. We headed home for some meds and I took it easy the rest of the day. I'm so thankful that it didn't get a hold of C. That surely would have meant a trip to the ER!

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend with our friends. It was good to see them for an extended amount of time. The girls certainly enjoyed playing with M, too!