Ballerina Girl...You are so Lovely!

Ok so admit it.  At some point in your life you liked Lionel Richie too!  I hope I don't have this song stuck in  your head as it is in mine! 

We are doing lots this summer and having a great time!  I think what I was most excited about was Marlie starting ballet.  As you may remember we tried gymnastics about a year ago and it was horrible.  Marlie was shy...but a mean shy.  She didn't want to do anything and was mean to anyone in her class that looked at her funny!  So I was honestly very nervous on our first day.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that her teacher was Ms. Stacey (she owns the studio and I've heard how great she is).  I promised Marlie if she did good in class and listened to her teacher that I would buy her a pretty pink princess tutu for the next class. 

Well...I don't know if it was the awesome teachers or the fact that I could not be anywhere in the room, but she did awesome!!  She followed directions the whole hour without crying and actually looked like she had a blast!  Again I had to fight tears through the whole hour so all of the other crazy Moms didn't think I was a crazy Mom too! 

I had some trouble getting good pics the first few classes but managed some good ones this week.  This is the outfit she got from Papa and Nona Lisa for her birthday! 

Here is a kinda cute pic from day 1.  I was struggling to get pictures through the glass window.  I am definitely not a professional, just a good camera and great subjects! Nene bought this outfit for her for Christmas!

And here is day 2 with our new pink princess tutu.  She loved it!  And of course a picture with our friend Emma!

Now if only I had my friend Nicole's sewing skills.  I could make some too cute tutus pretty cheap!  This is so fun!  I love every minute!!

Marlie's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe it but Marlie is 3!!!  We had a great weekend that was kicked off by dinner on Friday night at Marlie's choice of fine dining establishments...we ended up at Denny's!  Saturday morning all her little friends came over and we had a Tutus and Tiaras party!  It was lots of fun.  The kids jumped in the bounce castle, the girls made tiaras and the boys made shields and they all made castles too!  Marlie got super shy when everyone started singing but about half way in realized that it was kind of neat to have all of the attention for once!  You can see all the craziness going on in the slide show. Thank you all for coming.  We have such special friends to celebrate these occasions with!

Great Exuma - Take II

We were lucky to be able to go back to paradise - Great Exuma.  Even luckier that the Wellmanns came too as well as Papa and Nona Lisa.  We had such a great time that Doug is already talking about another trip in 2012! 

It was as beautiful as we remembered.  The water is the prettiest blue color and the sand is so perfectly soft.  The kids had a blast.  I will let the pictures do the talking.  Here is Day 1 on the beach at our house.  Marlie being silly (I love this picture) and guess what Matt is doing?  Yes...beach baseball.  We had to remind him that we were at the beach so it was time to start surfing!!

The kids picked up a few new nicknames on the trip.  Marlie's was Cracker Jack.  None of her bathing suits fit without a swim diaper! Matt and Caden thought this was hilarious.

A few days later the Wellmanns arrived and it just got better.  Our first stop was to Chat-N-Chill on Stocking Island.  The kids played in the water, made sand angels, got buried in the sand and the adults drank A LOT of pina coladas!

Melissa and I had run to the ladies room, only to come back and find our hubbies sitting in the water in pink chairs with their pina coladas!!

By this time I had lost track of days...maybe day 5 for us...back to the beach at home for fun.  We laughed the entire time about Joel's "bag of tricks".  He had this huge bag with every beach toy you could imagine.  He was like a magician pulling one thing out after another.  There was never a dull moment...

Ok this kayak was not in the bag of tricks, but I don't think I would have been surprised if it were!!!

The kite...yep in the bag!  This was the cutest.  Joel gave Marlie the kite and we all screamed at her to run!!  She kept running down the beach and back.  She was so excited.  Finally Doug got her to stop and pose for a picture.  We laughed so hard!

On Tuesday Papa and Nona Lisa arrived and we were off on a day trip.  First stop was to the beautiful sandbar in the middle of the water.  I could have spent all day here.  Here is the best shot I have of the sandbar.  You can see Joel and Melissa on their hunt for sand dollars.  We found...or should I say Nona Lisa found quite a few. 

Then it was off to see the swimming pigs and swim with the sharks.  We had to bribe all the kids to get in with the sharks but eventually all of them did.  Matt held out for $11, Caden was promised an IPOD touch from his parents (well at least that's what Doug told him) and Marlie went in for a $1.  Matt and Caden thought this was so cool and even got shirts to prove it!!  Matt's new nickname..."shark bait".

After that we fed iguanas and then stopped at Big D's Conch Shack to try some conch.  I don't think any of us cared for it, but at least we can say we tried it.  The kids even tried it too.  We told them it was like chicken!

Day...whatever...we never got tired of just being at "home" playing on the beach.  It was so relaxing and fun for all. 

Day whatever +1, back onto our own boat now to do some exploring.  We found so many starfish and lots of sand dollars too.  It was really neat and the kids were amazed. I was too!

And guess where we ended up then?  Yes Chat-N-Chill.  We lounged around and drank more pina coladas.  Joel had perfected the recipe by the end of the trip so we made lots at home too. 

It was an awesome trip!  Thank you guys for coming and making it so fun.  We can't wait to go again! There are more pics in the slideshow that are super cute too!!!

Thank you to Anders and Anne-Grete for sharing your home with us.  You are the most gracious home owners we have rented from.  Here is the website if you'd like to stay there.  The home has everything you could possibly need!  http://www.mermaidhouse.info/

Party Like a Rock Star

We had a fun day today!!  After church we headed north to Evan's birthday party at Pump-It-Up.  I enjoyed the brief stop along the way to my favorite Dunkin Donuts!!  Oh how I love those munchkins...the donuts of course.  The kids had a blast at the party.  They bounced their hearts out and had so much fun going down this slide.  Even the girls and the little girls enjoyed it too!  I love all these "usual suspects". Happy Birthday Evan...you are an awesome kid!

Then it was off to Build-A-Bear for Avery's 4th birthday party!!  She had a blast and the rest of the kids did too.  The entire time I kept asking myself, "why didn't I think of this" as each item in there was $20 plus dollars and of course the kids want it all!!  I like this pic of Ryan, Avery and Marlie.  Ryan took care of Marlie at Evan's party and again at his sister's party too. 

Marlie thinks the world of Avery.  She's pretty shy around most anyone but takes right to Avery every time.  I hope they are great friends.  Avery will actually be in the same grade as Matt so I'm hoping her and I will be close too so she can give me all the skinny on Matt!!  Shhhhh!

And here are the kids with their creations...yes one of those "Mom stop taking pictures moments" but at least you can see their new favorite animals.  Marlie claimed this giraffe from the moment we walked into the store.  And she insisted that she'd rather have the Hello Kitty slippers than getting clothes.  Matt went with the rest of the boys and decided on the leopard.  It was named Jockey and he wanted a jockey outfit.  I guess he got into the horse races yesterday!!  We had a great time.  Happy Birthday Avery!!