Garden City 2012

Twas the night before our beach trip, and all through the house, not a child was sleeping, nope, not inside our house.....

the suits were all packed, the children in tow, yes, everyone was ready to GO!

As recent tradition would have it, our, ahem, Gamecocks were playing for their place in the college world series....much to everyone's delight (yes, my boys and their father were in favor of their win!), the fighting Gamecocks are in Nebraska awaiting the series to begin!

Many mornings began just as this pic describes - a cousins match of Mario Kart.....

 and many afternoons were passed away just as this - relaxing by the pool, bundled up no doubt, brrrr the days tended to be a bit on the chilly side.....

 C spent the majority of his beach time skim boarding, doing 180s and a 360 here and there, some jumping of the waves....a wipe out now and then :/

 and these two bonded throughout the week - sweet Emma and MK....they boogie boarded, hunted for shells, body surfed, built castles....what a great role model MK has in her cousin Emma!

 Fearless MK - she kept up with the rest at all times!

 On the occasion that a snack was requested, Gran had purchased just the right treat to eat poolside - popsicles!

 Mornings with Pop - his special pancakes, even silver dollar sized per the girls' request.

 And P....our house is located on the second row.  Each morning when we would walk to the beach, P would look both ways, and when the coast was clear, he would break out his dance moves....it was his "thing" this year....

 A typical day at the beach....swim, dig hole, build a dam, swim more.....

 MK was so excited to have an opportunity to fly her princess kite.....

 and no GC beach trip would be a trip without an afternoon at the waterpark.....

 everyone was all smiles.....

especially our fearless MK!

We are so thankful for this beach week each year.  As I have mentioned before, this tradition began when my mother was a child and has continued throughout the years.  In all of my 38 years of life, I have only missed one year at the beach with my family!  Amazing!  

Wordless Wednesday

P's baseball team ended their season via party style....by the pool, music playing loudly, food aplenty, and awards given appropriately.....

 C continues to trek forward with basketball.....I desperately tried to photograph his game and realized that taking pictures during a basketball game is simply not a realistic task.... 

 We have decided that really MK is part fish....she LOVES any and everything to do with water!

 And then there is Maddox....if you read an earlier post about our little Maddox Ren, then you know she came into our room in the wee hours of the morning and begged her way into our bed.....when we asked her how she got out of her crib, she stated, "Mei-Mei help me."  So we questioned Mei-Mei and low and behold, MK did help her sister out of her crib.  They have their moments that are not so rosy and then you hear MK tell of how her baby sister was sitting on the crib rail, both legs over the side, holding on for dear life.  MK cried, "I didn't want her to get hurt, so I helped her down."  And then through tears MK told of how she asked Maddox if she needed to go potty, took her to the potty, Maddox still cried so MK put her in the bed with her and when she continued to cry, MK held Maddox's hand, walked her downstairs to our room and then ran back up to her room in fear of getting in trouble.  Bless.

Needless to say, there is a new crib in town....one without a side rail, one that the little Miss can climb in and out of - could be a good thing for injury reasons AND it could be a bad thing for our sanity and sleep.....the story will unfold soon enough:)

The Manners Song

MK announced the other day that she wanted to sing a song for me titled The Manners Song.  We were in the car, of course I was driving and really not tuning totally in to what she was singing at first.....and then I heard this:

.....don't think if your mother can be mean.  She loves you.  She does.

She wants to teach you even if she is mad, she knows best.  She does.

If you get lost she will find you.  She will.

If she is mad you don't need to cry - she is teaching you.

It's her job.  She loves you.

She always does.  And you must listen to learn your manners.

She will teach you cause she loves you.

The end.  The end.

MK is our "say whatever is on your mind" child.  If she is thinking it, she is usually saying it.  Hearing this song just made me laugh.  Usually when I correct her, she does, understandably, get upset - she does not like to do wrong.  I then tell her that my job is to teach and guide her to make wise choices, to use kind words, to share, etc.  And I always end by telling her how much I love her.  Glad to see she is getting the message!

Precious Maddox Ren.  One year and three months later, we have decided she needs her own zipcode.  She is the perfect caboose to our family; the child who does everything that the others would never have thought to do;)  She is permitted to sit in the back of a shopping cart; she is given chocolate milk upon request - my others did not even know this was an option!; she has an opinion about her clothing and expresses it; she paints everything except the paper she is given to paint on; she puts stickers on the furniture; she shows up in the middle of the night with her pillow pet in tow asking to sleep with us, keep in mind she is still in a crib and we are currently investigating to see just how she is getting out of said crib to climb downstairs to our room - she says "Mei-Mei help me" but MK is not even awake; she LOVES bandaids and uses them frequently for no reason - our other children despised bandaids; she colors herself with markers and proudly announces she has tattoos; she has tasted play doh and would probably eat it if allowed; she thinks Cheerios on the floor are just as good as Cheerios in her cup; she will help herself to gum if it is within her reach - again, the others were clearly over the age of 5 before they knew gum existed!; and the list goes on and on......not a day goes by that I am not thankful for this little girl!

We enjoyed a restful holiday weekend complete with Ryan home and our schedule being EMPTY.....

which opened up opportunities for little ones to enjoy the simple things in life...

 and then life happened again and we were back to the summertime grind.....

 "summertime grind" being swimteam, baseball, basketball, and.....

Blue Man Group? Colin was able to sit front and center for his first viewing of the Blue Man Group.  I haven't figured out which is more entertaining - watching the actual show or listening to Colin tell Pryce his rendition of the group?  Colin says that even though it would be awesome to be a part of the Blue Man Group, he is pretty sure he would not succeed because he would be too tempted to smile - C had a hard time with the fact that they NEVER smiled :)

Baseball is his love.

He is another guy on the field, in his own world.....

 solely focused on success.....

 and driving the other team off the field.....

to him, its all in a days work and someone's gotta do it!