Mark and Mary arrived via Southwest Thursday evening with their two beautiful girls, Ashlynn and Kaylee! We were so excited to have them come to PC for the long Labor Day weekend! I had a loosely planned schedule for their stay but hoped that we would get plenty of down time to play with each other's girls and just sit and visit. I think we accomplished my goal. It was so hard to say good-bye on Monday afternoon but it was a perfect weekend for me. I will always cherish precious times like these and, like always, can't wait to do it again.
The girls are 7 months old and practicing sitting up, love to eat their jar vegetables, fruits, and breakfast cereal and are growing so fast! Their little personalities are so different from each other but both have sweet dispositions.
Thursday night, we all just sat and played with the girls then cooked seared tuna and crab cakes fresh from Tarpon Dock Seafood Market, hoecakes, fried green tomatoes and yellow rice.
Friday Morning...more play time in the play room.
Then it was time for breakfast...rice cereal with fruit! I remember when Lauren tasted her first bite of rice cereal. It was the afternoon of Halloween in the Bumbo seat. Seems like yesterday.
Ashlynn in the Mustang
All three girls.
Lauren LOVED having playmates in the house.
On mid-day Friday, Mary and I ventured to Pier Park while the boys went to a movie. We met up with Aunt Sarah and did a little shopping and ate pizza for lunch. No pictures...too much time caring for babies!
On Friday afternoon, just before dusk, we all went to St. Andrews State Park Beach for our photo session with Genya from VUE Photography. We booked Genya a few weeks back and I was so excited! Mary shopped for the girls' outfits (we had 2 plus swimsuits for wardrobe changes but never had a chance to change their clothes!) and Genya had the great idea of spray painting a wheel barrow pink and putting the girls in it! I can't wait to see the proofs. Although it was a little hectic with 3 little ones on a sandy beach, it was fun doing it together...with a bottle of wine.
Genya...working her magic
Lauren and her Dada at sunset.
Ashlynn
Kaylee.
Did I mention that this was the first trip to the beach, any beach, for A and K? And we had a professional photographer to capture the moment! :-)
Afterwards, Mary and I took the girls back to the house while the boys stopped by Captain Anderson's and picked up our to-go order. Captain Anderson's is so good...even their take-out!
We woke up Saturday morning to start
College GameDay 2010!!!! YAY!!!!
Their first tea party together!
Kaylee is ready for game day! This was the last we saw the little sweetie for the
next 3-1/2 hours! She took a good, long nap!
So while she slept, Ashlynn and Lauren watched the UF game with their Daddies.
"Yes, Lauren, this is what Fall Saturdays are all about. It is important that you get used to it...and LOVE it!"
Lauren got so many nice gifts for her birthday that I am still gradually bringing them out for her to play with. Here she is helping (or telling me what to do) me put a new toy together. "Mommy, I said...you're going to need these!"
"here, let me help you."
All done! The girls had something new to play with during the game!
"Ashlynn, you go ahead. I'll watch you."
Trying to get a picture...Kaylee is still sleeping! Mary bought these outfits last football season at the stadium. It was Lauren's first ballgame and Mary was just barely showing with the girls. Now look at us!
Cheerleader stunt!
Kaylee woke up and we tried to get in some pictures before Lauren went down for a nap.
Lauren got a little fussy, so we brought out bunny..
And...Lauren...is...done.
By the afternoon, everyone had had a nap and all were smiling again!
Ashlynn's sweet smile.
Lauren has just started learning how to color! She loses interest in about 30 seconds, but any little mark she makes on the paper is adorable to me. :-)
Kaylee!
Beautiful little sweet pea
"What do you think of this book? Yeah, it's one of my favorites. I like the page with the ducks."
The boys went to enjoy a little more football at The Melzer's while Mary and I started dinner for our girls. Kaylee and Ashlynn were eager to eat and thought they were going to die of starvation when they saw Mary start to fix their dinner! I was feeding Lauren her Lil Entree while Mary was trying to feed both girls at the same time...a spoon in both of her hands feeding both girls simultaneously. She couldn't do it fast enough even though she was doing it really fast already! So, I let LEB start to feed herself and took over feeding Kaylee. All of a sudden, Lauren took her tray and dumped it over her head, smiled and then threw the tray down on the ground! So, picture it...crying coming from K and A in-between bites with Lauren making a huge mess all while I am frantically trying not to cry from being so rattled AND from laughing so hard all at the same time! I turned to Mary and said "Does this happen often?" She just laughed harder...and I said "No, really. I'm concerned about you! Does it?" And she just kept laughing. It was so, so, so funny!
Sunday morning.
Kaylee and Ashlynn are getting so good at sitting up and it was so much fun watching them play with LEB's toys.
Lauren in her apron...she loves wearing it. One day, there is going to be A LOT of fun happening in our kitchen!
We went to Crystal Lake for an afternoon of fun. I'm not sure which one is Lauren's favorite place: Crystal Lake or the beach. She loves both.
Just after we arrived...everybody was so excited to see Mary and Mark and meet their girls!
Lauren, doing what girls in our family are trained to do...introductions!
"Everyone, I'd like for you to meet Kaylee...and Ashlynn. They're my best friends and they came to see me! Yeah, we've been playing a lot and having a good time!"
These outfits were supposed to be part of the wardrobe change for the beach photos...so we put them to use at the lake!
Kaylee
Sisters having fun!
Just hanging out at the lake!
mary and her girls...
Gigi and Ashlynn
"So, what do you think about Crystal Lake?" says Kaylee. "Well, I think I'm going to like it one day...but it's really hot today so I"m not sure yet, sista" replies Ashlynn.
"Hey guys! This is much colder than room temperature! I'm not sure this is a good idea! I think I need to get out of this water!"--Kaylee
"Just give it a minute, KayKay, you'll get used to it."--Ashlynn
Time for a mid-afternoon bottle
Lauren's friend, Anna, came to the lake to play! Anna loves the lake just as much as Lauren does! These girls are definitely water babies!
Lauren learned how to climb up the steps by herself today! The first time going up took a full 5 minutes, it seemed, but after that, she had no problem!
Time for a nap.
Playing in the house before dinner
Mary and Ashlynn walked back down to the water to watch the sunset and have some mommy-daughter time.
Beautiful Crystal Lake sunsets
Kaylee and Uncle Eric before dinner. Gigi, Pops, Grandaddy, and Ganny really treated us that night with grilled steaks and fried shrimp! It was delicious!
Crystal Lake always tires little LEB out...
Monday morning. This was a fun thing for Lauren to do the entire weekend...try to fit into the Bumbo seats over and over.
Oh, sweet beautiful Kaylee
Getting some Aunt Tricia time before it's time to go to the airport.
"Girls. I'm trying so hard not to think about you leaving this afternoon. This is so hard. But I can definitely say that I'm so glad that you came to visit me and play with me. I get a little lonely with Mommy and Daddy and it's nice to have someone who understands me and my playing ways. I wish we could live together. Yeah, one day. When we go to college like Aunt Kay. Yeah, that's going to be awesome."
Mark and Mary left late that afternoon and reported that the girls were perfect on the flight back home. They attracted a lot of attention with their sweet ways.
Thank you guys for bringing your girls PC. It meant so much to have you here. I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as we did. Can't wait to see you again...6 weeks.
