Annie picked up BellaRose for her little morning camp the other day. BR was so excited that she went out and waited on the front stoop. She was sitting there saying "Aaanniieee, Aaanniiee".

The girls and I hung our sheets on the line the other day, it made for some fun pictures. Remember those same pictures from a year ago? Except Hollings was still growing in the belly and BellaRose looks like a peanut. It made my heart clinch a little bit seeing those pictures of her, and looking at those curls.
BellaRose and Hollings are getting a new Aunt, Julie to be specific! Ben is engaged! We are so excited for the happy couple and for us since we love Julie!

My brother-in-law celebrated his 40th birthday with an amazing surprise party my sister put together. Hard to believe he is 40 and hard to believe we are going to 40th birthday parties now. Also hard to believe that I got asked if I was the oldest sister considering my sisters are 7 and 14 years older then me! Kelly told me it was time to get out of the sun :). Happy Birthday Kev, we love you.

BellaRose's hair is severely crimped because she slept in the braids from the above picture.

4th of July is really one of my favorite holidays. I love seeing the flag flying high and proud and I love seeing people be so patriotic. This is a wonderful country we live in and I am so blessed to call it home!
Love Love Love this final image. The Angel trumpet singing out to Old Glory.

Adventures of Summer

Summer has really been a whirlwind. We celebrated my brother-in-laws 40th birthday with a very successful surprise birthday party! I can't believe Angela actually pulled that off! I have gone to Atlanta twice for portrait sessions. BellaRose had one week of swim lessons, morning art camp, and then another week of swim lessons. I am thrilled to report that SHE CAN SWIM!!! It truly is amazing. I am not going to leave her alone in the pool or anything, but she can actually swim.
Hollings will be turning 5 months old in 2 days! We are still trying to get her on rice cereal. She is not real into yet, but we are trying. She can now put her feet in her mouth just like her older sister did. It is actually one of her favorite things to do as she is doing just that as she sits in my lap while I type. She is becoming more and more animated everyday. She is also turning out to be a lover of water too, as evidenced in the pictures below!
So now here is a series of Summer pictures. The first ones are of Worth's Grandfather Mountain adventures with the girls while I was in Atlanta. It looks like they had a blast.

Summer fun, playing in the sprinkler!
I jumped through it too with all my clothes on but you don't want to see any of that!

Hollings first tries with rice cereal.

We went down to Curtis Creek with the girls when we got home from surprise party. They had a blast. Hollings loved being in the water. After we left the creek we went to the pool and Hollings played in there as well. What a big girl. Of course you all know that BellaRose had a blast. She even experimented with peeing in the woods, lets just say she does not have the whole idea down yet, but it was a good thing we were near water to clean off :)

I asked BellaRose to put her arm around Hollings, and she did, but would never look up, she was too occupied with her rock stacking.

The Garden Post

Worth keeps bugging me on when I am going to update the blog with his garden, so here is the garden post, sort of. This really is Worth's project. He is actually out there right now tending to the back 40 (sqft). Well I really don't know how big it is but I just like to say that. Sounds so farm like. The garden is looking awesome as usual and we are starting to get some good produce. This weekend we might even have some string beans. That is new this year and they really look cool.

I went to Atlanta over the weekend for a photo shoot and Worth had the girls. He is pretty adventurous with them which is what they will always remember and love. He took them to the creek on Saturday and on Sunday he took them up to Grandfather Mountain. There are pictures but I have not put them on the computer yet. I will though don't you worry! BellaRose loved the mile high swinging bridge. The wind stole Hollings' hat while they were on the bridge . I thought it was a mile straight down from the bridge. When I said that Worth looked at me really funny then laughed at me. Apparently it is a mile from sea level and not straight down....whatever!

My Girls!

Still catching up!

Well we just got back from a wonderful beach trip to Isle of Palms with Worth's parents and family. It was as relaxing a trip as it can be with a newborn and a toddler, but fun none the less. BellaRose was in her element for sure. She was even running a fever at the end of the week and later found out it was strep, but she never stopped! She was in the water daily for long stretches at a time. She never once complained about her throat either. What a trooper. Hollings did awesome as well and slept several times on the beach under the umbrella. What a blessing.
Hollings is now sucking her thumb which I am so happy about and grabbing her feet. She had her 4 month doctor's appt. today and she weighs 13.6 lbs and 25.5 inches long. She is long and lean. BellaRose was pretty similar to this, but Hollings is just a bit bigger.
Sadly I hardly took any pictures at the beach. I did get Worth's camera out when the light was just perfect in the evening and snapped some of BR. The picture to the left is very similar to the picture we have of BR at the beach in the same outfit. What sweet little girls we have!
Thank you so much Big Poppa and T-Love for a wonderful trip. It was awesome!

The view from the house.
Not too bad!

Will and BellaRose have started swim lessons with Ms. Jaci. We LOVE Ms.Jaci! She has already done amazing things with our children in the water and we are only on day 3! Annie and I wondered how Ms.Jaci would do with having 4 kids in the class with 2 of them (Will and BellaRose) being so completely opposite in the water. Needless to say we only have raves for this class and Ms.Jaci!

We are so proud of Will!

The ol' Rain Dog, still hanging tough!

Finally the birthday!

My first born turned 3 on the 22nd of May! I am just now posting pictures here on the 10th day of June. I have loads of excuses on why it has taken so long but I will spare you those details and just share pictures of this special girl special day, well really days! We began the celebrations on her last day of her 1st year of school! I could not believe that she was already done with school. I have the picture of her on her 1st day of school sucking her thumb holding her dog. To say she thrived in school would be in understatement. She LOVED it!
Then we celebrated on her actual birthday with a wonderful party surrounded by friends and family. She had so much fun! She of course started out her morning with pancakes and syrup, her favorite!

PRESENTS! She got her "baby guitar" that she wanted and a water gun. Worth plays with both of them more then BellaRose!

Preparing for the big party!

Julie and Julia, hmmmm, sounds familiar?!

Ben's "special lady friend" also known to most people as a girlfriend, Julie helped celebrate BellaRose's birthday and it just so happened to be her birthday too! I think it was meant to be!

Swinging!

Worn out from such an exciting birthday.
Sometimes time on the couch with dad and his girls is a good thing!

BellaRose is an amazing child. She is 100% curious and active, and hardly sits still. She immediately has to jump into the deep end when we get to the pool. She is very concerned about "good spots" such as when we are reading stories to her before bed and she picks out my "good spot" to sit, or where we park our cars at the store. She loves her sister and her family and her friends. She just got her first haircut by me after 3 years without one. You can hardly notice but the hair is saved for her baby book! She loves to sing, and read, and organize! When I am getting deli meat cut she reorganizes the condiment cart. If Worth or me is going somewhere she has to give us a kiss and a pat pat or she becomes deeply saddened. She takes care of her own and has no problem going off and being by herself to play. She helps with the garden and the purple flower she wanted to buy that is thriving, just like her. She can bring me to laughter in a heartbeat as well has complete and total frustration!
She is pure joy!