Hope you have the time....Long overdue update

Our beautiful Sophie turned 11 this past Friday. Unbelievable how time passes right by. In a blink of an eye...11 years old. Wow. We are so proud of her. We truly are blessed to have her as our daughter. We celebrated in style with a girls only night out. Pedicures and shopping. Lily even came along and enjoyed a mini pedicure too. Love being with my girly girls. Sophie then celebrated with family and friends at our house. Pedicures for her friends, scrap booking, pizza, cake, movies, popcorn and lots of girl talk. They had fun, I am exhausted. Wish I had half the energy they do.

Sophie's present this year was a Pandora bracelet. I have one too and love it! She was very excited to receive charms from her friends and family.

Relaxin' on the beach with friends. We haven't been to the beach as much as I would like this year. Every day life keeping us busy. Between work, tutoring, cheer leading, speech therapy, friends, and routine responsibilities our lives are pretty hectic. We try and enjoy those few moments at the beach. So fortunate to be so close to beautiful beaches.

Sunset in Barnstable.

Gavin, so handsome! 12 going on 20. My gray hair is multiplying just thinking of the years to come with two teenagers and a preschooler. Yikes.

Lily looking like she is enjoying these hermit crabs.

Not so much. Seeing them near her feet provokes this response.

Love this picture. Off like the wind........

Love this one too.

Super tight goggles that leave an indentation for an hour after they come off, doesn't that sound appealing? Lily insisted on wearing them like this. It hurt to just look at her. She could hardly see. The goggles were pulling her eyes shut. Ouch.

I could just eat her up, every day, all day long. I call Lily my Chinese dumpling and tell her I am going to eat her up. She giggles and laughs as I pretend to nibble on her. She will say to me "Mommy, eat me, I Chinese dumpling". She melts my heart.

My nephew, baby Carter, growing so fast. Already over six weeks old. He is starting to smile and coo. Lily LOVES him, as do all of us. There is never enough cuddle time with Carter. Love the double chin.

Lily is a "big girl" now, sleeping in a "big girl" bed like Sophie. A few weeks ago I was going through clothes and toys in Lily's room, trying to declutter and suggested to Lily that she could start sleeping in the big bed in her room if she wanted (thinking we could get rid of the crib). That afternoon she took a nap in her big bed and hasn't looked back. The crib is still up but being used for her babies to sleep, for now. There have been no issues at all with this transition, surprisingly. Well except for the other night when I was at work and Lily woke at midnight yelling "Daddy, Daddy". She was down the bottom of the bed, head first, under the covers and couldn't get out. Not bad for a spur of the moment change.

The babies are sleeping.

Every year we hang flowers from our front porch and without fail a nest is made in 1 or 2 of the hanging pots. Very neat to see the eggs laid, then kept warm by Momma bird, hatch then "fly the coop" when they are ready. I am not sure what kind of birds they are. I should do a little research and figure it out but haven't. The kids love to see them each year. We try to disturb them little as possible. The flowers have to be watered periodically though and Momma bird hates this. She dive bombs me to protect her little peeps. Gotta love a Momma protecting her peeps!

Watering the flowers. Lily loves this chore.

Lily in her tankini. Love it. Happy summer.