Beach Babes

We have spent a lot of time at the beach this past week.  I have been so afraid to take my camera to the beach because of the sand and water but finally I said forget it and brought it down for the day.  And I am glad that I did because I got some great shots!!  I have a ton of shots so I am just going to post them and add some captions.  It was really great to spend time with family and just enjoy being together!

 It is so nice when we can get a family picture with all of us in it!

Me and my man.

Claire had a blast in the water! She would stay in there all day if we let her. 

Oliver loved swimming too!

The kids had so much fun playing together!  Owen and Claire are a riot together! The had a great time swimming and building a sandcastles.

Claire loved having her shades on! Especially after I got sunscreen in her eyes.

Oliver just starting making this face.  It is hilarious.  Here he is having a serious discussion with Claire.

 Jessica and Giada came up for the day and we packed up the monsters and headed down the beach!  The girls had a great time (as usual) playing on the beach!

Jessica and Oliver smooched a little on the beach.

Claire liked to take a break and relax in the sun.

Awesome.

Hot Mamas.

They loved running into the water and playing.

Claire loved spending some time with her Daddy.

Oliver had his first sucker at the beach.  He LOVED it!  Even if it was full of sand.

Claire loved hers too.

Seriously, could he be any more handsome?!  He is ALMOST walking.  He will walk a little on his own but he would much rather crawl.  I am sure that Claire following him around and helping him all the time is not helping.

"Hold on Aunt Di!!"
He may  not walk yet but he can drive a jetski.

Claire made Mark take her out on the jetski twice.  And both times she cried the whole time she was out there but once she got back, she would tell everyone how much fun she had.  The first time they went out the jetski stalled and Claire kept yelling "THE BATTERY IS DEAD DADDY!!!  BLOW THE WHISTLE!!!!"


After days at the beach we spent nights back at the cottage, eating dinner and visiting.

Oliver loved playing on the deck.  Check out those teeth!

Love him.

Claire and Oliver loved eating smores by the fire.
Notice Claire's tiara.  Yeah, she wore that for two days straight.  It said Irish Princess and she loved it.  When Aunt Nancy complemented her on it, she quickly explained "Well I need this to keep my hair out of my eyes." Yeah, I am sure that's why she wore it for two days :)

The Youngs.  We always have a blast when we hang out.  And especially when Brad and Eileen stop in!!

Great guys.

There's that face again.


Overall, it was a great week at the beach. I am sad to see it go!!  Soon enough school will be starting again!!!!!!!

Blueberry Pickin'

I know I haven't posted in a while but we have been really busy.  I know I always say that but this time we were REALLY busy!  We traveled to Mexico for an AMAZING wedding (but I am not allowed to post my pictures until the bride gets home!  Did I mention I was the photographer?!).  But anyway, this week and last week my in-laws have their cottage at the beach and we spend a lot of time up there.  Right around the corner from the beach is a blueberry patch, so we took the kids over there to pick some blueberries.  This is Oliver's little hand grabbin' some berries!

My kids LOVE blueberries.  I am not a huge fan but the kids love them.  Oliver jumped right in like an old pro.  He would just grab a berry.....

and pop it into his mouth...

and then yell with excitement!

We finally had to make him stop because he ate so many berries.  But, then he just hid and ate them anyway.

Claire was like an old pro too.  She was so serious and happy to be there.  She did not stop talking the whole time!

Team work :)

They were so cute helping each other out.

Love them.

I promise in the next few days I will have the pictures from Jacqie and Nick's wedding!!!  It was an amazing trip and I got some great pictures but I promised her I would wait and let her be the first to see them!!!

Happy Anniversary Bryan and Irene!

Last Thursday we had a nice family dinner to celebrate Uncle Bryan and Aunt Irene's 25th wedding anniversary.  We always have a great time when we get together and this time was no exception!

Claire had a blast at the "grown up" party.  She loved keeping everyone entertained with all of her stories about Lucy.

 

Claire and Lucy were very busy.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for hosting such a great dinner!!

Uncle Bryan kept us all entertained with his stories :)

Oliver spent some time with Great Grandpa.  We were thrilled to death when we got to dinner and found out we had a whole room to ourselves!  Oliver has a tendency to yell/talk a lot, plus we were running on a 20 minute nap and it was past bedtime.  I think he ended up doing pretty well!!

Thanks to Great Grandma and Katie we got a nice family shot!

Congratulations Katie and Tom on their engagement!!!!!!

  Tom is so great with the kids!  Both of my kids love him and he is so sweet and patient with them!

I love to be with Mark's family.  Even though they are my "in laws" I really enjoy spending time with them.  We always chat and laugh a lot!! They are so much fun!  I can't wait until the next family event!!

Bathtime

I give my kids a bath pretty much every night.  Don't get me wrong there are those nights that we just skip it but for the most part, they get a bath every night.  People have asked me why I go through the whole bath time ritual every night because it is a lot of work.  And there are really just two simple reasons.  1.  I LOVE bath time!  I love when my kids are all clean in their clean jammies. And 2. Plain and simple it gives us something to do.  Both kids love their bath, they are in one location (and can't get run around), and they have a blast in there!!!!

Oliver loves his bath!

Claire and Oliver love it when we turn on the jets in the tub.  It makes the tub full of bubbles and they just love that!

Even Pete wants to get in there.

My three kids :)

That is Oliver's 007 pose.

Yesterday we also had a nice playdate with some friends from work.  It was nice to get the kids together to play (especially at Carolyn's with all of her awesome toys).  The kids played so nice and we all just had treats and chatted.  It was a nice break from chasing them around in the hot baking sun (I know I can't believe I just said that).

The kids enjoyed a nice lunch date as well.  Oliver was so excited to be sitting with the big kids to eat.

New Growth

Since our neighbors have put in an inground pool and they have people over all the time, we decided to plant some bushes to give us both some privacy.  And this is what we started with.  So in about 6 years we will have the privacy we need :)  I will keep you posted.

And here are my chickens.  They have been loving the old playpen lately.  This was my playpen when I was little and they cannot get enough of it!!!!  Oliver loves to walk around the side and play with his trucks inside.  Claire loves to climb in with him and bring her dolls for them to play with.  Thank God for the old school toys :)