Langley the fish!

Langley has been so brave through her recent swim lessons!  We have been so proud of her!  She has always been cautious in the water(even a sprinkler!), so we decided to go head first with infant swimming rescue(ISR)...after many moms had told me how great it was.  We went to Miss Amy for 10 minutes every day for about 5 weeks.  It seemed so silly at first to think about taking her for only 10 minutes a day, but those quick 10 minutes wore Langley out!  It was amazing how quickly Miss Amy could get Langley to swim.  Now it wasn't all without kicking and screaming, but overall Langley just had a few days whining through her lesson.  "momma, momma, momma!"

 Miss Amy taught Langley to 'swim, turn over to float (and breathe), and then swim to the wall'.  

 Langley floating with "princess toes"!

 And you are probably wondering, if you don't know about ISR, why is she wearing her clothes?  The last few lessons they have the kids wear their clothes to get them used to swimming in the water with their clothes.  So hopefully now Langley is all ready to SAVE HERSELF!  Yahoo Langley!  

Portrait Craze!!!

Sometimes I get a little crazy, because I feel like L & M are growing so fast and I can't exactly stop time, so I pack them up and head to the cheesy portrait studio!  I am definitely a bigger fan of candid photography, but I love knowing that I can pull these pictures out one day and remember just how they were at this age!

Langley 3 years old from head to toesies

Mason 6 months old

Such a confident little man!

Love his grimace!   All ready for some helicopter time with daddy.

Mason's face looked like this in just about every pic.  The lady was totally cracking him up!

That was my fix for now!  We'll see how long I last until the next round.  ;)

Red, White, and Blue Part Two!

On the 4th G&G headed out of town.  We weren't so sure how to make this day festive for us?  We debated doing the fireworks in St. Augustine again this year, but decided that with a 6 month old we'd hold off on that!  Since mornings seem to be better, we decided to check out a festival in Amelia Island that morning.

We started off making a thank you note for a soldier.  Such a sweet idea, and Langley must have spent 45 minutes making hers!  I thought she was never going to be finished...impatient mommy!  :)

Not sure if she really understood where this was going.  She will soon understand this much more with daddy going underway.  Not sure his schedule yet now, so we won't think about it!  :)

 We soon moved onto other things!  The bounce house was L's favorite thing.  She didn't want to get out!

 And with Greg's love for fireworks, we couldn't end the 4th without them!  Mason snoozed through all the booms in comfort of his crib.  (happy momma, glad we didn't hit the big shows!)  

Langley cautiously held her first sparkler.  

Unfortunately I don't think we put a dent in Greg's fireworks stash that  continues to follow us wherever we go!  :)  It was a battle between the neighborhood kids who couldn't get enough, and Langley who insisted on, "no more big ones daddy!".  They were really loud!  She held a pig on each ear.  :)

Celebrating the Fourth!

We had a nice relaxing fourth of July here in Jacksonville.  Grandma Susan and Grandpa Don joined us. We did some blueberry picking, picnics at the pool every day, lots of grilling out, ate corn, watermelon, blueberry pie, and watched some Wimbeldon tennis!   All in honor of this great USA!

We finally took them to our favorite spot, Taco Lu!

I am not responsible for the matching shirts!  lol  :)  The kids loved dressing like G & G! 

Langley turns 3 with the 3 Little Pigs!

  Langley was so excited for her friends to arrive!

She loved coming downstairs that morning to see the decorations.  Reality had set in that it was her birthday!

A happy birthday pic with Mason!

He was ready for some party fun too!

The big bad wolf left his tracks that night.  :)  Langley kept reminding us over and over that she did not want the big bad wolf to come to her party!  No, No!

She helped me make our bricks, sticks, and straw.  She is my "craft" girl!  

My first attempt on brownie pops.  A little tricky to make and crumbly to eat...but tasty.  I need practice!

Pigs 'n the blanket were on the menu, and it wouldn't be Langley's party without mac 'n cheese!

So I think I took most of my pictures before the party started.  After 12 toddlers enter your house, things can get a little hectic!  :)  We read the story...

 We made crazy pig puppets...

Then we ate some lunch.  The whole gang!

The flying pig pinata added a little excitement during lunch.  I had no idea what Greg was up to upstairs until the pig came down.

The kids thought it was so funny!

sweet friends we love

Langley during the 'Happy Birthday' song.  She was sitting so contently while everyone sang to her.  :)

Langley is three!

 We played the pig, pig, wolf version of duck, duck goose and had a little dance party with bubbles.  And the pinata was last, one string at a time, to bust it open!

Thank you friends for coming!  It was such a special day!

We had a blast!

Congratulations on being THREE miss Langley!  You are such a big girl!