Introducing Eleanor Ruby Swing

...our newest obsession.  Isn't she precious!! Tim and Trista's daughter was born 4 weeks early on Tuesday morning.  She is so sweet & Trista looks fantastic. 

Lily Kate did not want to stop holding her and I am not exaggerating at all.  We had a quiet discusion in the corner about the fact that we can come to see her again soon.  We were both quite smitten.  

Tate Trip 2012

I'll start out by saying - believe it or not - that I whittled down my total amount of pictures for a while before I chose the ones to post.  The result was still a ton of pictures of a sweet annual week with family.  We go to the Tate lake house every summer for a week with Parks' mom, his siblings, and their families.  Not everyone can come for the whole time, but this year we got one great day where we all overlapped. When we go to Tate we spend almost all of our time at the dock.  There is a little "beach" for the kids, a picnic area, and a swing set.  Here are some of my favorite shots from the week of our time at the dock, in no particular order. 

Hadley loved the water.  Every time we let her she just crawled right in to the water until she was submerged.  Her eyes would widen under water in surprise and then we would grab her up.  Taking the kids to the lake is so different than taking them to the beach because there are no waves to drag them under and so the watching parent's job is far more relaxing then what I'm used to.  

Charlotte off on her own, building a castle, as usual. 

Lily Kate lying in the sun (with some kind of snack in her mouth?)

Love this shot of Parks' sisters,  Sarah & Becca.

Laura & Myers.  I think this is a framer.  

This is precious Connor.  He is just 3 months older than Hadley.  He was walking in the sand and loving life all week.  He and Hadley played near each other most of the week and every once in a while one of them would wander over to the other and touch their nose and or pat their face just to check each other out.  In a couple years they will be running off together, playing. 

Henry and Hadley

Parks and Patrick facilitating some cousin bonding time.  

Myers and Henry turned Lily Kate, Charlotte, and Lillian into sand mermaids.  (This is becoming an annual favorite of theirs).  

Hadley & Will.  Will is a camp counselor this summer so he was only able to come for part of his weekly 24hr break.  We love having him around.  

Handsome Henry.  This picture makes it look like he got some rest.  He was actually playing with the little girls almost the whole time.  They adore him and don't often let him out of their site.  He is SO helpful and thoughtful and offered to take them so we could cook or eat or take care of Hadley.  Love him!

Here Hadley is climbing up the little hill out of the water.  I would repeatedly put her at the bottom to give her something to do that would keep her busy and keep her out of trouble (eating rocks and crawling under water).

Sani and Hadley (Parks' mom)

Parks was on a quest to catch a fish.  It began with him lying on the dock, trying to lure them with bread and grab them with his hand...... didn't work.  

......so it progressed to him crafting a spear from an oar and our watermelon knife. .....also didn't work. (he stayed with this one a couple days though)

finally he and Lily Kate grabbed a good old fashioned fishing pole and here is their little catch.  LK reeled him in and boy was she proud.  I don't even have to tell you that she had absolutely no interest in getting close to it.  

Parks did.  

This wasn't a great quality picture but it shows how high these girls would swing when Henry pushed them. Seriously flying. 

Connor & Patrick

Me with my biggest and my littlest

Parks and me with Connor.

Here's our middlest (she has begun referring to herself this way for about a month now)

Aunt Becca and the babies.

Happy Hadley

He are some shots from up around the house.  

Sarah and Hadley

Charlotte and me

Parks and Lily Kate heading off for a morning fish off the bridge

In the evenings when we would come back to the house to start getting ready for dinner the girls would head down the steps to the field to run free.  This is our view of them from the big front porch.  Isn't it beautiful?

Here is Henry running with them, captured by Becca's amazing zoom lens that I referred to as the spy lens. 

Becca, with her forethought and photography skills is always good at getting some family shots in the yard. Becca, in all the chaos did we get your family this year?

Myers, Laura, Lillian, and their son (due in September!!)

Our family.  Not the best picture in the world, but we're all in the same place and no one is crying and that's not easy these days.  

All the cousins!  Look at the cute coordinating outfits Becca brought them.  Pink was a wise choice for the girls, they loved wearing them.  Laura was also equipped with prizes and I was the loony one jumping around in the background trying to prompt smiles.  

Laura and her Lillian, two beauties

Me and my Hadley (not my finest moment, but doesn't Hadley look adorable!)

Lillian and Lily Kate, those two are inseparable.

We even had a couple mini parties during the week.  All the ladies had a little shower for Laura and the baby.  And, Laura put on a little birthday party for the babies (Connor turned 1 in May and Hadley will in Aug) complete with a beanbag game, water balloon toss (huge hit with the kids, btw), and a pinata.  

What a week.  It is always a time to catch up with each other and enjoy the kids (and enjoy help with the kids) and opportunities to sit in the sun.  I brought a book to read in the shade but we didn't get that far, maybe it was a little far fetched - but we had a ton of fun!  Miss y'all already.

Airlie Summer Concert Series

I may have found my new favorite weekend activity.  Airle Gardens has a summer concert series every other Friday evening.  People were serious about their picnic spreads at this thing.  People had folding chairs, folding tables, elaborate trays of fruits and cheeses, and lots of wine.  I was inspired to bring classier food next time.  I was laughing as I was uploading these pictures because I don't have any pictures of us in the concert area at all or any pictures of adults.  I promise I heard some of the music.  Such is the life of mamas on the go with their kids.  

 Charlotte climbing a giant Airlie Oak with Yaya (Steph)

 These are from the bottle house.  All the kiddos loved the big butterfly.  

 Seriously, how precious is June?  I didn't get any shots of the other kids, but Caroline was there and Levi and Olivia too.  

Sweet Hadley.  

Seriously, we had a great time.  I know where I'll be in 2 weeks.

Swimming Lessons

We are headed to Tate tomorrow (expect a slew of pictures when we return) so our swimming lessons are over.  I'm going to miss Memaw.  I foresee myself calling her again next summer.  The conclusion for our week is that Kate is about to be swimming alone and Charlotte is excited to not wear a floatie but has declared that her face is never going under the water again.  Hmm.

 Hadley enjoying the baby pool when she wasn't making a crawling bee line for the actual pool.

 Memaw about to send Kate off to swim alone.

Charlotte's group.  Ford is on the far left and Samuel is on the far right.  The other two were new friends.