Another Quick One ...

I forgot to mention that I have a bunch of videos from our beach trip to post but I just don't have the time to do it now, I am back at work full time again, that is 4 days a week half day and with all Jades homework and after school activities well ... there is just no time for anything anymore, golly !!! I miss Summer Break already !!! Also my boss goes on maternity leave in a month and then I will be doing her job too so who knows if you will hear from me again till New Year, hold thumbs I get a chance to update here ok but I cannot promise anything.

Just to tell you about a few up and coming things and latest goings on, I mentioned to you that Amber is not walking 100 % yet, well we have taken her back to physio as of last Monday and it seems because she didn't crawl properly and went straight to the bear crawl that she did not build her core muscles in her tummy so we are exercising them as much as we can now in the hope that it will help her balance more. We thought it might have something to do with her neck but apparently it has nothing to do with that, it's all about her tummy muscles and leg muscles not being strong enough, she is still very lose, kind of like a 'pap' baby so she needs to toughen up, ok that scares me coz she is one tough tot already !!! Also she has never liked shoes so that hasn't helped the situation either even when we were told by our pediatrician long ago that it's better to learn to walk without shoes, so much for that. So we had to go out and get some really expensive shoes for her and we are now breaking them in, she doesn't mind them for short periods of time but when she wants them off she wants them off. She walks way better without them but only time will tell if it helps her walking improve. Anyway so we go Mondays for physio, like I need some other activity in my busy schedule. Also since Dave had issues with his feet and legs as a baby, we are hoping none of that has flowed over into Amber but physio should help all around so we are hoping for the best !!!

Last weekend we went to the Cabarras County Fair, as usual it was great fun, we thought we might get rained out but the weather was amazing, the perfect day for the Fair. We took Tina's son Louis with us and him and Jade had a ball on all the rides together. Amber enjoyed the petting zoo until a lamb stuck his face right against her nose and the poor child almost had a heart attack, man I wish I had had the video running, poor thing I think I would most definitely have won a prize on Americas Funniest Videos :-) Jade and Louis both participated in stage shows, Louis at the pig races and Jade at a dog show, again I have videos but just need to the time to upload them, sorry for the wait.

Jade was at a party at Tina last night and tonight she is at a neighbors birthday party, both nights out till 10pm, golly I wonder what I have to look forward to when she becomes a teenager if she is starting this late night stuff now.

Today I spent half the day at the Avon Breast Cancer Walk training, not sure if you know or if I have mentioned it before but Tina and I are signed up as crew for this walk over one weekend the end of October, it is a huge event and we are both looking forward to what we believe to be a very rewarding experience, ok not so much for the camping part but for the rest, I will write more on that later.

Tomorrow I am going to the Southern Womans Show with my girlfriend Pam, I love this time of the year, there are so many shows ... after this crazy hectic and stressful week, I am looking forward to a break to just relax and walk around at the show :-)

Ok lot's more to look forward to in the next month or so, The Renaissance Festival, A neighborhood Cheese and Wine for Adults Only :-) A trip to the Corn Maize, The Avon Breast Cancer Walk and then Halloween with lots of parties for that to run up to the 31'st Trick or Treat night :-) And that takes us up till the end of October only, wow ... And one of those weekends I am babysitting Tina's kids so she and hubby can have a well deserved break, busy busy busy, did I say I was busy, I am just for warning you so you know if you don't hear from me what we are up to ok :-)

Love to all.

Oh one last thing, this is a quick picture of Jades class that the teacher took for her website.



Ok that's me for now ... remember to scroll down for all the updates ok.

Daves Birthday Weekend At Myrtle Beach.

As usual we went away for Dave's birthday, my gift to him, being a long weekend it is always nice to take advantage of this opportunity to go away, also being so close to the end of Summer. Last year we didn't go away I don't think because Amber was too little and we had already done a trip to San Diego so this year since Amber did so well on our trip to Florida, I figured why not :-)

We have been to Myrtle Beach so many times but we love it there, I believe going in Winter it is no fun because so much is closed from October already I hear, so when we go the end of the year for Thanksgiving well it won't be half as nice but oh well, it will be a break for me for the most part ... who am I kidding going away isn't a break for me, it's more hard work but still I enjoy it as long as the girls are good :-)

Also there was so much that was new and pretty there since we last went, they have a fantastic boardwalk now, totally loved that, we spent Friday night down there, can't wait if my brother and Gigi come in Summer to take them there too, the vibe was amazing and gosh how much more fun it could have been without kids, sorry girls :-( but there were bands playing and well it was just really cool.

Here's a pic of Dave and Jade at Boardwalk By The Beach, we actually went there Saturday and Sunday night it was so much fun with fireworks to die for, we had such fun.

Nice pic of the girls, only Amber got a bad rash all over her body, not sure if it was from the beach or the chemicals in the pool or something she ate but she was fine with it but I still went to the pharmacy to get some Benedryl for her, she had never had Benedryl before and as it is suppose to, it made her super sleepy and cranky so the first night at Boardwalk By The Beach which is not the boardwalk I mentioned above that overlooks the ocean, this is a shopping area, anyway we had to leave early and make it an early night which really wasn't a bad thing after all.



This climbing thing is absolutely amazing, talked Jade into going on it and when she first got going she couldn't figure it out and got a little scared or sad, who knows but came on down, I asked one of the helper which she initially turned down coz she thought she could do it on her own, to help her and well then there was no stopping her, she was on there forever, she had such a great time, we had to eventually call her down coz we had to go, we think she might have been on there a good hour and a half. I could never have done it, it looked scary, it was like three stories up in the air and even though you couldn't fall golly it was like you were walking on all these beams and stuff and well you were super high, but again, I knew she would totally love it and she did :-) what a brave girl I have.



Ok mom this one is for you ... this stand was all licorice if you can believe it but it's one of these stores where you pay by the pound, never buy anything there coz the weight is deceiving and by the time you get to the checkout, you almost die at the cost and really feel too embarrassed to put it back :-(



Just a pic of the girls just before bedtime. In this pic you can see Ambers pack and play bed next to ours, next time Dave can sleep on her side coz every morning she would wake up early even though our room had curtains in it that made the room so dark you had no clue what time it was when you woke up so I am amazed she was awake, but she would lean over and pat me the entire time till I rolled over and said hi :-) clearly she has not learnt like Jade has that mommy is not a morning person so don't wake the beast (hehehe) !!!



Look at this lady of leisure.



Just some pics of the family on the beach, Amber loved the beach and even more so the water, golly the water was actually amazing, so much warmer than the pool water, it is not often I go far in past the breakers but this weekend we were all far in past the breakers so much of the time, it was really nice :-) We all had a lot of fun.

I love this one, it just looks so cute don't you think. Yep Amber is 16 months old and not walking too much on her own yet, she does but only in familiar areas like in our house. Actually from when this picture was taken till now, she has improved so much is is walking so much more, actually walking more than crawling now I think.





This was Amber getting started on her cupcake for dessert.



And this was when she was almost done !!!



And this is big sister not trying to get her hands dirty.





I thought this one was cute at the fountain and it would have been perfect with Amber in coz again they had the same dress on but I didn't get a pic of it but when it comes to water, oh well it was just easier to leave her in her stroller and not let her near the fountain ... enough said right :-)



Another cute one of the girls, look how light their hair is from all the sun, now Jade is a true blonde !!!



Amber breaking all the playground rules and trying to climb up the slide.



More beach pics, I am sad that so many of our pics look so dark but we used to be down on the beach around 8h30 in the morning so as to beat the heat of the day, we would do the beach and the pool and then at around 12h30 go have lunch in our room and then while Dave and Jade went back down to the pool and beach, Amber would nap ... oh and me too sometimes (hehehe) only on the one day when she had a good long nap !!! And then we would go out the rest of the evening, shopping, dinner and whatever and get back around 10 ish for bed. What a great time we had and it all worked out so well.



Amber really had a good time, these are the times I am sad we don't live closer to the beach, I love the beach and miss it so much although when we lived close to it we didn't go much but that could be because the water was so cold there ... and well now with kids, I just miss it !!!



Just more of the girls playing together :-)







Now the pool area at our resort / hotel was too cool, we had a large heated indoor swimming pool, two hottubs, a splash pool for Amber, a lazy river that was half indoors and half outdoors and this huge pirate ship with splash areas for the kids. I only took pics on the last day and it had just rained so my pics are all so dark so I will only post a few :-( sorry.

This was at the splash pool where Amber could easily climb in and out of herself, it was about a foot deep. The water was cold though after the sea water but she didn't seem to mind, it was cold for me ... oh and dad just loved the hottub so since it was his birthday weekend I watched the kids sometimes so he could enjoy it by himself a bit :-)



This was the pirate ship outside, I think if the water wasn't so cold the kids would have enjoyed it more, it was pretty cool, not sure if my pics show it enough but hopefully you get the idea.





Here are the three of them on the lazy river, it was pretty cool that Amber didn't mind this coz we could float around as a family and just relax, although there was a play where a big bucket of cold water could fall on you so sometimes I skipped that part as there was a point you could short cut and bypass that ... as much as they tried to get me to go that route, I only did it a couple of times when I wasn't as cold in that water :-)







Last one of Amber before we left and hit the road for daddy's birthday breakfast and then for the long road home.



Happy Birthday to the love of my life, my wonderful husband, no birthday cake this year so we had to settle for a chocolate pancake with lots of cream that everyone enjoyed :-)



I had really hoped for a good birthday picture here but no matter which way they stood the sun was too bright and Jade was taking big time strain so sorry this is the only one that was half decent, and I wanted to show off their holiday dresses too and this doesn't do them any justice either :-(



Ok that's it for this update ... hopefully you enjoy all the pics, sorry it was so late but I am just busy busy busy back at work now !!!

Afternoon BBQ'ing On Our Deck ...

Just a normal weekend out on our deck while Dave is BBQ'ing. This pool was one of Jades old pools but I think it has had it's day since it kept going down but oh well the Summer is almost over and by next Summer Amber will be all over these little pools, gosh don't they grow up so fast. Anyway they had fun, Jade too even though she is too big to admit it these days :-) I am so thrilled they play together as well as they do, I know it is only a matter of years before it won't be so cool for Jade to hang with her younger sister but right now, I just love it.



Amber loves the water ...



Wow those trees look so green and now as we are going into Fall they are really starting to change color ... and well there goes our privacy before long !!! Another reason why I love Summer, it's so nice out there with all the trees.



Jade teasing Amber and stopping the sprayer which Amber loves.



Just another one of Amber.



Jade making waves which Amber thought was too cool :-)



I love these afternoons but not too many of them left this year :-(