Summer Days

I think each month I am going to do a better job of updating our blog more often, but then the craziness of life takes over and here I am again with a lot to catch up on! We have had a great summer so far. I have loved spending more time with Maddie, (not that we have not had our moments), but I feel like the summer has given me time to work with her. She has such a kind heart and always wants to be so helpful.

The Zoo
Daddy took a half day from work, and we went to Maddie's favorite place - the zoo!

 And the train was finally open!

Princess Ballet Camp

We started June off with Maddie take a princess dance camp. They ended the week with a performance. 

Note: they were all supposed to have their hands up in the air, Maddie didn't quite know what to do. 

Emalyn just kept staring at Maddie. 

Sweet Auburn Memories

After the week of dance camp, we were off to Auburn for a wedding. 

Her first Toomer's Lemonade!

And this was Chris' favorite picture...of course!

The McCays were so gracious to let us stay at their house with two kids! 

The girls loved playing with their dog Coco...Maddie is dying for a little dog that she can walk on a leash. Bentley just sits down & will not budge when Maddie grabs the leash. :)

On the way down, we stopped through Birmingham to see Emily and Andy, two of our best friends from Auburn, and meet baby Jackson. 

 

Emalyn was in no moody for a picture. But it captures the moment none the less!

And on the way home we stopped through Clanton to get peaches and ice cream. Emalyn knows she should like ice cream, because Maddie loves it, and she screams if you try to take it from her...but she makes a face after every bite!

Playing in the Rain

I had these great plans of going to the pool every afternoon, but it seems like the afternoons that I get my act together to go, it starts to rain. I already had Maddie's bathing suit out, so I figured why not let them have fun. 

Emalyn had more fun playing with the plants I had not planted yet.

 Nights with Uncle Tee

Tee comes and keeps our girls for us once a week for us to go to our small group at church. (I don't think they leave this position on the couch, but whatever works!)

Father's Day

Maddie baked and decorated a cake for Chris for Father's Day, and she let me know we had to put candles on it too!

Girls Night

These were all of my best friends from Harpeth Hall, 5 out of the 7 of us live in Nashville. We go out to dinner for each other birthdays, and in June, Laura & Lauren were both in town to celebrate Neel's birthday. Laura and Neel are both due with baby girls in October, so there will be 7 little ones among us. Looking forward to many more fun times!

Sweet Emalyn

You think she see me hold the phone to my ear with my shoulder? :) She is in such a fun new stage right now. She has more words than I can count now, which I am so thankful for because at her 15 month appoint she just barely had enough words! Girlfriend is nonstop jibber jabber now. Not always understandable, but she knows what she is saying. She loves playing peek-a-boo, and often peers around the banister to the stairs and says "see you." She loves talking on the telephone or "ello"  as she calls it and loves her baby dolls. She went to Mothers Day Out this summer for the first time and held on to her Bitty Baby the whole day. They said the only time she set it down was to eat lunch. She was going to make sure that if mama was going to leave her that baby wasn't going to leave too. :) And her new favorite thing to do is "lellow" which means color. They have gone through my whole stack of printer paper but have had a lot of fun. (I have a lot of "art projects" to sort through once school starts back - Maddie will not let me through anything away!)

Maddie Lu

This was one morning before she went to Dragon Camp at school. She was wearing her camp t-shirt, and I let her wear her hair in a pony tail for the first time. She was so excited! I remember when she was 18 months, and everyone kept telling me it gets easier when they turn 4. And all I could think is that is 2 1/2 years away! But we are finally there. She is so fun to take with me to run errands.  While Emalyn was at MDO, she and I had Mommy & Maddie days. She got to choose what she wanted us to do, so we did everything from go to the zoo to get "pedicares" (as she calls them) to bake cakes to a have special lunch dates. We are loving not having a schedule this summer!