sister time - EB, Lydia, and their Alabama trip

In June, Ashley went to visit Whitney and help out with Laura Leigh.  Since Ashley was going to be out of town, the girls and I left on Thursday and headed to Mobile. We woke up Friday morning, got our things together, and headed to Gulf Shores with Nona and Big Daddy!

EB had a BLAST catching minnows and sand fleas ...

... and both girls were super sweet and fun to watch.

We stayed at the beach until Sunday - playing in the sand, swimming in the pool, eating good food, and just enjoying Nona and Big Daddy.

On Sunday, we drove to Fort Morgan to catch the Ferry over to Dauphin Island

The girls waiting on the Ferry ...

We stayed the night in Mobile Sunday and got back in the car Monday to head to Andalusia ...

EB was super excited to see her name on a mailbox at the Hardware.

Her toy choice ...

It is still amazing to me that the girls have a great-grandmother to love on ...

Overall, it was a great trip - the girls were GREAT, and we got to spend time together. Lydia even cried for me when she woke up during the night once we got home. It happened only once, but it did happen. I am very thankful for my easier summer schedule and for being able to visit family.

little Miss Lydia

After the Fourth, EB stayed at CC and Granddaddy's for the week, and Lydia got some much needed one-on-two time at home. She missed her sister like crazy (even asking for before her eyes opened the first morning we were home) but we had a good time nonetheless.

Her idea to mow the grass once she saw me out there mowing

sitting with her babies, Laura Leigh and Rowe

We played with some friends at a local play-place one morning, and I cracked up when I saw L doing this to reach something in the upper cabinet. Baby girl will be doing this her whole life if she ends up with my height. Whitney and I decided we'd have to teach her how to climb for things without getting hurt :).

Potty Diaries

{Disclaimer: This post is about a potty and all things related. Read on if you want.}

You might remember that we tried potty training with Lydia during our very first full week of summer back in May. While there was progress, Lydia was completely against trying anywhere outside the house and even refused to try at home at the end of the week. So, we put things on hold for a while. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and Lydia announced that she wanted to wear panties and sit on the potty. We've been letting her wear training panties at home now for a good three weeks, and she is doing awesome. She still does not want to sit on cue when you ask her, but she always stops what she is doing and goes right away (Daniel Tiger song reference there).

Last week, she was even willing to sit and poo-poo! This was a major accomplishment, so of course she asked me to take a picture. Seriously. And, then she wanted to facetime CC and Granddaddy so they could SEE it. This has got to be one of those blackmail photos for when she is older ...

 She's really making great progress. We have three weeks til school starts, and I've almost convinced myself that we should try taking her somewhere outside the house without a pull-up on. Almost.

celebrating Henry Winters!

While we were in Jackson for the Fourth, we got celebrate a special little boy's 2nd birthday. Since watermelon is his favorite, his momma put together a cute little watermelon cake which we all enjoyed out on the back porch ...

Such a fun weekend celebrating with Henry Winters!

resort life

After the parade, we cooled off in the pool at the 147 ... life at the resort is tough.

The girls swam, and swam, and swam, and ... well, lots of pool time.

Though we had originally planned to eat ribs and other 4th food, plans change. Instead, we celebrated our independence by eating pulled-pork BBQ at lunch and Mexican food at dinner. Appropriate, no?

After dinner, we spent time letting the kiddos play baseball ... a bunch of naturals!

In a few months, this one will also be trying to keep with the rest.

Did I mention we swam? Oh, and Lydia jumped off the diving board into the deep end.

And Rowe is cute.

A quick Tour de Buckingham on  Le Cart de Golf. No seatbelts again!

On Sunday, we headed to church and then out to lunch for a final goodbye picture of the best looking family from Louisiana visiting Mississippi on the 4th weekend.

- EB & Lydia's Daddy

Happy 4th!

On Thursday, EB, Ashley, and I drove to Jackson to join Lydia (and spoil her alone time). Not long after we arrived, so did Winters, Rowe, Britton and Courtney.

We all woke up on the 4th and got ready to celebrate with the rest of the neighborhood and take part in the annual Buckingham Place 4th of July Parade.

We got to ride in the open-top Jeep - WITHOUT SEATBELTS! Very exciting.

Lydia celebrated by taking pictures of everybody ... she is getting quite good with the camera!

The girls got to tour the fire truck that led the parade through the neighborhood.

Lydia couldn't quite get my entire head, but she's improving!

She got that one!

The girls definitely wish that Sugar was part of our family all the time :)

the next day & dinner with the Wests

The day after I dropped of Lydia to CC, I made the trip again but with two new travel companions this time. We of course had to take the traditionally "Welcome to Mississippi" photo. I was also tickled during the drive when I looked down and realized this view of my outfit might actually make me look like a runner. Definitely made me laugh since it is so far from the truth.

On our way into Jackson, we stopped at the Wests' home for a fabulous dinner with old friends (and thankfully CC drove Lydia over so she could join us, too). EB has told us before that Josie is pretty much like a sister since she has known her since she can remember. These two are so sweet together.

Love it when all of these silly girls can be together!

While Lela's away ...

While I was spending the day driving to drop off Lydia to her CC, EB spent the day playing with her friend and neighbor Nicholas. They had such a great time. So great, in fact, that Nicholas's mom told me to take my time on the way back. I took her up on the offer and stopped by some antique stores on the way into town. Luck was with me and I found this "Henredon Fine Furniture" cabinet that met all of my preconceived criteria for the "art area" in our kitchen ...

I also really wanted to buy this toddler chair but didn't :(

After some negotiation over the phone and offering to pay cash to get the price down, Graham just made it back to the store before they closed that night (since we were headed out of the next day). Here's how the art area has looked for the past few months..

And here it is with the new cabinet -- all 70" of new counter space, open shelving for their art supplies, and closed storage for my files and supplies. Graham is super excited because it means my working piles of important stuff (really, it is all important) can be moved to this cabinet instead of the kitchen counter.

We also spent time doing things we can't do with Lela like the above little art project and went to dinner at Cane's with the Conti family, per EB's request. It really was a fun 24-hours with our EB. Thank you CC and Granddaddy!

- ashley