Summer 2011

June 2011

Emma- 27 months

Raley- 9 months

June was a nice month! We spent the last part of May through early June in Lake Charles with family. It was a great trip filled with lots of visiting and food! We stayed the first week with my family then moved over to Jonathan's parents house. We had such a nice time!

We headed back home mid July to find that Emma was ready to start potty training. I hadn't planned on doing this until after all of our summer trips had ended and maybe not even until she was closer to 3 but she was so interested and ready that I didn't want to miss my window! Here is a little something I found that I had written on July 8, 2011 about this adventure:

Emma has now been potty training for about 2 weeks! She is doing awesome and we are so very proud of her! She is so incredibly proud of herself too! It is so precious to watch. I was not planning on attempting this until we returned home from all of our summer vacations but her 2 best friends, Jeremiah and Sullivan, have been using the big potty and Emma was showing so much interest!

It all happened by accident as I was letting her where her big girl panties just for fun at home one Saturday morning. In the midst of the chaos of walking out the door, I forgot to take her panties off and we left for the gym. I realized this as I was carrying her to the car. I had diapers in the girls diaper bag so I just figured I'd put her diaper on her once we arrived at the gym. When we got there I thought I would just ask her if she needed to use the potty. She said, "Sure" so I just went with it. Well, SURE enough, she did it!!!!! I decided to just go with it! I only worked out for about 20 minutes fearing that she may have an accident but when I got back she told me she needed to "poopoo" and she did! I was so proud of her and realized at this point there was no turning back!!!!!!

Sweet Emma got in to something or something got into her!!!! It looked like she had chicken pox for most of the trip!!!! Poor baby! We did confirm that is was not chicken pox, though. She is just very sensitive to bug bites.

Raley and PawPaw in Lake Charles early June

Emma and Uncle Kelly watching The Princess and the Frog (Emma's favorite Princess is Tianna!!!) Looks like it was getting close to nap time!

Raley and MawMaw Raley

Raley trying to figure out how to get around that toy box to get to baby Davis. She wanted to touch that baby doll so badly!

MawMaw and the girls!

Breakfast with PawPaw! He was always up before us (which is super early) and sitting at the kitchen table charting his vitals, praying and having a little breakfast! We were always so happy to wake up to see him in the morning! He loved the girls being there!

Enjoying the beautiful weather and also loving the ride on PawPaw's scooter! What fun Emma had!!!

Aunt Ash and Queen Raley!

Emma and Nannie checking out the fish Daddy and Big Daddy caught!!

Lots of fish!

The real reason Jonathan is in such a hurry to move back to Louisiana!

July 2011

I have to say that July marked the hardest month of my life (see previous post). The passing of my sweet PawPaw has been a very tough time in all of our lives. I miss him dearly, especially now that it is football season. He was an avid football fan! He loved to watch Barbe, LSU and McNeese!!! He was the man in the stands with headphones on listening to the game as he watched!!!! He was a rock, a fighter, and a blessing in my life. He taught me so much that I will forever be grateful for! He loved to garden, loved to watch old country western films, loved spending time with family, and loved sweets! He never threw anything away. He gave us an old lawnmower before moving to South Carolina and actually had the original hand book that came with the lawnmower. This lawnmower must have been 20 years old! He was very witty and a very smart man. I miss him so much.

Below are some of the few shots I got in the month of July.

Pretty much says it all!!!! 2 kids 18 months apart!!!! Wouldn't trade it for anything, though!

Emma enjoying the train at the Downtown Greenville Fourth of July Celebration! We had a great time. We ate, walked around, listened to music, then walked over to our friends loft downtown to hang out. Our girls were the only kids there and they did great!

Destin trip with Foret Family!

Emma eating her ice cream in the condo at the beach!

Emma

Raley

Playing dress up!

Standing without support!!!

August 2011

We spent the first weekend in August in Kiawah at the SCOA conference. Jonathan had to present a paper so we loaded up the crew and headed to the beach for a long weekend. Fortunately, the Forets were able to come up to help out with the girls! We had a great time and it was so wonderful to be there with such great friends! The girls really enjoyed the beach and pool!

Grammy and Gumpy came up later in the month to visit! We had so much fun! We went out to eat, played downtown in the fountains, and just had a great time hanging out!