Road Trip to Callaway

i have some sweet memories of spending time at Callaway Gardens with my mom and brother growing up. I learned to water ski there and was certain i was going to grow up to be a trapeze artist as we watched the circus. it's a beautiful place; and for some reason the topic of the butterfly garden came up a few weeks ago. i knew the girls would love it; so my mom and i decided to make it a day trip.

we made it there within minutes of the birds of prey show. to say it was fascinating would be an understatement. i know birds of prey are driven by food; but these birds had some serious training, flying inches above audience member's heads.

swooping over us and through the aisles.

we had a picnic and then went to the butterfly garden. it was beautiful, but not nearly the hit i was thinking it would be. the humidity outside was stifling, but the humidity inside the tropical greenhouse was insane. I was wearing Andrew & had sweat pouring down my face. The girls did enjoy it, but it was just short lived.
So we went to a pioneer house (& got some of my favorite pictures.)

Sweet

And oh my word silly!

After a trip to the ice cream shop, we surprised the girls with an adventure. I say surprised, but really I told them way in advance because we have a few need-to-know-the-plan kiddos. 

There was a tree top obstacle course, and it was literally tree top! But they recently built a saplings version that's no more than about 6 feet off the ground & our saplings were ecstatic to try it out! We talked about things that were scary vs fun vs challenging. I tried to explain the safety measures of being constantly carabined onto a line. 

They listened to their instructions...& within minutes the child in front if them was climbing down. I knew the i can't do this is to hards were coming, but the challenged trumped the butterflies in their tummies...and they had a blast! 

I was amazed at their determination. Their balance. Their {good} attitudes! Their ability to carabine on & off of lines. And their drive to get from one tree to the next. Across one obstical to conquer the next. 

They looked so tiny & at the same time so big up there! Anne Perry was the first to go. She was so intensely focused. 

Addie was next. She was in the middle of both the little girls. She helped each of them maneuver & encouraged them constantly. I was so thankful she wanted to try this something new. She did it despite her anxiousness. Her bravery & self control have matured so much. 

  Audrey Kate was last (but not far behind at any point!). She was consistently right up on Addie, many times having to wait because she was so speedy. She was so lighthearted & had so much fun being up there! 

 

And then Anne Perry got to catch her sister coming down the ziplock line! (as addie called it ;)

Thanks for braving it with me mom! <3

Fashion Show

one of the girls most favorite things about spending time in the mountains with nana is their fashion show. you wouldn't know it from anne perry's face here. she did not approve of the cheering one bit. but her mad face is still pretty precious! and this little one wasn't too keen on the cheers either, but we did get a "you better not smile" smile from her ;)

on the other hand, this little girl ate up the cheers!
dress her up and any part of her shy, timid self turns to silly, sassy sweetness. these girls adore their nana! ...and so do i!

Highlands: the Fairy Garden

 

my aunt emailed me a few days before we were heading to the mountains...that she had a perfect fairy garden spot & to have the girls bring some things to put in it. my creativity hit a wall, so i went to hobby lobby. and met my mom at joann's. and we raided the all the rave fairy garden section at 70% off.

we found so many sweet fairy details:

and sweet fairies for each of the girls!
they loved creating their own fairy gardens throughout the week. they even got some mail from the fairies in the fairy mailbox! if only mommy had remembered to keep moving the fairies around each night...

   

Week 29/365

*day 190: washing the Finnster

day 191: laundry twinsday 192: all three girls playing {sweetly} on thencomputerday 193: this picture is so much more than just Addie going up some steps to a {huge} water slide while wearing a green bracelet because she passed the outdoor swim test. It's bravery & courage & peace & growing up & I love it. day 194: McWane center slide that spans an entire floor level day 195: paleontology scientists of sortsay 196: addie reading her first chapter book completely by herself

week 28/52

Officially halfway there!!!

day 183: our mountain fairy garden

day 184: mountain view sunset

day 185: paul and his girls...four of my five hearts

day 186: picking up pizza 

day 187: Addieboo

day 188: Anne Perry

day 189: a Nana fashion show & this little girl just shines!

week 27/52

day 176: Audrey Kate air conditioning poof (she was SO proud!)

day 177: appliquéing for the boy 

day 178: andrew eating applesauce...by himself

day 179: littles with my stroller

day 180: date night to celebrate a special birthday! 

day 181: a little dinosaur learning 

day 182: not the way I planned to start the day...a terrible one handed while holding a fussy baby fail

Fairy Garden

Happy Monday...
...from our Fairy Garden to yours.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be one fairy for every boy or girl.

James Matthew Barrie (Peter, in Peter Pan, act 1)--

Tybee Island

our time on tybee island wasn't exactly how we expected. mainly because it started and ended (and continued!) with a wretched stomach bug. but despite the throwing up, there was lots of fun had by all! kira was reading as well as addie (and she's a year younger!), but what i loved most was watching her read to her brother! i do love the white, gulf sand; but this beach was beautiful. the girls had the most fun in the ocean that i think they have ever collectively (that was a terribly awkward sentence. maybe it made a little sense)!  and how could you not with uncle jay kicking, shooing, and splashing the waves before they got to you!  i think so much of their fun had to do with their ages. and this little girl loved it. she was so brave and joyful (ok, and sassy!)! i almost left my camera at the house on this afternoon. it looked like rain, and i knew the overcast skies would be beautiful for pictures!  but given my track record with cameras and water...it was debatable whether or not i should even go out with my camera! but i did, and i'm thankful! because these are some sweet memories... of some sweet girls... and a boy! love their smiles so much! it was so much fun to watch the cousins interact. the little girls adore kira, and she played just as well and was just as kind to them as she was to addie.  there was lots of sandcastles and digging and huge sand holes! and this one loves her little brother so much! this cutie. oh i just can't get enough of him! he loved the beach and the sand and the sun.  he watched his sisters and cousins ...and ate sand! and now that you've had andrew overload (but oh my word! how cute is he!), i think this is my favorite set of beach pictures. if you look closely, you can see addie had been knocked down by the waves. anne perry is stretching and reaching to grab addie's hand and pull her up. i love how she loves addie and how she loves to help others. there's a lot of natural mother in anne perry!

hands down, these are two of the best daddies i know. i'm so thankful for both of them and the influence they have on our children.