quotes of the day

I love the thousands of little things a day that the girls say that are so distinctive to their personalities....here are my faves from yesterday:

Claire (who I can already tell has a devious side): I walked into her room yesterday and she was sitting playing with Barbies and it was very obviously that she had a dirty diaper. I asked her if she was stinky and she shook her head and told me "No, Barbie did it.".

Madeline (who is always sweet, loving and tries her hardest to make sure everyone around her is happy): I was telling the girls how they grow up so fast and I just want them to stay small and she replied with, "I'm still gonna love you when I'm 12, momma. And even when I'm 13.".

Emma (who loves her dad more than anything in this world): She spent all morning making the perfect art projects for him...drawings of the two of them surrounded by flowers, hearts and butterflies and a poem that said, "I miss you when you are at work. I miss you. I miss you. Every day I miss you." Yup, she has him wrapped around her finger :)

Even when I am exhausted and they are driving me crazy, I try to never lose sight of the fact that each day with tmy girls is such a blessing and these are the moments I will look back on years from now and long for :)

my little monkey....

crazy girls!

doug

we are watching doug for a month while kristin and jason are on vacation....it has been so sweet having my boy back in the house! the first day he was home, emma made a chart entitled "with my best dog" and she writes down what we do with him every day. i saw a journal entry that emma wrote a few weeks ago that said, "i wish for...dog and girl scouts". so, she's getting one of her wishes come true....for a few weeks, at least! the older girls have been great with taking turns walking him and claire loves to give him his bones. it's been fun to have him back in the house...and i'm sure it will be bittersweet when it's time to give him back :(

west palm beach...times two

making pop pop proud on the drums

so amazing to have these birds all over us!

can't believe she got this close!

We've had so much fun crashing Kristin and Jason's house while they've been gone the last two weekends. I love nothing more than uninterrupted time with my family....probably what fuels my love of vacationing!! This past weekend was even better than the first. We spent a night with Holly and her family...it had been four years since I'd seen her...the longest we've ever gone. We went to dinner and to A Latte Fun and it was great to spend the night chatting with her while the kids and the husbands played. Emma and Madeline loved playing with Rileigh...and it was so sweetto see my daughters and Hollly's daughter walking hand in hand :) I wish they lived closer!

We spent the 4th of July at Lion Country Safari...soooo much fun! Claire was in awe of the animals and her face and her exclamations were adorable. I think that Em and Mad liked seeing Claire's reaction more than they liked the animals. They both adore their little sister...she is gonna be one spoiled rotten little girl. That night we watched the fireworks with the Riniker fam in Palm Beach...in the pouring rain. Claire was not a huge fan of the fireworks. She was hysterically funny as usual...she sat in her stroller with her head down and her hands folded with her back to the sky saying, "No look! Not pretty!" whenever I would ask her if she wanted to see. Madeline was actually afraid of the fireworks this year and kept asking to go home and go to bed...I don't know if it was more fear of the fireworks or of her being soaking wet and miserable :( Emma was a trooper...she didn't complain once...I think it's because she was happy to be there with Cole (slight little crush going on there, if you ask me).

We've had a busy but great start to the summer. I am slowly working out the kinks with naptime. It takes some effort to make sure that the girls go to sleep ok since they are in the same room...if they are not tired enough, they tend to get hyper and keep each other up, only to fall asleep right before claire wakes up. That's not ok with me, so I've had to get creative with planning out our days so that I can perfectly time my afternoon siesta :) It's been a process, but so far, so good. The girls have really been enjoying each other's company which has been sweet to watch and easy on me. They are all about playing with babies and stuffed animals right now and although their room has been a mess for a month straight, I can't complain because the tears, emotions and drama have been minimal! I am looking forward to a few quiet weeks at home, enjoying my girls and spending time with friends.....until our next trip. I can't ever stay still for too long!! ;)