Beach Pics (WARNING: lots of pics!)

Yep, this first picture pretty much sums up our picture adventure this year at the beach! Avi was non-compliant. I neglected to have my "If you take pictures like a sweet little girl, I will reward you with xxxxxx," talk before we ventured to the beach to take pictures! Ugh. It was frustrating. I was able to get some fairly good shots nonetheless.

This one is my favorite of the two of them together! This pose didn't last long!!

Look at that grin...she was conjuring up all the ways she could not cooperate for pictures! HA!

Sweet little grin :)

Love this picture of mom, Madison and John Michael!

The outtakes of these pictures are priceless! Add Sally Sharp to the mix, and they get even funnier! This is probably the best of everyone except SS.

I asked my sister if it was bad that the best pictures of Avi this year are from behind?! Just kidding--I think.

I'm not sure why I like this picture, but I do for some reason.

Sweet brother and sister.

John Michael is rather talented on the guitar, and I'm pleased with how the pics of him turned out.

LOVE the cousins!

Beach Fun!

We had so much fun at the beach last week!! I truly did not want to come home. The weather was absolutely perfect the entire week: 85 degrees and breezy. The girls were great. We enjoyed the company of my older sister and her kids and my mom (we missed my younger sister but she was having fun on her own trip!). I just can't tell you how wonderful and relaxing this trip was for me, and boy did I need it!

Sally Sharp has become very mobile over the last several weeks. She started pulling up while we were at the beach (on Monday, May 23rd to be exact), so as you can imagine, she did not sit still for any length of time! One particular afternoon we were getting ready to go to the pool, and she was leaned back and relaxing (for probably the first time all week!). It was very sweet, and I love this picture of her relaxed with her sister looking on. Of course, they were already slathered with sunscreen, so excuse the white faces!

Sally Sharp loved the sand. It did not bother her in the least. She crawled all around in it. She even put it in her mouth several times, and it didn't phase her. She kept right on about what she was doing! Avi also had a great time in the sand this year. She played and played in the sand and by the end of the week also loved looking for seashells and jumping the waves at the edge of the ocean.

Sally Sharp loved to "steal" Avi's sand toys as she was playing with them!

Avi became fond of jumping the waves as they came into the shore. Thankfully she became brave enough to jump them without having to hold someone's hand by the last day! Ha.

AND, she also slept. I love seeing my babies sleep. I wasn't brave enough to take a picture of Sally Sharp, though! More pictures to come.

This is what we've been doing...

THE BEACH!! And, we are having so much fun. It's only Monday night, and I already dread going home on Saturday. The weather has been AMAZING! Warm, but not burning up, with a nice breeze. I'm hoping it stays this way all week. We are at the Beach Club in Fort Morgan, AL. We stayed here last year, and we are loving it again this year.

Sally Sharp enjoyed her first visit to the beach this afternoon! She loved it! She crawled around and chased the sea gulls. She picked up the sand and rubbed it in her fingers...it was definitely a new texture for her, and she loved discovering it! She also didn't mind the waves washing up onto her chunky little legs. It was a fun first for us!

I must say that my little Avi is swimming quite well. Prior to coming to the beach, she took 4 weeks of swimming lessons (her first lessons). When we got here on Saturday, we ventured to the pool, and she did pretty well. She was very confident in the water, but her swimming left a little to be desired. However, yesterday and today she has improved drastically! I am so proud of my little fish. She is swimming everywhere and having a blast doing it!

This is the sweetest video of Avi on the beach. She is loving the sand this year (she's still a little afraid of the ocean, and I'm pretty okay with that). She really is a sweet child, and I am enjoying every minute of this vacation with both of my girls.

P.S. If the videos are off to the left on your screen, I have no idea why. I can't figure out how to fix it...for another evening! Off to play some Bananagrams with the fam.

A few house pictures

I wish I could say we were finished with our house and we have moved in, but that's just not the case! Things are moving along--slowly--but they are moving nonetheless! That's about all I can say about it!

This archway is one of the coolest features of the house in my opinion. I have had a lot of people ask me about the taller "tower" (brick wall) on the outside of the house. This is what the inside of the "tower" looks like. At the top of the arch is a window, and the opening to the tower leads into a hallway that takes you to a guest suite above the garage. I love it.

These are some built-in cabinets in Sally Sharp's room. If they look familiar, I copied them from here (without the top shelves). I showed our carpenter a picture, and he built them into the wall for me. He's pretty handy like that.

This picture was taken in Avi's room. She has a few built-in shelves as well, but not as many as Sally Sharp!

This subway tile is the surround in the girls' bathtub/shower (not grouted).

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Love, love, love the floor in the girls' bathroom (not grouted)!

The guest bedroom above the garage is one of my favorite rooms in the house. I will have to take some pictures of it next time I'm at the house. The tile being installed is in the bathroom attached to that bedroom. I can't wait to see it finished.

The hardwood floors have been installed.

The doors to my office...I actually have a room to put MY STUFF! It probably needs to be double the size that it is, but I'm not complaining!

More built-in cabinets in the hallway outside of the girls' bathroom.