you've been waiting long enough...

So besides Renée loosing her 3rd tooth...each child had a milestone!!

First, Elijah got SUPER brave in the pool! He started with jumping in from the side. after a few rounds, i asked if he wanted to put his face in the water and he said yes! he did. then he decided to get VERY brave and "dive" for his sticks. in reality, it was me pushing him under the water and then he would get the dive stick and "swim" up. he was quite proud of himself! he even started swimming around with his "skateboard" {aka kick board!}

{just imagine that he's in the pool swimming, since i was in the pool too}

i was seriously SHOCKED! this is the boy who last summer would barely let you hold him in

the water without clawing your shoulders! he spent most of his time at the pool playing with his dump trucks on the pool chairs. serisouly, amazing the difference a year has made!

After watching elijah for only a few minutes, Renée decided to follow suite. She has been capable of swimming for the past 2 summers, but has been too timid to try. She dove right in and started swimming away!  

I told them that they were swimming like fish. Elijah named himself Nemo, and Renée quickly corrected me--she was a mermaid, not a fish! Melody to be exact. That is Ariel's daughter for those of you not "in the know" ;)

this little baby slept though all the excitement, but she made up for it the next night...

she started crawling on her hands and knees!! she was quite excited..

beach pictures!

i wasn't sure if these pictures were ever going to happen...first the rain, then when i sat down to upload them off the camera something happened to the sd card and they disappeared! luckily, orum used his hacking skills and recovered them! 

this is elijah after he sat down for the wedding and spotted a  sailboat on the sand...it was all he could think about! i told him as soon as katy and jacob kissed he could go see it, and when they did he took off running!

he loved the boat and wanted it for his own. he did all the proper tests...he "drove" it, walked it, and even did some flips on the ropes to test their strength. 

i'm thinking that i might have to frame a few for his "boat room!"

this little one just wanted to eat the sand! anytime she saw sand, she tried to eat it.

such sweet sisters! elijah was too busy on the boat to stop for pictures

see the ever-growing hole in renee's mouth!? she lost her 3rd tooth! this time there was NO pulling involved. she pushed it out with her tounge. it was misplaced between falling out and bedtime, but the tooth fairy still came! 

finally....after lots of coaxing...elijah joined in for a few pictures! not all smiling, but all looking. i'll take what i can get!

beach preview...

We went to the beach to see our old babysitter, katy, get married. the kids were SOOO excited because we went down a  couple of days early! they were super excited to find out that she was getting married at "mo's beach," but VERY disappointed to learn that we could stay at "mo's beach house" since I didn't plan ahead...oh well, they lived & got to go to the beach...

{Renée also told me she knows why the tunnel is in mobile, al...because you have to go that way to get to mo's beach...apparently she thinks that mo must own a lot of beach!:)}

although it rained MOST of the time that we were there...we got a couple of VERRRY eventful hours in. {more on that tomorrow!}  

and this little baby LOVED everything about the beach--the water, the sun, and especially the sand! if she could have gotten there, she would have been down by the water digging a hole with these 2--they were digging for treasure. apparently, one of them saw an "X" they didn't uncover any treasure, but they did build a nice little pool for the baby! {camera died, so no proof.}

a princess no more...

a package arrived on monday...it was for elijah! he was one happy little boy to find 3 new dress-up things!! he's been known to wear a princess dress or two, but that is no longer! when he woke up tuesday morning, the first thing he did was organize his outfits. accesibility is important for quick changes...

he LOVES this one! he thinks the bones are hilarious, AND it glows in the dark! what a lucky little boy! :)

true story...

hi, my name is breanna and i have not changed a poopie diaper in 4 days! not because i'm not around, or because there has been an absence of said substance, but because she is AMAZING!

{disclaimer: i am not crazy! when i think she's about to poop...i put her on the potty and she does her thing. my philosophy has always been one less dirty diaper works for me, and why not sooner than later!?}