Ruler of the Elves

Today was Pinky’s first day of school and it was quite wonderful according to her. It’s hard to believe that our little girl is growing up so quickly, but the years seem to go by faster and faster.

And here she was just last year at this time going into kindergarten…

I’m afraid to blink for fear she will be leaving home and heading off to college!

Sweet Pea is growing so quickly. At his 4 month well baby appointment he weighed in at 13 lbs. 8 oz. which is quite a bit of growth from the 3 lbs. 14oz. he was when he was born. However, his height had the biggest jump from his last appointment. He went from the 16th percentile to the 65. The doc said he certainly was a tall, skinny boy, just like his Daddy.

April, May, June, July, & August

I’ll be taking a monthly photo of Sweet Pea on a big black and white calendar for the first year of his life for a sense of size and scale.

Well, you may have wondered if we were swept away by the hurricane last weekend, but I’m happy to say we are still here, happy and healthy! Lucky for us, Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm and pretty much missed us all together. We had a little rain and wind, but escaped any real damage. Like the crazy people we are, we decided to go driving around to check out what was going on down by the beach during some of the more extreme weather. Thank goodness that this storm was not any worse and hopefully we steer clear of any other crazy weather the rest of hurricane season.

Here is some of the video I took at several beaches in our area, both during high tide and low tide. (I apologize in advance for the freeze in video a little over halfway through. My video editing software is being difficult.)

Well, it has been over a year now since we started our weekly photo project featuring the lovely Pinky. So many things have happened this past year for her, including starting Kindergarten, traveling to visit family, learning to read, a wedding or two and even gaining a baby brother. Time has flown by and I can definitely see the growth in her. It’s hard to believe she is almost 7 years old! It has been fun attempting to capture all of her quirks and activities in pictures. She is such an amazing person and an unbelievable daughter and I’m so glad to be able to document a little bit of her life to share here.

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Oh, and to refresh your memory, here are all of the photos from the series. Feel free to view them larger here.

I think that I pretty much have everything back together around here. Watch for an update or 2 or 3 coming soon!

Hurricane Irene is right around the corner, so I decided that it was best to take advantage of the beautiful weather out today and enjoy the beach with the kids. Isn’t that what everyone does when they are facing a natural disaster?

Pinky always loves going to the ocean. Well, she loves to be outside regardless of where she is, but she especially loves the water and all of the creatures and fun that come along with it. At the beginning of the summer, I promised to buy her a boogie board and didn’t come through until August. Bad Mommy. Anyway, when I went to pick one up, all they had left were freaky skull ones and these crazy zombies. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy skulls and zombies as much as the next person, (ok, maybe a bit more) but it wasn’t exactly what Pinky had asked for. She had wanted something girly and purple, so when I came home with this freakish thing in my hands, I wasn’t exactly prepared for the reaction that I got. Immediately, she jumped for joy and put on her swimsuit. Then “surfing” commenced throughout the house. She was more than happy with her zombie board and admitted that she thought it was freaky cool. She may have also mentioned that I could possibly be the best Mom ever; however, I’m sure that will change as time goes on, so I will take it while I can get it.

I can only imagine what we looked like heading down to the water though, with all of our gear and a baby strapped to my chest. Here’s just a peak of our set up once down by the water and that doesn’t include Pinky’s life jacket, boogie board and my camera. I tried to sneak my beach chair into the pic as well. (It’s the sliver of blue in the corner.)

Oh, look what I found. Adorable little sandy baby toes! One of my favorite parts of the beach.

Pinky wanted so badly for Sweet Pea to come into the water with her, but I’m sure his cute little 4 month old body probably couldn’t handle that cold water too well. She had to settle for holding him along the very edge of the surf. And even then, he was not too thrilled that the frigid salt water even considered touching his precious little piggies.

Of course we couldn’t end a trip to the beach without playing in the sand a bit. I went for the obvious choice…

Please keep us in your thoughts this weekend as we prepare for Hurricane Irene. Hopefully it slows down considerably before it gets to us!