Georgia is 4!

Georgia's birthday was July 2nd (sorry for the late post), and we celebrated at Benny's Pizza in Marysville.  Why, you ask, would anyone who has all of Columbus at their fingertips decide to go to Marysville.  Benny's.  Yes, food.  It happens to be a HUGE motivator in my life.  Many of my happy memories either center around food, or I can remember exactly what I was eating when it happened.  It is such a great place.  You can hang out on the outdoor patio - all fenced in - and listen to the band.   I made Georgie a cake and we sang happy birthday - she loved it!

Showing Off

Georgia and Jackson perform for the camera - who am I kidding?  I was doing anything I could to occupy them in the car on the way home from vacation.  They wore themselves out playing and laughing at each other, and then fell fast asleep!

Hello Cavallaro's!

We spent the weekend on the way home from the beach with our good friends, the Cavallaro's.  Etienne and Julia are both in the army, and they live near Ft. Bragg.  They have two girls, Gabrielle, who is in between Georgia and Jackson, and Olivia, who is a couple weeks younger than Emory June.  We knew them even before we were married, and it was great to get our whole families together for a few days.

Etienne and Julia had video monitors for the kids.  Absolutely fascinating.  Emory June had just started crawling, and we had her in Olivia's bed.  As we were watching, we saw EmJ pull herself up (c'mon, she had just started crawling that day) and she was leaning over the side rail of the crib.  We are watching this on video, certain that she is about to go head first out of the crib.  I rushed upstairs and made a dashing rescue in the nick of time.  Needless to say, we ordered them off of Amazon the next day.  (Side note - do you know that you can buy practically anything on Amazon.com?  It is a mom's best friend.  Why drag 3 children into a store when you can find it on amazon and it ships free?  Seriously.  A few of our favorite purchases: shoes, video monitors, books, and our snowblower).

Etienne took us to his base to see the Blackhawk helicopters that he flies/flew in Afghanistan.  Very cool.

The girls taking their turn in the Blackhawk

The boys, showing off

Gabby and Georgia playing in the pool in the backyard

This boy is so cute!!!

Vacation at the Beach

Ah, I love the beach.  There is something about sand getting in every crevice known (and unknown) to you that just screams SUMMERTIME!  We have some wonderful friends who offered their place to stay in South Carolina.  So beautiful.  I even had some moments of peace watching the sunrise by myself.  I can't remember the last time I did that!  We had a great week just living the good life with some great friends, the Rozelle's.

Jacob, Georgia, Jackson, & Sarah.  Yummy - Who wants ice cream?

Sarah and Jackson snuggling on the couch

The "big kids", Jacob and Georgia

All 9 of us piled on this golf cart to go to the beach - a sight to behold.

The sunrise...georgeous!

The whole gang: Jacob, Jay, Katie, Sarah, Molly, Emory June, Georgia, Brian, Jackson

I just loved this time with the kids in the water - they just savored every minute of it. I just wanted to bottle them up and keep them this way forever. It seems as though the time slips through my fingers so quickly. Never grow up, little ones!

Summer Photo Shoot!

A friend of mine, Jess Seed, is starting a photography business. We had her take some family pictures, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out. Her fee is only $75, and you get a full sitting, plus the CD of all of your photos! Check out her website at http://www.seedling-photography.com/

Groovin'

I know, not the greatest song, but they are cute nonetheless!

Her First Masterpiece

Well, we decided it would be a good idea to let Georgia paint her room.  "WHAT?" is probably what you are thinking.  Why not?  Ok, here is the reasoning behind the madness.  When Emory June (by the way, that is what we are calling her now - story to come in a later post post) is a little older, Georgia and she will share a room.  Jackson will then move into Georgia's current room and his room will become the guest room or new baby room - whatever.  Anyway, her walls are white and boring!  She has been asking to paint it for quite some time.  Brian thought it would be good to let her do it herself.  So, I drew some lines, leaves, and a circle where the flower should go, and here is how it turned out.  "Molly," you are thinking, "I know you, and I know you are way too cheap to buy paint for her to do this."  Well, right you are my friend, right you are.  Thankfully (and not so thankfully), the previous owners of our house used every color of the rainbow in the house.  Not kidding.  Red - kitchen, Orange - half bath, Yellow - dining, Green - Den, Most Awful Royal Blue You Have Ever Seen - Kids bath, Navy - hall, Purple - Our bath.  We also have brown and white.  I digress...  Anyway, I found some of these old paint cans in the basement, and we mixed them up and went to town.  I think the girl has got some talent.