Kiawah Island 2018

We spent our first week after school got out at the beach! We got out of school Thursday, Ben and Ruth got in to Columbia on Friday and we headed to Kiawah on Saturday. We have gone to Kiawah almost every year since I was 7 and we absolutely love it. I am so happy that I get to share such a fun part of my childhood with my kiddos!

When Ben and Ruth arrived I was in the middle of a packing frenzy so I set engineer Ben to work getting the games and books to fit in the bags I had picked out to put them in and Ruth helped the kids make brownies to take to the beach for Grandaddy. Ellie loved getting to lick the spoon!

Ben, Ruth, and I took an evening walk around the neighborhood and found a chicken! I want to figure out which neighbor she belongs to...I want fresh eggs!

Hanging out with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Ben

Saturday morning we went to Famous Toastery for breakfast. It never disappoints!

As soon as we arrived at the beach Saturday afternoon, the kids and I headed to the beach for a few minutes.

Sunday Gin-g and Fred came for the afternoon and we celebrated Ellie and JP's birthdays. Their actual birthdays are in July and September but it's hard to find a time to get everyone together and Ellie LOVES celebrating at the beach so we go with it!

The grandparents and grandkids...Ruth stuck her bump in the picture :) We can't wait to welcome baby in October/November!

We had cake and homemade ice cream to celebrate the birthdays. Gin-g always does a great job with the cakes and my dad and the other guys make an excellent cookies and cream ice cream!

JP had to help Grandaddy get the churn ready.

Most important part of churning ice cream...taste testing the oreos!

JP got a scooter and so Ben and Ruth gave him a helmet. As you will see from the pics the rest of the week he LOVED his helmet and wore it all.the.time.

The kids and I quickly settled into a lovely routine for the week. Beach in the morning then we would head to the pool at the house around lunch time and eat lunch at the pool and they would play for awhile. Then while JP napped the other kids would play or we would ride bikes. Then in the afternoon we would do the park, beach, or pool...it varied depending on the day! The kids usually headed in for showers right before dinner.

Ruth and my mom generally did the beach and pool with us. The guys played golf 2 mornings during the week. Ben and my dad would ride bikes in the morning on the days they didn't play golf and Paul would come to the beach with us on those days. 

Beach fun!

Pool time!

Playground at Night Heron Park. Even more than the park, the kids loved going to the (air conditioned) Nature Center.

Ruth and thegirls woke up early one morning and played a fun game of Battleship on the driveway.

We had lots of relaxing time too where we just laid around.

JP has a spot on the couch, his football, and his sister reading him his book about rescue vehicles...life is good.

Always good to wear your helmet while watching TV...safety first!

JP watching golf with the guys.

They guys had to do some work.

Franklin chillin by the pool...but not too close to the pool of course.

We had lots of good food at the beach thanks to my mom who made countless trips to the grocery store to keep us all fed! She also cooked all our meals! 

We also had some special treats along the way...

Aunt Ruth and Uncle Ben brought the cotton candy machine all the way from Mississippi!

Popsicles were a favorite afternoon snack.

JP...always safe wearing his helmet at meals!

When Gran's around you get to eat ice cream out of the carton. (For the record, Gran would NEVER have let HER children do this!)

Watermelon was a big hit with JP!

What? You don't eat your watermelon with your whole face?

The girls got Uncle Ben to comb their hair one night after baths. :)

One evening after dinner we biked over to Night Heron park for a magic show. At different points during the show Emmie and Ellie were both picked to be volunteers which thrilled them!

We always take our own bikes to the beach but this year we also rented a bike with a tow cart on the back so JP could "ride" too. We rented through the resort and had a great experience. The bike was waiting for us at the house when we arrived and they picked it back up the day we left. Having the tow cart was fabulous and I know the kids loved it too! (And I'm definitely wondering why we never did this before!)

Ruthie upgraded from the scooter to a bike with training wheels right before we left for the beach and she loved getting to practice!

Ellie hopped into the tow car whenever she could!

Emmie is our only non-training wheel bike rider and it was so fun to explore the island with her.

Emmie and I went to the Marsh Tower two different times. Early in the week we went with Ruth and then the last day it was just us as we did the tower and then went in search of an alligator!

JP was very insistent that he bring his train tracks to the beach to play with Uncle Ben. He carefully packed them all up and put them by the door about 2 days before we left. (And then he also piled every single thing in his bed beside the door too! He was going to make sure we didn't leave him behind!) Uncle Ben didn't disappoint...he built a great track and gave me a list of pieces I needed to buy so that the track would be even better!

One of my favorite things about Kiawah is that we always have lots of nature sightings. We saw dolphins almost every day when we were at the beach and they were pretty close to us a few times!

We saw this bird a few different days on our bike ride to the park.

We saw lots of deer. There was one that we saw often in the back yard and then we saw some other ones around the island!

in the dunes

in front of a house while we were riding by on our bikes

Generally the golfers see some alligators while they're playing golf but this year we got to the last day and hadn't had any deer sightings! Emmie and I took a bike ride to the tower and then decided we'd head back to the area we stayed a few years ago because we had often seen a gator in the pond over there. Well as soon as we left the tower we saw a gator in a nearby pond! 

 Emmie still wanted to go to the other part of the island to see if we saw the gator over there. I'm so glad we did because we found one! It was swimming under a bridge as we went by so we were able to get a close up look at it!

And that's all for Kiawah Island 2018! 

Last Day of School!

Today we are FINALLY done with the school year! Emmie is now officially a THIRD grader and Ellie is a SECOND grader! I can't believe how old they are getting! As I look at their first and last day of school pictures I can't get over how much more grown up Ellie looks this year. She is not a little kid anymore! And she's also gotten taller in comparison to Emmie. I'm pretty sure she's never going to catch Emmie but she is getting closer!

June 2018

August 2017

Ellie loved first grade. Her teacher ran that classroom like a well oiled machine and had very high expectations for the kids. Ellie learned SO much and I loved that her teacher always pushed her to do her very best. Ellie has become an amazing reader (she read the first 3 Harry Potter books this year). She has also done well in math although ELA is her stronger subject. Ellie really enjoys writing and they did a LOT of creative writing this year. I always loved when she would bring her stories home! Ellie also loves to learn interesting tidbits of information (watch for her on Jeopardy one day!) and we love when she comes home and randomly spouts off what she has learned. Ellie is a kid who doesn't prefer to play with a big group of people...she prefers to just have a few very good friends. She had one of her very best buddies in her class this year and we're really hoping Chloe will be in her class again next year! Ellie also made some new friends this year and seemed to have a really great core group of friends. We can't wait to watch Ellie grow in second grade and we know she is going in very prepared!

Ellie and Mrs. Kirkpatrick

Emmie looped up with her first grade teacher this year. We pretty much think her teacher hung the moon so we were overjoyed when she looped! Emmie of course had lots of the same kids in her class this year but she also had some new friends. The little group of girls in her class is so sweet and she had a wonderful year growing those friendships! Emmie has learned a lot this year. Second grade (math) was a big adjustment this year and it was pretty rocky at first but she pushed through and things got easier the second half of the year. I am so glad she had a teacher who always encouraged her and always believed in her! Emmie also started ALERT this year (our district's gifted and talented program) and she has LOVED every minute of it! It was so good for her to have one day out of the week where she was with a small group (3-5 girls) all day. Emmie was definitely having lots of big feelings today...she loves school and her teacher and friends so much and it was really hard for her to say goodbye for the summer!

Emmie and Mrs. Estes

Tuesday both girls had their class party. Ellie's class played bingo, decorated cupcakes, and had a dance party. Emmie's class had a "science party" and they did some experiments and ate lots of food!

Emmie and friends

Emmie and Landon both looped with Mrs. Estes

Yesterday, Ruthie and JP and I helped out at the 5th grade promotion ceremony. Ruthie and JP had a great time...they got to hang out with their favorite 5th grader...Eva! She is Emmie's teacher's daughter and dances at our dance studio so they see her all the time and they both adore her!

Today I packed school lunches for the last time this year and sent each girl a note telling them how proud Paul and I were of them. I also informed them yesterday that next year they are packing their own lunches...it is not a job I enjoy especially since one of mine is SO picky.

Of course we couldn't end the school year without our annual Emmie and Evelyn picture! These girls are the best of friends and Amy and I are praying they are together again next year (because Amy and I need each other too...how else will we figure out 3rd grade?)!

end of second grade

beginning of second grade

It's hard to believe the school year is over. We have lots of fun plans for the summer...beach, swim team, some camps, and just relaxing and enjoying our time off from the crazy school year schedule!

On the Go!

A month or two ago I realized that Ruthie was tall enough to ride Emmie’s old bike. Ever since then she has been working SO hard at learning to ride! Today I let her ride her back around the neighborhood when we took Franklin on his walk. She did a great job and was so proud of herself!

She can’t wait to show Grandaddy how she rides her bike when we go to the beach!

Recital 2018

Yesterday was dance recital day! All 3 girls danced this year. Ruthie did Creative Movement (ballet and tap), Ellie did Ballet, and Emmie did Ballet and Lyrical. They all did great at the recital...we were so proud of them!

The last 2 weeks we've had dress rehearsal so I have video from that. All the dances were SO good and I loved all of their costumes!

Ruthie - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Ruthie's class with her teachers Miss Adrian and Miss Isabelle. Such a cute group of girls!  

I was very proud of myself for managing to get Ruthie's hair in a bun!

Ruthie and Miss Isabelle. This was Ruthie's second year dancing for Isabelle and we're really going to miss her next year as she heads off to college!

Ellie - Jolly Holiday

Ellie's class with their teacher, Mrs. Carrie. I just LOVE these costumes...they are VERY Mary Poppins! Ellie also happened to be in a class with a school friend and a preschool friend and she made quite a few new friends this year!

Emmie (ballet) - Wind in My Hair

Emmie's class with their teacher Miss Laura. There is a group of kids in this class that have been in ballet together for at least 3 years...love the sweet friendships that have been made over the years!

Emmie (lyrical) - Better Place
This is probably my very favorite piece any of my kids have done. It was such a sweet song and such a sweet group of friends that were in that class! I think all of us mamas were tearing up!

Emmie's class with her teachers Miss Bailey and Miss Lexi.

LOVE these sweet girls! They had such a wonderful year in lyrical this year and Emmie so looked forward to class every week.

We were so appreciative of all our family and friends that came to watch the recital. We had all the grandparents there. Mrs. Terri, who taught all of the girls when they were in the 3s class at preschool, came. Clara, who kept the girls every Friday when I worked part time, and Mary Ruth also came. There were also many teachers from the elementary school there (quite a few teachers have dancers and a lot of the kids that dance go/went to our school).

So thankful for grandparents that are close enough to come to special events like this!

We LOVE Mrs. Terri! She was the first school teacher all of these girls had and she will always be so special to us!

Emmie, Stella, and Ainsley...school buddies!

Clara, Mary Ruth, and the girls

Such sweet girls!

So proud of these girls! (In case you're wondering, JP was at home with the babysitter...we were at the recital from 8:45-1 since the girls were at 2 different recital times...we figured he'd be much happier at home...he got to see the dress rehearsal.)

Had to get a picture with Emmie in her lyrical costume!

Emmie also received a trophy for 5 years of ballet. She was so excited!

The grandparents came back to our house after the recital and we woke JP up from his nap to play and eat BBQ! After everyone left we headed to Evelyn's pool for some fun swim time!

So another year of dance is over. We are so thankful to have a dance studio that we love and teachers who love our kids. We are so thankful for the friends they have made through dance and I hope they will stay friends for many many years to come! I think next year we'll probably just have 2 dancers, Ruthie and Emmie, but it was pretty special to have all 3 of them dancing this year!

Awards Ceremony

Today they had the Award's Ceremony at school. Emmie was honored for getting All As this year! We are SO proud of her!

(I can't get over how grown up Emmie looks in this picture!)

Emmie REALLY struggled in math, especially the first half of the year , and we spent HOURS upon HOURS each week working on math. She worked SO hard to do her very best on all her tests. It would have been so easy for her to have given up at some point when it was hard and frustrating but she pushed on and tried so hard to learn the concepts that were difficult for her (skip counting, especially backwards, still gives me nightmares!). We were so blessed that she had a teacher that wanted her to succeed and allowed her to do math in the way that worked for her. I think most of all I'm proud of Emmie for learning how to work through the hard stuff!

We had to celebrate Evelyn too of course! (Ruthie drug her notebook around all morning...apparently she was taking lots of notes on how to be a second grader!)

Sweet school AND dance friends...Evelyn, Emmie, and Ainsley!

PS. Thanks so much to all our family who couldn't be there but tuned in to watch!