Weeki Wachee Mermaids at the Aquarium!

Nana Mimi saw the Weeki Wachee Mermaids when she was about 8 years old and still remembers being amazed by them. (It's women dressed as mermaids that truly stay underwater for a really long time and do shows and sing etc...). She found out that at the Charleston Aquarium when we were going to be there, the Weeki Wachee Mermaids were going to be there too, swimming and performing in the huge fish tank! So on Saturday, we took the girls to see them. They thought it was really awesome! Nana Mimi remembered it being a little more exciting than it was on Saturday....but it was still amazing! During bathtime last night both girls pretended to be the mermaids!

Fun with Cooper in Kiawah

Cooper had his spring break last week and so we drove to Kiawah on Wednesday after the girl's Easter party at school so that the kiddos could play together before they left on Friday. They have so much fun together! The weather was COLD so that let out any swimming but we did make it to the beach once (for a TINY bit...before we all got too cold because it was SO windy!). The kids thought it was the best ever to ride their bikes on the beach! They had some bike races around Nana and BopBop's street and the girls even did some painting in BopBop's paint studio wearing Aunt Laurlee's and my old painting smocks from when we were little! So fun!

Long Boat Key!

We got back last night from a fantastic long weekend in Long Boat Key! Aunt Kylie, Uncle Matt and Grace and Greta were there for their spring break all the way from Seattle. We hadn't seen them in over a year...way, way too long! So we drove down on Friday and had so much fun with everyone! We spent most of our time in the pool or at the beach! One morning we drove down towards Anna Maria Island to see if we could find the peacocks that roam around the neighborhoods there. And we did! The girls thought they were hysterical. It was really fun to see!
Grace and Greta were absolutely incredible with the girls and took such good care of them. It was awesome to see how much they've grown up! They are so beautiful inside and out! Grandpa David and Stephanie took everyone out to dinner at the Long Boat Key Club on Friday night and then on Saturday night we had a barbeque down by the beach at the condo. It was a blast and they even had a cake for the girl's birthday! It was such a fun weekend and went by way too fast! We miss them all already!

 Grace and Reagan in the pool

 Cousins at the beach...burying R and R in the sand!

 The FINAL birthday celebration...for real this time!

 I wish you could see how beautiful the sunset is over my right shoulder...it was unreal.

 Such a crazy crew!!!!

 Love these girls!!!!

Birthday Party at SweetFrog (the ice cream shop)

One of Reagan and Riley's favorite places (besides Bob Evans and Bruccis) is the frozen yogurt shop in Jacksonville Beach called SweetFrog. It's one of those places that you can pick your flavor of ice cream and then pile as many treats on top as you want to. It's all pink and green and there are frogs everywhere and they ask to go all of the time. I was originally going to skip a birthday party this year...mostly because they have a tendency to get out of hand and I really didn't want the girls to get too overwhelmed by the whole thing (or assume that every year I'm going to throw them a huge party!). So Matt came up with the great idea to have them ask a couple of friends to meet us at Sweet Frog for some ice cream one afternoon. One of their friends, Jack couldn't come but we had their friends Joshua, Nathan and their twin friends Luke and Kinsey. Everyone was three years old and it was perfect. They could make as big of a mess as they wanted to (because it wasn't my house!) and it was over in less than an hour which is perfect for a three year old's attention span! Their adorable friends all brought them gifts and we all had a great time. The only negative was when the frog mascot made an appearance and none of the kids were too thrilled about it! (It really was kind of a creepy frog if you ask me) But besides that...everyone had a great time! Success!!!! And once again...next year I'll plan it when Matt's not out of town so that he can enjoy it too...but thank goodness for Nana Mimi being in town because it would have been tricky by myself!!!

 We had little sand pail goodie bags for the kids filled with frog things and sunglasses...hence the reason they're all wearing them in this picture!

Here is Reagan with Nathan. The girls tell us every day that one of them is his girlfriend. It changes every day who it is. Think we'll need to watch out for this one!!!

Celebrating the birthday at school....

On the Wednesday after the girl's birthday they were invited to celebrate their birthday at Chapel at school! We were so lucky to have Nana Mimi drive down to come with us. It was really cute. They got to go up to the front of the church in front of the entire school and sing songs, help light the Advent candles and blow them out and talk in the microphone about what they did on their birthday. They also got a book for their birthday (that they can bring home but then bring back to school to donate to the school library). Reagan was pretending for awhile like she wasn't going to go up...yeah right. She was shy at first but by the end was dancing on the stage like she owned the place. Riley was so excited to go up and talked about it non-stop for days beforehand. When the big moment came she was NOT going anywhere unless I went up there with her. So...I did. It was super cute and they get to do it every year on their birthdays. I'm assuming next year they'll be more comfortable with it and I won't have to be up there with them! When Chapel was over (they go to Chapel every single Wednesday at school...I love that they do that), they went back to their classroom and shared a birthday treat with their friends (cookies that we brought in). Next year we'll plan it for when Matt isn't out of town so that he can come too!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Reagan and Riley!!!!

Our sweet little babies are three years old!!!! How did that happen?!? They turned three last Sunday (yes, I know I'm way late on doing a post about it but we've been BUSY!!!!)! We had such an amazing day celebrating these two! They woke up early and were so excited right away. They kissed each other, said Happy Birthday to each other and then wanted to open up presents!!! We had piled everything and all of the cards that they received into the family room, with the exception of the gifts from Nana and BopBop and Nana Susan and T that were too big to fit in the house! Here is the video of when they first saw them (yes, we're all in our pjs still...it was about 7am!)!

They got spoiled rotten as you can see! They loved everything that they got...they got the FROZEN movie from GiGi and Grandpa along with some gift cards to Barnes and Noble! They also got a princess castle that they never get out of from Uncle Ron and Aunt Conni along with some adorable clothes and some beach/pool toys. Uncle Nathan and Aunt Laurlee and Cooper got them balance bikes like we got Coop a few years ago! Nana Susan got them the most adorable chaise lounges that they can lay in outside. They are so cute! Nana and BopBop got the girls some clothes and a JEEP that you can really ride on! And we got the girls some boring puzzles and other more academic things because we knew everyone else was doing fun things. Needless to say ours weren't quite as much of a hit as everyone else's gifts were! What a fun birthday!

The girls really didn't want much for their birthdays this year other than to eat cake for breakfast! I'm not sure where they heard that this was a thing you could do on your birthday...but they were really excited about it! So...I ordered them a FROZEN cake for their bday and they had it for breakfast (and again at lunch and a little bit more that night for dinner! YUM!).

We spent the day doing things that they girls love doing (which to be honest, is not all that different than any other day...they just got cake and presents too!
They couldn't be any more amazing. They are growing up so, so, so fast and just make Matt and I so very proud every day. They are beautiful inside and out and most of all they are kind, sweet little girls with very big hearts that love one another so much. They really are best friends and I hope it always stays that way. I can't believe how fast time has flown by....it needs to start slowing down now!
Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girls. We love you to the moon and back!

Fun week!

This week was such a beautiful week. The girls were at the beach every, single day (except for today!) and yesterday morning we went to the zoo before doing the beach in the afternoon! What a fun week we've had! I was so proud of Reagan yesterday at the zoo...she's been terrified of the Merry Go Round for some reason and yesterday she finally decided she'd try it again. She held on SUPER tight the whole time but she loved it and was so excited! She asked to do it again after we got off!
Also this week, the girls got a brand new swimsuit from Aunt Laurlee from her trip to Hawaii!!!! Don't they look cute? And my friend Holly (Jack's mom) snapped a picture of the three buddies walking out of school today. They are just so sweet and have such awesome friends! We've had a great week and it's sure to be a great weekend as my babies turn 3 on Sunday!!!! I can't believe it. Lots of fun things in store for them!!!! Here are a few pics and videos from the week.....