Remember this . . . .

Well . . . this has now turned into this! I am shocked to say the least!

At the Beach

After living here for three years we finally made it to the coast. I really wanted to get away again with just our family of four before number five arrived and completely changed our routine again. We were gone for Thursday night and Friday night and came home Saturday. We left Thursday around 2pm and got there just in time to check into our room.

Friday morning we headed to a rocky beach. It was a bit chilly so we just did some beachcombing. Benjamin found all sorts of treasures including some cools rocks and shells.We headed back to hotel after our morning adventure to make lunch, pb and j's, and then everyone took a nap except Benjamin who watched a movie on the laptop. After naps were done, we headed further north to a different. It had warmed up significantly and the kids played in the water and dug in the sand. Emma loved the beach. She was so happy to just run, splash in the water and get messy in the sand.
This was the sunset that we enjoyed Friday night from our hotel room. It was magnificent!
Then Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the beach again. This time is was very warm. Emma and Benjamin splash in the tide pools because the tide was so low.

We had a great morning and then we ate lunch in the car on the way home. Emma took a nap and Benjamin watched a movie so Stephen and I actually could talk. It was a great trip!

Build-A-Bear for the New Baby

Right before Emma was born, we took Benjamin to Build-A-Bear to make a stuffed animal for his new baby sister. Today we carried the tradition on again. Emma and Benjamin picked out a stuffed animal for the new baby today. The bear was even appropriately named "Hugs." Here are some pictures of the event.

Emma 18 months

Kindgergarten Backpack

When I was growing up I had an LL Bean backpack that my dad brought back from a business trip for my sister and I. It was red. Each of our backpacks had a letter of the LL Bean logo blacked out with a permanent marker so we could tell them apart. I am pretty sure Elizabeth had the "e" blackened but I can't remember which one I had. Maybe the "B" for Becca or the "a" for the ending letter? I had that beloved backpack from 1st grade through 6th grade until I hit Middle School and needed a newer trendier ESPIRIT bag. I decided to carry on the tradition for Benjamin in hopes that LL Bean would last us through his grade school years. I even got fancy and had his initials embroidered on the back. He even chose red, very fitting in my opinion. He loves it, and so do I! I think I was just as excited about getting it in the mail this week as he was. We also got all of his school supplies ready and filled up the pack. He is excited for kindergarten to start! Now if we could just get the letter from the school telling us which days he goes . . .

Watermelon Day

Benjamin was playing on the computer yesterday and told me that it was National Watermelon day on August 3rd. I knew that we didn't have much on the docket except for laundry so it would be the perfect thing to celebrate after dinner. A quick phone call to dad to stop at the local fruit/vegetable stand for a watermelon and we were in business. I made up an activity sheet for us to do. Below is the activity sheet and us participating in the activities. We also learned new facts about watermelon. Our only hiccup was that it was a seedless watermelon so we couldn't count the seeds. Benjamin also decided that he needed one more activity~ to scoop out a watermelon bowl for us to use again. He is sure he wants to serve bread in it!

measuring the circumference after we all cut a length of string~ Dad's was the most accurate

dressed in watermelon clothes~ pink and green

enjoying our fruit made up of 92% water

scooping out the watermelon bowl