Stinger Bee Gone

Ryan had her last Stinger game last weekend. What a sad day! She had a great game though. She had two fantastic hits (from the coach, not the tee). She got to hit a homerun (which basically means that she was the last one up in the inning and got to run all the way around the bases and get cheered into home plate by all the "fans"). And she got a ton of field play by playing catcher!

The official "Dug Out Mom" got Ryan in all the gear for her inning at catcher!

"Catcher in the Ry(e)"

She was much happier about playing catcher this time! Her last turn at this position did not cause smiles like this!!

Charlie's version of supporting her sister during the game!

Gigi and Papa drove down to watch the Friday night game! Papa was so impressed at how well all the girls hit the ball from the pitcher! Not one girl hit off the tee from both teams! Such a change from the beginning of the season.

Just posin' with her Apple Bottom Jeans! Oh boy, gotta love this girl... every time I'd snap a shot with the camera, she'd say, "let me see how it turned out!"

Great season Stinger!

Movin' On Up

Mommy has been waiting a long time (oops, I mean Charlie has been!) for her "true" big girl bed! She has had to be in a crib while Ryan got to be in the toddler bed, and the toddler bed while Ryan got to be in her twin bed... and finally they are equal! Charlie is finally just as "big" as her sister! If you remember I had to custom order their beds to fit under the eaves in their room when we moved here almost 2 years ago so Charlie's bed has been just mocking me in the garage all this time! It's been killing me to have them with with different beds and different bedding! I had also bought their matching bedding some time ago too and it has also been taunting me from the garage just waiting for this moment! Needless to say, Charlie is happy, but I think mommy is just a wee bit happier :-)

Charlie is testing out the mattress for comfort.

The "pretend sleep" pose. We have a lot of these shots throughout the the different bed phases on the blog.

Catching pure excitement on film. Priceless.

Ahhh.... mommy's heart feels content now with the room looking as it has in my head since I planned it out 2 years ago.

Can't you imagine them when they are 12 and 14 years old lying in bed at night talking about boys? So darn cute! Hmmmm... I hadn't thought about it yet but I wonder where the phone jack is in this room! They are certainly going to need one of those!
My little princesses are growing up!

Carsie Turns 4

The slideshow I made of Carsie's birthday party last week did something weird to the margins of my blog so I had to delete it and put up regular pictures instead. (See, I try to be all techie and it bites me in the you know what! Oh well)

The party was at Kidnasium where the kids get to play in a gym like setting (hence the name) with lots of fun toys. We have a place much like it close to our house called "My Gym" if you are familiar with that. This was the parachute activity. Ryan got to sit next to the birthday girl. Charlie had to stay home sick with an ear infection!

Time for pizza!

Hey Wyatt... be nice! Stop sticking your tongue out at us! LOL... j/k!

Celeste is having grand hopes for her future... Double LOL! That's pretty funny!

Wyatt giving Carsie a birthday kiss!
Happy Birthday Carson!

Beating the Heat

Last weekend was scorching hot! My fantastic husband had been watching the weather all week to plan ahead for the great weekend! He heated the pool Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to bring it out of it's long winter hibernation so that we could enjoy the summer like weather laughin' and splashin'!!

When I asked Charlie to smile, she didn't comply. Instead, she busted out with these pop lyrics...
"Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur..."
(You gotta know the song to truly get a chuckle!)
Click this link to hear the song and picture Charlie doing "her thang"...
Click Here

She finally smiled for me!

Ryan the rule follower was certainly ready for her turn to pose!

Charlie had an ear infection so she wasn't allowed to submerge her head. Here she is holding onto mommy's legs because she was getting pretty bored of not being able to swim like Ryan.

Just loungin'

Ryan made herself a cozy spot for lunch.

Charlie found herself a cozy place to not get her ears wet but still travel around the pool.

The next day we decided to get out and wash all of the dishes from the playhouse and kitchen! Nothing like a little housework while you swim! Gotta teach 'em some chores early! LOL!

Charlie got a time out. She is not liking it so much.

Ryan's new signature smile.

All of the clean dishes drying in the sun! Whewww...we worked hard!

Whoops... I think we might be missing something here Charlie!

(I had told the girls it was time to get out, take off their suits, wrap up in towels, and head inside. I think Charlie only heard the "take off your suits" part because she did that quickly and proudly and headed right back in the water with that sneaky little laugh of hers! Oh boy are we in for it with that one! Gotta love her!)

My Beach Babes

Last week during Spring Break, the girls and I spent some time at the beach. Just lying there relaxing and watchin' my babes, I just kept saying how grateful we are to live so close to the beach. 2-3 hours at the beach and then a hop-skip-and a jump home is the way to go! On this particular day, we stationed ourselves across from Naples on the bay near "Horny Corner" (I know... not a very appropriate name! I think that is a college thing... I hope!!) It's nice because I can park just a stone's throw away to get the stuff in and out of the car and the kids had other kids to play with because all the Long Beach kids had Spring Break that week as well.
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Well, I thought they would have other kids to play with! Look at the deserted beach in this picture of Ryan! There was no one there! Maybe it was too early for most mommies... we arrived at 9:00! The girls didn't seem to mind and neither did I! They would run up and down the beach over and over again and I wasn't nervous about losing them in the crowd! Charlie didn't waste any time getting in the water and Ryan loves to dig.

Charlie is getting ready for her morning snack!

And then right back in the water!

Ryan is more of a "sand girl" I'd say! She likes to build things!

Just the first of many days at the beach! I am so glad the weather is starting to get nice again!

Easter Brunch at the Carey's

After the Easter Bunny dropped off the baskets and a few pink and purple eggs (exact numbers for each child of course), we headed to San Marino to Ginny and Tim's for Easter Brunch. It was fantastic! Funny how the Easter Bunny knew that the girls would be at Ginny's that day because he dropped off a whole trunk full of eggs for the Ryan and Charlie to go on a hunt. It started from the moment we got out of the car. The girls started finding eggs out by where we parked and in the driveway... they were in heaven!

One of Charlie's first finds.

Ryan is so excited that the Easter Bunny got my phone call about going to Ginny's. She was very, very nervous that he wouldn't know where we would be on Easter.

The Coleman Sisters
Liz (Ryan and Charlie's grandma), Casey, Ginny, and Mary

The girls literally ran through the house to the front yard for more and more eggs to find.
Heav-en!

Ginny and Tim have a huge front yard that was blooming with beautiful flowers everywhere. It was the perfect "stage" for the perfect Easter egg hunt!

That sneaky bunny hid eggs in the cut-outs in the side of the house!

Look who found the Golden Egg!
This was a new tradition for me but the Coleman family (and my hubby growing up) has been doing it for ages. One "golden" egg is hidden that has lots of money inside! Ryan was the lucky recipient this year.

Well, then we had to distract Ryan because a certain somebody was sad that she didn't find the Golden Egg so Aunt Casey quickly got to work on a solution.

Then, while the big girl-super-hunter was good and distracted another Golden Egg miraculously appeared very close to Charlie's proximity! She was the happiest girl in the world with her Golden Egg!

Two attempts at a family photo by the rose garden.

Tim, the resident chef cooked a fabulous brunch for everyone.

Grammy, Marzie, Ryan, and Gigi hang out on the patio before brunch is served.

Brunch is served! Here is Lindy and Grammy enjoyed the yummy feast!

Charlie had the pleasure of sitting with Marzie at brunch.

Ryan got to sit next to Gigi. They were both so well behaved.

After brunch, the girls tested out their new swimsuits in the pool!

All I have to say is...Real men wear pink!

Thanks for having us Carey Family! We felt so blessed to be a part of your special day!