Latest song obsessions

These are the two songs I am playing over and over in my car, on my ipod, on the computer... I can't seem to get enough.  Check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX6ScqVIAng  "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele.  This song sounds so refreshing to me (even though the lyrics seem to be about getting revenge on an ex!!)... this girl has a great quality of voice- no need for technology to make her sound good!  So reminiscent of an oldie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXvIaaPIrlM  "Agnus Dei" by Third Day.  We sing this at church very occasionally, but I heard this on the radio the other day and remembered how beautiful it is!

Excitement

Check out this video... it just shows you how much Taylor loves her big sister. :)

4th of July

Last weekend, the 4 of us headed up to the mountain house again.  For those of you who don't know, the 4th weekend is the BIG weekend in the mountains.  This is when the colony residents bring their moms, nieces, 2nd cousins, uncle's brother's wife's sister, etc.  It's always so much fun, because you're guaranteed to see everyone you know.

We headed up about mid-day on Friday, and grilled out with my parents and sister and her fam Friday night.  Saturday morning, my sister and I headed out for our weekend-ly walk/jog, and then ventured to Cendy's for breakfast.  Cendy's is a glorified gas station that includes a convenience store, semi-grocery store, and the yummiest bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits around.  Note the importance of doing the walk/jog earlier. :)

Saturday, while Stephen went golfing with some of the guys, the girls spent the day at the lake, playing around the house, a forced naptime for my favorite toddler, and going back and forth between my parents' house and my sister's house.  My brother, his wife, and their little girl drove in from Nashville that afternoon.  Olivia, my brother's daughter, and Sydney are only 2-1/2 months apart (although, she's about a head taller!).  That evening, the real fun began.

Taylor hanging in the lake.

Taylor loves her Uncle Bill.

A tradition at Lakemont is to have a picnic and squaredance the Saturday night of the 4th of July weekend.  The "picnic" is held on the grounds with big, cement, outdoor benches.  BBQ is catered.  Typically, I'd say there's anywhere from 125-150 people.  This year, there were 210 reservations!  After the picnic, we let our food settle a bit and then head down to the clubhouse to squaredance.  When I was younger, we'd have a tape that played good ol' squaredancing music, and the tape would just be flipped from side to side so that the squaredancing would go on for a couple hours.  Lately, however, things have been upgraded... or updated... a DJ has been hired, all kinds of music is played (anything from oldies to the Cha Cha Slide), and only a couple of squaredances are done.  After the dancing, when it gets to be dark, a big firework show occurs.  Everyone sits by the lake and enjoys the show.  This year, I enjoyed it from the deck of my parents' cabin as Taylor slept through all the ruckus.

Sydney and me. (and monkey!)

Sweet Taylor.

Sydney busting a move.

Olivia and Sydney swinging with Aunt Jen.

I love her smile. :)

Sunday, we went to chapel and then celebrated Olivia's 3rd birthday!  It was quite the scene.  When the cake was being brought out with the candles, Olivia was screaming/crying, which led to Sydney screaming/crying, which led to even Taylor to have a pouty look on her face before the started crying, too!  It was like a scene from a movie.  :) 

Sydney and Uncle Bill checking out the lake after church.

Me and Taylor.

Olivia!

Sydney!

Sunday night was a hotdog supper at the picnic grounds.  Afterwards, me, Stephen, and Taylor went to a friend's house to hang out while Sydney played happily with Uncle Bill, Aunt Jen, and "O-Lee-Va".  We stayed up hanging out with the fam until late, watching Sydney and Olivia run circles around the house together.

Walking back from our friends' cabin.

Silly Olivia!

We headed home pretty early Monday morning.  It was a great weekend had by all!!

7 Months!

Taylor is officially 7 months old, which is crazy to me!  Taylor has become so much more mobile this month- very squirmy, restless, wants to be on the move but can't quite yet.  She's sitting up so much (though I'm still not trusting to leave her without me next to her... I can't remember when that goes away!) and rolling a bunch, and is somehow getting from point A to point B, but isn't crawling.  I think crawling may be on the horizon, though.  She gets on her knees and sticks her bottom up in the air, and then gets frustrated, falls on her belly, and just kicks her legs. :)

7 month accomplishments:

• Going swimming, in both the pool and the lake.
• Packing up all her 9 month clothes... hello 12 month clothes!
• Going to South Carolina twice.
• Started using the umbrella stroller. 
• Trying out table food, puffs, and those Gerber cheeto-look-alike things.
• Starting to feed herself... She's better with those cheeto things, but has gotten some puffs in her mouth.
• Using a sippy cup (not so sure what it does yet, but she likes to gnaw on it).
• Going on her first golf cart ride.
• Sitting in the high chair in restaurants.
• Being told she looks like a cabbage patch kid about 15 times from 15 different people. :)
• Trying to grab everything in sight.
• Holding puffs in her fist.  Sometimes no one knows she picked them up and then they melt.  Ewww!
• Going to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time.
• Teething- She puts everything in my mouth.  Even her cousin's flip flop!  Yuck!
• Holding her bottle by herself.

It's been a great month!  She is very observant, still very sweet and mild-mannered, and funny.  She does these belly laughs which make everyone around her laugh, too.  Can't wait to see what month 8 brings!

7-1-2011



First dip in the pool.

Sitting in a high chair at Chili's.

Chillin' in the lake.

Holding her bottle!

Hangin' at the mountain house.

Taylor and Kerrigan!

Hi!



Camp GK

So, Stephen and I really wanted to have our two nieces come stay with us this summer.  We went to the mountains last weekend, and on Sunday, we brought Madeline and Kerrigan home with us.  We made the long trek back to Loganville, only having to stop once for a restroom break.  We named our time together "Camp GK" (initials of our last names) and even had a theme song.  I tried to document the days via pictures!

Sunday night was fun.  We made dinner, did manicures and pedicures, and watched The Parent Trap on tv (the Lindsay Lohan version).  The girls were in bed around 9:45, though I heard M & K whispering and giggling in their bed until after 10:30.

We had a full day planned for Monday.  Stephen took the day off, but had to go do work on our rental house (as we have renters moving in this weekend- yay!).  So, we were killing time around the house until he was able to get back.  We made beaded necklaces and bracelets, did some finger-painting, watched Wizards of Waverly Place, played outside on the playground, had a picnic lunch, etc. 

Sydney said, "This is for my daddy.  I make it bright for him!"

Stephen got home, and we hopped into the car to head to Chuck E. Cheese's. It was so not crowded, so it was nice... we almost had the whole place to ourselves!

After Chuck E. Cheese's, we went to a nearby park to play on the big playground.  It was soooo hot, so after about 20 minutes (and some spilled Nerds candy which led to tears), we headed home and blew up the backyard inflatable pool.  Madeline and Taylor took naps while Stephen, Sydney, and Kerrigan swam.  I went on a trip to Walmart and Publix to get some groceries. 

We met our neighbors for dinner at a local pizzeria for dinner and then came home... we were all SO tired!  Sydney, who hadn't napped at all, went to bed around 8, while Madeline and Kerrigan watched their favorite movie.  They went to sleep around 10:30. 

This morning, we all got up around 7 and we made some "Camp GK" t-shirts.  Around lunchtime, we packed all the girls up, headed to the Mall of GA, ate lunch and went to see Cars 2.  Grandmom and D-Dad met us, too.  Don't even get me started on how Sydney was in the movies.  Let me just say, I'm finally understanding what the "Terrible Twos" means.  (It's probably one of the most fun ages, but also one of the most challenging!). 

Pondering her wish before throwing her penny in the water.

Heading in for Sydney's first movie (and probably last, for a while :)

Camp GK 2011 was a success!  We had fun and are looking forward to next year!  Now, can I take a nap?

The Mountains

We spent a great weekend at my parents' mountain house this past weekend.  I know I've mentioned this place several times on my blog.  This is the house that my grandparents bought back in the '40s, and my mom grew up going there in the summer, and the same with me and my siblings.  My sister bought a cabin right next door to my parents' house, so we have claimed a little section of Lakemont Colony for our family.

But, in reality, everyone up there is like family.  It's funny when you view these people, who literally have known you since birth or you have known since birth, and you don't want to define them as only a "friend", because they are so much more.  The people are just wonderful, coming from all walks of life and all different states.  But, we join together every summer for dips in the lake, picnics, squaredances, games galore, parties, golf cart rides, and more.

Anyways, the mountains are just beautiful, and I've wanted to document its beauty, but haven't had a good chance to do so.  This past weekend, I went on a jog by myself and ran to a beautiful stretch of land and shot some pictures, and then continued all the way home.  Enjoy!

Pics

I picked up the pictures we ordered from Sydney and Taylor's daycare.  They took these pictures about a month ago of the girls.  I just love them!  Here are the scanned versions of them: