Sand, sun, surf... And kites!

Another awesome reason to go to the beach in October?? 50% off at all the beach stores!!

Super cool outer banks sweatshirt... 9.00

The perfect beach kite... 5.00!!!

Unforgettable memories... Priceless 

We had such a great time flying kites at night. 

And of course... Some more swimming

outer banks beach trip

Oh how we love love love the beach!!!  We have been anxiously awaiting Maddies first track out so that we could spend a week at the ocean. We decided to go to the outer banks this trip in an effort to change things up a bit.

Here's the driver as we're crossing over the intercoastal waterway. 

Jim and I hadn't been since we were married and its still just as beautiful as we remembered it. 

We rented a condo just a short walk from the beach. It was perfect. 

And dog friendly too!!!  

We got our suits on and played in the surf the minute we got there. 

Even Tuck was in his happy place. 

We visited Currituck Light but it was closed (got there too late).  It was still beautiful to see and I'm pretty sure the little one wouldn't have made it all the way too the top anyway! 

Beautiful! More updates of our OBX trip to come!

Duke football!!

Duke football is back and in full swing. The girls still love going to the game, the snacks and of course the cheerleaders!

Here are a few pics from the last few games we've been to.

Go Duke!!!!

tucker turns 11

What can we say. We love this guy like crazy.  We had a cancer scare this year and after surgery and chemo- he's doing awesome.

We know we won't have him forever so we're making the most out of every day we have with him. He had a party complete with hats and lots of great gifts.

  To many more birthdays Tuck!!

Fridays with Caroline

I love my Fridays with Caroline. 

She's already done 4 puzzles, we made a bead necklace and now we're making pictures.... All before 9am. 

These days will be treasured. 

more family fun

Aunt Laura stayed with us for a whole week in August when Maddie went back to school and Caroline was still home. It was so nice to have Laura here... She's such an awesome sis and Aunt.

The girls love every minute of time they get to spend with her... I only wished we lived closer so that it wasn't so long between trips. Baltimore isn't too far away but for some reason we just can't seem to get our schedules to collide very often.  

After a week here in Apex, Uncle Jody met us at the lake house for the weekend. 

We think we showed them a good time and they were able to relax a bit (wink wink).

Lots of lake time fun for us.  Hope they come back again soon and bring Ripley!

Maddies first piece of gum

She got some double bubble for her birthday.  She's never had gum before... And not that we have a huge moral thing against gum (although it is pretty gross for kids) neither Jim or I chew gum so we just never have it around. 

Anyhoo... She had her first chew this morning.  She was not impressed. 

She kept saying- why is this so hard??

It made for some pretty funny faces and great pictures. 

Ha! 

She was not too impressed. 

Caroline's first day at Primrose

Caroline started at a new school this week. I have to say it was really wonderful having her home for a few months.  It made me realize how little she still is and how valuable it is for her to be able to spend quality one on one time with her family.

She's starting in Pre-K but still has two years until she starts kindergarten. Primrose has two pre-k classes and she will rotate into the other one next year.  The big news is that she wears a UNIFORM!!  Cuteness squared is what it is.  

She even gets a special Primrose backpack!!!

She was excited on the first day and wanted to walk in by herself.  Of course... You have to enter a 6 digit code to get in the door...so she couldn't have gotten very far on her own. 

  

She was greeted with a few friendly faces.  Our neighbor Gavin is in her class and ran right up to her when she walked in. 

She dug right in with some puzzles as soon as she got there and didn't miss a beat. Love this girl.

To celebrate a successful first day we went out to dinner where she whooped Daddy at checkers. ;)

All in all a good start!!

perfect Saturday project

Perfection. Best 4.99 I have spent in awhile. 

slumber party time!

When Daddy goes away for the weekend, the girls get to have a slumber party in mommy and daddy's room! We eat popcorn, drink Grunch Punch (lime sherbet and sprite) and watch any movie they want in our bed.  After the movie, we all get to sleep together in the same bed. Woo hoo! Yay for slumber parties!