A great week!

Erica and Erica with the "little ones" Madelyn and Ainsley

Since about 1992, one of my nearest and dearest friends has been Erica F. With the last few years of crazy moving, 2 kids for us, 1 kid for her, etc...we haven't gotten to spend a good chunk of time together to REALLY catch up. I'd only spent time with her 1 year old a few times and she hadn't even met Ainsley yet...so I was SHOCKED when Adam came home from work last Monday with Erica and Madelyn in his car!!! It was a TOTAL SURPRISE and I had almost a full week with them here! (Special THANKS to Matt for 'allowing' them to visit while he "bachelor-ed" it for the week). It was SUCH a great time and I'll stick pictures up here later today. I'm trying to figure out how to scan in some older pics from Erica and I, too. There are some great shots out there from the last 16 or so years of friendship!!! WOW. =)
It is crazy to think that it all started (basically) with the dance studio we were part of in High School, being college roommates, weddings, now 3 kids between us, and MANY moves, etc...it was so fun to encourage each other in all kinds of "life stuff" from parenting, marriages, careers, finances, etc...and go on walks, cook a bunch of meals, tour historic Charleston, and just spend time together. God truly has brought us FAR from where we started as friends. It's so cool and I'm SO thankful for any time with good friends, ESPECIALLY when it's almost a WEEK worth of quality-time. Madelyn is an adorable little girl who LOVES dancing and totally loves our dog Gus (who doesn't!?!). Elise was pretty good at sharing with Madelyn and gave us hope for how Elise will deal with Ainsley as they get a little older together.
Ainsley and Madelyn in Charleston at historic marketplace...

Elise and Madelyn in playroom...many hours spent on the floor here and Madelyn's favorite toy was the "Elmo iPod" that Uncle Paul and Aunt Jen gave Elise for Christmas. She used it like a phone and did a little shimmy dance every time the music came on!
Dancing Queen

The "little girls" playing together around the Exersaucer

Come and Visit!

I saw this on CNN.com this morning and was so excited!

"Earlier this year, Travelandleisure.com and CNN Headline News polled travelers and residents on what they like (and don't like) about 25 top urban destinations in the U.S. Turns out that people have some pretty strong feelings about New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and other hot spots—we received nearly 60,000 responses."
There were rankings on 15 or 20 categories, including "friendliest, clubbing, cocktail hour, historic sites, lodging, etc..." and OUR CITY was listed #1 as "Friendliest" and #4 in "OVERALL FAVORITE AMERICAN CITIES"! How cool is that!?! So, come on down and visit the Friendliest city in America!

4th of July

Mommy and Elise in our Fourth of July outfits
Elise with her favorite "kitty cat lunchbox" that she took to the bbq! Right as I took the picture, I said, "Aren't you cute?"...this was her look in response!

Sorry this is a little late...We had a neighborhood cookout with about 6 families on Friday night. We love the folks that live around us...some really nice, quality people. =) The kids played well, we all ate some great food, and the fireworks were, well...fireworks. Not much to say..we watched the local Fireworks from our neighbors' driveway and it that's it. Elise and Ainsley went to bed before any of the fireworks started and slept through the whole thing...pretty uneventful really, except we all wore red, white, and blue and that was fun. Friday was also Ainsley's first day in the little Kiddie Pool in the front yard. I think she liked it. Elise has been BEGGING for weeks for me to put Ainsley in the pool with her, so I finally did. It was cute that Elise was SO excited about her sister being in the water "playing" with her.

My little Detective

It's 9am Wednesday and I just got Elise up. Ainsley is rolling around on her little activity mat and Elise is "playing with her"...(sitting next to her while watching a cartoon). Elise just came over to me to report, "Ain-swee tooted, mommy." I replied, "Oh, she did. Thanks for telling me, sweetie." "Sounds like it's poopy, mommy." Love it. The discerning ears of a 2 year old are great!

Our Gremlin...

At 5 months (today!), Ainsley is doing well and is such a blessing. So this weekend, when she started GROWLING at us, we were a little shocked. According to my neighbor with four kids, it's totally normal, but we can't stop laughing. Ainsley GROWLED all weekend....a deep, gutteral, animal-like sound. She's laughing and smiling the whole time, but we keep looking around for what creature is threatening us...it's so funny!

"Nah-a-wee"

We had some wonderful friends in town on Thursday/Friday and Elise has a new best friend! Natalie and Brent Twombly got married just 2 weeks after Ainsley was born and I was honored to be Matron of Honor for them at the GORGEOUS event in St.Augustine, FL. This time they were up in our neck of the woods and we shared a great Japanese meal with them, just hung out a bunch, Brent and Adam played poker with the neighborhood men (no kilts this time, just FYI!), and had a great visit. Elise REALLY took to Natalie and couldn't get enough of her! We heard OVER and OVER again, "Nah-a-wee, come play in my playroom", "Nah-a=wee, read me book wif me", "Nah-a-wee, ready not, here I come" (hide and seek). It was a riot and although Elise didn't smile well for a picture, but she was so happy to have them come and play! Come back anytime, Natalie and Brent! We loved it. =)
Here's a pic from their wedding, just b/c Natalie was so beautiful!

And the winner is....

THANKS for the 7 actual votes we got on the 'comparative photo' of the girls. Although all 7 votes were for the same picture, I took some more yesterday to try to get one a little better, and I succeeded. Thanks anyway for your votes. Here's the winner- ELISE on bottom, AINSLEY on top.

This picture didn't mimic the one of elise very well, but it is classic for Ainsley. We see this look all day every day...so, I included it just for you all to enjoy.