Some Realizations

1--Lauren will be THREE in EXACTLY  ONE MONTH!!!!!!!!!

2--Paul's dad, Charlie, has surgery on his rotator cuff today.  He made it through surgery well, but please keep him in your prayers for a quick and speedy recovery!  He will be coming in the fall to spend a few weeks/months with us.  I'm hoping to use this time to "motivate" Paul into completing a) the kitchen (trim, cupboards, cupboard doors, install microwave over stove, crown molding, etc.), b) our bedroom trim/door replacement, c) replacing the kitchen door, d) Lauren's playhouse, e) gutters, f) landscaping around the new driveway, g) the back retaining wall so we don't have a clay pit when it rains...etc. etc.  Paul DID replace the garage door and the light over the garage door...progress...

3--Lauren's favorite things are: Bug; her babydoll Cara; her giraffe Sophie; horses; butterflies; cats; ladybugs; baseball; football; Taylor Swift's song You Belong With Me; Lady Antebellum's song I Need You Now; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; painting; swimming/water; the beach; shopping for clothes; wearing dresses (AKA Hula-Hoops!); shoes; pink and purple; "polk-a-BOTs"; singing "Happy Birthday to me!" (and yes, that is EXACTLY what she says!); McDonald's; Chuck E. Cheese's; her friends at school (Harris, Tanner, Ayden, Kate, Callie, and Raelyn); our neigh-neighs the Workmans; school; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; flowers;  fire works; her mommy and daddy; her aunt, uncle, and cousin; babies; the Cadwalladers; Buster, Catlyn, and Jinx; Charleton; Tweetsie railroad; trains; her books, especially the Mickey Mouse ones, the Mouse books from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Llama, Llama, and Mrs. McNosh does her Wash; and SOO much more!  It's so awesome to see how much she has grown!

4--Lauren's favorite sayings are, "I want my Mommy!! (even if I am RIGHT in front of her!), "No, I did not" (and it DOES sound snotty when she says it!), "I want to hear my Taylor song, Mommy.  Okay?", "Why?", "What's that?", ...... what, Mommy?" (fill in the blank--uh, oh; oh no, etc.).

Can any one person be as blessed?

July...The First Two Weeks

Yea, Charleston!  Paul took VACATION TIME and we went away for 6 days!  Talk about a LONG trip!  We had a blast.  Here is Lauren at our hotel pool, sporting her new swimming suit.  Her other was getting too small (she's grown up), but this was too big (a two piece).

Went shopping.  Lauren LOVES fountains and loves to toss pennies in.

Showered, crawled in bed to read...and the little thief stole my book!  She wasn't too broken up about it!

July 4th--Paul was on water play patrol.  Look at the OHH on his face when he stuck in his toes and it was FREEZING!  I laughed that I was sitting on the sidelines!

HAD to go to Ben and Jerry's to take our picture with the frog and to get ice cream (after a clothes change!)!  To our surprise, new frogs were added!  Here was a Grandpa Frog reading to a grandchild.  I LOVED it!

We played on King Street (shopping) the rest of the day, checking out galleries and the sights.  Lauren was getting cranky, so Paul asked this horse driver if they could pet the horse.  It picked up Lauren's spirits tremendously!  She LOVES horses!

Back to Water Front Park to play in the other fountain.  Again, Paul was on water patrol.  Lauren LOVED it!  She played with some kids and then had a head on collision with a toddler.  Lauren shook it off, the toddler cried for about 10 minutes but then went right back to playing!

Not supposed to be on the upper layers of the fountain...SHH!

Back in the pool in the evening.  I got Lauren a swim jacket and that was the BEST purchase on the trip!  She splashed around and had the best time in the pool!

July 4th--Paul had been wanting to go to Cypress Gardens to see what it was about.  80 acres of swamp!  They had several different exhibits, one being the butterfly house.  Lauren was so excited to see the butterflies, but touching them was another thing...

So since she wouldn't touch it, Paul put it in her hair!

Outside the gardens

Only 1 of 2 pictures of me on the entire trip!

We took a canoe ride THROUGH the SWAMPS!!!  This was a REALLY neat thing to do!  Lauren hated the life vest (oh, well!).  We saw a LOT of wild life and had a relaxing time!

ALLIGATOR!!!!!!!!!  (The alligators are black because of the acids released from the cypress trees.)

OH NO!  LAUREN, MOVE!!!

We thought that this was too cool--a pineapple had grown on this potted Palm tree!

We didn't go to Patriot's Point to watch fire works this year.  Instead, we were across the river at the Waterfront Park.  We figured that Lauren would handle the fireworks better not having to hear the report.  She LOVED them!  Anything in the night's sky is now a firework (plane, comet, etc.).

After we left Cypress Gardens, Lauren crashed--hard!

When she woke up, we were at the beach! Yea, sun and sand!

Building (then "mashing") sandcastles!

Wave jumping

Hi, Mommy!

Look at my curls!

July 6th--We decided to explore Pitt Street in Mt. Pleasant.  We found an old soda fountain shop and had ice cream!  (And they only took CASH!)

Back to the beach for more sun and fun!

The completed castle, receiving a moat

After the beach, Lauren and Paul conked out for about 3 hours!  Naptime ended around 7:30 pm, so we grabbed dinner.  After dinner, we went to the mall but it had closed.  So...Paul thought we should take Lauren to her first movie!  Here we are prior to the movie.  (Oh, we watched Toy Story 3.)

And after!  Lauren made it through the WHOLE thing!  We were so PROUD of her!

We had a GREAT time in Charleston and look forward to our next visit (probably in November!).

Our Sunday School Class had it's annual party at Chris and Suzy's house on July 10.  I didn't get many pictures, but poor Chatham was the only photogenic child that day!

After Lauren and I got home and up from naps, we went to Aunt Pie's house.  Paul and Lauren helped in the garden.  Shelly and I tore up her entry and planted flowers!

Lauren played with Cara's "Sophie" giraffe so much on Saturday that Aunt Suzy gave Lauren her OWN Sophie to take home!  Lauren has taken Sophie EVERYWHERE and sleeps with her, too!

Here are Lauren and Sophie before church on July 11!

Before bed, Lauren and I pick out her clothes for the next day.  Lauren decided that she wanted to hang her clothes on her dresser .

July 13--Lauren and I went to the library for the first time together!  Lauren picked out some books...Parts by Tedd Arnold (hilarious!), Tub-Boo-Boo by Margie Palatini (it was okay), and Someone Bigger by Jonathan Emmett (cute story).

Lauren also picked out A Star So Bright (A Christmas Tale) by M. Christina Butler.  At the end is Baby Jesus in a manger...and Lauren kisses him!  Too Sweet!

Reading A Star So Bright as a table Lauren's size!

Lauren with her Library Card

Suzy and I worked all this past week at Camp Carolwood, a Methodist camp in Lenoir.  We were in charge of arts and crafts.  Here are some of the kids with the alter cloths we made for each of the churches.

We took the kids on a scavenger hunt on Wednesday around the camp.  Here were our crews!

July 13--Lauren got her own mail from Grandma and Grandpa Wade!  Inside were STICKERS!!  Lauren decorated her cup with 2 roosters and a cow.

While not the BEST picture, it works to tell the story.  Lauren was pitching it before bedtime and was mad at me because I put her toothpaste on her brush for her.  She walked herself into a corner and said, "No, Mommy!"  She turned around just as I had gotten back into the bathroom to document her self-time out!

July 16--Lauren before school today.  She insisted upon wearing a hat and holding Sophie.  (Lauren and Sophie had an issue earlier this week--Lauren wasn't nice to her and Paul made Lauren kiss Sophie and apologize.)  Lauren banned Sophie from her bed for two days before she would talk to her again.

Our last day at camp!  Our kids were scrapbooking their week's adventures!