Daddy's Boo Boo

Booker came down on Wednesday night so that he could take Brooks for his surgery on Thursday morning. He was a big help and we really appreciated him being here. Brooks is doing well, and felt a lot better on day 3 after the surgery. The girls have been very sweet and laying with him to keep him company from time to time.

Grace thinks it's funny that daddy has orange

toes (too bad they couldn't make them garnet).

Trying on Daddy's Hat

Booker and Mimi came back on Saturday for a visit and to help out. It was great to have them here, and although the Gamecocks lost -Lily looked really cute in her cheerleading outfit...

and trying on Booker's hat.

Reading with BookerLily loves to practice walking...

Booker walked Lily around the house,

and then guess who had to have a turn...

Lily @ Eleven Months & Grace @ Almost Three

Is Lily really almost ONE? I just can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Lily is just so sweet, I love watching her and Grace interact and bond. The other day Grace told me that Lily was her best friend, brought tears to my eyes.

Lily is standing up on her own these days, but hasn't taken that first step yet. She LOVES to clap her hands and act silly. She also likes to hit (all of us), which we are working on - at least we can't take it personal. She enjoys playing in our playroom where she can roam around and get into everything. Lily loves to be outside and has recently found her love for fries, good thing we don't eat out much. She also really loves yogurt and rice rusks.

These past two weeks have been pretty rough for her. She had a virus two weeks ago which caused her to have a pretty high fever, then last week her two front teeth came through. Now she has thrush, an ear infection and her asthma has been acting up which is causing her to cough - poor thing!

Grace is just so funny at this age. She wears flip flips to bed just about every night, I have definitely learned to pick my battles these days. When she uses the potty, she asks for her "privacy" (funny how I never get any though). After not giving daddy "privacy" one day, she tried to stand up to use the potty.

Grace really wants to learn to read, the other day she was looking at a book and asked "How you do it?" I just love listening to her look at the pictures in a book and make up the story, priceless! She knows how to spell her name and is beginning to learn her letters.

Grace is turning into quite the drama queen! She fell the other day and barely skinned her knees, which turned into 20 minutes of tears and lots of band-aids. She still insists that her boo boo hurts, notice the two on her knees below...

Mommy and Me

Grace has been in need of some special attention since school has started (or maybe I just miss spending so much time with my girls?), and she has also been requesting to go to the beach. I decided to combine the two and took her to the beach on Sunday morning, just me and her. When we arrived at the beach I realized that I left the bag with sunscreen and towels at the house, so we had to make a quick trip to the store before we could start our fun. Grace and I had a great time playing in the sand and jumping in the waves. It's always nice to have a couple hours to give all my attention to one of the girls.

Before we headed home, we played on the playground at the beach.

There were lots of other kids there because someone was having a birthday party.

The sweet mom that was throwing the party offered Grace a cupcake, and since mommy forgot the bag that also had the healthy snacks in it she was pretty hungry. She ate the entire BLUE cupcake and I think it was her favorite part of our morning together!

Poor Lily is getting her two front teeth (they are both going to

break through any day!), so she was pretty unhappy all weekend.

She stayed at home and got some special attention from daddy.

We promised her we would take her to the beach next time we go.

Go Gamecocks!

On Saturday we went to Mark's house to watch the Gamecocks beat Georgia. We always have fun spending time with Mark, Kevin and Christina - but it's even better when our team wins!

Thanks to Mark for taking our family photo...

Grace had fun cheering with Christina, playing hide-and-seek

and chasing around Moe the dog.

Lily REALLY loves to clap these days...

Such a sassy cheerleader!

Go Gamecocks!

Sisters...

Bailey

Grace gets so excited when "her dog" is here to visit with Nana and Papa. Although Bailey is not the perfect dog (he likes to pick garbage and beg for food), the joy he brings to Grace is well worth his visits. Here are some shots of Grace and "her dog"...

Labor Day Weekend

My parents and our niece Morgan arrived on Thursday to spend the long weekend with us. They left VERY early so that they could get here on time to pick the girls up early from "school." Grace was so excited that they would be picking her up, and especially happy that Bailey would be in the car. They had fun going to the pool and eating lunch at Chuck E. Cheese on Friday.

Lily and Papa

Nana and Lily

Aunt Lois and Uncle Frankie arrived on Saturday from Florida. We had a great time grilling out for lunch and eating baked ziti and meatballs for dinner thanks to Aunt Lois!

Uncle Frankie and Morgan

Play-Doh Fun

Playing Dress Up

On Sunday Grace and I had the stomach bug that has been going around. I haven't been that sick in a long time and am thankful that help was here when we caught it. Grace and I spent the afternoon in bed together (and in the bathroom) while everyone went downtown for the afternoon. Wish I could have spent more time with everyone!

Brooks is still hobbling around, but now has a boot that is making it a little easier for him to get around. He ruptured a tendon in his foot and will have surgery on the 23rd. Grace keeps asking him if his boo boo is better and has lots of questions about the boot and crutches.

I had to pick up the girls early today because Lily had a high fever, I sure am ready for everyone to be healthy again!

Ready for Some Football...

The girls are ready for the first game of the season. Thanks to Mimi and Booker they have new Carolina shirts and cute cheerleader dolls. Go Gamecocks!

Sweet Carolina Girl

I'm ready for the football season and some cooler weather. It has been nice to be able to take the girls outside to play after work without sweating. Today we took a walk over to the playground and they had a blast!

Swinging Sissy

Brooks should get the results from his MRI tomorrow. He is still in pain, but has been going to work and trying his best to help out when he can. It hasn't helped that Lily decided to wake me up every morning this week around 3:00 a.m. (I think it's her teething). I am REALLY ready for the three day weekend! Thanks to Booker for coming down and mowing the lawn today!! My parents will be here tomorrow, so more help is on the way...