Reunion

Three of my friends from college + our husbands + all EIGHT of our kids reunited and took a weekend trip to Pinehurst! 

Our friends Charlotte & Pauly live in Australia - here we are in Sydney at their wedding 5 years ago:

And here is the same group today (plus 8 sweet little additions):

(Major kudos to Charlotte who does not let the 18+ hour flight with a three year old and a 7 month old deter her from getting back to to visit family & friends.)

The toddlers were so cute together...

...and had a great time at the pool.

Wells and Liza living the life

So romantic sharing their fruit snacks

The babies (Caroline, Charlie, & Mackenzie)

While Mom & Dad are away...

...the kids will play!  And apparently have so much fun!!

Here are some pics of W's adventures during his stay with Poppy & Keke:

Tweetsie Railroad (apparently he preferred the "wittle" train over this one because it had "bad guys" with guns - I remember being super scared of this train when I was little too!)

Horse ride

And then here is Caroline, getting so much attention from GG & Aunt Ann (way more than she usually gets when her brother is around):

I love that Ann sent me this picture with the subject line "Sweet Angel" - she might be almost as obsessed with this little girl as I am.  She filled her new iPhone with pictures and videos of Caroline - I think Caroline was feeling the love.

Crazy Days of Summer

It's been a busy summer - at least that's my excuse for being way behind on blogging!  But it's been fun - Mommy & Daddy recently got away for some R&R in DeBordieu:

Time only made possible by my sweet parents:  GG stayed with Caroline; and Wells was off to Poppy & Keke's house in the mountains.  According to GG, Caroline was her usual cute, smiley self.  Wells was full speed ahead, but had so much fun - his week included a trip to Tweetsie Railraod, building a birdhouse with his Poppy, and a pizza party by the pool way past his normal bedtime.  He could not have been happier!

And last night, we were so happy to get back to our little ones:

W before bed

C post bath

Circle of Friends

Caroline & her cute baby friends met for playgroup today:

Clockwise from Caroline (who is bottom right):  Caroline, Worth, Weldon, Quillen, Isabelle, Virginia, Vivi, Jack, and Anna

The other side of the circle (our sweet hostess Virgina was starting to get a little upset at this point)

New Things

Our precious Caroline Harvey is almost 5 months old:

And she has been experiencing many "firsts" and trying new things lately!

First taste of rice cereal

Not a huge fan yet - I think she wants her bottle back!

Trying out her sleep sacks...Caroline & I are both reluctantly giving up her swaddle in exchange for the sleep sack.

First attempts at sitting up on her own

First bath with her brother

Poor Caroline....I guess this is what older brothers do.  He thought it was hilarious to put this washcloth and cup on her head and sing happy birthday to her.

And here she is having one of the first (of I'm sure what will be many) playdates with next door neighbor Anna Price (~8 weeks).

Swimmer Man

Wells has become quite the swimmer this summer.  He started off in May timid and wanting to be held in the big pool.  Now it's July and he has no fear, can swim several feet on his own, and has a new obsession: the diving board!

Neighborhood Fireworks

We had such a fun 4th! 

To keep things going, we decided to have a "day after July 4th" neighborhood celebration.  Daddy and some of the other neighborhood dads took the older boys to get fireworks in South Carolina.  It's amazing that all the noise and fire don't scare them - but most of the kids loved it!

W ready to watch the show

Carter's mommy made a yummy flag cake

Daddy helps Wells with a sparkler

Covering their ears ... getting ready for some loud ones

Enjoying the grand finale with some watermelon

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!  Our clan spent most of the long weekend in Roaring Gap. 

Wells loved helping put out the flags...

Going on golf cart rides with Poppy...

And he got tons of pooltime:

And sweet Caroline got in her usual poolside nap:

A Whole New Ballgame

Matt took Wells to his first baseball game this week at the Charlotte Knights stadium.

I'm not surprised that he immediately requested the cotton candy (that's literally bigger than his head)

Aftermath

Matt said he loved this merry go round and insisted on riding the dinosaur every time.

In the beer garden eating some peanuts - only dads can have this much fun.  I'm sure they were both glad Mommy wasn't there worrying about germs or a healthy dinner...