18 Months OLD!

Tripp is OFFICIALLY 18 months old!! Mt baby boy keeps growing although he is still a BABY! The boy is something else! He is all boy and I mean he into EVERYTHING! I understand what they mean when they say, "He is all boy!" He is into everything he is not supposed to be into - climbing up the stairs, trying to climb down the stairs, CLIMBING in general, trying to plug anything into the electrical switches, standing up in his high chair to attempt to jump down.... you name it he is into it. You cannot take your eyes off of him for even a second! We LOVE him to pieces though and would have it no other way!

The other BIG news is that Tripp is talking! ALL of a sudden he is into WORDS and new ones keep slowly coming out. He can now way Mama, Meow, apple, Sissy, eyes and still loves the two words he has always said, "hot" and "up"...

This is classic Tripp at the Pedicatrician's office for his 18 month old well baby check... he has climbed on the chair, turning the lights on and off over 80 times and then proceeding to bang on the door trying to open it.... How about the mullet on him too??

Every day in our house lights come on and lights go off... no it is not a ghost, it is Tripp!

Here is Tripp enjoying some nachos that his Sissy brought home for him... every Thursday is nacho day and she was kind enough to share with him!

The big shot!

Juliette describing her day on the way home and sharing some nachos with Tripp!

A family friend

My Mom's very good friend Sally has entered her Husband, a retired Minister in a contest to be selected as the World's Chief Explorer for 2014. If you have a minute please vote for him just by hitting "like"... it would be much appreciated!

http://www.bestjobaroundtheworld.com/submissions/view/5398

Thank you so much!

Quotes from the first week of kindergarten

As Juliette jumped in the car today she yelled out, "Kindergarten is a BLAST"! That has been her quote for the last two days!

Another quote, "Mrs. Bean is the best teacher EVER!" Me, "Why Juliette?", "Because she gives us chocolate kisses for the first day of school!"

Friday afternoon as we are riding home she says, "Mommy, I need to tell you something. I talked too much and was wiggly during nap time..."  Hmmmm... my child? Never! Ha

The first day of kindergarten...

And all through the house... the excitement was building for our dear little one!

Juliette was ready to read "The Night before Kindergarten"...

We got started right away... as the excitement grew for the wee one, the sadness grew for the Mommy! All of a sudden at the end of the book my eyes welled up with tears and finally they just started to fall out! Juliette pinky promised me that she would have a wonderful day. "Mommy myself tells me I want to go to college but I really don't"... is she hilarious! This still all stems from the conversation last week we had once Juliette started kindergarten and before I knew it she would be in college!

All of the animals, Danette and blankies were part of the pre-kindergarten party last night in the bed! They all shared in Juliette's excitement!

Bright and early this morning Juliette worked on getting her uniform on

A quick banana and a ride on the trike makes everything feel like a super special day...

At the end of the school day all I see are smiles as she and Mrs. Bean walked towards the car!

"Kindergarten was amazing! I had the very best day!" What more could a Mommy ask for?

Trippy brought Juliette a special cookie from "Sugar" on her first day of school. She was most excited and gave him a super big hug!

Even though Mommy shed a tear or two, I could not be happier or more proud of my Kindergartner!

Meet the teacher

We had meet the teacher this morning and look who was NOT moving willingly from the bed...

It was SO exciting though. Juliette was of course "shy" so she said. This is the child without a shy bone in her. I told her she was just maybe a little bit nervous!

She was only nervous until she saw two of her dear little friends Avery and Tess! Then she was off to the races ready to not even look back!

Juliette and her teacher Mrs. Bean

A super fun few days int he mountains!

We had our annual trip to the mountains with the Bright's. Juliette had a ball with her little friend Audrey! They are two peas in a pod for sure! The weather was actually COLD. It was in the mid-fifties a few of the days and the same at night time. We had an amazing outdoor fire going the whole time. 

The summer fun just continues

Yesterday we had a blast at the beach! We got to bring Doh and his kayak! You can imagine what excitement that brought. We had SO many laughs and Juliette could not tip Doh over enough! She thought that was the most fun possible!

This guy is hilarious! He is SO darn funny! He still only has his few words in his vocabulary, "up", "upfff", "hot""yuck"

Fresh Grouper, triggerfish, mahi, and the list goes on for anyone? My brother and Don went offshore and brought home the BACON!

She is officially "One Hand old"

Wow! Juliette is SO excited! She is "One Hand Old".... the five years have just flown by! We had a wonderful day celebrating her birthday. The night before I made the terrible mistake of telling her that she would be starting kindergarden and before we knew it she would be leaving for college! Well that caused some hysterics the entire night. After all of the tears that she never wants to grow up and leave Mommy, she was very confident in a very simple answer... "Mommy, I am never going to college!" I assured her that she never had to move away and could always live with Mommy and Daddy. I will remind her of this as she gets older and is itching for her independence!

For her birthday, Juliette got to pick out where she wanted to go for lunch. She chose Taco Boy... no complaints there! Tessa, Don, Trippy and I all went to lunch to celebrate with her! She was SO happy to be celebrating a wonderful day.

For dinner we had some cake with Daddy, Tessa and our Nanny with Adi... we then headed off to Cinnebar to see Smurfs 2. She loved that! She had only been to a movie once so this was a SUPER big deal!

If you asked Juliette what she wanted for her birthday, all she wanted was tick-tacs from Doh and to spend the day with Ashley Bell, Ul'Nanny's boykin puppy... she got to do just that!

The fours have been a wonderful year. We have been able to watch Juliette grow into a young girl over the past year. She is feisty, full of life and the sweetest soul ever! We are SO excited to see what the next year brings in this journey of life... fives here we come!

"I'm one hand old" she is explaining to Tessa after lunch at Taco Boy

Pooped after a super fun night at the movies with Mommy and Daddy

Opening a few of my super fun presents...

And... what she wanted most she got! Ul'Nanny delivered Ashley Bell the morning of her birthday with an extra large package of starbursts.... her birthday wishes were already complete by 7:00 that morning!

And... a birthday from Ul'Nanny would not be complete without a stuffed redfish from the Charleston Angler! Juliette assured him that was her favorite fish to catch.

Her beautiful birthday cake to celebrate her 5th! 

Juliette and Ms Adi feeding Tripp some chicken pot pie so that he could have some birthday cake too!

Happy Happy birthday my sweet baby girl! You are the best big sister and daughter in the world! I thank God every day for a blessing like you in my life!

A most wonderful "Magical" Belle inspired birthday party

Juliette celebrated her birthday today at Princess of Tides with "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast as the special guest! The girls had SO much fun! It is a party that is as much fun for all of the little girls as it is for all of the Mommies and the "few Daddies and Doh's" that came as well.

Juliette and "Danette" getting ready for the party to start

AND then Belle arrives!

Juliette opening her "Princess" necklace from Tessa

... "it must be put on for the party Tessa"

At any time Tripp could be found playing with the jewels on this room divider... if he had to be around all girlie things for the whole party, he was determined to find something of interest and indeed he did!

The girls dancing around the room...

The Daddy just enjoying the scene...

.... after the makeup and the french braid were completed... each of the little girls had their nails painted, hair done, and makeup on

"Doh, now that is some wild hair!"

All Juliette wanted from Doh for her birthday were tick-tacks.... so you know what came to the party wrapped in the comics, tic-tacs!

This guy can amuse himself anywhere - sparkling wands, a zebra chair and hair spray is fun for all!

Mommy, Daddy, Trippy and "Belle"

Two generations of best friends...

... AND two more generations of best friends...

AND yet another generation of best friends...

The whole family!

AND all of the Princesses!