Busy First 5 Days

It is really hard to believe that it is only July 6th! I feel like we have packed a whole months worth of activity into these first few days and for as fast as this summer is flying by, it seems to have slowed down to a snail's pace. We have spent time with family, been in a wedding, celebrated the fourth of July, and many other things in these last few days!! It has been a whirlwind, but definitely so much fun!

Uncle Patricio headed back to Argentina yesterday and we are going to miss him so much. Aunt Suzy and Sebastian are on their way to Mexico for a little vacay before heading back to Argentina and I know two little ones who are very sad that their cousin is leaving. Shelby has really grown to love her little cousin and I can definitely see some motherly tendencies coming out when he is around. This picture really says a lot. Sebastian would squeal with delight every time we walked in the door at his house or when they came to ours. We can't wait for their next visit!



In between trying to squeeze every last bit of time we had left with Suzy and Patricio, we spent getting ready for Rob-a-Dob and Miss Jennifer's wedding. Pratt was a groom's man, Shelby was a flower girl, and JP was a ring bearer. After the rehearsal on Friday night I was definitely a bit concerned with how they would do. They are both very shy individuals and wouldn't even walk down the aisle holding my hand at the rehearsal with hardly anyone around. Thankfully Rob and Jenn were very understanding and said that if they didn't want to do it then that would be okay.


So Saturday came. All the men came over to our house for lunch and to chill before the wedding so I packed up the children and headed to grandmother and grandpa's for the afternoon; I also wanted to avoid the afternoon traffic since it is "change over" day for the island. We had so much fun with them. The children played outside, enjoyed some peanut m&ms, and all kinds of other fun stuff. After a bit we took baths and I made them go in their underwear until the very last moment since they both were wearing white. Grandmother got a little snuggle time with JP or so I thought.....

This is one of JP's favorite chairs in the house, and I can't blame him because it is a very comfortable chair. So anyway, after his bath he climbed up on Grandmother's lap and pretended to cuddle and then asked her to scoot over a little so she did. After this picture was taken he asked her to scoot a little more and then just said, "Grandmother, get up." That little Turkey!!! But Grandmother, being the kind loving grandmother that she is, got up and let him have the chair.....

We made it to the wedding with plenty of time to spare and it was so cute to watch the flower girls give each other a once over. Avery stepped up to Shelby and said, "Hey, I have the same dress" and after that they were forever friends. Shelby has asked repeatedly if she can can invite Avery and her little boy brother over to play. She hasnt' quite figured out that Ohio is very, very far away.

After the girls got aquainted I took Shelby over to say hi to Miss Jennifer. I think that Shelby wasn't quite sure what to do with seeing her in her wedding dress. It is almost like she knew that she shouldn't get too close so as to keep the dress clean. I tried to get a few pictures of them and this is the best shot that came out.

Here are the two girls. They did wonderful as flower girls and I have tons of really cute pictures, but I like this one because you can see their faces. They held hands all the way until they got to the top of the aisle, then they kind of glanced at each other, let go and started dropping the little rose petals on the ground. It was so stinkin' cute!!!

JP didn't do as well with walking down the aisle; well, he did walk down the aisle, but he was holding my hand. At that point I was kind of wishing that I had an invisible cloak on or something to make me disappear, but we made it regardless.

The reception was tons of fun. They had a great band and my mom was so very kind in taking Shelby and JP home so that we could enjoy our friends. We had a blast dancing the night away and working off some of those calories from a delicious southern meal and awesome cake. We are now trying to figure out how to have another dance party on a real tight budget....if you have any suggestions, e-mail me and I will make sure you get invited:)

After all that, we still had the Fourth of July to look forward to. So the next morning we got up, put on our suits and headed to the pool. The children never cease to amaze me with how much progress they have made with their swimming. Shelby gets all around the pool now and JP is finally dunking his face in the water. It was so much fun to swim with Pratt and I know that the children loved being with him that day.

That night we went to Mr. Mark's boat to watch fireworks. JP was so excited, almost like Christmas morning. He could hardly wait to watch them and then when they started he hardly moved until they were done. It was so much fun!!!!