Beach Fun - Hilton Head Island

We just got back from a week at Hilton Head with some friends/family.  We went with Mitch's cousins the Greers, and our friends the Todds.  We had a total of 6 adults and 6 kids.  The kids ranged from 5 to 19 months, so it was chaos at times, but we had tons of fun.  The weather was perfect all week, and the kids all got along great.  I wanted to share some a lot of our week in photos for you.  Enjoy.  :)

We had a blast each day at the beach.

Ansley absolutely loved the ocean.

Sweet Ellis was such a big help all week.

Sweet friends.

Ross and Ansley enjoying a snack together.

Kate was so sweet to share her snack with Ansley.  We were riding around looking at the boats at Shelter Cove.

Emily and Ross

Three great dads, plus one twin.  :)

Ross LOVED jumping in the water.

Sweet Kate

We enjoyed a few golf cart rides to this large grassy area where the kids would run and get their energy out!
We visited this area almost every evening.

The best we could do with a group pic!

We even got brave one night and decided to go out to eat.  We went to the Crazy Crab in Harbour Town with our CRAZY CREW!  We chalked it up as a disaster and loss after the night.  After all of us ended up getting up about 3 times with our kiddos, we decided to do take-out the rest of the week.  :)  It was a good try though!

After our outing, we decided to stop for ice cream on the way home.

We ventured back to the beach, and daddy took the camera for a little while so mommy could prove she was on the trip.  :)

We found a great park on our golf ride too, and the kids loved playing on the nice playground.

The boys had a golf outing on Thursday, and we knew we had to get out of the house while they were gone. We knew the three of us ladies couldn't handle all 6 kids at the beach or pool alone, and we would all go crazy in the house.  We found this neat Children's Museum called, The Sandbox.  Everything was kid friendly and they could touch anything.  They had different rooms set up for different learning experiences.  It was a great morning at The Sandbox.

Friday was our last day on the beach.  We enjoyed one more day of fun in the ocean.

Trying to throw the football and play with babies.

 This was actually our second beach trip together with the three families.  However, the first beach trip happened back in 2007 before any kids.  Needless to say, this was a tad different, but we had a blast.  We're already planning and looking into the Greer-Greer-Todd beach trip of 2014!  :)

Summer Fun!

We've had a busy couple of weeks around here.  I've sat down with intentions to blog several nights, but I have found other things to do.  After chasing an active Ansley around all day, I've been exhausted!  I wanted to share what we've been up to recently with everyone.

We started off summer with the annual M & J "spring fling".  Mitch's company has a family get-together every spring/summer, and for the past 3 years it's been at Lake Oconee.  The weather was perfect, and a good time was had by all.  We took Ansley this year too, and she had a blast.

Ansley also started swimming lessons.  She's doing a GREAT job, but she's still crying through most of it.  She really is a natural little swimmer, and I think she'll be swimming in no time!  I've been videoing her progress, but I did get this quick shot the other day.

Mitch and I took Ansley swimming at our neighbor's pool the other day too.  She had a great time floating around and playing with Mitch.

Ansley and I have had a few adventures together during the day too.  We ventured out to the park one morning before it got too hot.  Ansley had a blast.  She loved the swings and conquered the slide in no time.  

We met my grandma and sister for lunch one day too.  I took a picture of Ansley in the adorable bubble my mom sewed for her.

We also went to a birthday party for our cousin Layla.  Ansley enjoyed playing in the splish-splash bouncy house.

We've also tried a few new foods at dinner.....corn and ketchup!  

Ansley and Asher are a MESS together!  They are going to be double trouble as they grow up together!  I couldn't resist getting a few photos of this little time together.  "Ebony and Ivory" hanging out and eating Popsicles.

I had to share this!  We've been trying to use timeouts more often to show Ansley what she can and can't do.  I thought this was too cute.  After repeated, "No, Ansley!", she was sent to timeout for 1 minute.  Here she is  in the timeout spot.  This will be really cute when she's 18.  :)  She really is a GREAT girl, but we do have our moments!

I'm loving summertime and being off with my sweet girl. I am looking forward to more adventures together! :)

Memorial Weekend

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend at the Greer household.  Friday was my last day of school with the kids, and I was so excited to be done! :)  It's been my most challenging year of teaching so far, and I was more than ready to see it end!

Our friend and neighbor, Robyn, turned 30 on Friday, and a group of us went to eat at the Tic Toc Room in Macon.  Everything was delicious, and we enjoyed a night out with friends.  Ansley stayed with SuSu and Tim-o Friday night.

Saturday, Mitch left for the "Dehem Cup" golf tournament with his golfing buddies.  They went to Lake Oconee this year and played at Harbor Club.  Ansley and I had a lot of bonding time since it was just the two of us.  :)  We got ready and headed to a baby shower for baby Sexton.  Our friends, Hunt and Laura, are expecting a baby boy in July.  Ansley was wearing a precious dress that my mom made.

We're about to start working on getting rid of that paci!  Pray for us!!

On Sunday, Ansley and I went to my friend, Kim's, annual Memorial Day party.  Her street throws a multi-house Memorial Day party, and Kim invited us to come out.  They all have beautiful houses and pools, and we loved getting to go to the party.  Shana and Chad just moved to their neighborhood, and they were invited too.  Ansley and Asher loved playing in the pool.  I didn't take my camera because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle Ansley at the pool by myself and snap photos, but I did get this picture of the two of us.

We start swimming lessons Monday, so I am hoping that Ansley continues to love the water after we finish! :)

Monday, Ansley and I were pretty tired from all of the fun on Sunday.  We pretty much stayed at home and enjoyed being lazy. Mitch got home late afternoon, and we went to his parent's house to eat dinner.  I had post-planning Tuesday and Wednesday, and I worked on getting my classroom cleaned, organized, and ready for summer-shut down.  I snapped a couple of shots as I was walking out the door Wednesday.  I'll see you in 8 weeks, classroom.  I'm looking forward to making memories with my family this summer!

May Update...

I haven't been into the blogging routine lately.  Things have been busy around here, but I won't bore you with all of the details.  Nothing too exciting, just life's busy times.....work, softball games for Mitch, meetings, weekends out of town, Shana and Chad moving, etc.  I haven't documented many things on camera, so this will be a wordy update.

Mother's Day was last weekend, and it didn't go as planned.  Ansley woke-up Sunday morning with the stomach virus, so we missed church and both family celebrations.  Thankfully, Mitch and I were spared this time around from the virus.  (Thank you Lord!)  My dad generously watched Ansley for us on Monday so Mitch and I could go to work.  Ansley returned to her sitter on Tuesday, but it took until about Friday before she really started eating well and acted like she felt better.  Although my Mother's Day wasn't as planned, I am so thankful that I was chosen to be a mom.  Being a mother is truly a gift from the Lord and something that changed my life.  You definitely appreciate your own mother and the sacrifices she made when you become a mom yourself.  Ansley is back to her normal self and feeling great.

We had our 18 month appointment this week, and Ansley weighs 20 pounds.  She was actually 21 pounds the last time we weighed her, but I'm sure the stomach virus had something to do with her losing a pound.  She checked out great though and is showing a lot of progress.  She's just now starting to talk, and I LOVE hearing her talk.  She FINALLY says "mama".  She's been saying, "dada" for a while now, so I love hearing her say my name.  She also knows a few words that she says regularly.  Some of them sound clear and others not so much.  She says the following words: please, ut-oh, cookie, juice, Toby, bye, hey, Nonny, Pappy, SuSu, nana (for banana), shoe, eat, paci and thank you (although they don't sound like paci or thank you!).  She knows a lot more than she can verbalize though.  She understands a lot of what we say, and she will do just about anything you tell her to.  We love to give her her milk cup in the morning and tell her to go sit in her chair.  She goes right to her pink chair in the living room and sits down.  It's so cute.  She loves to point to things, especially pictures in one of her favorite books.  She can find several things: shoes, bottle, banana, ball, brush, bathtub, strawberry, airplane, and kitty.  Sometimes she's really in the mood to find things, while other times she just wants to flip the pages.  We've also started a few fit throwing, which is always fun to be around! :)

School will be out soon, and I can't wait.  We have swimming lessons scheduled starting in June and possibly a mommy-and-me class at KidsAmerica.  I'm looking forward to being able to hang out with my sweet Ansley each day.  I promise to document more of our summer life through pictures!

Here are a few pictures that Mary Jane Kinnas took.  My friend, Mallory, owns the Sugarplum Tree in Perry and asked Ansley to be a "model" for their website.  She gave me the CD with the prints, and they were precious! :)

Obviously this was pre-mullet haircut. :)