back to the beach!

today was our inaugural beach day for 2012! a gray sky and forecasted afternoon thunderstorms did not keep us from attempting to enjoy some surf and sand... i've learned over the years that it's probably not going to rain, and if it does, it will probably be later in the day. SO off we went, and the skies were a beautiful blue as we made our way to the beach! we enjoyed a couple of hours of beautiful weather (and wind, wind, wind) when ethan said, "mom, it's really dark behind you." we all turned around, and sure enough, a storm was a-brewin'. the wind picked up, and we made it out of there as fast as we could. i would've loved to have stayed longer, but it was probably just long enough for our first day out there this year. the kids were all still happy and not over-tired, which made our loading up so much easier. :)

ethan had the most fun searching for shells in the water...


and caroline spent a good part of our beach time boogie boarding! (we may finally make a swimmer out of her this year...)


we've been blessed with some new friendships this year, and ethan has especially loved playing with isaiah. (and i think his mom is pretty fun, too.)


isaiah was all over the boogie board today, too...


the kids found a bunch of little crabs in the water, and karina caught one in a bag. i think it was digging down into the shells by the time i snapped this shot...


so then catching crabs in baggies was all the rage...


this little stinker would not look at the camera...


aaaaaand this is all she would give me...


amelia spent most of the day playing in the sand while wearing her floaties and goggles--not sure how i totally missed snapping a picture of that.

i don't know how many more times we'll make it back to the beach in the next month before miss hallie arrives... but i imagine it won't be too much longer before i see this sandy smile again...

cousin sleepover!

the girls were so excited for karina to stay the night with us earlier this week. they were all given matching pajamas at christmas, along with matching pjs for their dolls... and they've been talking about having a sleepover ever since then.

i piled the girls on the couch for a picture, and ethan got so excited. "oh! can i put on my star wars lego pajamas?!" the boy wasn't even phased by the fact that he was totally outnumbered. so he joined the pile on the couch, and they all just went straight to the silly pose...


caroline crawled in karina's sleeping bag to read a book together before bedtime... and i just couldn't resist snapping a picture of these two cousin-friends. the older they get, the more fun they have together.


and it seems like it was just yesterday that the girls were in their matching pjs for the first time. (christmas 2006: caroline- 1 mo. old, karina- 4 mos. old)


the big girls went right to sleep, which was a good thing, since amelia woke them up at 6:45 the next morning. (i was praying they'd sleep till 8!) there's always that one girl at sleepovers who wakes everybody up....

we loved having karina spend the night, and we look forward to many more cousin sleepovers in the future!

lately