Moonmeadow Farm

Andrew is staying at my sister's farm this week. He was able to be present at the birth of the newest addition. You can read about it on my sister's blog. I think this is the sweetest picture!!

Rosemary Beach 2010

This is our favorite vacation every year!

Every year my parents, several siblings and their families come for a week. Prentice came for a night and Shannon stayed most of the week. We all agree that Shannon is an awesome addition to our family! She's laid back, incredibly smart and just generally fun to hang out with. Our newest addition (Naomi) is such a great baby. We all enjoyed the opportunity to snuggle with her.
Anslee loved the ocean this year. Thankfully there wasn't any oil, tar balls or oily sheen in the ocean. She loved jumping the waves and became increasingly braver as the week went on. We had to start calling her back to more shallow water. The Sugar Shak is the greatest store she's ever seen. Our house was close enough to the town area that she could walk with Andrew to buy candy.

Andrew spends his time trying to catch ocean creatures. He found a really odd sea slug looking thing this year that opened up wings in the water. Riding bikes is another one of his favorite things to do. This year he was able to ride everywhere without us.

WWE

Keith and my brother Ben took Andrew and Wood to see the WWE when they were in Atlanta.

John Cena is their favorite wrestler. They both thought this was the coolest thing EVER.

Andrew at Moonmeadow Farm

Andrew LOVES the farm. He has no fear of the animals (except a charging 400lb pig!) He's not a great milker, but when he goes back up for a week at the end of the summer I'm sure he'll get the hang of that! His very favorite farm activity is riding the horses. My nieces move the horses daily to a pasture and to the barn. Andrew loves riding the horses back and forth and he was even galloping by the time we left. I was glad he was with his cousins, so I didn't see it! He is such a brave boy!!

Andrew is always in the kitchen with his Aunt Rosie. He loves watching her cook and helps when he gets to. A staple at the farm is homemade bread with homemade butter. The kids could (and do) eat this at every meal.

In the morning, Andrew and Aunt Rosie are usually the first awake. He'll go where she's sitting and talk about everything. He adores her and cherishes the time he has with her. I love the special relationship they have.

Anslee at Moonmeadow Farm

Anslee loves going to visit Moonmeadow Farm! My sister has had constant company all summer ~mostly relatives. She said it reminds her of the children's book, The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. (How do you underline on here?!) As soon as some cousins (who'd been there for a week)left, we showed up.
My nieces are so awesome and patient with all their cousins, and we just adore them! Thanks to my fabulous sister for being such a gracious, incredible hostess!!
She liked to follow her cousins as they were doing their chores. I'm sure it's not easy milking a cow with a small child attached to your back!!

This cousin wins the most patience award! She answered question after question from both Andrew and Anslee.

Anslee didn't really want to ride the horses, but she really enjoyed grooming them.

Anslee lost her first tooth! She was so nervous about it coming out, and wouldn't let anyone help at all. It had been barely hanging and then just fell out. She almost started crying, but the cousins all hooped and hollered and made such a big deal about it that she held it in, and then was really proud.

Celebrating the lost tooth.

Anslee LOVES the Lion King. If she has her own money to spend, she buys anything about lions. Her favorite animals on the farm were the cats, because "lions are in the cat family." The first day she kept grabbing them and holding them. Gradually as they got sick of this, all the cats ended up scratching her. When pumpkin (her favorite) scratched her, she came in and cried, "I don't like the cat family anymore!! Not even lions. They are mean! I am only going to like...ELEPHANTS!" and she started sobbing. We talked with her (again) about how cats like to be treated. By the end of our visit, the cats loved her and would crawl up on her lap. Now she likes lions again. :-)

July Birthdays (Mom and USA)

Andrew, Anslee and I went to Asheville last week ~ we spent a couple of days with my sister and celebrated my Mom's 69th birthday. We met at the Christmas Store and then went to Chelsea's for a yummy lunch. Happy Birthday Mom!!

We had a very busy and fun 4th! We started the day at our friend's house. We went swimming and had a delicious early dinner.

Then we went to Nana's house to visit, and let Andrew and Anslee play with their cousins.

After that, we went home and watched fireworks with our neighbors.

Happy 234th birthday, USA!!!

Pirate Land ARRRRRRRRRGG!

We went to Pirate Land in Myrtle Beach with our good friends, the Stows. When we started talking about the trip, I was a little apprehensive as I'd never stayed at an RV park before. I was so pleasantly surprised!! Everything was so laid back and the ammenities were perfect for the kids (and us!) It was so much fun!

Tea Party with the WWE

Anslee wanted to have a tea party with me. This is how our conversation went:

Anslee: Mom, I'm going to pretend to be the Taker.
Mom: What do you mean?
Anslee: At the tea party I'm going to be the Taker and I'm going to see if Andrew will be John Cena.
Mom: (Now realizing she means the Undertaker from WWE) Why are you going to be the Undertaker?
Anslee: Because he's AWESOME!! He does his eyes like this (rolls eyes upwards) and he has a great song (meaning the song that plays when he comes out.)
Mom: Who can I be?
Anslee: You can be Triple H because you'd really like him, or Chris Jerico. I wish we really could have a tea party with all the wrestlers, because it would be really fun!!

Hmmm... I think she's really influenced by her big brother.