Birthdays and babysitting- September.

Our friend James had an awesome birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's.  

 Generally, I avoid these places like the plague, but it wasn't so bad with 2 older kids that didn't need constant supervision.  

June's class for the fall was gymnastics.  She really liked getting dressed up and tumbling with her friends.  But much like dance, she took one semester and declared that she'd mastered the sport. 

You can only do so much to beat the heat down here.  And the girls found a good and very messy way to do it.  They call this making "taco soup."  Another reference to what they think of my cooking, apparently.  But they do have a fun time collecting whatever they can find in the yard (which sadly, is not in good shape after a year of renters), slopping it in a bucket, filling the bucket up with water, then tossing around the resulting mud.  We had to isolate the taco soup making to the driveway after they flooded out part of the yard and killed all the grass.  (We have only a precious few places that actually grow grass and not just moss in the backyard.)

 You leave for a year and you come home to a whole new batch of babies!  We got to watch our little friend Anna Elizabeth one afternoon and the kids were very happy to have a baby in the house.

 Can you tell it was still very hot down here?  Poor sweaty June.

 AE was only about 2 months old at the time (and I'd been through a course antibiotics and wasn't catching anymore, in case you were worried).  I think June was hoping she'd do more than just lie there.

 Henry, on the other hand, was very happy to cuddle her and try to get some smiles.  He also spent a good deal of time entertaining Anna's big brother Wesley, who is 2 and couldn't be slowed down to take a picture.

 You know that if we're going to have a baby in the house, we're going to have to dress her up and put her in miniature furniture!

 Babies are fun!

 Almost as fun as putting yourself in miniature furniture!

 When did June get so big!

Georgie even got in on the baby holding.  Good thing Anna was a good sport.  

Grams and PawPaw visit- mid-September.

Grams and PawPawtook a week to come down and visit us.  

 We took them to see a soccer game.

 You can tell it was still pretty hot.  

We forgot how long it stayed hot down here!

 It is nice to be back in a house with a yard.  The kids have had a good time being outside by themselves.  In fact, Georgie talks so much that we figured out the only way to get her to eat lunch is to send her outside with her meal and let her eat by herself.  (She actually did this all winter long.  Any day it was over 40 degrees, we requested to eat outside.)

That's a good looking group.

 From what I can remember, it was a good time with Grams and Pawps, but I spent most of it down and out.  I'd been nursing a cold and cough for about 2 weeks and it just wasn't getting any better.  After a round of antibiotics that offered no relief, we finally figured out that I was lucky enough to have come down with whooping cough.  Let me tell you, as a healthy, unimpaired adult, it was probably the worst I've ever felt.  I coughed until I barfed.  For about 6 weeks total.  

You might not know, but your vaccination for pertussis (which is all grouped in to your tetanus shot- Tdap) does not give you immunity forever.  They only last about 5 years, and my last shot had been right after June was born 5 1/2 years ago.   Do yourself a favor and go get a booster shot.  Especially if you spent time around infants or older folks.  Like I said, I'm pretty healthy.  I'd hate to see someone who wasn't suffer through it.

Myrtle Beach- September.

We decided to meet up with our friends, the Paytons, for a vacation over Labor Day Weekend.  We met in the middle of nowhere close to Darlington Speedway and spent the night in a hotel with adjoining rooms.  

 We didn't get there until close to 9:30, so it was a wonder the kids ever settled down.

 Staying in a hotel is a pretty big deal.

 The next morning, we packed up and set out for Myrtle Beach.  Nestled right in the middle of all the hoopla is small state park.  The grownups set up the tents and the kids got busy getting extremely filthy.  

 It was the perfect weekend.  We were less than a quarter mile from the beach and spent the whole day roasting in the sun or trying to stay cool in the shade when the sun was too much.

 It's so much fun with the Paytons now that everyone can entertain themselves.  We swam and hiked and had a great time.

 Believe it or not, we actually showered these kids twice a day.  It only took about 5 minutes for Jo to accumulate more filth.  

 One day we decided to go into town and see what all of the hoopla was about.  Myrtle Beach looks like it was all the rage about 25 years ago.  They even had a Friendly's.  We went all out and ordered meals with appetizers.

 AND ice cream sundaes.  There aren't may times I thought I might die from over indulgence, but this was one of them. We left the restaurant and I had to lay down int he grass outside to recover.  And I didn't even finish my meal or my ice cream. 

 I don't think any of the grownups finished their desserts.

So the kids took over.  It was too hard to even watch.  

Georgie's dance class- Late August.

I was feeling guilty that no one had a chance for special activities, so when we got settled in, I resolved to be a good om and sign everyone up for classes.

Georgie got to take a 4 and under dance class.  That's her walking the line.

She was clearly the youngest in her class, but she did a moderately good job in following along and not disrupting too much.

That's short stuff there in the middle.  How cute are all those little girls?

 

Again, that's her in the middle.  Georgie loved her classes, especially because she got to wear her pink dance dress and take her friend Callie (on the left) with us.

Half the class was ballet, and the second half was tap.  I never got a good shot of the tap class, because seeing the moms in the mirrors got pretty distracting.  

 For a short time in August we were doing a challenge where we cooked a meal from every country- in alphabetical order.  June helped out in making the Noni bread from Afghanistan.

 IT might have just been white bread, but at least she helped out and actually ate something I made!

Matching jammies!  DC was kind of a rough year because June and Georgie didn't really get along.  June had her ways and Georgie generally just got in the way, but since we've been back, they've really gotten along and have been playing nicely together.  I hope it lasts!

Settling in- August.

We spent most of August trying to get settled back into the house.

June and Henry were invited to a vacation bible school that was 80s themed.  June loved it.

We realized that being back in SC meant that Georgie had to be potty-trained for preschool.  And we only had 10 days to do it.  We also decided it was time for Georgie to give up her nuk. August was a big month for sweet Jo.

Luckily, we was a good sport about training, even if she wasn't that good at it. 

She must be the third kid if mama gave up and let her sit on a potty in the living room in front of the TV.

We also celebrated Georgie's 3rd birthday in August!  Look  at this big girl (with her 3 dollar bills from Grandma Seibert.)

And we had many tea parties at Georgie's new table.  Of course, the girls dressed for the occasion.  

Cousins from Ohio!- August 3-4.

No sooner than we pulled into the driveway did we meet our first guests!  Sadie and Dash drove down for the weekend to visit and help us unpack.

 We did manage to get some unpacking done, but we also spent a good amount of time having fun.  Like playing in the lake!  We forgot how hot and humid it is down here!

 Let's get these clothes off!

 That feels better.

 After a dip in the lake, which was especially green after a summer of abundant rain, these kids needed a bath.  We had to dig around to find the towels in all of the boxes.

But Jo and Dash didn't mind hanging out in the bathtub for a while.

Dasher really liked hearing Uncle Bran rock out on the guitar.

 It was great to have all of the Turner grandkids together again!

Back to school!- August.

The best part about coming back to SC?  School starts early! Mid August to be exact!

 Georgie had orientation at her preschool.  

She didn't need time to get used to school.  She was ready to go!  She's the third one in the family to go through EDS.

 Henry was also excited to start to start 3rd grade.

 But not as excited as June was to start kindergarten! 

If there was ever a kid to was meant to go to school- it is June.  Every day at school is the BEST DAY EVER! 

The only person who wasn't happy about the first day of school was poor Georgie.  Even now, she's mad on the days she doesn't get to go to school like Henry and June.

Tuesday was Brandon's first day of school.  

 June was still as excited on her second day.

Come on, Papa!  It's going to be great.

Finally, finally- Georgie got to have her first day.  Maybe you can see she was pretty happy.

We stopped and picked up Christopher.  When did the neighborhood babies get so big?