Final days of summer- August 14-17.

We spent our las days of summer hanging out with friends.

Amelia came over and gave love to all of our baby dolls.

June, Maddie, and Sylvia explored the yard in search of bugs.

Then the other Turner kids came by on a walk and stopped in for a while.  But it actually wasn't so bad.  The big kids took care of the babies and I just had to cut up apples for snacks.

The kids visited the elementary school to meet their new teachers.  June already loves Mrs. Pitman.

Henry wasn't so sure about going back to school, but Mrs. Davis is turning out to be a very cool teacher.  For an assignment on Christopher Columbus, she had the class design his facebook page.  Extra points for hashtags in the posts.  And she lets Henry read when he's done with his work.

Georgie is also pumped to start as a Red Bird at the Day School.  For one year, she's going to be the big kid.

Her goal for the summer was to practice writing her name.  Not too bad!

We had another birthday to celebrate.  Sweet Tia turned!

Happy birthday, TiTi!

Every once in a while, you can get a laugh out of Bea.  Henry and I both tried to catch one on video.  Grown ups will do all kinds of silly things for babies.

All that pony riding really wears a kid out.

Georgie's birthday party- August 12.

In our house, birthday party planning starts the day after your birthday.  All year, the girls talk about what they want for their next party and who they are going to invite.  That's not to say any of it actually happens, but they sure like thinking about it. 

This year, Georgie wanted a dress-up party just like June's.  We invited her friends and did have fancy dresses, but the kids were mostly just happy to see each other and play.  We had a few activities planned, but didn't pull any out because they were all playing so nicely.

This girl is so happy to be (almost) 4!  June gave her the fancy dress she received as a fourth birthday present to wear to her party.  And I believe there were about 10 braids in her hair for the big day.

The usual crew came out to celebrate.  Our playgroup friends Charlie-

-and LJ. We were very happy to see them after being gone for the summer. 

 Our Tuesdays aren't the same without them!

Ellie, who is not only Georgie's real friend, but her imaginary friend too.  She often makes imaginary appearances at our house.

Isabelle- and I swear she actually had fun.

And a few more kids who were too busy playing to get a picture.  I had to drag Callie away from the ponies to even get her to sing "Happy Birthday."

Georgie helped decorate her own cake- which was cupcakes frosted to look like a whole cake.  

We had to divert from "Everything is Awesome" a few times before they all sang the right song.

Beatrice put on a pretty dress, but no one offered her a cupcake.

Good thing Izzy was there to enjoy hers.

LJ used to be a pretty big stinker, but he is turning into a very fun kid.  I can't get enough of him.

For the grand finale of the party, we made and stuffed individual pinatas for each kid.  (Georgie wanted one big one, but we also know from experience that Georgie cries every time candy falls out of a pinata and she's not there to get all of it.)  So individual pinatas it was.

And instead of hanging them up, we just let the kids smash them any way they wanted.  Much easier and still pretty fun.

Happy birthday, Georgie!

Beat the heat- August 8-11.

Let's start out with some BeBe cuteness.  Those little 4 month old coos are almost too much for me.

Adjusting back to life without sympathetic grandmothers and cousin playmates was wearing thin on everyone.  The big kids were especially lippy one morning, so mom announced that we were going OUT.  Unfortunately for them, for the month of August, I enforced the "Piss mom off- Pick a pint" rule at an awesome little blueberry patch we found. 

If you can't tell by this photo, it was really hot.  And technically, we were past the peak of blueberry season, so picking was not the best.  But that didn't stop us from going back 3 more times.

But the fruits of our labor were so wonderful.

That blueberry cake is making me wish it was summer right now.

Georgie has taken some interest in cooking as of late.  And she has a good reason to help out- her birthday is coming.

She specifically requested blueberry cupcakes for her party, so she was in charge of counting out the blueberries.  She counts blueberries much like she talks- with a lot of repetition.  Pay attention to the end of the video for a clue on what else her party will feature- and listen for her very convincing Spanish accent.

Sweet Bea continued to nap often.  I couldn't resist another shot of her pressed up against her bassinet- especially in those cute jammies.

And because she's so cute, here's another video of her sweet smiles and sounds.  Despite my encouragement, she does not roll over yet.

Back in SC- August 4-7.

Back at home, we worked to fit in a summer of South Carolina fun into two weeks, while simultaneously recovering from 6 weeks of traveling.  (Thanks for having us, by the way, Ohio people.)

Jo rediscovered her love of her huge bin of fuse beads and made this very accurate representation of herself.  (You know, the purple hair and big nose.)

She's also working on writing her own name.

Bea was happy to be back in her little bassinet, where she could push her face up against the side to sooth herself to sleep.

I hired Katie to water my garden occasionally while we were gone.  My potatoes in a bucket where mildly successful in that we harvested enough to garnish a few plates of papri chaat.

I've been trying to convince Brandon to let me draw eyebrows on Beatrice.  He did not agree with my plan.  So I photoshopped them on, with hilarious results.

  

Seriously, how cute is this little girl?  Especially in her little Clemson booties that Miss Shannon made her.

We find that if June is overtired, she has a night terror or sleep walks.  Usually we end up bringing her downstairs to let her sit with us until she's ready to go back to bed.  Poor little thing.

We met up with some friends to go play on the banks of the Chattooga River and watch kayak tours launch.  I've heard a lot of scary stories about the Chattooga River and after watching Brandon and our friend, Darren try to walk across a fairly shallow and "calm" section, then try to do the same thing myself, I made the kids stay very close to the shore.  That river is not to be taken lightly.

Alas, we survived our river journey and headed to Chattooga Belle Farm to celebrate.  Besides outdoor seating and some good food, this place has some amazing views.  They are also a working farm, though we missed just about every season of fruit-picking the week we were there.

It turns out that most of our friends now only have girls.  And their friends only have girls.  And none of them are above the age of 6.  Thanks for being a good sport, Henry.

 Most importantly, Henry and June were happy to be back with Katie and Maddie. What a bunch of goofs

.  

 And their reunion culminated in my very favorite June and Maddie moment- an epic improvised song about being sisters that possess the power of weather.

One more from Ohio.

Whoops, this one got left out, but here is it now.

PawPaw and Henry took off for a day of nonstop fun.  From what I gather, it involved paddle boats, mini golf, fried bologna sandwiches at the G and R.

AND a tour of the Olentangy Indian Caverns.  I'm actually pretty jealous of this.  After the cave tour, they mined for gems outside.  Best. Day. Ever.

Thanks for the awesome day, PawPaw!

On the road again- August 2-3.

 After 43 days, we finally decided to head back down south.

Packed to the gills.

We stopped in West Virginia to see Aunt Joann and Uncle Dean.  Then, while the kids were fishing and Aunt Sonya's house, we snuck up to the top of the mountain to admire Grandpa's view.  

We spent the night with Aunt Lillie, who always takes good care of us and makes sure June and Georgie have plenty of costume jewelry.

Though I don't think she was sad to see us go.

It's a harsh reality going back home after 6 weeks of fun and spoiling.  Poor Beatrice felt it most of all.

Headed home- August 1.

We were supposed to go home before the end of July, but Aunt Jill surprsed us by coming into town, so we extended our trip a few days longer. 

Totally worth it.

Mostly because I got to hug on my sweet baby Sam.

Why is Sweet Bea stuffed into a baby doll high chair?

For the grand opening of the resturant- Snack Line.

The menu included pretzels, goldfish, cranberries and grapes.  Or you could order a trail mix of everything mixed together.

There was even music provided.  It was wonderful.

Next, we disrobed the babies to get good comparison.  Sam is about 4 months older than Bea. 

We now call them "The Chin and The Cheeks."

I love you, Grams.

But the vacation does have to end at some point.  Let's throw everything in the car and get back south.