Memorial Day Weekend

We expected our Memorial Day weekend to be pretty low key this year since we were just going to be hanging out at home, but it ended up being very busy and a lot of fun. On Saturday night, we had a special guest. Benjamin came to stay with us while his mom and dad were at the hospital welcoming his new baby brother. The next morning, we all played in the backyard while John stained the fence. The kids were enthralled with this project and had a great time "helping" John.

We headed to Decatur on Sunday night for a cookout with our friends and their adorable baby girl, Lyla. Lyla was very entertained by Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was very entertained by Lyla's toys.

On Monday, we had some of our neighbors over for a cookout. Cruz, Chloe and Elizabeth had a great time playing tee ball and soaking themselves with the water table.

Here are a few photos of Elizabeth and her friends.

Breakfast buddies:


Child labor:









Nothing beats a water table on a hot day:

Big Girl Update: First Haircut

The many pictures of Elizabeth taken during our vacation made one thing perfectly clear: girlfriend needed a haircut. Today we went to Pigtails and Crewcuts for an overpriced but kid-friendly first haircut experience. The salon is filled with toys, snacks, and TV's to entertain/distract the kids during their haircuts, but every child in the place cried at some point.

There are no photos from the actual haircut, which lasted all of three minutes, as Elizabeth did not take kindly to a stranger coming at her with scissors and needed to sit on my lap to get through it. Here are a few "before and after" photos. As you can see, the haircut included a pigtail styling and super tacky sticker hair jewels, but you will get the idea.

Before shots:










After:








Post-haircut trip to Trader Joe's:

Litchfield by the Sea

The vacation that we have been planning for almost a full year has come and gone, and it did not disappoint. We met our friends Phil, Kristen and Will in Litchfield Beach, SC for a really fun week at the beach. Will and Elizabeth are only six months apart in age and, for the most part, played together well. Elizabeth seemed to employ the skills she has learned from her new book, "Hands are Not for Hitting."

Most days followed a schedule like this: wake up, breakfast in the condo, walk to Starbucks and back, head to the beach or the pool, come up to the condo for lunch, toddler naps, more pool time, and dinner somewhere fun. The perfect beach vacation!

It was great to spend so much time with our Michigan friends!










Charleston day trip:







Back in Litchfield Beach:

Jonquil Festival

What is a jonquil, you ask? Well, we don't really know, despite living in Smyrna, a.k.a. "the Jonquil City," for almost four years. Here is a jonquil according to Google:



In any event, the Jonquil Festival is held in downtown Smyrna every spring, but this was the first year we have attended. The festival kicked off with the Jonquil Jog (5k run) on Saturday morning. I ran the race and John and Elizabeth met me at the finish line. Later in the day, after Elizabeth's nap, we headed back to the festival. We spent the afternoon checking out the artist booths, eating frozen lemonades, listening to live music, and walking around the park on a beautiful spring day. The festival also had a crawfish boil, but by the time we found it, it was time for Elizabeth to head home. I promised John that we will hit that first next year.

Below are photos from our afternoon at the festival. We will be heading to the beach next weekend, so be looking for our vacation megapost in two weeks!