Say Cheese!

So Alina loves the camera! Whenever we take it out she smiles and looks right at the camera. Some of our favorite pictures are from bathtime, we love how cute she is with a towel over her head and these pics from a few days ago will help you see why.

She could be in a Bible movie with this look!

Raaaggrhhh!!!!!

Baby Kate

Saturday we went to visit our friends', Kelli and Kyle, new baby. She was born July 9th and her name is Katherine Anslee. She has a head full of hair! We went with Jason and Leslie to Atlanta, where we met up with Chris and Marcie. We ate lunch at Chipotle and then headed north to Dalton to visit Kyle, Kelli and Kate. They are living there with her parents for the summer. In August, they will move to Waco, Texas where Kyle will be teaching at Baylor. We are so excited for them!

After having dinner with Kyle and Kelli we headed back to Atlanta and played some Settlers with the Waters and the Tutens. We stayed up way too late! Sunday morning we went to Christ Church with Chris and Marcie. We really enjoyed their church. After lunch at an organic, gluten-free pizza crust available, save the earth pizza place we headed back to Columbia with the Waters. It was a great time of hanging out with friends and meeting baby Kate.

Doesn't Leslie look good with a baby?

Proud mama:)

Alina thought Kate was pretty cute too!

Can you believe all this hair? And so dark!

Marcie and Leslie

Alina loves Jason, and Leslie, but especially Jason!

Cindy, Charleston and Columbia

This past weekend Cindy finally got to come and visit us in South Carolina! We've been waiting for a long time for this and are so excited that she was able to hang out with us. We hadsuch a fun weekend.

She flew in on Thursday afternoon and we hung out and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, which is a very cute and fun movie. Even Justin liked it!

On Friday, we had an appointment with Alina for her six month check-up, but from there we headed down to Charleston. We ate lunch at Hymans and walked around the shops on King Street and the great houses on the battery. Then we headed for Folly Beach for some fun in the sun. We didn't stay too long, because it was windy, but we all had a great time.

Saturday we hung around Columbia. I took Cindy to the flea market just for fun, we did find a bag for Alina for her trip to Texas! Then we ate some SC style barbecue (mustard-base) and headed to Columbia for a few hours. I showed Cindy around USC and we went to the Gourmet Shop in Five Points. That night we hung around the house and Matt and Jessica came over for a game of Settlers. It was a great weekend!

This is one of our favorite houses on King Street.

College of Charleston

Alina really liked sitting with us in the water. She thought the sand in her toes was a neat feeling! We can't wait to take her back to the beach.

Cindy and I at USC

She is the cutest! (at least I think so)

Still Tall and Skinny

Alina turned 6 months on Tuesday! She is doing so many fun and new things. She sits up very well, she laughs and "talks," and she is just so much fun! On Tuesday, Pauline and the kids went with me to get her pictures made. Some of the proofs are below. She was pretty fussy but they got some cute pictures!

On Friday we went to the doctor for her six month check up. She is on the same growing curve. She weighs 15 lbs 1 oz (25th%) and is 26 3/4 inches long (75th%), still tall and skinny! Dr. Cope said she is very healthy and is doing very well. We also began giving her food today, she had carrots for the first time! At lunch we mixed them with rice cereal and she ate it really well. At 4pm, we gave her just the carrots and she made a few funny faces but took them also. We are having lots of fun with our big girl!

Fourth of July

Saturday we went with Matt and Jessica to Jessica's parents farm in Clinton. It was such a neat place, calm, relaxing, great place to just hang out. We enjoyed some bbq for lunch and then played in the pool. Both Alina and Patrick seem to really enjoy the water. Alina will easily spend an hour playing in the pool! Jessica and I took a ride around the farm while the babies slept, and I got to drive a golf cart, I think it was my first time, then we played in the pool. The boys played frisbee and bocce while we hung out. The dogs ran around and Major and Linus swam in the pool while we all hung out. Macy mostly hung out by herself, she's just weird. For dinner we ate steaks and grilled veggies. Everything was great! Then we played in the pool some more once the kiddos were down for the night. Jessica's father and brother put on a firework show for us, the dogs were not that excited about that! We had a great time:)

Hello? Are we going swimming? I have my swimsuit, hat and sunglasses, I'm ready to go!
Finally, enjoying the cool water on a hot summer day! We put lots of sunscreen on, don't worry grandmas.
Linus loves to swim and chase whatever balls the boys were throughing. Patrick also likes hanging out with his mom in the pool.


Playing hard will wear a dog out! Major took breaks in the shade, Macy like laying under a tree to cool off.

Justin holding Patrick:)

Playing PIG in the pool, our own version using Patrick's float as a "basket." I'm not sure who won or if we even finished the game.
Jessica relaxing while Patrick was taking a nap. The kids did great, they slept and ate well and loved playing in the pool! While they were sleeping, Jessica and I enjoyed some pool time too.
Justin, Matt and Chris (Jessica's brother) played bocce ball and the dogs were very interested.
We had so much fun! Thanks Jessica and Matt for inviting us up to the farm and we look forward to hanging out there again sometime.

Bluberry Pickin'

Today Alina and I went blueberry picking with our friends (Pauline, her kids, her friend Mari and her kids). There's a place about ten minutes from our house were they give you a bucket and you can pick blueberries, then you come back weigh them and take them home. Only $1 per pound, which is a great price! So we had lots of fun with the kids, but it was hot!!! The other kids helped pick the blueberries, but Alina just watched:)

Here she is ready to pick blueberries. Got keep the sun off somehow!
Joel picked a lot of blueberries, Josiah hung out in his stroller next to Alina. They are really good buddies! He gets so excited whenever he sees her.
All the kids after we picked blueberries and we were ready to go home! Mari and Pauline both have four kids, so they each have a buddy their own age and gender!
My bucket of blueberries, it was 1.25 pounds, so I only paid $1.25 for all those blueberries!
I wanted to put my blueberries to good use, so I made this cake my mom makes with fruit a lot. My friend, Leslie, gave me a Texas cake pan a while back so this was perfect. Its hard to tell, but its supposed to be the flag, I used a star cookie cutter to put on the whip cream for the star shape, but it didn't turn out that great:(