Puppies at a Party

Since we were just princesses at Ella’s party, I looked to Audrey for inspiration for fall costumes this year.  Now, that Audrey loves many things, but nothing moves her to utter glee more than puppies.  It is really a sight to see!  So, this year the girls became dalmations!

 

New friends of the girls, Allie and Annabeth, threw a big pumpkin bash this year to celebrate fall!  We headed over to the Whitehurst lodge last Friday evening with the Moseleys.  We packed out the van with 4 carseats, 2 puppies, and cowboy, a horse, and 2 mamas – just another travelling show!  ha!

Side note: Why do I always wait until the day of to make costumes?  I do that every year and I always tell myself I won’t.  Since we don’t do Halloween or Trick or Treat, we love finding other events to dress up!  It’s not like the date surprised me!  Next year, I vow to have costumes made one week in advance…maybe I will avoid crazy that way!  Haha!

Side-Side note:  How does fate have it that every time we plan something with Annie and Carrie we are ALWAYS late…like really late…like miss half the party late.  I mean, I am usually 10 minutes late, but not 45!  I think we are all 5-10 minutes late, so when you add that caravan together…you’re just plain late.

 

Miss Cori Belle looking cute as Tinkerbell!

Dumping kernels in Woody’s hat is fun, but…

Not nearly as much fun as chasing Buzz Lightyear ALL NIGHT LONG!  No kidding, my daughter stalked Buzz from first sight!  She LOVED him!  “Hey Buzz, come here Buzz!”

Look at that concentration! 

 

Carrie and Annie just outdid themselves with pumpkin preciousness.  Every corner was decorated absolutely perfect!  The girls had a blast playing and running like wild puppies!  Thanks, ladies, for showing us a wonderful time!

What Ella Does During Nap:

Makes her “Dolly” take a nap.  Because Dolly is in greater need of a nap than Ella Claire, obviously!

 

 

And for memories sake, this is how Ella likes to “lay with me” at night:

[Please note our grey and pink tights coupled with last year’s (AKA too small) Elmo shirt.  Here at our house, sleeping in tights is totally rad!]

Beachin’ It – Until Next Year…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beachin’ It – The Friends!

I’ll let the pictures do the talking. 

Friends just make everything better!

Beachin’ It – The Food

Well, if there is one thing in this whole world that the Basfords and Moseleys do well, it would be eating.  Because folks, we like food.  And here is our evidence:

Your eyes are not seeing things.  This is our bread pile…and it is missing THREE bags of bread.  Oh, did I mention we like carbs?

Mandi pretty much became our cook for the week, which was fine by me ;)  We cooked up some simple and delicious meals at the condo (can you say Low Country Boil).  A few nights we did round up the crew (all 8 of us) and head out for dinner.  Our first was a local seafood joint in St. Augustine.  Osteen’s never disappoints.

You know its good when you see a sign like this…

It’s just simple business here, folks! 

Howie was so excited to eat some fried shrimp ;)  I like this picture of his pure joy!

 

Us girls with our brood!

Since fried goodness wasn’t quite enough, we headed to a local ice cream shop in downtown St. Augustine!  The breeze felt so good as we strolled (literally) down the cobblestone streets to get here!

And it was sooo good!

Later in the week we headed to Saltwater Cowboys…ummm, can i have seconds?  Those grits were delicious!  You know its good when your waiter comes up in cut off jean shorts and a denim shirt.  yes ma’am!

The view from the restaurant porch!  God is so good!

Look at those sweet babies.  Too bad we realized .002 seconds later that they were playing looking at SOOT!  oops!

Oh, and that alligator tail was delish as well!  Yummo!

I think I gained another 5 pounds just remembering all that goodness…oh, wait, I did. 

Beachin’ It – The Pool

Our beautiful condo/resort on Cinnamon Beach had two gorgeous pools to frolic in.  Too bad we were banned from one.  You see, the oceanside pool was deemed the quiet pool.  The adult-only pool.  The you-can’t-enter-with-crazy-kids pool.  Good thing for us, because we got to enjoy the beautiful zero-entry pool, complete with hot tub, kiddie pool, AND splash park…I don’t think we missed much anyway!!

Ella LOVED this pool and we both love the zero-entry.  They are great with littles to splash around freely while mamas lay down and stay cool without getting the hair wet!  It’s a win-win!

See the happiness in that face?  Totally in her element in the pool!

She even whipped up some “pancakes.”  (And notice that dry hair.  Poor thing, she is just like her mama in SO many ways.)

My little burrito.  I could eat her up!

Beachin’ It - The Ocean

What’s better than a week at the beach with your family and fabulous friends…well, nothing!  In early September (yep, I’m a little slacker) we hit the waves on Cinnamon Beach with our beloved Moseley’s.  It did not disappoint!  Jonathan and I had not been away on vacation like this since our honeymoon SIX year ago!  Thankful just wouldn’t fit…we were overjoyed! 

So, without further ado, I’ll will bring the vacation to you in categories, because, well, I took too many pictures and can’t organize them in a better way ;)

See this beautiful can of Coke?  It’s resting upon the sand, in all its glory, just passing the time away.  We used to join that can on the beach.  Now it is just a lonesome soul.  Sorry Coke, we are too busy with kids now, and we wouldn’t have it any other way (as long as Coke is still in reach…amen).

 

Toes in the water, toes in the sand

This little girl loved the beach with a deep kind of love.  Her mouth was pretty much like this the entire time we were on the sand!  Her sister, on the other hand, preferred the calmness of the pool (which explains panic faces and a lot of carrying in all of our beach pictures with Ella)!  However, Audrey’s love of the pool didn’t quite run so deep.  Good thing we had both to satisfy these girls!

Look at that beach…not a soul in sight.  It was so peaceful!  September is the time to go!

Who loves building sandcastles…I think Daddy!

Ella began warming up to the ocean little by little!  Towards the end of the week, she only still panicked when Dillan would run toward the water.  I can still hear her little voice crying, “Ms. Mandi…oh no…get Dillan, get Dillan…ohhhhhh.”  Such a tender and cautious heart.

These girls are great sisters and fabulous friends!  Ella often says, “This is my friend, Audrey.”  Seeing their deep bond develop is just overwhelming at times. 

This picture is not good at all (we were moving down the beach) but it holds such a cute memory!  The girls were laughing so much at each other in one of their little games they develop…and understand.  This particular game consisted of putting dresses over your head while the other one yanked it down…they are creative I tell ya…I’m thinking Parker Brothers will be calling soon! 

Precious memories.