4 Year Portraits

A few weeks back, we went to a neighbor's house and she snapped some cute summer photos of the girls for their 4-year portraits.  Then, she has some really amazing photo editing software, so she edits them and gives me the CD so I can print or not print whatever I want in whatever size I want.  A great deal. 

I love the idea of more "professional" type photos, esp in an outdoor setting, but those can cost a fortune.  And the indoor studio photos are getting old.  I did outdoor photos at age 2 as well, so every other year, this is a nice change.  Here are some of the photos we got.  And as an added bonus, I sent her a few of my Hiltong Head photos and she edited those too!

More Hilton Head

On to day 3 of the vacation.  Most every day began with us hitting the beach for a while and then the pool second.  Here are the girls getting ready to take on the sand!

Then, on to the pool.  Yep, we're swimming in the deep end!

Several of the days, one parent would head up to the condo and come back with lunch so we could enjoy eating outside by the pool.  Today's lunch obviously included Cheetoes.  Look at all that orange dust on Nicole!  And, most every afternoon, the resort also had an ice cream social just after lunch time.  We bought the girls a sundae and they enjoyed that by the pool as well.  Spoiled...I'd say so!  I could get used to vacations.

Day 4:  Our morning routine of getting ready to head to the beach.  Look at them sporting their airbrushed tatoos from the day before.  (Daddy's great idea!)

Taking a break from the waves to build a sand castle.

Hilton Head 2011

So, the weekend after the big birthday party, we took our annual (only missed one year since they were born) trip to Hilton Head.  I've been going to Hilton Head since I was probably 7-8 years old, so it holds lots of memories for me.  And how cool that I get to share it with my kids now thanks to MeeMaw and PaPa.

Day 1:  We arrived late in the afternoon, dinner time in fact.  We ordered a pizza...quick and easy...and immediately HIT THE BEACH!  

Give me a thumbs up if you LOVE Hilton Head!!!

Playing in the surf...

Then, the evening couldn't be complete without also hitting the pool!  So, we did that too.  Did I mention that both of my girls are EXPERT fish.  I meant swimmers!!!  My kids have always been drawn to the water.  They just love it.  And by the last two weeks of summer or so last year, they could "swim."  We're talking a few feet here and there, but they wouldn't have drowned, which is important.  Then, we went on our Disney cruise in September and Nicole really, really, really reinforced that she could swim.  Kaitlyn could but was more timid and would still say things like, "I can't do it."  Well, not this summer.  They LOVE it and are GREAT at it.  Mike sometimes thinks that we get crazy looks as our kids plunge into the deep end.  It doesn't bother me though.  Age is irrelevant and is just a number.  If you can swim, you can swim.  And by contrast, there are plenty of 10 year olds out there that should be no where near the deep end of the pool.  I'm just sayin'.  Don't judge.  They are more than capable even at the young age of four.

Day 2:  No outdoor shots...probably some on FB instead though.  We decided we needed a few more beach toys, so we took a trip in the early afternoon to Wal-Mart.  As we wandered through the store, the girls fell captive to this jewelry set.  Since their birthday was only 5 days prior, we got them a vacation birthday present.  They loved it.

More to come in future posts from the rest of the trip.  It was a great vacation though!

10:09 Happy Birthday Nicole!!!!

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday Dear Nicole.

Happy Birthday to You.

10:08 Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!!

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday Dear Kaitlyn.

Happy Birthday to You.

The Actual Wedding - August 2010

Three posts in one day!!!  Can you tell I'm desperate to get back to present times?  I think it's because the girls' birthday party is tomorrow and I can't imagine waiting until Christmas time to finally show photos from their 4th birthday party.  They are SO excited and cannot wait.  It's going to be a great time.

So, if you're just tuning in, there are more new posts before this one all from the same day.  Don't skip them.  :-)

The previous post was actually cousin Greg's rehearsal dinner.  Here are photos from the actual wedding.  They're mostly all of the girls playing with their cousins and second cousins.  All of my cousins have kids now, so it was quite the gathering of little ones.

Mackenzie was the flower girl so she got to wear quite the cute little dress.  :-)

Princess Jayme (and I'm sure I spelled that wrong because I know she has a different spelling...I tried, but that still doesn't look right).  The girls were QUITE taken with her.  Seriously...a PRINCESS in their presence.  Now that doesn't happen every day.

Since I'm on a Roll...Cousin Greg's Wedding!!!

Well, we just finally finished Halloween.  It appears that I'm out of order though because I definitely want to share some photos from my cousin, Greg's, wedding.  It was in Ohio in August.  The whole family was there.  (My dad is the only sibling who left Ohio, so it was nice to go back and see the rest of his family...we rarely all get together anymore.)

Here are some shots from the rehearsal dinner.

Be still my heart...I absolutely LOVE this photo!  How freakin' adorable.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

A second cousin fiesta!  They had SO much fun together.