Jacksonville Trip...

We recently went to Jacksonville for Clinton's sister's baby shower, Cassie. She had her boy, Collin Elijah Sawyers on October 30th. We went down there the 14, 15, and came home the 16th. We had an interesting time. The girls got to go to the beach twice, so that was well worth the trip! Jocelyn got to put her feet in the ocean for the first time, and Daphne loved playing in the water as always. We got to Jacksonville on Friday night pretty late because we had to leave after I got out of school, and we stopped in Durham for some yummy Red Robin with Tiff and Joe. We got up Saturday morning and played around Jacksonville, including Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch. We went to the baby shower, and then drove around a bit. We decided to go to the beach that evening since it was still so warm outside. Definitely worth the 30 minute trip out there! The girls loved it. They really wanted to come back (including mommy!) the next day. While we were in Jacksonville, we even got to see Zak (Clinton's best friend) while he was on land--since he is in the Navy and is stationed in Conn.

our wonderful little beach bum family :)

loving her exersaucer

Jocelyn loves her big sister, and Daphne has gotten so good with playing with Jocelyn

Our precious little girls

We rolled over! No we weren't happy about it, but we did it any way :)

Jocelyn and daddy...don't think he can deny her ;)

Jocelyn enjoyed playing games too :)

Winning tickets at Chuck E. Cheese...we got a whole bunch of wonderful little trinkets from the prize area.

Mommy, Daphne, Daddy, Jocelyn, Kitty (Clinton's mother), and Cassie (Clinton's sister)

ahh, ocean water!

Jumping over the waves.

Sea shells!

Jocelyn would just giggle when the water would hit her feet.

Daddy and Jocelyn playing in the water.Feet!Daphne loved jumping and playing around on the beach until a wave knocked her down. Her clothes were soaked then!

All of us wonderful ladies!

Mommy and her wonderful girls walking in the ocean.

Perfect Saturday night!

Beach sand was ALL in my car when we were finished. Eh, we all had fun. That's what matters!

Daphne and daddy looking for sea shells on Sunday morning.

Jocelyn trying to jump out of Shannon's hands and into the ocean.

Licking her lips to taste the water.

Daphne and Shannon were fast asleep on the car ride home. It was so warm and snuggly in there with the sun beating down on all of us. A day at the beach will do that to you!Even Jocelyn slept most of the way home! We were all tired after this busy busy weekend.

Joint Bath Time

Jocelyn LOVES bath time with her big sister, and Daphne LOVES bath time with her little sister.

As you can tell, Daphne and Jocelyn love taking baths together. Jocelyn has gotten to where she will cry if she has to be put in the little tub. She tries to wiggle her way off her seat because she is splashing so much! We have had a busy few weeks. School has started back, which means mommy is super busy, the house isn't in summer neatness condition anymore (haha), the girls have both been sick (Jocelyn last weekend with belly mess and fever, and this weekend Daphne with ear infections, strep, and bronchitis), and daddy is just trying to keep up with all of us! Jocelyn has finally gotten used to daycare. She was reluctant the first few days, or at least with the bottle. She did NOT like that AT ALL. She would only have 1 or 2 a day, and that was only because she was starving. Finally, she has realized that it is a good thing and that mommy will still feed her in the evenings/nights. Daphne has had some trouble getting back into the groove of things. She was given a new color at school for her behavior "black." Luckily, we have had a better week last week, so we are hoping it continues. We are so thankful to have wonderful ladies who watch over our two precious girls everyday and not complain when they have a bad day!

Daphne's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza...

We have obviously had a very busy two weeks. We had to prepare and celebrate our big sister's birthday. Daphne had a wonderful time at her Tangled birthday party. Jocelyn has been working hard on her tummy time. She is holding her head up really well. Of course, we work so hard that we sometimes fall asleep on the nice comfy surf board.

Anna came over to play and spend the night on Tuesday the 2nd. We got to try out what we borrowed for Daphne's party. Bryson, Anna, and Daphne got to go down a water slide in the front yard. This is them waiting for it to be blown up.

Jocelyn even got to go down it :)

Anna helping Daphne up the slide.

This would be a really awesome picture if the camera didn't fog up. Right before Daphne's party started, it began to pour down rain. She was really upset. Luckily, she at least got to play on the water slide a few times before the sky opened up. Then it stopped right as people started showing up. Whew, that was close!

Daphne can climb up the slide by herself.

This was her before her party started. She is playing in the rain.

Mommy made the birthday cake look like the tower from Tangled. Of course, aunt Emilee helped with the construction of the tower. I was very pleased with myself at how well it turned out.

The spread of food...before all the hamburgers and hotdogs and such.

Orange jello boats inspired by the movie Tangled.

All the kids playing on the slide.

Anna and Daphne sliding down the water slide. Needless to say, the water slide was a really big hit!

Katherin, Lauren, Mimi, and Jocelyn watching the kids playing.

Uncle Ben getting to see his goddaughter for the first time.

Daphne opening all of her presents. It was so cute because all of the kids were surrounding her trying to help her open presents.

Bryson, Daphne, and Madi (Dawn's daughter. Dawn is a teacher friend of mine)

Daphne loved the binoculars mommy and daddy bought her.

Opening the gifts

Yay at the new headband!

Everyone helping and watching patiently. Apparantly she opens presents like her mother, which is very meticulous and slow, instead of ripping the paper off. She likes the suspense too :)

Boots! yay for boots! Daphne is a boots fanatic.

Playing with her brand new soccer ball. We have played with it quite a bit this week outside, untile it becomes unbearably hot with an eight week strapped to mommy.

Daphne, Bryson, and Shannon horsing around like they always do.

The other side of the cake, along with the 3 big candles. Can't believe our baby is already growing up THAT quickly!

Most of the kids from the party. We are missing Mackenzie in the picture, but she was sitting on the couch.

Blowing of the candles

It was 3 layers of yummy goodness. Oh so moist and very good if I do say so myself. It had a secret layer of strawberry just for Daphne, along with two layers of funfetti cake. Mommy even made all of the icing :)

Aunt Emilee made this wonderful banner for Daphne, also inspired by Tangled. If you haven't seen it yet...you need to take the time to do so. You would love it, even big kids like it.

Purple and gold lanterns, and Tangled balloons. We had a paper lantern that we put a candle in and it floats away, but we forgot to do it before everyone left.

On Monday (her actual birthday), mommy, daddy, and Jocelyn took Daphne out for the day. First, we went to Bojangles to get a boberry biscuit for breakfast. Then we went to mamaw and pop pop's house to say hey. Daphne wanted to ride bumper cars, so we decided to go to Concord Mills Mall to the Nascar Speed Park. Unfortunately, Daphne was an inch too short to ride any of the rides, even if daddy went with her. So...we decided to walk around the mall and see what else we could find for Daphne to enjoy doing until it was time to see the movie Cars 2. We took her to the merry-go-round to ride and then she wanted to jump on the big trampolines. She did a great job! After that, we went to get some lunch at Firehouse Subs. Once we finished that, we walked around a big more and then went to see the movie. Daphne wanted popcorn and fruit snacks while she was watching Cars 2. It was a cute movie, but definitely not as good as the first one.

Daphne getting strapped to the bungee cords.

We could tell she was a little nervous once she was hooked up.

She may have been a little nervous, but she ended up doing great. She didn't do any flips, but she did start to get into the jumping a little more towards the end. We were sure if she had done it again that she would have jumped really high. Mommy and daddy's little dare devil!

Tuesday night we went to dinner with Jason and Emilee to celebrate Jason's departure to boot camp. We ate at El Paso and then came back to our house to hang out. Emilee and I gave the girls a bath. Daphne takes baths like a fish, and Jocelyn is really getting to where she enjoys the baths a whole lot. She splashed Emilee quite a bit, and there was water EVERYWHERE when she was finished.

Yes, the boys have taken Daphne's birthday presents and put them to good use. They are attempting to make the trains go down the track without help from them.

They worked on this for over an hour :)

Emilee and Jocelyn watching the boys right before Jocelyn went to bed.

On Thursday (the 11th), Grandpa Bill and aunt Cassie came to visit. She wanted to meet Jocelyn and see Daphne again before she had her own little boy (in November). We did a lot of talking and playing, and eventually ate Chinese and Japanese food. I'm sure you can guess that Daphne and mommy were the ones that had Japanese, daddy had sushi (yuck), and Grandpa Bill and aunt Cassie had Chinese.

Now, school is starting next week so we are enjoying the last bit of summer we have left! That also means doctors appointments, hair cuts, and teeth cleaning (just for mommy though). We take both girls to have their well checks, and Jocelyn gets her first shots. It will be interesting to see how much they have both grown!