Two Year Old Gifts

Molly Anne has always wanted to be a big kid so she was in heaven last weekend with her big cousins and all of their super cool toys!  Here are some things on her birthday list and some things we've already gotten for her!  

1. My nieces have this super cool Buddha Board!  It says it's for ages 5 and up but Molly Anne LOVED it.  Supposively it's used as one of those zen relaxation things although I think it's pretty relaxing if your child is entertained for 10 minutes!  You put water in the front of the stand and use the brush that it comes with to brush water onto the board and make a creation.  If you draw something super cool, snap a picture because it eventually fades away!  


2.  Candy Construction Building Set.  This kept her highly entertained too!  She loves building things and putting blocks together so this was right up her alley!

3.  I gave the girls Boogie Board's for Christmas one year!  They're awesome to just slip in your purse for your children to use when they're out and about.  Nice, quiet activity and will grow with them as they get older.  I also think these are a good price point for a birthday gift!

4.  Tangle Fidget Toy - these were fun for her to snap and unsnap and "fidget" with!

5.  Ride On Vehicle!  Sorry, Molly Anne, this isn't happening anytime soon but she loved riding on this with her big cousin!

Can you tell she was LOVING being at their house?  They have the most fun toys!

Pawleys Island

On Friday morning we drove down to Pawleys Island, SC which is a little under 4 hours from where we live.  My brother and SIL live there.  My parents came down from Maryland and my mom's brother and his wife (my aunt and uncle) came up from Florida.  It was such a fun and memorable weekend!  

Here are some pictures.  SOME people don't want to be on the ole blog.  That's a different story but I'll respect their wishes and not put them on here.  I hate I won't have the pictures in my journal for years to come but it tis what it tis!

Friday we got there around lunch, Molly Anne took a nap while Kevin and I met my parents and Aunt and Uncle at Moe's for lunch.  This is a local Moe's that does bbq, not Moe's southwest grill.  
 

 

Then we hung out on their covered porch.  

Emily had to go be with her parents in Raleigh on Friday afternoon so we held the fort down.  My parents and Aunt and Uncle stayed at their own condo across the creek from my brother's place.  

For dinner we had brought a big lasagna from Pasta and Provisions to have with a salad.  Kevin and Clay were at a concert that night which was after some fishing tournament my brother was in.  I ended up staying up too late with those two goofballs.  

Saturday morning we went for a boat ride.

 

Girlfriend loves being on the boat.  

 

Mid day, Kevin and I took the three girls to the pool.  My Dad ended up coming to meet us while the rest of the crowd went to McClellanville for lunch.  Poppa got the girls ice cream after lunch which was a big treat.  Molly Anne basically thought she was in heaven!  Pool, ice cream and her Poppa & cousins.  What more did she need!

 

Oops this picture is from Friday.  

 

After nap, we took the girls out to the sandbar that we can walk to from my brother's dock.  Molly Anne was not impressed even though last year we could barely drag her off of it.  The rest of the weekend and even this morning she kept saying, "I like mud!"  So maybe she will like it next time or maybe I made fun of her too much for being wimpy?!  

 

 

 

Saturday night we had a babysitter come and stay with the girls while the adults went to dinner at Bistro 217.  Jackie even put Molly Anne to bed and she fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in her pack n play (big day with her cousins!).  

It was an outstanding meal and full of laughs and beverages.  Some of our crowd were counting straws to determine who had the most liquor drinks.  My brother mayyyyy have been embarrassed we were so loud in a town where he knows everyone.  Haha!  Grouper was outstanding.

After dinner we all went back to my brother's and hung out on the covered porch and had the best time.  We recreated our wedding photos because Aunt Susan said they didn't get a picture with us.  We had my Dad and Mom officiate.  Oh my gosh it was a hoot.  

They all went back to their place later that night and Kevin and I hung out with my brother in his garage and back porch on the water.  Basically the three of us did that all three nights.  Clay and Kevin are too funny together.  

 

Sunday morning we recreated some pictures we took last summer!  If you're friends with me on Instagram, you saw how cute they were!

The girls, my parents and I went to the Hammock shops playground for awhile so they could run wild.  Then we took them to Walgreens because some little one really wanted to go shopping.  The big girls picked out Pokemon cards and Molly Anne picked out a Mickey Mouse microphone.  She had a field day with that thing and was still carrying it around this morning.  

 

After nap we went out to the creek sandbar and hung out.  It's around the corner from the beach but it's the perfect place for children.  They can hang by the water but not have big waves.  

 

 

Molly Anne loved being out there playing in the sand, swimming and just having so much fun with all of the other children.  A lot of my brother's friends go out there with their families every Sunday.  

 

Nannie and Poppa came too!

 

 

 

 

 

My brother flying on in.

 

Kevin and Molly Anne finding shells.

 

Back at the house we got ready for a seafood extravaganza!  Shrimp from McClellandville and crabs from Georgetown.  

 

Look at Molly Anne checking out the crabs.  She kept saying, "CRABBIES!"

 

 

We initiated Kevin into our family after Molly Anne went to bed and made him cook us crabs.  We had to give him some instructions and he had a little help from my brother.  

 

But!  He served us some crabs!

 

And they were GOOD!  Caught that morning.  Doesn't get any fresher!

 

The original four of us!

 

Memorial Day.  We talked to the three girls about what Memorial Day is about.  We told them it isn't HAPPY Memorial Day.  In fact, it's likely the most somber day of the year other than religious holidays.  Drives me crazy when people say Happy Memorial Day but I probably have said it in the past until I was educated.

 

 

We found Molly Anne like this with Fin at one point yesterday morning.  Haha!  She's crazy (and cute!).  

 

She pretended to be a baby while we took Anna Kate to the Joggling Board to shop some more! ;)  Nannie got the two big girls each a Lilly dress!  Molly Anne has too many clothes already!

 

We got back on the road right before Molly Anne's nap time.  She slept about 1.5 hours and then watched Frozen the rest of the way back.  It was an easy trip.  

We LOVE going down to Pawleys and it's so easy with the girls too.  They love taking care of their little cousin and Molly Anne has the time of her life down there!  We hope to get back very soon!

Random House Updates

I don't have anything specific to talk about today or any pictures but here is where we stand.  It has been a busy week and we have so much more to do.  This house is definitely a lot of work!  

1.  We had a couple issues in our master shower and toilet room.  The transom window in the shower wasn't centered which drove me insane and I could not deal with it being that way forever.  There wasn't room to center it because of the brick on the outside so we had to build another wall for the shower and it'll be squeezed in by about 4-5".  It isn't the end of the world to have our shower get smaller but it was a little disappointing.  But the window is now centered!  The toilet plumbing wouldn't work because of an I-beam below it so they had to build the wall out for this too and move the toilet forward so the plumbing would work.  

2.  We talked about making our master bath wider and laundry room narrower and longer.  In the end, it doesn't really make sense to do.  We were doing it so the laundry room was more efficient and had room for a bar to hang clothes.  It would also make the master bath feel less long and narrow (this is the most disfunctional space in the house if I had to pick one yikes!).  In the end, we will still have room for a bar in the laundry room and the master bath is honestly fine.  Most of the time master baths have so much wasted space.  Ours won't.

3.  Sliding doors between the den and covered porch.  We are about 80% sure we are going to do the 12' wide opening.  We found out that the cost wasn't nearly what we thought it was going to be so it almost became a no brainer so we could have the flexibility.  This way we can have it open 3', 6', 9' or 12'.  For less than $3,000 we think it may be worth it.

4.  We decided not to do copper on the returns on the outside of our house.  Going with shingles and saving a few thousand dollars on that.  We can always add the copper later but probably not necessary and we won't do it.  

5.  Plumbing happened this week.  I met the plumber there on Monday afternoon and we ran through everything.  Trying to think of it all and plan ahead for what we may want to do in the future.  A lot cheaper to run an extra couple of lines now than later.  We also selected the places that the hose bibs outside will be.  We want to be able to wash our cars - on of Kevin's favorite things to do ha!

6.  I think we've finalized the audio video stuff.  This has been our biggest shock of how much it is and it's not included in our loan.  Well, some of the pre-wire is but that's it.  Basically we are going to pre-wire EVERYTHING we can think of in our house.  Speakers in every room and outside, 12 TV locations, surround sound in a few areas, Ethernet stuff, cameras, the whole shebang.  Then we can decide later on the exact equipment we will install now.  We have a good idea on that but need to see where we land on other financials (aka Granite, cabinets etc).  

7.  We are working on picking out what material we will use on the floor for our covered porches.  Travertine was included but it won't really look right with our white brick on the house and fireplace.  We are leaning towards a gray slate or bluestone.  Need to decide this soon.

8.  We have to pick the type of inside fireplace we want this week.  The options are vent free, direct vent or b-vent.  Yeah, I had no clue what any of these were but I spent Monday night studying fireplaces and barely watching the Bachelorette premier haha!  I'm much more educated now.  


Our next few things to decide - finalize cabinetry, finalize tile, look at granite and start looking at appliances. 

Water and Cute Shoes for Molly Anne

This is the deal.  These sandals are ugly (in my opinion of course!) and not what I imagine my cute little baby to be wearing.  BUT, I am a practical person and I don't want her feet to hurt her whole life.  So I want her to wear something supportive and safe.  

Enter our little trip to Nordstrom on Saturday.  This was after we've tried Natives and Crocs on her which are cuter.  Natives didn't work because she has a high arch and she had circles indented on the top of her foot after 5 minutes of wearing them.  We got a pair of Crocs that actually do work and Molly Anne loves them, I just don't know that she has enough coordination to keep them on unless the back strap is pretty tight.  We're currently testing them out around the house so we'll see on those!  

Took her to the shoe department and the lady suggested these and my response - NO WAY!  My child isn't wearing hiking shoes to the beach!  

But the more I learned about them, I knew they were a smart decision.  She is going to be walking on uneven docks, shells in the creek and in water with unknown things on the bottom.  She's a good walker but still not 100% perfect...she's not even 2 yet.  Kevin was actually on this little trip to Nordstrom and he was even sold on them because of how practical they were.  He wasn't as sold when he went to the register to pay but that's a different story! ;)

On to some MUCH cuter shoes that I also got for her this week!  These Jack Rogers Little Miss Hamptons Sandals!  Jack Rogers has never had sandals for between sizes 5-8 until this past week I think!  My friend Margot alerted me to these and I ordered them instantly.  Do not ever tell Kevin how much they were but they are ADORABLE.  Got them on Saturday and Molly Anne said, "ohhhhhhh new shoes!"  Not every day you get two new pairs of shoes ha!  


So now Molly Anne has three pairs of shoes for this year - the jellys, the sandals and these dressy sandals!  She is officially good to go in the shoe department!

May and June Gifts

I think May and June may be our busiest month for giving gifts.  If you know me, you know I LOVE picking out and giving gifts.  I thought it may be fun to list some of them and what I've bought so maybe it gives you some ideas for any gift you are buying soon!

50th Birthday for a guy - bottle of vodka 

Teacher Appreciation week - I did two days - one day I did this tea set and the other I did a starbucks gift card and drink from there.  

Friend from work - gift certificate to the boutique Bevello (a few girls at work and I split this for her)

Mother's Day - pajamas from Nordstrom

Baby Sprinkle - bath theme - this towel from PBK, noodle and boo bath wash and a bath toy

New Baby - I sent this to one of my oldest friends after she had a baby.  She had a girl this time so I wanted to go all girly things!  This blanket which is is a blanket now and then turns into a lovey once they get older (Molly Anne's very fav).  Christine monogrammed it for me of course.  And two bows from The Tipsy Bunny - one with a monogram and one without!

One Year Old Boy Birthday - they said in lieu of gifts to donate to St. Jude so we did that and then took two books to the party.  This one and this one.  Usually for a young boy gift I do these tractors!

One Year Old Girl Birthday - this bracelet for two one year old girl birthdays and this slide for another!

Baptism - this necklace and little prayer book.

Three Year Old Girl Birthday - cannot share because her dear mother reads my blog but it's a super cute bathing suit!  Her Mama told me to do a bathing suit so that isn't a surprise! ;)

Three Year Old Girl Birthday - this placemat.  Someone gave this to Molly Anne for her first birthday and she uses it every night!  We gave matching ones to 1 year and a 3 year old sisters this year!  

Three Year Old Boy Birthday - this lego duplo set

Housewarming Party - this soap and lotion set from Williams Sonoma.  This is always a good ole trusty gift and at $30 it's a good price point!

Can you tell I'm on gift overload these couple of months?  I still have to do two more birthdays, one anniversary, father's day and my own child's birthday!  Yikes!

Pool, Brunch, Birthday, Gala, Sprinkle

How's that for a creative title?!  Not!

Here's how the weekend went down:

Pool

Brunch

Mall

Nap

Birthday

Gala

Baby Sprinkle

Pool

Let's recap.

Friday afternoon we went to our new neighborhood pool with friends Margot and Emmerson!  This was Molly Anne's first dip this year.  She wasn't impressed at first but after I splashed water on her and we went into the deeper water, she was fine and loving it.  

"Poooooool!"

Life doesn't get better if you're Molly Anne - pink lemonade which kept her up an hour past bed time (rookie move) and goldfish.  

Bathing beauties!

The King Mills!  He's so stately!

Saturday morning we went to Cafe Monte for brunch to celebrate our own little Mother's Day a bit belated!  It was so fun and amazingly, Molly Anne was an angel.  She quietly colored while waiting on our food.    

Smoked salmon benedict and a mimosa - YES!  It was amazing as it looks.  Kevin had an omelet and Molly Anne had an egg and some fruit.  The only thing on the kids menu for breakfast was a nutella crepe and I wasn't about to go there with the day ahead haha!

Love my sweet girl!

Afterward we went over to the mall and got Molly Anne some new shoes and I had to return a couple of things.  

Afternoon nap time with my buddy.

Molly Anne helped me give Mills a bath out back and then we got dressed and went to Lucas' first birthday party!  Molly Anne loved the new toys (to her) at their house!

Cake was obviously a highlight!

It was so fun celebrating his birthday!  It was golf themed and Mindy always goes crazy with the crafts and decorations.  They all decorated the cutest golf visors and then took home a set of play golf clubs too!  Molly Anne had the best time.

Saturday night we went to Ballantyne Resort for a gala benefiting A Child's Place.  They provide supplies, food and mentors to homeless children in Charlotte.  It was a wonderful evening and a lot of money was raised!

A typical "us" picture.  

On Sunday I attended a sprinkle at Dogwood Southern Table for Kristen!  She is expecting in August and doesn't know the gender.  Love a good surprise and I'm so excited for her!  She already has a little boy.  My guess is girl this time!  

This should be called the WORTH EVERY CALORIE chicken biscuit.  

After I got home, Molly Anne had just woken up from her nap so we went to the pool.  I'm SO proud of her.  This was only her second time to the pool this year and she stood on the side of the pool and jumped into my arms with no help!  She LOVED it too and kept saying "again, again!"  Now I must watch her like a hawk at the pool because she has no fear!  I thought she would be more into the splash pad than she was but she just wanted to swim in the big pool!  We have a fun summer ahead!