I loved all the details. The food was amazing, too...bbq, cole slaw, mac and cheese, baked beans, etc. And lots of desserts!

 The decor was very vintage...so cool. I can't believe they had all these old toys to use.

 And of course my dad's tractor was a central decoration for the party! He was so wonderful to clear out his barn for the girls to set up tables.

 I can get excited about diapers, can you!?

 So thankful for all the women who came to celebrate and for their generous gifts.

Chandler helped me open a few gifts. 

We had a great afternoon. Thanks to my sweet friends for showering our family with love and gifts!

I will do a belly post and baby update soon!

Here we are in the Charlotte airport. They were pumped. We had just driven 3 hours from Salem, but they were still ready for the plane ride. 

V on the airplane. They did so well...not scared or anxious a bit! The flight was less than 2 hours and they stayed entertained.

Our dear friend and babysitter Mattie went with us on the trip. I wouldn't have had much fun without her...she was such a help every moment of the vacation. We all love her!

Little Miss Wiggle Worm did well on the ride, too...very hyped up, talking every second. No nap. :)

Aaron took charge for everything...we just followed him wherever he went. I think Kate was holding her ears here in the Nassau airport because the band was playing loudly.

We rode on a bus to the resort...Kate thought she was hot stuff because she rode in the seat by herself, but she had a hard time remembering to sit still and stay seated. The driver was in his own little world and was hitting curves at full speed...not so comforting, but we made it there just fine.

Our little monkeys entertained themselves and everyone else while we waited to board the plane to come back home on Tuesday. 

I know I have two big posts to make...it's been a busy week! Keep looking out for them!

For Aaron's birthday back in September the girls learned a memory verse for his gift and I thought it would be a good tradition to start for him, so we did another one for Father's Day. We started a month or so ago and they learned it quickly (thanks in part to Seeds Family Worship on my ipod!) I gave some video footage to a good friend at church and he edited it for Aaron. While we were in the Bahamas on Sunday, we walked down to the Internet cafe to show it to him. I think the girls had forgotten that we did this a week ago before we left for the trip, so it was a surprise gift for them, too!

 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them whenyou sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 ESV)

What a weighty task as a father (and mother!). Happy belated Father's Day to all of our dad friends and to our own dads! 

I got a little taste of what it will be like with a little boy in the backseat of our car last week...we kept Daniel for a few hours on Friday and the girls loved being little moms to him! We're going to have so much fun with a baby brother.

9 more weeks (or less)!

Aaron sold his truck today. Definitely a bittersweet thing! He really enjoyed this truck but we're glad to be a little lighter around here in terms of vehicles. Aaron bought a new (for us) SUV a few weeks ago for me, so we're also trying to sell the Yukon. I was really impressed, but not surprised, that he sold this truck in just a couple of days...if you don't know Aaron, he keeps his truck clean!

 Actually, just kidding, this picture was taken of them at the lake on the top of the dock, pretending to take a nap.

 And here we go...beach babes! These beach pictures were taken with my phone.

 "Look at me, Mom! Take a picture of this!"

They raided another boy's sandcastle, but he forgave them and was so sweet to play with them. They spent forever burying each other in the sand...V and K were thrilled with this beach activity.

Mama Dot cooked for us most nights, but one night we went to DQ for dinner and ice cream!

We can't wait to go back to the beach.

I want to mention how insanely proud I was of how they rode in the car. No complaining about the length of drive, even with a broken DVD player! They read, sang to the loud music, made up their own songs, pretended with each other...it was a joy to ride 6+ hours with them...I'm serious! 

We definitely missed home and were glad to see Daddy that Saturday night.

 Both girls enjoyed being out on the lake and didn't complain about their life jackets at all. I would have... :)

 Goofball 

 Chillin' at the front of the boat...I think Vivian found it to be most relaxing out of all of us (see last picture).

 Uncle Joey, Tasha, and cousin Lucas were there, also! It was a treat.

 On Sunday afternoon after we got back from church, the Lloyd family joined us: Addie, Carly, and their parents Tony and Kelly. We spent the afternoon with them on the boat and swimming off the dock and grilled out for dinner together. We love them!

 We found a small beach and they played with some other kids for a few minutes.

 Tony guarded Kate to keep her from being too wiggly.

On Monday around noon after 30 minutes or so of riding, V fell asleep! I couldn't believe it. This is the girl who never takes a nap anymore...falling asleep in this awkward position at noon! It was sweet to a mommy. Proves the complete hypnotizing factor of riding over waves on a boat.

Thanks to mom and dad for letting us use their lakehouse and boat!

 Look who graced us with her presence! Check out that adorable bathing suit :)

I also love those blonde curls on the back of Mason's head!

I'm so thankful that V and K love the water and will play in it for hours.

 There were 13 stations with different activities...the dress-ups were the most popular with Vivian and Kate. Vivian went to do other things, but was always right back to dressing up after only a few minutes. She loved that.

 Queen/bride Vivian

  Butterfly Kate Kate

 Diva Julia!! She wore that piece of orange material on her head almost the whole time :)

 We sat at a round table together to work with clay. Cohen concentrated pretty well.

 Mason

 Kate liked trying out the tools.

 Julia

 Jax and Lilah

 Hi, Caleb!! Cutie!

This will be something we can do every now and then, and would be fun for Aaron to take them on a daddy date to do on a Saturday. I think if there's more one-on-one or two, you can focus more on specific projects. We also painted and drew, and did puppet shows. 

Hooray for the Taubman Museum of Art!

K in the front: Mom, do I have to do this?

Vivian is at the top right corner.

She switched back and forth from crying and coming to sit in my lap, and deciding she wanted to try again. Each time she got back up there, she stood there with her finger in her mouth, looking at the floor :) 

Vivian had a thing for putting her hands in her pockets. But once she got into the songs, they came out and she was doing all the motions.

Two-year-old in front of tons of people: hmmmm...very unpredictable. But memorable!

They really loved preschool this year. Bethel has been so good to us! However, for convenience reasons, they are switching to another preschool for next year (it's so much closer). We will miss the director and all the teachers and friends at Bethel, though!

Salem can now be thankful for a brand new Chick-fil-A on Main Street :)

We have been watching it being built for several months and the girls (who am I kidding...me too) have anticipated its opening. Yesterday was the day! Of course we didn't go, but we did drive past on Wednesday to see how much fuss there was. People were camping out to be the first in line on Thursday morning so they could get free sandwiches for a year. 

We look forward to many lunches and playtimes at the new hot spot!

On Sunday afternoon we spent a few hours at the Salem Red Sox baseball game (thanks, WDBJ7 Deal of the Day for half price tickets!). The girls were pretty hyper and had a grand time. They tried to follow along for the first few innings (Is he going to hit the ball or miss? How fast is he going to run? He did it, Mom! Look how high the ball is!) but then focused more on snacks, dancing, and making friends with the little girl in the row in front of us for the rest of the time.

Awesome family day.

From left to right: my Dad, Aunt Stella, Aunt Julie, my Granny (Mary), Uncle Paul, Aunt Vickie

On Saturday on our way home from the beach, we stopped in Lucama for the Flores family reunion. My Dad and Stephen met us there also. It was a great afternoon for eating good food and playing outside! I actually didn't know many of the people there, but of course my aunts and uncles and some cousins were there so we stuck together :)

It was encouraging to see Vivian and Kate recognize family (they're getting old enough to start putting all the pieces together...) and play with their cousin Hannah.