she makes me smile.

This kid.

Y'all.

Weekends with just my girl are disappearing with a quickness. I realize this. And while I know life post baby will be amazing, I can't help but be sad that our weekends with just our sweet girl will soon be a thing of the past. So until that comes, we will live them up. Big time.

Friday night I invited her to a "sleepover" in my room. Dada was working late so it was just us girls. You would have thought I just gave her a million dollars. Her eyes lit up and she flew upstairs. In minutes, she was back downstairs with her nightgown and her overnight bag which she had packed with her stuffed animals and a few books. Y'all, she was SO excited. So we grabbed my laptop, picked a movie, and hit the hay.

E promptly declared that we were going to "stay up all night and watch 18 movies, because that's what you do at sleepovers!", and we settled into a ton of pillows for a movie night. She lasted one movie. Good grief I do love that little nugget.

Dada moved her when he got home to her room. She was not impressed the next morning that he interrupted our sleepover. Not impressed at all.

We spent the next day lazying around. We tried on clothes (she demanded a picture of her in her Christmas jams with Flash and Max), played with markers (she colors body parts, I color paper, whatever), went and walked Ms. Jamie's dog (E is beyond helpful at this age), and just basically hung out. I LOVE this age. She's such fun.

On the last day of summer, we decided to use our pool membership that we've had all summer and haven't touched. No words on our slackness. So off to the pool we went. And I am so glad.

Years from now on I won't remember how huge I felt. I won't remember that I was sweaty as all get out. I won't remember that getting in and out of that lounge chair almost killed me.

What I will remember is her smile. Her glee at the splash pad. Her joy over sharing a poolside hot dog with her Mama. Her giggles and squeals as I chased her in the shallow end (yes holy cow I got in). Her skinny little arms wrapped around my neck as we bobbed along in the adult pool. We couldn't have ended the day, the summer, on a higher note. It was perfection.

A day spent in the pool with her buddies, lots of play time with my best girl and adult time with my best friend, and a quick stop for Chick-fil-a lemonades on the way home and the day was done. Summer 2014 was over. And it couldn't have ended on a higher note. I kind of can't believe that we just ended our last summer with just E. Holy cow how the times are fixing to change. I am beyond thankful for this incredible weekend with my favorite girl.

ww: summer fun

Good grief I love her smile.

summer days driftin' away...

Well I guess we just closed the book on another hot, hot summer here in South Carolina. Sigh...

While I'm beyond ready for jeans and boots and football and Halloween, okay, everything about Fall, I'm a tad sad to see those lazy summer afternoons come to an end. Afternoons spent at the park or the splash pad or out on the boat.

Not only is summer ending, but our time here in the Upstate is quickly drawing to a close forcing me to be all "we have to do (insert activity) one more time!" and dragging Mr. P along for the ride. Thank goodness he's usually a willing participant.

As is typical with any "ending" per se, I find myself wondering if we did enough, if we were outside enough, if we took BG to do enough (I'm a worrier, it's what I do), if we participated in enough activities.

Then I tell myself to chill out. Because we did everything we could to live up this summer. We played at the park. We played at the splash pad. We took trips to Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Savannah. We went out on the boat. We fed the ducks. We went on lots of runs with our best friends. We laughed. We played. We had an absolute blast.

I'm going to go ahead and call this summer a win. Even if we didn't pack every day with Pinterest worthy activities, we got outside and enjoyed ourselves. We played hard and laughed even harder. We did the things that BG loves while also doing what we enjoy. We had a blast this summer. I'm completely okay with closing this chapter and getting ready for the next.

So Happy Labor Day everyone. Enjoy your holiday. And goodbye Summer 2012. You absolutely rocked.

(almost) wordless wednesday

Some afternoons just call for an ice cream cone.

summer days...

Last summer is kind of a blur. I spent it with a newborn and celebrated a bunch of "firsts" with basically a lump that would smile and coo. Yes, it was all fun because it was her "first" time doing everything, but it was pretty calm and quiet.

This summer? Couldn't have been more different.

This summer I had a toddler and holy wow the fun. I'm super stoked for fall and all the fun that it brings but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad sad that all this summer fun is over...

There were hikes...


..lots of pool time (which the dogs have now taken over as their hideout. Guess we were done with it!)...


...nature walks...


..and ice cream dates.


We've learned how to blow bubbles...


...watched fireworks..


...hung out at the splash pad a bit..


..and did some swinging.


There's been days of sidewalk art..


...playhouse time..


..and dog washing days.


We've ate lots of ice cream, frozen yogurt and popsicles.


Simply; we've had a blast.

I'm a bit bummed that summer is over. Even more so after this little walk down memory lane. But guess what?

Up next is fall. Which means pumpkin patches, hay rides and trick or treating. It means football, carnivals and state fairs. It means another season of watching my sweet girl take in life.

Man, I can't wait for that.

wordless wednesday: summer afternoon