The Beach!

Here are the other pictures from the beach! We had a great time this year. Grant got to play with his cousin Drew and they had a ton of fun at the beach, the pool, putt putt, etc. We got to see a man catch a shark on the beach in front of the house we rented....a little disturbing but fun to see. That same fisherman used a net to catch a bunch of bait fish and let Grant throw the ones back that were too big. He loved picking them up and tossing them back into the ocean.

We took the kids to play Putt Putt and that was an adventure. Grant and Drew were more interested and going as fast as they could through the holes to see all of the stuff on each hole. Sloan liked the hole where the ball entered a fake log and then came out the other end. She would throw it in and then go get it and do it all over again and again! We got ice cream afterwards which was great because it soooooo hot!

We went to the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and took the kids on the Ferris wheel (Sky View). It has enclosed, air conditioned seats and goes really high. Grant really liked being able to see everything that high. Sloan could have cared less but I was glad she didn't freak out.

We also got to visit with Luke's granddad, Aunt Jill and Uncle William, Mama Cindy and Papa David, and grandpa Jimmy. We can't wait for next year!

Grant and Drew eating at River City Cafe! 

Sloan's the first day at the beach! 

The Shark! 

Ready to eat! 

We got crab legs and both kids loved it! They made crab fingers for themselves! 

Pictures at the Beach!

We had some professional pictures taken while we were at the beach. We did get some good pictures but it was very challenging to say the least. Getting both kids to smile was close to impossible. So here they are..... (I will post other beach pictures that I took in the next post.)

First Day of Preschool, Swimming, and Headed to the Beach

Grant started 4 year preschool last week.  He now goes 4 days a week and loves it.  About half of the kids are from his class last year. His teachers are great and he is going to learn a lot this year. They sing the Pledge of Allegiance everyday and its really cute to watch. I got to go the first day to see what the structure is like, etc.

Sloan is continuing to grow her vocabulary.  She now said "Oh Gosh!" all the time.  She can sing her ABC's really well now.  She also loves to tell everyone what to do....."sit down", "move over there", "don't touch it", etc.  "Mine" is a favorite word lately too.

We are at the beach this week so the next post will be lots of beach pictures! The drive is the worst part since Sloan hates being in her seat for any length of time.....and neither of my kids are car sleepers!

 Flying into the pool, lol!

First Day of Preschool 

Reunion with his friends from last year.  About half of the class is the same.

Grant and Sylvi before school.  They saw each other and ran up to hug.  It was sweet! 

Sloan at the soccer field! 

Getting ready to go to the soccer field! 

Sloan and Mason 

Headed to the Beach! It started with smiles but after 6-7 hours, the smiles are gone, lol! 



Potty Update, Soccer, and Pre-K

Sloan's favorite words/phrases for this week: "give it to me", "mine", "I want popcorn", "want to go potty", "go get baby", "diaper over here". She now loves to dictate where we change her diaper. She will lay in the middle of the hardwood floor and ask to be changed there. She is definitely trying to control more of her environment. She is demanding to go to the potty more often. Last night, we gave her a book while she sat on the potty. I am not pushing this at all right now and she had yet to pee in the potty. So, I was putting up laundry and getting their bath stuff ready. After we got them both bathed and ready for bed, I went back into the bathroom......and she had peed in the potty! I can't believe we missed it! Could be a fluke but we shall see...

Sloan's new thing is shutting any door that is open. And you can't shut it for her or she will make you open back up so she can do it. She wants more and more things to sleep with her now too. She has a few stuffed animals (cat, dog, 2 bears), 2 lovies and 3 blankets and would have more if we would let her. It is a bit crowded in there but she loves it.

Grant is starting soccer this week and he is pretty excited. His team is mostly kids age 4 and 5. His first practice is tonight but it might get rained out.

Grant also starts pre-K next week! We go for orientation this week and I know he is going to love it just like he did last year. He will now go 4 days a week.

Happy Saturday Morning!

Cruisin in her car!

He wanted a big pancake and that is what he got!

Sticker Time!

Ice Cream!

Sloan with her new sunglasses!

Fun, Music and Speech

Lots of playtime and sibling fighting lately. Grant and Sloan both want what the other has no matter what it is. Sloan has finally grown out of her 18 month pajamas so I bought her some that are 24 months. Grant was upset that he didn't get new pajamas too. He actually needs some new ones too but I haven't had time to find them yet. He is now in a 5T and wears size 10 shoes. He seems to have hit a growth spurt lately. His legs have gotten much longer. Meanwhile, Sloan has really short legs but a longer torso.

While Sloan is saying 3 syllable words like "banana" as clear as can be, Grant's speech is still not super clear. I took him to the ENT to get a full hearing evaluation and to have his tonsils looked at. He passed every test and can actually hear better than the average child his age. His tonsils looked normal too. Next stop was a speech pathologist. He did a few tests for them and he is considered to have "mild" speech issues for his age. We are waiting to see if insurance will cover him seeing the same speech lady at the hospital or if we will need to get someone else and pay out of pocket. She told us that it shouldn't take more than 6 months to get him pronouncing words clearly. To be continued...

Grant and Sloan both have always loved music. We went to a local pizza joint and there was a band setting up for later that night. The opening act guy got up on stage and offered to play some kids songs. There were a couple of other kids along with ours that got to enjoy the fun!

Sloan and the frogs!

Sloan loves to be pushed by Grant!

Grant and Mary Kate enjoying their suckers after dinner!

Enjoying the music!

Sloan and her favorite Transformer!

Singing, Counting and Bathtime Fun!

Sloan has always loved music but she is now getting pretty good at singing some songs herself. She can almost say the ABC's...she gets about half of the letters and actually did almost all of them tonight by herself. We tried to get it on video but she would not perform once we started recording, go figure. She also sings "Ring around the rosies" and then she will fall down at the end. She also counts to 3 now. She will say "one, two, three....five". We aren't sure what happened to four but she doesn't want to say it.

Grant and Sloan both love taking a bath every night and do it together most of the time. Sloan has recently gotten much more comfortable in the water. She now wants to lay down all of the time either on her back or tummy. They both try to see who can splash the most and we usually have to calm them down so all of the water doesn't end up on the floor.