Excuses, Excuses

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything new, but I have a few good excuses:

1) I'm in the middle of re-modeling the twins' room. Fresh paint, new furniture, etc. It's really coming together, and the girls are loving their new bunk beds. (Fodder for future blogs, I'm sure.) I'll post some before and after pictures soon - for those of you blog-stalkers who enjoy a good make-over!

2) My sister is getting married in less than 2 weeks!!!! Honestly, I think I'm as excited about her wedding as I was about mine. She's waited so long for this day, and we can't wait to share it with her and our soon-to-be new brother / uncle. Plus, my girls are going to be just about the darn cutest flower girls you've ever seen. (Please, God - no fodder there...)

3) Finally, don't hate me, but I just got back yesterday from a week at the beach. (Never mind, I even hate me.) It's a wonderful annual trip we take with my husband's family to Hilton Head every October, and it really is a treat. I am truly blessed that family time - grand kids included - is so important to my in-laws.

And since I'm always getting flack for too many words and not enough pictures, here are just a few snapshots from our time on the South Carolina coast:

Ty (a.k.a. Tommy Bahama) strolling up the beach house. He's a wanderer; he strolled all the way up to this point without ever once looking back. He finally turned around when I said, "Ty, do you want a cookie?" That's my boy.

Ella, we fear, is the whole package. Beautiful, smart, and athletic. That girl never sits down. Here she playing paddle ball on the beach with her daddy.

And here she is - the future cheerleader? - stunting with her Uncle Mac. I don't know whether to say "Bring it on, girl" or "Yikes"!

Emily and Evie really enjoyed the sand and the water. I can't really call them bathing beauties here, but at least they are having fun. They built a giant "drip" castle for Cinderella on our last day at the beach. Poor Cinderelly...

Ty wasn't quite as taken with the ocean as the girls were, so Papa dug a little baby pool for him in the sand, and the girls took turns hauling up water for him. His favorite thing to do was jump in bottom-first. I guess those swim diapers are more padded than I thought.

Evie - my little clown. I'm counting on Nana to have some better pictures of her an her sisters at the beach. I was too busy laughing.

You have NO IDEA what it took to get this photograph. I can't believe all 6 of us made it into one picture and every body's looking happily into the general vicinity of the camera. Whew!

Well, that's all I've got for now. There's a whole list of post ideas sitting on my desk right now, and one of these days I'll start writing. In the meantime, I just heard a crash upstairs. Hope those bunk beds are still intact...