Here's my sweet Lily walking on the beach in her new dress by her favorite designer...Joey & Aleethea. hehe:
How cute are those little legs??!! Oh you didn't know? Yes, Lily is walking strong now! She even has those moments while walking when all of a sudden she attempts to run while Joey chases her and she squeals with delight, throws one arm up in the air and giggles, and then takes off half-walking and half-running. It's pretty darn funny.
Lily's back teeth have been arriving...oy...she's been rather needy at night, and I haven't been sleeping very much. During the day her teeth don't seem to bother her at all. And lately my little baby girl can also be found rearranging her high chair, her play chairs, and other small household furnishings at random times throughout the day.
And when did August sneak up on us??
My teenage nieces (13 and 18) were here for one very long and very fun week. I say very long because there were a bunch of nights when we all stayed up til 2am. What could we possibly be doing up that late...when I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old who wake up at 7am everyday?? Well, what else? Sewing and giggling of course!! Worth every baggy-eyed minute of it too.
Speaking of bags...they learned how to sew while they were here...
...and made a whole bunch of zippy pouches and completely adorable little wristlets!
They had their pick of premium Japanese fabrics, ultra cute kawaii canvas fabrics, ridiculously cute fabric trims, rare designer fabrics, and many out of print super hard to find fabrics. Fabrics that I hadn't ever cut into! (*deep breath...breathe...ok...I'm ok...where was I*)
So after they started sewing...they just couldn't stop! It runs in the family, for sure. It was hilarious! I'd go to sleep, and let them stay up playing with my fabric stash...and I'd wake up to them showing me the new zippered pouches they'd made the night before. It was so cute how proud they were of their little creations.
I have close to 1000 awesome photos of our week together. Here's a little wordle for you which sums up our week of fun in the sun:
Joey, Lily (and Aleethea too!) had so much fun playing with their cousins all week. Running around the house, playing "Tag-You're-It" as Joey calls it. Joey calls my nieces "Kimaya-cha-cha-poo". He rarely referred to them individually. Instead he would always call out to them together, as one unit. Never by just one of their names. Instead he would blend both of their names together, and also a nickname, to come up with "Kimaya-cha-cha-poo"
Every morning, Joey would always announce when my nieces were awake by saying "Dada! Kimaya-cha-cha-poo are wakies now!" It was the sweetest thing!
Lots of books were read:
We went to a couple of playgrounds, and swung on some swings:
And went to Frankie's Fun Park in Durham to ride go-carts:
We visited the Museum of Life and Science (again! that place is awesome!)...
We saw butterflies...
and bugs under a magnifying glass...
and more butterflies...
and dinosaurs...
Joey loved the Dinosaur exhibit!
By the end of that afternoon at the Museum, having fun with "Kimaya-cha-cha-poo" and the dinosaurs and butterflies...this was one tired little boy!
Looking so grown up and super cutesie in the new "Surfboards and Elephants - Half Pint" shorts outfit I made for him.
Oh, and I attempted to teach my nieces how to whistle with their fingers. You know, like a "stadium whistle". It's really super useful for hailing cabs during rush-hour (think NYC), calling your dog at the dog park when it's time to go...and mucho fun at ballgames. Because what kind of Aunt would I be if I didn't pass along that talent??
Here's a little tutorial for you on how-to-whistle, if you'd like to attempt this yourself at home.
Besides stadium whistling, we went blueberry picking too. Congrats to Kim for winning the contest and picking the most blueberries. (I probably won for eating the most.) Oh and I made those gourmet blueberry-pancakes that I had mentioned here, and oh wow were they yummy!! Best blueberry pancakes I'd ever had. Especially since I tripled the amount of blueberries the recipe called for. Really extra super yum!
We also took my nieces to Wrightsville Beach which was approx 3 hours away.
It was a beautiful place to relax. If you're in that area, be sure to eat breakfast at a little spot called Saltworks - where we enjoyed some delicious breakfast sandwiches, waffles and grits:
We stayed in Wrightsville Beach for the weekend to eat good food and play in the sand and surf:
Here's my awesome Joey in his surfboard shorts:
Wow did my kiddo have fun on the beach!! Just look at this face!!
Ahhh...summer days.
Here are some random flowers in the August sky.
Isn't the gray just so fab with this bright pink?:
Definitely some of the inspiration which led to this little WuTang dress I made for Lily:
It was a fabulous week with my nieces. And now Joey keeps saying "I miss Kimaya-cha-cha-poo."
Yeah, me too.
oxox
