My Girls

The word Love just doesn't seem big enough for how I feel about these three little girls.

Mermaids and Manipulation

Elle and her friends made Gwen a mermaid tail in the sand. Gwen loved it so much that when she came home from the beach she announced that she is going to be a mermaid for Halloween.

Elle spent a lot of her day on a boogie board. She informed me that a fun mom would boogie board with her. She is amazingly talented in the art of manipulation.

I want to be a fun mom...

It made me second guess my decision until I felt how cold the water was. I just couldn't do it.

So now it's official.

Amy McGee is NOT a "fun mom".

Summer Days

We went to the beach again yesterday. My kids played for hours in the sand with their friends and never once told me they were bored. That is heaven. How cute are these kids sitting up on that fence without a care in the world? Such a cute group of friends. They had quite a busy schedule which included standing on this fence and jumping into the sand over and over again, boogie boarding, crab collecting, waving to the train every time it passed and of course 2 runs to the snack shack for ring pops and icees. This is what summer is all about.

Beach Day

We spent the entire day at the beach yesterday. Elle's swim team met there for practice at 9am. The picture of her running in the hula attire was for a relay race they did. It was so, so cute. I packed all 3 girls up plus all of our supplies (which are a lot these days) and hoped for the best. Elle had practice from 9 to 10 and then we just stayed put on the sand. My Lily had her morning nap in my arms in a beach chair. It was heaven. Elle and Gwen played non stop with their friends in the sand and waves all day. We didn't pack up until 5pm. Yep, 8 hours on the beach. It was heaven. If it weren't for Elle's legs covered in aloe vera gel today I would have gone back this morning. I have lots more pictures from our beach day too but I hear my Lily calling me from her crib. More tomorrow...

The Party

Elle had a pool party this year. It was very casual and very fun. We had lunch, a water-balloon toss, mermaid races through hula-hoops in the water and of course birthday cake. Elle's main request was to have a chocolate mermaid cake with pink candles. The girls loved swimming and had so much fun. The party favors we handed out were matching purple towels with pineapples on them for all of her friends and candy necklaces. Elle is so fortunate to have such a sweet and fun group of girlfriends. She had a big smile on her face the whole day. A super fun day for everyone. Happy Birthday, Elle.

Elle turns 6!

Elle turned 6 years old on the 21st. We all woke up early and headed to the donut shop for her favorite rainbow sprinkled donuts. She made sure we remembered to take our fancy 'happy birthday' plate with us. That plate is a big deal and it was so cute to see how excited she was the night before to get it out of the armoire where I keep it. She had a swim meet that afternoon so we had to have her party scheduled for the next day. She loved that idea because she was then able to celebrate for two full days. She was my first baby and I hold a special place in my heart for this sweet girl. Elle loves to be held, hugged and snuggled. She is the most affectionate of all of my girls. At different times of the day she will just walk up to me and hug me and will say, "I love you, mama ." She loves to please and loves to have as she calls it, "mommy time". She is an amazing older sister to Gwen and Lily and loves to take care of them. I often tell her that the best day of my life was _____. She then always smiles and says, "when I was born." I couldn't say it any better myself. I love you, Ellers. Happy 6th Birthday.

Sunday Morning

This was my Lily-pie this morning. Cruising the house in her jammies with ruffles on her buns and carrying her favorite toy...my keys. If I could only freeze her at this age. I love, love, love having a baby in the house - especially this one.

Elle

photo by nicole hill

Elle was able to be in a photo shoot a few months back with the talented photographer, Nicole Hill. The best part was it was with a bunch of her little friends. The photos were all taken at the beach at Emerald Bay in Laguna. Click here for the link to more of the fun photos.

Love

I love you, Lily.

" The feeling you have for your child is so indescribably deep and consuming that it must qualify as one of the few transcendent experiences in your plain old ordinary life. It arrives spontaneously. It is miraculous and supreme and irrevocable. It makes all things possible."

karen maezen miller

Homemaker

A few years back my mom somehow rounded-up all of my sisters' and my brother's hand prints. We had all done them at some point during elementary school for mother's day and Christmas gifts. She even happened to find one of her own handprints in clay from when she was a child. She has them all framed together and it is one of my favorite things she has. I decided that I wanted to make sure I had my girls' handprints in clay as well. I had Elle's and Gwen's done a few years back and they have been hanging up in our kitchen ever since. I had Lily's done a few months back and just went and picked it up the other day. I hung hers right with her sisters' on cream grosgrain ribbon. It is probably my favorite thing in our house. I love looking at them and so do the girls.

The linen covered chairs that flank my antique green chest are back together again. One of the chairs had broken and it took me quite some time to get around to getting it fixed. The carpenter dropped it off yesterday and I love having the set back. They were an amazing find a few years back from one of my favorite stores...French Blue & Co.

And last but not least our front door and new wreath. When we first bought this house our front door was a faded, splotchy aqua color. It had just as faded splotchy (ugly) aqua shutters to match. The first week we moved in I painted both the shutters and the front door a glossy black. It transformed our house and I have loved it ever since. My wreath I had made from my favorite florist. I had the branch wreath and have switched out what is tied on top of it a few times. Recently I asked her to make me a plain moss wreath to add to it. She did and it looked beautiful but since my front door has full sunlight it turned brown and dried out much faster than I had hoped. I took it back to the florist for some other ideas and she then made me this amazing faux moss wreath and tied it onto the branch wreath. Faux greenery usually equals bad (really bad) but I think in this case it worked.

I really, really love our little house. When we first bought this home almost 6 years ago it was just a house. We have re-done almost every square inch of this place. I truly feel now that it reflects us as a family. It is not just a house anymore. This is our home.

Summer...

has officially begun.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun 4th filled with family and fireworks. Crazy to think Lily was still in my belly just last 4th of July. This year she was just one of the girls. They all had a blast last night. This has always been one of my favorite holidays and last night made me remember why.

ballet

I found this picture of me the other night after my first ballet recital. I was 6 years old and in Kindergarten just like my Elle. I remember getting these flowers after the performance and feeling so special. I hope my girls felt as special and loved on their special night as I did (30 years ago) on mine.