Fourth of July! Catch Up

I'm trying to catch up on our blogging before I get too deep into my new semester of classes. Steve usually has the Mac where we load all the pictures because that's what he uses to do all his illustration work. I have one of those little Netbooks for school and stuff, which I've loved for its portability and convenience, but I've been falling behind in the blogging world! Maybe that's good, though, because I managed to bust out a 4.0 for last semester's classes. Yay!

We had a blast on the 4th of July, especially since Katy, Aaron and Reuben got to come down for the weekend too.

Eliza thought Reuben was a pretty cool couz! Reuben's still not sure what to think, though. Hehe.

Eliza and Grandpa! Play time!

We had fun watching fireworks, even though by the time we got to some of the big ones, Eliza said, "Mommy, I'm scared" and Reuben started to cry, so we saved the rest for after they went to bed.

Abby was quite handy with the lighter and great at exploding things!

The rest of us watched!

(Here's another example of Reuben's "Stare Glare.")

This is usually what happens when I try to take Eliza's picture...

Doesn't she look buff? She already has the makings of an awesome athlete!!

We also had some fun at our neighbor's pool party...

everyone's favorite part was Mom's DELICIOUS homemade Icecream... even Reuben!

On July 3rd, we all drove to Charleston and spent the day at Sullivan's Island at the beach. On the way up, Eliza was performing some great party tricks... chewing on toes??

Eliza lovvvvvved the water and the sand and waves and piggy back rides inside and out of the water!

Her cute suit was a bday gift from Aunt Joan! Eliza loves the bow on it.

Every hour or so, Eliza would get tired and take a "break" with her Ba-ba (pacifier). We're trying to slowly wean her off of her pacifier, so the rule is that she's only allowed to have it if she's lying down for a rest or in the car.

I was really proud of myself for being so (obsessively) vigilant about applying and reapplying sunscreen on Eliza so that she didn't get any sunburn. Steve and I were not so lucky. Steve forgot to put sunscreen on his back, but I managed to burn through all the layers of sunscreen I put on myself. Eliza has started to develop a little bit of a tan lately, which shows me that she must have Steve's coloring because I NEVER tan without burning first. I just burn and then freckle. Neat story, right? Oh, and I also got stung by a jelly fish... Robby, they said they've missed you.

Below are two cute videos of Eliza singing in the car on the way up to Charleston. Eliza sings like non-stop these days-- it's AWESOME. Her favorites? ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle.

However, we have a CD we keep in the car for her to listen to, and we've been amazed to find that Eliza has all 15 songs MEMORIZED and sings along with them. It's hilarious and sometimes tediously monotonous because we have to listen to "Baby's Songs!" over and over and over. She usually dances to them too and sometimes accompanies the music with toots from her recorder or harmonica. Such a fun, musical girl!

I wish the sound was better on these movies. Eliza was obsessed with Mom's travel pillow and she was attempting to obstruct her mouth with anything possible. Despite all that, these are pretty cute videos. (at least if you're related to us)