Skidaway Island Fun!

Yesterday we spent the day biking and exploring around Skidaway Island. My parents bought a house there, which they don't plan to live in for 3-4 years. They were visiting and we wanted to look around a bit. Lakes, marinas, parks, and even the ocean in their neighborhood! Daddy and Cade caught TONS of fish!

Friend Camp

One of my friends had a GENIUS idea for the girls first week out of preschool. All of their older siblings were still in school, so we found five girls and did "friend camp" this week. They spent 1 day each week at each house from 10-1. We planned an activity, a craft, and lunch for our day! They had a GREAT week and made lots of cool stuff. Today was our day to host the girls and we jam packed as much fun into three hours as we possibly could! Cora's currently crashed out on the couch! The real bonus...the cost of friend camp = FREE!!!!

This is after day 1- she was so tired, she couldn't even smile!
I was going to take a picture of her every day with her craft, but that plan only lasted monday :0 But I did take pictures today at our house! :)

craft 1- Rock painting!
They made their own pizzas!
Pressing out the dough!
Yummy!

Craft 2- Decorating flip flops!
Pretty girls with pretty feet!
For Dessert- Ice cream sundaes with the works!
We blew up and bounced in our jump house and then we were at Cora's house, so we topped it off with some dancing!!!

homework time

Happy Birthday Dear Daddy!!!

Yesterday was our sweet daddy's birthday and in true Garola fashion, I'm a day late! We celebrated last week end with Abuela and Abuelo. We even put 37 candles on his cake and boy was that thing a fireball! He's old, but we love him more every year!!! ;)
We're so thankful for him and all that he does for us. So Robby...here it is.

37 Reasons Why We Love Our Daddy (by Cade, Cora, Clara and a little help from mommy)

1. I like him because sometimes he snuggles me. (Cora)
2. He works very hard for us! (Mommy)
3. He's a good jungle gym. (Clara)
4. Daddy is good at camping. (Cade)
5. He has good posture. (Cade)
6. He is very fun.(Mommy)
7. He let's me drive. (Cora)
8. He let's us have dance parties.(Cora)
9. He's a great baseball coach and he got us hats like his team has with a big shark. (Cade)
10. He can carry lots of stuff when we go to the beach. (mommy)
11. He plans very cool day trips and vacations for us! (cade)
12. He takes us to bass pro shop and even bought me a pink gun. (cora)
13. He's kind. (clara)
14. He is silly. (cora)
15. He is only grumpy sometimes. (cora)
16. He takes us out to eat and pays even on his own birthday! (mommy)
17. I love daddy because he takes me on adventures. (cade)
18. He reads me animal books. (clara)
19. He teaches me what 2 plus 2 is. (cora)
20. He's a good teacher. (cora)
21. He teaches me some of math. (cade)
22. He helps me win a lot at my swim meets. (cade)
23. He helps me learn about snakes on the computer. (cade)
24. He teaches me right and wrong by saying "no no." (clara)
25. He rides me on the back of his bike. (cora)
26. He takes us to Atlanta a lot.(cora)
27. He drives the WHOLE way on road trips. (mommy)
28. He buys me chick-fil-a and brings Cade home from school early when I tell him to. (cora)
29. He is tall.(cora)
30. He is skinny???(cora)
31. He is a good diaper changer but not perfect yet, he may need a bit more practice. (clara)
32. He's a fast runner. (cade)
33. He tries to make me a better ball player. (cade)
34. He's very very handsome! :) (mommy)
35. He taught me how to play baseball 20 years ago. (cora)
36. He takes away our money so we can save it a lot. (cora)
37. HE LOVES US VERY VERY VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!
    

shake your booty

have i ever mentioned that Cora likes to dance? Because of the recent purchase of Just Dance 2 for the Wii and the relocation of the previously lost velvet dance shorts, she now loves dancing more than ever! And let me tell you---girlfriend's got MOVES!!! She learned them from her mama! ;) (pause playlist music)

Good Bye Preschool!

Cade's first day of Pre-K in 2008
Cora's first day of Pre-K this year, 2010
I cannot believe today was Cora's last day of preschool, EVER! She's big. She's officially an Elementary Schooler in the fall! It totally freaks me out! I know that's the whole point of raising kids...watching them grow and move on, but I HATE it! This year has been so great for Cora. She went to her precious class with her precious teachers every morning and played with her precious friends and then got to come home at noon and spend every afternoon with her precious little sister and her precious mommy :)! Perfection! I'll miss it so much! I was a wreck this morning taking her to her last day. Just thinking of her at the beginning of this year with her short curls and chubby cheeks makes me realize how much she really has grown up this year. It also makes me feel terribly guilty that I didn't even think twice about Cade's last day of preschool. It was right in the middle of Cora's consolidation chemo and I was totally preoccupied. So today I'm mourning preschool for both of them!

I always worry a little extra about Cora, but she's great! She's healthy and she's got another milestone under her belt, the completion of preschool. We'll miss our sweet little neighborhood Isle of Hope Methodist Preschool SO MUCH! Such a special place filled with special people! There's no place like it! Ready for a new adventure in the fall! Look out, Kindergarten!

Day Trip!!! Hunting Island, SC

I only have pictures of the girls because Rob and Cade went on a 3 hour hike!!!

Big Crazy Baby Clara

I'm not updating on Clara monthly anymore but I wanted to share with the world how cute and precious she is! She's 15 months old and this is my favorite age of all! I love how she interacts with us. After the tubes went in her ears, her speech has come a long way. She can say Cade, Cora, Leia, paci, bottle, pretty much anything she wants she can tell you. She loves animals of any kind, including the nasty furry mole that ran across my toe in the back yard the other day! I screamed bloody murder and she bent down with her hands on her knees and said, "awwww" like he was cute! She also loves to vacuum. She follows me around the whole time I'm vacuuming the floor and grunts and fussed until I turn the handle over to her. We have a canister vac that has a base that you pull around as you hold and push the handle and sometimes she rides on the base as I push her around the house. She also LOVES baby dolls! They are the only toy she'll play with! She wants to do ANYTHING that she sees Cora or I do. You will catch her daily walking around with a purse on one shoulder holding a phone to her ear. She's not scared of much. She loves the water and dived her face under repeatedly when we were at the pool last week. The only thing that I know she's scared of, and it's really more accurate to say terrified of is the leaf blower. The mere sight of that things makes her tremble! She's very friendly. She waves to everyone and blows kisses to even the grumpiest cashiers when we leave the store! She's just so stinkin cute and keeps us all laughing all the time! We love this crazy baby!

Strawberry Picking at The Bamboo Farm with Cade's Class!

Clara and Emily Grace

SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival

The Grivances of a Third Child (Part 2)

A few weeks ago we were at the ball field during Cade's practice. I was chatting with a friend as always. Cora and Clara were just running around behind the dugout. Clara fell in the dirt and I went over to help her up. As I did I noticed she was chewing on something. I gave her a quick finger swipe and pulled out a big honkin' piece of chewing gum, that no one gave to her, from the nasty ball park! poor Clara!