June's gymnastics- Georgie.

Mama got a Living Social deal for 4 weeks of gymnastics classes this summer. They were part of the bribe to get June to potty train.

We watch June's classes through a big window that was reflecting the late afternoon glare and making hard to take pictures.

It's really amazing how far June has come since her first class. These classes have really helped June gain confidence on her bum leg. She hardly even limps anymore.

June did, however, make every attempt to be silly and make the other little girls laugh.

I wore my gymnastics clothes, but they still wouldn't let me in on the balance beam.

Here she is in action. You can tell that everything she does is probably followed by the declaration that she is a big girl. Apparently she made this to a boy at the playground with papa. The boy told her that she was actually just a little girl. June got so mad at this boy and proceeded to yell at him about how wrong he really was. In the car ride home with papa, she continued to talk about this boy. By the time they got home, June came to the very sad realization that maybe she was just a little girl. It was heartbreaking.

You with us- Georgie.

Junie loves to sing and often employs stream of consciousness singing. This song ended with singing about the little plastic baby that, for some reason, is kept in the Boggle box.

Mama snapped a quick picture before I pulled this headband off. Turns out it doesn't help me look more like a girl.

I do my own singing too.

We all love blueberries so much we go picking blueberries every week or so. I love it because I get to crawl around in the dirt and shove as many blueberries in my mouth as I can. Mama and I went back by ourselves and she just pushed my stroller up to a push and I picked them myself.

June picked enough to eat but burnt out when she got hot.

More cuteness.

Because of Junie's rheumatoid arthritis, she is at high risk of developing eye problems. So she has to the opthamologist every four months to monitor her vision and eye health. She didn't like having dilating drops put in her yes, but was very cooperative during the exam. It didn't hurt that the office was filled with trays of cookies and mama got her a handful of candy from the machine on the way out. And she got these great sunglasses!

Here's my unorthodox way of walking with my firetruck.

I love sitting on it!

And I love dancing to the music.

Is it suppertime yet?

And despite the fact that this picture was taken on the potty, we just love how happy Junie looks.

Winston-Salem side trip- Mama.

Immediately following my return, Brandon had a week-long conference at Wake Forest, so we decided to meet in Winston and spend the weekend with the Paytons.

I drove back through Greensboro and couldn't resist stopping at our very favorite barbecue place.

Seeing as how Georgie had never been to Prissy Polly's, I had to introduce her to all the different foods that can be turned into various shades of brown. Deep-fried okra is still a vegetable, right? We were especially excited about the pecan fudge pie for dessert.

It's no surprise that the circle hush puppies were Georgie's favorite. I felt weird eating at Prissy Polly's all alone, because it was the perfect halfway point to meet Paul and Susan for supper when we lived in Winston. I had to drown away my sorrows in Lexington style sauce. Delicious.

We had a great weekend with the Paytons. The little girls are now the age Henry and Grace were when we met. But they are so much calmer than Henry and Grace ever were. Weekends together are not nearly as loud as they used to be. We decided to take everyone geocaching on Wake Forest's campus. Henry and Grace did a great job finding the treasure.

Everyone was excited to see what was inside. It was so fun, we decided to look for another one in Reynolda Gardens.

This time we kept losing the GPS signal and it got REALLY hot, so after about 45 minutes we abandoned our efforts and went out to lunch at Moe's instead. The kids wee pumped because they had a new pop machine that allowed you to mix pop flavors with flavor shots. And it was all touch screen. Henry had a cherry-vanilla sprite, June had strawberry-orange Hi-C and I had a strawberry sprite zero. Easily the coolest pop machine ever.

Beach photo shoot- mama.

I like to think we're pretty vigilant about sun care, so most of the time on the beach I wore my obnoxious big hat. I think this will probably be the hat that my kids will some day beg me not to wear when I'm with them.

Miss Leah brought us a bunch of clothes that Olivia had grown out of. Including this super adorable frilly dress.

And Olivia had a matching green romper.

Perfect for a group shot!

Stop chewing shells, girls!

Georgie surprised us all when all 4 top teeth suddenly appeared in vacation. Poor kid. No wonder she didn't sleep well a few nights.

The best part of vacation wasn't photo-documented. One evening, Maggie and I were out walking on the beach and came across a group of people gathered around a fenced in area. Turns out it was a turtle nest that had just caved in, which meant that some turtles were due to emerge that night. We stayed for a while, then went back to the condo to let Holly and Leah have a turn. Leah came back when the hatch was imminent and we all got back just in time to see the last little turtle scuttle into the water.

After the near-miss, we noticed a lot more turtle nests on the beach and made friends with the very large network of volunteers that monitor the nests and keep vigil when the the turtles are due to hatch. There were two more nests we visited for hours every evening, but in the end we didn't get to see another hatch. It was kind of like waiting for me to have a baby. It should happen soon, so you can guess I'll go late.

We did get to see the nest get cleaned out and saw all of the eggshells and unhatched eggs. We also got to see a loggerhead turtle come out of the water and promptly get chased back in by a bunch of idiots with cameras who clearly hadn't read any of the literature about how loggerheads are endangered and should really be left alone when they come ashore to lay eggs. Good thing Miss Leah saw them from the balcony and hightailed it down to the beach to tell everyone to get lost. The volunteers found eggs a ways down the beach, so hopefully our turtle was able to make it back ashore and lay her eggs in peace.

More of the beach- mama!

One thing I've always liked about Leah is that she can appreciate a good souvenir shop.

This shop was huge, cheesy, and had a huge shark!

Of course there's a bear in flannel at this store!

Who else was on our vacation? Our favorite Miss Maggie.

And Miss Holly, Leah's friend from grad school. We were so glad both of them came!

You can't take these kids anywhere!

Not even the ABC store. Just because that vodka has a birthday cake on it doesn't mean it's for you, little girl.

Miss Holly, are you going to eat that?

While Georgie liked crawling around in the sand, playing with shells, and skirting the edge of the water. Olivia preferred to run straight into the water.

How many of these crazy stores are there in North Carolina?

We couldn't convince Miss Maggie to buy a shark, but I did find coffee mugs with everyone's names. Henry, June, and George. How lucky is that? I was so excited until we got home and realized that Georgie's mug actually said Jack. Next time, look again before you pick something off a disorganized shelf.

Just one glass, right, Miss Maggie?

The sun in the afternoon was usually too much for me, so we stopped at a Lowe's to get craft supplies. I made these bracelets while the girls slept.

And I thought the rainbow bathing suit was ridiculous.

This girl loves the beach.

Olivia is 5 weeks older than Georgie and is already walking. Georgie had to work hard to do something else. So she practiced saying "thank you." I like that she even tries to say it in the same tone as me.

And even "hiya."

The first Annual Girls Beach Bash- Mama.

My college roommate, and Georgie's godmother, Miss Leah, call this spring to lament with mama about the woes of turning 30. Add on that she's working on a PhD and Mister Josh just got activiated to spend a year in Italy with the Marines, and it was pretty evident that we were going to have to get together to give her a break. (See how I made it seem like I was doing Leah a favor?)

Our break came in the form of a week at the beach:

Does this look awesome? Originally, it was going to be a moms and kids vacation, until we decided it wouldn't be much of a vacation with 4 kids and just two moms. So we revised plans and cut the guest list back to babies.

Georgie and I drove by ourselves to Topsail Island, NC. It was a lovely ride that took us to the east side of South Carolina (we saw Darlington Speedway). Georgie barely made a sound the entire 6 hour ride and we stopped at Fatz Cafe for lunch. As an honorary "regional fast foot connoisseur," I felt I'd been missing out on something never having eaten at Fatz. It is spelled with a "z" after all. I was surprised (and a little disappointed to find out that it's actually a lot like going to a T.G.I. Fridays. I was hoping for something a bit more primitive. But they made a fantastic fried green tomatoes and pimento-cheese burger. And it was truly indulgent to eat at a sit-down restaurant by myself only in the company of a sweet well-behaved little girl.

We got to the condo and Miss Leah and Olivia were already out in the water. Olivia is a considerably earlier riser than Jo and I. when her older brother isn't around, JoJo will sleep in until almost 9. Normally, we'd be getting up right after Leah and Olivia got back from their first trip to the beach.

Look how close we are. At high tide, you could almost spit in the ocean.

These two stinkers had a great time together!

There were only a few things the girls could make a mess of. they spent most of the week licking each other's toys and swapping germs.

The girls were on the same nap schedule, so one of us would stay up in the condo while everyone else went swimming. Right off, I got a box of my favorite beach food- Cheez-its- and read my Hemingway novel.

A view from the balcony at low tide.

On Sunday, we all donned our red, white, and blue to cheer on the women's soccer team in the World Cup.

Down at the beach, the girls set up their chairs and got down to their ridiculous bathing suit competition. Georgie edged the competition with the tie-dyed exposed belly-button suit that has served us well since June was a baby.

Olivia's mom doesn't make her wear embarrassing suits.

After the beach, we'd all rinse off in the outdoor shower, then hit the pool. Both girls made it in one tube.

And just like a Turner, Georgie slowly squeezed Olivia out until she had the tube to herself.

After playing in the sand, there was a lot of sand to rinse off.