Aaaaand they're off!

Today we finally sent the last kid off to start school! Yay, school! That means that 3 days a week, I'll get a whole 2.5 hours to myself!

Sarah on her first day of first grade:


Ellen on her first day of pre-K in her favorite color, black. (Phoebe had to miss it for a dr appt.)



And last, but not least, Phoebe on her first day:


Even at their young ages, they have most definitely figured out that going back to school requires LOTS of shopping and pretty much an entirely new wardrobe, much to daddy's chagrin. :)

tap, tap...anybody out there?

So, it has been almost a YEAR since I last blogged here. Yowza! A lot has happened over the past year, most of it in my head, and I am ready for some changes and new things to come my way. One of those changes I'm looking forward to is recommitting to some of my personal works, such as this blog. The past year I've been so busy doing things for other people, some of it was rewarding, some of it not so much, but all of it has kept me from documenting my own projects and kids. I think it's time to change that.

To start things off, I have finally come up with my word for 2011! There's only a few months left in this year, but it took this long for my word to come to me. You can see my word and thoughts from 2010 here, but basically it's a focus word for the year. In 2010, my word was "focus" - something I still use as a focus word in my life. Just the other day, it hit me that my 2011 word should be "genuine." A lot of things I've struggled with this year have revolved around trying to be my true self, determining what *I* want and enjoy. A lot of my energy has been focused on my relationships and trying to identify genuine connections so that I can tend to them better. I've reflected a lot on many different things and have realized just how much we let outside entities and third parties influence our relationships with people and it really bothers me. I want to be true to myself and true to others, be genuine through and through. I won't lie, it's not always an easy task, especially for us people-pleasers. As I've sought clarity on my emotional baggage, there have definitely been some upsets along the way.

Genuine: authentic, sincere.

trick or treat!

Hello, long lost blog friends! I've been enjoying a super busy fall, which started over the summer. :) I love it, but I'm trying to wind things down soon so that I can fully immerse myself in the holidays this year. Hopefully, that will lead to more blogging, which I've been terrible about lately! You can see what's been keeping me hoppin' over at my photography blog, which is linked up on the right there. >>

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays and I have always tried to make it more memorable for the kids by getting them involved in making costumes. Even as young as they are, they plan waaaaay ahead and actually stick to the plan. In fact, they are already planning for next year!

We went with an Alice in Wonderland theme this year. The twins were Alice and the White Rabbit, while Sarah chose the Cheshire Cat. Halloween portraits are always so fun because you can push the colors and stuff just a little more than you usually would. Here they are!

Happy Halloween!!

vacation part 4: the beach!

Our ultimate destination during the epic vacation of 2010 was Topsail, NC. We met up with 5 other couples that I met in an online group for twin moms due at the same time. We met last year, just the moms, in Hot Springs, AR, but this was the first time the husbands got to meet. We had a blast! Did a whole lot of nothing and ate and drank lots and lots. It was so nice! And did I mention there were NO KIDS?!

We stayed in this little house right on the beach.



Lots of chatting, lots of sun!









The guys decided to treat us with wonderful dinners! I'm not sure if it was out of boredom or what, but it was good!



Here we all are!


Of course, we had TONS of fun and, of course, I took pics of everyone! You can see more over HERE at the Jennifer Pinkerton Photography blog.

vacation part 3: Charleston, SC

I've been to Charleston several times and just knew that we needed to make a stop there during our epic vacation. It's so charming and full of history, I knew Scott would love it.

We got there kinda late, so we headed for the bar around the corner, which just happens to be one of my family's favorite spots in Charleston! Tommy Condon's is an Irish pub and we got there just as the live music started. We made several visits to Tommy Condon's while we were there. :)



Charleston was our little splurge spot and we had a sweet little boutique hotel room at the Andrew Pinckney Inn, which is set up in some historic buildings. It occupied several buildings and our room was on the second floor of the building in the foreground on the left. Fabulous 12 ft ceilings with crown mouldings and amazing old wood floors and plantation shutters on the huge windows.




On the full day we were there, we headed out to Ft. Sumter, which is where the first shots of the Civil war were fired. My father calls it "the war of Northern aggression."



It was so hot and humid that after doing some walking around town and cooling off at our pub, we pretty much stayed in our cute room until the sun went down.



Charleston is well known for it's colorful houses. The famous section of homes is called Rainbow Row.






There was so much more to do in Charleston, but we really just enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere. Ahhhhhh....

vacation part 2: making our way through the Carolinas

Part two of our journey involved lots of driving, but it was good driving! We went up, over and through the Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Parkway. Such pretty mountain scenery! Our destination at this point was Charleston, SC, but along the way we stopped to meet my longtime online friend Hope and her husband before doing a little drive-by of my old house in Columbia.



We were up in the clouds!


When we stopped to visit with Hope and her hubby Carl, they took us out on their pontoon boat. It was so nice to take a moment to do something fun! We also managed to find some good Mexican food.



I took Scott by my old house in Columbia, which we lived in from about 1989-1993. I have to say, it's become kinda ghetto! It did not look good at all, but I guess that 20 years can change a place. Oh, well. The entire area had grown so much, I hardly knew where I was!



I'll leave you with a little video of the husbands going across the floating dock. Haha, I was hoping one of them would fall in! Dangit.