Daddy's Girls

Today is day 11 of “Cousin Camp” and I honestly have mixed emotions. I love my neices and thoroughly enjoy having them here. And if we had a bigger house, I’d probably let them stay all summer! (Matt May not agree, lol) They say they don’t want to go but I know they’ll be happy to be home once they get there. Anna babysat a couple times while I went to work. Two of those times were just an hour but she really helped out today while I was gone for 3 to a closing. It also really helped that is was VBS week and they were at the church 8:30-12:00 too.  We mostly stayed at the house after (didn’t even swim because Anna got an ear infection) but we did go celebrate Landry’s birthday with her at the skating rink and came to Altitude again this evening for some last night fun.  We’ll go straight from the church to Alexandria to meet Jen and Janice (I have Andrew tonight while she is in Alexandria planning her 50th high school reunion- Kelly is in Israel) for them to get the rest of th...

Cousin camp is in full swing and while today was supposed to be the last day with us meeting Jen in Alexandria tomorrow, we’ve been having so much fun we decided to extend it an extra 5 days. The  kids asked and we told them yes! It works out for Jen because she was going to have to put them in a camp while she works next week. I’m ok with it because they are going to VBS from 9-12 so I’ll have some time to myself. When I called Matt he said he’s only seen them about 4 hours anyway so it doesn’t bother him. :) So cousin camp is now 11 days total!  We’ve been busy the last few days! Wednesday’s swim meet got canceled so it was replaced with an intrasquad meet yesterday. They also went to Lilli’s art class with her while I met a client to sign listing paperwork at the coffee shop next door and then we went to Altitude for 2 hours. Thursday they got to babysit Josey with me and we went bowling with friends. When they asked to stay, I did warn them that all of the fun was planned ...

Cousin camp 2019 is off to a great start! It’s been a crazy start because I got 2 houses under contract the day they got here but I’m NOT complaining about that. So on top of having a good bit of work to get done we have been down to the neighbors pool a total of three times, plus to swim team practice and to swim for a couple of hours at Terri’s. And went to see the new Secret Life of Pets.  I’m TIRED but after tomorrow’s swim meet we should be able to slow down some. But in all honesty, it’s easier to have them here when I have work stuff going on because it keeps our girls entertained. Plus, Anna is old enough to babysit for a few hours at a time so I can run out for a minute if I need to. But the best part is the quality cousin time. I love this week and I’m glad it’s becoming a tradition.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads in our life! The girls had a great day with their Dad. “When I asked what he wanted to do he said  “stay home in my chair and I want y’all to be there with me.” So that’s what we did. We had a lazy day and delicious dinner. Happy Father’s Day Matt! Thank you for all you do for our family. We love you!

Our neighbors left yesterday to go out of town for a week and I offered to keep their dog, Riley. He’s a 12 year old dachshund and I can’t let those old men dogs spend a week at the kennel. Within hours he was fitting right in with the others.  Lilli had Shaleigh over too so it was a full house of sleepovers. Poor Lilli and Katie couldn’t hang and fell asleep during the movie so it was me and Shaleigh at the end.  But having friends over wears you out plus Christy has a pool so she told us we can use it all week and I took them down there 3 times in the 24 hours she was here.  This is why we need a pool Matt 😉

I guess I don’t typically post about my grandmothers birthday on my blog but I thought 90 years was definitely something to celebrate! Happy birthday to one of the most important people in my life. She cared for me as a baby and continues into adulthood. The flowers from me, Matt and the girls arrived this morning and she “was delighted.” I’m glad we could be a small part of something to celebrate this day. Love you Nana! 

Terri’s Swim Academy hosted the meet this week and once again they did great. What was especially nice about this one being close was that Matt, Pops, Yaya, Josh and Hailey’s parents all got to come watch for a little bit of it and cheer them on too. Pops was in town already because he came back with us Sunday for a visit and to be at the ceremony of one of his friends being commissioned as a Pastor. I think the 6 hours total we were there was more than he realized he was signing up for, but I’ve heard he was bragging about his girls as soon as he got back.  (Hailey didn’t make the pics because she was a good swim Mom and volunteered;) They each won a heat and Lilli came in 1st for the whole 100 yard freestyle event (her age). Plus she improved her time by 21 seconds! Katie came in 2nd in the 6 and under backstroke event and had her best time in that too.  We’ve had a great experience this year and we will definitely be joining again next summer.  Today was absolutely bea...

We had a very full weekend with lots of celebrations. We saw family we hadn’t seen in years, celebrated a life of someone no longer here and one that we’ve been blessed to be part of her 90 years. My Papa’s family has a reunion the 1st Saturday in June every year. This is his cousins and their families and when he was here he never missed. Of course being his sister this was also Peggy’s family so Nana, Janice and Lizard took her every year after he passed. Peggy passed away this last January and her wish was to have her funeral at the reunion so that all of her family could attend and that’s exactly what we did. We started with the normal gathering and potluck lunch and then ended with a celebration of her life and burial at the family cemetery.  From there some of the family went home and some of us went back to Baton Rouge for Nana’s 90th Birthday party on Sunday. Her birthday is really Friday the 14th but she wanted to do it early since so many of the family was already in town...

The McCormick kids had their 1st swim meet on Wednesday at the city pool in Haynesville. It was an early morning! We met Hailey and the boys at Chick-fil-A at 6:20 because we had to be there for warmups at 8:00. The kids all did awesome! Especially considering it was the first one.  Case did 3 events, Katie did 4 and Lilli did 5. Katie won every event she did and Lilli and Case placed in a few too. Granted it was a small meet and one team didn’t even come because it was supposed to storm (it didn’t- never even had a lightning delay). And Lillian was competing against more kids than the littles... but Hailey and I were super proud of them and I hope it built their confidence even more for next week. 

Capn and Yaya are so sweet and generous and booked “Crews Quarters” for the 3rd year in a row (5th trip-3rd at this house) and we are on our way home. It was probably the best one (for our little family of 4 at least) ever! The 3 years before were clouded by a bum knee, recovery from heart surgery and being JUST barely out of having a new defibrillator last year. So for us, to have no worries and kids that are old enough to fully enjoy the beach and be someone self sufficient made it absolutely perfect. Our routine stayed pretty much the same everyday. Beach in the morning and a little pool time before lunch. Kids would nap or have quiet time for a few hours and then back to the beach with a little more pool time before dinner. That meant LOTS of cousin play time.  Katie would barely get in the water last year and this year she barely got out! The big kids all discovered the fun of a boogie board and even the littles got brave in the surf. The weather was perfect. No rain more than...