Aunt Cathy! 2011

One of our favorite times of the year - Aunt Cathy comes to visit! We dragged to her all around town and then went bowling in argyle knee-high socks. Luckily, I can't find a picture of that.

Meanwhile....

Thanks to Hurricane/Superstorm/Epic/Historic Sandy, several of you have had opportunity to call an check on me and remind me that I am terrible at updating this blog so here goes. Found this partially entered post about all the work we've done to the house:

The laundry room:

removed bird border (really?)

installed cabinets (Brian) and custom shelf (Brian)

crafted ESSENTIAL "Coyne Laundry" (get it?) pennant banner

It really does help me do the laundry and doesn't get in the way of the laundry chute flow at. all. (ha!)

Removed utility sink (I never use it) and made room for THE KEGERATOR

Molly's room

Branch brought back from the beach

The playroom - original color: ELECTRIC BLUE

Dining room in a nice shade of "beachy" dark maroon...

This is a log we decided to saw in half in the dark while our kids held flashlights: Stay tuned for where this log ended up....

Hurr-Evac

Just before school started, our little island went on a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Irene. Neighbors had stories of their furniture found halfway down the beach, garage doors blown out, and flooding. We brought almost everything upstairs and hit the road to Raleigh.....

... where the power immediately went out. DOH!

Luckily, my bestie Emily works at, according to James, "the best museum ever" and she left us some tickets! (and they had power.)

Lunch with our friends, the Connors and their sweet, adorable, incredibly well-behaved boys.

My friend, Alyson.

Yes. I got my hair cut immediately after I saw this photo....

Family Dress

This dress is a family heirloom, worn by every girl in our family around the age of two. My Aunt Judi sent it to me and asked me to take some pics of Molly in it. Molly must have known how special it was because she really turned. it. on.

For the record, I was NOT standing in front of her yelling...

"show me coy!"

"show me bashful!"

"show me sweet!"

"show the dress! show the dress!"

"yes, like that!"

"ok, take a bow. You're done."

First Day of School 2011-2012

Big day! Kindergarten for James this year! His little school is only five minutes from our house, but he is adamant that he ride the bus - even the first day. Said bus arrives at 6:35am...

Seeing the bus:

Shortly after this was taken, the boy on James' left was nervous about getting on the bus and James took his hand and said, "it's okay, we can sit together!" Love that boy.

Molly's first day of 2 day preschool.

Dancing in the hall before class.

They're growing....

Apparently, if you keep feeding these things, they grow.

Thanks to Brian, we have a way to record it.

Apple Picking

We love a good apple picking on a crisp fall day....

This was NOT that.

It was humid and there was a CURTAIN of bugs that hung about one inch from our faces the whole time.

Great apples though!