We've been...

very busy this past month. I started teaching preschool 5 mornings a week (which means the girls both go to their classes 5 times a week) and will continue with that through October. It has been great and I will miss this group of 4 year-olds when their teacher returns from maternity leave. Bryan's parents flew in on the 22nd of September. We had a great visit and they were wonderful houseguests. They cooked every night and kept my house neater than I usually do :) Nana and Poppa, you are welcome here anytime! (Even if you don't cook or clean!) Aunt Lisa, Uncle Clay and Ethan flew in on the 28th and we all loaded up and set out for the beach that same day. We spent 4 days on our most favorite NC beach, Sunset. It is peaceful, relaxing, and beautiful. We hung out in the beach house, hunted for sand dollars, shells and starfish (by the way Parkers/Starrs, Starry the starfish was apparently eaten by something while drying out on our deck...shhh, Addi hasn't noticed!), rode bikes on the beach, tried (some more successfully than others) some boogey-boarding, played games, took walks, and had a great time. Lisa has posted more pictures of our beach trip on her blog. We returned to Raleigh in time for Bryan's parents to adjust their packing and head to the airport. The Starrs stayed with us until the afternoon of October 3. Addi was so excited to have Ethan sleep in her room! They both slept on her trundle until Ethan kicked her off of it in the middle of the night :) I'm sure the next time they're here we will have to let Libby sleep somewhere in that room so the "new girl baby cousin" (as Addi calls her) will have a room to sleep in. Now I need to start planning for Halloween and Addison's birthday party. She already got a big present from Nana and Poppa when they visited - a new bike! Oh, one last update...Libby has joined the walking world! She took a few steps about a week ago. Since then she has taken 3 or 4 steps at a time a few times a day. Today, though she was walking like crazy at preschool. Her teachers said she was even turning around without losing her balance! I've tried to get some video footage of it. When I'm successful, I'll post some of her first wobbly steps.