Lazy, Crazy, Hazy Dayz of Summer...

How has life changed since I quit my job? In some ways, it has gotten much busier and MUCH more stressful. In other ways it has been more relaxed. Instead of waking at 5:30 and rushing to get Lily and myself showered, fed and out the door before eight, I sleep in until 7:00, when Lily comes in and snuggles with me in bed for about an hour. Then we get up, eat breakfast and start our day.


On hot days we play in the sprinklers, getting delisciously drenched.

And of course, being the responsible mommy that I am, I make certain we stay hydrated.

Then we usually go on a morning walk down to the park. By the time we get back to the house, it's nap time. I cram as much work into the two to three hours as I possibly can before Lily is awake again. Until Ernie gets home I get to color, play dolls, have tea parties, go for walks and run around the house tickling and being tickled.

My days are filled with giggles, hugs and snuggles.

A pretty good life, if I do say so myself. So far I love being a full-time writer.

Asking for your help

I don't normally devote blog posts to things like this, but I have been following this blog for a while. Kayleigh is a miracle baby. She was born three months premature, weighing only 1 pound 1 ounce and 10 1/2 inches. In ten months this family has been through so much. Their strength and faith have made me stronger. They are a beautiful and strong family with an incredible capacity to view the silver lining in life. Due to blood and oxygen deficiencies as a result of one of Kayleigh's many major surgeries she has had in her short life, she had cerebral cortex brain damage. As a result, she only has brain stem functions. I will let her beautiful parents tell the story, as no one could ever tell it better. But they need so much. So here is what I am asking you to do. Go to the blog by clicking here and check out their story. There is a DONATE button on the right column. Just click that and you can donate anything from $1 upward. I realize that none of you know this family and times are hard right now, but anything you can spare would be much appreciated.

Family Photo Shoot

It is finally here. After eleven blog posts, I have finally reached the end of our journey. So we may as well end with a bang.

As this was the first time the entire Hamilton clan has been together in ten years, Niecy and her mom wanted to get family pictures. I think they turned out great. I've posted a few of my favorites here.

That concludes our trip to South Carolina. I highly recommend going if you ever get the opportunity. And since I intend on buying a vacation house there when I become independently wealthy, you will be able to stay with me! Won't that be fun? I was thinking some place like this:

Hanging with the Cousins

As I am running out of steam, this will just be a post of random pictures that I thought were cute.

Is there anything more exciting then four drawers full of utensils? Apparently not.

It was remarkably easy to get Lily to bed when she got to chill with her cousins on the couch at night until she drifted off to sleep.

We all had a great time renting bikes after our morning at the beach on Friday. But just watching Jaxon sleeping like that made my own neck hurt.

Have you ever seen a boy with more beautiful eyes?

Easter Egg Hunt

Just in time for the kids' Easter Egg Hunt, Katherine and Ella came to visit the beach house. I'm not quite certain how Katherine is related, I believe she is a cousin. She is also within days of delivering her second baby. There is no hospital on Edisto, only one road and it is at least an hour from the nearest hospital. And she came out within days of delivering. She's a brave woman.

After being surrounded by little boys all week, Lily was so excited to see another little girl. But Ella wanted little to do with her. Good thing Lily's a pretty flexible kid. She managed to get past it and have fun. She found six Easter eggs. Mostly by herself. The good thing of being the daughter of the guy who hides the eggs? You get the inside scoop.

By the time she had gone through all six eggs, Lily was well aquainted with chocolate. Now she asks for it all the time. But she only gets it when Ernie is around. And he says I'm the one who always gives into her. Ha!

I was a little jealous over how tiny and cute Katherine looked pregnant. It just isn't natural to look that beautiful at 39 weeks!

51 Carolina Street

This is where Ernestine grew up. In Charleston, the jem by the sea. It is currently owned by her cousins. They've done all sorts of renovations and turned it into a gorgeous, modern, ultra chic home.

Lily loved her third cousin, Shantise. And she very adeptly conned Shantise into taking her for a walk around the neighborhood. That girl of mine already knows how cute she is and uses it to her advantage any oportunity she gets.

No matter how many times I explain Lily's strut, it is something you have to see to appreciate. You see it a bit in this picture. And trust me, there is no better description than "strut"! She's got attitude.

Before we even got out of the house that morning, Lily conned me out of my necklace. That, coupled with her cute, hippie-style shirt created an adorable, Bohemian toddler look that was wholly irresistable. (I originally wrote "Bohemian baby look", but had to go back and change it. I keep forgeting that she isn't a baby anymore :( )

The cousins were great. Shantise's dad recently published a book. He also used to be a writer for Mad TV (tell me if I have the incorrect, but I thought I remembered someone telling me that). The house is filled with his artwork, and it is stunning. I wish I had had the presence of mind to take some pictures inside the house. But trust me on this one, it was remarkable.

I was amazed that Lily stayed with Shantise for so long. Usually, even if Ernie is holding her, she will reach for me if I'm around. But she stayed contendedly with Shantise for quite some time.

Lily had a great time with her cousins. The only part of the trip she didn't like was getting back in the car. As soon as she saw it, she ran away from me. She thought it was hilarious. And once I saw the expression on her face, I couldn't help but laugh myself. Yes, I know. I'm not a very good disciplinarian.

Beach Blanket Bingo!!

If it weren't for tornadoes and the utter remoteness of the place, I could spend a long, long time on this little island. If I had to pick one phrase to describe Edisto, it would be country-kitsch. Not quite the picturesque beach town that I envisioned, but still beautiful it its own, hodge-podge way. Men with southern brogues driving pickups and wearing camo, wandering the isles of a swanky boutique. Beautiful artwork and genuine antiques vying for attention with cluttered-up shacks sporting backyard junk for sale. Fine dining alongside crab shacks. It was lovely.

With as much as we packed into our days, we were determined to take at least one day to just kick back and relax on the beach. It was torture seeing it every morning when you went out on the balcony and not being able to go play. But when we finally did, it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.

After very brief initial trepidation of sand, Lily really got into playing at the beach. She dove right into the water and had me dancing around her trying to keep her from being swept out to sea.

She particularly enjoyed "flying" over the water. She liked to get down low enough to skim her fingers over the water. I grew tired of this game long before she did.

She didn't quite get the concept of "building" a sandcastle. Ernie could only get so far as dumping the compacted sand from the bucket before she smashed it to smithereens with a giddily exclaimed "boom"

With powdery white sands, clear blue skies and warm water, it made for the perfect beach day. Apparently, the water can get as hot as 80 degrees in the summertime.

All the locals thought it was too cold in April to get into the water. But, being a west coast gal, I'm used to water temperatures that are 50 degrees year-round. The 70 degree water felt like heaven.

For those of you who enjoy shopping, art and fine cuisine, Edisto is not the place for you. With the ocean on one side and the river on the other, this place is all about the water. Could you think of a better way to relax?

Jaxon totally dug the sand. By the time we left he had eaten at least a pound of it.

Peyton built a fabulous sandcastle...with just a tinsy bit of help from Grandpa.

I made Ernie take over Lily duty, as I was too jittery keeping up with her around the beach. She got in as high as her chest before she gave up and turned back.

Sandcastles, salty breezes, warm water and dophins. Perfect recipe for a day of relaxation.

Or so I thought. With three young boys and two boys pretending to be grown-ups, I should have known better.

Before long, Gene and Ernie were going at it.

And their dad and other brother weren't too far behind.

They had a grand time and we got to hang with Grandpa and Gigi, which Lily loved. So even though the boys were rowdy, it was still a perfect beach day.