Hello Fall...

Fall...my favorite time of year!  And, undoubtedly, the busiest!  These last few weeks have been super-hectic, so I will just do a picture-story of what's been happening.

Molly cheered at her first game...

And, cheered on the DAWGS to a victory at her first GA game...

 She was elected Homecoming Representative for her class...

 Both Molly & Halli were super-cute at Halloween...

 BOO...

And, they all had a great time at the fair...



More to come soon...

Goodbye Summertime...

Summer has come & gone since my last post and what a great & busy summer it was!  Picking up where I left off, Molly & all of our Steps girls did great and brought home many awards.  It rained everyday of our stay in Daytona and we ended up making a trip to Sea World instead of Disney at the end of the week.

As we left Sea World, we met the couple with our new puppy, Stroker Bo...a blue-eyed silver lab.  It was quite a long & interesting trip home with 2 kids & a 6 week-old puppy.  I think we managed to pull into the house around 1am!

For Molly's birthday, we went back to Myrtle Beach again this year.  It was definitely a trip to remember with all of the small 'disasters' that took place.  Halli dislocated her shoulder and we spent 4 hours at the Emergency Room with her just so she could pop it back in place herself before we ever saw the doctor; Molly took a major wipeout by a wave that caused her to be scared of the ocean the rest of the trip; we had our Yeti cooler, Dewalt radio and Oakley sunglasses stolen while we were at supper one night; and, we waited 4 hours to get a table at Margaritaville for Molly's birthday just to find out that all the "stiltmen" that celebrate birthdays had gone home for the night.  However, things could have always been worse & we have another memorable vacation in the books!

For Eric's birthday, he & I made a trip to the St. John's river to do some mullet fishing.  Again, things didn't go quite as planned.  On the first morning, his boat tore up so he rented a pontoon & then it tore up.  He called the camp for help and they promptly sent a boat to tow him in, but then it tore up.  Finally, about 5 hours later he made it back.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at the boat shop, and managed to get in about 2 hours of great fishing before it tore up again!  So, we called it quits, headed to Daytona, ate at Bubba Gump's and watched 2 movies!

Molly & I traveled to Irmo, SC for Southern Strutt's bootcamp a few weeks ago.  She had the opportunity to take classes from some amazing choreographers and dancers, including Mandy Moore, Nick Lazarrini, and Ivan Koumaev (my fave)...

Halli is picking up new words on a daily basis and is such a smart little girl.  However, her new favorite word is "NO" and it is her response to everything even if she really means "YES"!  She is just too funny!

Molly started a new school this year and has mixed emotions about it right now.  I am hoping that it is just because it is all just different to her...a new school, new friends, new teachers, new routine, etc.  I hope things continue to improve for her & that she begins to love it soon.  With the start of school came the start of a new dance year, gymnastics lessons & pep squad practices.  I hope we ALL can adjust to the new, BUSY routine quickly!

School is out...woo-hoo!  I was one proud moma on Honor's Day at Molly's school this year.  She received awards Highest Class Average in both Social Studies & P.E., Honor Roll for the Year and was chosen for the Citizenship Award for Outstanding Character & Behavior!  I could not stop smiling! 

She has also become obsessed with 'Swamp People' and has had the opportunity to meet 3 of them recently...

Halli had developed such an outgoing personality.  She now says Moma, Diddy, Pweese, Book, Ball and Bray.  She loves to dance, be outside, have picnics and help her daddy at the farm!

Molly rounded out this year of dancing with a fantastic recital.  She did such an awesome job & I could not be more proud of her.  Even us momas did a pretty good job on our hip-hop routine...LOL!  Now, Molly is preparing for National Competition at the end of the month in Daytona...I cannot wait to see her rock that stage again & I pray that all of our Steps girls do great & have safe travels.

While in Daytona, we are hoping to surprise the girls & Braylon with a quick day-trip over to Disney World!  I hope it will not be too hot or too crowded.  We will also be picking up our newest addition to the family...a silver lab puppy.  We are super excited to meet him!

This & That...

Well, the virus bug hit the Hammock household recently & boy, did it stay a while.  It started with Halli, then went to Eric & Molly, then me & then back to Halli again.  It managed to string itself out for a solid week & we were SO proud to finally see it leave!

Kite Founders Day was over the weekend & we all had so much fun.  It turned out to be a really hot, but pretty day.  Molly did a great job dancing...

And, then kicked off her dancing shoes to do some greased pig chasing...

Also, I just have to add this picture from Halli's Easter photo shoot.  It is just so funny to me...I swear it looks just like the poor duck is yelling, "AFLAC"...

Happy Easter

Molly's dance competitions have been going great! They have received 1st place awards at both competitions so far...woo-hoo! This weekend, we head out again for our last regional competition of the year. She's super-excited to get back on stage again. She was always excited this weekend about the Easter Bunny coming. Halli is still "learning" all of this new stuff which makes it so fun to watch.

They both had so much fun hunting Easter eggs at moma's. Molly found the most eggs & the prize on the first hunt...

Then, Halli found the prize egg on the second hunt...

It was a wonderful & busy weekend.

Molly spent all of last week doing her first year of CRCT testing. She said she believes it went well & I'm sure it did...she's such a smart girl!

Halli is now trying to cut her "eye-teeth" which has made for 10 sleepless-nights in a row! She hasn't been her normal, happy self so I know they are really bothering her. We have 2 that have cut through, and the other 2 look pretty close so hopefully, she'll have some relief soon...and, I'll get some sleep soon!!!

I absolutely love spending time with these two precious little girls...they keep me busy & make life worth living!

First Dance Competition

Molly's first dance competition went great last weekend. They danced their little hearts out & it paid off. They won 1st place gold in their division and 4th overall for the day. We were so proud of them! Way to go girls! Now, we're headed off this weekend to do it again. I pray that we all have safe travels & a wonderful time.

Let's Dance...

We are SO looking forward to Molly's first dance competition this weekend. All of the girls have worked so hard tweeking and perfecting their dances for the upcoming weekend. Our dance family will be taking a total of 14 routines to the competition. I wish them all safe travels & the best of luck!

Triton

I somehow missed posting this last fall. So, without further adieu, here's a small tribute to a special part of our family. October brought with it a very sad day for our family. Our only "son", Triton, lost his battle with cancer. He was the best four-legged companion we could have ever added to our family & an awesome hunting partner for Eric. Thank you Triton for 12 wonderful years of unfaltered love & dedication to our family. You will be greatly missed & never replaced in our hearts. Triton Cole 2/20/00-10/22/11

Surprise Weekend...

We have spent the last two weeks trying to get both of the girls well. These weather changes have all of battling allergies & sinus problems. Poor Molly had to start back on her breathing treatments for the first time in over two years & go through chest and sinus x-rays at the hospital.

Thankfully, they are both doing alot better....and just in time, too! Because, we had a very exciting weekend planned for Molly this past weekend. We loaded up & told her we were headed to the St. Johns River for a fishing trip. Little did she know, we were actually taking her own her very first visit to Disney World! We managed to keep it a secret the entire way, with her not figuring it out until we actually pulled up to the entrance....she was ecstatic!

Upon arrival, we all got a big surprise. Several men with suits & ties greeted us with balloons telling us were had been chosen as their "Family of the Day"! We were personally escorted to our upgraded room...a top-floor suite which totalled over 3200 square feet! It had three balconies that overlooked the princess castle in Magic Kingdom. It was absolutely beautiful!

Even though the parks were extremely crowded while we were there, we made the most of it by timing our rides & using FastPasses. The longest we waited to ride anything was around 30 minutes...which we didn't think was bad at all.

We had scheduled an appointment for Molly at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where she had her very own Fairy-Godmother-in-Training do her hair, nails & makeup. Then, she put her princess dressed on & headed to her first Character Dining at the Akershus Dining Hall in Epcot. She met all of her favorite princesses.

We also scheduled character dining meals at Chef Mickeys...

...and The Crystal Palace with all of the characters from Winnie the Pooh.

We were able to accomplish alot in the couple of days we spent at the Magic Kingdom. Molly's favorite rides were Splash Mountain & Space Mountain (we rode it twice)! We made so many great memories with our oldest girl & cannot wait to go back again and experience it with our baby girl as well!

Man, Time Flies

Time sure does fly! I cannot believe that I have let so much time go by without posting about everything that has been going on in our lives. We definitely stay busy with these two little girls & I wouldn't have it any other way. But, I have got to start making more of an effort to blog about them so that maybe one day they can look back at this blog & see exactly what was going on in their lives at this time.

Too much time has passed to try to recap everything that has happened since my last post, so I'll try to hit some of the highlights:

-Molly has made the competition dance team at Steps & she is absolutely loving it! She dances 3 days a week & has her first competitions coming up really soon...she's very excited.

-Halli is 1 now and she's walking (& running) everywhere! She definitely has a strong personality but is such a good baby. She keeps us laughing everyday! -We took the girls on a cruise last Fall to the Bahama's & we all had a great time. However, I think we'll wait til they are little older before we tackle that again!

-For Halloween, Molly was an Indian princess & Halli was a ladybug...they were too cute & really enjoyed trick-or-treating.

-Christmas was great...it was such a joy watching them both on Christmas morning with their new toys. And, surprisingly, all of our trees survived "Hurricane Halli"!

I will definitely try to post more often now to keep things up-to-date. I cannot wait to see what things this new year has in store for our little family!