Swimmer!

The kids have been working hard on learning to swim this summer.  They are both doing great - Tyler is a champ at underwater swimming and "hold your breath" competitions, and Katie is all about cannonballs and "real" swimming "with arms."  At day camp they have to wear life jackets during pool time because they are "purple armband" campers - aka non-swimmers.  Katie has been determined, all summer, to pass the swim test and get to play sans life jacket.  She didn't pass the swim test the two times she attempted previously this summer, but the third time was the charm!  She took it today and passed and was absolutely beaming with pride.  She said that the lifeguard was very proud of her too (she took it yesterday and was told she had to use her legs more and today really worked on that to swim the length of the pool well enough to earn her "green armband" - aka SWIMMER)!

Tyler has no desire to take the test.  He is not quite there yet with the "real" swimming, anyway, but for some reason he is very reluctant to try and even discouraged Katie from her attempts, too.  He tells me that he likes having a life jacket and wanted Katie to have to wear hers too, but he told her he was proud of her today - he knows it was important to her.  I am secretly glad that this was the week for Katie to pass - there are only two days left of camp this week (and for the whole summer) and we will miss Friday which is water day.  I like them wearing life jackets, too!  I know, though, that it is a kid milestone to learn to swim, and I am so proud of Katie who really has been doing a great job trying to learn to swim and practicing every chance she gets.   I am confident that she earned the armband (the lifeguards were pretty strict on pass/fail), and I truly believe that she learned a lot from sticking with something, and having to work hard to accomplish the goal! 

On A Roll

I just had to chronicle the last few days, especially of Tyler's antics.  This week was busy, busy, busy.  They had camp (Art for Tyler, Sports for Katie) and then VBS each evening from 6:30 - 8:30.  They were getting home late, getting to bed late, having to be woken up in order to get to camp on time and generally just exhausted.  But, they had a ton of fun.  The week ended with a carnival type of event and the kids had an absolute ball. 

Yes, Katie has pink streaks in her hair and Tyler's is all orange.  

 They couldn't make it very far up, but they were determined! 

 The wait for the face painting was worth it to K & T - they convinced us to let them sleep in the paint and woke up ecstatic that they were still a tiger and a princess this morning!

Earlier in the week we went to Sonic right before VBS started and a very large woman sat next to us with her family.  Tyler asked, loudly, "how fat can somebody's body even get?"  He followed that up with a query of "that big?" as I was pleading with him to be quiet and talk about it later. That wasn't the end of him embarrassing us lately, though.  Tonight when some friends were over for dinner their children were terrified of Marley.  Their children were afraid that Marley was going to bite them and Tyler helpfully told them "don't worry, she hasn't bit any of us in a long time."  Then, when our friends were leaving, the house was a mess of toys and I told them not to worry about it and to just get their youngest home and to bed.  Tyler reassured them that "it's not a big deal, we are used to mess around here."  That boy has no filter!

4th of July!

A little late - I thought I had already posted about our super fun 4th of July, but apparently not!

We really did have a great day.  Lance played in a golf tournament that morning and the kids and I went with some friends out to Pegram for a parade, bounce houses, and yummy, but oh so unhealthy fair-type food (funnel cakes, corn dogs, chicken on a stick).  The kids racked up on candy thrown in the parade and are still selecting pieces to put in their backpacks each day at camp.  Katie was so proud of her 4th of July t-shirt that she made at camp (Tyler made a pillowcase so he couldn't wear his).

It was a gorgeous and not too hot day, so we spent longer than expected at the Pegram celebration and didn't make it to the pool for the 4th of July party, as intended.  We had our own backyard party though!  On the way home we stopped to pick up some low-key fireworks (sparklers, colored smoke bombs, pops, and snakes) and that afternoon Lance relented and let me get a blow-up pool.  Epic fail, since our sloped yard had no space for it anywhere and it wouldn't work.  We now have a giant baby pool (depth wise) in the yard, with water that needs to be drained already (the pump wouldn't work because it couldn't get tall enough), and that is killing the grass and is an eyesore.  I will say, though, that the kids do get it in some afternoons and like splashing around - they just would like it better if it was 3 feet deep!  We had a good time, despite the lame pool (or rather yard) - Lance was grilling and the kids were dancing fools!  I love watching Tyler dance!

We have just two weeks left of camp after this one - eek!  That means school is about to start!!!  I have been picking up shirts and shorts lately, and need to get shoes, supplies, and lunchboxes and then we'll be set.  We are actually going to the beach right before school starts (just for a long weekend) since there are no camps available and school doesn't start until Wednesday.  We decided to celebrate our anniversary (13 years) a little early and bring the kids along!  We thought about different trips - Vegas, Kings Island, a cruise - but for us nothing beats the beach and especially the beach where we got married - and we thought it would be good to get away one last time before the craziness begins.  We will have their birthday and Fall Break not too long after school starts, too, but this will be like our last hooray of the summer!  The first week of school will be kind of trying since the first day is a half day, they have no school on Thursday, and then do have school on Friday - but after the first week we have aftercare and they can sign up for school's out care, too so I won't complain, too much!

The kids are doing great swimming, although Tyler refuses to take the camp swim test (he has gotten it in his head that it is dangerous for some reason).  Katie did take it this week, but started doggie paddling halfway through (which is a no-no) so she didn't pass.  She plans to take it again next week and she should pass since she can swim the length of the pool by herself  nowadays.  Tyler is still firmly in dog paddle stage but getting better about holding his head up and they are both fish underwater and not afraid to jump in at all.  We should have another month of good pool weather and they don't close until Labor Day, so hopefully by the official end of summer we'll have two swimmers!

Back Home!

The kids seemed to have a wonderful time these last two weeks.  We are so glad they are home, but know that the visit with grandparents and break for the parents was good for everyone.  They were with my mom for a week, and then with my dad for another week.  They spent the week at my mom's swimming in the pool, playing at the park, and visiting with cousins.  At my dad's they went to VBS in the evenings and did some swimming there, too.  My dad brought them back this weekend with a stopover in Birmingham to check out a children's museum that they all loved.  We all went to the zoo yesterday (minus Lance who was playing in a golf tournament) and Lance and I had to go to a shindig last night, so all of the kids got to play together for one more night with Paw Paw and Tia watching them.  Today we are having a lazy day and the kid's seem to be having fun getting reacquainted with their toys and such.  Tomorrow art camp starts and at some point today I have to find the motivation to go get stuff to make lunches, shirts for their tie dye activity, and to wash clothes for the week, but for now I'm using the rain and catch-up time with the kiddos as an excuse to procrastinate  :). 

The zoo yesterday included a visit with "dinosaurs."  The kids were not scared at all this time and loved it!  It is so hard to imagine what it would really be like if dinosaurs were still alive - but these are realistic enough for me to know that it wouldn't be good! 

The birds were pretty friendly this time, too, and Katie really enjoyed feeding them!  They landed on my arm and head immediately when I walked in so the nectar I was going to let the kids feed them was gobbled up pretty fast.  That ended up being a good thing, since when I handed it to Tyler and a bird immediately came to eat it from his hand he screeched and dropped it all!  It actually was very strange to have birds landing on you and pecking at your hair and ears!

Tyler's favorite part may have been stomping in puddles.  It was rainy most of the time, but once the sun finally did come out we were grateful that the rain had kept it pretty cool and comfortable for June, and the animals seemed more active.  That elephant in the background eventually got into the water and was playing chase with a bird! 

It's hard to believe that we only have five weeks until school starts back.  It was my plan during the school year to try and get a jump on buying uniforms and whatnot, but I noticed that stores are already fully stocked with back to school gear so I think I am going to be with the masses, again, searching for the very few plain, collared dresses in "girl" colors that they seem to sell out of immediately.  I was holding off in case we decided to move since the other county doesn't wear uniforms, but we are pretty much decided that we are staying put for now - still have a ton of stuff to do on our house to get it ready and can't seem to pull the trigger on anything where we want to be, which tells me that we haven't found exactly what we are looking for just yet!  The kids really, really want to stay at their current school, and I am becoming more and more disillusioned with common core (which both counties have), so we may stay here indefinitely and put the kids in private school, anyway.  Too much up in the air - so we are going to just put all house and school stuff on the back burner and just concentrate on enjoying the rest of the summer and getting ready for first grade! 

The Beach!

Well, it has been a while since I have updated here, but there is a good reason!  We were on vacation - woohoo!!!  We just got back from a wonderful beach trip with Lance's family, and in fact the kids are still on vacation spending some time with my mom and then my dad.  I sure do miss those kiddos, but they are having a lot of fun with the grandparents, and have even gotten to see their cousins while there.  We enjoyed some beautiful weather at the beach and did lots of playing in the sand, ocean and pool - and ate some great food, too!  It was certainly a fantastic way to kick off the summer, which seems to be flying by.  The kids start 1st grade (!!!) at the beginning of August so by the time they get back there will only be 5 day camp weeks and then school will start.  We don't have much else planned for the summer - Lance has a golf tournament, and we hope to do some sort of anniversary trip, but mostly we are just going to hang at the pool, and the kids will get to go back to camp - which they loved before we left.

This was field trip day for Katie - she did a dance camp and got to visit the Ballet.  He was in a sports camp.  For the rest of the summer, they will be in the same camps - art, science, sports, and wet and wild!

The kids stayed pretty true to their favorite things to do at the beach - sand for Tyler and waves for Katie - but Tyler was much more adventurous this year and played in the water quite a bit, and Katie was helping with sandcastles more than usual!  Beach trips are so much easier now that they can play independently more, and it doesn't hurt that they made some friends to play with, too!  

Their Uncle Matthew spoiled them rotten the whole time (and the kids were in heaven getting to spend time with him all the way from "Yew Nork") - they at ice cream, played in the sand, he got them some beach toys (for some reason Katie thought beach stores were the greatest thing ever - the fun ball he got for them that bounces on the waves, though, was definitely used more by the adults), and he even coerced them into doing the bungee at Baytowne.  Tyler said he "kinda liked it and was kinda scared,"  Katie loved it and said next time she "is going to do lots of flips."  

The week ended with a fabulous meal and lots of great memories!  It also made me really wish we lived at the beach, but once the kids come back home I'm sure I'll remember why this place is pretty cool, too  :)!  

Memorial Day Weekend

What a fabulous weekend!  We lucked out on weather - no rain and "warm enough" for swimming.  Friday night we went out for pizza, and Saturday was spent at the pool followed by grilling out burgers (I didn't say we had a fabulously healthy eating weekend  :)).  On Sunday we went to a pool party, and the kids thought it was great that a dj was out there leading games of limbo, tug of war, hula hoop and dance contests, and giving out prizes for pool games. 

Tyler's dance moves were a hit with everyone there (he spent most of the time dancing) and he even incorporated them during the hula hoop competition!  Katie was practicing swimming and enjoying the pool, she may not know how to swim yet, but she certainly is fish-like with her love of being in the water.  In the evening we went up to the official "beach bash" and visited with friends and enjoyed the band, while the kids ran around the course and played until the fantastic fireworks show began (Tyler thought it was cool, but way too loud and Katie said they were awesome). 

Today we went to the pool, again!  They had a slide out today, and the kids played hard.  Katie coerced Lance to throw her in the pool about one hundred times, and Tyler was content to "chillax."  Someone he respects obviously said that around him recently, because he has been, in his words, "just chillaxing" a lot this weekend.

This evening we went to a friend's house for a barbecue.  They live on the river, and some of our friends have older children so the kids were in heaven playing in the river with big kids while we enjoyed hanging out for a bit.  We have school tomorrow (this is the last week) so we headed home fairly early (still late for them), and called it a night.  They are already asleep (even though bedtime is 8:00 it is usually well past then before they are asleep) and had to have been exhausted!  It was a big weekend, and super fun.  It is times like these that I really wish I could enjoy the summer with the kiddos.  I know every day wouldn't be nearly as idyllic, but these last few days have been pretty near perfect and ones that I hope can be repeated in the months to come! 

My kids...

My kids are pretty funny.  They really crack me up these days.  Tyler and I had a 30 minute conversation today about whether or not he can be a pirate when he grows up, and the conclusion was that he can search for treasure, but not steal.  It took a long, long time to get to that point!  Katie's funny moment of the day was coming in to our room at 6:00 AM in her bathing suit, asking me how many times she had to count to 100 before it would be time to go (to the pool that opened today), and ultimately deciding it would be a better idea to "count in my mind."  The pool didn't open until 10:00! We had a great day at the pool on opening day!  Tomorrow is a beach bash and fireworks that should be fun, and hopefully Lance can be with us tomorrow so we can get more swimming practice in.  They both wanted to work on swimming without floaties, but I am not entirely comfortable two on one with no floaties just yet!  I did let them use the kickboards and ring with no floaties when my friend was there with her little boy as a bit of back-up, but they both still have a long way to go before they are proficient swimmers! 

We opted not to go to the celebration of life service for Katie's classmate.  I was on the fence, anyway, and gave them the option and they chose not to go.  Tyler asked to pray about it, and we had some good discussions, but I think they will be fine not going.  I think it would have been good if we had gone to the service, as it would provide some closure and an opportunity to say goodbye and support the family, but I also don't think it is the worst thing in the world to let them process it on their own terms and for me to make sure I am ready and willing to answer any questions they may have but let them dictate how they want to handle this grieving process.  It is such a heartbreaking situation, and I, for sure, have spent the last few days since the devastating news holding on to the kiddos a little tighter, hugging longer, and giving in to reading one more book a bit more often! I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend a day like today with my kids!