Swim Lessons - Day 5

Avary made it through the first week of lessons and she has now started her second week.

Everyday she asks if it is "swim class day".  She gets so excited, but I think a little overwhelmed.  The night always starts with a smile, but by the time they get to the "put your head under water" she is not a happy camper.  She often has a pout on her face and tonight we had tears.  She never asked to get out of the pool and she tries everything.  At the end of each class she asks if we are coming back tomorrow.

Bless her for being such a trooper and not quitting!!  Good job my little girl ~ good job!!

Swim Lessons - Day 1

Today was her first day in swim class. We haven't been to the pool as much as I would like, but I want her to love the water as all kids should.

For days she has been excited one minute and then telling me that she didn't want to go the next. But this morning she jumped out of bed and ran to my room asking "is it swim lesson day?".  All the way to class she was excited.  While we sat on the bench waiting for them to divide us into classes, she was excited.  And then they asked her to put her face in the water...

This is when I thought I was going to loose her.  I thought she was going to scream and maybe even cry.  But she didn't.

I was proud of her and the way she handled herself.  After this she kept an eye on me, as if to say to me "are you sure you want me to go with them?".  It was either that or "get me the heck out of dodge, MOM!!".

These next two pictures are of her watching the other kids put their entire heads under water and then her not wanting to do it.  

Take note of the grip she has on the side of the pool.  Poor thing.  I tried really hard to stay out of it.  I told her several times how proud I was and tried to encourage her trust the life guards, but she didn't buy it.  But you know she didn't give up either.  On the way out to the car she asked if we could do it again.  When I said "yes" she then asked, "tomorrow?".  Hopefully at the end of 8 classes I will be able to report that she can put her head in the water.

Sunday Fun

Today started off like just about every other Sunday.  We slept in ~ until 7:30 ~ thanks kids!  Matt cooked us a great breakfast and then the kids went out to play.  Gee don't you want to live my life :o)?  

No really it was a great morning with everyone happy and getting along.  Then a few minutes after the kids and Matt go outside I hear Matt at the back door.  He says, "honey, get me a glove".  What?  As any normal person would be I was curious as to what was going on.  Well Matt wanted a glove to move this out of our yard...

Poor guy, the turtle not Matt, he had two crazy dogs barking and biting at him and then 5 humans come along and want to take a look as well.  The kids were fascinated.  Garrett was right there with me wanting to touch it and probably keep it as a pet.  Avary was a little skiddish.  She had a healthy sense of "keep it away", but was still curious.  Then there was Claire.  She watched from a safe distance and kept telling the dogs, "be kuiet Lilly" and "no, no, Gable".  

Here are a few more of our lovely visitor.

Trying to make a run for it

Getting stuck trying to make his getaway under the fence

One of our hunters

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful after that excitement - phew!  The kids, or shall I say Avary and Garrett, played in the sprinkler again this afternoon.  Claire once again insisted that she put her on her swim diaper and bathing suit.  And once again she didn't get wet.  She watched her brother and sister from the side lines.  Content to stay in the shade with Mom and watch the other two act silly.

Here is Avary dancing around with a bucket on her head and below you can see her brother trying it on for size as well.  At least they are having fun, no matter how silly they look.

Here Avary thought it would be fun to try and fill up the bucket with water. 

and here is my son trying to drink from the sprinkler.  Notice Claire in the background just chillin' in her lawn chair.  

So that was our Sunday, filled with a little adventure, some great family time and lots of fun.  Hope yours was as great as ours.  Now here's to hoping that this week is as much fun as a Sunday.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, I'm hoping to capture a few pictures of Avary's first swimming lessons.  To say she is not looking forward to them is an understatement.  Honestly I'm a little apprehensive and excited for her all at the same time.  She is always so shy around new people.  I just don't know how she is going to do.  I'll keep you posted.

Summertime Sprinkler Fun

For Garrett and Claire's 2nd Birthday we seemed to have a outside, waterfun theme. It wasn't intentional, it just sort of happened. Well the weather has finally cooperated with our schedule and yesterday we were finally able to break out the beach ball sprinkler.

After 30 minutes of getting everyone in swimsuits and slathered with sun screen it was time to hit the back yard. The kids were all so excited. But once we turned on the water Claire did not want anything to do with the water or the sprinkler. She stayed as far back as she could. We pulled out the lawn chairs to sit and watch the other two kids. I just love her crazy hair. Up until we went outside she had two pigtails in her hair. Then all of sudden they needed to come out.

Avary and Garret were happy to run right in and enjoy the sprinkler. I believe we spent about 2 hours playing in the sprinkler and with the hose before we finally had to come in for dinner. You can see the joy in Garrett's face here. He is such a little adventurer. There isn't too much that he won't try. Avary is getting much better at trying new things. I was a little worried that she wouldn't play in the sprinkler at home because she decided she doesn't want to play in it at daycare. Daycare has been having trouble with sprinklers not working. So the teachers have resorted to spraying the kids with the hose. This has resulted in Avary getting sprayed in the face a few times and her not being too happy. Since then she has hated water and proclaimed she doesn't want to participate in water day at school. Obviously by the picture below she has gotten over any fears here at home.
Here is another picture of Garrett. I processed it into black and white. I love the details here. Can you believe how long his eye lashes are? Mine are long, but nothing like this.
And for those of you who wish to see pictures of me ~ because I know that is exactly why you stop by here every day ~ LOL. Here is a picture of me...
Click here to see a slide show with several more pictures. The kids had so much fun that I couldn't decide between them. So I thought I'd share a few more than I could post above. Have a fabulous Sunday!!

Hair Cuts

Today I took Avary and Garrett to go get hair cuts. Avary was so excited. This is only her 3rd time getting a cut, but she does it like a pro. She is so amazing. She came into the salon, said "hello" to Miss Amber and jumped right in the chair to get her hair washed. She takes it all in with such amazement. She's quite, well behaved and cute as a button.

When Miss Amber asks me how much we are cutting Avary tells her "only a little bit of a trim". Earlier in the week she had been asking if she should cut it short like me. I informed her that I personally like her hair long. After days and days of braiding and telling her that if it was short we couldn't braid it, I guess she decided she just needed a trim. Here is her AFTER shot.

The lighting in the salon is wonderful! She actually held still and posed for several pictures.

Then it was Garrett's turn. This is his 2nd time for a hair cut in 6 months and he was not thrilled what so ever. I ended up having to hold the little man on my lap to get him even a little close to Miss Amber. Once on my lap, he did okay. He didn't mind the scissors near his ears. But he hated them when she was cutting the hair on top of his head.

Here are the curls that were clipped from him. (I know only I would take a silly picture of the curls on the floor. And yes I did bring the first few that were cut home in a baggy for his baby book)

I couldn't believe how emotional I felt seeing those curls fall to the floor. I was emotional the first time (in January), but at that point he didn't have these wonderful curls that encompassed his entire head. Maybe it was because I was a little fearful that once I had them cut they would be gone. Maybe it's because it's another sign of how fast he and his sisters are growing up. Today a toddler ~ tomorrow a teenager!

Okay, so here is the little man yesterday evening when we were playing outside.

Notice the thick set of curls and how long it is in the back and on the sides. See his the curl in front, in the middle. It's one huge ringlet. Wait, somehow ringlet on a boy doesn't quite sound right. Either way, in this state there wasn't much I could do with his hair. If we combed it, it would only grow and grow.

So here he is after his hair cut. The picture isn't that great because he wouldn't hold still.

Here is another one, when we were getting into the car.

I am happy to report that, as you can tell, the curls are still there and are as crazy as ever. He looks so handsome and even a little more grown up. Below is a picture of him and Avary together. She was all for pictures and this was the one time I could get him to look at me.

This was the fun we had this morning. All in all it wasn't too bad.

Love Thursday

Here are some random pictures that I came across and thought some of my family might enjoy them.  They weren't previously posted because of the quality.  But in celebration of Love Thursday I'd thought I'd post them anyway.

These two are from Tuesday night.  

The rest of the pictures (below) are from a couple of weeks ago when 

my brother and his family were in town.

Claire going in to give Little Elijah a kiss.

I just love this little smirk

Here are almost all of my Mom's Grandchildren (Elijah is missing).  I tried several times to get them all to sit still or at least look at the camera at the same time.  Even cookies weren't enough to accomplish the task.

To see more Love Thursday pictures (many of them better quality than these) check out the Shutter Sisters.  Have a great day!!

Fun in the Evening

Wow, I can hardly believe that it's been a week since I posted any new pictures. I guess time flies when you are having fun. Throw in a case of the Mommy sickies and Father's day and you have a pretty busy weekend.

I am feeling better now and my poor husband has recovered from cooking his own Father's Day dinner. Bless him. Though we did take care of his yummy breakfast. To be honest I think he enjoyed cooking a great meal for all of us.

Anyway, I hope all of you Dad's out there had a great day. Here is a quote that I came across that I thought was fitting for my husband. “Becoming a father is easy enough, but being one can be very rough” by Wilhelm Bush.

The weather has been exceptionally nice these last few days. No rain, though more seems to be coming tonight, and the temperatures have been pleasant. So last night we took advantage of the beautiful weather and pulled the kids picnic table outside for dinner. They enjoyed eating outside. Then we all played and had fun before it was time to call it a night. Below are a few pictures of the kids.

As usual we started out playing with bubbles. The bubble machine has been one of the best "toy" investments that I could have made. No more fighting over the bubble solution and who is going to hold it and no more kids being frustrated when they can't get it to work.

All three of the kids had to get out the trikes. They have decided it is fun to "ride" them up and down the side walk in a train.
At one point after playing for a little while I looked over and saw Avary laying in the grass "thinking".
Here is Garrett walking barefoot in the grass. The littles watched Avary walk barefoot in the grass and decided it looked like fun.
For some reason I think this angle of this picture makes him look a giant.

Wonder Scope

I came across these pictures today. I had forgotten to post them back in May when I took the kids to Wonder Scope with a few other twin Moms. The kids had a blast and took great naps when we got home. Enjoy the pictures!

Butterflies

I made a quick (1 1/2 hour) stop at the Omaha Zoo this past Friday. My visit was just to see the new Butterfly and Insect exhibit. The exhibit was beautiful, but did not quite meet my expectations. I believe that the butterfly festival that Powell Gardens puts on every year is a little better. But this is just my opinion in comparing the day that I went to what I've seen the past 5 years at Powell Gardens.

Anyway, here are a few of the butterflies that I captured with my camera...

Tree Climbers

Who knew that Avary could climb a tree? Well the other night she followed her cousins up into my Mom's apple tree. She had a lot of fun and wasn't scared going up or down. Grandma is now going to have to get a bigger tree because there were three kids in it and one more was trying. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy Birthday ~ Melissa! (the other one)

*Click to enlarge*

Normally I don't post two entries in one day.  But I couldn't let this day pass without posting a HUGE message to my bestest friend in the whole world...

Happy 40th Birthday M&M

I love you, you are the best friend a girl (ahem, I guess we are women) could ever ask for.  Even through the distance we have managed to stay best friends for 25 years.  Most marriages don't last that long.  We have been, seen and done a lot through these years and I can't believe we are both now the big 4~0!  Happy birthday girl.  You are the best!

~Your bestest Friend~Melann~

Welcome Home!

This is my brother and his wife.  They FINALLY came to visit all of us this week.  I have not seen my brother in 3 years and until now  had not met my sister in-law or my nephew who will be 4 in September.  We are so very excited to have my brother and his family visiting.  

We know how lucky we are to have him with us.  He is in the Army serving with the 1st Calvary at Ft. Hood, Texas.  He has served his country well with 2 tours to Iraq.  We hope and pray everyday that he won't have to return ~ just like so many other military families.

Tonight the entire (immediate) family, all 15 of us, got together for dinner and time for the kids to play together.  Below are a few of the pictures from tonight.

Stay tuned, more pictures to share tomorrow...

Corporate Challenge

The Kansas City Corporate Challenge kicked off in the month of May. Applebee's loves to have fun and are very competitive when it comes to our challenges. So what is there to do in a sports competition for the non sportsman like myself? Well Table Tennis of course.

Last year was my first year to compete in this event. So this year they decided I should be the captain. Thank goodness they weren't looking for a coach. I don't know the rules, but I can cheer you on.

My partner in crime, I mean doubles, and I went into the event with our normal attitude. We are here for FUN. We did have fun, but did not win. Surprise ~ Surprise.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Sonya returning a serve

Me moving out of Sonya's way to return

Denise (our women's single competitor), Me and Sonya

The medal table - this is as close as we can get to one

A little later in the day our softball team had a game. At this point they were undefeated. Unfortunately they couldn't hold on to that title. They lost and ended up in third. A sad day for everyone. Here are some pictures of their great effort.

This is a friend Adam. He was on the OTHER team.