Swimmin

Although one of the busiest for me, swimming lessons is 2 of the most fun weeks of the whole year. I'm not sure if there is any other 2 weeks that I see bigger improvement in any thing for all 3 of my kids-- this year was no exception.

Ronda kept saying what a hard worker Ek was. She really loves swimming and really took her lessons seriously and worked diligently on everything that she asked of her.
She worked on her freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and dives. Super proud of that girl!
It was amazing to see how captivated the boys were by Ronda, they did not miss a word she said.
H worked on his freestyle, which is so strong, backstroke, underwater swimming and he even learned a running jumping dive off the diving board. Way to go H!

L's only regret was that she was last, it seemed like the longest morning of her life every day.
I loved how much H and Ek enjoyed watching her. Ek kept asking me to ask Ronda if she could get in and help. L made huge progress in her comfort level in the water. She got to where she was retreiving rings off the bottom all by herself. It was quite dramatic. She would drop the ring and watch it go, take a big breath and puff out her cheeks, purse her lips, reach down to get her ring, bouce up with a dramatic release of her breath and wipe her eyes clean. over and over. So so proud of her!
Blowing bubbles.
Our only regret was to miss the last day to get our tonsils out. But much more swimming fun is just around the corner!!

Home on the farm

Every time we have gone to get Sam dog food, John has admired the farm animals and wanted to get "H some new animals." Well, I didn't let him. Saturday morning, J wanted to get H out and take him to pick out some new animals for his birthday. So I told H to gather all his animals that he already had so he would know what he wanted. Since then, the kids have been playing farm non-stop. For the last 2 summers, they played Little People constantly so I guess this is the summer game. They have gotten out blocks for fences and stables, Barbies for their people, and a variety of vehicles to fully support their game. The living room has been taken over. As always though, the building is the fun part so occasionally I make them take it all down so they cans start over. Mostly, the play is peaceful and full of laughs. And occasionally we must stop and separate for a while. But it is really really fun to see and hear them all playing together and hear what the latest story line is-- a fundraiser to buy a new farm or all loading up for a horse race.

Slow down!!!

Two days before surgery, we had basketball camp times one, swimming lessons times 3, ENT appointment times one, preop times two including blood!, swimming with friends times three and Chick fil A times four (I was hungry!), then... L fell asleep on the way home with 2 chicken nuggets left to go on her lap in the car at 6:30. Maybe we needed surgery to slow us down a bit!! PS she slept until 6:30 the next morning. PPS and felt great! next up, what we've been up to at home...

Brave H and L

H and L both had their tonsils out last week. on the same morning. one after the other. There were really amazing and I am so glad it is done. 3 kids, no tonsils. They were a bit scared when we first got there and during pr-eop until they had their "juice," but after that the rest of the day really went amazingly well. They neither remember the tragic waking up from anesthesia but both remember waking up peacefully in our 5th floor room. L was asleep on my chest, woke up and said:

L: where is that man?

me: oh, he is working. (no idea)

L: gasp, where is H??.

me: right there, pointing.

L: oh, why is the door so big?

me: so they can get beds in and out.

L: oh, what is that? (pointing to IV pole)

me: oh that is what give you something to drink while you asleep.

content with my answers, she laid back down on my chest and went back to sleep.

H woke up and called John over, "hey daddy, come here, I have a surprise."

J went over and got close and H pulled him in and gave him a big hug and a kiss.

what is not to love about that.

We spent the afternoon cuddling, reading and watching cartoons. oh and eating multiple ice creams, manilla, orange sherbet, Popsicles and powerade. We got dismissed about 5 and went home and tried to fill their empty tummies. They have done great and we can't wait to get back full steam to summer. Actually it is kinda nice to not be full steam. more on that later...

Today

L had a very amazing day today. She was accompanied by H's best bud WG to K4 for bring a friend to school week. Wow. Could life get any better for a girl who cries several times a week for her brother and sissie when they leave her for school? She gave me the tightest squeeze and didn't consider looking back as she walked into the K building holding H's hand. Even when the teacher said, "L, say bye to mom," she was still moving too fast to look back. I got an email mid-day from our beloved Mrs. S saying that she was having a great day- all smiles and giggles, but when she got into the car, Mrs. S spelled t.i.r.e.d. And she remained that way for the rest of the day. The low point of the day was when she was trying to convince me that today was not today and that she could actually go back to school tomorrow because today was not today. She wanted today to be yesterday so tomorrow would be today and she could go again. wow, try arguing with a tired, i mean tired, 3 year old over that one. She kept saying 'but today is not today.' me in the front seat- speechless. Probably not the time to remind her of Psalm 118:24, This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it-- but next time I may try. Totally worth it though to give my sweet girl a day that she dreams of- when she is at school with her brother and sissy. And I admit, I felt so peaceful today knowing they were all there together. It will be here very soon.

Back to the ball field!!!

We were so excited tonight to start back to t-ball and softball.

Both kids are Florida Marlins, although on different teams. It took me a while to get all of Ek's bows tied, there are 4, and gather H's pants, belt and the cleats. J is coaching Ek's team so I watched all of H's game and then we went to Ek's game but only got to see about 1 inning. The tball coaches were very zealous and the softball called it early. My report of H's game was that he was so excited, he stayed alert and didn't really let any balls go by, he stopped the ball well and listened well to where it needed to go (please note the ball in his glove here..., he hit the ball strong and, of course, loved running the bases, he had a great time with his friends too. I loved watching him, he did occasionally look over to me and I would give him a big smile and thumbs up. L was a great fan, she had several friends to play with, and eat snacks with, and was very pleasant and sweet. Ek seemed to have a great time as well. She was very alert but I didn't get to see any balls come to her. She did hit the ball well, they did have a former professional ball player pitching it to them, that helped I'm sure. CG told her mom she had fun too in her debut game, she said the action from catching to throwing was 'just like a kick-ball-change in tap.' One thing makes us stronger for the next! 9 more games, can't wait!!

EK's take

Ek got in the car yesterday so excited about what she had been working on. She had made a book about our trip. She only had one page to go, but then added 2 more pages when got home. She likes to pull the big wagon out into the driveway on a pretty day, added towels for padding and sit in the wagon with container lid across the sides to make a desk. She even went for a walk the other day while coloring. Anyway, I loved the book. Love seeing her take on the trip. I especially like the dolphin, the castle on the beach and that she included J and H playing basketball, please note the girls are not playing, its true.




I'm glad we were smiling throughout, even going home...