Swimming Lessons 101

This week, Sawyer started swimming lessons.

Every day, for two weeks.

Today is Thursday, and it is the first time the sun was out all week during his 9am lessons (good thing they keep the learning pool at 96 degrees!).

Hooray!

The first day, they line all the kids up just to kind of see where they are at. Kids have to be 3 to be in "real" lessons. I noticed a lot of the kids are closer to 4 in this class - but that's okay. My boy with a summer birthday will probably always be the youngest and smallest in the class, so he might as well get used to it (unless someone can convince me to wait until 6 to send him to kindergarten - which is what everyone is trying to do in this city...the trend it to send boys with summer birthdays at 6 instead of 5...but that's another discussion)

The first two days, he was in a class that had a boy teacher - the only boy teacher - and he thought it was really cool.

Then, for no apparent reason that I could see, they moved him up a level. I was worried he would be upset that he wasn't with teacher Tristan anymore...but then he got teacher Mary...and he loves her!

The hardest part about lessons, so far, is getting ourselves out the door by 8:30am. It's not that early, but to pack clothes, snacks, fresh towels, etc., and make sure that we down some breakfast before we head out - well, it's slightly tricky (especially when they tend to wake up close to 8am!). It has opened my eyes a bit to the fact that when Preschool starts this fall (same time and two blocks from the pool) I might even have to get myself up before the kids. It will be good for me :)

Wait, I LIED!

The HARDEST part about lessons, is keeping Aspen from running and jumping in the pool with all the other kids! I had to wrangle her on one hip while I snapped these photos today...the girl just wants to have fun, what can I say? And honestly, I'd love to jump in myself!

The BEST part about lessons, is to see my boy sit and listen and follow instructions and let a teacher gently push him beyond his level of comfort rather than me. It really does make a difference. It has been so much fun to see him having fun out there - and he is so cute, we got some special swim shampoo for him and he LOVES to take a shower after class. We wait in line and he just stands in the shower with his shampoo-covered buzz-cut-hair and he has a blast. He asked today "do we get to come back tomorrow?" and it makes me happy that he is enjoying his class, while learning important skills. It is really important to us that our kids learn how to swim properly, and also learn how to be safe around the water, since we are surrounded by it where we live.

Anyway...

It's a good thing summer finally came back today.

We are wading pool bound after naps...

and lucky for all of us, we will hit up the pool twice tomorrow-

once for lessons,

and again - for our weekly (and fave thing EVER) family swim!

Then, Aspen will have her chance.

Unlike her brother - she throws ALL caution to the wind.

She is one who would seriously run and jump in if we weren't looking.

Hooray for swim lessons and here's to lots more pool time this summer!

ps-if any locals want to join us at the Mounger Pool for Family Swim on Friday night - it happens from 5:30-7:30pm and on a nice night, you've got to get in line right away because if they reach capacity, they'll turn you away. They always have a theme, and music, and games going along with the event - and we always pack a picnic dinner and head over to the park right afterwards. We'd love company - it's SUCH fun and we look forward to it every week!

*for those of you not from Seattle...let's just say summer has been teasing us and taken her sweet time to arrive -and stay.

Quick note to summer:

My dearest Summer - please STAY this time, we love you so - we've been waiting for you since last winter, heck, even last fall. Don't tell fall, winter, or spring, but you are my FAVORITE season. Especially in Seattle, where you are PERFECT. Please stay a while - you can even extend your stay since your arrival was delayed. More than fine with me. You can even stay at our house, if you'd like. We have a couple of fun camping trips coming up, and dry/warm/sunny weather would be greatly appreciated - especially when we backpack with two toddlers. Thanks! Can't wait to see you at the wading pool, park, duck pond, beach, playground, and pool! Oh, and in our garden would be nice, too :)

Parks and Picnics

Our weekend (Friday & Saturday, at least) consisted of the following...

Pool

Park

Picnic

Photos(as in, I took family photos for my sister's family -- click here to see the sneak peek)

Beach/Park

Picnic

Naps for tired babies

(and a little cat nap for tired Uncle Taylor :)

Planting seeds in the garden for not as tired toddlers

Bike Riding

Chatting away for two sisters

Papusas

more Park

etc.

We spent the whole day today with my sister, Kaitlin, and her very cute family, who came up to visit from Tacoma. We did pictures and then just relaxed and played the rest of the day, it was fabulous!

Here are just a few pics from Gasworks Park, where the kids got some practice in with the frisbee

(we kicked the soccer ball around too, for good measure)

We ended our fun day with throwing rocks in Lake Union and then celebrating little Alexandra's first birthday with some Cold Stone Creamery-goodness. I just love days like this!

Hope ya'll had a great weekend, too.

Sleepover!

Last week, Sawyer and Aspen went to their first sleepover with friends, and I got to tag along.

To be quite honest, it was my first sleepover in a very loooong time, and I was super excited, too!

We all had a great time!

While the boys were off chasing each other around and being dinosaurs or dragons...the girls were very proudly sitting on the porch and eating their drippy popsicles for dessert.

I can't get over their faces.

Such cutie-pa-tuties!

It's so fun that they are getting old enough to really play together. We know they were friends up in heaven.

I am so thankful for good friends. That my kids have such great people in their life. And, I LOVE that their friends' mom is one of my best friends, too! We both whipped out the camera (both happen to be photographers) and we were sitting their shooting away and I was laughing because most people would think we are just silly girls...but we were just enjoying every minute. It's so nice when you are kindred spirits, soul sisters.

Thanks goes out to Allegra, Max, and Ruby for showing us a great time - for playing, eating, tubby time,late late night girl talk, sleeping in, and a yummy brunch. We might just have to do it again sometime soon! And extra thanks, to my very best friend, Jacob, for letting us steal away for a night.

Good times! Good friends!

Nursery!

I can hardly believe Aspen is in Nursery now!

(applause)

This morning as we were running out the door for church (there was pressure to be on time as Jacob was teaching Sunday School!) I couldn't help but take 2 minutes (ended up being like 10 seconds as rain started coming down and I heard the car backing out of the garage....) to snap a couple of our big girl.

The way it works at our church, is when children reach 18 months of age, they can go to the nursery class. They play for the first hour (while parents are in Sunday School) and then the second hour (when parents are in the women's and men's groups) they have a little lesson, snack time, songs, and at the end (everyone's favorite) BUBBLES! And then, of course, we pick the children (or rather, chase them up and down the hallway most days) up so we can sit together as a family during the last hour, which is our worship service, or sacrament meeting.

Aspen is super excited to be in nursery. AND she gets to be in the same class as her brother! (We have 3 nurseries in our building). She is one of two girls in the class - all the rest are boys!

While I think many parents are overjoyed to finally send their kids off to nursery, I have to admit I felt SO SO empty handed today. Sawyer went to nursery pretty much the week Aspen was born, so I haven't had a "break" for about 3 years now. I hardly knew what to do with myself without a child to entertain. It seemed so foreign to just sit and listen. Really strange, but good, too. I'll have to brush up on paying attention in class :)

***********

Dearest Aspen Jane,

We are so proud of you for doing such a great job in Nursery! You are happy to go and happy to see us upon our return. Today, when I went to pick you up, you pointed in the room and said "bubbles, bubbles" so I know you loved that part. Sawyer reported that you were happy and played nicely with the other kids. He said he sat by you during lesson time and snack time. You did an excellent job with your little coloring project, too!

Keep up the good work, little one!

I missed you kind of crazily during the two hours you were in nursery class today - twiddling my thumbs and all - so I will thank you this week for letting me chase you down the hallway during 3/4 of sacrament meeting. These are good times, girly! Good times!

Huuuuuge hugs and kisses,

Mama.

ps: you are growing up a little too fast for my liking, yet I also love watching you learn and grow. hooray for nursery!

Jetty Island

This morning for Nature School, we fled the mainland.

We drove about 30 minutes north and caught a cute little ferry to Jetty Island. I heard about this little gem last year, but it was too late to go (it is only open a few months during the year), so I was thrilled when I heard we were headed there for Nature School! Thanks, Sara!

It.Was.Perfect.

(!!!)

Our lesson/activities/songs/games/art all centered around...SHARKS!

We all had a BLAST, and honestly, I could've spent a week there. It was super fun, warm (even the water was bath-warm) and most of all, totally relaxing.

The kids just ran and ran and got super sandy and dirty and wet wet wet. I changed Aspen's clothes 3 times because she just couldn't stay clean and dry. It's amazing how sand always seems to find all the nooks, crannies, and creases of the little people. We are used to sand at our house, but still, I am always amazed :)

We found part of a crab shell.

Some of the kids dug into the sand during low tide and made a little "swimming pool" which got a lot of use!

I have to admit, I even took a dip in it myself!

What little boy can't resist jumping off the mountains of sand?

(even if he's in his undies?)

I think this girl liked the "pool" best of all.

She would go running at it, make herself fall down and splash, and then get up and and say "more more more!"

What a great way to start the week!

We will surely be going back to Jetty Island

- and taking Daddy with us!

Independence Day

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love it for many reasons - and like other holidays, it's true meaning must not be overlooked. But mainly, I love that it is in summertime, that it is perfectly fine to sport shorts, swim suits, and bare feet on the occasion. That barbeques and fireworks are a plenty, and family and friends gather round. I love how my parents open all the doors and we livev outside, I love Lori Flanders homemade ice-cream, and in years past, my grandmother's homemade pies. I love gathering in the backyard and squinting into the bright sunny day...and then cozying up to someone special when dusk hits and we find our special spot to watch the fireworks show. This year, my brother-in-law Taylor, who is currently serving our country, was with us - and everything just hit home a little bit more for me. Maybe it's part of getting older, or maybe it's part of being a parent...I'm not sure...but I can sure be sappy sometimes.

Okay...enough of my rambling and onto our own little firecrackers!

Q: How do you get 4 children age 3 and under to sit still for a photo together?

A: Bribe them with cookies!

There are some smiles!

It was super fun for the kids to play with their cousins!

And Aunt Jamie & her pups, of course! This little dog below is the mama of the dog on the previous post (Peanut). Her name is Josie. She is super chill and easy going and GREAT with kids.

Here is Jamie, Alyssa, & Josie.

As I was going through the images below of Sawyer with Josie, I got a little teary. (go ahead, laugh! I told you I'm a sap!)

Sawyer used to LOVE my parents dog, Tommie, but this time he was pretty, hmm, SCARED of her. I think because she's bigger and her tail gives a good wack, he was seriously scared of her and didn't even want to go outside when she was outside.

There have been a few instances in the past few months where Sawyer has shown quite a bit of fear/anxiety/apprehension whatever you want to call it, in certain situations. And sometimes I forget: he's just a little boy. He has a very wild imagination and at this age when your imagination is going wild sometimes fears tends to come out a bit more. I struggle with how much to gently encourage or even push him into situations where he shows this type of apprehension (ie do we force him to pet Tommie to overcome the fear, or just respect that for now he doesn't want to be around her?)

Anyway, along comes Josie.

And he LOVES her. LOVES. I mean, he is still talking about her (and Jamie even offered to let us take her home, but we just couldn't).

So...is it him/certain circumstances? Because we did nothing, and he came and sat and wanted to cuddle and hold this little pup. He even gave her a kiss. Kind of melted my heart and slapped me on the wrist. Sometimes we want something for out kids (ie for them not to be scared of something) so much that we forget to just let them be and respect that in their own time and way they will come to terms with their situations as long as we just patiently love them.

Just patiently love them.

That was my lesson learned over the weekend.

Okay, and now that I've gone off on a soap box for a bit...let's get back to the pictures.

Sweet Sawyer and his Josie. Love that boy!

Of course we can't forget the cute baby sisters!

Here is Alexandra (Xani)who is just about to turn one! I get to take their family pictures the day after she turns one - not to mention celebrate big time that day with her and her family! Exciting!

And Miss Aspen Jane.

Do you love her dress as much as I do?

(Stars and) STRIPES forever!

Sawyer and Alyssa hanging on the the porch swing with Jamie's boyfriend, Brandon. He's a good sport! Both were begging for a bite of his cupcake - and Sawyer certainly wasn't shy about it!

I hope you all had a fun-and-family-filled-fourth!

Let the good times roll! I'm SO glad it's summer!

Bend Pet Parade

Here is my youngest sister, Jamie, with her little dog, Peanut. They marched in the pet parade...

me, Grammie, and the kids watched - it was a hit for sure!

A quick stop by Goodies for ice-cream was also a hit.

The only miss was that I forgot our cell phone and missed out on seeing a long-time friend who was also in town (Tirza! Sooo sorry we missed you - we will have to try again very soon to catch up!)

(Daddy, Granpa, Uncle Taylor and their crew opted out of the parade for a 30 mile bike ride that morning ;)

People got all decked out and found things to ride in the parade, and then also showed off their pets. There were LOTS of dogs, but a few others, too. I was SUPER impressed at this guys custom long-board. I am a big fan of long boards, but have never seen one this LONG! He could've fit his whole family on that thing - I want one!

I was told to look for the flying dog at the end of the parade.

what? a flying dog?

Yup. Check him out! And don't worry about cruelty to animals, this little dude was happily wagging his tail having a blast flying high! Can you blame him? Looks like fun - and I love his little aviator glasses!

Yes, we finally made the Pet Parade in Bend - something I never did when I lived there, but very glad we took the kids, it was a hoot!