Not All Bad

Other than the two trying days over the last two weeks(both bad days fell on Tuesday... coincidence!?!?), things have gone really well and we have had lots of fun!!

Besides swimming, swimming and more swimming, we've been doing things both at the house and venturing out as well!

C received a Rescue Bot for his birthday and loves it!  However, I had no clue what a Rescue Bot even was.  So, I did a little research and discovered that it is part of Transformer series that aims at teaching kids hazards and safety.  Okay, sounds interesting, so one day I found a YouTube episode for the kids to watch so they could relate to what C's new toy was all about!  They loved

One night after we finished dinner, we went to City of Greer Park where they are hosting outdoor movie nights throughout the summer!  I knew they were going to have music and inflatables before the movie, so we went and I watched while the kids bounced(we got there early and had the place to ourselves for the first 20 minutes and then all the big kids came and we moved on!) and then C thoroughly entertained us with his uninhibited dance moves!!

This is what he started doing as soon as the music came on!

The older boy in this video got up on stage and was doing the dance and next thing I know C is running down to join him!!

C received a whopping $50 for his birthday, so we went to Target to let him pick out what he wanted!  S chimed in that she had money too and wanted to get something as well!  She had $2.15:)  After much deliberation and a bit of influence from his sister, C chose Ninja Turtle walkie-talkies and a big red bouncy ball.  S didn't have quite as much to work with, but still came away happy with her choice of a flower headband and Hello Kitty dry erase board!

M was working on getting the septic take put in at the new house and we took him and some of his worker men lunch and had our first picnic on the half-done screened porch!  The kids were thoroughly entertained by the work going on over there!!

After we left the new house, we went to the library to get some new books and check out one of the summer reading programs they are sponsoring this summer!  It was the science guy today and the kids loved it!!  He did some pretty incredible and entertaining things!  S was chosen to help with one of the experiments and C was so upset that he wasn't able to go up front as well:(  Poor kid!  But, at the end of the program, he was able to go up and talk in the funny sounding microphone so he went away from the whole thing a happy camper!!

This sweet moment lasted about 20 seconds!

S helping!

The boy really does love his big, red bouncy ball!!

We went to a Lego birthday party at Bricks 4 Kids.  We had never been there before and S fell in love with the place!  She had a great time and got in the car and told me that she wanted to have her birthday party there!  I reminded her that I had given her Legos for her birthday LAST year and they were still in the box in her room!  She proceeded to go home and play with Legos for the next hour:)

While we were at the outdoor movie night earlier during the week, Home Depot had set up a table to build bird houses.  We were on our way to the car when we saw it, and I'm just not good at construction-type stuff, so the workers were nice enough to let us take a couple of sets with us.  M spent some time with the kid putting them together and then they painted them!

Dirt Mud Mountain!!!

Last Week of Swim Team

This was the last week of swim team(well, technically there is one more week of just practice, but S has camp that week so she won't be there) and thrown into the five practices were TWO meets!!

The first meet was on Monday night.  We were swimming against Cousin Will's team and were able to meet up with Melanie and her kids before the meet for pizza and some swimming time!  the kids LOVED seeing their cousins!  They ate a little bit, but were more interested in playing and jumping off the diving board than eating:)  S even DOVE off the board!  I couldn't believe it!!  The meet started at 6:30 and lasted about an hour and a half total. Thankfully, this was our only night meet because as you will see by the pictures, it was about more than C-man could handle!

Pizza and oatmeal creme pies with the cousins!  I somehow
managed to get both of my kids mid-bite:)

See what I mean about him being D.O.N.E!?!!?  He was half
asleep with the apple in his hand!

So proud of this little fishy!  She did such a great job and
had a ball doing it!  She really does love swim team so far!

These are just a couple of shots I caught of her this week during practice!

Our second meet was this morning - at 9am!!!  So early!!  The kids had a parade around the pool before the meet began which was really cute!  They were short helpers today, so I offered to help with timing - I was glad to be in S's lane so I could still cheer her on and get pictures!  She did great, but I could tell she was somewhat tired!  She has had a great first season of swim team and is looking forward to being on the big kid swim team next year!!

Pre-parade Cuties:)

My view from the timers chair!

Kickboard

Jumping in for the noodle race

Diving in for the 25m freestyle

Finishing with 25m backstroke

C is Swimming!!

Gone are the days of me sitting on the side of the pool while S swims and C is hanging out in his Puddle Jumper!

Yesterday, on a whim, I asked the head swim coach for the "big kids"(all other kids except guppies) if she would give C a swim lesson.  About 20 minutes before she was ready for him, I took his swimmies off to get him use to it before she came.  Well... much to my amazement, he started swimming!  Like, put his head under and started kicking to propel himself!!  What the!?!?!

After his 45 minute lesson with the coach, he was swimming halfway across the pool, taking breaths and continuing on like a pro!  Wow!  I was totally impressed!!  He was exhausted by the end of his lesson and gladly ate lunch and sat for a bit:)

I asked about another lesson for the following day(today) and couldn't wait to see what else the kid had up his sleeve!!

Well, we finished with day 2 of swim lessons for C and he is now jumping/diving off the swim team starting blocks and swimming on his own taking breaths and everything!  He even convinced his teacher to let him participate in a practice relay with the guppies!  He thought he was big stuff!!  Seriously, though, it is just crazy to watch him!!  So long swimmies - he is now ready to sell them he said and will never wear the again!  Looks like I am going to be in the pool a lot for the rest of the summer!!!

Jumping off the starting blocks!

Swimming with the guppies!

It's A New Day

Yesterday was a very trying, difficult day with the rugrats!!

I was ready to throw in the towel last night!

However...

They redeemed themselves today and had a great day of swimming, gymnastics, Play-Doh and playing outside!

I hope tomorrow goes just as well(I'm not sure my sanity can handle another day like yesterday!)!!

These 3 little boys are so cute and I know it won't be much
longer that they will walk holding shoulders!  C is in the middle
in the orange shirt - does it get any sweeter!?!?!

We went by to check on the house and S got to see her
PINK room!!  And loved it:)

The kids got new goggles today since we are at the pool
so much and I was worried the chlorine was going to
irritate them!  They couldn't wait to get back to the pool
to try them out!

C got a Play-Doh truck for his birthday and added to his
collection!  It works out so much better now that there are
two - since there are TWO kids who can't seem to share just
ONE of them:)  They played for an hour before I made them put
them away for dinner!