Make A Splash

June

I signed the boys up for a second round of swim lessons. They were in a class of four kids and so they were able to receive more instruction. W loved the attention. Everyone could hear his giggles and see his enormous lashes bat away towards his instructor.

 Confidence is what they gained, although O seemed to already have plenty of it.

 As three terrified little boys received instruction on how to back float, O was already floating across the pool on his own. After telling O several times to stay with the class or hang onto the wall, the teacher looked up to see O floating away and she literally throws her hands in the air and waves him on. He's got it...He's got it.

 

 E was in a class of three kids and her abilities grew drastically. She loved her classes.

 W thought he was doing the back float if he tilted his head back.

 We had to deal with another allergic reaction. I tried to let everyone know he wasn't contagious. Can I just grab a megaphone and make an announcement? And then he HAD to have band-aids on his day old scrapes, which always fell off in the water. That resulted in cries of frustration and a refusal to get back in the water without a band-aid. Oh, what a vicious cycle.

 Bat those lashes, W.

 Amazingly, everything turned into a kickboard when we got home.

 E learned to pull herself down a pole in the deep end. Impressive.

 She could jump into the pool without hesitation and thoroughly enjoyed cheering for others.

Look at her go! 

 Baby H was very patient for two hours each night in a very noisy YMCA.

 

 Backyard Banzai!

 It's so great when they all have fun together.

 

School's Out

May

Besides the Halloween party for E's class, I didn't help with any other class activity. Nor did I help with any playschool parties. I did manage to shop for Teacher Gifts. They deserved it. They really did. Ms. Lynn and Ms. Alicia taught the boys. I remembered to take a picture of their gifts. I gave them school supplies, decorative buckets, stationary, a colorful glass dish, homemade brownies and banana bread. I'm always a little nervous about giving food because I just don't know if it'll come out perfect. Well, they raved about it. The best banana bread Ms. Lynn has ever had. Hooray!

I forgot to take a picture of E's teacher gifts. They looked really nice. I got Mrs. B a hand towel set and a glass frame to hang, both monogrammed. Mrs. C received a monogrammed decorative plate. They were all black and white, very classy, and very fitting of their personalities.

The boys were out. Time to play outside, eat a bunch of icy high fructose corn syrup pops, and wear mismatched clothes whenever we can.

Time to nurse wounds as a result of being a daredevil and saying Watch this!

Time to climb on, over, around, and behind everything.

Time to race across the floor with your forehead against the carpet...nice rug burn.

On E's last day of Kindergarten, she happened to pick out the same outfit she wore on the first day of school. 

We got a good laugh over it. She had no idea. I even put pigtails in just like the first day.

Me and the kids drove all over town trying to find balloons for E on her last day. I had no idea there was a helium shortage. My original idea involved a bunch of balloons, but once I realized the shortage and high prices ($4 a balloon), one balloon would have to do.

We surprised E at the front doors of the school. She was so thrilled to see us and get a special balloon. We ate brownies and cheered. She's out for Summer! Now I get to play with you and the boys and baby H all day!  Hooray!!

Barnyard Moosical

May

 The Kn classes practiced for months in order to be ready for their performance at the end of the year. All the Kn teachers are involved and worked closely with the Music teacher to get those songs just right. Several students were hand picked to be soloists...and you guessed it...our Miss E was one of them. She was so excited! Everyone in the family could sing her part by the time the performance rolled around.

E played a goat for the play. She sang and danced her role actually. Without fear, she came right up to the microphone and started singing right on cue. She was the one and only singer we could hear and understand. That's my girl!!

 Belting it out.

After the performance, the teachers had a small recognition/awards ceremony. They recognized the best athletes in PE, best artwork in Art, perfect attendance, etc. 

Borrrrring.

 That is until they announced the names of the children who were part of the 200 Book Club. E's name was called and she proudly stood for the applause. I got a big laugh at E standing above everyone with her hands on her hips. So funny.
E was happy to receive a certificate for the Book Club that stated she read 350 books for the year!

 Grandma came to see her and brought M&M's in a jar. She was thrilled! She savored each bite. She didn't finish the jar until half way through the summer and we were secretly helping her out!

 Me and Baby H enjoyed the show.

E and her teacher, Mrs. Barham

Just Us

May

So far we have a million pictures of E and she's still 6. The boys were double the amount of time, so they have a little less. Unfortunately, it's true, the more kids you have the less pictures you take. Poor Miss H. She just doesn't have the daily documentary the others seemed to get.

Occasionally, we remember the camera and capture the cute or funny thing she did. Sometimes we just sit there admiring or laughing at her and then say...we should be filming this.

When we do get the camera out to take a few pictures we tend to take a lot because it's been awhile.

Daddy took the older three out one night and I decided to take a few pics of me and H.

Impromptu.

We're on the floor, let's take a picture.

Let's document this time in our lives.

The time when you were just starting to roll and desperately wanted to sit straight up.

The time when you stayed in one place.

The time when you really started interacting with me.

When you started to become a little chatterbox.

When you filled the room with laughter over your funny faces.

When you began drooling all over yourself and we all thought you were teething, but a tooth never came.

The time when you were always sucking your upper lip making little slurping sounds.

And those faces...

so cute.

The time when we were both losing our hair at an alarmingly scary rate.

The time when just a touch from Mommy was soothing.

My sweet, happy baby.

Ab cruncher.

I want that truck!

Niiice.

Drool monster.