Here you go, Mommy

I don't enjoy working out.  Mainly because I'm a wimp and a little bit lazy :)  But I LOVE hanging out around a pool in the summer.  Fortunately, our local YMCA will allow slackers like me to join for just the summer without an initiation fee giving us the opportunity to take advantage of the water-park without the guilt of paying for a gym I don't use the other 9 months of the year.  We did this last summer and it worked out great, so we decided to re-join for this summer.   

The kids and I signed up this morning and then spent several hours splashing around.  We had lots of fun!  

Around 1:50 the life guards whistled for all the kids to get out of the pool for adult swim.  I decided that was a good time to dry off and head home.  When the kids made their way over to our lounge chair, I handed G her towel and then turned around (my back was to her) to help C remove his wet swim shirt - not an easy task for a large-headed child :)  As soon as I pulled C's shirt over his head, he took one look at G and started laughing.  [Uh-oh - that's not good!]  I turn back around to see a totally undressed G standing there - crumpled up bathing suit in her outstretched hand.

"Here you go, Mommy."

That's my little helper! :)  

Never mind the fact that when nature called a mere 30 minutes earlier this same child was unable to remove this same wet bathing suit in the privacy of a bathroom stall...but put her in the presence of 40 (at least) adults and children and she's got it off in 5 seconds flat.  Figures! :)

Bossy Boots!

Lately, G has become quite bossy to everyone around...including J and me.  I have no idea where she gets THAT from *ahem* :)

Here is a particularly amusing conversation that ensued today at lunch about this issue of G's bossiness.

[G told J to do something...though I can't remember what exactly...it probably had to do with getting more milk or a biscuit]

Me:  G, you shouldn't boss Daddy.  You need to ask nicely.

J:  C, would you say the Blessing, please?

C:  [Says "God is Great"]

G:  (in a very authoritative a.k.a bossy voice) C, you didn't pray for me to not be bossy.  Pray for me to not be bossy.

C:  Dear God, please help G to not be bossy.  Amen.

What can I say...at least the girl knows where her help comes from :)

Father's Day 2011

I let C and G pick out their Father's Day presents for J this year.

C was pretty sneaky...his present to J including a matching one for himself :)

G chose a very FUN Hawaiian "babing soup" (bathing suit).  No WAY J was going to let me take a picture of him in those....hehehe.  Perhaps they will make an appearance in the pictures of our upcoming beach vacation :)

I picked him up a few new grilling toys and took him out to eat.

I think he'd tell you he had a really nice Father's Day!

Visit to Uncle Jimmy's Farm

J's Uncle Jimmy has a farm in our hometown that we've been invited to come visit for awhile now.  We finally decided to take him up on the invitation Saturday morning.  It was SUCH a treat!  The kids and adults all had a blast! :)

Though Uncle Jimmy isn't a farmer by profession, he has a great variety of animals to see and pet!

There were donkeys

This one donkey started Hee Haw-ing which Hayden thought was hilarious.  So he and G tried making every noise they could think of to encourage the donkey to "talk" again.  You can see the donkey is confused :)

Whoa!  That donkey could reach a little further through the fence than Hayden realized :)

A Miniature Horse

Can you tell C enjoyed his ride?

A Regular Size Horse...not sure the technical name

C just sat this time - Nugget was too tall for a bare-back ride.

Aunt Staci went on a ride, though :)

I even got in on some horse-riding action...gotta say it is WAY harder than it looks!

We also saw some Guinea Hen chicks

There was peacock that we heard but did not actually see.

We got in some free-for-all running, deer stand climbing, and pretend tractor driving.

Last but not least (in my opinion) was resting on swing!

Believe it or not, I have a ton more pictures here if you are interested.  Password:  farm

Thanks again Uncle Jimmy!  

Fun Times!

We went home to visit the folks this weekend.  

Friday morning C and G went to work with Papa.  I use the term "work" loosely as it usually involves riding around in Papa's truck, sugar-laden snacks from convenience stores, and on this particular occasion a trip to a creek for some water splashing fun.  :)

Mom, Kristin, and I caught up with Dad and the (very dirty) kids for lunch.  Afterward, Dad and C went fishing while the younger kids (G and cousins Hayden and Kaitlyn) took their afternoon naps.  

Later in the afternoon, we enjoyed more water fun.

 Taking a picture of 4 kiddos under the age of 6 can be a challenge :)

 AHHH...that's a little better...

Sweet KK (18 months)

For supper we ate at our favorite BBQ restaurant...YUM!

We concluded our trip on Saturday with a really fun trip to J's Uncle Jimmy's farm.  

All in all - a really wonderful way to start Father's Day Weekend! 

Returning to the Land of the Living

Within 24 hours of returning from the beach (two weeks ago), C came down with a very painful ear infection that sent us to the Urgent Care.  Then a few days later, just as he was beginning to feel better, I came down with a really bad cold.  I started feeling more myself over the weekend...just in time to take C BACK to the doctor on Monday for what what turned out to be a now double ear infection and a little bit of wheezing.  Thankfully, the new antibiotics kicked in almost immediately and we are FINALLY all healthy!

I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to being sick.  So we didn't do much last week...except watch a whole BUNCH of cartoons :)

This week, however, the kids were signed up for swimming lessons.  C's lessons were mainly just a refresher from last year.  He assured me that he was feeling up to it and Dr. T gave his blessing, so C took the lessons as planned.  [My kiddos do not share my wimpy tendencies when sick.]

I wasn't sure what to expect for G.  We didn't attempt to teach C to swim until he was 4.5, but that plan wasn't really an option for G. She LOVES the water and she has NO fear of jumping right in.  Really, it was the craziest thing!  She did NOT like flotation devices of any kind (pretty much took them off at the first chance), but she also did not like being held - yet she couldn't swim.  This makes for a dangerous combination!  If I wasn't already in the pool waiting to catch her (which sometimes I wasn't), she'd jump right in and just stand there and look up at me from the bottom of the pool....just waiting for me to retrieve her.  I tried waiting a second before I went to her in hopes that she'd get a little scared. That TOTALLY backfired!  She thought it was hilarious. That left me with disciplining her if she removed her flotation devices without permission.  I was fine with  that, but I still didn't trust her around bodies of water.  At any rate, it became very obvious that this child MUST learn to swim and FAST! :)

Swimming lessons were a big hit!  Both kids made great progress. C is much more efficient with his technique and G...well she still can't exactly swim, but if she jumps in, I'm pretty sure she can now make it to the side.  SHEWWW!

I forgot to take pictures during G's last lesson, but here are a few of C:

PS - if any of my local friends are looking for a swimming instructor, I'll be happy to provide you with Ms. Katie's info.  She really is GREAT!

Lost in Translation

About two months ago I subbed for one of C's Sunday School Teachers. During their Mission's Moment that day Mrs.Diane, a friend from church who was born in Argentina, shared with the kids some basic geographical facts about Argentina and then showed them some toys and souvenirs her family collected when they lived there.  As part of her lesson she explained that Argentina is WAY down at the bottom of the world at the very southern tip of South America (she used a globe for illustration).

The days and weeks went by and then out of nowhere, yesterday, C drops this little factoid on us:

"Ms. Diane was born in Argentina.  Argentina is the 2nd from the bottomness of the world...it's nearest to hell."

[Ok - time out -  I just want to make this clear.  I was there.  Ms. Dianne didn't say one word about hell in her lesson :]   

So (after J and I finished discreetly laughing), we asked C to elaborate.  C went on to explain that heaven is up and hell is down.  Since Argentina is DOWN (said with emphasis) near the bottom of the earth, that makes it nearer to hell.

We tried to reassure him that Argentina is not located any closer to hell than any other place on earth...but I don't think we convinced him. :)

Beach Trip

The kids and I joined Leah, Stephen, and Grant on part of their family vacation at the beach. As you can tell from the pictures, the kids had a blast!

I've spent a lot of time on the beach over the years, but I'd never seen a star fish until this week!  Very cool!

Marsh view from the back porch

The kids and I LOVE the beach.  It is probably my favorite place to be, but man I am TIRED! :)

Here are lots more pictures from our trip.  The password is beachtrip.