Swimming Lessons

We signed Addie up for some swimming lessons when we got back from our trip to Idaho. She is my cautious girl and really needed some encouragement to try swimming, which was discouraging since both Jeremy and I were lifeguards and swim instructors!!! So, we signed her up for lessons. I told her about her lessons and she said "Mom, when I'm older then I'll do swimming lessons." Ha ha! Nice try!

She actually loved the lessons, she had a fabulous teacher named Jasmine (Addie loved that she had a princess name!) and her class had four girls which she also loved.

What really helped her take off was having her wear goggles. We went swimming with some friends a few weekends ago and their older girl had goggles and Addie tried some and was going all the way under - which is a huge deal for this terrified little girl! Anyway, here's some fun pictures of her last day of lessons. We are so glad we did them!!

Davis really wanted to try the goggles and so I let him put some on - this is how he looked when he did! Our poor boy with a big head - I think those are a little tiny for him!!! Ha ha.


This is a much better look for you, dude.

Don't See This Every Day...

After a LONG day yesterday, I put Davis to bed and was going to let Addie stay up for a while with me so she could actually see Jeremy since he's been getting home late.

We were hanging out downstairs when Jeremy called me and said to look out in the backyard. I ran out there and this is what Addie and I saw:


Apparently when Jeremy was calling me it was directly over our backyard. He said it almost hit some power lines. He pulled in to our neighborhood and said the two women in the chase car were trying to pull the tethers down and were struggling, so he got out of his car and helped pull it down. Luckily it landed in our neighborhood park (right up the street) and everything was ok.

WOW! Not a typical Monday. I'm glad Addie was up, she thought it was so neat and kept talking about how it looked like the "big balloon on Thomas (the Train)."

Trip to Idaho & Utah Pictures, part 1

We just returned from a fun filled trip to visit our families in Idaho and Utah. It started when my best friend Jentry flew in on Saturday and we left on our trip out west. Jeremy stayed behind for the first couple of weeks to have uninterrupted study time for his board exam. The kids did amazingly well on the trip and it was so fun to catch up with each other's lives (there's lots of time to talk on a 16 hour road trip!!!)

We made the trip to Boise unknown to any family and were able to literally knock on their doors and surprise them, which was soooo fun. My phone had a lot of the pictures from the first part of the trip, but then it got dropped into a sink of water....so these pictures don't have all of the fun stuff we did, but when I get the pictures from our family, I will post those too.

Cleaning Out

We are moving in two weeks so we are using this as an opportunity to get rid of things we don't need or haven't used in the two years we've lived in this house.

Jeremy cleaned out all of his notes from the first two years of school:

One of very best friends graduated with his Doctor of Physical Therapy last weekend and we braved the hooding ceremony with 4 (1/2) kids between us. The kids did a great job, but after it was over were happy to run loose. Jeremy took some great pictures of Davis after the ceremony while he was running around. He even got the infamous Davis scowl on camera. Hilarious.



I told my dad yesterday that I have always loved my kids, but I am starting to realize how much I like them! Does that make sense???

Davis is the most polite two year old, which just makes me laugh. When he wants Addie to move, he will say "Excuse me, Addie." I heard him say it yesterday just out of the blue while they were playing and I was cleaning up. It totally cracked me up. He is also very liberal with his "Please, Mommy"s and his "Thank you, Mommy"s. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm enjoying it while it does.

We have a crazy few weeks, but I will be sure to get pictures up of the new house - although it's only two doors up, so it will look very similar to the one we're in now!!! :)

Addie's Preschool End of Year Celebration

Tonight was Addie's end of year program for Preschool and a little "Graduation" ceremony for the 4-5 year old's who are moving on to Kindergarten next year.

First, Addie and her class (11 in both classes, so 22 2-3 year old's) got up to sing some of the songs they have learned throughout the year. She goes to Preschool at a sort of generic (that's not the right word) Christian church right up the street from our house. They are very casual (think Christian Rock concerts for Sunday Sermons, etc. etc.) and we have loved it there because of that - she had SO much fun this year. We had a lot of fun this year and can't believe it's almost SUMMER!!!

She LOVES singing in front of people - seriously, she is such a ham! In fact, when the older kids got up to sing their songs, Addie snuck out of her chair and went right up to sing with the kids! Her teachers thought that was pretty hilarious.

Addie has thrived in her little preschool and it has really been a totally positive experience. She had the best teachers - they are close to my age and just were so relaxed and really had fun and enjoyed their little class. I am pretty sure Addie was their favorite - and I say that totally objectively. Ha ha. What???

Anyway, here's the pictures:

We sure do love our Addie-girl!!!!

Update

So my sweet, wonderful grandparents who were faithful followers of the blog have had a hard time with the private blog and logging in. :) I was trying to figure out what to do and I found there's an option to take your blog and all of it's contents invisible to search engines, so the only way people find our little blog is if it's through a link or a friend's blog. I'll keep it unlocked until I can get down there and help you with your log in, grandma!!

A couple of weekends ago, my little sister graduated from college with her B.S. in Dental Hygiene, something she has wanted to do forever! So, thanks to my parents and fantastic husband and the help of a few great girlfriends, I was able to go to Salt Lake for a couple of days by myself! I was even able to read a magazine on the flight! I kept my eyes peeled for any moms traveling alone with kiddos so I could offer help (trying to creat good karma, I guess?) and I didn't see a single one!

We hiked up to Ensign Peak, went to lunch, went to dinner, visited, shopped, and had a wonderful time that went by soooo quickly. Luckily we will get to see each other again very soon.


Back at home, the kids have been busy being kids. Davis has started growing up and standing up to Addie, who used to run the show. He tells her no, "that's mine!" and has started pulling her hair. OUCH! But they really play together well about 90% of the time - it's usually when one is tired or hungry that the claws come out (I think they get this from their mother)!


Funny things Addie has said lately:
"Mom, I'm so stylish and beautiful!" (I believe this is from a Fancy Nancy book.)

"Do you want to see my best twirl/dance/smile?" (Really into the word best lately.)

Funny things Davis does:
He loves anything that even resembles an action hero. He got an Iron Man 2 toy in his kid's meal the other day and our neighbor friend told him it was "Iron Man." So now he runs around asking "Where's my guy man? Where's my guy man?"

He's learned when he says somebody "hit" him, he gets our attention. Lately he's been telling friends (and sometimes strangers) "Daddy hit me." Lovely, I know.

Only thing Jeremy does:
Study for his board exam (more info on that exam if you're interested can be found here)

Sick House

So, we're sick. All four of us. I was thinking about it and me being sick at the same time as the kids has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:
-I don't panic about if/when I'm going to catch whatever illness the kids have.
-It's easier to stay at home and do nothing when you don't feel like leaving the house either.

Disadvantages:
-Usually if the kids are sick and I am not, they are content to sit and read or watch movies and I can get a LOT done without a lot of interruptions. To say my to-do list is getting out of control is a complete understatement.
-I hate it when my house gets messy and lets just say....it gets messy if we're all down and out.

Most days, the kids and I are out the door by or before 9. Either to a class at the gym, taking Addie to preschool, the library, errands, etc. When we all get sick, it definitely changes up our normal schedule.

On Monday I wasn't sure how we were going to stay home all day without going crazy. But by today (Wednesday) I think we've got a pretty good at-home-all-day routine going.

I know I think this every time they get sick, but why don't I do more stay-at-home days when we are healthy? So this is my goal, after we get well, to be more intentional about staying at home together when we are healthy, not just when we are forced to because of illness.

And since no post is complete without pictures, I thought I'd throw in this one....my sister in law is looking for blessing outfits for her son (our new nephew!) and finding out what I did two years ago...that it's HARD! Anyway, I sent her a picture of what we blessed Davis in and oh boy, I forgot how chubby and wonderful he was as a newborn. Here's what I sent her:



P.S. On a side note, Jeremy is sick too. It's horrible when he's sick at the same time as all of us. Because as much as I want to complain to him about our day spent at home in our pajamas watching "Madagascar", he has to actually get up and DO THINGS - HARD things like study how the body works and diseases and take tests, etc. It just feels wrong to vent to him about the advantages/disadvantages of being sick with my kids, so I'll just blog about them instead.

P.P.S. It seems (knock on wood) that the sickness is on its way out....! Just in time for me to leave on Saturday afternoon for Salt Lake City my little sister's college graduation. Yay!