Swim lessons

The girls have been taking swim lessons at the Arnie Hanna Aquatic Center in Bellingham. I have really enjoyed how the lessons have gone. More importantly, the GIRLS have enjoyed the lessons. Last month, McKenzie was barely dipping her head in the water for bobs. She does not like to get her face wet.

NOW........

This is McKenzie!!!! She is swimming with her face in the water!!! AND enjoying it! (mostly)

I am sooo proud of her! She is doing so well. Now my job this summer is to keep taking her swimming so she stays comfortable in the water. I don't want all of this progress to dissapear!

This is Alexandra diving in the dive pool. She was pretty excited! They did standing dives, sitting dives, kneeling dives. They treaded water and swam. She is a really good swimmer. She catches on pretty quickly once she is taught what to do. I am pretty proud of her too.

We have really loved the lessons here. I like how they take a little time each class and talk about water safety. In the pool, in the lake, on the beach, where ever there is water around, they teach them how to be safe.

We are not fair weather fans!

WE love going to the Bellingham Bell's baseball games. You can find us there most home games. The stands are usually not all that full and we do have "our" spot where we like to sit. I consider us the players "good luck charms" :)

Usually the weather is pretty nice. Sometimes a little windy....and it does get colder when the sun goes down.

But this particular game..... it rained! For about 10-15 minutes, it was an absolute downpour! They let everybody sit in the grandstands where they would stay out of rain. The girls and I went for about 10 minutes. We didn't like the view (we felt too high up) and thought the players would miss us. So back to the stands we went! We had our pick of seats. Nobody walked in front of my camera. Nobody stomped up and down the stairs. Nobody yelled in our ears. We had the stands to ourselves. That was fun! That is what summer memories are made of! :)

GO BELLS!!!

It's Storytime!

McKenzie and Aiden enjoy the book Top 10 countdowns of the Biggest, Baddest & Loudest. It is all about animals...
I just love them studying the book so closely together! :) It is never too early to start reading.

Swim lessons

McKenzie and Alexandra are taking swim lessons right now. We went to Beachwood last night for Alyssa's band/colorgaurd award banquet, and since Alyssa didn't show up until it was over, I took the girls to the pool to practice what they are learning in swim lessons.

Alexandra is doing awesome!!! She is able to swim from one side of the pool to the other without stopping most times. She love to swim under water, but is practicing swimming above water.

Last week at lessons, the swim instructor asked if she could do the back stroke. Alexandra said she has never done that and didn't think she would be able to do it. So.....she flipped on her back and swam the backstroke ALL the way to the other side of the pool and back again!!! She looked at me when she was done with the biggest smile on her face! SHe was sooo proud of herself and a little shocked that she did it! She now is more confident in her backstroke. :)
I love her face in the picture holding her breath :)

McKenzie is not as confident in the water yet. She is able to use the noodle and swim, but can't swim with out the noodle or a floatie. Her goal right now is to get her face wet :) She doesn't like it when the water splashes her in the face. She is doing very good at her lessons.

She likes to float with the noodle too. She won't float without it! :) I am hoping by the end of the summer, that she will be more confident in the water and be able to swim a little. I think once she gets over her not liking water in her face, then she will do much better! :)
I am looking into different swim lessons for them for this summer. The YMCA is where they are going now, but when I went to sign them up for the next session, they said they were already full. Soooo.....now begins the search for swim lessons!

Aiden

Mr. Aiden is getting sooo big! He is now three months old. It looks like he doesn't have any arms, but they are tucked on the other side of his bib. (His bib is very necessary as he drools A LOT and spits up a bit!)

I like his little face here. He is looking in the mirror :)

The cutest Hedgehogs ever!

This was the final performance of Alice in Wonderland (not Alison Wonderland like Mia thought! :)) and these super cute hedgehogs passed out the programs before taking the stage!

McKenzie is the one on the left :) and Emily is the one on the right :) They were soo cute and totally soaking up all the attention!! I hope their heads didn't swell up too much from all the "OOHHHHH......they are sooo cute!" 's

This is them with their pink flamingoes. McKenzie is on the right this time! They match soo well sometimes it is hard to tell them apart!

After the play, we gave them a little present. On the bag, we wrote "The Bad Hedgehog" on McKenzie's because she played the bad hedgehog. When Alice hit McKenzie with the pink flamingo, she rolled the wrong way (that is what she was supposed to do!) Emily was "The Good Hedgehog" and rolled the right way. Inside the bag, we gave them a super cute little stuffed hedgehog that I found at the Zoo on Sunday.,it was perfect!!) and one of the pink flamingoes (new, not blown up!) They loved it! Not only that.....but Mrs Ford let them keep the pink flamingoes that they used in the play!!! Now we have THREE of the pink flamingoes!! (Let me know if you need any pink flamingoes. :) I might be able to get you a couple!)

This is McKenzie, Crissy Ford, and Emily after the play. Mrs. Ford is the BEST drama taecher ever!! She is fabulous with these kids and I am soo disappointed that this will be here last year. Just when McKenzie is going to be old enough to be in the play and Alexandra still has two years left! I guess we will have to see what happens next year. Hopefully some wonderful parents will step up and take over the program. (It won't be me!!! I can't fit in another job!)

Have a great weekend!

The Zoo!

We had a great time at the Woodland Park Zoo today! We left around 9 this morning and after getting some gas for the van, we were on our way! Traffic was pretty good. The weather was a little chilly when we first got there, but by afternoon, we were able to see some sunshine. It didn't really warm up a lot, but after we went into the Rain Forest, we warmed up!

This is McKenzie and Alexandra playing the drums in the African Savannah.
This was our first stop. We came in this gate and went right over to this exhibit.

McKenzie and Alexandra love to pose in this "Jail" That is what they call it.

Here is one for the rainy season....up on tall stilts. They are not allowed to go in this one, but I got them in front of it.

Here are the giraffes.... This picture is for you, mom! I have more giraffe pictures that I will go through and you can pick out a couple of good ones that you want.

We walked around a bit more, saw some more animals, ate lunch, saw more animals, shopped at the Zoo Store, and then headed home around 5:15. It was a great day and I am soooo glad we had the chance to take a day off and have fun! I will post more pictures tomorrow or later tonight.

Shoes...

Here are Alyssa's shoes for prom. Don't your feet hurt just looking at this picture???

She said her feet were swollen Sunday afternoon and she didn't know why?!! I had a pretty good guess! :)

I like the swooshy hair in this picture!

Have a great Monday!

Prom

This is Alyssa and her date for the Prom! :) OK, not really....but I think he is pretty cute!
Alyssa got Aiden dressed up in his fancy clothes too. My camera is acting up in the house with low light so the picture is not the best.

This is the back of Alyssa's fancy dress. I have a better picture somewhere on my camera, I will look for it. The dress is a little long, even with the heels that she is wearing! And the HEELS!!! Holey, Moley!!!! She is almost as tall as Richard in those things! (I also have a picture of those too!) She says they are comfortable, but I don't see how they possibly could be. I just hope I don't get a call later, having to meet them at ER for a broken ankle!

I love this picture of her. Pretty light, natural look. Alyssa is just so beautiful! (She gets it from me, I know! :) )

....and here are the three of them together. I have some of just the two of them, but I will post them later.

That is all for tonight. I will upload some of these and others to FB.

Aiden in his Bumbo

This is Aiden in his new toy! It is called a BUMBO and it is the coolest seat for babies!!! They can sit unassisted (but still supervised!!) in this neat chair. The seat is lower and it really supports them pretty well. He is having a great time!

More Tulip pictures!

Here are a couple more pictures from the Tulip Fields. We have hundreds to pick from, but I will just show you a few!

Alyssa and I in front of "the tree". I like to get my picture taken with each girl in front of this tree each year. It is a fun way to see how each of them has grown. Alyssa is almost as tall as I am now!

Here is Alexandra....she is almost as tall as me too! She is 10 and growing quickly! She loves big oversize sweatshirts, and we have had to get her bigger ones, because she "fits" the other ones now!

McKenzie and I. McKenzie is 8 and is also growing quickly! We just had to git rid of some more jeans and dresses because the ones that fit her in the fall......just don't work anymore! Sometimes I wish I could just freeze frame this moment in time because it is going so fast.....other times I am looking for the fast forward button! :)

Here are my three beautiful daughters! My goal this year is to take more time off of work and hang out with them more doing fun things! Not expensive or far away, just relaxed, fun, and maybe even spur of the moment.

Here is Alyssa taking pictures (I think of Alexandra and I) and little miss McKenzie in the background giving here bunny ears! :) She is a little too short to see the bunny ears, but the thought is there! :)

Another photo shoot!

This is the biggest laugh I could get on camera. Too bad it is just a picture and not video! He was laughing pretty good! The picture is a little blurry, but I didn't want to delete it. I can just hear his little baby laugh by looking at his smile! :)

This picture is clearer, but he is not laughing as hard! He is still totally cute! He is seven weeks old today! He has been with us for almost TWO months! It seems like just yesterday....and forever ago! CrAzy!!

Have a great Wednesday! Mine will be super busy!!!

a visit with Great Great Grandma

Aiden got to meet his Great Great Grandma Joyce on Monday night. I think she likes him! :)

We went in to her shop and had a great visit. She got to hold Aiden and visit with him. I fed him his bottle, Alyssa changed him, and Joyce got to hold him again. It was fun!

I told Joyce that I would like to get together around MOther's Day for a five generation picture. I don't think the Sunday will work for everybody, but maybe the Wed or Thurs night of that week would work (around 6ish).

Have a great Wednesday!

Part two...

Here is my beautiful daughter Alyssa. I like this picture because of the tree in the background. She has a nice natural smile on her cute little face! :)

It was a really long day and not all of the pictures turned out like I wanted them too, but some are just tooo cute to not post! :) Alyssa was pretty tired and I caught her mid-yawn! Alexandra and McKenzie look cute! :)

Even Aiden got in on the tulip pictures! Alyssa held him up in front of some tulips and I was able to expertly zoom in, so her hands don't show, and just get Aiden and the tulips! (Isn't his hat cute?!)

This is what happens when you give a camera to a 10 year old and you don't supervise what she is taking pictures of! Some of the things I find on my camera when I go through the pictures just make me shake my head and smile!

All in all, we had a really fun day! Great weather, yummy treat (we stopped at the Fabulous Fudge booth for our treat!) and lots of fun pictures!!! I can't wait to see the mini book when I am done! :)

Have a great day!