Sunday, July 22, 2012

It's Great to Be Two!

JW loves frogs.  This was the perfect ride for him.
 For JW's birthday this year we had a whole bunch of fun at Peter Piper Pizza.  We skipped the pizza and did a ride only excursion.  It was a lot of fun, and my body was thankful too. 
G-man "scared" on the Himalayan ride.
Kiwi and mom being crazy.
This was more the little boy's style.
He loved his cake, but nothing is quite as amazing as FIRE!


This kid is pretty awesome.  He is large and in charge and may steal the role of second mom away from Kiwi.  He will not let S. be the boss of him, and proves it with scratches, bites, and pinches.  We have a bit of a bully on our hands.  But we're working on it and he's getting better.  We're learning to live with the insults of "stupid" and "meanie" that he throws at us from timeout.  
He loves to be the center of attention and is constantly finding ways to make his siblings laugh.  He is very independent and has no problem helping himself to any food he can find, even if it's off of another's plate.  He is truly in the middle of his terrible twos and is driving Chad bonkers. 
Although he's a handful, I absolutely adore this age.  He can melt your heart with a look and a cuddle, demanding multiple hugs and" kitts" at bedtime.  He's so innocent and sweet that it's hard not to love this guy, even when he says you're a meanie.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Little Piggies

The kids like rain because rain = mud in our backyard.  Chad and I rarely allow the kids to absolutely wallow in the mud. We try to let go of our anti-mess ways to let this happen every now and then. You can still find the river and castle in my backyard.  Obviously we haven't let them do it again.   
Making a castle
This we taken right after he laid down in it.
That is one dirty boy!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Staying Cool in the Pool

We spent a good chunk of the summer at the pool.  We bought a membership at a private pool this summer and I'm so glad we did.  It included swim lessons and the pool was open to free swim all afternoon/evening.  We especially loved the parties they hosted on holidays.  We were able to go swimming on Memorial Day and Fourth of July with daddy.  I really didn't like that the public pools were always closed on holidays.  We were always trying to squeeze in time after work to show daddy all our new swimming tricks. 
The playground
 With four kids taking lessons, it took 1 1/2 hours to get them all done.  So we played on the pool's swing-set while we waited. 

Kiwi  loves to swing
S "swimming"
 S. made the most progress this year.  He went from crying on the side of the pool and refusing to try to swim, to begging mom to let him swim to her. He can kick off and front float about five feet or so.  He's still working on adding arms and legs to propel himself in the water.  He also needs to figure out how to get a breath without sinking. If he tries to swim, he sinks, but if he just put his face in the water and floats, he does great. 
G-man just chillin'
The two older kids can swim without worry.  Kiwi is making progress on freestyle and back-float.  G-man learned breast stroke, elementary backstroke, sidestroke, and butterfly.  We're hoping to do swim team next year now that they've gotten so more experience with the strokes. JW is a crazy daredevil, jumping off the side into mom's arms over and over and over again.  The child has no fear and loves the water.  Good thing we don't have a pool at home, or we might be in trouble. 






Monday, July 2, 2012

Haircuts!

I like to give a buzz to the kids for the summer.  I didn't do JW the first time around because "he's my baby!"  But I just couldn't handle the mop anymore...

Before:





After: