Swim Little Fishies!

This was our first year to give swim lessons a try with the kids. Eli and Hailey can both swim independently with their swim vest on which has been super great now that we have Isaac. However, the swim vest is obviously not the real deal so I decided to enroll for swim lessons through our park district. We signed up for June and August (July was full before I could snag two spots!), and then we will re-evaluate and see how the kids have done. Swim lessons are offered throughout the year at the indoor pools so we might just keep going until next summer. I hope Eli will be swimming on his own by then.

The lessons are really inexpensive so I was expecting bigger sized classes. Eli seems to be making progress though and Hailey is stuck with an adult until she turns three so it doesn't matter as much for her.

Eli wasn't always focused on what was going on. I'm glad Marc sat with him most weeks because he was probably much more relaxed about his inattentiveness than I was. :)

He did get his back float down without assistance and even put a few kicks in there once or twice to get some movement going! He did great and I think he had a blast.

Hailey's class had a wide range of ages (18 mos.-3 yrs.) so it was a little slower pace than what she likes. One week I decided to let her do jumps to me off the side while we were waiting forever for our next turn (there were 12 in her class!). The instructor then scolded me since we were not sticking with the class routine. Oops! I let Marc swim with Hailey the next week to change it up for her a little. :)

Lessons were during Isaac's morning nap so we just kept him in the stroller and he took a little snooze.

Eli received a report card at the end that says he only lacks three skills until he can advance to the next class. Hailey's class just got suckers which seemed to pacify her just fine!

A Birthday Bash

My sweet little niece turned one a few weeks ago and we weren't going to miss it! Unfortunately, Marc had some big conflicts with work the weekend of the party which meant if we were going to make it to the celebrations, I was going to be flying solo. I knew it was possible. I knew it would be challenging. I love a good challenge. :)

Our last trip to Arkansas was for Christmas so this was Isaac's first visit to Nana and Papa D's house! It is always fun to go home and visit but even better when it is summer and we all get to enjoy the pool. The kids had a ball.

Enjoying lunch outside in between swim time!

Nana found Hailey this hat when she went with some friends to Florida. Hailey was IN LOVE and could hardly part with it to go to sleep each night.

 Isaac really loves the water

It is tons of fun to get Bailey in this already crazy mix of kids!

Papa D snuck home from work over his lunch hour on Friday to swim with the kids.

Then it was time for the big party! Stacey did a great job decorating for Bailey's big day and we enjoyed lots of great food and some yummy sweets.

 Brandon made Bailey the cutest play house for her birthday!

Eli made a new buddy

 Isaac getting some love from his Nana

I loved getting to see my Memaw, Poppy, and Aunt Cindy. Memaw really loves her great grand babies, particularly the cute fat rolls they have when they are little. ;)

 Me and my sis

 The great-grands with the great-babes

 And the birthday girl in her sweet tutu. Happy birthday Bailey! You are a treasure.

Father's Day 2013

I have an advantage to this holiday now that I stay at home. The kids and I were able to plan our gifts in advance which made them so excited leading up to Father's Day. They had been telling Marc all week they had surprises for him. :) I let Marc sleep in and made us all breakfast before church. The kids were eager to share their cards they had made and the few little gifts we had bought.

I don't get on Pinterest very often unless I need an idea for a party, cleaning tip, recipe, or craft. However, I love that whenever I need an idea, within minutes I can find just what I was looking for. That is where I found the idea for the canvas we made Marc this year. He really loved it and the kids were so proud of their hand prints! He took it to his office for display. :)

I bought the Little Critter book "Just Me and My Dad" to give Marc from the kids. Marc said he remembers reading this book with his dad when he was little.

I decided to dress Eli and Isaac to match for church on Father's Day. Eli was so mad! He pouted most of the morning after I had him dressed. I really thought he would think it was cool because he and Isaac are best buds. WRONG! Marc and I were signed up to help in Eli's Sunday School class, and we brought Isaac in with us while we were helping. At one point, I put Isaac in Eli's lap so I could sneak a quick picture of the two of them. Eli's friend came over to us and said, "Who is that?" while pointing to Isaac. Eli PROUDLY replied, "He's my brother. See, we match." I thought it was so funny how quickly his attitude changed. :)

Marc (and a few awesome helpers) spent the Saturday before Father's Day moving and reassembling a swing set that was given to us. They only broke it down into two sections and the playhouse section was massively heavy. I'm glad no one had a heart attack on our front lawn. It was a painful sight to watch these men move it off the truck. BUT, the kids love it and we will enjoy it all summer long. We had to buy a slide for it and Marc built a new ladder, but it is really in great shape to be over 15 years old! We need to attach Isaac's baby swing and then we will be set.

We had a great weekend with Marc. He is such a phenomenal dad and we are so happy that he is ours!

Preschool Party!

A few weeks ago, Eli's daycare was having a family fun night as a fundraiser for St. Jude runners. It sounded like the perfect event for us so I signed us up! Some of Marc's residents were teasing him the day of the party that he was missing one of their events for a preschool party, but we ended up having a blast with the kids. He texted them pictures all night long to prove the fun! :)

There were balloons, face painting, yummy treats, and music from Julie K. Not to mention that the event was held on the school's playground which alone could provide hours of entertainment.

Time for bubbles!

I wasn't sure how Eli would feel about face painting. He can get a little squirmy about how things feels on his skin sometimes. So, after I carefully explained the concept to him he decided painting his arms sounded like a better idea. He got spiders and spider webs on his arms and Hailey had her face painted like a princess. :)

Isaac enjoyed chilling with Marc.

We had so much fun getting to know some more of the families in Eli's class (there are parents from all over the world!) and getting to see the kids so excited to do some new things. Great memories were made. :)