Quincy in the pool

Our swimming teacher is nothing short of amazing. She builds confidence, teaches important skills in a way my children really  grasp on, and she is REALLY REALLY super fun! Quincy is a now a brave and confident little fish who's ready to join the swim team! Way to go, sister! 

These kids are slide slipping, streamlining, ring collecting, stick diving, back stroking, underwater racing champs at the pool, now. It's wonderful! 

Corbin in the pool

Corbin is water safe! 

We had a week of swimming lessons every day, and Corbin can now confidently jump into the deep end and swim across the pool. This eliminates so much stress off my mother heart. 

Thank you Ms Donna! Congratulations, Corbin! 

Quincy in the Pool

Quincy is so close to swimming independently!  You've got this, CeeCee! 

September Summer

This afternoon was splendid.
I surprised Reese by picking her up from school (she ususally rides the bus) and we headed over to Jocelyn's house on Lake Windsor to soak up the last of the summer heat. Jocelyn kept us entertained with funny stories as always, and we laughed as she called up to the house to her kids and harped at them to quit doing homework and come outside and play in the water.

"okay, I'll come down, but I'm going to type my essay first!" was the reply.

Amazing, right?

Jocelyn countered with, "No! Come now! No homework until you've been in the pool! It's beauutiful outside, you need fun and vitamin D!"

More children need mothers like Jocelyn.
We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool,



Swinging in hammocks,

stuffing our faces with as much "swalty" kettlecorn as possible,

kayaking on the lake, (how about that view for a backyard?! Breathtaking.)

collecting sea shells,

and visiting with a few gals that I feel quite lucky to call my friends.

It was a pretty fantastic Tuesday.

Spontaneous days like this are magical.

I couldn't ask for a more beautiful backdrop for this stage of our lives to play out on.

Thanks, Jocelyn, for sharing your backyard and your wise reminder that life's too short to spend such a lovely Tuesday in the house, thinking about homework and what's for dinner.

"Swim", said the mother. "We swim", said the three..

We went swimming in Rob and Lynda's neighborhood pool. I didn't even pack a swimsuit for this trip (which totally justifies why I needed to purchase a few at the LimeRicki Store later in the week, right? ;) ...right?), so I spent most of the time wading around in the 1 ft depth area with the baby guy.

An opportunity to brag about Grandma Lynda:
How many grandmothers do you know that will still get into a bathing suit and splash around in the pool or sprinklers with their grandchildren---especially without making any self deprecating comments like most women feel inclined to do when donning swimwear? I LOVE this about my mother in law. She loves to just play with her grandkids. We affectionately call her "the cut and paste grandma" because she always has crafts and projects and playdough for the kids to get messy with. She is not afraid of paint. She doesn't freak out when a kid pukes on the carpet, draws on the wall, clogs the toilet, poops in her tub, attempts to kill her fish (ahem Corbin), breaks a bowl (ahem Corbin again) or does any of the gross and naughty things that children often do. She lets kids be kids, she nurtures them, entertains them, and she plays right along with them.
Anyway, it ended up being no problem that I was without a suit and we were short a few dads at the pool, because Grandma Lynda got right in and played in the water with the little ones. We love her.


This was the start of Corbin's obsession with Preston's Cars toys. He spotted Lightening MacQueen on his bucket and the concept of 'sharing' instantly became chimerical. (How cute is Sophia's pink tutu swimming suit?)

Corbin prefered looting everyone's pool bags over swimming. I'd like to say he's a genius for knowing when to strike and waiting until everyone was in the pool before making the rounds, but as you can see in the picture, he favored the "diet chips" over pretzels, chocolate, and cheetos, sooo.

"did someone say cheetos?"

There's my girl.