First Day of Swim Lessons

Eleanor, Zach, & Kate had their first swimming lesson of the summer today. Eleanor & Zach went right to their class and right in the water, but Kate was hesitant. She wanted me to go in the water with her. I think having a male instructor was intimidating to her. She finally got in the water and did everything she was supposed to do. This is her "Why are you torturing me, I'm COLD?" look...

The kids do freeze as they sit on the side and wait for their turn. :-(

They handle it well though most of the time. They love to participate when it is their turn.



Eleanor is lucky, she gets to wait in the water.

Zach's instructor is Carrie. Kate wants Carrie to be her instructor. Maybe next session.
All 3 love to jump into the deep end.
Most of the kids in Zach's class were afraid to jump. Not Zach. He got a running start and leaped for joy into the air. It was fun to watch. :-)


Changing the subject here...The kids are expected to read every day this Summer, so the older kids often read to the younger kids. Here is Zoe reading to Noah. So sweet!

We went to the "Dinosaur Pool" this afternoon and we took Aly with us. The kids had a great time. They were content to stay in the water and swim for the entire hour and a half session. It was too chilly to swim outside this afternoon. Note: Not too chilly this morning, though to make the kids get in the water for swim lessons.

Matt took Emily out this evening for a one on one time.

They went to McDonald's for dinner, they went to a bookstore, and they went to the mall where Emily spent some of her birthday money. They had a fun outing together. :-)

The rest of us ate dinner with Mom, Dad, Aly, and Phil. Then my Mom & I played Phase 10 while the kids played and watched tv. It's fun to hang out in the evening when you know you don't have to get up early the next day.

Side Bangs

Zoe and Emily had their first water safety class today. They will take the class during both sessions of swim lessons this summer on Wednesday mornings from 8-9am. A few girls from our softball team are taking the class and a few boys that the girls know from school are also taking the class. The first class went well, but hopefully it will be a bit warmer next Wednesday.

Zach's school is right next to the pool, so the younger kids and I walked over to the school playground. The kids played happily for an hour and then we walked back to the Yukon to meet up with Zoe and Emily.

We spent the day at my parents' house, visiting with Philip, Aly, and Donna. Donna hurt her back yesterday when she stood up to get off the plane, so she has been in a lot of pain since she arrived. She has always had back problems and just a few months ago, she had injections to relieve the pain in her back and she was feeling great...until yesterday. She was not looking forward to her plane ride home this evening. Donna, Philip, and I played a game of Phase 10 standing up this afternoon because Donna didn't want to sit until the plane ride. I hope she is able to see her doctor soon.

Eleanor got her hair cut today. Before...

There were two older sisters in the salon when we arrived and it didn't take them long to adore Eleanor. They were tempted to stick around to see how her hair turned out with her new side bangs, but they left. One of the sisters was under the dryer when Eleanor started to get her hair cut, so then Eleanor wanted to try the dryer, too. Linda is awesome and granted Eleanor her wish.

Eleanor's trim and side bangs, which she absolutely LOVES! I need to take a picture with both of her eyes showing tomorrow and I'll post it.


Zoe informed me this morning that she might have young women's this evening. Sure enough, she did, so Matt came home to watch the kids and I brought Zoe to church. Zoe and Kayla, who are too young to go on the Pioneer Trek each made an apron for Brittyn and her Mom, who are going on the trek. Brittyn made an apron as well. Knowing the girls would be sewing, I knew it would be a long evening. 3 hours. I was glad that I had brought a book to read. I started "The Undaunted" while I waited for Zoe. Both Matt and Zoe have read the book and they enjoyed it. I know I will enjoy it, too.

Zoe and I stopped at Friendly's before coming home. Every time we go to Friendly's on a Wednesday evening, I order a kids' meal that should be $1.99, but they charge me full price. Every time, I point out their mistake and they fix it. Tonight was no different. Although, the waitress thought Zoe wanted the level 2 meal, which doesn't qualify for the discount. I didn't get that because what Zoe ordered wasn't on the level 2 menu and I pointed that out. The waitress still insisted that she received a level 2 meal, but let us have the discount anyway. The next time I bring Zoe, I will make sure I specify level 1. She only has until March to qualify for the kids' meal, so we need to take advantage of it!

Monster Suburban

Matt bought a suburban yesterday. I call it the monster suburban because it has a monster energy drink sticker on the back of it. Matt has been debating for awhile now on what type of vehicle to get to replace his saab. It will be nice to have another vehicle that will fit our entire family. Right now, Matt's suburban only seats 6, but when he gets the 3rd row seat, it will fit 9. At this point, the saab is still running, when it feels like it, so Matt will drive the saab as much as he can until it completely dies or the weather turns cold and snowy. There have been two times in the past few weeks when Matt has driven his car to work and then it wouldn't start again. The first time this happened, Matt had his saab towed to Dave's, but then it started right up, so they couldn't tell what was wrong with it. It wouldn't start again yesterday, so Matt called Dave's in the afternoon, but they hadn't picked it up yet when he got to work this morning, so he tried starting it and it started. It is at Dave's now and they are going to take a look at it again to see why there are times when it just won't start.

The kids and I went to see "Kung Fu Panda 2" at the $1 theater. The kids really liked it. This is turning into a movie summer!


We stopped at the Brewer library after the movie. This has become my favorite library.


My sister, Donna and her kids, Aly and Philip arrived today. Donna is heading back to North Carolina tomorrow evening, but Aly and Philip will be staying with my parents until the end of July. Yay!

Aly, Zoe, and Emily retreated into their own room as soon as Aly arrived. The younger kids had fun playing tag with Phil.


Matt picked the younger kids up after work and left Zoe & Emily with me at my parents' to enjoy pizza, talking, and Phase 10. Fun!

Swimming Pictures

Before I get to the pictures, I want you to know that I had a nice talk with my Mom last night(face to face with no children to tend to!). We both needed the time to just sit and talk in a peaceful setting and I say a huge THANK YOU to Matt for making that happen.

I love how I can take pictures with my new camera of my kids who are in the deep end while I am in the shallow end. Emily is in the picture above in the checkered bathing suit and Eleanor is in the picture below with just her head above the water, smiling. She passed the swim test last year to be able to swim in the deep end by herself and she loves swimming with Zoe & Emily & her friends in the deep end!

I can also take close-up shots of ugly bugs. This one flew on me and scared me!
I can capture Noah's inability to use his walking feet!
Kate and Zach have made friends with the lifeguards. They play with whoever is watching over the shallow/middle section. They caught the lifeguards eating yummy cake during one of the breaks, so one of the lifeguards saved 6 pieces of cake for all of our kids to enjoy when we left. Best lifeguards ever!
Today, Noah was flopping under the water on his belly. I was impressed how well he can hold his breath and not need to plug his nose! He may have learned that from his several near-drownings.


Today has been the hottest pool day yet, in the 80's, which was awesome! Being at the pool is relaxing to me. Yes, I am constantly following Noah around and keeping an eye on all the kids, but I am content in the warmth of the sunshine. I often tell Matt these days that my heaven will be warm! I enjoy a little bit of heaven every time I am warm. I like to be warm. :-)

Together Again

My plan for this evening was to have the kids in bed by 7pm since they have been up super late since Wednesday night, but it is after 8pm now and they are still up. I'm anxious to update here, get the kids in bed, and read my good book. I am reading "Working it Out" by Abby Rike thanks to Grandma Dawn. I am halfway through the book and reading every chance I get, which isn't as often as I'd like!

Matt & Zoe were supposed to come home today from Girls Camp, but they arrived last night instead. Rain sums up Girls Camp this year. Non-stop rain. Zoe's advice for next year is to check the weather before camp! Zoe liked everything about camp, except getting soaked at night. The leaders decided to end camp last night instead of this morning, so there would be one less cold, wet night to endure. The kids and I stayed over at my parents' house last night, so we weren't here when Matt and Zoe arrived home. I did know that they would be home early, though because Matt had called me.

Daisy and Anna came over to play yesterday and all the kids got along great, which was nice. I was able to putter around the house and read. :-) In the afternoon, my Dad watched Eleanor, Zach, Kate, and Noah while I brought Emily to Walmart to have her picture taken. Emily tries to avoid my camera now when I have it out, but she cooperated for the photographer and her picture came out very nice.

I played Phase 10 with my parents last night and my Mom & I watched "Sabrina". We have seen the movie several times before, but it is one we can watch over and over again. The older girls did a great job staying in "their" room and watching the Disney Channel while we watched our movie, but the younger kids kept coming downstairs to drink Grammie's water and to watch the movie with us.

We came home this morning and were very happy to have Matt and Zoe home with us again! Since Matt and Zoe brought the rain home with them (It had been cloudy and cool since they left, but it hadn't rained), we decided it was a good movie day. We went to see "Cars 2" at the movie theater. So did a lot of other people in the area! We wondered if we would all be able to sit together since we were near the end of the line to get in, but there were plenty of seats for us to sit together. Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor ended up sitting in a different spot than the rest of us, but that was by choice. We ended up seeing the movie in 3D, which wasn't the original plan. We thought Noah would be right into the movie since he loves the first Cars movie, but the 2nd movie doesn't have Dinoco Blue and he wasn't fond of wearing his 3D glasses. Zach enjoyed the movie and he tried to keep up with all of the spies, but he was also thirsty, which distracted him a bit. Kate said she hated the movie, but Kate is often grumpy, so maybe I just asked her at a bad time. The rest of us enjoyed it. Matt and I think that it is a movie that will get better and better the more we see it.

I'm going to note here that Emily, Eleanor, Zach, Kate, Noah, my Mom, my Grandmother, and I went to Governor's for lunch on Thursday because I want to record what we do every day this Summer. Zoe claims that we didn't do much last Summer, which I know we did more than she thinks we did and I know if we checked the blog posts from last Summer I could prove her wrong. So, I'll continue to record and let the posts prove me right. :-)

Swimming & A Treasure Hunt

Zoe left this morning for Girls Camp and Matt joined her after work. I hope they both have a great time!

The kids and I went to the pool this afternoon. It is still a bit chilly here, which means the water is COLD, but the kids still had fun. Emily and Eleanor were happy that Daisy and Anna were at the pool, too.

There was a lot of huddling under the towels and blankets when they were out of the water.

We took Emily and Eleanor to Activity Days this evening. I played in the gym with my younger kids, plus Kai, Koa, and Bo. The younger kids were invited to join in a treasure hunt at the end of the activity, which all the kids loved!


Cupcakes are a yummy treasure!

Latest Pictures

Last week, the younger kids and I had some time to kill before picking up the girls from school, so we stopped at the soccer field to play.


Magic Erasers are my new best friend! Zach is fond of them as well. When he noticed how clean the fridge door was after I cleaned it, he grabbed an eraser and cleaned the doors to the cupboards. Magic in more ways than one!

Noah has started his wish list for his birthday. Whatever he gets that has to do with Cars, he will love!
Eleanor got creative one evening last week and made some pets.
The kids are expected to do a school worksheet every day during the summer. Emily wants to learn more about the ocean and sea animals, so she read about lobsters on Monday. She made some lobsters out of playdoh and then she made an octopus, which likes to eat lobster, like I do. :-)

The town pool opened yesterday and we were there to enjoy it!








We went to the $1 theater this morning. Zoe and Emily went to see "Soul Surfer" while the rest of us saw "Rio". Everyone was very good and they liked the movies they saw.

We also made a stop at the Bangor Library.



Zoe and Matt are packed for Girls Camp. Patti is bringing Zoe, Morgan, and Kayla tomorrow morning and then Matt will head to camp after work. I hope they all have a great time!