TLEB in Texas: May 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009

Movie Party

My cute kiddos the other day (in their dirty clothes :) )

Our friend Chrissy and her daughter, Elliott, invited us over (along with Drew, Josh and Baylee) for a movie party. The kids had so much fun! The kids first decorated bags to hold the all important popcorn.

Here are all the kids (minus Zach) with their completed popcorn bags.

Wow - a quiet room for once! All the kids watching the movie (it lasted for about 10 minutes - the amount of time it took for the kids to eat their popcorn). Afterwards the kids played outside on the swing set and had lunch. They had a great time and thought it was very special to be watching a movie with all of their friends.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

First Day of Swimming Lessons

We had our first day of swimming lessons on Monday, we are at the same teacher that Elizabeth had last year. We knew everyone except for one little girl this year! From left to right we have Drew (our cousin), Maci (a friend), Baylee (a friend), Elizabeth, Josh (our cousin - look at his sad face :( ) and Elliott (a friend). It was great knowing so many kids this year!

This is our group from last year - they don't look too different in my opinion! Drew is on the left, then Elliott, Elizabeth, ?, and Maci.

Elizabeth with her face in the water, kicking those little legs.

Practicing their kicking.

Getting their chins wet - this is the first step to getting their heads in the water.

I had to add this last picture. The kids all get a choice of their favorite activity at the end of the lesson. Most of the kids hold the little kick board and float around, but Baylee was very brave and chose the diving board. Elizabeth was very impressed that Baylee was so brave! They all did very well on their first day!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

More Swimming

Ok, just to warn everyone but we probably won't have too many new things to post about this summer! I have a feeling we will be doing LOTS of swimming and playing. So sorry if we get really boring :) Here is Elizabeth in my parents pool. She is so excited that she can stand on the bottom - last year she could barely get her nose above the water - she's grown a lot!

Doesn't he look like a muscle man in his swimming floaty suit?!

We had a very fun Memorial Day hanging by the pool, eating a good lunch, and celebrating my mom's birthday. In the afternoon we had swimming lessons! I'll post about those tomorrow...

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Over the Weekend

We did a lot of swimming over the weekend, at both Grandparent's houses and in our own backyard.

The funny thing about these next couple of pictures is both the kids are in long sleeves and swim hats that cover a lot - and it was a little cool, cloudy, and about 6:30 at night. They did look a little silly so covered up at that time of night, but I decided I should just make it a habit to always wear the hats and swim shirts, and hopefully they won't fight me on it when it is 100 degrees and sunny - right?

Ben was loving swimming in the big (unheated) pool with Tom. He has zero body fat so he was shivering with blue lips the whole time - but he loved it! They pulled a slide over to the edge of the pool for the kids to slide down - and that was the favorite activity of the evening.

Elizabeth loved it all too. She asked Tom today if it was finally summer so she could do a lot of swimming and get sno-cones - our two favorite summer activities!

The next day we were playing outside with Drew and Josh and the kids decided they should swim with all their clothes on, and that it would be a good idea to pull the slide over to the pool, just like at Grandma's house.

This provided about an hours worth of entertainment - and no fighting!!

I'd say it was a successful evening! Hope you had a good weekend, too!

Friday, May 22, 2009

What do you think?

Someone

needs

a haircut - don't you think?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Drew's Graduation

Our cousin, Drew, graduated from Preschool yesterday. It was such a big step, that means Kindergarten is right around the corner! Each of the kids got up front by themselves and told us their name, age, and what they want to be when they grow up (Drew said he wanted to be a tree trimmer - I wonder if that is because he saw his Grandma and Grandpa's trees get trimmed a few weeks ago?)

We have Elizabeth on a waiting list for this school next year...I hope she can get in!

Earlier that morning we went to Grandma B's house and played at the park. Cooper was having so much fun on the swings!

There is a sand volleyball pit that the kids love to dig in. Ben and Cooper are learning NOT to throw sand - it's not going too well :).

Cheese!

These are the ducks at the pond by my parent's house. See the baby in the middle? This is the first time a baby duck has made it this far since my parents moved in. There are so many turtles in the pond so the babies usually only last a few days (so sad). This one is beating the odds - the kids loved to see a baby duck!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Nothing Much

Well, we haven't had much new going on - our same ol' same ol' - playgroups, playdates, the zoo, dance class, etc.... And I haven't been bringing my camera with, so I thought I'd post more of the pictures we took at the botanical gardens.

We hope you are having a good week. Hopefully we'll be doing some stuff that I can post soon - and won't bore you :)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Playing with Friends

We've had a busy week playing with friends...but of course I didn't take any pictures until Friday! Jessica had us over along with Drew and Josh, and our friend Allison and her little girl, Emily. The kids had fun playing outside in the water table - can you tell Cooper and Ben are soaked? Emily is enamored with Lily, Jessica's puppy who is at the bottom of the picture. It was a fun morning playing, thanks for having us over, Jessica!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Elizabeth's Last Day of Zoo School

Elizabeth had her last day of zoo school on Tuesday. I can't believe it's already over! Blogger is doing funny stuff with my photos and they are randomly placed on the page when I look at it - so I am just going to tell you what all the pics are and hope the words line up correctly! Elizabeth is standing with her teachers, Ms. Megan and Ms. Ashlea (Ms. Megan is in the pink t-shirt). The class picture is all the kids in her class. What I think is so funny is the first thing she said when looking at it was "Chace isn't really smiling in this picture. Why did you pick that one?" The funny thing is every time she comes home from school she talks about this boy Chace. She loves him -

and wants me to invite him over to play. So cute!

Tom was able to take off work and come to her last day of school. He got to see her classroom and see what she does on a weekly basis. It was a great experience and I'm so glad we did zoo school this year!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Elizabeth's Time with Grandma and Grandpa

Elizabeth had a great time this past Friday on a special night with her Grandma and Grandpa. They first went out to dinner at Unos and had pizza and dessert. They then went to see the play Frog and Toad at the local children's theatre. Elizabeth felt so special to have a night all to herself with her Grandma and Grandpa. Ben can't wait until he is 4 and gets to do such big things with his Grandma and Grandpa.

The other picture on the right of Elizabeth with pink lips is us at the ice cream shop. Elizabeth had her 4 year appointment - and 4 shots! She was in the 100% for height and 100% for weight - we have a big girl :) The only other thing to report is she didn't pass the vision exam! One eye seemed perfect, and with the other she could only read about 3 lines. So we're off to the pediatric ophthalmologist. I guess she's following in her mommy's footsteps (I have awful vision). As a reward we got ice cream. She's so glad that those shots are out of the way - and I am too!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Last Soccer Game

Elizabeth had her last soccer game on Saturday. We had about half the games cancelled due to weather/swine flu, so we were excited to have one last game so the kids could get their trophies. This is how Ben and Cooper watched the game, they were very into it, can't you tell?

There's Elizabeth, number 7, running fast down the field!

The end of the game. I love how they clap hands with the other team.

We were very proud of our girl. She did a fantastic job on her first soccer team.

Friday, May 8, 2009

First Swimming of the Season

This first picture is just my, what was I thinking, moment?! We decided to paint and by the time it was all done the kids were covered in paint up to their elbows and I had to clean splatters off the walls. Luckily it was all washable!

We had Cooper 3 days this week so today we decided to go to Grandma's house and swim. The first swim of the season! It was hot and muggy today so it worked out perfectly. The kids enjoyed slushies when they were done.