swim lessons

Swim lessons were quiet an experience! We were so optimistic because she had become so comfortable in the water, especially when she has on her puddle jumper. She was jumping in, going under water and had even taken it off and swam under water to the side of the pool. Little did I know that taking off the puddle jumper & putting her in a pool with strangers would not go over so well. Ha. I should have known...

Here she is kind of excited, kind of nervous before her first lesson. I took her picture and Cooper wanted one of him so we did another with him. Something is wrong with my camera and the flash isn't working. This has to be fixed ASAP. All my pictures inside are blurry.

Still all smiles waiting on them to call her to the pool.

so cute. sitting with her other classmates listening to rules before getting into the water for the first time. There were a total of 7 kids and two teachers. They had a guy (Kenny) and a girl (Emily). Madison had Kenny the first night and did not enjoy him. I think he pushed her more than she wanted to be pushed.

This was soon her only face the rest of the evening. Yes, she cried. She was the only one that cried. She cried "momma" the entire 45 minutes. It was sad and frustrating. Trent and I both talked to her at different times but nothing helped.

This little dude watched cartoons on Trent's phone. He was such a trooper. He really wanted to get in the pool. It was so hot outside. I felt bad for him.

End of day one is over and did not go so well!
That night I had a talk with her and told her that if she would do her swim lessons and not cry then we would take her to a movie after they were all over. I also reassured her that they wouldn't let anything happen to her and all that. As soon as I mentioned a movie she quickly asked if she could see the Justin Beiber movie. I agreed. She was pumped.

Day 2: She did GREAT!!! She did everything they asked but had to have some extra help that the others kids didn't. She always wanted the girl to go to the bottom with her. She wanted to hold their hand to jump into the pool etc. She got skittles on the way home because she came running over excited to see her Justin Beiber movie. Oops. She didn't realize she had to make it through all 8 lessons.
Day 3: She cried again. Ugh. She did everything but she cried. It wasn't as bad as day 1 but still. I decided the movie motivation after all 8 lessons was too far away. I went to the each night thing. I didn't have a problem bribing her because this was a true fear for her. I would never bribe her to be nice, or listen to her teacher or things I expect from her. I know she was truly scared and wanted to give her some motivation. I told her that she could sleep with me if she did good on day 4. Trent was going to be out of town and that's her favorite thing to do when he's gone.
Day 4 &5 : PERFECT!! Day 5 she got ice cream.
Day 6: Sue Ann came to watch and she cried most of the lesson because "the normal girl" wasn't there. She had really become attached to Emily after day 2. She did everything they asked but not happily. She lost the movie since she cried twice. :(
Day 7 & 8: She did FANTASTIC --got to sleep with me because Trent was out of town again.

Here a few pictures from throughout the 2 weeks.

He went 'nigh night' a lot. Then he'd want me to take his picture so he could see it. :)


floating on her back --with a little help!


This little guy was always so hot but so good. He always wanted me to take his picture so he could see it.

Day 8: Our last day of lessons! By this time she was finally comfortable and having fun when she came. I just wish we had another week or two. I've learned my lesson. I think she needs private lessons and a girl for sure. She's always been more comfortable with women than she has with men. Maybe next year.

Waiting on her last lesson. Oh we had to go get goggles after the first lesson.


waiting to jump in and swim to the side


with her friends on the top dock, waiting their turns. I see she learned how to squirt water with her hands. Hey, at least she learned something...right?? One of her friends from church was in her class. That was fun.


So proud of this little girl!

She has learned how to swim under water for a long distance, she can get a ring from the bottom with help to be pushed down, she can float on her back although she's very nervous and has a hard time relaxing. She learned to do some strokes but doesn't do them on her own. She came a long way from day 1. I'm happy with it.


One last picture of my sweet boy on the last night! He brought his car to push around.


My little swimmer showing off her certificate of completion and a picture they took of her!

I will have to admit, I'm SO GLAD they are over. Trent was only able to come to 3 lessons. I had to do the other 5 by myself, sick, with a toddler who couldn't swim, sometimes with a girl who cried and all of it in 105+ weather. Next year, we will find an indoor pool. Ha!

Pictures from my phone

Here are some random pictures off my phone from over the summer!

holding babies and watching cartoons!


This boy went through a phase where he LOVED having stuff on his head...didn't matter if it was a hat or a headband. Ha! He even has sunglasses up there in one of these. He loves his sister's fishing pole. He needs one of his own.


This has been one of their favorite summer activities - They throw all of the pillows from the couch onto the floor and them jump into them. On this particular day, Madison started bringing all the pillows from our bedroom to add to their pile. Crazy kids. At least they're having fun in this crazy heat.

Sleepy Kids

My kids never sleep anywhere, unless they are in their beds. Apparently this chair is the exception. Cooper fell asleep here after waking up too early from a nap one afternoon. Not even a week later Madison fell asleep here within minutes of telling me she wasn't tired or ready for a nap.

Friends

Our neighbors have two kids that are close to Madison and Cooper's age. They have a little girl named Madison who is 18 months older than our Madison and a little boy named Drew who is about 6 months older than Cooper.
Their dad is a coach and keeps them during the summer. One afternoon he came to borrow Cooper's car seat (because his wife had theirs in their car) to go get his tire fixed. I offered for them to come over and play while he went to take care of it by himself. He took me up on it because we both thought he'd only be gone an hour or two. Unfortunately, he had to wait forever and it ended up taking him 4-5 hours. I did ok. This was at the point when I was still pretty sick. The kids played great together. We went out back and they ran in the sprinkler and then did the slip-n-slide. We didn't last long. Then we came in and had lunch and they played with toys the rest of the time they were here. As soon as they left we ALL took long naps. My kids had so much fun having them over to play.
Here are some pictures from my phone:

Cooper didn't want to do the slip-n-slide but he had a GREAT time drinking the water spraying out!

I can't imagine having 4 kids! They were all so good but still, 4 is a lot! Ha.

PK

We have had this trip planned for months and I was hoping I wouldn't have to miss it. My family grew up going to the lake. We went almost every weekend and we ALWAYS spent the 4th at my great uncle's lake house. He sold the lake house about 5 years ago and we've missed it BIG TIME! Since then my family has still gotten together on the 4th but it's been at a different place every year. This year they rented 'cabins' aka trailors at Sky Camp on Possum Kingdom. We didn't rent one because you couldn't take dogs. At the time, we still had Rosco and he couldn't stay home alone since he had to have pills twice a day. We had planned on going for the day!

Luckily my medicine was working decent at the time. I knew if I felt bad I could go to bed and my mom would help Trent. We left early on Sunday morning and headed to the lake. We were there by around 10am. This was Madison's 2nd trip to the lake and Cooper's 1st. I was nervous about how they would do. Until this point, Madison only wanted to swim with a death grip around your neck (if she can't reach) and Cooper wasn't interested in being in the water at all.

Love this one!

We had gotten them both puddle jumpers. My niece and nephew have them and they seemed to work great. They are much better than regular floaties. They also can be used as a life jacket too so that was great. We felt like they would get a lot more use out of these than regular life jackets.

She was fine playing on the dock for awhile. She wasn't sure about getting in.


He wasn't sure about this sea doo ride either....until they started going fast and then he loved it.

It wasn't 5 minutes and Madison was in the lake swimming with mom AND NOT FREAKING OUT. It's amazing what they'll do when you're not around. They loved playing in this relaxation station. It was like a mini pool.





Before long BOTH kids were swimming around the lake. I guess having a lot of people (especially grandparents) in the water made a huge difference. I was so proud of both of them.



It was so nice to have some land to go sit on and let the kids run around on when they needed a break from the water. Although, we only spent about 15 minutes up here all day.


We took a LONG boat ride to Hell's Gate that afternoon. Trent had never seen it.

before long Cooper was OUT! He slept most of the way there and didn't wake up until we stopped to jump in the water before heading home.

Then he wanted to drive with Pa.



She started to get super sleepy. This was after 3 hours on the boat.

After our long boat trip we went up to Mom's cabin and had brisket, ribs and chicken that Ron had smoked. It was AMAZING as always. After dinner Madison, Nana and I all went on a sea doo ride before we packed up and headed home. Thankfully, I made it all day. I started feeling really crummy right before we left but I was thankful I got to enjoy a fun day with my family. (I paid for it though. I have been really sick since that day )




It was always a tradition for our family to take a picture on the 4th. Here is our picture from this year. We always look so trashy but it's fun to look back from year to year. They give us a good laugh.

L.O.V.E

I love that they love each other so much!

sweet friends

Cooper loves to share his food with Jack despite us telling him not to share!
I walked into the kitchen to find him sharing his yogurt smoothie with him. Cooper was dipping his finger into his smoothie and then letting Jack lick his finger.
No wonder Jack follows him around everywhere he goes...