Our little mermaid

The time had come to put Lila Lou in swim school.  We decided to enroll her in a two week swim camp and just see how she liked it.  The first few days she was a little scared and cried a bit.

She did everything Coach Patty asked of her, but with a look of sheer terror on her face most of the time.

Even though there were tears, we left the first day of swim class very encouraged.  She went under water at least 5 times and never swallowed any water.  Hooray!

Day two we suffered a few set backs, mostly due to a nasty fall on the concrete right as we were leaving for class.  Her little knees were all kinds of skinned up.  (How many times have I told her not to run in sandals?!)

She powered through the class, though, and even dove down to the bottom and picked up all of these rings!  Way to go, little girl!

It was an added bonus that her buddy Sawyer was in the class with her.  It was actually watching a video of Sawyer in his swim class that made her really want to learn how to swim.  Thanks, buddy!

Right before class on day three, Lila looked at me and said, "I'm not going to cry today because swimming is not scary." And just grinned at this revelation.  And she held true to her word.  Look at her--my big girl is floating away from Coach Patty and even gave me two thumbs up afterwards:)

She also really got into jumping off of the wall.  The second time she jumped at least three feet out!

Talk about fearless.

She also dove down to the bottom to get more rings and toys and then flew like Ariel, too.  I am so very, very relieved that she loves swim class.  And very proud of her for being so brave.  Love this kid.

Memorial Day 2013

Low key.  That was our motto this Memorial Day Weekend.  And it worked out so well!  It's not often that we adhere to simplicity, but I'm finding the genius in it more and more.

We spent Sunday afternoon playing at Memaw and Poppi's house with the whole fam.

The kids swam a little bit, but had just as much fun out of the water getting Uncle Andrew with these noodles.

We also made homemade icecream.  Jackson got to flex his muscles for a while and took a few turns churning the ice cream.

Little sister thought he did an excellent job and wholeheartedly approved of it.  Yummy! It was the perfect ending to a fabulous feast of a meal.  We chowed down, y'all!  Grilled chicken, ribs, baked beans, scalloped potatoes, fruit salad and dinner salad were all on the menu.  As if that weren't enough, Aunt Lyndsie made red velvet cupcakes AND an almond wedding cake.  We were little fat cats by the end of the night, but no one was complaining!

Then yesterday afternoon we went to hang out in our friends' backyard.  While we were still waiting for Mr.Sun to come out, Lila snuggled with her daddy.

A few minutes later, we had sun!  Hooray!  We put on our swim suits and got ready to catch a few rays.

The dads, Cole and Jackson all had fun playing water basketball...

and Lila even worked up the nerve to take the big leap to her daddy. 

It was such a nice, relaxing way to spend the day.  Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day, too!

Hunt Hound Award

This was a big morning in our house.  We woke up early, everyone showered and got ready to head out the door with Jackson.  Why?  We just HAD to go see our favorite six year old receive his first school award!  Jackson didn't know it until his name was announced, but he was receiving the Hunt Hound Award at the school assembly today. How fun!



Two kids in each class were chosen.  We were clapping pretty loudly when they said "And from Mr. Gomez's class...Rachel Dobbs and Jackson Hays!"  Yay, J man!



Daddy, Lila and I were so proud of our favorite Hound.  Daddy had to leave the assembly a little early to get to work, but he was able to see J get his award.

He also got his dog tag.  Very cool.  We couldn't be prouder of you, Jackson.

Undefeated!

The Cubs had their last game of the regular season last night.  They were hoping to keep their first place standing and came ready to play some good ball.

Getting a little dugout pep talk before the game began.

It was sunny and 85 degrees--just about perfect for some Cubs baseball.  Jackson played 1st base for most of the game and did really good.  He caught a hard hit line drive near his head...

caught a few more from the pitcher and second baseman, too...

and tagged a runner out for the last out of the game.  The Cubs won 9 - 2! 

All the boys were so happy.  J man was doubly excited because he got the Co-MVP award with Tyler.  Way to go #32!  We are ready to rock the playoffs next week!

Backbending Baby

Yesterday we were just playing around at home and Lila told me she wanted to do a backbend...without any help.  I said, "Ok, let's see it."

After a few tries and almost getting her head off the ground, she knocked my socks off with a perfectly executed backbend.  Way to go, my little gymnast!  Guess she really is learning something in gym class!

Summer's knocking on the door!

Poppi called Saturday morning and told us that the pool was open at his house.  "Really?" was my reaction, but he insisted that it was warm enough to swim. 

Turns out our kids are tougher than their mama.  I stuck my feet in, but that's as far as I got!  I am most definitely a "June Swimmer," as in, the water needs to be in the 90s!

While Jackson played water football with his daddy and Poppi, Lila was content to hang out on this float and chat with me and Memaw.

Jackson finally took a break from ball and made a makeshift chair out of two noodles.

Laid back and lovin' it.

After eating some delicious burgers and Mississippi Mud Cake outside, we found the kids cuddling on the couch.  They were worn out, for sure, but it was so sweet to see them together.  It was such a nice evening and we can't wait for summer to be here.

Fantastic First Field Day

Field Day--one of my very favorite memories from elementary school!

Jackson finally got to experience the greatness of it last Friday.  We got up early and were ready to help set up by 7:20. 

They had a pep rally to get the kids pumped up before turning them loose outside.  I don't think they really needed any more adrenaline, though.  These kids were EXCITED!

J's school pairs every Kindergartener with a 5th grader.   Their buddies are there to help them navigate the 33 games and help them out.  It's such a neat idea and I was really impressed with all of the 5th graders!  When I found Jackson, he had already been through Water Limbo and Water Hopscotch. 

They set their sights on drier games and did this goofy one first.

After each game, they ended with the school handshake.  Too funny!

Some of Jackson's favorites were the Tony Romo Toss...

Home Run Derby...

and tether ball!  I used to love me some tetherball:)

After completing 31 out of 33 games, it was time for the team competitions.  First up, 4 way tug-of-war with his class.

I had never seen 4 way tug-of-war, but it worked out pretty well.

Jackson's team did great!  I'm pretty sure they won, but a winner was never officially announced.  That's one thing I was not a fan of--there were really no winners at all.  Just participants!  That's all well and good, but every kid loves a blue ribbon!

J's teacher made it more fun, though, when he challenged the whole class to tug-of-war!

  

Mr. Gomez gave it a good shot...

but the kindergarteners were just too fierce!

Next up was the Water Relay.  This was so goofy. They had the kids run a short distance and then do 5 push-ups.  The silly part, though, was that they got drenched with a watering bucket the whole time they were doing their exercises.  It continued with sit-ups and then mountain-climbers, too!

This little guy didn't seem to mind one bit, though!

He and Wyatt were all smiles...

and never saw Mr. Gomez sneaking up with the water hose.  Oh my!

They did a few more team games, like Quiddich, which was so funny to watch.

After all that hard play time, the kids were ready to relax and enjoy their Bahama Bucks snowcones. 

What a fabulous first field day for J and his friends.  It was his favorite day of school, for sure, and I'm so happy that I got to be there to see it through his eyes.  Now I just need to work on getting some blue ribbons into the mix for next year!