3 little swimmers....

Maggie, Owen and Josie all had swimming lessons again today. We got up this morning and Josie was so excited because she knew it was her morning to pick from the jar. She did a great job of not looking while she picked....




















And her pick was for us to play pretend restaurant.














The kids all love playing restaurant with their kitchen, but they love even more when I will play with them and pretend like I am a customer. We decided to let Emmie Jayne in on this today and played after she got up from nap which proved to be a not so great decision. haha. Let's just say most of my food ended up on the floor and she and Owen had a few fights over who was going to be the cook. I think we will probably stick with doing our jar of fun things while she naps!


Maggie and Owen did awesome at swimming lessons today. They both got their dives today which thrilled Maggie. They began working on the breat stroke and butterfly and did pretty good.

Josie has gone from night to day with swimming since last year. Last year she would do nothing at swim lessons and pretty much wasted our money. This year she has no fear at all and is ready to try whatever the instructor wants her to do. Today she mastered floating on her back and laid there a good full minute or so.





















She also swam half the length of the swimming pool all by herself, which is a huge full size pool. The guard had her last year and has gone on and on about how great she is doing this year. After lessons today she took her outside to the huge water slide and had Josie go down it by herself. I thought for sure Josie would change her mind once she got up there but she sat right down and came down and even swam to the side. She wanted to do it again after that.




I was so very proud of her for doing so well and getting over her fear of the slide! Last year she wouldn't even talk about going on that. The lifeguard told me she would get away from using her swimmy floats this summer since she is swimming on her own. I don't want to stop her swimming alone that is going well but I also can'tn watch her every second at the pool so it gives me a peace of mind to know that she has that added protection! Tommorow Maggie and Owen have another lesson and than we have a few errands to run. Joe comes home from Mexico tommorow evening and the kids will all be glad to see him.

Puppets!

The kids are loving the "jar of fun". They are so excited in the morning to pick one out. Owen got to pick out this morning, we are picking first thing in the morning in case we need something that I don't have to do the "fun thing." That way I can run out and get it during the morning.

Here is Owen picking out of the jar....
























and todays pick was......






















Yep, making sock puppets. the kids were excited to do this!


We headed out to swimming lessons first. They are at 9 am and wow, I will be glad when that is over with. 9 am is wayyyy too early for summertime to be anywhere, including the pool. We had thought about doing swim team this year but I made the decistion that we would not...and am so so sure that I made the right decision on that one. None of them kids are ready to be up and anywhere at 9 in our house. :)


Maggie and Owen are doing awesome at lessons. Josie didn't have a lesson today so she and Emmie Jayne just swam in the little pool while they had their lesson. Owen is getting diving very fast and well. Maggie is having a harder time with it which is super frusterating for her. She is used to doing everything very well, and ussually the first time. So she is not happy that Owen is getting it faster than she is. She stayed after and practiced for about 20 minutes trying to perfect it today. We stayed a few hours after lessons so the kids could swim some. The 3 older ones had so much fun playing together.


















They all 3 do so well together and have great imaginations. I am thankful that they are all so close in age and always have playmates to have fun with.












I just hung out with Emmie Jayne and tried to keep her from drowning!! She is fearless when it comes to water.....well, actually when it comes to anything.


After we got home from swimming the kids all rested a little bit and then we started on our puppets while Emmie Jayne was sleeping. The jar of fun is more fun when she is not participating. haha.





















I have a bag of mismatched socks that I keep thinking the missing sock is going to show up, so I pulled it out and let the kids pick one. They all were so cute and knew just what they wanted. The girls were pretty basic ones....the normal things you would put on a puppet. But Owen is always thinking outside the box....and kept adding more and more to his puppet.


























They worked on them for a good while, the girls got done before Owen. Here they are with theirs....




















































And Owen with his...









































They played with those together for a good bit and then began making a script for their puppet show. We had to run a few errands but when we got back home they put on their puppet show for me. I am not really sure the whole plot of it but it was comical.



This little cutie missed out on all the puppet fun today
























but she didn't seem to care. I let her play out front while Maggie, Owen, and Josie were finishing up their puppet script and she was just fine with that.

Jar of Fun!!

Last Fall I came across an article in a magazine talking about making a jar for the summer with things to do each day. I thought this was a really fun idea so I have been collecting crafts/ideas/fun kid recipes to put in this jar for the summer. The kids have been so excited to get our jars made so last week we put them together since school was about to be out. I had to tweak the original way a bit since we go to the pool pretty much every day and I couldn't plan big outings for every day. So we made one jar for when we went places...."Oh the places we'll go"....such as the zoo, the game farm, berry picking, go to a new pool we have never been to, splash park, etc. The other jar is for more everyday....this has fun crafts in it, recipes the kids have wanted to make, cupcake parties, playing certain things they like me to play with them, and also doing things for others...such as writing someone a letter, taking someone dinner and such. Some of these are bigger deals than others but all can be worked into our day after being at the pool.










We got the jars made and the kids loved rolling up each paper and putting it into the jars....






















Josie wasn't so great at the rolling but insisted on helping with it. Here she is shooting owen a look after he told her she wasn't doing it right.





Yep she still has her spunk. haha




















Maggie and the finished jars.




She helped me make out most of the list and cannot wait to start this.



















We only do the jar on weekdays and no holidays either. So today was our first day and Maggie got to pull the first one out. We are going oldest to youngest and also because she had been so helpful to me that weekend with cleaning and helping with the baby so I told her we'd start with her.
















They must keep their eyes closed when picking so they don't see any of them...



























Maggie picked to write a letter to someone.
























I told them to pick anyone they would like to write a letter to and it was so cute becasue they both said ,"Mama Sue" at the same time. Josie wanted to write hers to Amanda. So we began on that. Maggie and Owen got a few written to several people but Josie didn't get too far. She was very frusterated that she couldn't write, and said she couldn't draw very good either. So after alot of tears we finally got a letter written for her too. I was worried they would not enjoy the days when we were doing something for someone else and it wasn't all about them. But they all 3 were great and excited to do this and we spent almost 2 hours writing leters and drawing pictures for people. I love this idea not just for them but also for me. With 4 kids I often feel like I don't get to spent alot of time just beign with them. I am always needing to get dinner or lunch made....laundry done....cleaning, etc So this is a guarenteed 1-2 hours AT LEAST a day that I dedicate just to spending time with them and having fun.

I love doing things like this with them. I enjoy their excitment and I also like it. I have no doubt that this is what I was made to do.....be a mommy. I love every single bit of it and cherish every second because I know before I realize it they won't want me to make them cuupcakes and bring them to school or make jars of fun for the summer. So I am soaking every little bit while I can. I often wonder why I have been so blessed. I can honestly say that God has given me every single desire of my heart and I know how undeserving I am. I cannot imagine my life beign any more perfect than it is and am so so thankful to God for blessing me with it.