Little Mister

Yesterday during lunch this sweet little mister leaned over, rubbed my arm and looked into my eyes and said, "love vou."  At first I wasn't sure that I heard him right but went ahead and said I love you too.  But then he kept rubbing my arm and said it again!  "Love vou."  And then he laid his little head down on my arm like he was giving me a hug.  It was so adorable and completely melted my heart.  Our sweet little guy is just a man of few words and so this was definitely a significant first.  And such a wonderful one!  Love you little man!

Little Fish

While my mom was here, she got some good pictures of my kids being little fish at swim lessons.  I'm so proud of how well each of them does in the water and feel thankful that we have such a great local program and have been able to keep them in consistent lessons.  The babies are supposed to stay in the water with their moms until they are two, but they progressed Bailey into a teacher-lead class several months before his second birthday.  His first lesson without me was pretty bitter-sweet because he looked so big and I'm just not ready for my baby to be so grown up yet!  But he did keep looking back in my direction to show off what he was doing and to show me that he got an M&M for his big swims.  I was also pretty impressed by him because in the teacher-lead class, the kids have to sit on turtles on the side of the pool until it is their turn to swim.  Bailey, who tends to be a little reckless with me in the water, patiently waited on his turtle and did not attempt to get in the water without being called upon.  I was proud of him for this especially since he is almost a full year younger than some of the kids in his class.  I was worried he might have trouble comprehending the instructions but he did a great job obeying his darling teacher Ms. Hannah Jo.

 The next three pictures are a sequence that do a pretty good job of show off his ability in the water.  He pushes off totally independently and can make it quite far in the water by both kicking and pulling.  I'm so proud of him!

Here is the class singing and dancing to "the kids in the pool" song which is to the tune of "the wheels on the bus".

Bailey will continue swim lessons this summer (although we are having Ainsley take a break because we will be in the pool so often) and even though he has only been in this class for a third of a session, they are letting him move up, even skipping the next level to go up two levels.  I know I'm boasting - but I'm just so proud of him!!

Then there is my other little fish, Ainsley.  She often says that she wants to be a mermaid when she grows up and has already requested a swim birthday party.  She really is completely independent in the water and loves swim lessons because they talk about being mermaids, reaching up high in the air to make rainbows, and looking in the water to see pirate treasure.  Plus her teacher's name is Ms Ariel, so it can't get much better than that!  She has progressed consistently through all the swim levels and I have seen such improvement in her ability over the past year.  I'm excited to see how well she does this summer when we will have so much time in the water.  Below she is using the kick board in their kicking drills.

Ainsley and the other cute kiddos in her class...

Here she is doing the forward crawl and taking a front breath...

Her independent back float...

My parents put us kids in swim lessons early on and when I was younger I was on the swim team, was a life guard, and taught swim lessons.  I have always enjoyed feeling confident in my swimming ability and feel so fortunate to be able to pass that on to my children.  I love watching them enjoying being in the water as much as I did/do!

Grandma Gardener

 

 After Matthew and Meaghan left, George went out of town so my mom stuck around for a few more days to help make life more fun while I held down the fort.  While Bailey was at school one morning, us girls went to the local nursery to stock up on some flowers for the kiddos to plant.  Mom did this last summer with Ainsley and it was a big hit so it was fun to get to see Bailey being able to take part as well.  Plus, I remember planting flowers, green beans, and asparagus with mom when I was little so it just makes it all that much more special to see her teaching my kids the same way she taught me.  Someday, I hope that I will actually develop her green thumb!  Anyway, below are Ainsley and I at the nursery picking out all the best (and cheapest) flowers.  :)

Ainsley showing Bailey all the lovelies she picked out...

Prepping the soil, ie. making mud!  As much as my kids love finding the small amounts of dirt in our yard and getting messy, they were a little apprehensive about this mud making process.  And neither of them liked having the mud on their hands, especially Bailey.  Silly kids!

Then they paired up each flower plant with a pot.  They were funny about this process, setting the flowers down at one pot and then picking them up and moving them to another pot.

Then once they got the arrangements perfect, Grandma helped them plant.  It was a little hectic from time to time because Bailey didn't really understand that once you planted the flowers you didn't pick them again... but was really sweet to watch.

I love you Mom!  Thanks for being such a great mom and grandma!!  I cherish these memories and I know my kiddos will too.  Love you!

M&M and M visit

 I'm still playing catch-up with the blog, but the weekend after Bailey's birthday (in mid-April, a month ago!!), my brother and sister-in-law, Matthew and Meaghan, and my mom came for a visit.  The last time I saw M&M was when I was pregnant with Bailey - so needless to say, our visit was far overdue and it was so wonderful to have them stay with us!!  The picture above is from our adult night out to one of our favorite restaurants where we spoiled ourselves with good oysters, champagne, wine, and steak!  It was such a treat to have uninterrupted conversation and laughter.  George of course came too, but he was taking the picture.

Matthew and Meaghan don't have kids of their own (yet) but my brother is really just a big kid at heart and it was so sweet to watch him make up imaginary games with both Ainsley and Bailey.  My kids adored M&M from the start and barely gave them any space the entire weekend.  Here Matthew is playing doctor checkup with Ainsley.  Then it was his turn to be the patient and Ainsley and Bailey are giving him the work up! 

Of course next came couch pillow forts.  Mom and I laughed because this is exactly what my other brothers James and Brian did when they were here over Christmas.  I guess somethings use run in the family.  :)

For Bailey's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa Smoothie got him these big cardboard brick building blocks.  They are very similar to ones that Matthew had when we were kids and that my awesome Mom saved and still has.  Bailey and Ainsley have loved playing with them when we go and visit so it is fun that now they have a set of their own.  And it was especially fun that Matthew was there to share the excitement of the new gift because he loved them so much when he was little.

During their visit, we ventured out to the botanical gardens.  When they came to visit in the spring of 2010, we went to the gardens too but due to the drought, not as many things were growing then.  Here's a flash back pic with baby Ainsley... and Bailey just a dream.

We didn't get a group shot this time around, but the gardens were so lush and beautiful that we spent a good amount of time strolling around.  Plus, they were highlighting this adorable fairy house exhibit and had all these little fairy houses tucked along the path to discover.  Ainsley was in heaven with her fairy world of imagination and Meaghan played a key role in keeping the storyline going.  It felt perfectly fitting to share this type of outing with them.

Looking at the fairy house

Since we last saw them, M&M have gotten really into rock climbing and while they were here they wanted to show off their stuff.  I have to admit that I was more than a little impressed and a bit jealous that I couldn't jump in and try (despite their encouragement, I opted not to because I was worried about my back).  But they did awesome and Matthew made even the really hard climbs look easy.

Here are a few pics from the land... I know that I need to do an official post about this, but in January George and I bought a piece of land and are planning to build a house there.  It has some random stuff on it now but we wanted to show it off.  I'll write more about this soon, I promise.

One morning, M&M escaped to have a quiet morning breakfast and coffee outside... well, not sure that is allowed in this house.  Ainsley and Bailey quickly figured out their plan and came to interrupt their quiet.  :)

Matthew helping me make diaper box cars during another morning that needed an activity.  The kids got quite a kick out of them!

After the weekend was over, my kids were smitten and spoiled by all the attention and play!  Thank you for a great visit M&M - come back soon!!