New Look

I have been meaning to give my blog a new look for a while but just haven't made myself do it.  Making new backgrounds and such usually make me mad! HA! Anyway, hope you like the new look! I do!

VBS 2013



The girls and I had an awesome, fun week at VBS last week!  My friend Courtney was in charge of the toddlers and 2 year olds and asked me to help.  I decided that I would not be in a room with Mckenzie so that she could have some time away from me and fly on her own but I would be close by if things went south. :)

 

 

On Sunday we went up to the church to get our room ready.  I got the whole toddler pod on the band wagon of my vision that I had basically pinned on pinterest.  We decorated our doors like this and

 

 

the outside of our pod with a draw bridge and a moat. I was excited to be working with an awesome group of people.  I also realized that we never once took a picture of ourselves together. :(

 

 

Our moat even had an alligator! :)

 

 

The girls were very excited on the first day and ready to go "see what they have there" as Bailey put it.

 

 

Mckenzie was excited too and I was hopeful for a great group with my little toddler class.

 

 

After the first day I picked up a couple of little princesses!

 

 

This little princess was hungry but knew that Gods Love helps us Stand Strong!

 

 

She ate lunch in her princess outfit!

 

 

Matching outfits are a must when you are sisters! I am wondering how much longer I will get away with this!

 

 

Sister had an awesome week.  Any one that has known her in her 2 lives has known that she is a super mommas girl and does not like to be too far away from me.  She has gotten so much better but I wasn't sure how 5 days of long mornings would go but she did GREAT! The first couple of days she cried and fussed not when I dropped her off but later in some transitions that happened close to where she knew I was.  By the third day there were no tears and her teachers said she had a great time.  I actually peaked in on her quite a few times and she was having a great time.  I also had to crawl on the floor past the indoor playground a few times so she wouldn't spot me.  By the last day we saw each other in passing and she did just fine and was happy to trade me off for a popsicle outside! HA!

 

 

Sugie had a great week too. She was in class with many of her little friends from school and a few from our moms group.  She had a blast and was happy to tell me all that she learned.

 

 

My friend Courtney took this picture of her friend and Mckenzie on at craft time. Sister had a busy day filled with craft time, bible story time, snack time,

 discovery time, playground time, and a buggie ride!

 

 

Bailey and Kai on the last day outside waiting on the bounce houses.  Bailey had a fun week with too.  They moved from room to room and wen to Chadder Royal Theater, Imagination Station, Craft, outdoor playground, snack time in kingdom kitchen, Epic Bible Adventures, and music with Sing and Play Rock. 

 

It was an awesome week.  I worked with some fun girls and we had a great group of younger 2 year olds. They were so much fun to be around and kept us laughing.  I think the girls and I also benefited from a break from each other! :)  Can't wait until next year! :)

Slip 'n Slide

 

Do you remember slip 'n slides?  We got one of the neighbors out recently and the girls thought it was a blast.

 

 

I actually never had an official slip in slide.  I think we had one called the yellow banana and it had a banana sprinkler that sprayed on it.  I sure do remember them being bigger.

 

 

My neighbor Jaimie did slide on it a few times but I didn't dare try hurl myself on the ground! Ain't nobody got time to take me to the ER! HA!

 

 

Z and Mckenzie had fun playing in the little pool at the end.

 

 

Sugie was apprehensive about it and never got up the courage to go full speed and slide on it.

 

I am sure we will break it out again soon!

Crazy Faces of Sugie

 

Sugie is just like her dad! She never wants to take her picture. She will look away and her most recent thing is to make all these funny faces.

 

 

I usually end up with some pretty funny pictures.

 

 

This is her mean face! HA!

 

 

Usually she ends up laughing though! Love you Sugie Bear!

Mini Meet

 

Sugie had her mini meet for gymnastics on Saturday. She was super excited to show us her skills as well as get a trophy and medal! :)

 

 

The lighting in the gym is not that great so I kept trying to get good shots of her doing stuff but kept getting her at the end of the movement.

 

 

 

Sister monkied around the whole time so I was glad we didn't have to be sitting down being still.

 

 

Super Sugie

 

 

Skin the cat although they call it something different now. :)

 

 

Trying to get her jumps but kept getting this instead!

 

 

Super fast Sugie

 

 

Sister waiting on the awards.

 

 

Sugie getting her awards

 

 

I think she actually liked the medal more than the trophy. :)

 

 

Then started acting goofy!

 

 

Good job on your mini meet Sugie Bear!

Swim lessons with Momma

 

Sugie has always loved the water and also also always loved her floaties.  She started using floaties the summer before her 2nd birthday.  Just like anything else in parenting people have given me their opinions (usually negative) about the dangers of floaties! To be honest I have never been that worried about it but always did find it funny people liked to let me know how horrible they were.  Anyway, she has been getting around the last few summers with the floaties...jumping in and even swimming like she had seen the other kids.  I worked with her on kicking and blowing bubbles etc.  The year that Mckenzie was a baby I juggled both of them at the pool and so I told her almost every time..."Do not get in the pool with out your floaties.  You will sink." She listened so well that she really thought that she would sink without them! oops!

 

Anyway, at the end of last summer she would let me work with her without her floaties on swimming but really didn't want to do it.  I figured we would work on it this summer or I would put her in swim lessons. So, one day I asked her about swim lessons.  She told me that she didn't want to take swim lessons that she just wanted to have her floaties so she wouldn't sink.  I told her that if you learn to swim then you don't sink and that the older kids she knows don't wear floaties and that mermaids dont' wear floaties etc.  She said ok that she would do swim lessons.  Then I asked her if she wanted to take swim lessons in a class or take swim lessons with me.  She picked ME! :)  I was pretty excited and so was she.  In fact she wanted me to teach her the first day we went to the pool but the water was COLD! Anyway, I told her we would start when it was warmer.

 

 

Well it still hasn't got that much warmer but we have worked about 10 minutes or so and done our "swim lessons."  I found this cool website if you are looking to teacher your own child.  I am a strong swimmer but wasn't really sure the best ways to start teaching a child to swim. http://www.uswim.com/home The first day she was pretty much swimming on her own but I had to hold her pinkie finger.  As you can imagine holding her pinkie finger was not really helping her at all but it gave her some security.  I tried sneaking it away but she would instantly stand up in the water and flip out.  So we just kept doing that and I kept holding her finger.

 

 

The other day we went to the store to pick out some goggles. I thought it might help her with some confidence if she could see that I was right there in the water and nothing to be afraid of.  WHile on the isle she spotted this cool dolphin thing that attaches to your back. 

 

 

It came with goggles and I had already thought about getting her a back float so I let her get it.  I thought it would help her practice on her own with out me.  She would practice after our "lessons" with her floaties on but it was really hard for her to get in the right position with her floaties despite me taking A LOT of air out of them. :) 

 



 

She loved the fin and it worked really well.  We took it off a few times practiced without it and then she just let me let go of her pinkie finger.  She was so excited.  Trev came over after work and she stepped it up another knotch and was swimming further and further. 

 

 

Here is the video that I took.  I should have taken by the end of the evening because she improved so much.  She was really starting to relax and just let her body float and kick lighter.  I had her starting in different spots and swimming to different parts of the pool like the side, steps, etc.  She did really well.  She even chose to do some crazy moves like swim all the way around me and swim away from be and then back to me.  She even jumped in and was swimming to the side.  I wasn't sure how she would do on that since she would have to come to the top and then start swimming but she did it just fine the first time. 

 

I am so proud of her! It is a great mom feeling when you know that you have taught them! :)  We need to continue to work on back floating and then work on taking breaths.  She even wants to try and dive for rings and items like she saw the kids at the pool doing. 

 

Way to go Sugie bear! So proud of you!