Hot Diggity Dog

Brother - "Mom, do you know what my favorite color is?"
Mom - "What is it?"
Brother - "Hot Blue, Hot Green, Hot Orange, Hot Yellow, Hot Black....oh yea and Hot Red."
Mom - "What about Hot Pink?"
Brother - "What? I have never seen that color before."
Mom - "Have you seen Hot Blue before?"
Brother - "Yea (substitute Duh here and you will get the tone of the answer)"

New Addition

Brother and Mommy went to the Fair this weekend to see some animals and go on some rides. Luckily we met some friends there so that Mommy didn't have to go on the rides with Brother (some of those little kid rides just spin too much...). We had a great time indulging in snow cones, ice cream and cotton candy. Mommy let Brother play one game and of course he won...a little gold fish. We currently have one fish at home named "Nemo", whom we happened to get at the fair a few years back. Actually, Brother had won five of them at that time and it boiled down to Survival of the Fittest! Good thing he likes his sporadic food schedule! (we are thinking that he only gets fed about once a week to once every two weeks) Our newest addition is named "Patrick". We will see how he does with Nemo...

At The Drive In

We went to the local drive in a few weeks back. Mommy and Daddy haven't been to one in about 15 or so years. We brought Brother and a couple of our cousins who have never been to a drive in. What a fun experience it was! Much cleaner and nicer than I remember and the speaker was through your radio, not the old ones that hung on your window and had a lot of static. Of course we took pictures to document our experience.

The kids were in the back on an air mattress while Mommy and Daddy sat in the chairs.

Hello kids, having fun yet!!

Lots of yummy popcorn!

Of course we had to bring the popcorn in a brown bag. Daddy asked why it had to be in a brown bag. HELLO, that is just the way you do it...Don't mess with tradition.

Who Likes To Go Camping...

I do! I do!!!!

Wait a minute...who is behind that camera talking to me???

Last Day Of Camping

On the last day of camping, we went swimming in the natural hot springs/swimming pool (what kind of camping is this anyway??). Everyone, especially the kids, had a blast!

Bugs must be regressing in her swimming lessons...Cannot understand this, especially since the water was SOOO warm! Maybe Daddy doesn't have the touch that Mommy has...That must be it...

Uncle C. looks like he is relaxing...Hello M. and little KJ! (Wow, an actual baby who enjoys the water? Go figure...)
Hello little buddy!
Hello Brother!

Hmmmm...Mommy must have stayed home in the peace and quiet and got caught up on all of her knitting and scrapbooking...Well, maybe in another life...

Camping!

We went camping last weekend with some friends at their cabin. The weather was perfect and we had a ton of fun. On the first day, we went for a hike in the morning.

What a good looking group of hikers.

Sydney Socks is so excited, he can hardly contain himself. Camping trips are his only outings lately. Poor neglected puppy dog...

Brother is being the "older kid" and helping his little buddy along.

Don't they look sweet!

Gotta stop for a snack break.

After lunch (and naps) we went down to the creek to play in the water and just get dirty.

Here is Uncle C. with his two little kiddos.

A water fight erupts between Daddy and Brother.

Of course there is usually a casualty...

All is well again!

Doesn't this look like fun!

Uncle C. also found some treasures. This snake was one of them...

He was sure mad! He kept hissing like he was a big fella.

Some people preferred to stay on shore.

Can't imagine why...

And The Winner Is...

Mommy's determination must be winning. We went and practiced our swimming last night and Bugs did not cry at all! Yes, this is a very big deal!

No whimpering/crying when we got our swimsuits on...good, good.
No crying when we got in the pool...good, good.
No crying when we went under water...good, good.
Thought about crying when we floated on our back...not bad.


Mommy is winning the battle!

Cool Beans

Brother - "Did you see that yellow truck?!"
Mommy - "I didn't. Was it pretty?"
Brother - "No... it was COOL!"

Bugs Turn!

After Brother was done with his lesson, it was Bugs turn! She loves the water...in the bathtub, but she HATES the pool. We thought it was important for her to learn some basic water safety, and since we had a wonderful teacher on hand, perfect!

Here Bugs is trying to plead with me to get out of pool.

Here were are trying to float on our backs and just feel the water buoyancy.

Bugs is saying, "can I please get out now??"

Here we are blowing bubbles, since we will be going under the water soon. Mommy is showing Bugs how to do it. Good job Mommy!

Bugs is really close to doing it herself, but she may need a little help...

Here Mommy is helping her. Good job at holding your breath...Mommy, you can breath now.

Good job Bugs!! Bugs is saying, "that was NOT fun."

Since we have been practicing three times a week, it is starting to get better...I think. Bugs screams bloody murder when we enter the pool (sorry to all of the neighbors), and continues to cry/pout. However, when Mommy starts counting to three, she stops and holds her breath since she knows what is coming. Very smart girl. She even now starts to cry/run when her swimsuit comes out. Very strong willed and determined, however, if this is a contest, Mommy will always win...just ask Brother...or Daddy...

I Wanna Be A Sea Creature

We are very fortunate this year to have a friend of Grandma P. come and teach swimming lessons to the kids. Miss C. actually developed the pre-school swimming lessons at a very large (and well known) facility back in the day when people believed that you couldn't teach children, under the age of 8, to swim. She knew (and saw) as a swimming instructor that you could teach them to swim. However, young children swim better underwater that on top of the water. So she developed a program for the kids using underwater sea creatures as "teachers" to help spark interest. Brother really likes to look at her poster (with the sea creatures) and wants to imitate them in the water. We have only got to meet up with Miss C. twice, but we have been practicing 3 times a week. What a difference it has made with Brother! He has taken swimming lessons for two years now, and he has learned and became more confident in the two meetings he had with Miss C. than any of his other lessons. Also, just a note, Brother HATES to get his face wet. In the bathtub or pool, it doesn't matter. DO NOT GET HIS FACE WET! Hmmmm....

Here he is with his first meeting with Miss C. He was being a Dolphin (blowing bubbles in the water)

Here is Bugs and Daddy watching.

Bugs isn't so sure about what Brother is doing in the water. She doesn't like the pool very much (or at all). She has a hold of her blanket for protection.

The following are pictures of our second meeting with Miss C. Brother would NEVER do that before. He is being a Sea Otter. They like to swim on their backs and eat their food.

I am not sure what animal he is being here. I think he is actually being a pirate and looking for buried treasure. Miss C. brought some shells and a cool necklace that looks like Pirate Booty.

Here she is teaching him a safety technique. He is jumping into the water...

hitting his feet on the bottom and pushing off into the...

swordfish swim!

Here he is being a swordfish. Notice how straight his arms are, like a sword!
This is so if he ever fell into the pool, he would feel comfortable transitioning onto his tummy and getting a breath of air. Next week she is going to show him how to turn from tummy to back and back to tummy.

He is doing very good!

In Her Shoes

Bugs just loves shoes! She has a fascination about them. She loves to take them off of me and put them back on. She also likes to try and put them on herself. When Aunt T. helped her walk in them, they were instantly best friends!

Bugs Speaks!

Bugs said her first word yesterday. She already says, Mamamama, Dadadada, Bye, Nighnigh, and other various grunts (which obviously mean something to her). However, I didn't consider any of those authentic "first" words. Her true first word is "baby". She was saying it to her baby doll as she was covering her up with a blanket. Very sweet.

When I Grow Up

Brother – “When I grow up, I’m going to be a Dirt Bike Rider.”

Mommy – “You are?”

Brother – “Yep, when I’m 19. What do you want to be when you grow up…older?”

Don't Touch The Hair

We were at a water park yesterday with some of our cousins. Brother had a great time going down the slides, however, we had to call Grandma to come and pick up Bugs, since she didn’t want to have anything to do with the water. They had a great kiddie area, but she wouldn’t even stick her toe in the water. So she got sent home so Mommy and Daddy could play for a while on the big slides. We were all going to go on the Family Ride, but Brother didn’t want to go. He went on it earlier, but didn’t like it because he got his hair wet. He obviously doesn’t like to get his short buzz cut wet…Takes too long to dry and messes up his look…

Fiery Sun

Brother - "Mom, look at the sun! It is on fire!"

Look At Me Daddy

Driving home from dinner the other night, Daddy was being grumpy and gave Mommy a grumpy look.

Mommy - "Don't look at me with that grumpy face..."
Brother, from the back seat - "Daddy, you can look me if you want!"

In Daddy's defense, we had a very trying evening. Actually only Daddy did since he was sitting next to Bugs. Mommy was perfectly happy and content being out and not having to cook dinner. Bugs is at the stage where she thinks that it is appropriate (and fun) to scream at the top of her lungs if she can't have what she wants. She may not be able to reach it, Brother may have it, it may be some imaginary item that Daddy and Mommy have no clue what it is, she may not want to be confined any longer...You never know what it will be. Did I mention Brother may have it?? Luckily we were at a loud family restaurant, so it wasn't too distracting...to Mommy that is. However, the fun did not end there, she had to scream the entire way home as well...and she sits right behind Daddy. So therefore the grumpy looks...