With summer here we have started our summer lessons and projects. Ryan has already started his swim lessons. There was slow progress the first 5 lessons, but Dad came to lesson 6 (the last for that session) and bribed him with a Bakugan. Ryan complied somewhat, enough for us to allow him to continue for two more weeks.
Alex went to one lesson in the class he'll start on Monday. The other kids are on swim team and when we got home he said, 'I don't want to race.' After he understood that they were on swim team he was relieved! He will be learning to dive and improving his strokes. He won't get the endurance the other kids have, but at least he can have fun diving in and racing across the pool against Emily and Zach this summer.
I am planning a tour of the west valley public pools. When we went to Litchfield Park yesterday, Ryan was a fish! He loved the 1 1/2' baby pool and was trying to swim on his own. We'll probably head out on Friday afternoons if anyone else wants to tag along.
I am now 24 weeks (6 months) along with number 3. I've put on 12 pounds and am starting to endure the side effects of having my insides squashed together. My weekly preventive shots are getting more painful with each visit. But I try to be brave since I have have a kid or two with me when I get them. I am planning the nursery and can't wait until Alex goes back to school for me to get started on converting the toy room back into a baby room.
I have really been enjoying working on my art lesson plans. It feels good to be 'Finding Flow' (a great non-fiction book about finding more pleasure in work/hobbies than vegetating on a couch) learning skills that will help me teach but also help me parent.
What a long entry without pics. I'll get some shots of our swimmers to put up soon.
If I had planned better, we would have celebrated the half birthday a day earlier so we could have some friends over, but this year we just had a few new gifts and cupcakes. Ryan said, 'This is the best birthday ever.' Well, I thought the trip to Chuckee Cheese had to be more fun, but perhpas he doesn't remember that.
My painting class started on Wednesday. We had lots of fun. It was a lot of work getting the area set up and figuring out a system to get paper and paint to everyone. I'll have 10 kids altogether.
The boys went out on the lake Saturday with the Blacks and Barons. Ryan wanted to go faster and Alex wanted to go slower. Dan got flipped off a time or two with Zach and had to recover on Sunday.
Thank goodness if the boys don't pray for anything else they pray, 'please bless daddy to be safe at work, please bless me to be safe at school, please bless Ryan and mom at home that they will be safe.' It is repetitious, but apparently necessary. The boys were eating their corn dogs and Alex looked over and saw it crash. If you haven't given the bolts on your ceiling fan a thought in a few years, I suggest you look at them. Another thought, when money is tight, expect the unexpected!
Last Saturday Dan stuck his head in the house and said, 'keep the boys inside.' I assumed that meant there were wasps about, but then I saw him out there with the camera. This is a long nosed snake, nothing to be worried about. Dan scooped him up and kindly threw him over the fence! (No, not into someone else's yard!)
Ryan has decided he CAN swim. What joy we have shared as he has overcome his fear of the deep and has started to brave the water. He is a little fish now. If only he could see the need to roll over and get a breath from time to time!
I took Alex to watch his swim mates race on Thursday. I tell ya, I don't enjoy the thought of sitting in the heat for hours on end waiting for him to race, but he seemed interested in doing it. Maybe in a year or two. At least now that he has seen it done it won't be such a big deal when we decide to do it.
Sleep. Ryan has been wore out all week from his swimming exertions. He went to bed at 6:30 a couple of nights and napped a couple of days. This was from last night. The boys spent a good deal of time swimming the day away and went to bed at 7pm. I'd love to know what was going on when Ryan grabbed Alex. We let them fall asleep together and then put Ryan in his own bed. Ryan was in my room by 6:15am begging for food. I ignored him as best I could, but he climbed in bed upside down and was kicking me in the head. And they wonder why I'm grouchy early in the morning!
Kindergarten has come to a close at our house. Our big kid is now a 'grader' as he calls it. He was sad to see kindergarten end. He loved his teachers and some how he has realized that being a grader isn't all fun and games! Towards the end of the year his class had a program. They sang a few songs, got gifts, and ate cupcakes. I was running late, but Dan had come as a surprise so Alex wasn't too worried about Ryan and me.
Here is Alex with Mrs. O'Brien. She has been a very kind and peaceful teacher. Both she and the aides in the class have been very good to Alex. He has had a fun year. Alex is a bright kid and they have kept him interested and challenged throughout the year. Alex will have fond memories of this year.
Now we have 8 weeks to enjoy together. The first day off was horrific! But hopefully as we all get used to having Alex home during the day it will get better.
