A week in review

We started swim lessons last Wednedsay. It is a new teacher and she really does a great job. She makes the kids go out of their comfort zone but does it in a nice but firm way. The kids are to jump off the diving board at the first lesson where Miss Allison waits for them and then they swim through a hula hoop that is anchored to the bottom of the deep end. Nathan was not too fond of the diving board so I had to get on with him and drop him off. First time went okay but the second time I almost went in with him. The look on the teachers face was pretty funny. I am sure she was thinking that she was going to get more than she bargained for. The rest of the lessons Nathan likes and he is getting more okay with the idea of the diving board and has informed me that next time he will go by himself. :-)Taylor does okay too. She also doesn't like going under the water or jumping off the diving board. I learned after the first time that she is quite strong and that my hair is too. She was clinging on to me for dear life. I finally got her hands off my shoulders and then she found my ponytail she was hanging from my ponytail. Fun times. She didn't cry as much the second lesson as she did the first. She told me after the first lesson "Mom, I NEVER want to do this again." My response, "Sorry but we are coming back in 2 days, you will like it some day." After the second lesson she told me. "Mom that was kind of fun." HUGE progress. She also pretends to be the swim teacher with her toys in the bathtub. It is quite entertaining. She will ask the toys if they want to go under the water. They respond no and she will say sorry you have to.

Last Thursday I took Taylor and Natalie to Espee Park. It is about a half mile from our house and they have a big splash pad to play in. I mostly stayed in the shade with Natalie on a blanket. Natalie hanging out.

Taylor was dressed and ready to play in the water at the spray pad but spent most of the time on the playground with her friends.

Friday night we went to a wedding reception for Preston's cousin. They had dancing and Taylor was happy to get jiggy. Here she is dancing with her Aunt Lisa and her cousin Chanelle
Taylor dancing with her Aunt Lisa. It was really quite cute, Taylor loves to dance.

Before going to bed I asked Preston if he had anything he was planning to do on Saturday morning. His reply was no. Well when I woke up around 6:45 am (when Taylor set off the house alarm) I find Preston has started a project of painting our swing set.

Preston is such a go getter. When I asked him why he was painting the swing set his reply was "Because I was awake and didn't have anything else I had to do." It took him about 4 1/2 hours and it looks really nice.
A few hours after Preston finished the swing set I left to a day spa. I finally redeemed some gift cards Preston gave me for my birthday and received a massage, facial and a pedicure. It was soooo nice and I have decided I need to make spa time a regular occurence.

Our Memorial Day Weekend

We had a GREAT 3 day weekend. Originally we were going to go camping and then decided to stay home and relax and get things done around the house. We did a lot more playing and relaxing than working but it was a MUCH needed break.
Saturday night we went to see Night at the Smithsonian at the Drive In Theater. The weather was actually quite nice. We had a good time. We got there really early to make sure we got a good spot and after getting all set up we ate some KFC. The above picture shows Nathan and Taylor chowing down.

Preston and Natalie posing for a picture.

My Brother and his family came to the drive in with us. These 2 cousins are closest in age to Nathan (Roo is 2 months younger) and Taylor (LaLa is 8 months older). They have a lot of fun together.

On Sunday we went to my parents house for a 60th birthday party for my Dad. I brought my camera to take a picture with my dad, but totally forgot to take the picture. OOPS!!!!! Happy Birthday Dad.

Natalie trying to raid the pantry. She turned 9 months old yesterday so I took this picture to demonstrate how much she is getting into things at 9 months for history sake. (I have a picture of all 3 kids getting in this exact pantry.)

Monday afternoon we took the kids to Hamilton pool to go swimming. It was really crowded but fun. This is after we had been swimming. After the pool we went to a barbeque at some friends house. Then that night I went to watch the Bachelorette at a girlfriends house and the husbands and kids came to our house to watch the Lakers Vs. Nuggets game.

Like I said before it was a fun and relaxing weekend. I did even make it to the gym a couple times so it wasn't guite ALL fun and games. Taylor has really been missing her Dad today, it is always hard for her after she spends a lot of time with him. She can never get enough, she is definitely a Daddy's girl.

Today was the first day of Harkins summer movie program so I took Nathan out of school for a couple hours so he could see Space Chimps (he hadn't seen it yet) It was a cute movie. Once again brought the camera but forgot to take pictures.

More Randomness

Taylor has been taking a princess ballerina class and yesterday was her last day. Here she is posing with her teacher Miss Danni. They learned a little dance that they performed for us. It was pretty entertaining, Taylor is definitely a free spirit that does her own thing.

On Tuesday my friend Stacy invited us to go to the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa with her and her daughter Grace who is Taylor's age. She had picked up some of those cultural passes at the library so it was totally free. There were a ton of kids there on field trips so it was crowded. It was a pretty good museum. Taylor was in a mood so it made things a little difficult. I think Stacy and I were more interested in what we saw then the girls.

Taylor doing a butterfly puzzle at the museum and Natalie being her normal jolly self.

Last Thursday the running club from Nathan's school had a pool party. We went to the West Chandler Aquatic Center. It was wonderful to be in the pool and cool off.

Also last Thursday Nathan gave his animal presentation on the Wolf. I was able to go in the classroom to witness it. He did a great job and was very confident. I was very proud of him. All the pictures on the poster were removable. He would take one off and then read the information on the back. He thought of this idea all by himself, his teacher was very impressed and said he was the only one that presented like that. He is really growing up and it is hard to believe only a few more days and he will be a 2nd grader. Yikes I feel old.

What we've been doing

I just wanted to post pictures of what we've been doing lately. Last week after Taylor's dance class we stopped by the lock shop after it was closed for the day. The kids are showing off the cool house keys Preston cut for them. Taylor's has the Cardinals symbol on it and Nathan's has the Suns symbol. They are standing in one of the big safes we have for sale. Preston shut the door on them (very briefly) it made them a little freaked out.
Last Friday I went on a field trip with Nathan's class. We saw the Never Ending Story put on by Child's play at the Tempe Center for the Arts. It was a neat play. I was really tired though and was having a hard time staying awake during the first half. Few hours of sleep, benadryl and a field trip in a dark theater do not mix well. This is Nathan and I eating our sack lunches before the play.


Nathan and his friend Brandon and I before the play started.



Saturday night our Stake had a fair. The kids got their faces painted.




Then they played at the different booths.

We ate popcorn and sno cones and hot dogs. All the typical fair food. Then the kids got in line for a big bouncer obstacle course. They loved it and probably did it at least a dozen times.

I was so impressed that Taylor could climb this part all by herself.
This is what Natalie did while Nathan and Taylor played on the inflatables. She crawled around on a bounce house that had been deflated. She was in her stroller for about 2 hours before this and was such a good sport but she was ecstatic to be out and able to move around.