Max is SWIMMING!!

Last week we took group swim lessons from Holly Self!! She was amazing!! Max was in a level 1 class with three other kids and 2 teachers. There was another level 1 class at the same time with 2 teachers so they all just joined together. Each day they had lessons from 11:30 to 12:30 and on Friday we got to come the last 20 minutes to see what all they had learned!!

First up was swimming with the barbells!!  Max is swimming to Mrs. Holly.

He was so excited to see that Nana, Daddy, Emery, and me all came to see him swim!! 

What a good power kick!! Go Max Go!!

Here they acted like animals and jumped into the ring by themselves!! It was so cute to here all the different animals each kid picked! After they jumped in they came to standing position and walked over to the stairs. Mrs. Holly said this was actually a level 2 skill but she taught it to them since the kids were doing so well with going under!! So PROUD of my lil guy for jumping off all by himself and going under! This is a huge accomplishment because just days ago he wouldn't jump off the side of the pool without you catching him. He DID NOT want to go under the water!! Now he LOVES it!!!

Next skill was showing us how they could dunk their heads under the water with goggles on to find a little swim toy! 

Lining up to go to the deeper end to do a little swimming!!!

All the boys came over and were swimming off the stairs back and forth to the teachers!!

Max was under the water swimming!! I am so PROUD of him!! He does have a long way to go still but he has really learned SO MUCH this week!! I can't believe how long he can stay under water!! 

The boys heading over to the bull frog jump (that's what Mrs. Holly called it)

The kids jumped in and then got themselves to a horizontal position to swim on top of the water this time!!

Max swimming to the stairs!!

Can't believe just a week later and he is doing some amazing things!! We LOVE Mrs. Holly!! 

Not sure if you can tell below...but the last skill was showing how they "sleep" in the water!! So cute!!

The kids all lined up for their applause :)

Then Mrs. Holly let them have a little playtime!! Max was throwing the football!!

I tried to get a good picture of little miss but she just wasn't having it today! LOL 

She did however do so well today!! She sat and watched all the little kids swimming!! I am pretty sure that was the MOST STILL she was all day!! Ha!

At the end the kids all got a yummy popsicle treat!! Such a GREAT week of swimming!! So so glad that Max had so much fun and he really LOVED it!! What a blessing!!

Now to keep practicing those skills!! 

A HaPpY/CrAzY Thursday!!

This past Thursday I decided to be brave and try out the donut receipe again!! I did everything right this time around and we made some DELIGHTFUL donuts!!

Our toppings...dip in butter then in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar!!

Emery was a fan of the powdered sugar...

And Max and me were a fan of the cinnamon sugar!!

Max couldn't even wait to put it on his plate!! He had to try it out immediately! LOL He said it was so yummy and that we did a great job making them!! Max and Emery were big helpers!!

Emery DID NOT like all the sugar sticking to her hands!!

But it tasted good so she kept on eating ;)

Silly girl!!

We had some left over so we walked over and gave some to our neighbor friends Jennifer and Robert and there 3 kiddos!! They were very happy to take them off our hands!!

After our donut making we stayed around the house do a few odds and ends until it was time to head to swim lessons...well lets just say it wasn't a very good morning. The kids were having a "off" day if you want to call it that...Max was just being very trying and well while I was displining him Emery was trying to go potty all by herself...I walked into the bathroom where she had tried to dump her pee-pee (from the little potty) into the big potty and then she was trying to rinse it off in the big potty and pouring toilet water all over the floor!! Good times!! Oh what a mess I had to clean up!! So, when it was time to head out I was ready!! We dropped Max off at his lessons and then Emery and I headed over to the zoo again!!

We headed straight to the Once Upon a Farm and petting zoo!! Emery was all about the "chick-ends"!!

She didn't really want anything to do with petting any of the animals. She would walk up and say "hi horsey" and then "ewww yuck!"..."buh bye, horsey, buh bye" wave and walk onto the next one! LOL

Since I was walking around taking pictures with my i-phone Emery kept saying "mommy, cheese" so I stopped and we took a picture together! Emery loved seeing herself on the phone!! Love how she smiled so good!! Can't say it is my favorite picture of me as I could have used a little makeup and actually done something with my hair...ha!!

Our last few minutes Emery and I stopped and rocked on the porch before heading to get bubba!! Loved my sweet time with Emery this week even if it was only an hour a day!

Swim lessons were from 11:30 to 12:30 each day so by the time I picked Max up both kids were starving! We ran by Chickfila on the way home and the kids both got a new book. After lunch we had a little reading time and the crazy acting from the morning started up again :(

I ended up sending Max to his room to have some quiet time because he was just out of control. I went and put Emery down for nap and then when I peeked in to check on him I saw this...

Under all those pillows...was a TIRED little boy!!

And not much longer little miss was asleep!!! Oh how wonderful it was to have a few minutes of "me" time!! God knew exactly what I needed at that very moment! It is few and far between that my little ones nap at the same time now that Max rarely naps. It really was such a BLESSING and when they woke up from nap it was a much BETTER day!! The kids were in good moods and we enjoyed our time together hanging out as a family!!

Sometimes a little nap can make ALL the difference for little ones and their mommies ;)

Last few days..

On Monday Craig was off (due to summer hours) and what a blessing it was to come straight home and get a little rest! We had a very low key Monday as usual. Craig took Max to his first swim lesson (which went GREAT by the way) and took Emery to the zoo while I was sleeping. Then he came back and we hung out and just had a laid back day!! Best thing was though he cooked me DINNER!! Yay!!

It was SO YUMMY too!! A crock pot mushroom pork roast and he found a recipe for Longhorn's strawberry pecan salad!! Super yummy!! It tasted just like it!! 

On Tuesday we woke up to some yucky weather. It was overcast and just slightly rainy all day!! Kids played on the ipad and iphone while I showered...I know I know...don't judge...it keeps them from beating each other up or tearing the house down while I shower...LOL

Then we got ready for day 2 of swim lessons!! Max was super excited!! He told us all about his lessons on Monday night...how he was an ice cream cone and he got dunked in the chocolate water (guessing this is where they dunked him to get use to being under water with his goggles on). He told us about how he did frog kicks and that he went to sleep in the water!! Found out from my friend Candice that the frog kicks is how they teach him to swim and the sleeping is teaching them to float on their backs. Anyways...he is definitely LOVING it way more that I would have thought he would!! 

Since it was raining Emery and I ran a few errands while Max was in his class. Then afterwards we grabbed some lunch and headed to Party City to get Party favors and sports stickers so Max could finish up his invites for his BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! I can't believe my firstborn is about to be 4 YEARS OLD!!! We headed home for some much needed rest time!! I sent Max to his room and laid Emery down. Max passed out and Emery wouldn't nap :( Boo!! Oh well...it ended up being fine. I let Max sleep for about 30 minutes and then got Emery out of her crib. I still go a few minutes of down time.

And later that evening...

Max had a blast decorating his Pump It Up invites for his friends!!

Putting in the mail!! He thought he was BIG stuff!! He is so excited about his birthday party!! He is counting down the days!!

Yesterday...we got up bright and early. We got ready and headed to the zoo!! Max has been wanting to go to the Birds and the Bees exhibit so we decided to go to the zoo prior to swim lessons. And it was so FUN!! The birds were starving!! They all flocked to us as soon as we got the feeding sticks!! Max LOVED it!!

but Emery HATED it!! She kept flinging the birds off the stick and then she gave the stick to me. She just wasn't sure about all the birds. I think she would have been fine if it would have just been a few but seriously there were about 15 to 20 birds fighting over the food!!

It was really amazing for Max and me...Emery was just soaking it all in....

Max swim teacher's house is literally 2 minutes from the zoo so we went and dropped him off. Em and I came back and just played in the water fountain in the front.

She was VERY upset when we dropped bubba off and she couldn't go with him!! She kept crying "bubba, waa-er, waa-er!!" So that is why we decided to just play in the water until it was time to go back and get bubba!!

Then we hit up Sonic on the way home because I knew Emery wouldn't last long as we had been at the zoo all morning!! Emery kept screaming "chick-n" in the drive in. It was hilarious. They have strips for the kids meals and I wasn't sure if she would eat them but low and behold the girl tore them up!! She LOVED them...or either she was just hungry!! LOL

We came home and had some much needed rest time/nap time and ended our day with church and a run to ToysRus to get some ideas for the birthday boy!!