Memorial Day Weekend

I picked up an inflatable swimming pool for the girls this weekend while at Target- it is amazing how much fun your kids can have for a mere $9.99!  Maggie and Lydia both really enjoyed swimming and are already begging me this morning to get out there.  I am not sure if that is going to happen for them today though due to the threat of rain and thunderstorms.  

We didn't get up to too much this weekend.  We did go to a farewell party for our sister-in-law, Aunt Amanda, and her two children Ronan and Alanna.  Today the 3 of them will board an airplane bound for Ireland.  They will spend the summer there and are planning to come back to the states the end of July.  

Today we are getting ready for our own trip down to Florida.  Maggie and Lydia are both very excited- we will be spending our first few days down there with Brian's parents, so the girls are elated.  Lydia is most excited to go build sandcastles and Maggie just wants to swim, although she has made it very clear to me that she will not be jumping into the pool at.all.  

More later... 

And at long last...

... an update.  

Jack is now 7 months old!  He is doing great- sitting up, eating 2 meals of baby food each day, and trying his best to figure out what is next after learning to sit up on his own.  Still 6 teeth but he always seems to be working on more.  

Lydia will be 3 in a few weeks and she is getting excited about celebrating her birthday. She finished her year of preschool last week and was very sad to learn that she won't be seeing her beloved teacher, Ms. Kirsten, on an almost daily basis anymore.  We don't have too much planned for Lydia this summer other than 2 sessions of swimming lessons on a beginner level beginning the end of June.  She is looking forward to preschool again in the fall with her new teachers, Ms. Harriet and Ms. Jessica.  

Miss Maggie finished her very last year of preschool last Thursday and it was bittersweet for all of us.  On one hand it is almost impossible to believe that she is done already- total cliche, but it seems like only yesterday I was dropping her off in her first classroom, as a 2 and a half year old.  The past 3 years have been terrific for her;  she has learned so much and has grown in ways I never thought possible at a preschool level.  This was by far her greatest year with the best teachers, Ms. Tricia and Ms. Lee- they took such a genuine interest in each of the children and really helped them grow and get ready for their next big step... Kindergarten!  Maggie was very sad to leave them both last week but she is very excited for her new school year coming up in August.  She has alot to look forward to this summer- 2 sessions of swim lessons starting in late June and she is also registered for 4 different summer camps at various times over the coming weeks.  

The past month has been fairly busy for us and we are looking forward to some down-time next week when we head down to Sandestin, FL for a week at the beach.  

6 months already?! How did that happen?

Baby Jack is 6 months old!  Now it feels like he is growing too fast and I wish there was some way to slow life down just a little bit.  He had his 6 month check up yesterday morning and he is doing just fine.  18 pounds, 14 ounces, 27 inches long.  We started him on solids on Sunday afternoon.  He did super with rice cereal that day, but sort of lost his enthusiasm for it Monday and Tuesday.  I did give him little mashed up bits of banana and he really loved that.  Yesterday and today we are sort of taking a break though- Jack is still a bit grumpy from his 2 vaccines.  Maybe we will restart this weekend.  

Chili Cook Off

This weekend our neighborhood had a chili cook off.  All the entries were delicious and we all had a great time.  Thanks to Uncle Jeffrey for sharing pictures of Maggie and Lydia... 

Maggie: A Self Portrait

Maggie had the camera out the other day and she took a series of pictures of herself.  So funny.  Brian has also found pictures on his iPhone that she has taken of random things around the house- ceiling fans, televisions, house plants... even her feet dangling toward the floor while she was using the restroom.  :)

Swimming Lessons

For the past 2 weeks on Mondays and Wednesdays, Maggie has been taking swimming lessons.  She is a Beginner, Level 1, as she has only limited experience in a pool; this is very much an "intro to water"-type class.  She has a healthy fear of the water but I can see that after just 120 minutes of class time she is becoming so much more comfortable paddling around with her teacher, chasing after little rubber duckies in the water. The class size is very small- they only allow 4 students per teacher- and there is only one other little girl in her class.  Tonight I took her for a quick bathroom break near the end of class when they usually practice jumping into the pool.  This is not her favorite part of the class and when it is her turn she usually sits down on the edge of the pool and scoots her bottom into the water where Ms. Deborah, her teacher, is waiting for her.  She told me several times on the way to the locker room:  "No way am I jumping into the pool, Mom.  No way.  I can't do that.  I don't want to go under water."  Well we get back to the pool and Ms. Deborah asks her if she was ready to jump in... Maggie walked over and jumped right in! Straight into the water, the whole way under and everything.  I think she really surprised herself- she sprang back up and Ms. D helped her paddle back to the side of the pool and that was it.  She did it!  I was watching her eyes to see her reaction and she didn't look scared at all... it happened quite unexpectedly and she didn't really know how to react.  I think once she realized what had happened though she was very pleased.  Brian was able to be at class with us tonight, so we all got to see it.  We are so proud of her!

This class has been great for Lydia to watch.  She can start classes once she turns 3, so I am planning to enroll her later this summer.  She is so interested in watching Maggie swim around so I think she will do just fine once it's her turn.  And we plan to just keep re-enrolling Maggie each session to help build her skills.   

Some Pictures of the younger Mr. Bray