Swim Class

A couple weeks ago, we began swim lessons with Claire and Anna at our Rec Center. Anna is in the same class Claire attended last year (Baby Bubblers) and Claire has graduated to ABC Come Swim with Me. It worked out that we were able to schedule the classes on Saturday mornings and the classes are right after each other. Ben and I switch off with the girls. He is in the water with one and I am on land with the other!! It works out really well. Both girls are doing great and seem to enjoy it, although it did take Claire a little while to warm up to the water (literally!!). She is learning to jump to Daddy on the count of 3, hold on to the side of the pool and some very basic swimming skills. Anna is just learning to be comfortable in the water and lay on her back and belly in the water. We just want our girls to be safe and enjoy swimming!

My crew hanging out together before classes began.

Anna goes first, then Claire. Claire is very patient as she waits her turn. Her favorite thing to do while waiting is talk to Anna and watch her in the water! She always says "look at Anna Mama, she swimming!". It's so sweet!!!

More waiting...

I have my pictures out of order a little. Anna's pics should be first! Anyway, Claire is learning to jump in the water from the edge of the pool.

"One, Two, Three... JUMP!"

And in she goes!!

Claire is good about letting her instructor hold her!

Look at that cute, little face peeking over the pool! (I'm talking about Claire!!!)

Anna is a natural in the water. She is barely old enough to be in the class, but seems the most comfortable of all the babies. She is already kicking and splashing! I was so impressed and relieved that she enjoys it so much!

Anna is swimmimg after the ball that Ben threw!

"I Got it!"

The instructor thought she was too little to do this exercise on the floating dumbbell, but she proved her wrong! Anna is my little fish! Maybe one day the girls we swim competitively! I think it's the best sport... it's proven to be the best work out for the body, easy on the joints, no contact with others to get harmed and it's FUN!! What more could you ask for!

Play Date!

Last week my cousin Cindie came over to play with her foster girls, Ahleya & Aerial. We had a great time hanging out with them and Cindie brought delicious food from Dorothy Lane Market (YUM YUM!!). Claire just loved playing with the girls and they were very sweet! We are looking forward to our next playdate!!

Claire really likes holding people's hands. Here she is showing Aerial around the house!

Cindie holding Anna!

The girls enjoyed the pretty weather and played outside on the swing set!

Claire did a good job sharing her toys with Ahleya & Aerial! They were very well mannered little girls and even picked up after themselves!

More Father's Day

More Father's Day pictures...

My dad, me and my brothers (Shawn & Scott).

All the Dads!!

Dad, Ben, Shawn & Scott

I love to get a "Cousins" picture whenever possible!

Lauren, Anna, Caroline, Jillian, Connor & Claire

Grandma McDowell with Claire & Anna (my Grandpa McDowell passed away in 1999... I miss him so much and wish he could've seen and held my girls). Happy Father's Day Grandpa... you were the best. We'll see you again, and then you can hold Claire & Anna!)

Papa, Anna & Claire

Aunt Heather & Anna. Heather is due at the end of July with a little girl!

Aunt Kristen & Heather talking to Anna! Anna was all smiles for them!!!

My Mom & Dad! My mom is doing great after her surgery!

Look at this adorable face!! Bella is my parents new dog. They adopted her from a rescue a couple months ago and she is the sweetest! She is part Lab and part Husky. She fits in perfectly after my parents had to put their elderly Lab to sleep in December.

Father's Day

We had a busy day, but it was nice spending time with both sides of our family! Ben & I are so thankful for our Dads. Our fathers are truly two of the kindest men I have ever met. They are really a lot alike. Both of them are hard working, laid back, generous, honest and Godly men. Our girls are so fortunate to have two Grandfathers that are not only wonderful Papa's, but wonderful men! Thanks to our Dads for all their love and support over the course of our lives. I know Ben and I can honestly say we are the people we are today because of their influence in our life. Thanks and WE LOVE YOU!!! Happy Father's Day!

Papa with his girls!

3 Generations

Grammy rocked Anna to sleep... what a sweet, sweet picture!

Spray Park

Last week we met Deanna and Brittney at the spray park for a picnic lunch and fun in the water! The kids had a great time playing in the fountains. It was a warm day so the cool water was such a relief (I got a little wet, too!!). Olivia and Grant slept most of the time and Anna enjoyed watching the action from the baby carrier! We had a great time! You've gotta love Summer!!

Claire leaning over to tell Landon a secret! Poor Landon... Claire and big girl Anna (as Claire refers to her!) are always trying to hold his hand or hug him. He really isn't interested in public displays of affection at all!

Anna watching all the activity! She didn't make a peep in the 2 hours we were there. She's such an easy baby!

"This is FUN!"

Landon looking cute at the picnic table!

Isn't this the sweetest picture of Olivia & Grant?!?!

Anna & Claire playing!

A cute picture of all three of the kids having fun in the sun! They were a blast to watch!!!

Almost Sitting

Anna is pretty much sitting up by herself. She just gets tired and her balance isn't great. She definitely has the strength and will! She is kind of at that stage where she wants to do more than she can and she gets bored. She is hard to entertain right now. She loves sitting up with the Boppy around her because she can sit up for long periods of time and play. Claire likes giving Anna toys to play with and she also dances and sings for her. It's so funny! It's like Claire thinks she has an audience when Anna is sitting on the floor! She is quite the performer, too!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is big enough to sit up!! Oh... how quickly the times goes by!

Scaredy CAT????

In the last couple weeks we have had some pretty bad thunder storms. If any of you know Greyhounds, you know they are usually VERY thunder phobic. Actually, they are scared of loud noises in general. Both of our Greyhounds have been terrified of thunder storms and the 4th of July is the worst day of the year for them. We have to tranquilize Sophie during the fireworks. We learned our lesson the first year we had Maddie and we locked her in our bedroom during the fireworks display. She literally tried to escape because she was so terrified. She pulled down our blinds and curtains, she tried digging under the door which destroyed our carpet, she chewed on our bedroom furniture and more. Needless to say, we have tranquilized our dogs on the 4th ever since!

Sophie is a smart dog! She knows that one of the safest places during a bad storm is in a bathroom. She actually tried to get to the basement (even safer), but the door was closed. Poor baby!! She was shaking like a leaf!

Craft Time

I try to do a craft with Claire at least once a week. This week I decided to get the paints out to make Nuna a GET WELL SOON card because she had surgery yesterday (she is doing well!!). Claire really enjoys coloring, painting, using chalk, stickers, glue and anything else that is crafty. She was very proud of the card she made Nuna and loved giving it to her when we went to visit her in the hospital! It turned out pretty cute. I also added Claire & Anna's handprints on the card! I think I had as much fun as Claire!!

Grammy gave Claire these paints for Easter. They are really nice because you squeeze the paint out and they have a brush at the end so you just brush on the paint. Claire got the hang of it quickly!

Even though the paints had a brush, it was too tempting not to use fingers as well!!

Both sides of the card we made Nuna!

We also made Grammy a picture!

Nature Hike

Ben was off last week so we tried to go on a couple "family outings". One of the outings was a trip to a local reserve for a little hike along the river. For some reason (one I still do not fully understand), Ben thought it would be a great idea to get IN the river with the girls and Sophie. It was one of those moments when you think in your head "this doesn't seem like a smart idea", but despite my better judgement, I kept my mouth shut because I want Claire and Anna to enjoy nature and experience life to its fullest! Well, as Ben was climbing up the river bank to get out of the water, he slipped because the bank was really muddy from all the recent rain and he fell forward. Now mind you, he was holding Claire's hand and he had Anna in the baby carrier and was also holding Sophie's leash. Claire obviously went down with him, but thankfully only Anna's hand got muddy. Claire definitely got the muddiest of all of them. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. It was kind of funny, but I was frustrated that we had a completely mud covered toddler. We had quite a trek back to the car plus a 10 minute drive home. We ended up stripping Claire to her diaper and using wet wipes to get some of the mud off. When we got home she went straight into the bath tub! It was quite an adventure!!

Ben, Anna & Sophie

Claire insisted on holding Sophie's leash. Sophie is excellent on a lead and doesn't pull so we were fine with Claire holding her. Plus, we were right there if there was a problem!!

Claire slowing down to let Sophie sniff around (above & below pictures!)

This was right when they got in the water. Sophie was so cute pouncing in the water! She loved it! She was also VERY muddy and had to get a bath!

Cute picture of Claire looking up at Ben!

I didn't get many pictures after the fall, but I think Ben captured this picture of Claire looking "not so happy" with mud all over her!

Claire was so muddy her Crocs kept falling off her feet. Poor girl!