July Fun

 So in July we celebrated the 4th by watching fireworks.  Pictured above is our kids getting sticky eating Cotton Candy.

Also during July we had a ward reunion with my childhood ward.  We met everyone at a park and my kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and making new friends. 

 Two cute kids.  I love how she lets him brush her hair.  I love watching them get along and be friends.

Swimming Lessons 2012

So this year both kids had swim lessons in July.  Our daughter also had lessons in June.  She is now officially in the Learn to Swim lessons and is soaking up as much info as she can.  She is swimming at least 5 feet in a semi front crawl position and can float on her stomach.  She struggles a little with floating on her back and keeping her bum up.  Our son wanted desperately to be like his sister and have swim lessons to so we let him do one 2 week session of the Beginning Preschool level that is all about being comfortable in the water.  We do need to work on his ability to listen and stay with his teacher.  Hopefully by next year he will be better able to do that.  

Here are pictures of his first day where he did fairly well.  After the first day he struggled. 

 

 Also a picture of our daughter getting ready to swim to her teacher.

 

June

 So June was a busy month one day we went to an indoor amusement park near by.  Our neighbors and us split the cost for 5 kid wristbands through a Groupon deal.  Which made it around 11 bucks each.  The fun thing about this place is that parents can ride free with their kids.  So a cheap family activity.  The kids had a lot of fun.

 

Also something else I worked on during the month of June was this quilt for our new baby.

2012 Preschool Graduation

My daughter has graduated from preschool and will start Kindergarten this fall.  She misses seeing her friends and teacher regularly but so excited to make new friends.

 

Here is her graduation program which was Goldilocks and the 3 bears.  She starts out as a flower and ends up as Goldilocks.  Hope you enjoy.

Spring Dance Recital 2012

So the same day as my nieces graduation we also had my daughters dance recital.  So when I was getting my daughter ready for preschool I curled her hair how she would need it for the recital and hoped and prayed that it would stay all day.  I also hair sprayed that hair like crazy.  Looking at it I think it did well.  Luckily she does not have hair like me that when I was her age if you curled my hair it would all fall within minutes.  The only thing that really worked was my mom would braid my hair in lots of little braids before bed and take them out in the morning to have the crimped hair look for pictures. Then I took her to Preschool and my husband picked her up when he got off work early and we headed to the graduation.  Then after Graduation we headed to the Dance Recital stopping only at a Subway to get dinner.  Ironically Grandma and Grandpa by some sheer chance pulled up at the same Subway and we got to eat a little with them before we had to run to get our daughter to the recital.  She did awesome.  You can tell she knew some things a little too well and got a little rushed in The Twist and well she loved dancing to Hey Mickey and sings it everyday since.  Enjoy the pics and video.

 Couple Recital pictures taken at the end of the recital

The Twist

Hey Mickey

 The finally although it is hard to see her.  She is in the second row back on the right middle of screen.  Every now and then you see her head bob up into view.

Getting Older

So last year I talked about How I knew I was getting older because my niece graduated high school.  Well this year I now have two nieces graduated.  This young woman is talented, quirky and fun.  My memory of this girl reminds me of a time when I went to visit my brother and his family(who at the time lived in another state) and this little girl stole my heart.  She was my buddy and when it was time for me to go home she came into the room where I was packing and asked if I would come back to see them.  I told her I would and she was so worried that I wouldn't.  I remember looking in those eyes and knowing that I wanted nothing more than to make sure that I would go back and that I would be invovled in her life.  I did go back once for her baptism and then they moved close to me when I married my husband,  Whenever I look at her I can't help but see those pleading eyes hoping that the world will be fair to her and I hope she knows that I always hope to be a part of her life.

Getting her diploma

 My big brother and his second daughter to graduate

 

My daughter during graduation and well I thought she was cute.

Solar Eclipse

So we had a solar eclipse.  It was supposed to be cool.  My husband remembered something he learned in elementary school that could help us keep our eyes protected.  No one expected a large cloud to come in a ruin it.  However it was fun trying to figure something out for our kids and neighbor kids to learn a little about this cool event;  We think that we did possibly see a little of the suns light blocked with our homemade sun projectors.  and really from where we were that was all that was going to happen.  Here are some pictures really to help us remember it.

My son found a fun box and walked around with it on his head.  So I took a picture before I removed it so he could be safe.  One way he entertained himself while waiting for the chance to see the solar eclipse.

 Testing and teaching other how to use the paper projectors so they didn't look at the sun.