Ryan's Swim Lessons

Ryan has always been a very cautious person....I think this will serve him well as he grows up and throughout his life.  It will certainly help me out, because I dont think I will have to worry about him doing CRAZY things!!  But on the flip side it sometimes makes him hesitant to try new things....especially things that seem scary to him, like going under the water.  He's never liked to have water in his face, and to top that off, about a year ago he fell into a friends pool.  So we thought we would try out private swim lessons.  Here he is before his first lesson, all smiles!

Getting a pep talk from his coach, she is awesome!

He started out putting his mouth in the water, then nose, then eyes.....doesn't he look so proud of himself!?  I know we are!

Lesson #3, we discovered the miracle of goggles...it made a huge difference.  Ryan could actually focus on the swimming techniques instead of wiping the water our of his eyes!

He was so excited to tell Daddy when he got home that he floated all by himself!!

We are so amazed at the progress he has made in 4 short lessons...he wants to do more, so we are starting back up in October :)

Gator School

A few moms in the church started "gator school"  for the kiddos who aren't quite old enough for VPK yet.  Today was the first day of class, and it was my turn to teach.  The kids were so cute, but when it was all over i was exhausted!!

Here is the class, minus camden who was on vacation.  Sitting on their yellow mats (the color of the month)  getting ready for circle time.

 

Our letter this week is A, so we cut apples in half, counted the seeds, and used them for stamps

 

Shape and color clean up...sorting out the yellow blocks, and the square (shape of the month) blocks.

 

Time for lunch!

 

Musical shapes...when the music stopped they had to find the yellow squares.

 

A is for Ant, we marched around to the song the Ants Go Marching

 

Snack time, we made squares out of pretzel sticks and marshmallows!!

 

I think the kids had a lot of fun, I did too...the next three weeks Jaina will be going to the other kids houses for school, then it will be my turn to teach again!! :)

girls day out--part 2

After lunch with the boys, we headed north to Altamonte Springs to check out the marionette theater.  I've been wanting to take the kids since we moved back to Florida.  I had to wait for a time that we would be in Orlando, when Angel wouldn't have to go...because there is no way he would have sat through the show!!  He says that the puppets are creepy :)

Check out Jainas expression....she was totally amazed for the whole show!

I am so glad that we were able to do this, we had a great time!!  

We'll have to take Ryan with us to the next show

Girls day out--Part 1

So the boys went on a Daddy/Son adventure to the Star Wars Celebration on Saturday.  It was in Orlando so Jaina and I went along for the ride, dropped them off and had some girl time in the city while they were having boy bonding :)  Our first stop of the day was the Peabody Hotel for the March of the Ducks.  A tradition that dates back to the 1930's!  Each morning at 11:00 the ducks come down from their $100,000 royal duck palace in their own private elevator, walk the red carpet in formation, and splash into the fountain in the middle of the atrium lobby!  They stay there until 5:00, when the procession is reversed!!  Jaina loved it!!  who knew that ducks waddling down a carpet in the middle of a hotel could bring so much joy :)

Waiting patiently for the show to begin!

I've never seen ducks move so fast!!

Here she is trying to communicate with her new feathery friends!
"Quack, Quack!!"

After we were done with the ducks we headed outside to enjoy the hotel pool :)  It was awesome, Jaina practically had the whole toddler area to herself!!  All of the pools in this area of the resort were very kid friendly, no more than 4 ft deep anywhere.  

Hard at work burying the ducks!! 

 Jaina kept saying, "look mommy, I'm swimming"  
She was quite proud of herself!!

On a side note, when we took baths that night I noticed that she had a wicked tan line, no not a hint of red, but beautiful tan.  Boy did she luck out on that one, thank you daddy!!  Lucky girl!

So then it was time for lunch, we went and picked up the boys....shared a bite to eat, dropped them back off for more star wars fun....and away we went again....part II coming soon!

Ryans 1st week of kindergarten!

Somehow, Ryan has grown up without us noticing!!  We still cant believe that he is in kindergarten....in REAL school :)  It was a week mixed emotions....excitement and sadness.  He was so hyped to meet his teacher and see his classroom.  Unfortunately his teacher is out of the country for the first week of school....really bad timing, but he did great.  He really liked his sub, so I hope that the teacher is just as great!!

 Here he is at home right before heading out, he wanted a picture with mom AND baby sister!

WE let him choose his own backpack again this year, and surprise....again a Mario one!!

So glad I picked up a backpack last year at the target clearance sale for Jaina! She had to have one because big brother had one!

 All smiles for his first day!

In the van headed away from the house, and to new adventures.  School's only about 2 minutes away.  Daddy is going to take him on his way to work in the morning!!

The school mascot, the manatee!

The class bulletin board...just noticed that Ryan was standing right by his name too!

The car loop to pick the kids up is CRAZY....parents start lining up and hour and a half before school lets out.  So Ryan is a "walker", I park and Jaina and I meet him on the sidewalk!

Ryan's very 1st ever homework assignment...he had to make a paper doll that looked like him....pretty good huh?!

Happy Hooves

Who knew there was a petting farm right here in Rockledge!? Every week they have "playdates" that educate kids, and parents about a specific animal. Today it was chickens!! It was seriously way too hot to be out there, but we will definitely be back when it gets cooler!! Jaina loved it....I felt a little guilty that we were having fun while Ryan was in school....but hey there's only 4 months of Jaina/Mommy time before little sister arrives!!