Seals III

Sadly, due to the increasing size of my mid-section, I wasn't able to show my husband up in the Summer of Seals competition this summer. Actually, only one girl from our team actually competed this year so the G.I. Jane's couldn't even defend their titles. Pregnancies, a move, and babies ensured that the rest of the team had to sit this summer out. Hopefully next year we will be back. Being around all those in shape people that morning definitely made me miss being in shape. Oh well- 2012 will be a good year to work off that fifth baby weight. Anways, Jake had some fans...

Swimming, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, running. Makes for a tough morning work out!

Jake's team came in third place overall. He also had a little competition going with his brother. I think, based on scores alone, they tied, although Levi may beg to differ.

The kids got to put the pool to good use and had so much fun playing with the Kirkhams, who were down for the weekend. We sure miss them and wish that they were still here!

Jake and some of his buddies actually ran the competition this year. It keeps increasing in size- this year I think they had about 150 participants. It was a pretty big undertaking with lots of meetings, etc. and I am pretty sure the guys were glad they were able to pull it off. They made some improvements/changes this year, and overall I think things went really well.

We spent the afternoon at the neighborhood pool with the Kirkhams and a bunch of other friends. What a way to spend a day that tied for the record high in temperature- 109 degrees! That night we went out with his teamates for Japanese food and some frozen yogurt. It was so fun to see Jeff and Stacy. I love all our friends and only wish we could all live by each other forever!

Besides Seals, Jada started her little home preschool today. I was the lucky host, and we had such a fun time! She is just doing this for about 2 months until her real preschool starts in October.

Letter of the day...

We did all types of fun "J" activities, like playing with a jump rope, gluing jewels on a crown, counting jelly beans, making jelly fish, eating jell-o, making juice, and decorating a telescope to take on our jungle safari to search out jungle animals around the house. That was a hit!

The only downfall of home preschool? Cleaning up a room that looked like this...

I hesitate to post the next pic, but for inquiring minds, here is what 2 staples in the head look like...

And Cole asked me to take a picture of his nose. So there you have it!

Nothing like a trip to the ER to keep things exciting on the first week of school!

This first pic actually has nothing to do with the ER. It should have gone later in the post. Although pulling acrobatics like that with your small children could no doubt end them up in the ER. Anyways...

Mya vs. the couch. The couch won. It doesn't look very dangerous, but somehow Mya managed to bonk her head on a rough edge, resulting in a nice little cut on the top of her head. It was one of those cuts where you debate about whether or not she needs to go in. We decided to take her in. So 2 staples and $125 later, here we are. My favorite comments came from Elle tonight after we got home. "Mommy if we put a magnet on her head will it stick to the staple?" And, "She could be Magnet Girl!" And then, "Can we try it?" Um, no.

Well the week was exciting before the ER trip, so that really just pushed it over the top. We started school on Monday which was definitely a good thing. It is a little bitter sweet- I do love just hanging out at the pool getting tan and really having no reason to set an alarm. It was fun to have my kids around and to see them play together and help each other when they were doing it nicely. And they got really good at chores. But, they need school. Their brains need to learn and their bodies need to be active. Lazy pool days aren't going to get them into college. And they were starting to drive each other (and me) crazy. School is good. Donuts on the first day...

Cute crimpy hair...

A shoulder bag was a must for third grade...

Third grade is definitely all business. No parents were in the class to kiss kids good-bye by the time we got there. We had to say our good-byes at the door and let her go and be a big kid. Sad.

We made some sugar cookies at Nicole's and also some chocolate chip ones at home...

And Monday night FHE at Menchie's. The end of a good day!

Backing up a little to before school began... We spent our last summer weekend at the pool having a BBQ with friends.

We tried to take all the kids on dates before school began. It was my turn to go out with Mya so we got pedicures...

And during the last week of summer, we had some visitors (Jake's parents, Eliza, and Levi). And Pops brought this beauty...

We convinced them to let us borrow their piano so the girls could start lessons. They were so nice and pulled it off so now we have a piano! I got an easy piano book and started working with the older girls a little teaching them some basics. Can't wait to see if they like it! Got called to Activity Days for the 10 and 11 year olds which is so fun...

And school means that these two little buddies get to spend a whole lot of time together. They really do love each other and have so much fun together. It is so cute to watch!

And I have made it my goal to get this little tan girl in shape for kindergarten. Starting with some basics, and hopefully over the next year we will make some progress!

The boy is 2!

This was actually a pic from yesterday. There are several things that are great about this picture. First, the fact that Elle is in her swim suit. One of those great summer days where you only get dressed if you want to. Secondly, you have Jada in her Halloween kitty shirt. I need to hide those things. And third, you have little Cole. He is such a snuggler and I found it so cute that he was laying on Jada's lap. He and JJ are little buddies. They love to play together. Oh, also notice the fact that Cole is in his pajamas. After we swam, that was what he wanted to wear. So be it. And he has a pink sippy cup. So many things to observe in one picture! Well, onto the birthday...

The kid likes Buzz so we went with a Toy Story theme. The girls made him some nice pictures...

The traditional birthday door decor...

Coley is such a fun, cute boy! We love having him in our family and can't wait for him to have a brother. He is definitely 2 and expresses his opinion strongly at times (like, for example, I am pretty sure he did not want to wear a shirt that morning). He has become quite the chatterbox this summer and I love hearing what he has to say. His sissies got him sunglasses...

With his birthday falling on a Saturday, I thought it would be fun to spend the day at the beach as a family and with some friends. We had a great time! The kids loved the water and the sand and enjoyed playing at the beach all day!

Friends with matching swimsuit!

Love sporting the big belly on the beach!

We ended the day by rinsing off at the pool and having a pizza picnic for dinner. Such a great day!

Back at the house for presents, which he really loved opening!

We got him plenty of boy things for his birthday which are needed in a girl-dominated house. The boy loves his cars and whatnot, but still will occasionally put up a fight for things like a pink princess sippy cup. What do you expect from a boy with only sisters?

One of my favorite things Cole says is "two-ones" when he has more than one object, like with the cars above. I also love when he says "wee-who!" when he's doing something fun, and how he often responds by saying "yes" all formal-like. He loves Ice Age and watches the third one almost daily. And I also love to hear him say sentences like, "I watch Meltdown morrow, kay?"

A Texas sheet cake with some action figures on top. Easy, yummy, and cute. My kind of cake!

I love hearing him say "Cole birthday!" or sing "Happy birthday to me Cole-Cole" or some rendition of the song and then end it by saying "blow out candles" and then pretend to blow out candles.

These days that are just so fun as a family are much needed as a mom. I need more of these days. Things have been a little rough around here post vacation. We have had a whole lot of togetherness time and my kids can sometimes only take so much of one another. I am getting a little tired of trying to throw a circus all day long coming up with ways to entertain them. Dare I say I do a little better when we have a schedule? I know I will regret those words come fall with school and soccer and homework keeping us overly busy. So for now I will try to enjoy/endure these last days of summer and continue my role as human child magnet and mommy jungle gym. Really though the summer has been great. I just think that school will be great too. I don't think anyone will miss our family trips to the grocery store.