My little reader!

Skylar loves to read, for this, I am thankful! She reads all the time. She reads to her brother, to her babies, to herself, to me.... you get the picture. I hope we can nurture her love of reading and I hope it becomes a life-long passion. She comes from a long line of "readers" And maybe, just maybe, it will wear off onto her brother too! Currently, most of his interest in books, is throwing them :o(

Swim Lessons

Skylar started swim lessons this week. She seems to enjoy it and she is doing a great job listening to her teacher! We got very lucky that she is in a group with a sweet high school girl as her coach and there is only one other little girl in her group... so 2:1 is great for beginner swim lessons! She is learning how to blow bubbles, kick her legs, and jump in and "swim" to her teacher. My hope is that after next week, she would be able to do enough to get to the side of a pool if she were to accidentally fall in. I would LOVE if we could continue the lessons.... who knows, maybe she will be a swimmer like her Aunt Hannah and Uncle Carl. She does have the legs for it!

                                                Posing with her BFF

                                        Waiting for lessons to begin

                                         Holding the wall and kicking!!

Sweet Boy

Jimmy has always been a handful but he makes up for it by being super sweet. He is my cuddler and is always good for a random hug or kiss. One of my favorite things he does just melts my heart! When he gives me a hug, he pats my back really softly. Just like a mom does when she is comforting her baby. I don't know why it makes me so happy... I think it is the combination of him having small little fingers and hands along with it being such a sweet, comforting gesture. I love this boy!

No Fear - The Pool addition!

Well, my kids are afraid of TONS of stuff. Water, however is not one of their fears! Come to think of it, anything they actually should be afraid of, they're not! They love climbing, rides, pools, jumping off stuff, etc. We are so lucky to have access to a beautiful pool. Skylar and Jimmy have been "swimming" in Aunt Nancy and Uncle Tom's pool since they were teeny. Skylar jumped off the rock with daddy's help last year and Jimmy went with Jim a few times but wasn't really sure of it. This year, both kids just jump off the rock by themselves like it is nothing... Crazy! I pray they both understand they can't go in the pool without us around - that is the only part that makes me uneasy about them feeling so safe around water. Skylar is taking swimming lessons this summer... we shall see what comes of that!

Birthdays!!! - A bit overdue

Okay, so this post is VERY overdue! We had a great time celebrating both birthdays this year. For Jimmy we had some close friends and family over for dinner and cupcakes. I sent cupcakes to school with Jimmy too! For both kids we had a party at Monkey Bizness which was a lot of fun. Then on Skylar's actual birthday we bought a small cake from Kroger for after dinner and I sent cupcakes to school with her too. Jim was able to get away from work long enough to have lunch with her in her classroom at school!! So, there was a lot of celebrating and I think both kids think their birthday is a month long event!! 

This is the Tinkerbell dress Gogo made for the party. Skylar wore it to school on her actual birthday too! We had Tinkerbell everything for Skylar and Mickey Mouse everything for Jimmy! I had lots of fun making the birthday banners and cupcake picks. I didn't get a good picture of the banners but they were the best I've ever made... Maybe we'll have the same themes next year? Doubtful.

Fun in the Woodlands

We had lots of fun last Saturday night in the Woodlands. The weather was gorgeous so we met some friends and let the kids have fun in the splash pad. Then we headed to a yummy pizza place called Grimaldi's (sp) where the pizza was HUGE and delicious... authentic NY style! While we waited for our food, they brought each kids a piece of pizza dough to play with!

After dinner, we let the kids run up and down a hill! While it didn't look particularly fun to me, the kids had a blast! Then they did a little more splashing in the big fountain before we called it a night! It was so fun to spend time with these special friends! 

Ears Pierced

Driving home from school on Thursday Skylar informed me, "I am getting my ears pierced tomorrow!" Really?? When did this happen? See, whenever Skylar had asked about my earrings and getting her ears pierced I always told her, "when you get older" Apparently 4 is old enough! To add fuel to the fire, her best friend got her ears pierced on her 4th birthday. So, I thought about it and discussed it with daddy!  Saturday night we headed to the mall to get Jimmy some new shoes. We ate dinner at the food court and afterward we went to Claire's. I had explained several times that it would hurt a little bit but the pain would go away quickly. I also explained she needed to hold very still so she didn't get a hole in a funny place! Then I reminded her that if she got one ear pierced, she had to get the other one done too! When the girl came over to pierce Skylar's ears she had a small stud in her nose. Skylar promptly asked her if she had moved when someone was piercing her ears. Oh my! Lucky for us, the lady had a great sense of humor and told Skylar "yes!" She told Skylar that she'd better sit very still!!! HA

                                      
                                          Getting the dot in the correct place!

                                    Getting the 2nd ear pierced. You an see me holding her hand and                     her face was a little unsure... about to cry but being brave! When I hugged her afterward, she started to cry. So sweet and such a big girl!

                                           Showing off her new jewelry!

                                                All smiles with daddy

                          The reward! I have mixed emotions about rewarding with food,                 particularly sweets but in this case I felt it was okay!