Super Swimmers

Today was our last day of swimming lessons! Hooray!

For the past two days the kids' regular teacher was back. So it was back to the regular routine. One thing they did was practice their front and back floats. Check out how well Jacob is doing.

They also go to play games and kick their legs at the edge of the pool. What a bunch of cuties.

Clara and Ephraim played little monkeys on the side of the pool (with their teachers being the alligators). They had so much fun are are way too cute!

I think one of Ephraim's favorite things was getting to go to the deep end. Whether by pool noodle, or really big kick-board.

For the last day of lessons the kids got to go down the waterslide. Jacob had been looking forward to today ever since we started swimming lessons!

 
Jacob went down twice with his teacher. Micah got to go down by himself because he was tall enough, and he went three times. We even got Alyssa to go down the slide once. What fun! Since Ephraim's class is so small, he got to go down the slide with his teacher three times!

We also took some more fun pictures of the kids. I managed to catch a pretty cool picture of Jacob all the way under the water.

Can you believe this is the kid that didn't want to put his head under the water at the beginning of the summer? Now he has turned into a fish! He will even go under the water without his goggles on.

All the kids had fun on the last day, playing games and splashing around in the water. When lessons were done the kids went to get a treat and their card from their teacher.

Jacob passed his class! He was so excited and I was very proud of him! That means that Jacob and Ephraim have both passed one level of swimming lessons this year! What talented swimmers I have. Here are the boys and all their friends at swimming lessons this session:

Ephraim, Alyssa, Lily, Jacob, Micah, Clara

I know the boys really enjoyed their lessons. When I asked Ephraim about it, he told about me all the fun things they got to do. I asked him if he liked his teachers and having class with Clara. Ephraim told me "Clara Ephraim's best friend." So cute!

So swimming lessons are over for the year. It was a lot of work to get the boys ready and to the pool every day for two weeks (twice!). But I am glad that we took two sessions and that the boys did so well!

When we got home from swimming lessons the boys helped me use my strainer to get the seeds and skins off of a whole pile of of tomatoes. When finished I put the tomato sauce in the freezer so I will be able to can a whole bunch of sauce all at once.

What great (and silly) helpers I have!

It was a pretty busy day for me. After saucing the tomatoes I put Ephraim down for his nap and worked online. Then I had to get dinner ready and go to work. It was a busy and productive day.

Our Garden and Fun at the Pool

Our garden is starting to show some lovely bits of color, as are our fruit tress. We managed to get 15 or so apricots last month, and this month our peaches are starting to get ripe. Don't they look good?

Bright bits of red are starting to appear in our tomato patch. We have already been eating some cherry tomatoes this week, and they are so good!

It looks like we are also going to have to start picking some of the big tomatoes soon. In no time we will be making salsa and spaghetti sauce, and canning season will be upon us!

I also love fresh tomato sandwiches with slices of tomato and melted mozarella cheese on toast. Yummy!

Swimming lessons this week have been going pretty well. The kids have had a substitute teacher for two days. I had to laugh though, because he looked just like a too-cool-for-you lifeguard type with big reflective aviator sunglasses. He looked a bit out of place next to our four year olds. But at least they had fun.


I love my camera because I can take pictures without even needed to get close to the edge of the pool. Zoom lenses are wonderful. Here are Jacob and Alyssa at the side of the pool.

I was joking with Brenda that Alyssa was probably asking Jacob if he thought her swimming suit looked cute because she definitely has an opinion about her clothes (and Jacob didn't look particularly interested in what she was saying). Haha!

Here are Jacob, Micah and Alyssa as they were getting out of the pool yesterday.

This is my favorite picture from today. Here is Jacob running to me after swimming lessons. I just love the goggles and the water streaming off his suit.

The boys and I were slow leaving the pool today after swimming lessons. The empty pool made me think about how lonely the water will be after swimming lessons finish up this week.

The boys have had a great time at the pool this summer! We will have to make an effort to go more often this fall and winter as well.

The Tricycle Gang

We had just sat down to eat lunch today when the doorbell rang. It was the delivery man with a really big box for Ephraim!

Apparently Grandpa Devereaux noticed while he was here that both of the boys prefer to ride Jacob's red Schwinn tricycle over the other ones we have. They sometimes argued over who got to ride it, and they often had to take turns. So Grandpa got Ephraim a tricycle of his very own! Hooray!

Ephraim instantly knew that this box was for him. He kept saying, "my bike!" over and over again. It was really cute.

After lunch (and haircuts) Daddy put the trike together. Now Jacob and Ephraim have matching tricycles, and they are both really excited about it.

Aren't they just too stinking cute? Now we have our very own tricycle gang!

Ephraim really love his "blue bike". The nice thing is that we can have the seat moved up on his bike so he can reach the pedals. Jacob's bike has the seat back a little bit because he has longer legs.

We took tons of pictures of the boys on their trikes. Aren't they cute? I love the matching trikes!

Obviously I'm not the only one who thinks the blue trike is pretty awesome!

Uh-oh! If they are not on the trikes, then the gang must be up to something!

Ephraim didn't want to have to take his nap this afternoon, but we told him he could ride his trike again after dinner. So he finally agreed. Of course after dinner the first thing they wanted to do was get back outside!

There they go! Watch out for the Tricycle Gang!

You'll know when they are coming. You will hear the bbrring-ring! of their little bells as they pedal themselves down the sidewalk.

What a pair of cuties! Thanks for the trikes Grandpa Devereaux!

Pool Pictures, Butterflies and the Painted Daddy

The boys have really been enjoying swimming lessons. I know I have posted tons of pictures of them already, but they are just so cute that I can't help myself. Here are a few cute ones of Ephraim and Clara at the deep end.

I love that they are the only two cuties in their class. This last session of the year is not as crowded as our last one was.

Jacob is making great progress. Here does front and back floats pretty well now.

I think we are going to try to go swimming more this winter so the boys can keep up their skills. I know they would love it anyway!

Ephraim's class passed by Jacob when he was the "alligator" for a game. So I managed to get both boys in the same picture. Cute, huh?

Speaking of which, here are Jacob and Micah coming out of the pool after lessons.

They are so goofy! It makes me laugh, but at least they are having fun, right?

Thursday before I left for work their was a break in all the stormy weather we've been having. So we decided to let our last two butterflies go. They have laid tons of little mint green eggs, so we'll see if they turn into caterpillars and we can start all over again. This time Jacob decided that he was brave enough to let the butterflies crawl around on his face so I could take pictures.

The above is my favorite picture. I love the way he is watching the butterfly on his forehead. I got quite a few cute pictures.

Today at swimming lessons Jacob was really excited that they got to make a "train" and go to the deep end. He has been waiting all week to get to go.

Jacob jumped in the pool from the deep end three times. The last time he even told his teacher he wanted to go all the way under the water. When he did it she told him "great job" and that he was her little daredevil. Way to go Jacob!

Tonight and Wednesday night this week Joe has been busy helping a neighbor with his shed. They have been doing shingles and painting. Friday evening when Joe came home he looked like a lightly powdered donut because of all the paint from our paint sprayer.

I thought his eyelashes looked particularly cool.

I went out to the garage so I could hang out with Joe while he cleaned up the paint sprayer. I have missed him this week, since we haven't been home together in the evenings very much. I am looking forward to the weekend so that hopefully we can spend some time together.

Swimming and the Rain

What a busy couple of days it has been for me. This morning and Monday morning I watched my friend Andrea's three kids for her while she was at work. I got the boys up in the morning and we went over to the Brown's house and stayed until it was time to leave for swimming lessons.

The boys had a great time playing with Ashton, Emma, and Elina. It was fun for me to get to be Elina's buddy and remember what it's like to have a one year old. All in all things went pretty well, but I am definitely glad that I do not have 5 kids under the age of 7!

This afternoon I was almost late for swim lessons because I somehow did not bring Jacob's swim trunks with me to the Brown's. So we had to run home and get them.... and we made it.

Today we sat closer to Ephraim's class, so I got more pictures of him today. I usually just get out my zoom lens, so I don't have to get close to take cute pictures of the kids. Here is Ephraim and Clara with their teachers.

They love taking a ride on their pool noodles and going to the deeper parts of the pool. Both Monday and today Ephraim was reluctant to go with his teacher. I think it's because we spent the morning somewhere strange and it upset his routine. Yesterday he did just fine, and I'm sure he will do great tomorrow. He really does love playing in the water.

It is so fun to watch Ephraim and Clara with their teachers. I love how enthusiastic and happy their teacher Clarie is. She makes it fun for the kids.

I like these pictures of Ephraim and Clara, kicking it by the side of the pool.

Later I caught Ephraim trying to pick up the water in his hands. What a cutie!

I also caught Karyn making a face at me. Haha! The joke's on you because I have a fast camera!

It was fun having Karyn and Brenda there today. I didn't sleep well last night, so I was a bit tired and frustrated this afternoon. But these ladies definitely helped cheer me up.

Here is Ephraim practicing his back float. Great job buddy!

When lessons end there is always the dash to find your mommy. Ephraim always seems to know exactly where I am... even when I am on the other side of the observation deck.

Then this evening I was supposed to go on a bike ride, but it rained buckets and buckets. Check out this cool picture I got of our driveway. Splish, splash!

When I got back inside Jacob insisted that I take a picture of him with his lizard. I guess that's fair, since I didn't get very many pictures of him at swimming lessons today. What a cutie-patootie!

Swimming Lessons, Round 2

In the words of Dory (from Finding Nemo), "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming."

Yep. We are doing swimming lessons again! Jacob made so much progress in his swimming lessons last month that we decided it would be a good idea to take another set of lessons to solidify what he had learned.

This time we are fortunate because Jacob and Ephraim get to take lessons with their friends! The only kids in Jacob's class are Alyssa and Micah, which he thinks is tons of fun. Ephraim gets to be in the same class with Clara. This also means that I get to hang out with my friends too! Every day just after noon you can find me hanging out poolside with Brenda and Karyn. Oh! And this cute little guy

How nice of Karyn to bring her cute baby so I have something to take pictures of other than the kids in the pool. Check out this nice picture I got of Karyn and Jesse the other day.

So sweet, huh? I just love this picture!

Anyway, swimming lessons have been going great so far! Jacob has a different teacher, and she seems to be using some different techniques. I think that's great because it won't be boring for Jacob. For instance she had the kids put their hands together over their heads to have them practice their back float. Look at how well Jacob is doing at laying on top of the water!

She has also had the kids use kick-boards to practice laying on their tummies and kicking their legs. At one point Jacob was holding the kick-board against his chest while he was on his back so it would help him get the feel of floating. It has been fun to see all the different things Jacob is working on this time around.

Ephraim and Jacob are actually in the same class level now, since Ephraim passed Preschool Level 0. However, I requested that they be put in different classes. I don't think Ephriam is quite up to putting his head under the water or doing some of the other things Jacob has been doing. But he sure enjoys his lessons!

He loves playing games with his teacher and going to the deep end with their pool noodle floats. He also likes to jump off the side of the pool and have his teacher catch him.

Jacob thinks it's great fun to have his friends in his class. I told him that he can have fun with his friends as long as he always listens to his teacher. So far he seems to be doing just great.

It is fun to watch the three of them in class together, playing games and talking to each other when the teacher is working with one of them separately. They are so stinking cute!

I can tell we are going to have so much fun with swimming lessons this time around. Jacob has loosened up a lot and really isn't afraid of the water anymore. He has gained confidence in his swimming skills, which makes me so proud of him!