MR MOODY AND MR COOL

Isaiah is quite the mood shifter therefore rightfully earning his name

Mr. Moody!

He can go to a birthday swim party and go from this

then hit his brother requiring him to exit the pool and turn to this

After a lot of pouting and fake tears

he finds

and all the world is right again

Oh and a slip and slide
All the while Mr. Calm Cool and Collected does this for a very long time

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

OUR JOURNEY THROUGH SWIMMING LESSONS

So last year Elijah completed level 1 and took level 2 for the first time but did not graduate. This year I enrolled Elijah in Level 2 again and in anticipation that he would breeze through it, I also enrolled him in Level 3 immediately in the next session. Isaiah was going to be a different story. I figured he not want to go under, not want water on his face and not want water in his ears SO he was enrolled in a parent/child class then afterwards a preschool class on his own!

WOW WERE MY ASSUMPTIONS WRONG!

Isaiah did so much better than I ever would have imagined and is turning into a little fish! The first two days he did not want to go "under" which wasn't a problem since this had not even been approached yet. He did good and was happy his betrothed Quinlynne was in his class; however, he did NOT want water in his ears. He has had a few surgeries on them and although the doctors don't care if his ears get wet, HE has another view on this topic. My sister had given me some ear cover headband deals...yes this is the technical name.....which I brought the third day. They look a little something like this......

Of course, we had to share with Quinlynne (1) since she has ear issues too and (2) monkey see, monkey do with these two!

After this was on, we were walking up to the pool and he kept saying, "Mommy I want to go underwater!" Needless to say, I rushed in to dunk his stubborn butt fulfill his request before he could change his mind!

HE LOVED IT! Not apparent in this picture but he loved it!

He wanted to go under again and again and again and I even had trouble getting him to listen to what the teacher and the rest of the class was doing. I didn't mind to much since I was just glad he was doing so well. Quinlynne and Isaiah did so much better than we had anticipated. The GREAT news is they both graduated and will now be in a preschool class without Shan and I which is music to my ears! ONE thing I HATE.......ME IN A BATHING SUIT!! Me........wearing a bathing suit on purpose does not happen too often. On a funny note, the first day Shan had a boob pop out thanks to Q's clinginess and Zay's swim trunks fell down over and over again which actually happened many times that first week. So much so that I thought the four of us might get kicked out for indecent exposure!!

Sadly, I don't have very many pictures since I was IN the pool with Zay! I made Hubs come a couple of times to take pictures so now I can say I don't have very many GOOD pictures. He is new to the picture taking world since normally I am wearing my camera. He didn't stand up so many of the pictures are of the bars of the fence that the spectators had to sit behind. HELLO, stand up!! THEN the remainder of the pictures are of my butt! YEP you read that correctly I now have more pictures of me in a bathing suit than I ever thought possible. YOU KNOW I DELETED THEM! I had to remind him the point of taking pictures of swimming lessons is to get pictures for the boys' scrapbooks NOT MY BUTT!

So long story short.....Zay graduated to the preschool class complete with certificate and sucker. He has become a little fish with no fears which is sort of scary for me. Elijah is now enrolled in his third session of Level 2! They must be offering Level 2 AP classes because this boy can't seem to pass. He loves swimming but I think he still has some fears once he is under. Should've started him at an earlier age I guess?!?! When I talked about it with the instructor in order to get my prior Level 3 arrangements changed to Level 2 again, he simply said, "Well some kids have to take Level 2 three or four times before passing!" My thoughts........third times a charm........he better nail Level 2 on the third try because this is getting expensive! He makes the worst faces everytime he comes out of the water.

The BEST part of the entire story is..................I DON'T HAVE TO WEAR A BATHING SUIT which I believe to be a huge form of TORTURE that goes along with Shan's theory, "Just because they make it in your size doesn't mean you should wear it!" during thier next two weeks of lessons and sit to take HUNDREDS of pictures!!WOOHOO!!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

Today was my nephew Logan's 5th bday party!

It was a swim party with fun had by all!

Cake

Presents

Watch out Tyler!

My nephew Noah - this face is priceless!

My brother Rob - he is the definition of farmer's tan

If I drink Sunkist can I have a body like my niece Monika?!?!?

Caution: Blue icing will turn your teeth blue

Elijah going down the slide

Isaiah is finally talked into going down the slide HOWEVER Jimmy thought Rob was down there to catch him and Rob thought Jimmy was going down with him SOOO......

....luckily Jim was there and got him out but he was UNHAPPY to say the least!

He pretty much stuck to water guns after the slide fiasco!

SWIMMING LESSONS LEVEL 2

This morning was Elijah's final day of swimming lessons Level 2. He was so excited to show me that he can jump off the diving board but it never happened. I must say the instructor is brave to appear in front of all the skinny moms in a bathing suit. She is burley! Mean I know! I was very proud of my boy he came a long way this past month. He didn't pass Level 2 and will need to repeat it next summer but NONE of the kids passed so I didn't feel so bad.

After lessons they got a special treat - go down the slide!! The first time Elijah went down he didn't realize he did a flip underwater, came up disoriented and panicked not realizing he could touch. I will never forget the look in his eyes each time he popped up and I was SCREAMING, "STAND UP BABY YOU CAN TOUCH!" The instructor wasn't paying attention until I screamed the second time and dropped my camera fully preparing to save my boy. I've never had a feeling like that with him and he just had a terrified look in his eyes. She grabbed him, showed him he could stand up and then asked if he wanted to try again. His first response was NO but his friends pepped him up and he tried and succeeded the second time. Don't think I wasn't totally terrified for the second try!!!!

This first attempt scared the crap out of me b/c he didn't pop right back up!

The second time I just held my breathe and prayed until he popped out of the water with a smile asking to go again!

Do do do do....the DEEP END AND THE DIVING BOARD!

All he talked about all week was showing me he could jump off the diving board but when the time came he look terrified and anxious. No matter how much we begged and bribed it just never happened! Oh well maybe next year!

Deep in thought

Every time we thought he was going to jump he would merely reach down and scratch his foot. He did this about 10 times! Next year baby!

FUN IN THE SUN

Today wanted to take the kids to Big Splash. I did not want to be in a bathing suit with all the skinny teenagers running around in bikinis besides the fact that the kids wouldn't be able to do half of the fun things and Martez can't swim SO basically we would pay a hunk of money to play in a kiddie pool. I suggested we go out to Nienhuis Pool with the cool slides and different kiddie areas. Elijah was so excited to show us everything he has been learning in swimming lessons and I was excited to just be out! Off to Nienhuis we went........

Showing me he can float

That face is priceless!

Showing he can put his head underwater (Look how dark he is!)

This face cracks me up! He makes this face everytime he comes up from having his face underwater!

This is a really cool community pool and for just $12 we all had a blast! Plenty of slides, cool kiddie areas with slides and I must say I thought the main pool was neat but odd. The main pool is different depths all over which was nice for the kids even Isaiah was able to stand up in certain areas. I must say I didn't have to worry about how I looked in a bathing suit (it's real bad!) b/c there was a ton of "heavies" out there and a bunch of them were sporting swimsuits they should not have been wearing esp. in public!!! Made me feel pretty good though! Sad but true.....fat people always like to see people fatter than them!!

My boys are getting so dark! Elijah is darker each year and I keep saying at this rate in a couple of years he will just look black and people won't think I am his mom! lol I, on the other hand, just burned like a little crisp today! It wasn't even too hot in fact in the pool when the wind would pick up it was a little chilly! Don't let the temp and clouds fool you - it is one hot summer sun that will definitely burn your shoulders - I know firsthand!

WHAT.....NO PICTURES?!?!?!

I am so sad and so is Elijah! Today we are leaving for Branson which is exciting BUT I took off work today to take Elijah for his final swimming lesson in Level 1 and take pictures. We get there and it looks like it is going to rain but nothing yet. The swim instructors come out to tell everyone that swimming is canceled for now b/c of lightning. They are not allowed into the pool until 30 minutes after a strike of lightning and so after a 30 minute wait their alloted time would be over. He gave him his certificate for passing Level 1 but now I have no pictures of Level 1 swimming lessons for his scrapbook. Maybe my mom took some over the last couple of weeks......I sure hope so! Well I need to go load the car up for our trip..............woohoo!

JOHN'S 7TH BDAY

Today we went to John's 7th birthday party. Another swim party with BBQ....fine with me b/c Daddy Bob's BBQ is THE BOMB! I can't believe John is turning 7. I met Tammy and Jessie...hmmm...about 12 yrs ago. Wow that is a long time ago back in my wild days!! Jessie was the bouncer of the club I temporarily called home 4 to 5 days a week with my friends. Tammy was his girlfriend and her brother Sean was MY bartender! Wow how times have changed! We are all married now with children all around the same age in fact John is only 6 mos older than Elijah and Sean's son is a few days older than Elijah. Crazy world! Tammy ended up marrying my big 'ol teddy bear brother from another mother Jessie and I was her bridesmaid and when I married Martez she was one of my bridesmaids. It seems like just yesterday we were livin' it up havin' fun but now we have grown up moved on and have a TOTALLY different kind of fun! I often miss those days ONLY because I got to see my friends so much more than I do now! Movin' on.....we had a good time and of course I took pics:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMMY!

Today we went to my friend Tammy's birthday party. She turned 43 and how sad is it that instead of starting a small fire they had to just get a 4 candle and a 3 candle! Ha! Love ya Tammy! Anyway we had a good time! Her cake was absolutely amazing in fact I think it may be the best birthday cake I have ever had. It was an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery and it was GOOD! As you can tell she is a football nut mainly an OU and Dallas Cowboy fan but she loves football and vows to make me understand the game one day! Good luck with that plan Tammy! They always have birthday parties at her Grandpa's house which is perfectly fine with me b/c their is always swimming and plenty of BBQ and Daddy Bob's ribs are AMAZING as you can tell...

He is just too cute for words!

Just having some fun!

We kept telling the boys to pee in the bushes outside and Isaiah looked so cute I just couldn't resist taking a picture! I think he enjoyed peeing outside b/c he went pee about every 10minutes and each time he would waddle over baring it all to the party so we could help pull up his wet swim trunks! You all know I have many pictures of that too but I won't be posting those pics they are saved for the scrapbook o' blackmail! My kids are going to hate me when they are older and realize all the embarrassing moments I have captured!