Last Day Of Swimming 2013

 Cole and Jackson were in the same swimming class

 practicing freestyle

 practicing back stroke

 Part of their final class was a "test."  Miss Dana made them do their survival float for 1 minute in the deep end of the pool. 

 Passed his "test!"  Freestyle back to the edge.

 Celebrating with a few jumps!!

What a great experience swim lessons were this year.  And wow-Cole has improved!  He was so excited to finish his lessons this summer and has already asked if Miss Dana can teach him next year.  We are so proud of our little guy!!!  He completed all of his level 2 skills and 4 out of 16 of his level 3 skills.  Way to go, Cole!!!

Lily Kate's First Trip To The Dentist

 Getting excited to see what the Dentist is all about

 Watching her big brother be brave and realizing this might not be so bad

 Easing into it with Miss Callie

 Dr. Jerry was quite impressed with his newest patient

 Showing off her pearly whites

Big Bro had an excellent check up as well

 

 

Dr. Jackson, our Pediatrician, requested that I make sure to take Lily to the dentist before he needs to see her for her 3 year check up in October.  I sighed and said I would do it all the time thinking, "oh my word!  That will be awful!"  You see, our kids are wonderful at the Dr.  They are at home in a Dr's office and have no fear there.  Cole is so laid back and so absolutely friendly and great at all appointments and has been since day 1.  Lily is shy and it takes her a while to warm up to new places so I completely thought she would not cooperate at a place like the dentist.  My dad, a retired dentist, just laughed and agreed, it would most likely not go well.  Rhonald and I prayed the night before that she would be good and would, more importantly, have a good experience.  We talked it up with her, we told her we would make a trip to Toys R Us and have lunch at Chick Fil A if she let the dentist look in her mouth (I thought all they would do is look at this appointment).  She was so excited and so proud to be doing such a big kid thing.  I was silently waiting for the freak out....but she shocked me....she was amazing!  She watched Cole do everything first and then sweet 2 year old Lily got her teeth X Rays, cleaned, examined and then finished the trip with a round of fluoride.  She never made a single peep.  She did everything they asked of her even when she could hear other children crying in the back ground.  She did ask to hold my hand when they began cleaning her teeth but quickly let go and settled in to things.  I was so proud - she was so proud!!!!  It was such a sweet relief to hear Dr. Jerry compliment her, the child I thought would freak out at the site of him, on how super she did.  Oh sweet Lily Bean, you will never stop surprising me and proving me wrong.  For that I am thankful!

Garden Love

This garden has quickly become our most peaceful and most fun summer project.  Things are growing so fast now, despite the heat.  I am so excited about every single veggie in that little patch of dirt.  And I am so excited to share this with Rhonald and our kids...something about takes us back in time.

War Eagle Cavern

Rhonald and I have been talking a whole lot about being intentional in our lives...with everything.  Making an effort in all things.  One of those things being undivided family time.  It is so easy to be together having fun but constantly checking facebook, email or texting friends.  To never really be 100% in.  So, we wanted to plan a morning, away from home, to spend time with the kids without distraction.  This past Saturday we spent the morning at War Eagle Cavern and had so much fun (and learned a whole lot too)!  There is so much to do there - we were kind of surprised.  It was hot, hot, hot so we started the morning with a tour of the cavern.  It was nice and cool in there.  Cole was in heaven - the tour guide told us so many facts about bats, the cavern and other random things.  Cole was smiling and taking it all in.  When the tour ended we were able to hike down to Beaver Lake and feed some of the biggest carp I have ever seen, "dig" for Dino fossils in the big dig area and then share a snack.  After we hiked back up to the gift shop we mined for gems....hands down both of our kids favorite activities.  I wasn't sure if Lily would even know what was going on but she really loved it!  They each got a bag of gems to sift through-whenever we would pull Lily's pan out of the water she would squeal with delight at all of the treasures and yell, "Do that again!"  Everyone around us loved watching her.  Cole was having a blast too but was a big more serious.  We ended the morning with shakes at Susie Q's Malt Shop-the biggest hole in the wall place with the best milkshakes ever.  It was such a beautiful place to make great memories!