Fancy Swimming

All of the public pools close here when the lifeguards head back to high school and college so for the past few years Nanny has arranged for us to come to our favorite pool at a local country club. We had a great day on Wed. with the weather and having the pool to ourselves. Thanks again Nanny!

My favorite pic of the day with 2 of my favorite girls taken by one of my favorite girls :)

Bubba claims to love pools but he mostly loves getting alittle wet ( not the hair so much) and hanging out near them. Here he and Lydia "swim" together.

Lulu is a girl after my own heart. Here's her first sunbathing pic.

SBG getting daring with the noodle

You think that's daring - check out this! SBG cheered when Aunt Klions went off the board and I asked her if she wanted to too. She said "Yesh" so she did it twice. Karoline had the hard job swimming to the side with a 30 lb. weight.Don't know if my kids are related though because Bubba cheered for SBG and then asked Lydia if she wanted to try it. Not a thought that he should :)After the diving board jump, water wings are a breeze. She loved them. So sad that it's the end of the summer and it will be 9 months before we can swim outside again. :)

My Baby Boy's First Day of School

Here he is in his classroom a little before 8:30 AM (note we had to be out the door at 7:55 which was a definite shock to our lazy summer routine) with Mrs. Yount and Mrs. Pilling.

Table time while they waited for all the kids to get settled in.

3 hours and 43 minutes later they marched down the hallway for pickup time. Note the little hand raised in the back. That's my boy :) They were instructed to raise their hands when they saw their famiy so they could be excused. I got a hug right away.

Hank saying goodbye to Ty, Mrs. Y and Mrs. P
Ty is "the boy who cried when his mommy left but I gave him a hug" - Hank's introduction of his new friend. Note the cool reflector on the backpack incase he's ever walking down a dark street alone - no one will hit him :)

Well - SBG & I survived our first morning without our H---er. I was glad to have him back in the car next to SBG for the ride home. His first woeful comment about school. He was SO HUNGRY because for the snack they had that yucky yellow cheese :) Good thing I packed him a picnic for the ride home. He loved school and his new friends - Macie, Sib and Ty. The boys' bathroom with the 4 little potties was a real highlight. It was "easy" to stand up and go unlike at home where he only wants to sit. What about learning - letters, numbers, anything? "Nope." Maybe Tuesday :)

Loving A-land

We have been patiently waiting all summer for our August day of fun with Nanny and Papa and Friday was it. We went to Adventureland and as always it was just as great as 25 years ago with good old American Federal. We kicked things off with a ride on the Carousel. Someone's smile says she is thrilled to be out of her carseat and out enjoying the breeze.

Crazy boaters!

All of the workers are retirees to put it kindly - more like they've gotten too old to mall walk and golf so they got a job at Adventureland. Just teasing - they were all so kind and cautious. So cautious that we had to give SBG her bink to keep her calm until all of the seatbelts were checked twice :)

Waiting patiently for a ride something Bubba did well and SBG - well not so much :)

This little clip is just because I can't resist his voice.

http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/klhark/?action=view&current=MVI_6264.flv

The shooting gallery - what more can I say

My bathing beauty at Kokomo Kove

Feeding the fish "They're catfish mom"
http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/klhark/?action=view&current=MVI_6288.flv

Not so sure she trusts his flying skills

The last favorite ride of the day!
http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/klhark/?action=view&current=MVI_6310.flv
'

Strollin' with my girl

Does someone look a little overgrown for this ride? Not our Papa - he was a trooper!

His smile says it all - a great August day with Nanny & Papa!

"Potty, Potty"

So we stopped by Aunt Klions to hug Lulu on our way home from the pool this afternoon. After about 5 minutes Bubba does one of his classic "Mom I have to go potty." (the desperation is because for some reason he never feels the urge until he's about to erupt) But the next statement wasn't predictable at all. SBG starts dancing around saying "Potty, potty" and grabbing her diaper. We asked her "Did you go potty?" She kept saying it so 3 minutes later I teasingly say "Go ask Nanny. She'll take you." So she did and Nanny took her and she did go. On a big potty, not even at her own house, just because she wanted to.

I'm writing this because I am also the mother of a boy who had no interest in the potty and so the week he turned 3 I made him be interested via M&Ms and getting rid of all the diapers in the house. So is it a fluke or something I should pursue?

Sorry for this pic. But Aunt Klions took it for proof for me because I was holding Lulu. Good thing Aunt Klions is a good TB cleaner :)

Rain Delay

Here's our Girls Night Out crew from Thursday night. Our plan was a lovely Ravinia-esque concert but right before the gates were to open Karoline let the cat of the bag (so appropriate for her) that the concert was called off due to an impending storm which didn't arrive until 2 hours later. Sorry for that terrible runon sentence especially inappropriate with 2 English majors in the pic - speaking of Thank you Tara for sharing it. So back to Girls Night - we had a very relaxing evening eating all of our lovely treats on Karoline's screened in porch. Very relaxing. Lucia didn't make a peep :)

Ladies in the pic are: Gretchen, Me, Tara with Lulu and Lions

Haircut, Pretty Toes, Papa's 66th & Amish Volunteers

Here's Bubba's "neat & trim", big boy haircut for preschool. He's seriously discussing it with Nanny at Donutland after the fact.

We met up with Papa to give him a birthday hug for his 66th. How can we say how much we love him and are so thankful for him for my Dad or for my kids' Papa. We are so blessed.

I only took 87 million to try to get one where all 4 of them are looking at the camera. This was the best. It still needs the Aunt KT magic
.

Nanny has been wanting to get SBG's toes done all summer so we scooted in to our favorite spot on 1st ave. today. The lady was so patient and after 3 or 4 toes and SBG realized no pain was involved she was rather compliant
(or maybe it was the million dum-dums I kept handing her - she actually did unwrap a few for licking).

The finished product kept wiggling

Nanny & SBG's

On a completely different subject - something I haven't blogged about is the incredible numbers of volunteers who are daily in the hardest hit areas of CR. Youth & church mission groups, secular ones too from the across the country are here doing really yucky work like gutting houses of their belongings and then ripping everything out to the studs. Here is apic I took this morning of an Amish crew washing windows on a house just off of 8th Avenue SW. Who knows where they are from we are just thankful that they are here - helping to get our little city back to "normal" whatever that is.

Camp Atatouille

Bubba loved his 2 days of Day Camp. His favorite part was the Slip 'n Slide and the TREATS of course. I was so worried about him being gone from me all day but he cried when I picked him up at 4 on the last day. I guess he's ready from preschool whether I'm ready to admit or not.

They all got to sing for the congregation the next Sunday. Click on the last pic to view them in action!

Focusing hard on the leader for his cues with his buddy Jake

Beve with Buddies

One of my oldest and dearest friends and her family were in town this weekend and they shared a chunk of their Saturday with us. It was so great to get some time to chat and share the realities of parenting when we have experienced so much life together. Amy & I since kindergarten and then we added Steve & Thad to the picture about the same time in literally the same apartment building in Des Moines. God has blessed us so much and especially in our relationships with Him. Old Golden Friends are the best!

Here's Amy "flying" Bubba and Jack "to the moon and Mars". Love her creativity as a mom.

Steve, Thad, SBG and Max


Getting a leg up on those calves

Jack taking a ride - he and Bubba have about the same level of interest in cameras

"Bubba, can I take your picture?"

I love this leg view in the stroller.Great Max smile!