June Stuff

The days seemed to drag, but all in all, June flew by!  Here's the stuff from our month that didn't fit into any other post.  

The girls' favorite treat right now is a stick of my gum and they usually do perfectly in terms of not swallowing it and only spitting it out in the garbage.  Until Abigail decided to decorate her legs with it, that is.....

I found this note on my bed one day :)  

We made yet another trip to prairie dog town, this time with our friends the Seegmillers, who'd never been:

I accidentally bought cabbage this time, thinking it was lettuce.  The prairie dogs didn't seem to mind and neither did Abigail!  She ate lots.  

The Seegmillers will be out of town for like 6 weeks this summer and we're really going to miss them!  Their oldest three are the same ages as Eve, Halle, and Abigail, and Naomi is Eve's best friend.  

Making a break for it....

We signed up for the library reading program, and Halle was speeding through her books too quickly (Yes, she reads all on her own and she hasn't even started kindergarten!  Thank you, fall birthdays...), so I made her upgrade some of her books to longer chapter books.  We read this one together (she'd read a page, then I'd read one, etc.), but it was her first chapter book and she was so proud!  

It's fun to play in the rain!  Especially since we rarely get any this year....

Play group on Wednesday mornings with our friends.  Eve's happy to be able to attend again.  That's a lot of monkeys in the tree!

The dino sand/water table quickly became a mud table, but is still much loved by the girls, especially Cora.  She stays outside long after the others come in, playing by herself.  And she's plenty filthy by the time I can get her in!

Cora's also taken to finding stray underwear and putting it on over her clothes.  Pretty hilarious to watch her run around like this!

Eve's also enjoying being able to attend story time at the library on Thursday mornings.  She's missed Miss Tiffany and loves to help watch the little girls.  (Here with Cora and Meredith - from the Campbell family, our friends who are moving to Washington in August.  Sob!)

Working on our crafts with the Campbells!  Charlotte is Halle's age, Lily is Abigail's, and Meredith is about 6 months younger than Cora.

Cora loved painting and didn't want to leave to check out our books!

Ward pool party!  The water was COLD, so even though I wore a suit, I did not get in past my knees.  So I watched Cora and chatted with friends.....

....while Andrew did the real work with the other three who wanted to go in the big pool!  He's such a good sport!

One Friday morning, we went to a little production by some kids (mostly from our ward) who'd been doing a summer camp.  It was free, we went with our friends the Seegmillers, and the show was all songs from The Greatest Showman.  I've never seen the girls sit so still.  They loved it!

Even Cora!  She sat perfectly still on my lap for the 30 minute performance, soaking up each song.  It's a little ridiculous how much the girls love that movie/music.  

Briefly exploring the museum after the show!

Abigail's shaved portion of hair, from surgery, was getting long enough that it was time for a hair cut to blend it in with the longer layers.  So she and I went on a Saturday morning while Andrew could watch the other girls.  We started out excited!

Before:

But quickly broke into tears when the time actually came.  I had to let several other people go first, switch stylists (from a boy to a girl), and bribe her with a quarter to put in the candy machine when we finished, before I could get her anywhere near a pair of scissors.  "I'm scared!" she kept saying over and over.  

I had to hold her for the first few snips, but when she realized that's all there was to it, she took her seat and had a blast!

And her new short hair is pretty adorable, if I do say so myself :)  

Making chocolate chip cookies, just for fun!

Our last outing with the Seegmillers before they left was a trip to the Science Spectrum.  Where Abigail overdid it with the hand sanitizer.  

We took family pictures on June 14th because I had a $50 off coupon that was expiring.  Overall, they didn't turn out great, so I didn't but the digital album, but we got a few good shots that I purchased prints of.  The girls didn't cry, so they earned ice cream cones.  (But they also didn't smile particularly well....)

The ice cream sure was delicious!

Cora got water beads for her birthday and was then forbidden to use them because she just likes to crumble them up and make a mess.  The other girls are obsessed, though!  They particularly love to sort them by color, using every clean bowl in the kitchen in the process.  

Abigail's toe was hurting her so she found the largest bandaid she could and took care of it herself.  I think the bandage lasted 5 minutes, maybe?  Not wasteful at all.....

We made sure to finish the reading program before we leave for our summer trip, so on Thursday, the 28th, we went to pick up our prize packs!  First, you write your name on a paper and hang it in the window!

The girls were so excited about their prizes!

Especially Cora :)  Even Miss Tiffany couldn't resist snapping a picture of this girl!  We love reading!

Bye-bye, June!  Thanks for the fun times!  Now we're headed to Colorado in the morning, then on to Utah to visit with family while Andrew stays home and studies for the bar exam.  It's only 3 weeks away!

Swim Lessons

I'd been debating for several weeks whether or not to do swim lessons with the girls this summer.  The Texas Tech classes we did last year filled up quickly and no ideal time slots were left by the time I got around to thinking about it, so I kept putting it off.  I finally decided we'd try Seahorse swim lessons, a local pool where you pay for 9 lessons then choose when you want to come.  And it came with a guarantee that the kids could pass the class by the end of their 9 classes or they could keep coming back for more lessons.  

We went for it!  Super excited for the first day!  

Lesson 1 - Wednesday, June 13th:

At the beginning of each lesson, they divide the kids out into various classes, based on demonstrated swimming ability.  All three girls started in the easiest class on the first day :)

Lesson 2 - Friday, June 15th:

Eve and Abigail ended up in the same class that time, with Halle in a different one.  All the girls were struggling to put their faces in the water, with Halle doing lots of crying when it was her turn.  This was a reoccurring theme over the rest of the lessons.   

Cora and I got to sit on the side (hopefully in some shade!) and watch.  And try to stay entertained by wearing Halle's glasses....

The girls were brave that day (I told them they had to at least try to do everything their teachers asked, and they did!) so we got some cotton candy at the snack shack on our way out.  

$2 well spent!

Lesson 4 - Tuesday, June 19th:

(Apparently I took no pictures during lesson 3?)

Eve suddenly blossomed during the 4th lesson and was putting her face in, swimming unaided, and even went off the diving board!  Belly flop seems to be her preferred method, but she did it!  And loved it!  She improved quite rapidly from this point.  

Lesson 5 - Thursday, June 21st:

Eve progressed to diving practice!  We did this class at 6pm that evening so Andrew joined us to watch.  I told him I didn't think there was anyway Eve would actually try diving, but she proved me wrong!  She did it multiple times - even standing on at least one!

Note Halle and Abigail in the foreground attempting to blow their bubbles.

Lesson 6 - Friday, June 22nd: 

Eve was quite the little fish by this point, but still prefers to belly flop off the diving board.  She said it doesn't hurt!  She can jump of the diving board and swim to the side without her teacher's assistance.

Lesson 7 - Tuesday, June 26th:

I promise I did capture footage of Halle and Abigail, it was just mostly in video form.  They were both in the easy class and still struggling to put their faces in the water.  I don't blame them!  I don't like it either!

More diving practice for Eve!

And more cotton candy as a reward for trying!  This was the lesson that Abigail refused to even get in the water ("I want to stay with Momma!!!), so she didn't get any of the treat with her sisters.  But Cora was anxious for her share!

Lesson 8 - Wednesday, June 27th:

Abigail went to class this time, so Cora had to play by herself :(

And finally the big day! 

Lesson 9 - Thursday, June 28th:

Halle and I talked and talked before class because she really wanted to graduate from swim, but did not want to put her face in the water.  To graduate, one of the instructors tosses the child in the deep end and they have to swim to the side by themselves.  Halle cried and cried because she couldn't decide which was most important to her - graduating or not getting her face wet.  I told her we would be proud of her either way and just wanted her to feel good about her choice.  She finally decided that she did not want to graduate, but would do her best in her last class and try not to cry.  She ended up with a great teacher for that session and she did amazing!  She was so brave, put her face in several times, and even swam a few seconds at a time by herself.  May not sound like much, but for Halle it was a huge accomplishment and we were so proud! 

And she was proud of herself and happy with her decision, which was important to us.  

Abigail also had an eventful last class.  She started crying for me a few minutes into the lesson - one of her freak outs where she absolutely will not stop until I hold her.  They got an extra teacher to come work one on one with her to try to get her to calm down and maybe pass the class, but she just couldn't.  Unfortunately, the teacher was a little harsh in his methods, which only made matters worse.  When she wouldn't stop crying, he'd dunk her under the water or threaten to make her go to the deep end, which terrified her.  It didn't take long before instead of crying, "I want my Mommy to hold me!" it was "Please stop!".  We were not happy and I told Andrew (who'd come to watch the last class) to pull her out.  Poor girl!  Apparently I didn't take a picture, but she spent the rest of the lesson snuggling either Mom or Dad, just happy to be out of the pool.  Hopefully she's not traumatized for life???  :)

Eve, as expected, graduated from swim lessons!  She got to stand on the diving board, showing off her certificate while everyone cheered!

And afterward, she wanted to go off the diving board a few times before we headed home.  I was a little nervous, because every time before this when she'd done it, a teacher had been close at hand, just in case.  But this time she did it all alone, and she did great!  She went three times before we had to leave so the next class could start!

She also showed us the backstroke she's been working on - we're very impressed with this girl!

An instructor came by to remind us that we could keep bringing Halle and Abigail back for more lessons until they could pass, but I as much told them that won't be happening.  We're very proud of what Halle and Abigail accomplished and don't see the need to keep torturing them with lessons they aren't enjoying.  Plus, we leave on our big summer trip at the beginning of July!

Abigail was wiped out by the time we got home, so she and Cora went to bed.  Eve and Halle got to stay up late and enjoy half-priced shakes from Sonic with Mom and Dad as their reward for their hard work in swim lessons!

So proud of all our girls!