Mornings with Sweet Pea

I was holding Sweet Pea at the table and noticed once again how tall he has gotten. The boy is huge, I tell ya!

Me: You are getting so big!  You are so long!  Stop growing!  

Sweet Pea: I can't stop growing! I'm supposed to get bigger. So I can drive a car, run on the road, tell children to eat over their plate, not have crumbs in the living room and not to watch TV on Sundays.

Wow! Some things really stick with the guy, don't they?! 

Swimming Lessons

The kids have been taking swimming lessons for a few months now.  When they first started, Sweet Pea was in a class with some 3 and 4 year olds, but since that was the only class they had available and it was his first time in lessons (last year at the Y doesn't count because both kids cried the whole time and hated taking lessons) they put him in the younger class to get better acquainted with the water.  Monkey was with me at the same time in a Mommy & Me class.

Well, this next session, they moved up!  Monkey is in Sweet Pea's old class and Sweet Pea has kids his own age and swimming abilities.  This last Monday, The Hubster had the day off, so he went to lessons with us and I had the opportunity to take some pictures!  My battery was dying so the pictures are hurried and blurry, so forgive that, but enjoy!

They love their lessons at their new place and even get excited about going!  I love that they feel more confident being in the water and aren't afraid of going under or getting their faces wet!  Plus, they look so cute in their little wetsuits!

Get out of my head!!!

I have so much running through my brain right now, it is manifesting itself onto my computer and the gazillion tabs I have open. So, in order to remember what I have been wanting to look at and keep track of it (yes, I know I can just bookmark them all, but how often do I really go back and look at those bookmarks?), I'm just going to link them from here.

What's running around in my brain?  Healthy meals and snack planning, VBS, trip to GA, house closing, trip to WV, house painting and moving, MOPS planning for next year, birthdays, and oh yeah, keeping up with friends and family - including the ones that live in my house!!  I know there is so much more running around up there, but I've got to get it out somewhere.

Crafts:  I love doing crafts and activities with my kids!  Especially in these warmer, icky months when it is unbearable outside, it is fun to do some other stuff in the house.  Here is a great site for fun activities for the younger ones.
I want to make this!  Such a fun and beautiful way to display family rules!

Recipes: I am always looking for new recipes and lately with not having baked much, I really want to get back into it, but with healthier options.

Power Bar Recipe

Primal Magic Bar Cookies

Mediterranean Chicken - We don't eat much pasta or gluten around here, so I have to figure out a substitute for the pasta, but the flavors sound delicious!
Spinach Salad - I keep going back to this and just haven't made it yet!  Ooooh! It looks so yummy!

Resource for Paleo Recipes

Things to do:
Great resource for knowing some of the stuff that is going on around here.  Here's another!
Get rid of the fruit flies!!  Sometimes our bananas get really ripe and I just didn't take the time to cut them up and freeze them for smoothies, so nice little friendly fruit flies come to visit.  This has worked like a charm!

Phew! I feel better now!  Ten tabs down, only eleven to go!

Summer Sun

 I love to swim and while the kids have been taking swimming lessons these past few weeks, it appears that they love the water almost as much as I do.  Monkey would be a close second to me and Sweet Pea, well, he enjoys it once he's in, but it takes him a little while to get used to. 

Before I even married The Hubster, he knew that we would have a house with a pool someday.  So, we found a really great deal on a pool at Big Lots about a month ago, but ended up taking it back as we decided to get a metal frame instead of an easy set.  In the midst of all of these pool decisions, we found a fabulous house, so as we are packing and preparing to move in 3 weeks, we are so glad we didn't put up a big pool in our backyard.  Instead, we got two smaller ones for the kids (for those that like to splash and for those that don't,

 those that like toys in their pool and those that don't, those that want to swim or play in it and well, those that don't).  It has been icky, sticky, gross this week, so I filled up the pools on Tuesday and let the kids enjoy the water.

Oh the fun that they had!

Berry Picking!

In the fall, we took the kids apple picking. It was fun, but they weren't as into it as we wanted them to be were. Maybe they were a little too young to appreciate it, but I read other friend's blogs about how much fun their kids (same age) had.  So, maybe it just wasn't their cup of tea or something.

Last weekend, we decided to give the picking process another try and took the kids to go get strawberries. It's pretty much the end of strawberry season around here, but we thought we'd give it a try anyway.

We were able to get a few pounds of strawberries, but the kids just didn't seem to be enjoying themselves. They were hot, they were tired, they seemed hungry and thirsty.  So, The Hubster and I picked them and we took the scenic drive home.  Ho hum.  Maybe we'll try blueberries or peaches next?

I love picking fresh fruit from the farms!  Hopefully someday the kids will enjoy it as much as I do.  Until then, they'll just have to deal with me dragging them with me.  It's a learned process, right?

Can we go home now???