Forts at Grandma's

Maddie's Swimming

This summer, Maddie was able to participate in swim team with the parks and recreation department in a semi-competitive/fun environment.   It was a great way to introduce her to a little more serious, competetive atmosphere that still maintained some of the playing, goof off type fun.  It was probably one of the best decisions we made.  It pushed Maddie and helped to grow more than almost anything else.  She started out the season barely able to make it across.  She would finish a lap looking more like a drowned rat than a real swimmer.  I was so proud of her though.  She got up every morning for swim team with a determined look on her face, she never complained about going or told me she wanted to quit, and gradually she got better at each of her strokes.  By the end of the summer, she could make it across with all four swimming styles much faster and more at ease.  She even managed to swim 50 yards a few times at the end.  She walked away knowing that if she works her hardest she can accomplish almost anything and had a big confidence booster to realize that she really is a great swimmer!  Some of our top memories of swim team include:

*M's first swim meet, she had a major meltdown in the middle of her race.  I saw Maddie putting her goggles on, in preparation for her race.  Instead of walking over to check that they were tight enough, I just hoped she had managed to put them on snugly because I didn't want to be the embarassing Mamma that is overbearing.  When her race began she stopped in the middle in tears because her goggles were full of water and she couldn't see.  I felt horrible as I watched her treading water, upset and unsure what to do. I quickly talked with her and told her to do her best and keep going.  After a little pep talk, she managed to get her goggles back and on and did end up finishing the rest.  I was so proud of her to keep going even when something unexpected happened, and that she managed to not touch the lane line during all of this.  Afterwards she was so upset that we ended up leaving the meet early.  I am happy to say we learned our lesson and I taught her how to make sure her goggles are tight enough!

*Miss M stopping in the middle of her breast stroke to wave at her daddy on the side of the pool, then she slipped back in the water and leisurely made her way to the other side of the pool.  Afterwards she was pretty upset that she placed eighth AGAIN!  We had to explain to her that stopping to visit with daddy in the middle of the meet is probably not the best thing to do, if you want to not place last :)

*Maddie announcing rather loudly that "I've gotta go potty" as she is standing on the board waiting for them to say "swimmers take your mark....GOOOOO".  We laughed and then told her she had to swim before she could use the restroom.

*Bribing Maddie with money to get her to swim all the way across the pool during practice initially without touching the lane line and later without stopping and floating.  She is such a reward kid and worked ten times harder when there was a bribe in place.  Luckily after awhile I stopped bribing her, otherwise she would have broke the bank :)

*Miss M calling me on the phone in excitement to tell me that she got seventh place instead of eighth at her last meet!  I was at work that day and it was so fun to hear her enthusiasm for accomplishing her goal of "not being last".

*The daily treks to Perry Pool with the boys.  This included breakfast at the pool out of two ziploc bags of cereal and two sippy cups of milk.  I also changed Eli almost every day in the car at the pool and usually finished my make up in the car for a few minutes after Maddie would run into practice!  Like I said....good times!

ABF

Watching the man from ABF unload our pods onto my parents driveway was sort of like Christmas for our children.  Their eyes were full of wonder as they watched the man expertly guide the pods off the large flat bed trailer and then set them down on the driveway.  He was also nice enough to allow them to climb onto his equipment and check it out.  As fun as the whole packing experience was {not} we are definitely excited to be settled in our place for the next two years.  I think we are both totally burned out of packing/unpacking.

 Eli was just slightly happy when it was his turn to practice driving :)

Before:

After:

Wedding in Colorado **long post**

The very beginning of July, we headed up to Colorado for the weekend for Jesse's cousins wedding.  We had so much fun seeing all of Jesse's mothers side of the family one last time before we moved far far away.  Some of our favorite parts about this trip include:

*being upgraded to the deluxe suite in Albuquerque after our first non-smoking room smelled pretty badly of smoke.

*swimming at the pool in the hotel in Colorado

*WILD children at the restaurant with all the family the evening we got to Colorado...okay this really wasn't such a great thing, but it was definitely a memorable portion of the trip.  It goes to shows that driving 16 hours in the car with kiddos is pretty hard to do!

*Maddie and Robby dancing their hearts out on the dance floor at the reception that evening.  In addition to being the stars of the night, they definitely worked their wonders in keeping the dancing relatively clean for most of the evening {good job kids....keep up the good work}

*Aunt Esther catching the bouquet, and Maddie going on and on about this fact for the next few days :)

*Dinner with Pres Hawkins and his wife in their beautiful home (Jesse served a church mission in Peru for two years, and Pres Hawkins was his mission president).  The kids loved their backyard and even made friends with the neighbor children.  Other than getting attacked viciously by mosquitos {me}, we had a great time visiting with them.  Jesse also loved reliving the old mission days and I enjoyed seeing pictures from "back in the day".

*Visiting Aunt Gina and Uncle Vince, and eating yummy homemade cookies and lemonade.  The kids once again loved their beautiful yard and Gina even took M and R down into her garden.  Robby especially loved the vintage red model car that Gina let him take home.

*Stopping in Payson on our way home to see fireworks on the Fourth of July.  Although I definitely wouldn't want to mostly drive in a vehicle on Independance Day, it was fun to stop for Pizza and fireworks in Payson to see their firework show.  After it was over we hopped back in the car and drove the rest of the way home. 

Maddie was cracking me up striking poses at the gas station.  I love the fact that she has my watch on...such a big girl :)

My "bigger two" children, as I frequently call them.  They have become such buddies this summer since we moved out of our house and away from other friends.  Although there have still been many fights, there has been even more pretending together, and of course lots of laughs!!

In Albuquerque we stopped for a few minutes at the Mormon Battallion monument.  To be honest, up until that day I never even knew there was a monument like this in New Mexico!

E, Mommy {me}, M and R

Maddie and Robby dancing together at the wedding reception.  As we sat at the Catholic church, I realized that this is the first wedding my kids have ever been to {other than my sissy's when M was 1 month old}.  They had NO idea what to expect, but I know that sitting in a church for an hour was not one of them.  It was a great experience to talk with them a little more about our beliefs and why we were married in the temple.  Maddie and I also had a great talk about modesty and why a "pretty white dress" that does not have sleeves is not appropriate for us to wear.  All in all it was a fun day feeled with lots of family togetherness, great food, good weather, and even a fun photo booth!

The Toronto Fam: Uncle Brett, M, Aunt Joanna, Aunt Abby, Aunt Esther, Eli, Tiffany, Uncle Adam, Robby, and Jesse 

Everyone thought that Robby was quite the little dancer....little did they know that he was actually just doing his "kung-fu moves" instead of real dancing :)

 Rob got pretty tired and cranky, thank goodness Papa was there to hold him until he fell asleep.  I have to admit it was rather nice to have all three kids sleep in the next day

 Pres and Sis Hawkins with Jesse

 Maddie was pretty darn tired by the time we hit fireworks and kept running around the parking lot we had stopped in to watch the firework show.  She got pretty crabby when we made her stay by us :)



Our Height Chart....that is no longer

For the past three and a half years we have been excitedly watching our kids get taller and taller by measuring and recording their height on the wall inside our closet.  I am sad to say this height chart is gone.  Before we repainted the house {for the renters} I had to take a few pictures of it to remember.  I cannot wait to finally get settled again in another house permanently, so we can make another height wall.

Slacker, or something like that

Yes we are still alive over here.
Just busy with packing, moving, Jesse's shoulder surgery, working, swimming, playing, fighting, etc.
Until I have a chance to write more, here are a few pictures from our recent photo session with my parents:

Maddie with Kater-bug

Eli's "Un-Birthday"

When I found out I would most likely be having my third child close to Christmas it got me thinking.....  Everyone I knew who had a birthday near this glorious holiday hated the fact that it was sort of tied into Xmas.  Then when I had my child three days before on December 22nd, I knew that I needed to think of something extra special to separate his birth from the festivities.  Last summer I came up with this awesome idea to host an "Un-Birthday" party for him every summer on June 22nd for his 1/2 birthday.  So far we have done two of these celebrations and I have loved the chance he has to have presents and a special party just for him and I love that it sort of spreads out his presents over the year.  We still have a little family dinner on his real birthday that is complete with cake and balloons, but on his un-birthday we hold a little party and give him presents and cupcakes.  I think that when he gets a little older, this will be when we also have his friend parties as well.  This summer it was a little chaotic time for us, as we were in the midst of packing up our house and moving in with my parents until our final move to New Hampshire.  We were still able to fit in a little party for him that included swimming, pizza, presents and cupcakes!  We are so thankful to all of our family that has supported this decision we have made about E's birthday and their willingness to celebrate with us for his "Un-Birthday."  WE cannot wait to celebrate more birthdays and unbirthdays with you Mr E!!! You truly bring so much love and happiness into our home.

Eli and Robby were super excited to find cupcakes at the store that were TMNJ themed {ie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles}

Esther gave Maddie this lovely little headpiece and Miss M announced that it was her Rapunzel hair like from the movie "Tangled" and stated that now all she needs is to earn enough money to buy a Rapunzel dress and shoes.  Too bad that her Rapunzel hair did not last long enough to arrive in NH with us.

cute Kater bug with a cupcake face

Zacky also enjoying his super messy cupcake

Eli LOVED his new Cars rolling backpack and monster trucks that he got from his party!