4th of July

The 4th of July has become one of my favorite holidays to celebrate.  Our neighborhood does a sweet parade, complete with decorated wagons, bikes, and motorized vehicles of all types.  After there is a pool party with pizza and watermelon.

Mrs. Georgia and Gary were with us over the weekend, and we squeezed as much as we could into their time in Houston.  Lots of puzzles, pool time and relaxing.

 

Natalie has taken to singing and dancing to "All About that Base" while on the diving board.  Towards the end she proceeds to scream "no treble!" and dives right in.  She gets her moves from her father. 

 

James has become very proficient at puzzles.  100 pieces.

We spent a lot of the weekend on the go, and as a result I didn't get many pictures.  Not a single one of everyone together; however, luckily Mrs. Georgia snapped this one.  Not the best, but it will do. 

Preparing for the parade with our neighbors Jordan, Ashleigh and sweet baby Ella.  You can't tell from the picture, but Ella is the cutest, chunkiest little thing God ever made.  I have said that if Luke and Ella ever married and had a baby, it would have the chubbiest cheeks.

This is the first year that we have taken the motorized toys to the parade.  It will be the last.  James put the pedal to the metal, and I literally ran for four blocks trying to catch up while Brad and Luke strolled leisurely with friends.  And it was H-O-T!

I'm not sure why I like this picture so much, but I suppose that it is because I have such few pictures of me and Natalie.  Again, thank you, Mrs. Georgia for capturing this moment.

After the parade we drove to San Antonio for Abigail's birthday!  We had a blast swimming, eating, and playing with cousins.  These kiddos were sacked out by the time we got back to Houston.  

Natalie appears to be plotting how she can manage to get Elsa in her bag without Abigail realizing it.  :)

She did manage to play with this gift for a bit.  Practicing her rhythmic gymnastics moves.

 

These cousins are very sweet together!

We had a blast celebrating America and Abigail!

Swim, Swim, Swim

This summer is nothing if not the one of the swimming pool.  There is a constant rotation of wet towels, dry towels, pool toys and snacks, swim suits and cover ups in our house.  These little fishes are loving the swimming pool, and I am loving an escape from the Houston heat in the afternoons.  It is officially summer in Texas!

I know I have said it over and over, but I am simply amazed at James's swimming.  He started swim team not being able to swim very far without grabbing the rope or hopping off the pool floor.  I was sure he had forgotten how to swim and even more certain that the swim season would be a long and painful one.  HOWEVER, this boy has worked so incredibly hard!!  I don't know if I have ever been so proud of his dedication and attitude.

We missed two meets while in Destin; however, he did get to swim in the team relay meet.  I didn't take any pictures of James actually swimming because I recorded the race for Brad, but check out this stellar "dive".  Progress, I swear.  I purposely didn't crop the first picture to demonstrate just how many people are at a swim meet and just how chaotic these things are!

In order to mitigate the chaos and wait time, my kids spend a great deal of time snacking

And I snapped this picture while waiting for James to start.  Natalie was on the sidelines holding court with the older girls.

James's final meet was preliminary/finals.  He swam the freestyle in prelims and finished 15th, with the top 12 making it to finals.  He is in the 5-6 age group, so most of the kids that made finals were 6 and swimming their second year on the team.  Again, I am so proud of him!!

game face

 

Check out that form!

James thought this picture of him getting out of the pool was hysterical.  Kinda looks like a frog

His relay team did make finals and finished 4th!  Don't tell James, but there were only five teams, and one DQ'd :)   (William Goldstein is on the left)

Making sure not to DQ

I mean, is this dive not the cutest thing?!  I could look at this picture of this sweet, determined boy all day long.

Almost there!!  It's a loooong pool

Happy to be finished and ready to eat more snacks!

At the team party James received his participation trophy.  After his age group finished I noticed he stayed in the grass while the others in his age group went back to swimming.  I asked if he wanted to go swim, and he said no, that he was waiting on his other trophy (the trophies for the top point finishers).  It was so heartbreaking to explain why some kids got more than one trophy.  Heartbreaking for both of us!   He even asked "does that mean that I didn't do good?"  Seriously, cue the tears from me and him!  He learned a hard lesson that day!

Team photo, if you can locate him----second row, second from the right, I believe.

Pre-meltdown

Natalie has started swimming lessons with one of the swim coaches (Audrey).  While we were in Destin she somewhat figured out how to swim on her own, mainly from watching James.  So while she can swim from point A to point B, she isn't the professional swimmer she thinks she is, which makes me a nervous wreck.  She no longer wants to wear her peddle jumper floaties and has now taken to diving for dive sticks and such.  Fearless.

 

We still spend most of our time on the steps......picking our nose, apparently 

And this little buoyant baby also loves the pool!  He much prefers the big pool to the baby pool, and his favorite thing to do is "jump" to you from the side.  It's more of a counting to three and Luke falling into your arms, but is makes him squeal with delight nonetheless.

 

Keeping him occupied during Natalie's swim lesson.  By the end he was throwing the ball in the pool and having Coach Audrey retrieve it.  So much for staying out of the pool 

 

Happy Father's Day!

This past Sunday we enjoyed celebrating Brad.  He will fuss at me for this later, but this truly is one of the best men and father.  Where he finds the energy at the end of the day to shoot basketball with the kids, read story after story, be silly and play is beyond me.  At times we have different parenting styles, and the kids are certainly the better for experiencing his exuberant love.  We love Father's Day at our house!

I didn't get any pictures (mainly because I felt like I was in a three-ring circus), but the kids and I made Brad the breakfast of all breakfast.  He enjoyed blueberry pancakes, biscuits, cheese grits, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and of course, bacon!  Just a sidenote: Natalie may love bacon more than her father :)  I took this picture of me and Natalie before the chaos began

I tried my best to get a sweet picture of this group, but as you can see it's difficult at best.  Please notice that all three are fiddling with something.  Natalie is making her smile, and we won't point out what James is doing.

Superhero pose!  As I have said, Brad's the fun parent

These were my favorites

After church, we napped and then went swimming with our friends Jordan and Ashleigh (they just moved in one street south of us, and we are thrilled!).  Again, it's difficult to get a picture of everyone

Brad may get mad at me for this picture as well, but I can't resist.  Luke is combing Brad's chest hair :)

We finished the day by watching the US Open.  A perfect Father's Day Sunday.  This last picture was actually taken Monday morning when I got home from working out.  Precious moments and a lot of love.