Swimming Lessons

Last week the girls had swimming lessons. They took lessons from the same girl (Marissa) who we've been taking them from for the past 2 years. They absolutely love her, and she does such a great job with them and they learn a lot. They each got a 30 minute lesson to work one on one with Marissa. Chloe was so much braver this year and a lot more comfortable in the water. She went under the water without much coaxing and seemed to even enjoy it by the end of the week. (She hated going underwater last year.) She worked a lot on floating and is very close to being able to float on her back by herself. Once we start swimming more, I want to work with her some and hopefully by the end of summer we can at least get that one down. Chloe's favorite part was putting her face in the water and trying to touch the bottom of the pool by herself without Marissa's help. I was very proud of her and what she learned. Aubrey grew by leaps and bounds this year. She has become quite the little swimmer and it's incredible to think how far she's come in the past 4 years (this is her fourth year of swimming lessons). She can float on her front and back by herself and even get into the floats on her own. She learned both the front and back stroke and could swim at least halfway across the pool (the short way) on her own. By the end of the week, they were working on taking breaths during the front stroke. She can front and back glide and even tread water for 15 seconds. She was also jumping into the deep part of the pool, coming up on her own, and then swimming back to the wall. Her favorite part of swimming lessons was  doing her floating and gliding by herself. I'm so proud of what she's learned and done. Both girls were good listeners and always did what Marissa asked them to do. Coye was really good too. I was worried that he would be all over the place and try to go into the pool, but he didn't. He crawled around by the bench I sat on and mostly played with the water. Needless to say several days he had to have different shorts because his were soaked through. On Thursday of that week, I paid to swim and we swam after their lessons. Coye loved floating around in his float and kicking in the water. The girls loved swimming around the pool with their life jackets on too. After swimming, we went to the Dairy Queen and got blizzards and then went to the park to play. The kids had fun, but were exhausted by the time we got home. The girls learned a lot during the week and were sad when I told them that swimming lessons were over.

Getting ready to go under the water

Swimming in the pool while Chloe was doing her lesson

Chloe practicing her front float

Aubrey practicing taking breaths during the front stroke

Chloe swimming around the pool during Aubrey's lesson

Aubrey gliding

Coye checking out the water

Aubrey doing her front stroke

Aubrey jumping in

The girls practicing going underwater together

Coye playing on the bench

Chloe's Haircut

Chloe's hair was long - really long. She's had many haircuts throughout her life, but we've never cut off more than an inch or two at once. Her hair is just so pretty and thick - I've never wanted to cut it short. Calvin, on the other hand, has been wanting it cut for at least six months. Every time we went to get the girls' hair trimmed or Coye's hair cut, he's been begging me to cut Chloe's short. Because her hair was so thick and long, it was not much fun to brush or comb, especially if she'd been out in the wind without a braid or it at least pulled back. There were always lots of snarls and tangles, so I finally gave in. I decided though that since it was so long, we should donate it. I heard about this charity called Children with Hairloss that made wigs specifically for children and gave a child in need a free wig every year until they turned 18. This sounded like a great thing for Chloe to do (she's been wanting to cut her hair short for a while too). I made an appointment with Calvin's aunt (a beautician) to cut it the end of May. We only needed to cut 8 inches to donate it, but as we measured it, another inch wasn't really going to make that much of a difference, so we cut off 9 inches. She went first because Aubrey wanted hers cut just as short as Chloe's. I have to admit it does look really cute. She looks older and it's nice that she can brush it and go. We don't have to do anything to it if we don't want to and she loves being able to just wear it down. I do miss her long hair sometimes - you can't do as many things to short hair, but it will be so great for this summer.

Her hair had been in a french braid the previous day so it was pretty wavy. 

It was definitely long.

All washed and ready to cut

Last picture with long hair

Here we go

The final result

Her new short cut and the 9 inches we cut off

Chloe's Black Eye

On Aubrey's last day of school, we went to chapel with her and then came home after she got her report card. After lunch, Kathy and I went to a local nursery to get some flowers (I hadn't planted anything yet). When we got home, I started planting some of the flowers while the kids played outside. We were outside until supper and then came back outside after we were done eating. Coye was by me on the side of the garage while the girls were playing by the back of the garage. They had gotten the t-ball stuff out to practice, which I didn't think much about because we've talked about being careful with the bat and making sure that no one is nearby when you swing. I heard Aubrey yell "Chloe, get out of the way" and then almost immediately after that - crying. Chloe came running to me screaming that Aubrey hit her in the eye with the bat. I freaked out and ran inside and got an ice pack before yelling at Aubrey that she needed to be more careful. She, of course, was upset that she had hurt Chloe and that she was in trouble, so she ran upstairs to her room and started crying. I took Chloe and Coye inside to get more ice. Chloe was more upset with the fact that she had to keep ice on her eye than her eye hurting. Coye started crying because he wanted to sit on my lap and wanted Chloe off of it. I tried calling Calvin several times, but he didn't answer at first and then he finally texted me back asking what was wrong. When I told him, he said he could come home but by that time I was calmer and Chloe was settling down, so I told him I had it under control. I talked to Aubrey and found out that she had told Chloe to move and then checked behind her and then swung her metal bat without double checking that Chloe had moved. We talked about how you have to be very careful and check always before swinging. Chloe and I talked about how you have to stay away from the bat. I'm just glad nothing was broken and that it was Chloe and not Coye. It was very scary and I should have handled it better. I took about a week for her eye to finally look back to normal. The swelling went down after a couple of days and then it just turned colors - deep purple to red to yellow. It definitely looked worse before it looked better. She was mostly unphased by it and was really a trooper.

Here are some pictures of it two days after it happened:

Aubrey's Last Day of School

Aubrey finished school the end of May. She loved kindergarten! She was excited to have the summer off though. The girl loves to sleep and hates having to wake up in the morning, so she was excited about the prospect of being able to sleep in almost every morning. Chloe was excited for Aubrey to be done with school too so that she could have someone to play with every day. They've been doing good for the most part. There is some fighting of course, but they are such good buddies. Here are some of the highlights of Aubrey's year (according to her):

What was your favorite part of school?

 ~"Doing art projects on Fridays"

Who was your best friend?

 ~"Liam and Danica"

What did you like to learn about the best?

 ~"Jesus"

What was your favorite job at school?

 ~"Line leader"

What was your favorite book?

 ~"Magic School Bus books"

What did you like to do at school?

 ~"I liked recess, computers, library, music, reading, centers, and doing papers."

Chloe's Last Day of School

Chloe's last day of school was May 15th.  While she loves school, she was excited to be done for the summer. I can't believe that she has finished her first year of preschool. Here are some highlights of her year according to Chloe:

What was your favorite part of school?

 ~"Playing with Lauryn"

Who was your best friend?

 ~"Lauryn"

What kinds of things did you like to do best?

 ~"Play trains and color"

What was your favorite job?

 ~"Passing out snack"

What was your best memory?

 ~"Going to the park and Burger King and having Mother's Day tea with mommy"

What was your favorite song to sing?

 ~"Elephant song and March in the Infantry"

Sprinkler

It was pretty hot a few weeks ago and we didn't have the pool open yet so the girls finally convinced me to get out the sprinkler. They loved it and had a great time!

Mom's 60th Birthday

Mom turned 60 this year. It's hard to believe because she looks so good. Hopefully I'll get those good genes and age well too. :) We decided to do something special for her birthday since it was a special one. The kids and I met Danielle, Jenna, and Scott and we took mom and dad out for lunch. The food was delicious and it was great to have some time to relax and talk. After lunch we went back home and gave mom her birthday present. All of us kids went together and bought mom a special necklace that has all of our names on it. She loved it!

Happy birthday Grandma!

Mom's necklace

Flowers we sent mom for her birthday