Splish, Splash! We were taking a bath.....

Soapy faced Rylie!
Jack is so serious!
Happy to finally be clean!
Me too, Mommy!
Having fun in the bubbles!

"Summer of Jack" part 2

Just wanted to add these few pictures to help reinforce my title for the previous post. I think we may be letting him try out for celebrity circus ( i can't believe that is even a real show)- as you can see from these pictures he enjoys perching on top of a knob to get better access to the sink area. He also has been known to scale the iron railing on my neighbors porch. We are 99% sure he is part monkey- or maybe just all boy.

The next few pictures are of Jack when I discovered him in my bathroom one day, after a way too long period of silence. You will notice the preferred face decorator of choice that day would be Mommy's lip gloss. He had gotten a hold of my make up bag, and was just going to town!

Lastly, just a couple of him enjoying a tasty, summer treat. A cherry push up pop. I am not really sure how much actually was digested and how much he ended up wearing. But, either way, he sure was having a good time!

"It's the Summer of Jack...."

( Seinfeld fans will notice my subtle nod at the episode where it was "the summer of George".) Well this year, it is "The Summer of Jack" - throw the gates wide open, cuz here he comes, there is no holding him back, and he is bound and determined with his new found independence to make it be known to the world, that in no uncertain terms will he be referred to as "baby Jack". He is definitely learning to assert himself in whatever way possible to get this point across, and wants to do whatever the "big kids" are doing. He has not a timid bone in his body, and seems to know no fear...... which is why this child at the ripe old age of barely two was promptly enrolled in swim lessons for the first two weeks of June. I know we are not supposed to compare our children, but it is especially difficult not to when it comes to this issue. Rylie, is my more cautious , reserved child, and for instance it has taken her 3 years to finally decide that she actually does like swimming, and going under the water really isn't that bad. Jack on the other hand was the first child to volunteer to jump off the diving board during swim lessons. I will say that he did cry for about the first 3 lessons, but only when the teacher made him go under the water to swim for her hands, then he would come up crying " No more, mommy, no more" " All done now." But the rest of the time he was happy to be in the water, and after about 3 days there were no more tears. I will say that on about day 6 of the 10 days, I was still not sure whether he was going to pull it off, as you see, he was being referred to as a " lazy kicker" and just wouldn't get those legs kicking to get to his destination. But in the last two days, something must have clicked and he was using those legs! I know that all the swimming we have done in the last 2 weeks has helped him build his confidence and given him more practice, I am just amazed to think that I now have 2 swimming children. Rylie has turned into a little fish in the last two weeks ( all hail the power of the Little Mermaid goggles- they seriously have given her super swimming power- we will be in serious trouble if anything should happen to those goggles!)and Jack who now knows the basics, and therefore believes he is now invincible in the water. He is still insisting that he can walk across the pool by himself, he just doesn't get it that he is not quite tall enough for his head to not be under water! This summer is going to be very interesting indeed!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Here are a few pictures from Rylie's dance recital last week. She was a star, she wasn't a bit a nervous and she did a great job! We are looking forward to taking a break from extracurricular activities over the summer.

Jack's Big Day!

Well, it is certainly hard to believe that our Jack has turned 2! He definitely has already been exhibiting some of the notorious two year old behavior, long before it became official! Now he just has the age to go along with the attitude! We had a great little party for him at Chuck E Cheese- such an easy place to accomodate and have a party with young kids. He had the time of his life and we didn't have to clean up anything! I just can't believe how the time has flown and how big he has gotten. He is talking so much now, and is really giving his sister a run for her money- she is rapidly realizing that she no longer runs the show, where he is concerned! He continues to keep us on our toes and is fearless. We have already enrolled him in swimming lessons for the summer, since he considers any large body of water he sees ( pools, lakes, rivers,etc) the "bath" and he is not the least bit apprehensive about going near them. On a recent exursion to the Great Wolf Lodge, we put a life on him and from that point on, he was unstoppable. He went down the kiddie slides about 50 times, and made it very clear to Luke that he did not want or need Daddy's help. He is very adventurous and loves to play out in our backyard on the swingset/fort. Our yellow tube slide is his favorite, and he has mastered the art of climbing up it over and over. He is such a joy and keeps us laughing for hours. He has definitely grown us in new ways and God is using him to teach me about the wonder of little boys on a daily basis!

The Writer's strike is over.........

I guess now that all the writer's have gone back to work, I, too, can cease my strike.( not that I had any reason for my being absent) I was just standing in silent support......ha, ha, ha. Now that I have successfully alienated all my readers, ( all 5 of you) or at least have them believing that this blog has been shut down permamently. Well, I am back, for now. Until I decide to have another 3 month hiatus. Not very good blogging etiquette, huh?
On to my new found obsession........ mind you, we are little behind the times on this, a little slow to come on board to this phenomenon sweeping the nation, but we are getting there. First let me say this. The library has become our new favorite place. My kids love it. ( not too sure if librarian Fran loves us.....) It is really hard to keep Jack contained to a stroller in there, and he really thinks it is fun to run around the kids section and pull books of the shelf, while mommy chases him and puts them back. We are going to try a different location tomorrow....... Fran may not be so happy to see our faces so soon, we'll go meet a new librarian! Anyway- the library has movies you can check out for FREE ( I am sure everyone else already knew this beautiful tidbit of information- but maybe decided not to share it- for fear that it would be spread to too many people- after all there is not a huge assortment) So anyway, Rylie and I ( okay mostly me) decided to check out...... wait for it...... that is right...... the best movie of the past 5 years..... High School Musical. I cannot believe that I had not seen this movie before 3 weeks ago. I was a scoffer, I must say, when I heard others singing its praises and giving it such high accolades, but now I must admit, I was so wrong to scoff, it was like a dream come truesday! Rylie liked it too. She watched it 6 times in a week. Then we made my whole family sit down and watch it when we went to Mississippi, and Rylie was singing along with every song. I can't even describe how happy it makes me to know that she is a daughter after my own heart. I love a musical, i wish life were a musical. I would love to break out in choreographed lyrics and dance moves while mopping my kitchen floor or grocery shopping down the aisles of my local walmart. The best thing about HSM is that the music is actually really good- I may need to download the soundtrack to my Ipod, considering I wake up singing the songs every morning! Like I said, I know that we are a little behind the times on finding out about the shear awesomeness of this movie, but we are catching up...... we rented HSM2 and watched it today- I have to say, Luke even made it through like two- thirds of it!

Bluebonnet letdown

One of the signs of spring in Texas is the bluebonnets. You know that the weather is starting to get warmer and that spring is on it's way, once you start to see those signature blue flowers, covering the highways and byways all over Texas. It is also a rite of passage as a parent in Texas to throw your kids into patches of them and take lots of pictures. I mean, when else, would you willingly stop your car on the side of the road, take your kids out, put them in a field five feet away from the passing traffic, whilst vehicles are cruising past you at a mere 90mph? Family members: do not worry yours truly did not do that- no we just went to a fire-ant (another lovely distinctive sign of a Texas spring) infested field in Ennis - during their annual Bluebonnet festival. We drove an hour and a half to get there- to what are supposed to be the best bluebonnets in the state. All to hear the women at the tourist office say " This is the worst year for the bluebonnets. Last year was the best." Great. Well, we did find one semi good patch of them, only problem was, so had everyone else. But it was okay, and I think in the end we got some good pictures. I should hope out of the 200 we took, there were at least some good ones! Oh well, even though the flowers were not as abundant as they had been in previous years, it was still a nice afternoon to be outside and enjoy a beautiful spring day, because I know all too soon, it will be unbearably hot, like, probably next week! After all, that is another sure fire sign of spring in Texas, it only lasts about 2 weeks!