Little Fish

Last Thursday, AG and LL finished a two week session of swim lessons. After dropping them off and having to find other things to keep us entertained for the first 7 days, finally on the last day SJ and I got to watch them in the pool! They both learned alot and it was fun to see them do some "real" swimming, jumping in the deep water and making it to their teachers, and floating on their backs. I didn't get any good action photos but here are a few "poolside".




And waiting patiently out in the heat, the future fish...


Now when we go swimming all together LL will not keep her face out of the water for more than 3 seconds between her dives forward into the water to practice her swimming moves. She's doing pretty well, but the sheer number of times she does it wears me out just watching and we keep saying, "Let's take a break for a minute LL and just play..." to which she replies, "I want to practice...I love it!"

The other big news is that we have another little swimmer who joined our family last week...and he (she?) has his own little "pool" right on our kitchen counter. That's right, it's a real live betta fish, our first family pet. "Swimmy" was given to AG somewhat unexpectedly but has become a welcome addition to our household over the last 10 days. The girls have done well remembering to feed him daily, so if I can remember to change his water and keep SJ from grabbing his bowl, he may have a chance! We can hope...

Second Saturday

Last weekend we finally checked out an event I'd been hearing about for a while... a monthly day especially for kids at the art museum downtown. We've done so little exploring since we got here (unbelievably, almost 3 years ago!) that it was almost like a mini-vacation to a totally new place!

We started out with the face painting station. We thought we'd skip it for SJ, but after painting LL and AG's faces, one of the artists offered to paint SJ's hands. As you can see, she was fascinated and thrilled with the results!




With at least a dozen possibilities, there was still no real debate for the big sisters; they both chose to be princesses. LL decided on blue and AG purple to accent the essential pink.


Then it was off (or up, since we were in a 6 story building) to storytime. My favorite part was sitting behind the girls as they listened together!


We went up to the top floor, where there is a really nice restaurant with an outdoor seating area. Not a bad view of the river and bridge! I may be trying to persuade T to go there for a special occasion sometime...although that will take some work since it's a sushi place :).


AG and LL painted and glittered doctor's caps. I think they would have spent hours on this if we'd let them!


Afterward, we walked to the nearby old state capitol building, which we'd not been to before. It is really interesting and unique from the outside, and beautiful inside with a huge spiral staircase in the center and lots of stained glass. Here are the girls in either the House or Senate chamber. LL went up to the podium and said, "Now I'm going to preach!"


Gorgeous stained glass rotunda!


A fun day...we hope to make it a regular outing in coming months and to do some more nearby exploring!

More July Fun

We're in our 5th week of schooling at home, and so far I've been encouraged by how the girls have responded and how it has fit into (and helpfully restructured, in some ways) our days. Here's AG writing letters in cornmeal...a fun alternative to pencil and paper!


Our sweet friend and occasional babysitter, K, has accompanied us to the (free summer kids') movies twice in the last month! First we saw Kitt Kittredge and then the Veggie Tales pirate movie. The girls actually all made it through both, and since it's a theater full of kids (and babies) and parents with no financial investment in the experience, the occasional commentary from SJ fit right in! We all love getting to hang out with K!


PopPop and Gran came to visit on the 4th of July. We spent the morning playing around the house and doing some reading...



and that night we went downtown to watch the fireworks over the river. The show was worth a pretty long walk and the heat!

July Catch-Up Begins

Hard to believe how fast the summer is flying by! We've been home the whole time, and though it seems we haven't been overly busy, our days have been filled just enough that we are certainly not bored! The intense heat has made playing outside difficult, so our daily mid-morning outings to run errands, go to the library, or (for the last two weeks) go to AG and LL's swimming lessons have been a nice break from our new school "routine".

Here are a few pics, mostly of SJ, from the last few weeks.
LL likes to "read" to SJ.


SJ got her second "real" haircut a few weeks ago. This is the expression she had on her face the whole time, and she sat in the seat by herself and didn't move a muscle or make a peep. It's like that cape freezes her. Hmmmm...maybe we could start bringing her into church if we get our own!


Again, the reading. Just in a smaller rocker. The balance it takes to pull this off is pretty impressive.


SJ got herself ready for an outing, which I think I mentioned in the last post. Only the essentials!


Another day, another purse! She likes to wear her sunglasses upside down...


More to come!