Swimming Lessons

When we decided to get a pool, we also decided it was really important for the kids to be able to swim! Good idea, huh? Well, Jacob and Hannah could swim pretty well and were completely comfortable in the water, including the deep end. Ryan, however, had never had lessons. He would only go in the shallow end, with water wings on and wouldn't go under or get his face wet.


Mrs. Schickler (a wonderful lady from our church) has been coming over three mornings a week for about three weeks and working with the kids. After day ONE, Ryan was diving for rings and would no longer wear his water wings! We were amazed at how quickly he became a fish! He now swims across the width of the pool and even treads water in the deep end. (never mind that Jacob and Hannah have both had to "save his life" twice in the deep end...) I am currently shopping for a life-saving flotation ring that can be thrown out to anyone in trouble.

Despite that, Ryan is doing extremely well - better than we had hoped after a few weeks of lessons, and most importantly, he is LOVING it!

Hannah and Jacob, as I said, could swim but needed some polishing on their freestyle skills as well as learning to dive. It has been so fun to see them doing their lessons together. Mrs. Schickler always starts them out with a "friendly" competition - down and back twice. By the end, they are usually both laughing! And I won't mention here who wins most of them! It is fun to see the good-natured competition that comes about when an adult is around. A different adult I mean. If it were Danny or I, the competition, I hate to say, would not be so friendly I fear...

"Hannah Banana" living up to her name with a bright yellow cap - which she hates! But it really does help keep her hair out of her face. It is a joy to watch her petite little figure swish through the water like nothing - she makes swimming look effortless!

Jacob is a natural, graceful and smooth swimmer as well. I just love to watch him move through the water with hardlyl a splash...

What Jacob has been most excited about is learning to dive - he is adventurous enough to try whatever Mrs. Schickler asks him to do! (Hannah usually ends up giggling and bailing!!) Yep, she has a little of her mama's blood in her when it comes to diving...

What a fun thing to learn this summer - how to swim! I know I feel a lot better about just letting the kids swim without feeling like I am a watchful, worried mother each and every moment (like when they were little). Happy swimming my little minnows and dolphins (and sometimes sharks!!)

Thomas (Matt's band)

Matt's band played at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City on July 5th to benefit Ethiopian Awareness (or something like that - I am terrible with remembering details). Anyway, I think Matt always enjoys the chance to get to "jam" with the guys in the band and be able to perform. They actually sound VERY good - here is a link to be able to listen to some of their music: http://www.myspace.com/thomasbandmd

They ended up playing at 2:00 in the morning - I cannot imagine being able to be energetic at that time of night!! I guess these young guys can handle it.

A classic shot of Matt with his prized possession

Family, Friends, Fun and the Fourth

This year, we chose not to go to see the fireworks at the fairgrounds, but to buy some fireworks of our own and set them off in the backyard. Jacob was the "master of ceremonies" and he lit them off for all of us - with a little help from some of the other kids. It was really fun to see them in our back yard without having had to wait in the rain for hours...

It was a "blast"!!! hahaha

We have had a long-standing tradition of getting together with our dear friends, the Vigils, for the fourth. We have missed a few years here and there, but many years whatever we do involves the Vigils. It started back when we were just two engaged couples!! Now we gather with our children and this year was so different - we now had two grown sons who delighted us with their willingnes to join us for part of the evening! Sam (above) and Matt have been friends since the beginning, and it was so sweet to see them together. Sam has joined the Marines and was just home on a short leave... (I feel so old talking about our children like this...)

Matt brought Sherry to our celebration this year and she fit right in, bringing two delicious dishes of food and hanging out with both families. Sherry has an easy-going, friendly, thoughtful personality and we all were so glad she was with us!

Matt and Sam playing pool

Some of the kids running back and forth as we tried to watch Jacob's fireworks show and the neighbors who were doing one at the same time! We had some competition!

A shot of some of each family. I tried to get a picture of all of us together, but, ah, well I just couldn't get everyone together at the same time...

Ryan and His Bunny

Ryan - the name that means "little king". How appropriately named he was! His middle name means "bold" - and indeed he is our bold little king. How we love him and delight in him! Here he is with his pet rabbit - Caramel. He sure does love to play with Caramel when Hannah gets the bunny out for him as he cannot get him out by himself.

Ryan is faithful to care for, feed and water his bunny each and every day. The first thing he does every single morning when he gets up is to go Caramel's cage to feed him his morning ration and freshen up his water. The last thing he does before bed every night is to feed him his evening portion. During the day he often visits him with treats!

We have some fresh spices growing, and he will pick them and feed them to the bunny. Caramel loves basil, mint and parsley!

Ryan likes to let Caramel climb all over him, hug him, and snuggle him. This bunny brings out the softer, gentler side of Ryan, and that is a good thing indeed, for Ryan is our fearless, strong, tough boy. I am grateful that God has provided him with a means to be loving, caring and gentle. (That "means" should be his sister, and sometimes it is, but we are working on that one!!)

We recently studied proverbs about the blessings of diligence, and Ryan has done a great job of exemplifying this for us! Keep up the good work Ryan!! Love you!!

Matt

I haven't posted anything about Matt in a while - and now is a perfect time! (The kids are all still sleeping and I am alone at the computer! haha) Much has been happening in his life it seems. He finished up his first year of college and is now on summer break. He recently came down with mono, which had him quite sick for a time with fever, aches, horrible sore throat and overwhelming exhaustion. He could hardly swallow and was taking steroids for swelling and codeine for pain. He was home for two weeks straight without working, and I have to say that though I wished he weren't sick, I really enjoyed seeing him home for that long! I was able to care for him, love him, and spend more time talking with him. We ALL enjoyed more of his company!!

Now he is back to work, and actually left here a couple of hours ago for a five day trip to New York City with some friends. I am happy for him that he will have a change of scenery - it is always refreshing to get away from our ordinary routine. We will be missing you Matt - but hope you have an absolutely memorable, exciting time!

Water at Last!

We have been looking at this ugly, rusty cement hole since February...

Look at the sad, forlorn faces of my children...

And then, on Saturday, we REJOICED!! We finally have WATER!!!!!


The man who delivered five loads of water to our pool brought along something even better than the water we waited so long for... a puppy!!

He was absolutely the cutest thing we had ever seen. I think at that point we would have traded in our pool for this cute little guy!! haha

Swimming at last!!!

The End of the Year Art Post

Yesterday, the kids finished their very last art class of the year! They have produced some wonderful art this year, and I just had to put them up for all to see! They had art class with the Ross boys, Davin and Phillip. What fun it was - we picked them up and dropped them off each week, and after most art classes we had a little tradition of going to the country store for ice cream. (Double scoop the weeks they came home with a project)

Phillip, Hannah, Davin and Jacob

This is Jacob doing his print-making, the last thing they worked on for this year.


This is Mrs. Lebo - the talented and brave art teacher! She taught the kids in the basement of her home.

Hannah displaying her print making project - a turtle. So much detail went into these pieces, they had to first draw the picture, transfer it onto rubber, and then carve each detail out of the rubber, and then run ink over it and print.

Jacob's snake print has INCREDIBLE detail to it - it took him literally weeks to carve out each detail in the rubber pad.

This is a barn that Hannah painted during their oil painting segment.

Jacob's beautiful oil painted barn

Hannah's water color bird

Jacob's water color bird

This mask was the first project of the year - again, it took many weeks to complete the paper mache, the drawing and then the painting.

Jacob's mask