Our August 2011 Nutshell

I have 11 events to blog about in August, but as I am extremely far behind with my blog (which is essentially my family scrapbook and therefore I really don't want to miss anything!), I decided that I can squish a few of the events together.  Of course, a few of the events warrant their own post, so I won't be able to squish all of August into one post, but three or four posts is much less than 10, right?  We'll see how well I can do at this squishingeventstogether thing ;)

For the first week of August, Jack spent each morning at Vacation Bible School at my mom's church (where he'd be attending preschool starting the next month).  He really enjoyed it, even though it was hard for him when his teacher, Princess, wasn't able to make it one of the days.  Luckily, my Aunt Sandra (Auntie Nana to Jack) was teaching another Pre-K class so he got to go with her.  His little OCD heart had a hard time with the transition at first, but we were blessed that Auntie Nana knows her little Jack and as soon as she found out that morning she called me so that I could start preparing him to expect something different that day.  Thank God for Nana because it worked!  He was initially upset, but since he had plenty of time to prepare for the change, he did fine!  (By the way, he has since gotten much better with little changes like that... we've been working on it and we're coming a long way!).

While Jack was at VBS, Sam and I were having a lot of fun spending time together, just the two of us!  One of the reasons I wanted to space my kids about 3 years apart was because I wanted to be able to have one-on-one time with each kid when they were little... I am so happy with that decision!  I had plenty of time with just me and Jack when he was littler, and I have plenty of time with just me and Sam now that Jack is in school... it's perfect!  The week that Jack was in VBS was our first taste of regular one-on-one time and even though both of our hearts ached with missing Jack (as we drove away that first day, Sam was grabbing at Jack's carseat and yelling "No bye bye Jack Jack!!!!" and I did not blame him one bit!), we made sure to keep each other busy!  And one of the things that we did to keep ourselves occupied was to attend a playdate with our church friends!  Our group's schedule for that week was playing in the water fountain!  I was so sad that Jack had to miss the playdate, because I know this was something he would have loved, but we sucked it up and had fun with our friends anyway!

 

 

 

Jack didn't have to miss out on the fun entirely, though... we had to leave the playdate a little early in order to get back to pick him up in time from VBS.  And, since we're never ready to stop having fun, we headed to the mall for lunch and we let the boys ride the train there!  They were so excited, of course... my boys love trains!!!  I hadn't let Sam ride the train up to this point because I felt that he was too little and because I hadn't ever remembered to bring my camera and I wanted a picture of his first ride.  But, since I had my camera this time, I let him ride!  He was so cute, he was saying "ChuggachuggaCHOOCHOO!!!  All aboard!!!!" the entire time!!!!

 

 

At the end of Jack's VBS week, the kids put on a "concert" for their parents!  We were so excited about it.  We didn't stay for the concert last year after VBS since we left immediately after class for Las Vegas and my cousin's baby shower.  But this time we made sure to get to go!  Jack was a little confused... I don't think they practiced what they were going to do (besides learning the songs and hand motions) with the little kids.  But still, he did a great job.  Of course, my kid was the kid that fell at least 5 times while he was standing on the step, and at least twice took a couple kids down with him, but that was to be expected.  I mean, it's Jack!

Here are a few pictures of the concert and a video.  I had a lot of different videos but I chose to show this one because this was definitely his favorite song and when I was looking at them he said that he wanted to pick which one to show people and this was the one he chose.  You'll notice midway through the video he starts yelling and waving... he had just seen his VBS teacher, Miss Princess, and he was trying to get her attention to say "hi".  Remind me to remind him not to do that when he sings for the first time in church tomorrow!

 

 

Next is a video!  I took this video because I wanted to document Sam's 'S' sound... he had a total lisp and I wanted to make sure that I got it on video before he outgrew it!  He is 17 months old in this video.

Our next August event is definitely something huge that warrants its own post, but I'm going to include it here since I'm on a roll with the squishingeventstogether: Sammy's first haircut!!!  And oh boy did he need one!  His hair is as straight and fine as Jack's was thick and wavy, but since I was hoping that the length would encourage his hair to stop standing straight up on top, I had been delaying cutting it.  Plus, I am just unfortunately out of luck when it comes to my boys' hairs obeying me with the whole standing-straight-up-no-matter-what-I-try thing..  It was fine on top, but it was getting so long on the bottom that, in combination with the texture of his hair he was starting to look like Hulk Hogan (according to Dave, who started calling Sam "Little Hulk") and John Denver (according to my sister).  I knew it was only a matter of time before they would call him Billy Ray, so I had to do it!  We had scheduled a photographer friend to take some family portraits, which meant I had a deadline, so one night when the boys were in the tub I grabbed my scissors, forced Dave to take the camera, and started snipping away!  I did the best I could, but there will still some spots that needed to be cleaned up... still baby had a fancy new haircut!

A couple "before" pics

 

"During" photos

 

I don't have an official "after" photo from that night, but this was the closest I got

My official "after" photo wasn't taken until the next day at the park!  We met up with Ang and the kids and my mom and Luke, and my mom helped me finish Sam's haircut while he sat in the swing and the other kids got to play!  Here are a couple photos from our day at the park, as well as Sam's official "after" photo.

 

And the "after" photo:

Our next August event... we got a new (to us) slide!  A friend of mine posted on facebook that they were ready to get rid of their play structure and it was free to whoever could come pick it up... so I did!  I was so excited for the boys to see it.  I knew that they would love it, and I was right!  I left them home with Dave and I took my brother with me to help me pick up the structure... we snuck it into the backyard while they were eating lunch, and as soon as they were done I brought them out to see it!  They were so surprised, and they wasted no time in breaking it in!  They were all over it!

 

 

 

 

Aaaand I made it halfway through August!  This is a good place to break up the post, since the next event is Luke's second birthday and I don't want to rush through it!  Stay tuned...

 

My First Pinterest Creation!

Near the end of July, I discovered Pinterest!  It's amazing, I love it, and I have learned so much from it!  There are so many great ideas, and since the first day that I joined and started pinning, my project list has been never ending... in the good way!  The thing about Pinterest, though, is that it is so easy to pin all of the great ideas of things that you want to do, and then never actually get around to doing them.  I wanted to make a point to DO the the fun things that I was discovering though, so I made sure to get my first project done as soon as I was able!  And my first project?  I was the most excited about the colored rice, so that was the first on my list!  And it was super easy, too!

I had all three boys that day, so I waited until Sam and Luke were down for their naps and Jack was very excited to help me!  I did it a little differently then the instructions I had pinned said to do it, but it was basically the same thing... I didn't really measure at all.  I used ziplock bags, put enough coloring in it to touch each grain (I rolled the bag all around to make sure!), and once they were coated I put enough rubbing alcohol in them to coat each grain.  After that we poured them on cookie sheets and trays and set them out in the sun to dry... Jack was so patient!

Jack and I played in the backyard while we waited for the sun to dry the rice... since it was a super warm day it didn't take very long at all!  Then, we dumped the rice in the tub, grabbed a few random toys from our bag of sand toys, and got ready to play!

 

Jack was so excited when it was time to play!  He immediately picked up the funnel, held it up to his mouth and announced "Do do do do do DOOOOO!  Attention, everybody!  The Rice Playground is now open!"  

 

Sam and Luke also had  LOT of fun with the rice playground, but I was so busy keeping the one-year-olds from eating the rice that I couldn't take any pictures.  Still, they loved it!  Since then we have done many more projects from Pinterest, and I am so glad to have found that site!!!  It can be a time-sucker, but it's so worth it!!!

 

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

Two days after we got back from vacation, Jack started his swim classes!  (I know, this post seems out of order.  However, the photos I have are from both the first day and the second-to-the-last day and I only wanted to make one post so I decided to post the earlier pictures with the later pictures rather than the other way around.  Because it makes more sense that way, obviously.  Therefore, these photos aren't out of order and my CDO can relax!) He was soooo excited about his swim class, and I was, too!  He's always loved water and has a great desire to learn how to swim on his own.  I had been trying to teach him, but I am not the best person to teach someone to swim.  Swimming comes pretty naturally to me, so I don't really know how to explain things in a way that someone who doesn't have that swimming-instinct would be able to easily understand.  Plus, I tend to be pretty safety-conscious when it comes to things like that, and so I'm more likely to give Jack and hand to help him than wait for him to figure out how to take a breath on his own.  But anyway, back to swim class!

I cannot begin to describe how much my heart ached to watch him follow the teacher back to the pool with all the other kids and then again when I got up to the parent's observation deck and watched as he put his towel down and followed the directions he was given to go sit on the edge of the pool to wait for an instructor to come test his abilities.  I had so much anxiety on his behalf!  What if he can't find his towel when he's done?  What if they don't explain each and every action to the satisfaction of his little heart and he with his super-logical four-year-old brain stands there frozen as he tries to figure things out for himself?  Good Lord, they put me up on the observation deck knowing that I was watching and that there was no way he would be able to hear me if I needed to yell instructions to him- I was powerless!  Of course, as I try hard to make a point to let him learn how to deal in certain situations on his own I was also grateful that the decision whether or not to intercede when he needed help was taken out of my hands, but as every parent knows, that's not just your baby walking around out there... that's your heart!

So yeah, it was hard to watch and not be able to help, but it was good for me.  And I did a good job even if I didn't really have a choice ;)

That first day was great!  They had them each get in the water one-on-one with an instructor to have the instructor assess their abilities, then they had the kids get out and find their towels and bring them over to sit with an instructor that was assigned to their skill level along with three other kids that were on their same level.  And yes, Jack had a little bit of a hard time remembering where he put his towel, but once he found it and found his teacher, Amber, everything was smooth sailing!

A few photos from his class that first day:

 

 

 

As you can see, he loved swim class!  He talked about Amber all the time, and he told me all about how he learned about blowing bubbles and making "big scoops" with his arms.  He has never been afraid of the water, and he really enjoyed getting to swim!  He was also very proud of the stamp (or as he called it, "stant") he earned at the end of each class!  (And Sam was always extremely happy to talk to Jack when the class was over, too!)

 

He had swim class every morning for 2 weeks, and he talked about swim class and Amber all day long!  One day after swim class while we were walking to the car he said "Do you think Amber has a car?  I don't think she lives at the pool!" Even though his classes were only 30 minutes, I could see how much he was learning and I was so proud of him!  Granted, my child was definitely the least coordinated child in the pool, and his "swimming" probably looked more like drowning, but what he lacks in grace he definitely makes up for in enthusiasm!  

Oh, and in case there was any question about whether or not his flailing is actually swimming... on the last day of his class Jack got to prove how much he had learned when he accidentally fell in to the deep end of the pool while the instructor was busy with another child!!!  From up in my can't-do-anything-about-anything position on the observation deck my heart leapt up to my throat as I watched with pride while my baby was able to save himself!  As I said, his flailing may look more like drowning than swimming, but it works!  And he always emerges with a smile on his face!  

Here are a few photos and video of him on his second-to-the-last day of class (Amber wasn't going to be there the last day so I wanted to document his last class with her rather than with the substitute).  It's amazing how much further he has come since this class, now that I'm watching these again!

 

(the hiccup in this movie is my shutter- I snapped a picture while it was filming)

Oh, and notice how Jack doesn't jump into the pool so much as he leans and plops in?  We worked on that and since then he has actually learned to jump into the pool ;) 

And just for good measure, my sidekick!  He was such a good boy while Jack was in his lessons, and he had a lot of fun watching him, too!  (If you look closely in the second picture you can see Jack in the background!)