Sink or swim

Lily turned 2 1/2 years in February which means that she can officially start swim lessons on her own at Houston Swim Club. For us, it's not about creating another activity for the children to do. They are so young and busy enough with church and school that we don't add to our schedule unless it's important. Since we have a pool, it's not really a choice whether our kids learn to swim. It's just a matter of safety!

Lily and mama took "Mommy and Me" swim classes last year when Ty was in school and she had the day off. We learned that she was SO different than Ty (not that big of a surprise, I guess). She was eager to do anything, so brave but also had no skill in swimming or floating...dangerous combination!!

So, Lily started swim lessons last month. The first two weeks are daily lessons so they can really teach them the basics in a short time period. She is modeling her new swimsuit in the photo before her first lesson.

Ty had his lesson at the same time. We included a photo of both of them in the pool at the same time. That is Lily floating and Ty splashing in the pool from the slide. How fun to watch them both at the same time.

This is embarassingly late to be posted...oh well. January flew by. I guess when you total your car, have to buy a new one in a week, get a new job, and all that jazz it gets busy.

Attached are a few of our favorite wedding photos of the kids. They were so ADORABLE and aren't Jacque and David just beaming? We were honored to be a part of their special day and were especially proud of how well behaved Ty and Lily were.

Favorite memories from the wedding, in no particular order...

Lily dancing, dancing, dancing
Ninja Turtle Grooms Cakes!
"All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce (or Sasha Fierce?)
Jennifer eating reception leftovers at 2:30 a.m. at home
Ty in his Batman costume at the reception
"Low" by Flo Rida
The Anniversary Dance with all the married couples
Sparklers!!
"I am one classy lady!"
Jacque's big sob right before she walked down the aisle
True love...

:)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It SNOWED here last week!!!! Woo-hoo! I love snow and it was so fun to play in it with the kids. They were not as excited as I was because it was so COLD but we had a good time. No big accumulation and it did all melt by morning in our neck of the woods, but there were places in Houston that got 4 inches!

I have included photos...don't make fun of my definition of snow. It has been 4 years since we have seen snow here!

Humpty Dumpty

We had our first "emergency" with Ty the other day. He was running around the house to the front door to ring the door bell while I went through the house to answer the door. When I opened the door, Ty was crying with blood dripping down his forehead. Yikes!

Evidently he tripped on the front doorstep and land head-first on our "exposed aggregate" (engineer speak for pebble-y and rough) front porch. Poor little guy. I laid him down and applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. Lily was crying because Ty was crying so I decided someone had to be calm and in control (even if I had to fake it!). I sent Mark a picture with my phone so he could "see" it from his office. It was small but deep and as head wounds are known to do, it was bleeding a lot. Mark and his engineering buddies decided it would be best if a doctor looked at it, although one of them thought it would be cool for Ty to go to Kindergarten with a scar next year!

I continued to apply pressure to his wound and after 90 minutes I had to agree that we need a professional to help. We sent Lily to stay with our amazing friends, the Kutz family, and headed to St. Michael's Emergency Clinic. We had a great experience there...Ty got a popsicle and lots of TLC. The doctor used Dermabond to glue it together (it's just like super glue, really!) instead of stitches, thank goodnees. We've included some pics from his little adventure.

I did want to share a few comments on my Facebook posting of the picture of Ty's wound from some very funny friends and family:

From Holly Moore: "Awww, man! Falling -- not fun. But gluing your head back together? AWESOME!"

From Ty's Uncle Chris: "Chicks dig scars. When he's older he can make up some story about rock climbing. "

P.S. The doctor confirmed he is healing well. It's just going to take a little time for a gash like that to really go away. Hopefully he'll be looking good in time for his Aunt Jacque's wedding photos in 5 weeks!

Halloween Pictures 2008

Enjoy the Halloween Pumpkin and Trick or Treating Pics!

Moms do a lot of folding

Ty was listening while I talked on the phone today to a friend who was missing her mom who had passed away. When I hung up the phone, Ty asked why she was sad. I talked a little bit about death and how it makes people sad and then I asked him if he would be sad if I died. He thought for a second and said, "No."

Stunned, I asked him why he would not. He answered, "Because I would still have Daddy."

Well, of course, that makes perfect sense. I then asked him if he thought Daddy would be sad without me. He responded, "Well, Daddy would be sad because he wouldn't have a wife anymore, but Daddy would have me. I can help him with all the things that you do."

Mama: "Well, what would you help Daddy with?"

Ty: "I could help with the folding. You fold a lot of things."

I will sleep better tonight knowing that if something happened to me, Mark would be OK since Ty would handle the folding. Ahh...the innocence. :)

Out of the mouths of babes!

Ty and Lily woke up super early this morning due to Daylight Savings so we flipped on the TV in our room to whatever was playing on CBS that seemed appropriate for kids. We usually watch Noggin or PBS which don't have commercials. Ty was fascinated with the kid oriented TV commercials since he doesn't seem them very much. One of the things they were trying to sell was a Mommy and Me DVD that can be used in playgroups...it has music, games, activities, etc. So Ty turns to me and says, "Mommy you can stay home with me and we can have the 'Mommy and Me Experience' all day long!" I quickly reminded him that would mean that he would have to stay home from school and we all agreed that we had plenty of the "Mommy and Me Experience" everyday after school!

Seriously, word for word, the "Mommy and Me Experience"? Kids are total sponges...

Ty even used the word FEIGN today. He told us that Lily was feigning something. I thought he said FAINT so I asked him what it meant...impressed that he knew what fainting was. He said "No, FEIGN, like pretending to be something that you're not". Really, feign? I don't use that word on a regular (or even infrequent) basis. Wow.

He continues to amaze me on a daily basis. This parenting thing is pretty awesome some days. Watching them grow and learn and absorb it all...it's fascinating and oh so rewarding! I am going to put on my "I love parenting" shirt now...