Swimming, VBS, a Lost Tooth

We're doing a lot of summery things, the kids are having fun, and the kids are tired at night.

For the first time...parent-free swimming lessons. Finley's in Level 2 and Hadley's an Otter. He swims for 55 minutes and she swims for 30, the classes overlap so I get to sit, drink coffee, and check FB.

Waiting her turn.

The kids swam Mon-Thurs, but their location in the pool didn't allow for good pictures. And I wasn't setting my coffee down to walk over that way ;)

Finley has desperately wanted a "real" sleepover, real to him means someone that is not a cousin. The set up was perfect - Charlie's brother/sister were out of town and Hadley went to Grandma's so it could be just the two of them. They played legos, watched a movie, and then I told them lights out. Less than three minutes later Charlie came out crying and missing his dad. The sleepover only lasted two hours. Finley cried, he really wanted this to happen. So we'll try again when Charlie is up for it.

Thankfully, Spencer was up for a sleepover, a couple of them. They were sooo dirty, so a bubble bath was needed. I got things going, walked out of the room for a few minutes and came back to an overflowing tub.

They were literally getting lost in the bubbles. Afterwards I had clean kids and I had to clean the tub and surrounding area.

Cousin fun.

Little sister and her little crap stuff.

Spencer was in town all week. The boys played Kubb...

...and went golfing w/ Grandpa. As they pulled out, the two in back were chanting Beer! Beer! They know how this golf-thing works.

Our littlest little turned 4! Happy Birthday Dear Nolan!

On Wednesday, we stayed after swimming lessons for open swim.

We met up w/ Rachel, Dan, Carter, & Owen too. Little sister was following the bigger boys and got out a little too far. Panic. I had to run in w/ my dress on and pull her out. It was incredibly scary. It confirms my fear of water, things can go wrong in a second. After some tears (hers) and a high heart rate w/ shakes (me), she got back in and splashed like a fish the rest of the day.

Both kids are getting a lot better about putting/keeping their faces in the water. They were very excited to show off their swimming skills.

Finley knows his limits and is cautious (I'm completely OK w/ this), I consider Hadley cautious too (toe-dipping is a "trick" off the dock). This is a teeny-tiny baby slide, but the kids were impressed w/ themselves. Dare-devils they are not.

Then there is Spencer. He really wanted to go off the high-dive. I really wanted to keep him alive. Ugh, I told him one time before Grandma left. The kid can swim. The kid has no fear. He proved himself and went off the high dive many many times.

Dan wanted to go down the water slide, his kids weren't interested, but Hadley was. She took him down a bunch of times.

Preparing for entry.

Finley did have a moment of bravery - he tried the big slide alone! Once was all it took, he figured out he can touch at the bottom and he went over and over and over again. He's even jumping off the wall, I think he's (slowly) moving past his fear of water.

It was like Cancun - we bumped into Simon. The boys were excited and swam w/ him most of the afternoon.

We bumped into Charlie too, this is the only picture I got, but I swear it's him ;)

We spent nearly 5 hours at the pool and everyone came home alive (yay, me!)

Hanging out during Finley's swimming lesson, they were pretending to be Josie.

Spencer is a good big cousin.

The kids were very busy in the garage, they discovered a box of M&J gear and were looking for things to fix.

Spencer had VBS on his brain, he found scrap wood and hammered-together a cross.

Patrick's been gone so much, I gave him a full day w/ the kids, I'm nice like that. Patrick doesn't stay still for a minute and he packed three days worth of activities into one. They went to the Children's Museum (I can't get the picture to turn)...

...tie-dyed tshirts (another pic that won't turn) and went swimming at a friend's pool (he didn't take any pictures).

I didn't stay home bored, I attended a Girl's Day on the lake. We pontooned to the sand bar and parked it.

The teeny-tiny world is growing.

The kids attended Vacation Bible School all week. Each evening ended w/ a song and dance. Spencer is wearing orange, Finley blue, and Hadley is the blonde cutting a rug.

Today the VBS kids sang at two churches (our church is in the beginning stages of merging w/ my childhood church) w/ a bus ride in between. Due to icky lighting (my camera didn't know if it should flash or not, nor would it focus) and my kids liking the back row, the pictures are not good.

Jelly on the toast? Nope, blood. A few bites into his toast and...

...Finley lost his first top tooth! From the looks of it, he's one piece of toast away from losing the next one. A super-duper happy kid!