Leonard Life: July 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

6.5, Almost 4 & Almost 2

Taylor: 6.5 entering 1st grade in 1 month! Yikes. Taylor will be starting school at Kalamazoo Christian this year, and we are looking forward to meeting her teacher and visiting her classroom next month! It's going to be a big transition for all involved and this includes me! I can hardly believe my first born will be gone all day next year. I feel like we are both ready for it, but I am also emotional when I think about it. Taylor has spent this Summer keeping busy, but she still manages to demand attention and talk my ear off. :) We've been having a lot of fun, and I've been trying to spend "quality" time with her while the kids are sleeping in the afternoons. She is also growing up in so many ways. She is extremely independent, and it's something I know I take for granted. She is generally awake, dressed, with her bed and her brothers bed made before I have done anything in the morning. :) She is truly a 2nd mother, and in fact will always make sure we plan on locking the house up at night before she goes to bed. She'll come out to ask me if I have my keys before she locks the back door because she doesn't want me to lock myself out of the house... you know, she kind of looks after me. :)

Zach: I realized this morning while we played a few board games that he is really growing up. He likes to ask questions, 100's of them has a very unique way of looking at everything. Here is a look into Zach's heart. After he beat me today at Candy-land, he asked me why I was still way back at the start? I told him because he had beat me and won! Yay! He said, " I want you to win too Mommy and be with me. I don't want to beat you." The thing is, he means it. He is also on the ditzy side.. For example, today Ben told him to go throw his plate away at lunch and wash his hands. Well, he walked into the bathroom with his plate in hand to throw it in the sink and then went.. OH... Oops. Then he laughed and said I thought the sink was the garbage... HA.ha.ha. Then turns right around and opens the refrigerator door to put this plate in the refrigerator, instead of the garbage can, realizes what he is doing and laughs again. Seriously.. He also refers to everything that happened in the past as last night.. even if it was a few months ago. Cracks us up.

Lauren: Oh the will on this child. Still my strongest willed child to date. Dare I say she seems to be getting a tiny bit better? No, let's not say that. She's still pretty difficult. Thank goodness she is a phenomenal napper. Seriously, 3 hour minimum almost every single afternoon. It's wonderful, and well deserved after the number of tantrums she throws each day before nap time. This girl is smart. She is talking in 2 word sentences now.. and can say most things. She tries to keep up with her brother all of the time and likes to harass him. I think she has figured out he is a lot nicer than she is.. because I constantly find her torturing him because she knows he won't do anything back. Some of my "favorite" things that Lauren is saying right now..

Carry You= Carry Me
I hab it = I have it
Aww... Baby (Mostly said everytime she sees our next door neighbor Reese)
TeeBee On (which is ironic, because she won't sit and watch t.v.)
Zachie Siwee= Zachie silly
QIET!!= Quiet!! (usually yelled at the top of her lungs at all of us in the car while we are driving)
Pretty (said about herself after looking in the mirror)
Cute (said about herself after looking in the mirror)
Read it! (said as she throws herself and a book in your lap)

The Summer lis*t 2011

I'm back... I wonder how many posts I've started with that this year... ? We've had a really busy & fun Summer so far, and I don't have very much free time. So, I thought on this 90 something degree day where it's really too hot to enjoy being outside for a long period of time; I'd spend some time blogging. Here is our Summer list on the chalk board I picked up for $12 at the Allegan Antique fair with my friend Ashley last month. The kids and I sat down and made a list of some of the fun things we were hoping to do this Summer, and we've already accomplished most of the items on our list! Looking forward to the beach tomorrow and next week with friends!

bike rides * going to the park * feed the ducks * catch firefly's * read books * roast marshmellow's * Swim * Have friends over * Sonic happy hour slushies * watch fireworks * Pick fruit * go to the beach * build sandcastles * VBS * make new friends * see old friends * movie nights * swimming lessons * tennis * dance camp * memory verses * read 10 books * learn letters * make french toast * make blueberry buckle * go to the zoo * take a road trip * west lake drive-in * root beer stand * make cookies * stay up late * scavenger hunt * celebrate 10 years of marriage * Z turns 4 * Lo turns 2 * Learn how to swing * plant veggies garden * eat veggies from the garden * pray * go to church * learn something new about God * give something to someone in need * garage sale * lemonade stand *

Happy Summer!

Thrills & Skills Gymnastics Meet

We finally made the decision to let Taylor join the Gymnastics team at Kids Gym at the end of the school year. Just a few weeks after joining she participated in the Thrills & Skills “fun meet”. I was a little nervous for her because she had only just learned the routines on each event, but she did a great job and we tried to keep her focused on doing our best & having fun! Here are a few pics. I apologize.. they are all pretty dark.

Great job Taylor! Each child is awarded a ribbon each event & given a trophy for participating... Blue for 1st, Red for 2nd, White for 3rd.

Sitting with the other level 1’s getting ready for bars.

Taylor on the balance beam. The balance beam will always remind me of a little pin I had on my gym bag for all the years I was a gymnast.

The Gymnast Prayer

Now as I warm up for this meet, I pray my competition I can beat.

And if I fail amidst the cheers, I pray I will hold back my tears.

And one more thing success or not, I pray the creator of Beam be shot.

Floor routine.

Level 1’s, 2’s, 3’s & 4’s. Great job girls!

Swimming Lessons

In June, we finished 2 weeks of swimming lessons for both Taylor and Zach. We went with a recommendation from a friend on private lessons with Ms. Corey. I had to drop the kids off each day and wasn’t allowed to stay to watch until the last day when they put on a little show for us. I was a little nervous with Zach because if you know him at all.. you know this could go either way. He’s had swim lessons with us in the past (screaming the entire time), and he also has access to my parents pool on a regular basis, but he hates the water and doesn’t even like to go in if we are holding him. So, I thought we’d give it a shot and I’m so glad we did!! The lessons were slow moving for Zach and after 2 weeks of going each day it gave him the little push he needed to start swimming in the pool with his life jacket and swimmies on all by himself! I could not be any more thrilled & proud of him. This is a big time fear for him. It’s truly like we have a different child. He keeps telling me- Mom- this is so much fun!! I love swimming- thank you Ms. Corey! Smile Swimming lessons were well worth it this Summer for this family!

As far as Taylor.. I wouldn’t say she learned a ton of new things. She is already a pretty independent swimmer, and so she focused on refining her strokes, diving and that sort of thing. She did an awesome job, and really enjoyed herself. I think growth and strength are the only things she needs now to become a better swimmer.

So proud of both of my kiddos!

This is Zach’s very serious & very scared look!

Yay, Zach! So proud of you for going in the water. No tears!

Even a little bit of face in the water action, which he still doesn’t really like…

Swimming with a noodle.

Taylor swimming across the pool!

Back-stroke across the pool..

Taylor learning to dive…

Great work Taylor! On to Advanced Swimming next year.

Dance Camp: Ballet Beach Party

Today marked the end of another week of dance camp at Excel and Taylor loved every minute. They do a great job of making it fun for the girls, with a craft each day, snack & movie time & of course lots of dancing! Because the theme was “beach party” this year.. they made flip-flops, surf boards, necklaces, hair clips and had to wear a bathing suit on the last day for their performance. We decided not to sign Tay up for dance this year, so dance camp is a fun way to fit in dance for the year. Here are a few pictures from the performance at end of camp today. Parents were invited to watch the dances.. the first one was to The Beach Boy’s, “Surfin' Safari”.

Lining up after they were each introduced. We learned that Taylor’s favorite color is turquoise (news to me), and her favorite ice cream is Chocolate Almond. Smile

Getting ready for her first dance.

Catching a wave….

Holding up the surf boards…

The finish…

The beginning of the 2nd dance… Taylor is in the back so I didn’t get a ton of great pictures for this one.

Loving every minute.

Showing the parents a few of the moves they’ve learned.

Dance camp ended with a bucket full of fun things and a new t-shirt!

Taylor modeling her t-shirt! On a side note.. It was fun to see how much Tay had changed this year. She actually went into class without tears, and made new friends. We’ve been playing a game lately of how many new friends can you make each day…. to help her with stepping out of her comfort zone and meeting new people. It cracks me up because she seems to really love it. I’ll say.. why don’t you see if you can make 1 new friend today, and after class she will run out and have to tell me all about it.

Monday, July 04, 2011

4th of July!

We had a fun time on the 4th this year! Swimming at Grammie & Papa’s followed by dinner & fireworks at home and at Portage Central. It doesn’t get any better. I can’t go a 4th of July without seeing fireworks. I know, it’s a “complex”. I just feel like a loser or gypped or something if I don’t see them. Hopefully I am creating the same “complex” in my kids. :)

Lauren is still not loving the water very much. But she doesn’t seem as scared as Zach was at this age. We keep trying to hold her under water, and for some reason she doesn’t like it at all. Just kidding. We are slowly trying to get her to adjust, and I'm sure she will.

Swimming around on his own (with swimmies & life vest OF COURSE), but if you understood the level of fear this one has had you would understand how HUGE this is! So proud of him.. there is hope for this boy yet!