Slippin' and a Sliddin'

Marlee has gained so much confidence with her swimming this summer. She has also fallen in love with the water slide at the pool. We started taking her down the slide with us, but she kept asking to go by herself. Thanks to Tracy, we got the idea to put the ring around her and let her go down on her own. We only let her go alone when there's just a few people at the pool. Here's a video of her going down twice. She does a great job. Yes, Cooper has done it by himself too. I walk him to the top, and Chad catches him at the bottom. So getting a video of him sliding may have to wait until later in the summer.

Messy, Messy, Messy

Some days our toy room gets so messy! When the kids are in full play mode, I don't mind it at all. It's when they walk away and don't want to help pick it up that I get the urge to grab a trash bag and throw it all away. Notice Cooper laying down in the corner? We had such a busy week and weekend, he could hardly sit up to play. I guess that's the price for having fun!

Silly Bands

Silly bands are all the rage in our house right now. Marlee and Cooper got some for Christmas but didn't really play around with them too much. That has totally changed as you see in the pictures. Marlee got all of her stuffed animals out and was asking who wanted what color silly band. Then she began passing them out. Cooper didn't want to miss any of the fun, so he sat down with his otter and gave it silly bands, too.

Drive-In Movie

Friday night we took the kids to a local drive-in to watch Toy Story 3. We had the full experience with concession stand hamburgers and hotdogs and fries. We set up some blankets on the ground and let the kids eat and play until the movie started. Overall, I think everyone had a good time. The movie was cute, and now Cooper is all about Buzz Lightyear.

Ramblings

Sorry for the lack of blogging the past 2 weeks. We've been super busy around here. Chad went to New Orleans last week for a work conference. The kids and I traveled back to Middle TN for my first jewelry party. It was a huge success! I couldn't have been more pleased with the way it turned out despite the rain. Thank you SO MUCH Barbie and everyone that bought jewelry!!!

Marlee stayed with Mimi for a few days and hung out with Caroline and Matthew and Koen (all cousins). She had a wonderful time and is still catching up on sleep. Her toes are green and fingers were purple plus she had tons of stories to share about her adventures. Cooper enjoyed a little one on one time with mommy and daddy. He's not use to all that undivided attention. I think he enjoyed himself, too.

I had another jewelry show Friday night, and Saturday evening we went to watch a friend's baseball team play in a tournament. I was able to snuggle with a almost newborn, Baylor and rock her to sleep in my arms. It gave me baby fever...kind of :)

This week we have been trying to get ourselves back into a routine. The kids are having fun at preschool. The drop offs have been a little difficult, but they are getting better. Cooper's teachers said he is finally starting to warm up to them. Marlee is really enjoying show and tell everyday. We make a big deal about what toy she's going to take and share. She loves to tell me about what the other kids brought.

This weekend's agenda is full, too. Friday night we're headed to a local drive-in to watch Toy Story 3 with some friends. The kids have never been to a one, so it should be fun. Saturday, we may head off to the zoo early in the morning before the heat kicks in and we sweat to death.

Have a wonderful weekend, and I promise to get the camera out of the bag and start snapping some pictures!

Zoo

Last week we went to the zoo with some new friends. The kids has a great time walking around and seeing all of the animals. Since I have so many pictures of the animals, I tried taking pictures of the kids playing around. We ended up buying a family membership, so we can go anytime we want. I think it was well worth it!

Dabbling

You know I love to take pictures. I would love to take some classes and start taking professional pictures at some point in the future. Well, this past weekend I was able to play photographer. A family friend was looking for someone to take pictures of her son's wedding, and I offered to help out. Now, I'm not a professional by any stretch of the imagination, but I was pleased with my first attempt of something so big and grand. I hope the family likes them. Here are a few of my favorites. :)

Growing Up

Cooper and Marlee got their hair cut tonight. Coop has had a few buzz cuts here and there, but Marlee has never had the length of her hair cut. Tonight after Cooper's cut and bath time, she asked me to cut her hair. I cut off about 3-4 inches. She looks like such a big girl.

before

after

Preschool ROCK!

Marlee and Cooper are officially preschoolers. They were excited and nervous this morning. I think they were most excited about taking their backpacks in with them. We dropped Cooper off in his classroom first. He was a little hesitant, but as soon as his teacher got out some toys, he didn't give me a second though. Thankfully, our neighbor is in his class, so he had a buddy. Marlee was a little more difficult. She really wanted to stay with Cooper, but once we got in her classroom and she saw the toys out on the table, she warmed up.

I know from experience that parents shouldn't linger in the classroom, so once both kids were distracted, I got out of there. Now I did sit around all day waiting for a phone call to come and get one or both of the kids. Thankfully, I didn't get the phone call.

They were both excited to see me when I picked them up, and Marlee had plenty of stories to share and pictures to show me. She was very excited to have other kids her age to play with, especially other girls. I hope she makes a few new buddies. Cooper chimed in a few times as well. He's such a go with the flow type of kid, I don't think he was really phased either way. Overall, it was a very successful first day of school.

And I totally forgot to take their pictures this morning. I had 2 kids, 2 backpacks, 2 lunches, and 2 blankets to get to school. Hopefully I'll get one before summer is over.

Raw Talent

Marlee has some serious raw talent when it comes to art. I have not taught her anything other than colors and shape names. I haven't worked with her on form or any of the technical art techniques out there. I really hope she continues with this love and her skill improves with age.

She painted this picture the other day. Flowers, grass, water, sun, and balloons floating in the sky. I just sat and watched.

She had her giraffe as inspiration. She didn't trace it but used it as a guide. She signed her name like any great artist.

The artist posing with her artwork. (We had just come back from the pool.)

Tomorrow is New Day

So tomorrow marks a new day for the kids and myself. They are going to a summer preschool program 2 days a week. I have wanted to enroll them somewhere since last fall, but I just kept putting it off due to the uncertainty of us moving. Now that we're settled, I jumped on the opportunity to get them started. Cooper has been home with me since he was 8 months old. Marlee doesn't remember her home daycare, so this is a new adventure for both of them. I look forward to Marlee's adaptation to school life. I hope she shines there as much as she does at home. Believe it or not, she turns bashful in new situations. So it will be interesting to see how long it takes her to warm up. Cooper is not a worry. The only thing to be concerned about is nap time or the lack of one. I'll report back in tomorrow afternoon with stories of their day. I hope they have fun and behave!

lollaPOOLooza

We have been to our new neighborhood pool more in the past week than we visited our other pool in the last 3 years. The kids absolutely love it!! We spent Saturday there with our friends and splashed and swam and slid down the slide too many times to count. I rode with each of them several times. It is so cute to see how excited they were about sliding. They had no fear what so ever. Marlee has asked to go everyday. We went yesterday afternoon and let Marlee go down the water slide by herself. Chad was there to catch her. She smiled and laughed the whole time. The only problem is now Cooper wants to slide by himself, too. I'm sure by the end of summer he'll be going alone.

With the beach entry, the kids can go in to their comfort level. Cooper forgets his size and tries to keep up with everyone else. It will be interesting to see how I handle taking both of them by myself. Chad has Marlee's full trust and has her running and jumping in the water. She's putting her whole face in the water and retrieving things under water in the shallow end. Cooper on the other hand is fearless. He'll jump off the side, blow bubbles, and dunk himself under water. I have got to call and get them in some swim lessons. Enjoy the pictures from tonight. We had the whole pool to ourselves.

Cooper jumping off the side and going under.

Marlee slides off into the pool by herself. In the background is the water slide. So fun!