Thursday, June 23, 2011

Swimming for donuts!

We have been talking about swim lessons for a while now and finally the big day arrived! There was lots of excitement until the actual morning of. Anna Lou woke up a few times during the night, which is very uncharacteristic. I thought maybe she was thinking about it too much and getting nervous. She was somewhat of a zombie that morning but we got our suite and towel and headed off. Here she is faking a lovely smile before we left. G wasn't participating but was in a chipper mood and you can see the mood AL was in!
The first few days at drop off caused some tears and
"please don't leave me, Mommy!" Which broke Mommy's heart!
The teacher advised us to leave and I knew that would be best. I was encouraged to know the crying would stop almost immediately and she did fine throughout the class. After the first day of class, the zombie Anna Lou returned and the rest of the day was spent on the couch and with zero appetite. During the night she proceeded to "toss her cookies" twice. ewww! I could tell she was so uncomfortable and her stomach was very crampy. My poor little zombie! The next morning she seemed better and by golly, we were going to get our moneys worth for those swim lesssons! ha! I know, mean mom! But she really did seem better so we went. Still a few tears at drop off but there was progress. Day 3 was presented with "if you do not cry at all at swim lessons, you can get a special treat." Which was proceeded by Anna Lou answering "A donut?!" Ok, sure! Still had a little zombie going on, but I figured it was the nerves. Day 3 unfortunately did have a couple of tears again at drop off. I felt so bad thinking that her poor little tummy hurt and mean mommy was making her go swim again! I was soooo about to cave and get the donut that she immediatly asked for when I picked her up, but I reminded her she did cry a little so we would try again tomorrow. We did, however, have some ice cream after lunch for swimming so good. (Not yay me for sticking to my guns, because many times, I don't. But glad I did this time.) Day 4, the last day of the 1st week was today and went AWESOME!!! I could tell before we even left the house it was going to be good. She seemed to be over this tummy bug and had more energy and told me and several times "I am not gonna cry and I am gonna get a donut!" Sweet Ms. Lindsay, her teacher was also greeted with this claim. As soon as we got to Ms. Lindsay's she got in the pool and sat on the step waiting to start. I left again but came back early to get some pics and let her "perform for me." I was so impressed with what Ms. Lindsay had taught them in 4 days. We will be out of town next week, so our second week of lessons will be after that. I am excited to see what the second week brings. Yay Anna Lou for being brave and beginning to learn to swim! So proud of you!!
Her buddy Harper!


That is her little head popping up after grabbing the toy off of the bottom.

Ms. Lindsay stepping back and making AL go a little further.

Working on a little kicking.

Sweet thang got her donut!! Even if it was for lunch since it was noon!


Thursday, June 9, 2011

We Love the Kampens!!

I accidentall hit "Publish" on this post, so if it showed up on your google reader, half done, oops! This is the full thing!



We are very sad that the Kampen Family is moving a little south to Austin next week! It is something they have prayed for a long time because of Jeremy's job but secretly we were praying against it! Ha! JK! Lindsay and I actually met 11 years ago pledging Pi Phi together at BU. We didn't really get to know eachother until we ended up at church together in the same stage of being young marrieds and having babies! I am SO thankful for these past few years of being blessed by HER!! Her sweet children are close to AL and G's ages and so we always are dealing with the same stuff. She is such a dear friend and I will miss seeing her multiple times a week so much!! I know Austin will be a new chapter and a new adventure for the Kampen Family, and will bring new challenges with getting settled there. We are praying for you as you adjust to that weird city. :) Love you guys!! Austin is a lucky place!!


We helped throw them a going away party this weekend.

Me and Linds and cute Kiki! We did it up fancy with pizza and desserts:)
Thanks to the McCords for offering their home and letting the kids destroy their backyard.




Husbands. Sorry Honey, mid-bite.








So sorry that the honoree is blurry!



I think I caught cute Conner Kampen by surprise!
The best pic I could get of these little missys.

We've been soaking up playdates and dinners with Lindsay for the past few weeks.

Great friends!

Love y'all and can't wait to come visit Austin!!!

Cooper and Campbell!

One day last week we went to play with Cooper and Campbell Johnson! Such cutie pies and growing so fast! It was one of those things I had to wait to tell Anna Lou so she would actually sleep the night before and wouldn't ask me every other minute when we were going to Cooper and Campbell's house. So I told her about 10 minutes before we left. I left my camera at home so these are from my phone. Lou Lou loving her some Baby Campbell!
Campbell thought G needed in on the action.

Gotcha!

He didnt' seem to mind! We might could arange that! Campbell and Graham in about 20 years!


So fun to see my sweet friend Julie and her precious twins!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Lions Spring Game...

Daddy wrapped up spring football a few weeks ago. It is great living close to the school so we were able to go up to practice a few days a week. They finished up the spring season with the Spring Game at the stadium. It was rather warm in the stands so we took our place in the shade next to the field house. I didn't get a great view of the game but Daddy understood that our red-cheeked babies (and mama) needed to cool off.
We did this a lot!



water break.

The spring season went well and makes us excited for some Friday Night Lights come fall!!