First day of swim lessons!

This last weekend we went to Daryn's sister Renee's house  house for a super party. MacKenzie turned 12, Shane graduated from 8th grade and Clinton became a journeyman at work. It was a very fun party and Rebekah loved playing in the pool with Daryn. I feel a little silly for not taking pictures, but oh well. I'm sure Jeanette has some great ones to share with me. :)

After that we high-tailed it back to Tucson for a birthday party for our friend Maggie. She's married to Arjay, who went to classes at NAU distance with Daryn. Funny connection:

I know a guy named Clay from my first year at UA - before he or I were married. Clay married Candice. Candice is Arjay's sister. Also, when Daryn and I moved back to Tucson, we were in a ward with Tania. Tania is Clay's sister. We met all 3 couples independent of one another, but it didn't take long to connect the dots! And now Clay and Candice live in MY sister's ward.

Back to this week, though. The party was great - Arjay make it a surprise party and got a ton of people to come. I'm not surprised because Maggie is such a sweet person. It's a bummer they're pretty far on the other side of town because their daughter Ali is only a few months younger than Rebekah and those two were ADORABLE playing together. Rebekah loves to play and make new friends! Also, their son is just 2 months older than Josiah. It's interesting that having kids the same age gives you so much in common!

Hm - something I didn't talk about when I wrote about Rebekah's classes: When we got to the ballet class and were waiting for the teacher, Rebekah went up to every girl and said, "Hi! I'm Rebekah. What's your name?" and held out her hand to shake theirs. It was precious. Some of the girls answered and shook her hand, but most of them were so shy (this is a class for 3-5 year olds) that they just buried their face in their mom's leg until Rebekah moved on to her next victim/friend. When she'd said hi to everyone, she went back around saying, "I'm a ballerina! Are you a ballerina?" This time she at least got head nods.

Let's see... I've been teaching Sunbeams a few weeks in a row now - I have a partner, but she's out of town. Before she left she offered to teach a couple weeks in a row, and I took her up on it because I was in Phoenix a couple times in that timeframe. Now it's my turn! I have 6 girls and 1 boy if they all come, but we're usually 1 or 2 shy. They're good kids - 2 of them have a few issues, but nothing that can't be handled. For some reason, lately Rebekah will cry and say she doesn't want to go when I talk about church, but she always has a wonderful time when we get there!

The next few weekends are FULL of activities, but we'll see how many I make it to: most of them are in Phoenix, and we're trying to cut back on trips up there - something we are rarely successful at! I know my friends understand if I don't make it to their parties, but I sure do love seeing them!

This evening is Rebekah's first swim lesson. It's 30 minutes long. I'll post some pictures or video later tonight.

I just want to say how excited I am that I've had so much time to catch up today! I've added pictures and videos to past posts, and the kids have been really good! I also cleaned Rebekah's room, got most of the dishes done, I'm working on some laundry, and now I get to go cook dinner.

I have ONE MORE fun post to share. Hopefully it will be up soon because it's a pretty great one. ;)

Practicing different kinds of kicks

Getting in and out of the pool from the wall (practiced on the ladder earlier).

Floating on her back

Thursday Report

Daryn lost 2.6 pounds this week. So he is at a total of 15 lbs lost in the last 6 weeks! I am SO happy he's working on this. He says he doesn't feel very different yet, but I'm sure that will come. He still has a long way to go, but I'm sure he can do it this time. :)

Today we signed Rebekah up for swim lessons. A few things I learned: Even though the Parks and Rec books SAYS Mon-Fri, some pools are closed Mon and some Fri, so the actual classes are only 4 days a week, not 5 like I thought. (Remember, the county pool was 4 days a week.) Jacobs pool DOES give lessons. I thought they didn't. They're closer to me, but they're open T-F. This wouldn't be an issue except neither Jacobs nor Amphi has 9am lessons for beginners, just 930. Since Rebekah's ballet class is at 10 on Wednesdays, I had to go with an evening class: 5-530. I could have done that at Jacobs, but I didn't want her to have a swim lesson Friday evening - since Daryn has that day off, we could leave much earlier in the day if Bekah didn't have swim that night. So, I went with Amphi, which has classes M-R.

Funny enough, I managed to pre-register for sessions 3 and 4 and it turns out Amphi won't offer lessons then! They are hosting a really big tournament or something, so... thank goodness Jacob's pool offers lessons! Hopefully they'll have a time slot available that works better with our schedule later in the summer.

Also, when I invited one of Rebekah's friends to play this week, her dad told me that all she has is swim lessons at 9, so she might be able to come over. Turns out she's going to the county pool. Now I'm feeling like the extra money would have been good (it's still a good deal for 8 lessons!) to spend on taking her to county, getting 9 am classes like I wanted AND having a friend of hers in class with her. Oh well. It's only for 2 weeks and then I can re-assess. (Note to self: call county pool about registration for next session...)

Rebekah was a little upset that we didn't bring our swim suits to the pool, but I reassured her she would get to go swimming plenty in the next few weeks. I hope she likes swim as much as ballet and gym!

Also,  I posted a little status update on facebook that said Josiah knows how to open an Oreo and everyone liked it, so here's a video of my 1 year old opening an Oreo. No one showed him - he just knew how!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Wednesday was a fantastic day! Rebekah had her very first ballet and gymnastics classes. Our day went a little like this:

9:30 leave for Ballet
9:45 arrive! Wait for teacher.
10-11 Ballet!
11:30-1:30 Carrie's house
1:30 leave for gymnastics
2-3 Gymnastics!
3-5 NAP! (whoops)

I was hoping Josiah would sleep during Rebekah's classes, but he slept AFTER them both times. During ballet it wasn't an issue because I had the stroller and he was actually happy just sitting in it the whole time. Gymnastics was different. He wanted to explore!

We went to our friend Carrie's house for lunch, since she so graciously offered her home for us between classes this summer. Rebekah had a fun time, and so did Josiah until he got bit by a very tired and grumpy 2 year old. It was partly my fault that I let him down and didn't keep track of where she was. Whoops! His bruise is just about gone now, and no skin was broken.

The ballet room is a bit small. Ms Didi let us all come in and watch, but for the rest of the summer we will wait out in the hall. Unfortunately, there's no viewing window. If any of the girls have problems, Ms Didi will send them out to Mom until they are ready to come back in.

Gymnastics has a great big room with lots of equipment. Parents sit outside where there are benches and a large window.

For both classes, everyone will be allowed in on the last day of class to see the kids perform. We'll definitely bring the video camera that day! And Daryn's asking for the day off work. :)

Without further ado, Rebekah's ballet and gymnastics pictures!

 

For some reason, my camera wouldn't zoom while I was taping. :(

Memorial Day

Daryn had the day off work, so we had two couples and their children over and we had a barbecue. Then one couple - the Strattons - stayed to play Ticket to Ride with us. That evening Daryn went out with the guys to play some games. It was a great day! 

This year I saw some pictures going around Facebook with things like "Memorial Day: In case you thought it was national BBQ day." And the picture shows a (presumably) widow mourning at a grave in Arlington. I really didn't like that. The sarcasm is not befitting a day that should be filled with good will and gratitude, and yes a little bit of sorrow for those we have lost in the service of our amazing country.

Mainly it upset me because the friends I have in the military are very happy, fun loving people and they would encourage me to take advantage of a day off by celebrating with my family and friends. Especially my friend Mike.

In the fall, Mike died while serving in Afghanistan. We attended a funeral for him October 23, and the outpouring of love and respect what not at all surprising, but very overwhelming. Mike was VERY active in Boy Scouts, and there were troops lining the entrance to the building, all holding flags at attention. There were so many people from school we hadn't seen in a long time. We all reminisced and it was rather beautiful. Daryn was closer to him than I was, but we both enjoyed his sense of humor and his passion for every activity he undertook. He was one amazing Debater, too! So here are a few photos people shared in memory of Michael Elm. He was an amazing young man. 

Rebekah's Summer Plans

Rebekah is growing up! This summer, Rebekah will be taking ballet, gymnastics and swim lessons! I hesitate to admit my cheating here, but I'll be honest. Judge me if you want, I think my reasoning is justified. : p

So, the ballet class is ages 3-5, and the swimming flyer says "about 4 years" for the youngest age group that takes lessons without a parent in the pool. Gymnastics without a parent participating is 4 years old. I can't participate unless I get a babysitter for Josiah, and I don't like getting a babysitter pretty much ever. That being said, Rebekah will be among the younger children of her school year. Her birthday is such that children who are already 4 will be in the same class as her when she starts school - so, kids in these "age 4" classes during the summer are Rebekah's peer group. Her friend Heather who lives down the street had a birthday just 3 weeks ago. Rebekah is definitely just as mature and physically able as Heather, and Heather is old enough for these classes, so I decided that Rebekah is also old enough for these classes. That being said: I fudged her birthday on the papers so that I could get her into these classes.

The city has Swim Lessons set up like this: Daily lessons M-F for 2 week sessions at various pools across the city. Thanks to Tucson Police Department, The Red Cross is offering lessons at city pools for only $2/session! When I registered Rebekah for her classes, though, it was a little late and I could only sign her up for sessions 3 and 4. For sessions 1 and 2 I'm on the "wait list." The tricky part is that none of the sessions are set up by pool; the sign up is for the entire city, and you have to later go to the pool of your choice and sign up directly with them, listing your top 3 pools for where you'd LIKE to have your lessons. I can see how they're trying to share the lessons across the city, but it's also annoying to think I might be asked to go to a pool not near my home. :/ So, since I'm on the wait list for the first two sessions, I just need to go to the pool I want to have lessons at during their walk-in sign up days and get in that way, since there's no promise for who gets what pool. If I can't get her into lessons at the pool I want for the first 2 sessions, I might just take her to the other pool nearby, which is a county pool.

The county pool is offering lessons in 2 week sessions that run M-R, and charging $20. But, it's so close that I feel like I will not actually lose too much money, considering if I don't get in the city pool I want, I'd have to drive pretty far to get to another city pool for lessons!

So, Rebekah's summer schedule will basically be swim M-F (time TBD), and Ballet and Gymnastics on Wednesdays.

Originally, I didn't want to put Ballet and Gym on the same day, but the closest building that offers the classes is pretty far from us. I wanted to cut back on gas, so I needed to only make the drive out there once a week. Ballet is at 10am, and Gym is at 2pm. I wish they were closer together, but I figured that the building is on the same property as a very large park and the Tucson Zoo, so we can have a picnic lunch every Wednesday!

... Yeah, I know it's going to be disgustingly hot. : / This week I'm going to scope out spots and see if there's somewhere indoors we can hang out and eat our lunch. If not, we do have a friend who lives relatively nearby, so we're going to drop in and visit them each week, I think. We'll see how it goes!

Also, I know that Rebekah might be exhausted, so I need to make sure I remember to have the stroller with me so that she can nap in the stroller if need be. It's going to be interesting!

Which brings me to the shopping I talked about in the other post: We bought Rebekah some leotards - short sleeve, one pink and one black. And some footless tights - black and white, I think. I wasn't going to get the tights (it says barefoot or ballet slippers only for Ballet) but decided on the footless ones because I didn't know if she'd be allowed to wear shorts with her leotard - Daryn mentioned that in ballet they need to see their hips pretty well, though that's probably not as crucial for 4 year olds. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to dance. I probably should have called my friend Ashley before I bought anything! She has 2 of her little girls in dance, and she's a dancer herself. Come to think of it, I have a ton of friends who danced growing up and I totally should have given someone a call. Ah well. I still have a receipt and we'll find out on Wednesday if I made a good decision! :P

I will say, though: We were at Wal-mart and it was clear that the display was specifically for dance classes: They had the leotards (short sleeve, long sleeve and sleeveless), footless and footed tights, simple skirts with a little rosette on the front, slippers... all of it in pink, black and white. I was VERY tempted to get Bekah a skirt, but figured it was unnecessary and shouldn't waste the money - yet. ;)

Rebekah overheard me talking on the phone to get her registered for ballet, and when I got off the phone she asked if it was time to go to her ballet class. So cute! I hope she stays as excited as she is for this summer. I hope it all goes well. She's such a bright girl and I love the joy on her face when she learns new things. I'm looking forward to a fun summer!

Oh, in addition to Rebekah's classes, my friend and I split the cost of purchasing a Zoo Pass for the summer. Since Daryn now has Fridays off, we went to the Zoo as just our family for the first time ever this last month! (Yes I have pictures... to come another night) Anyway, I look forward to planning some fun outings for us on Fridays with Daddy. In fact, I think I need to make a list! Do you have suggestions for us - fun things to do in the Tucson area (or Phoenix area) with toddlers? We will definitely be headed to Brandi Fenton more than once, and Jacob's Park pool is open this summer, I hear that one is fun! Daryn's already talked about going up Mt Lemmon for some picnics. What else shall we do?

This fall: My baby's first soccer season! Daryn and I have talked about this day since before I was ever pregnant. <3

Fun Purchases

After our hard work Friday morning, we did a little shopping in the afternoon and just relaxed that evening. One of our shopping stops was Lowe's for some tools for Daryn. While we were there, I saw a big black floppy hat. Normally I wouldn't be so into it, but when my friend Priscilla helped me pick out my current swim suit, she insisted that it would look best with a pair of overly large sun glasses and a large floppy black hat ala Audrey Hepburn. So, I bought it. I'll be out in the sun a lot this summer (zoo pass, splash pad, etc) so I figured, why not? Also, the sales clerk assured me that it doesn't absorb heat enough to be concerned it would be too hot. We'll see how that holds out.

Oh! So the tools Daryn bought - he's such a resourceful man! He needs something to do during his off time at work, but doesn't want to take a book because he's frequently interrupted (you know, by actual work) and can't immerse himself in the story. So, he's decided to take up rope work again and needed something to act as a needle to pull his nylon ropes through while working with them. He bought aluminum post screws and then altered them by cutting of the end that isn't the screw, and then filing that end down so it's rounded almost to a point (but not at all sharp). He explained to me that the cord gets pinned into the post with the screw piece and that it holds very well. When being used, it looks like this. In fact, the link I just put there is to the website of "the" paracord blogger of the internet. Everyone gets ideas from him and references his stuff, according to Daryn. I'm interested to see Daryn do more work. When we were dating he made me a bracelet out of nylon rope like this, and later a rope "ladder" that had pencils for steps. It is super cute and I still have it. :) He's going to make me and a few of our friends some dice bags, and probably some rope jewelry for Rebekah.

Saturday, we went to the store again partly because I just wanted to get out of the house and partly because we needed to buy Rebekah some leotards! BUT, I will put a separate post up about that exciting news. I'm pretty sure I haven't detailed that yet.

Also on Saturday, Daryn took the truck to get the emissions checked, but things didn't work out. We have a check engine light on because of O2 sensors, and we had hte light turned off but apparently we did it too recently before getting it to emissions because the sensors weren't reset for the test to read anything. So, we have to go back later. I'm so not happy because 2 cars will make this summer MUCH more pleasant (mainly because of the above paragraph I'm going to expand on in another post) and the tags on the truck can't be renewed (they expire this month) until it passes emissions! Cross your fingers everyone - this truck is such a pain in the neck!

Recent Goings On

First things first: Daryn lost 1.6 pounds this week. :) I think if we put in some exercise, we can boost those numbers a little bit more, but he's still losing, and that's what we need.

Last night, Josiah only woke up 3 times, but I was already in bed by the first time he woke up. I'm still trying to get over a cold that I came down with last week, and even though I've been really good about putt Josiah in his own bed lately, I just let him in our bed last night. BEST sleep I've had in weeks, if not longer!

Oh, if I hadn't mentioned it, I took down the crib a few weeks ago. We never used it anyway. I mostly just threw things in it that I didn't want Josiah to get a hold of (Bekah knows how to climb in and out). We have 3 child sized (crib sized) mattresses - 1 on Bekah's Princess bed, 1 from Daryn's sister Renee, and 1 that came with the free wooden toddler bed that Daryn's dad found on craigslist for us.

So for the last 2 months or so, I've been lying on one of those mattresses on the floor with Josiah and getting him to fall asleep, then I just get up and go to bed. When he wakes up at night he just walks or crawls into my room (sometimes crying, sometimes not) and wakes me, and we repeat the process. It's not really that different from when he was in a bassinet when he was very small, and better than when I'd sit on the couch to nurse him in the night, so I am getting plenty of sleep (albeit, not all at once), I like that I can lay down with him. Sometimes I fall asleep before he does, but most of the time I'm able to get back into my bed.

This morning, Rebekah got me up at 6 (pretty typical these days, even though we have "blackout" curtains in their bedroom) and Josiah woke about 30 minutes later. I was very happy that Daryn was up by 7 (he tries to sleep in on his days off and I don't blame him) so we were all up and ready to get working! I let Daryn know I wanted to work outside, so the sooner he was ready to work, the sooner we'd be finished and hopefully we could avoid having it get too hot outside.

So this morning we managed to:
clean up dog dirt, wash the kids table (pigeons pooped on it), wash the kids wagon, empty the water side of the kids water/sand table of sand to put water in it (we make it an all sand table in the winter), move a LARGE chair from the shed to the house, put infant toys in the shed, clean up some camping gear and put it in the shed, dispose of a washing machine, remove all trash from the back yard and break down/throw out cardboard boxes that we've been piling on our porch, and then wash off the back porch

During all of that, Rebekah and Josiah had a blast outside. Since Josiah's only recently learned to walk, it was his first time being allowed to roam freely outside. At first he wanted to follow me and Daryn around everywhere, and he tried to hold our tools - especially the shovel. (When he's inside he's super proud of himself when he gets to carry around the broom.) But eventually I got him to play on the slide and he loved it! He's been down it before, but now he can consciously initiate sliding down by himself. The stairs on it are a little too narrow for him to climb up, so I still have to put him on top, though. We also let the kids play with the sand and water table, so Josiah got soaked and by the end of the work time he was super muddy from running around (and falling down) in our dirt yard! I fell a little bad, I forgot to get a picture of him all dirtied up before I stripped him down and gave him a bath. BUT! I do have pictures of him playing with the shovel.

One of Rebekah's outfits that she put together herself. :)

Hooray sandbox!

Later that day - he was SO tired! :)