Ahhh…the kids are in bed before 7.30p (not without some screaming and crying, and not necessarily just by the little kids).
Hectic busy weekend and we didn’t even leave Ann Arbor (unless you count Dexter and Saline?).
Anyways…I am going to try to get back into the almost everyday journal/blogging mode. I am so far behind since I’ve yet to post about Disney so I keep thinking I need to finish that first – i’m almost done but too much other stuff is going to be forgotten if I don’t post it now.
Friday was the end of year party at Mallory’s school. They had a musician come and play songs and show the kids all different instruments and at one point during the show, he told the kids they could come up and dance. Mallory, who was perched on a tree stump next to Alli, turned to her right so she was nose to nose with Alli, and said “do you want to DANCE??”. It was so cute :- )
At the picnic, one of the other moms who has a daughter in Carson’s room, was gushing over Carson and how cute he is, etc. I just smiled and said thank you and said her daughter was cute too. Then she said that Carson is an advertisement for boys; that she already has four kids – all girls – and if there was anything that made her want to try for a boy, it was Carson. Now I know my kid is pretty stinking cute, but that was very nice of her to say. And I think it was appropriate that Carson was wearing his “Lock up your daughters” shirt on Friday!
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Then Saturday – I had a photo session in the morning so my mom watched the kids for a couple of hours. Then we hit the pool where my sweet girl learned how to go all the way under water with her goggles on. This was a HUGE accomplishment. She’d been fighting going under for as long as I can remember, and I thought it was because of her tubes in her ears. The last time we took swim lessons she ended up sitting on the steps for the last two classes because she refused to even try to put her face in the water to blow bubbles. We signed up for lessons again and she kept saying she didn’t want to learn how to swim. Blah.
So, back to Saturday. The first 30 minutes at the pool yesterday I kept forcing her to try “just one more time”. I even tried to bribe her by saying she could change into a dress before we went to the party we were headed to after the pool. But the little stinker told me she didn’t want to wear a dress. But I pulled out a trump card and said we could paint her toes AND fingers if she just tried again, and that worked.
Not 15 minutes later, she was counting 1-2-3 and going underwater BY HERSELF. She’d FINALLY figured out that she could see underwater with her goggles on and somehow she learned how to either blow bubbles or hold her breathe (I’m so glad this just sort of happened, because I wasn’t sure how I was going to teach her that). I was SOOOO proud of her, I was almost crying. And I was thankful for the empty lemonade cup and straw that kept Carson occupied for 20 minutes while I gushed over Mallory’s new skilz!
After the pool, we headed to a barbecue that started at four (that line will never get old…name that song!). A bunch of friends had gone canoeing that morning but we just joined them for the after party. It had been a while since we’d all been together and it was fun to just shoot the $hit. But alas, I had to remember I am a mom first, so I left semi-early to get the kids in bed.
Today was a repeat of yesterday, except exchange a Father’s Day BBQ at my mom’s instead of at our friends’ house. Mallory was my assistant this morning as I tried to get a good family picture for some friends (haven’t pulled them off the camera yet, Kim…hopefully tomorrow!)
I guess I should point out that Rick had to work all weekend so that’s why he hasn’t been mentioned once now…
Mallory continued to be a fish today in the pool – and Rick even got to swing by for a few minutes to see her in action :-)
My kids were DONE tonight and Mallory had a rough bedtime and it makes me fear for the future. If she can throw these kinds of tantrums now (complete with door slamming and wall hitting), what will she do at 13?
Tracy threw tantrums as a child and I once had to sit on her as a teenager to keep her from going out with her loser boyfriend. We both survived!!!!
I want a copy of that cute picture of Carson. Adorable!!!
Wow, brings back memories (X3) and the thought of the famous Time Out Chair
I wonder what the tantrums will be like in the teen days too. I can’t imagine A being any more of a stinker than she is now. LOL.
Oh yes and my lovely daughters at 13ish put butter on the ceiling fan turned it on and laughed their axxes off when it hit the walls went “splat, splat, splat” and slid down the walls. So you have a lot to look forward to at that age :)
They were grounded for a long time after that one.