a successful swim season

are you bored?

madeline and jacob love to swim!
so much that they did it every day for 61 days!
swim team is
a great way to keep kids active all summer
and i get 1 1/2 hours every day to myself ;)

look at that smile! do you smile
when you swim?

here is the team photo. it was 7:30 am
people so we did the best we could!




the kids competed against 260 kids. often one event had 48 kids!

madeline and jacob placed 6th or
above in each of their
events. we are so excited for them!

now that swim team is over
they tell me they are bored!!!

ummm, chores anyone?


coach jake did a great job!



go, go go!

Pieces of Summertime

I know what you are thinking... this looks
like the picture from Iwo Jima.

Actually, he is on an adventure to dig up some dinosaur bones.
Where would this amazing dig take place?
In our back yard, of course!
He has a map and is trying to find a little bit
of fossil history.

Let's hope it doesn't look like a
sprinkler pipe and we have a geyser in our back yard.

Summertime always means yummy strawberries
and we sure had a bumper crop this year!

We had so many we had to freeze some.

Nothing beats sweet strawberries with whipped cream!

We had a swim meet today and the kids are
celebrating and showing us those impressive muscles.

They belong to our local YMCA swim team and practice
everyday for an hour.

It helps with the summer bored and wear them out ;)

Jacob is having a moment of silence
before he slices through the water doing his backstroke.

He also did the butterfly, 2 relays, and the 50 yd freestyle.

Madeline loves the breast stroke and butterfly stroke.
She also competed in 2 relays and the backstroke.

It's fun to get the ribbons as well.
In fact, if you want to come visit Jacob
will pull out his swim ribbons,
4 baseball trophies, and his medals
from the PTA art program.

What are you doing to keep your kids busy this summer?

good bye elementary school

Madeline had her 5th grade BBQ last week.

I helped with the field day crab soccer game. It was a lot of fun watching kids get in the "crab walk" and try to kick a ginormous soccer ball.
It was overcast most of the day and the sun came
about about the time of the water balloon fight, perfect!

Mr A was giving the 5th graders a big long boring speech and then he said the code word "summertime" and all the parents launched the water balloons!

It was awesome!
We had a great time running around and getting wet. I saved 3 water balloons and used them after all the right were gone. That's the best, when you are the only one with ammunition.

I got Mr A, Madeline, and another kid from her class.

When I got home I noticed my neck was a little red, so i put some aloe on it and ran off to Jacob's last baseball game. When I got home it was very red.
Well, I have had my share of sunburns thru the years being blonde and blue eyes it comes with the territory, but this is the MOTHER of all sunburns.
My kids and husband are NOT allowed to touch me unless it is below the knees. It has been 5 days and it is skill red but not RED!!! Yikes, I should have listened to that little voice that said "put some sunscreen on!!!"

We live and learn! Madeline will be off to middle school next year, ready or not!

I'm not, but she is... sniff.

The Country Reunion

Our family had a reunion at my parents house. It was fun to let the cousins play together. The only things kids need for entertainment are water and dirt.
Here is the water. It's a good thing Jacob had his safety goggles on, that water is on a jet stream.
Thanks, Nate! What a sweetheart to bring our rootbeer floats on a tray.
My cute mom, she is so good to take of all her kids and grandkids!
Thank you, Mom and Dad you are wonderful!

Do you like free stuff????

A&W: Free Root Beer Float (June 19, 2009)

I worked at the Nyssa A&W for a year while I was in high school (go Bulldogs). I also broke my finger during this time and had a cast on my arm. I got A&W root beer down my cast and it was sticky and itchy! My favorite food to make and eat while I was working.... a chocolate and banana milkshake, yummy! So cool off for free, you can thank me later

In addition to the free smoothies at Orange Julius and the free smoothies at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, you can also get a free small Root Beer Float at all A&W Restaurant locations from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in celebration of their 90th anniversary. See more details here. ( found on moneysavingmom.com )

Hide and Seek. Can you find the eggs? We were in the country at my parents house when a Kill Deer Bird came charging after me! I didn't notice these camouflaged eggs. The parents were super protective of their sweet babies. It poured rain and the mommy just sat on her nest keeping the eggs warm ;)
Madeline wanted a just like me American Girl doll. So she earned the $95 and it arrived last week... it came 3 days early and she was soooo excited.
Jacob was eating some trail mix and spelled this out for me. I love you too cutie!

It's that time of year, swim lessons. Here is one of Madeline's practice dives.