Our First Day at the Pool

We went to the public pool yesterday for the first time this summer. The girls have been begging to go and watching as we drive down the road to see when it was going to be open. I kept trying to tell them that the water isn't heated and it's going to be cold, but, as kids (and most adults) are, they had to find out for themselves! It was cold! Too cold for me, that's sure. I'm a wimp when it comes to being cold. I really don't enjoy swimming cold at all. The girls will keep swimming with purple lips and shaking knees though. Here are the pictures from our first swim day. This is Lyla warming up under the towel.

The girls had fun but I decided it is past time to put them in swimming lessons. They are not content in the kiddie pool anymore! They wanted to stay in the big pool most of the time and when neither of them can really swim, it is very frustrating for me to try to handle them in the big pool by myself. It made it worse that it was too cold and I didn't want to be in the big pool. So, we're going to spend a good chunk of money on lessons whether we like it or not!

Pump It Up Party

While our friends, the Hollidays, are in town they planned a Pump It Up birthday party for all three of their kids. All three kids have birthdays very close together so it works out perfectly. My girls were very excited because they love Pump It Up. For those that aren't familiar with it, Pump It Up is a place that houses about 8 of those blow-up, jumpy things that you see at big parties and festivals. The kids love it and it's actually fun for adults too. So, here are some pictures from the party.

I took a picture of Lyla before we left because she insisted on dressing herself, of course. Right now she is stuck on wearing jeans and long sleeve, blue shirts. The jeans are way too short for her. No, they're not supposed to be carpi's! The blue shirt is too little as well. The sleeves are now 3/4 length! She won't take no for an answer and it's just not a battle I care to fight. I keep thinking that she's going to realize it's getting too warm for these clothes but that hasn't happened just yet. She also has her Scooby Doo hat on that Papoo and Mimi sent for her birthday.

When I took a picture of Lyla, Grace jumped up and wanted me to take a picture of her too. Now, on this night I actually convinced her to wear pants because she was going to be jumping and flipping. I've started trying to teach her a little modesty. She'll hang upside down on the monkey bars with one of her many dresses for all to see and not think a thing about it. But on this night, for whatever reason, she decided to listen to Mom!




After we had been at the party for about 10 minutes Grace got banged in the mouth by Lyla's head! She ended up with a seriously busted lip. She cried like her front teeth had been knocked out! She sat in my lap with an ice pack for most of the night. I felt sorry for her. It looked really bad. I'm writing this on 2nd day after the party and it's still swollen!

Even though we had an injury we had a good time with Asa, Ava Wren, and Chapel! We'll miss them when they go back to Honduras next week.

Asa and Ava Wren are back!

Our dear friends, the Hollidays, are home for a short visit from Honduras. They left in January to become missionaries for Providence World Ministries. They are helping to build an orphanage community! They moved their life and their 3 little kids to a whole new country with a whole new language! I give them tons of credit for what they're doing and teaching their children at the same time. I don't know if I could do the same. Well, anyway, they came home to visit and we met them at the park last Sunday afternoon. The kids played for a long time and loved it. My camera batteries died after taking this first shot of them together. Just my luck.

Our First Picnic of the Summer

Well, summer has officially begun for Grace and Lyla. We're out of preschool and doing the typical summer things each day. On this particular day they wanted to have a picnic outside. Our new backyard is great for that because we have two great shade trees to sit under!

(Notice Lyla's outfit! black socks, purple camo pants, white t-shirt with green and yellow)

Saturday was the big day. She turned 3 years old! I can't believe it's been 3 years since I had a baby. She is so big. Lyla has been excited about her birthday for a while now. We had my family and Eric's family over for a birthday party for her. We grilled hamburgers and had cake and ice cream. Lyla is obsessed with Scooby Doo right now, so her party of all Scooby Doo. We had a table cloth, plates and kid cups that were Scooby Doo. The cake was even Scooby Doo. You'll see that further down. The three little girls ate their lunch squeezed at the top of our slide. Here is Lyla's tattoo. It is 3, of course for her birthday. The other cheek had something blue on it because blue is her favorite color.Here is Grace's rainbow tattoo. She loves rainbows. Her birthday had a rainbow cake in January.Here is the wonderful Scooby Doo cake. My friend, Brooke O'Dell, makes cakes for people and designed this herself. She did a great job. It was ashame I messed it up. I tried to photograph Scooby's good side but you can still see the mess up on his right cheek. I sat the cake on a cabinet in my dining room Friday night so it wouldn't get messed up by someone if it was sitting on the table. Well, the next morning I came downstairs and the morning sun was shining directly on poor Scooby. Half his cheek had melted off. It was just a puddle in the box. We tried to make him look a little better by putting some chocolate icing on his boo-boo but it still looked pretty sad. Lyla never even noticed. Sorry Brooke!Lyla was so proud of her Scooby cake.Now, on to the presents....She was given a few Scooby Doo dvds, which she loved. We have played all three of them already. I love them b/c they have an entire season's worth of episodes on each disc so they just keep on playing!
My sister, Julie, gave Lyla Moon Sand. She was nice enough to call me and ask for my permission before buying this for Lyla. I told her OK even though I've told Grace and Lyla no to moon sand several times in the store. I thought I'd give it a try. This was one of the gifts we gave Lyla. I searched everywhere for ScoobyDoo figures. They are sold out at every ToysRUs store in town! They have a Mystery Machine van to go with it but it is sold out too. Ebay has several of these but they are selling for more than twice what they sell for in the store. Crazy!!! So, I kept calling the store until I finally caught the Bellevue store when they had the figures. We never did get the van. Oh well.

Lyla is turning into quite a ball fanatic. She got a baseball bat and ball from my parents and a soccer goal for the backyard. I think you can tell from the picture she was pleased with this gift.

A tee-ball set!
My grandmother sent Lyla a pretty little Dora gown. I was afraid she wouldn't wear it because she won't wear any pj's right now. It's panties only for her! But, she did where the gown last night. She was so cute.
Another big ball from my parents. It has Scooby on it. She loves this one too.
This was the other gift we gave her. A stuffed Scooby. I got this from Ebay. She loves it.
So, after everyone left and it was later in the evening she was playing with her new toys. We got the moon sand out to see what it was like. Well, it's sand, with coloring. It is a little stickier than regular sand so you can mold it quite easily. My problem with it is the clean up, which is why I have always hesitated to get it in the past. It's not like play-doh. It's so fine that once it falls to the floor or the chair you might as well forget about it. If it's not in the pile by the time playtime is over, it's getting sweeped into the trash. The other problem is that it doesn't come with any storage containers. You have to buy those separately! I ended up putting the sand in sandwich baggies. Plus, it's impossible to not mix the 3 colors together. It's impossible to keep it in a small pile on the table too. So, I would not recommend Moon Sand simply for the mom's sake. The girls loved playing with it, but, I think it's going to go into the sandbox outside. Julie, I'm sorry to say this, but it's just too messy for inside. It should come with a little miniture sandbox to play with on the table and a container to store it in. Oh well, you live and you learn.

Goldfish! Eric's parents brought the girls about 7 goldfish on Friday night. Well, by Saturday evening two were left. By Sunday morning, one was left! "Goldie" is still hanging on and looking pretty strong but she's all alone now. The girls love it though.

This was Lyla by late on Saturday. She was wiped out. Did she fall asleep early? Of course not! That would be too nice on Eric and me! We put in one of her new Scooby movies and hoped she would fall asleep watching it. No such luck! That little stinker could keep herself awake all night long if she wanted too. I finally turned the movie off at 8pm and made them go to bed.It was a good birthday for little Lyla Belle!

Happy 3rd Birthday!