Fish out of water

After getting out of the pool, a certain someone was annoyed that she wasn't getting all the attention and pouted on the side of the pool while daddy and Maddy played.

Then she figured out how to engage Maddy again, and the fun continued! It was like Batman and Robin......as Maddy chased her "cape".

Splish Splash

Maddy has her own way of playing in the pool, which is exactly how I remember Abby doing it the first year we moved here when she was the same age. She does love to swim occasionally, but she has more fun playing on the steps and throwing toys in the pool! The other night after big sister got out, she found a new friend to play with.....DADDY! They took turns pouring water on each others heads! She was a good sport.....so was daddy!

Monkey Madelyn

Maddy can be such a monkey lately! Here she is climbing and chewing on the baby gate (whats new....this kid chews on everything....she's like having a new puppy around the house).

Swimmer Part 2

Here she is swimming again! I think she is trying to save us on swim lessons for next summer......we shall see!!! (If the video takes too long to load, just click the "YOU TUBE" button on the bottom right of the video screen below and it will open it in a new window to view)

Learning to Swim on her own!!!!!

Sooooo.....our BIG Girl is learning to swim. We've been trying for weeks to talk her into letting us swim with her without her floaty on, to proove to her she can at least touch in the shallow end on her tippy toes! And to our amazement, she let us do it tonight. Not only that, but as soon as she conquered walking around the shallow end on her own, she jumped off the swim step and swam out to us all on her own. She kicked her little feet and kept her head above water just right (and Mike even checked under the water while she swam to confirm that her feet were not touching the bottom as she kicked)! Who knew!!!???!!!! She was SOOO proud of herself and even showed us how she could pull herself out of the pool all by herself (another first).
Here's the 1st of 2 quick videos from tonight with her swimming without her floaty!

Uh Uh!

These days Maddy knows EXACTLY what she does and doesn't want!
As I was giving her a bath last night, Abby tried offering her toys and she kept saying "uh uh"and sometimes shaking her head. I think she was fooling around with Abby, getting her to offer every toy in the tub just for fun!

Newest Creation in our bread world

Mikes newest creation.....Sourdough!! And it is WONDERFUL.....while it lasts!!

It was a 3-4 day process to prep the mix and let it sit, but he did a great job and it is great for breakfast!

Garden FUN!

Spent the morning at our local Botanical Gardens, where they opened their new butterfly and maze exhibits for the summer. The girls had a lot of fun and cooled off at the water garden afterwards since it was in the 90's today!

 Abby giggling as she found a butterfly!

 Maddy attempting to touch EVERYTHING....she's a very hands-on girl

 Hmm......where did daddy go?? First maze!!

 Second maze....you can see Abby's head sticking up in the far row!

 Reward for solving the maze.....ringing the bell!

Big Girl Meals

Maddy has finally graduated from her highchair seat, to a booster at the table.

She is definitely big enough, and I am tired of washing the tray 3 times a day!!

Another feat......she made it through two days of not emptying her plates onto the table! In her high chair I guess she got so used to me putting the food directly on the tray that when I started giving her food on a plate, she would immediately dump the plate contents onto the tray and hand me the empty plate saying "All Done". Cute, but not functional. She is starting to figure out we all use plates!

Sisterly......torture (I mean love)

The ups and downs of being a little sister.......this moment was definitely a DOWN!
(FYI- no children were harmed in the production of this photo......)

Even though Maddy looks like the wicked witch under the house......or in this case the couch!

Just Girls Having FUN!

My friend Danielle dropped her girls (Addison & Casey) off yesterday for a fun filled morning, and boy was it ever.

These girls love spending time together, and they enjoy every minute. Here are some photos I took, and cute video I captured.

Video link of the girls having fun eating their lunch outside:


Video link of the girls (AKA Princesses) playing ring-around-the-rosie with Maddy:

Cute Fun

The girls love to play ring-around-the-rosie these days. And Maddy was in her cute Hawaiian print dress so it was a cute moment of them having fun!

Sunday Lounging

Loving daddy's uniform cover

 Mike had to pull out his uniform the other day, and the girls took turns wearing his cover (hat).

SOOO CUTE!!!!

My Banana Girls

This is monumental, both of my kids eating bananas! 

Maddy was just like Abby and refused bananas up until NOW....about 18 months. 

Finally the other day she started eating them.....after MANY wasted bananas.

Finally an easy, portable snack.

Abby & the diving board!

Abby LOVES to jump off the diving board. And her new trick is swimming to the side with her head under water, holding her breath!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Okay, so this wasn't exactly how I planned my holiday weekend to go, but you have to roll with the good and the bad.....even though I was dealt mostly bad! We still made fun amidst the craziness.

In case you missed the update, last week both girls were getting over ear infections, and then I got pinkeye in both eyes on Wednesday. Mike was out of town all week in Missouri for work, so I was home alone with the kids. By about Friday my left eye was getting worse and was pretty bloodshot! Saturday and Sunday I ended up with chills, fever and vomiting too, so basically flu like symptoms on top of the pinkeye! By Sunday my eyes were so dry and scratchy I was over it. I took myself to the military ER on Monday morning, and he said I still had the pinkeye in both eyes, but that I also have a hemorrhaged blood vessel in my left eye (which is much worse visually then the right, this is why!).

Sent me home with more antibiotic and wetting drops. Long story short, I am fine and off to my regular doctor again today for a follow up! I'll keep you posted. I still look disastrous!! Too bad its not Halloween or I'd make a great costume for FREE!

I wasn't about to let this ruin my entire holiday weekend though, so Emily and Abby had a BLAST all weekend swimming and playing, and then we had a big group of friends over Sunday for our first big pool party of the season! All the kids had a blast and it was a beautiful day!

 ABOVE: The kids were wiped after a few hours of swimming (and their long car ride here from PA). Heck, whatever gets Abby to crash on the couch for 2+ hours, I'll take it!

 Abby LOVED swimming with Emily.....who taught her to jump confidently off the side of the pool and the diving board the first week of the season!!! YEAH!!! No more scaredy-cats here!!! She's a jumping pro! Holds her breath, and even swims with her face in the water to the side now too!

 Oh yeah, and then there is Maddy! Who LOVES the pool too! 

She fits into Abby's floaty from last year, and is a little fish. She floats/swims great on her own, and loves to be in the pool with us!

 Abby showing off her back float

 Jumping is her new favorite thing to do OVER AND OVER!!!!!

 My 2 pool munchkins! (These are the BEST floatation devices for kids by the way, at Target, only $17! "Puddle Jumpers". A one piece unit that still allows them to swim, without tipping on their back like a life vest!)

 Maddy's favorite thing to do besides swim is to throw ALL the pool toys in the water!!

 Silly Maddy!!! Floating like a big girl!

 

 Sisters!!! Abby is great and even tows Maddy back to the steps when she wants to get out!

 After jumping in, this is her head down in the water, holding her breath and swimming back to the steps! Totally self taught, and I'm so proud.