Close, But Not Close Enough in Swimming

I've taken Joshua to his swimming lessons when I've been able to do so, and tonight was the last lesson for this session.  He seems to be doing a good job, and since he didn't quite pass Level 1 last time, Meghan and I were hoping another round of lessons at the level would be enough to get him over the hump.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.  Like last time, he could do almost all the required skills, but again he came up short on two of them.  So he still hasn't passed Level 1.  Still, our main goals are for him to be comfortable in the water and for him to be a good swimmer, and I feel like we are succeeding there, based on what I see when we go to the neighborhood pool.  He really likes to be in the water and to swim, and he's a decent swimmer in that he can maneuver around in the deep end (with me close by, of course) and can swim the width of the pool. I think he could actually swim the length too, or get very close, but we haven't tried that yet.  Clara is doing really well too.  She can swim even further than he can and is much more comfortable doing it.  That's because he just doggy paddles until he's tired, and then he'll need help.  But Clara has figured out a system that works for her where she doggy paddles until she's tired, and then she flips over on her back and swims on her back for awhile to catch her breath, and then she flips back over to her front.  She never even stops moving forward, but just alternates on her front and back until she gets where she needs to go.  They are skilled enough that when I take them to the pool, neither one of them needs to wear their floatie anymore, but we have strict rules about what htey can do, and I watch them closely.  Incidentally, Hannah is still just happy to cruise around the pool in her floatie.  So it's disappointing that no one has passed the course, but I'm still pleased that at least two of our kids have made significant strides in their skills since last summer.

Summer Rain

There aren't a lot of downpours in the middle of summer, but we got one today.  The kids were all really interested in watching it, as it was pouring really hard.  Joshua decided he wanted to go out in it, so he grabbed his umbrella, raincoat, and rain boots (though he was still wearing shorts instead of pants) and went out on the deck and stood in the rain.  I think the girls thought he was crazy, as they stayed inside.

Hannah and Dad Find Dory

For some reason it was important to me to take each kid to their first movie in the theater.  I took Joshua to Home last spring, and I took Clara to Inside Out last summer.  For my date day today with Hannah, I decided it was time for her first theater experience.  Finding Dory, the much-anticipated sequel to Finding Nemo is now playing.  I think anyone who saw Finding Nemo (which includes me) now wants to see Finding Dory, especially since it's getting such good reviews.  So we went to our local AMC theater and saw it.  I got her the kids pack meal, which comes with popcorn, a drink, and some gummy candies, and it's only a moderate ripoff compared to buying them individually.  She started out sitting next to me, but pretty quickly she wanted to sit in my lap, as she likes to do.  So we watched most of the movie with her snuggled up with me in my lap, which was nice.  The Pixar short, Piper, was stunning with probably the most realistic computer animation I've ever seen.  And the movie itself was really good.  Like the rest of America, I liked it, and Hannah did too.  Afterward we went to Sylas and Maddy's to get some ice cream.  So now my mission is complete, as I was able to take all three kids to their first theater movie.  They really like going to movies, and I like taking them, so I'm sure there will be more in our future.

The Two Rockets End Their Tee Ball Season

Today was the last game of tee ball for the season for the Rockets.  Meghan and Hannah came to watch so they could get to see Joshua and Clara play.  The season went okay.  Joshua definitely showed some promise.  His natural athleticism came through again.  He liked it a fair amount, though he certainly had periods of distraction and disinterest, as he tends to have.  Clara liked it at times, as I think she was proud that she could do some of the things her big brother did.  But she was also bored a lot of the time too, and I think there were many times she would have rather been somewhere else.  She also had her ball-to-the-nose incident.  It was really nice though that both kids could play on the same team because they were close enough in age.  There probably aren't too many more times where that will work out.  And Coach Scott was a really good coach.  So we'll see what we do next summer.  I would guess that Joshua will want to do it again and Clara won't, but we'll see what their interest is next spring when it's time to decide if we want to play again.

Tree Peeler

Well, this is... not good.  One of the things we struggle with in parenting Joshua is that he has almost no impulse control.  When he has the sudden opportunity to do something, he will do it, even if he knows there will be consequences.  He also has a natural desire to damage/break/destroy things.  Combining those two, and, well, you have a bad combination.  He loves to play in the back yard, so we don't worry about him when he's back there, as there's not normally too much trouble he can get into.

But today he did.  He had taken a vegetable peeler out of one of the kitchen drawers, which I didn't know he had done, so I didn't think anything about the time he was spending in the back yard.  But when I happened to go out there, I was somewhat horrified to see that he had used the vegetable peeler to peel the bark off two of our trees!  Two of our midsize maples (I think they're maples; I'm terrible with trees) are now seriously damaged.  I'm worried the trees are going to die, which is going to be really sad, because it'll take many years for new trees to get as big as these are now.  Plus, one of them is his favorite climbing tree, and he would be disappointed to lose it.  Yet I don't know that he'll see that as a natural consequence of his actions.

I'm hoping they can be saved.  It's only the outer layer of the bark, but it's a LOT of it that's gone on each tree.  I'm going to have a tree guy (arborist?) come out and take a look to give me his thoughts.  Hopefully they'll survive, but I'm somewhat skeptical at this point.

As a side note, I shared this on Facebook earlier tonight, and while some people were similarly shocked, most of the reaction was interest in learning more about the awesome vegetable peeler we have that's so good it can peel a tree.  I obliged and provided them the information about it.  So my trees may die, but at least some people will have better experiences preparing carrots for dinner in the future.  I hope I don't have to rely on that as a silver lining.  Ugh.

Third Week of June

We have been going to the pool a lot. We have gotten some inflatable pool toys, which the kids love. But what we really need are two more of the tiny rings like Hannah has. Those seem to be the most fun.

The kids have recently had a bigger interest in games. This Ants in the Pants game was given to us and they really like it. It is harder than you would think, so it's reasonably fun for me too. It's probably a little too hard for the girls, but Joshua loves it. Clara likes to pretend it's her pet.

For Father's Day, which I am sure Jason will post about later, we always make breakfast. Clara really wanted to make it breakfast in bed. I am not really okay with that. It seems disgusting to have food that close to bedding, but since I wouldn't have to be the one eating it, I decided it was okay. Clara helped make the pancakes.

And then I let her bring the juice up to Jason. I brought the food, though Joshua really wanted to and did promise he wouldn't drop it.

Hannah's Sunset Photo Shoot

 Hannah is really our only kid who's interested in posing for a series of pictures.  So I try to take advantage of it when I can.  The lighting was great tonight, and she was in her normal smiley good mood, so I snapped a few pictures of her.

Father's Day With Some of My Kids

As is my tradition now, on Father's Day I go for a bike ride.  Last year I went the farthest I've ever gone, with a 22-mile roundtrip.  I was determined to go farther this year, which isn't necessarily logical, as I'm only getting older and not riding very often throughout the year (and mostly slow-paced family rides when I do).  But I'm too competitive to not compete with myself, or in this case my past self, so when I got to my turnaround point last year (the 3.5-mile marker; I start at the 14.5-mile marker), I kept going.  I went all the way to the end, which is effectively the 0-mile marker.  That made the roundtrip 29 miles!  It's hard to think I went 29 miles in anything other than a car, but I definitely did.  It was near my limit, though, as I was having to press really hard on some of the way back, and I had to walk up two or three major hills.  But I'm really satisfied that I made it.  I'm not sure what I'll do next year to top that, since the trail doesn't go any further.  But I'll figure something out.

Earlier in the day we had our Father's Day celebration. Unfortunately, Clara had a total meltdown, so she wasn't able to be in the picture.  It was disappointing to have to take my Father's Day picture without all three of my children, but that's how it went this year.  She calmed down later, of course, and everything was fine.  But I love my three little guys so much (even when they throw tantrums), and I'm so blessed to be their father.

Paying Attention is Important

We had tee ball again today. At this age, they allow as many parents as would like to do so in the infield when their kid's team is fielding.  Because I have two kids on the team, and because they have issues focusing on the task at hand, I'm always out there.  Coach Scott tries to rotate the kids around so everyone gets to play in different locations on the field.  Because every kid on the team (14 kids) plays in the field at once, there aren't really positions.  Someone has to be the catcher, and someone has to be on first base to field "throws" from the fielders, but other than that they pretty much just get spaced evenly.  So Scott rotates them around so everyone gets a chance to be in the front, which gives them the best chance to field balls.  At one point Clara and two other kids were in the front row, which is nearly even with the pitcher's mound (even though there's no pitcher).  Clara was messing around in the dirt, so I cheerfully reminded her to pay attention.  That's ended up somewhat being my role as one of the field coaches.  I try to make sure all the kids are paying attention and in the ready position.  Joshua is one of the biggest culprits, but mostly because although he likes playing, he gets distracted by the infield dirt and how you can draw in it and play in it.  Clara cares less about the game itself than he does, so for her it's mostly to pass time and to address her boredom. So for both of them, as well as for many others, I'm constantly reminding them to pay attention.  It's partly so they can have the opportunity to field the ball if it comes toward them, which almost all of them like to do.  But it's also for their own safety.  At this age no one hits with power, and they're usually weak grounders, but it's still a baseball being hit off a tee, albeit by a 4- or 5-year-old.  Today I specifically told Clara when she was in the front row, "Clara, you have to pay attention.  Otherwise the ball could hit you in the face."  She ignored me and continued to draw in the dirt with her shoes.  I again asked her to pay attention, and she again ignored me.  Well guess what happened right after that?  An opposing hitter hit a bouncer, which doesn't happen often.  And sure enough, it went right to her, and because she was looking down in the dirt, it popped her right in the nose.  She started crying, so I ran over to her to pick her up.  I held her and walked her off the field to console here.  But then I looked at my shoulder, where she had been resting her head, and I saw my white shirt was covered in blood.  I then ran her to the bathroom, all the while blood is pouring out of her nose and dripping on my shirt, which looked like a crime had been committed near it.  I got her into the bathroom, where she was still crying, but I was able to clean her up.  This is what she looked like before I cleaned her up, which is one of the saddest faces you'll ever see:



Another parent had seen what had happened, and she happened to have an ice pack, so she gave it to me to use on Clara.  The game was almost over anyway, so we sat out the rest of it, and she was good as new by the time we got home.  But I'm hoping, though not terribly optimistic, that she learned a lesson and will remember that, and next time she'll pay attention.  But we'll see.  I'm just glad it wasn't a more serious injury.

The Red Mustang

I had another business meeting in Oklahoma City today.  It was in a board room with a presentation setup that I'd never seen before.  Our slides and presentation were projected on two massive screens on the outside of a group of three, and a remote attendee's video feed was projected on the middle screen.  The customer was Life.Church, so his shirt makes sense.  Like my last trip down there, it just made more sense for me to rent a car and drive back, and like last time, I got upgraded.  This time it was to a sweet Ford Mustang convertible.  I needed to return it to the airport (my car was there, because I flew to OKC), so I stopped by our house which was right on the way.  The kids were super excited to see the car, and they kept asking if I'd gotten a new car.  Sadly, I had not.  I explained that I got to borrow it to drive home from Oklahoma.  They were already bored with my story and just wanted to get in it, which I let them do.  They wanted to go for a ride, but I reminded them that they needed car seats, and it wouldn't be safe to drive without them.  I was beginning to think of my next defense for when they asked me to just put our car seats in this car, but they didn't think of that and gave up on their dreams of riding in it and were happy just to sit in it for awhile before I told them I had to continue on my trip.

Second Week of June

 For awhile the kids were really into their camp chairs. I really don't want them in the house, but this time I let them. This is Clara telling an extremely dramatic story.

 We have played with water balloons a couple of times. At first they just liked smashing them on the rocks, but then they got the hang of it.

We "camped" in a tent in the living room. I wanted to see how it went before moving it outside and, eventually, potentially away from home. The kids liked playing in the tent, but afterward they asked if next time they could have a normal sleepover so maybe it's not in the cards. We did glowing water beads as a fun "camping" activity.

We try to go to the pool most days if not every day. The kids love it.

I took Hannah to Black Hoof park for a festival. At the same time, Jason was there with the other two. They did a lot of fun activities that Jason will post about later. Hannah, true to form, was more interested in doing her own thing.

We went to Zoey's third birthday. It was a tea part and the craft was painting planters that looked like tea cups. All the kids loved this and are excited to watch the flowers we brought home grow.

A Mowing Spectator

When I was going out to mow the yard today, Hannah said she wanted to watch me. She asked if I could get out her "baby sled" for her. I wasn't sure what her plan was, but then I saw that she just wanted a place to sit in the middle of the grass. She grabbed her water and just relaxed and sipped on her cold drink while I mowed.

Ron and Peg: 15 Years!

In 2011, to celebrate their 10th anniversary, Mom and Ron flew everyone out to Las Vegas for a huge celebration that involved everyone.  This year is the 15th anniversary, and while there was no particular event planned, Joanna decided to take it upon herself to leverage her newly accessible location (she and Kirk just moved back from Houston) to organize a surprise party for Mom and Ron.  She coordinated with all of us to come up with a plan that would work, which was no easy task, since it needed to be a surprise.  But she, and we, pulled it off, and today we all showed up at their house to surprise them.  Joanna had coordinated with us all to have us write messages to them, and she put them all in a nice book.
Joanna also was in charge of all the decor, and it looked great.  We even had a cake ready.

After we ate cake, we enjoyed the nice weather on the back patio and back yard.  Their expanded patio makes it easy to host everyone without anyone feeling cramped.

The most recent additions to the family, Lucy and Daniel, arrived ready to party!

The older cousins were a little more energetic.  And somewhat amazingly, they were all willing to stand in a line so we could get some pictures of them.   It was a really great party.  Joanna did a great job as lead organizer of coming up with the plan and then making it happen.  And we were all excited to celebrate the anniversary of the couple who made this awesome blended family happen.