Happy Birthday Joel

Today is Joel's birthday.  Sweet honey badger turns 4. 

This boy is something else.  He is definitely a honey badger through and through but also has a sweet side to him that is so precious.  We do admire how determined/stubborn he is and have no fear of Joel sucumbing to any sort of peer pressure whatsoever.  He wont budge from what he does/does not want to do.  So we're learning how to teach him to use that for good.  It also brings me to my knees daily because I have no idea how to parent him.  My mom once said raising kids requires lots of prayer.  And trying to figure out what this boy needs requires lots of prayer. But oh how he melts my heart.  He loves to be snuggle buddies and just come up and randomly give me kisses. And he gets so excited about just the littest things. Its been so fun having Joel the past 4 years. Oh so sweet. Joel, you add so much joy and good to our family.

Joel has been talking about his birthday party for months now and its funny but when he would get mad at me say "I'm not inviting you to my birthday party"  Thats when you knew he was upset with you or didnt like what you were saying :) 

I sat next to the Kona Ice's wife the other swim meet and started talking to her and on the way home thought about having him over for a birthday party.  We looked into it and the more Brent and I talked about it the more we wanted snow cones on a hot summer day :) so we booked the snow cone truck to come to a park near our house.  And during the week its even cheaper - sold!  So it wasn't too hard to get Joel on board!  So we had a playdate party at a park in our neighborhood.  Although I'm afraid now when the kids want to bike to that park that they will always want the kona ice truck to come!

And I think it was a hit!  The kids got to add their own amount of syrup to the ice.  It was fun to see who had more syrup or more ice in their cups.  My boys snow cone philosphy is a little ice/lots of syrup :)

Brent crashed the mommy/kid party for his own snow cone and then headed to work after :)

He loved it and I'm so glad. I hope its the start of a great year. 

4th of July

We had a very laid back 4th of July.  Brent had taken the boys wednesday night for the fireworks in chesapeake and then on the actual 4th we went to the chesapeake 4th of July parade with some friends. Then came home and had to set another nutria free.  But all the animals Brent keeps trapping in our garden deserves its own blog post.  I think he should write that one!

My pretty patriotic girl.

This picture makes me smile looking at all the kids. I think since I was determined Joel would be born on the 4th of July I now always look back to that day 4 years ago when I was waiting for a baby. In fact I can still hear my grandpa singing "born on the forth of July" to me since that day he was in my house singing it the whole day :)  But Kelly and I were both waiting for babies to come so its fun seeing how RJ and Colin have grown in the past few years and also how we've added a few more along the way.  I'm very thankful for Kelly and her freiendship over the years. 

Joel

This guy is turning 4 in a little over a week.  Crazy how fast time flies

another swim meet

Another swim meet.  This time at our pool.  We had to be there at an insane hour for a Saturday - 6:30am.  Well that's actually not too early around here but on a Saturday when all our children are sleeping in for once seems ridiculously early. (a shame to miss out on the sleeping in we could've done! Just another hour maybe but still...) 

 

Although my parents got less sleep since they drove over to watch.  We have 1 more swim meet at our pool in a few weeks and the rest at different away pools.  I'm getting used to how this league runs the meets so now I can figure out times for him to swim so Brent can bring up Joel and Norah when its getting close. 

 

Colin swam free and back.  The back was in the 9&10 group.  He dropped 10 seconds in free which is HUGE!  Back wasn't so great since he was almost perpendicular swimming backstroke :)  But he swam hard and had fun this week. 

 

I think its safe to say he's enjoying it this summer!

 

First swim meet

 We had our first swim meet today.  I just took Colin since it was at an away pool and we had no idea what time he would be swimming.  We were there 6 hours so I'm glad Brent stayed home with Norah and Joel.  Norah would've hated it.  The next meet is at our home pool so thankfully Brent can walk up with Norah and then go home a few hours to wait until the next event Colin swims. 

He did really well.  Colin was a little nervous - he must have gone to pee about 5 times before he swam but he did great.  He swam free, breast, and then a free relay.  He false started on free and got halfway down the pool before they jumped in and stopped him. And then started him again right away so he wasn't as fast but thats ok.  He swam his heart out.  He then swam breast-stroke and I was nervous for him.  He had only swam it once in practice and lets just say wasn't legal in any way :) But I worked a little bit with him and he did great. The coaches were amazed - at this first meet they just throw people in different events to see how they do. I heard them all cheering for him at the end and one saying - he's a breastroker! A proud mom moment right there.  I took a video - he did finish strong - I stopped the video so I could cheer my heart out and then remind him two hand touch :)

The timer didnt think he got DQ but I looked at the official time sheet later and he did.  In fact all but one kid got DQ in his age group.  A kid on the other team.... oh well.  I'm so proud of him. I teared up watching him.  I didnt think I would get so emotional watching him swim but its so different watching your own kid do it.  I spent a few years coaching other kids so having my own son out there is completely different.  And so much fun.  I'm so proud of him. 

 But I dont really care at this point what place he comes in and how fast he swims. (It is disappointing to have him DQ since he doesnt get a ribbon for his hard work - and he wants the ribbons)   Until he gets serious about  swimming these next pictures are what are important to me for  him to love this sport.  Because without the fun part the rest of it is just a lot of hard work. 

I think he's going to have a lot of fun with this group of boys this summer. 

Snow Peas

 This is how the kids get their lunch everyday.  They have to go pick it :) 

Crazy kid - but he's proud of his garden. 

Our snow peas are doing great - I think its our best year.  Norah eats about 10 every time she goes outside.  And so do the rest of us. Our beans are coming up and wrapping around the wire to create a tunnel for the kids to play under (thank you pintrest) we have tons of blueberries almost ready, a few zuccini, some squash, raddishes, and I think that might be all so far.  The kids are really excited to eat their veggies now. Our tomato plants are doing well. And our pepper plants. Only thing we dont have doing well is our cucumber plants which a mouse/rat was eating.  Gross but Brent trapped one already and I heard from the kids caught another one today. 

Second Grade

I'm now the proud mother of a second grader.  If I wasn't so excited about having him home all day for the next few months I might cry. Second grade right now seems so old to me.  Its been a great year.  Even better than I could've hoped for. He's had a wonderful class and an amazing teacher. We are all looking forward to summer. I think Joel is the most excited to have his best friend home all day with him.  I just wish summer wasn't so short.  We will enjoy it while we can! 

Bring on Summer

Sticks and Tears

 Sweet Sweet Baby Girl. Do they get any more adorable?  I think not.

 So Precious and So Sweet

 Until she finds a stick to play with

 And tries to break off a tiny branch thats attached to the bigger stick

 It can be very frustrating when it doesn't break off instantly.

So frustrating and is probably worth all those tears and cries.  At least in her mind.

The boys would never have cried like this over a stick.  They would've just thrown it down and found another one. I think we're in for it with this girl :) 

Swim Team

Swim team started. This time Joel is also on the team.  Both boys are doing great.  Colin keeps moving up lanes in practice.  The water has been cold but they've gotten in each day.  But boy is it hard work for me!  I never knew growing up what it was like for the parents.  After I send my parents a text about how practice was going my dad wrote - "sounds about right" 

Joel would complain about having to swim and would fight me when I would put his swim suit on.  "just in case you decide to swim" is what I would say knowing full well he would go in each day.  And he does.  We round the corner to the pool and he's running full speed into the pool for practice.  But the water is cold so he would hug the ladder.  And swim when they would have him swim - with a HUGE smile on his face. Then when the coaches were working with another swimmer he would hug the ladder crying for me to take him out.  Then the coaches would come over and he'd be all smiles again. You can't make honey badger do anything he doesnt want to but I knew he loved it so I stood at the side and kept yelling to him to stay in and swim!  This happend over and over but now that the water is warmer he's stopped crying for me to get him out.   Joel is really good for a 3 year old.  I wouldn't be surprised if hes moved up into the lanes before the end of the summer. (I dont have any pictures yet of Joel swimming - I brought the camera for time trials and Joels group didnt swim in those)

Colin has moved up a few lanes which is a big deal and a little scary.  He's swimming so many laps and working so hard.  The cold water has been hard for his asthma too but he's pushing through and does it all.  He gets nervous but I'm glad he's moved up because he's getting a lot of attention from the coaches.  Swimming isn't his favorite sport - I think because its so much work during practice- but I told him its a non-negotiable thing right now.  I want my kids to be confident swimmers so he has to swim.  But now that the water is warming up he's starting to enjoy it more. And a little girl from his class is in his lane and he knows a few other kids from school.  This picture was taken in the rain during time trials.  So cold but he swam really well. He has a quick turnover but needs work on his arms - he slaps the water when he's trying to go fast.  He's working on that.  His backstroke has improved so much.  He turned over last year during the race at the very end thinking he was at the wall. In time trials he took a few strokes past the flags and then streamlined it to the wall the rest of the way! at least he didnt turn over! 

Norah.  Norah is my swimming baby.  She's always loved the water and swims perfect breastroke kick in the bathtub.  She is dying to swim.  And is pretty much like this each and every practice:

 That is when she's not trying to make a break for the open fence and run to the pool.  She actually watches the gate to see if its open (the parents are on the outside of the pool deck for practice)  When she sees it open she makes a run for it each time) And in the picture above you can see her nasty molar almost poking through. 

Brent usually is working but has been able to come halfway through and take her home. It might be a long summer for Norah and I.  

And I can't forget Brent :)  The guy who I had to teach how to swim when we were first married.  Brent thinks he knows all about swimming and if it wasn't determental to Colin's strokes almost be comical how he tries to tell Colin how to swim.  I have to undue everything he says. Brent is convinced Colin should be swimming like an olympic swimmer by now and when he get home from work early enough, stands next to me amost critiqing every stroke Colin does. He never tells Colin - just me. He's great at encouraging Colin. But its so annoying especially since I think Colin is doing well and pretty much where he should be at this age so I usually send him home with Norah. Ha!

Its hard work getting there every day and finding ways to entertain Norah while trying to watch the boys swim.  But I enjoy it.  And very thankful to my parents all those years of taking us to swim practice. I do miss swimming a lot and can't wait to get back into the pool this summer and swim laps.  Thankfully the water is getting warmer - I dont like the cold water either. 

Laugh

Her brothers can get her laughing pretty hard.  Love it! 

Keys

 Colin brought home this worksheet a few weeks ago.  #3 makes me laugh...(I jumped through the window)  Sadly its true a lot of times. Ant Ant witnessed it yesterday. I forget the house keys a lot. So we send in the boys to unlock the door for us. 

But now that the whole internet knows I am making sure all windows are locked from now on. And make sure I always have the house key. So stalkers dont come to our house!