Little Swimmer

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You spin me right round...

Just another bight in our house.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

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Before

During....a little scared.

After!

One lazy weekend

Our weekend couldn't have been lazier. We left the house for one dinner, church and to visit the park today. The rest of the time was spent hanging out, playing Legos, napping, grilling, watching movies and being as lazy as we could. But as we approach soccer season in this house which includes one reffing husband, one 6 year old soccer player, 2 boys playing baseball, and alot of single parenting being lazy is just what we needed.

The flood waters at our park have all but reseeded. Yay! There is still plenty of water lying around so Falls Park was of course pretty neat to see today.

Being lazy all weekend led to three boys who needed to get out by this afternoon. They climbed and climbed and climbed the rocks. Bennett did his best to keep up and proved to be a dirt eating, mud jumping, water splashing 18 month old. Even Emily joined us and as you can see by the amount of tongue hanging out she had fun too.

And would you look at this! A picture of them all...smiling, not being goofy (for the most part) and looking at the camera. Perfect!

Flooding 2011

The flood waters are back. We're still high and dry and hope to remain that way all year. We were blessed last year to stay dry. despite the fact that ALL our neighbors flooded. Thank you God! When Declan examined the water's edge last night he promptly shouted, "Mommy, God must have decided to flood the Earth again." And today when we drove past the doggy park to check it out (it was quite flooded) he again said, "Why does God keep flooding the Earth." They just did Noah's Arc last week at school.....can you tell?

We also lose access to the bike path. Which means we can't get to any park unless we hop in the car. It's a bummer and I hope they recede before park season is in full swing.

It looks like the water goes forever, it doesn't. Our house is just on the other side of all this water. At least the snow is almost gone?!?

Bennett got to try out his new (old?) rainboots. His little legs walked the entire way of our walk. Apparently, he likes walking much better when its not cold and there is no snow involved.

And he enjoyed walking through the water.

And of course sticking his hands in it.

Please keep us, and all of Sioux Falls, in your prayers that these flood waters remain minimal and cause little damage.

Florida

We're back! Florida was warm, sunny and fantastic! It was a much needed vacation after a long, long winter of cold, snow and morning sickness. We couldn't have asked for better weather. But when your coming from below zero, anything is an improvement.

We hit the beach on day one. The boys were very excited to play in the water. Except for this kid. He seems to have his mommy's trait of not liking to go in water where you can't see your feet. Who knew that was genetic!

But he was content to just play in the sand. And look for sea shells on the sea shore.

The first day we went to the beach the water was a littler clearer and there were no waves. So, I'd catch him every once in awhile sneaking out, about mid-thigh, to fill his pail with water but that's as far as he would go. Stinker.

He also lost (read: swallowed) his 2nd tooth not too long before we left. And if you look closely you can see his new tooth is beginning to sprout. It's hard to believe he'll be 6 in a month.

This little boy thought the water was a delight. He happily played by himself (or with daddy) both in the water and on the sand.

It's amazing to watch his imagination. He can entertain himself with just his fingers (Seriously!). I wish I could figure out how to teach this creativity and ingenuity in the other boys. If anyone has a magical answer for that, I'm all ears.

He's a character to watch.

This little boy loved the beach as well. As you can see we kept him thoroughly covered, even down to the cankles. Ok, so the trunks were a little big. He's a big boy, with short legs!

But we adjusted and let those cankles get some sun and he loved the sand between his toes.

He also thought the water was a hoot. He went right in, with no hesitation. It may be an interesting summer at the pool with this little guy who appears to have no fear of the water. And it appears that the Florida sun made his hair more red. At least it appeared that way at the beach and in this picture.

He enjoyed being out in it with Papa and Daddy.

He helped us build a sandcastle one day.

Daddy did most of the work while the other boys played foremen.

King Kong thought he could destroy it but then he got stuck in the wet sand.

Good thing Big Brother was around to help him out of that predicament.

Oh, how we miss the beach.

And just in case you were beginning to think we spent every waking minute at the beach, we didn't. We went and looked for Manatees one day. We didn't find any but we did find a nice long black snake that freaked everyone out. Luckily, it stayed put and didn't eat us as we walked by. Yuck!

We spent some time at the park where Bennett mastered his sliding skills.

And then he learned that going down on his stomach was much more thrilling. Did I mention it will be an interesting (pregnant) summer?

We took a dip in grandma's (chilly) pool. Give this kid a couple of noodles and he'll swim around a pool all day.

Give this kid a couple of noodles and well....this happens.

Even Bennett went in. It was cold people, really cold!

Everyone sprouted a few new freckles in the sun.

If I wrap them all up in towels then I can get all three of them in the same picture, sort of looking at the camera and kind of smiling. I'll call it a success.

We also celebrated my birthday down there. Sigh...

And we went to a Twins game where we were lucky enough to get a picture with TC.

And Carson got his ball signed by #41 Drew Butera (the catcher, when Mauer is out)

Trevor and I spent a day at Sanibel and dug up some really neat shells. When we found the clam shells they were still hooked together but the bumpy plane ride home broke them apart.

Trevor also found a sand dollar.

And now were home, with the snow, patiently waiting for it to melt and summer to arrive.

Winter, Schminter.

What have we been up to? Well, in the winter it feels like our days are always the same and it gets difficult to spice things up a bit and get us through the long winter days.

Luckily at school they spice things up by having wacky day. I was pretty impressed with my outfit selection. And I hear the girls were too.

We built a snow fort while having a snow day. This was before 9am.

We've had a bubble bath or two.

And when it wasn't 30 below we ventured out to make a snowman. Or at least the boys did. I was on the couch, remember?

This past weekend it hit mid 30s. Hallelujah! And so the boys piled in the car to watch the graters clean out our cul-de-sac in preparation for the melting the snow.

And then we bundled up, although lightly since it was 30+ degrees, and enjoyed some beautiful weather.

We dug a tunnel. And by we, I mean Trevor.

Even daddy got through it.

Can you see the sun shining?

And these too hooligans attempted to make the biggest snowman ever.

Don't ask how we got that second ball up there. I'll just say it involved alot of muscle and the corn hole board. I'm sure it was not a pretty sight.

We were going to take the boys to the ice rink but apparently that's not a good idea when it's been 40 for 2 days. So we went sledding instead.

The boys loved it.

Declan probably the most. I think he laughed the whole time.

Winter fun!

These two should have probably been on something other then a circle sled. Sorry for the snow bath Bennett.

Despite his rather terrified look I think he actually liked it.

See....proof!