TRUCKS!

Every morning I load the kids up and take them to Lilly's swim practice.  Usually it's very hot and they play on the playground or on the basketball court at the swim club.  Yesterday we arrived to a big treat!  It was overcast and slightly cooler and there were construction vehicles galore!  We sat in the grass of the parking lot and watched while Lilly practiced.  Win/Win!

Luke loved the street sweeper.
 

The sweeper picked up all the pavement debris from the road that was being worked on and carried it down to the trash truck and unloaded.  The boys were clapping they were so excited! 

 

 Then came the pretty red Mack truck.  Gabe was very curious...

This truck also had a plan.  He pulled up against the curb so that...

 

...this here "digger" (as I like to call it) could scoop up big hunks of pavement and drop it in the Mack truck.  

Woo hoo, this is so much fun!!!

 

 

  

As the Mack truck pulled away the driver honked and waived and we saw this skull pirate that made Ella jump for joy.  

And we thought trash days were exciting!!! 

I am loving learning about all things trucks.  It's a nice change from Barbies and babies and the excitement on the boys' (and Ella's) faces cannot be beat.

Sweet Girl

Ella Bella our three and a half year old.  Sweet girl with a tiny hint of spunk.  Ella's always been so laid back though the three's  brought about a bit of umph.  The girl can freak out.  Prevention is key but if we miss the boat she recovers quickly.  Thankfully it's only with her siblings and she remains quiet and mild-mannered in public besides the occassional "NO!" when a stranger looks at her.  Ha ha.  It's funny.  Sort of.

 My little rule-follower.  She watches her brothers closely and reports any dangerous, risk-taking, or rule-breaking behaviors immediately.

I love this girl.

Excited to see what preschool does for our sweet baby girl.

Swimming!

Lilly joined the swim team at our summer swim club this summer.  She is an official member of the Willowdale Swim Club swim team.  I didn't know if she'd be ready or not but she was a bit too good for the training squad that she did last year.  She gave it a go and the first few weeks were very very hard.  She was unable to complete one lap of the pool and had no stamina.  She hung on the wall for most of the hour long practice and maybe completed 2 laps.  I had a very hard time.  When the coach asked Andy how Lilly was one day when she got out crying Andy replied, "I'm more worried about my wife than Lilly."  Rightfully so.  

I'm crazy.  I told Lilly that she needed to stick with it and finish the laps expected and stop bouncing off the bottom and hanging on the wall.  I couldn't take that she was slacking.  It was awful. I clearly needed a major reality check.

The child was a trooper.  She went to practice every single day (and continues to do so) and can now swim 20 laps easily!  She can also swim 3 of the 4 strokes correctly and can dive off the block and can almost do a flip turn!  What a difference 3 weeks makes! I have calmed significantly and realize she's tiny and will become stronger with time.  :)

Lilly before time trials the first week...

Lilly's little dive at time trials.  She was afraid to go off the block.

Lilly and her best friend Lindsay after their time trials swims.

 

In our swim league we have A meets and B meets.  Lilly is a B meet swimmer but because they only have six 8 and under girls this year she swam 25 backstroke in each of the A meets.  Here she is before her first official swim meet.

 Cheering before the meet.

 I was a wreck!  I even had her caps powdered!

 Warming up!  She warms up one lap.  Hee hee.

 My friend Kristen calls our girls "pool rats" and they are.  They remind me of myself at Brighton Green as a child. I loved hanging out with the lifeguards.

 Lilly's first official meet card!!

 Reading everything on the card.

About this time I had the sickest stomach!  I don't know what was wrong with me.  It had nothing to do with the place she finished as she still gets last since she's the youngest and so tiny.  It had everything to do with anything I thought could go wrong.  I was worried she'd hit the wall, flip over in backstroke, lose her goggles, etc.  

 She did great!!!  She came in 5th place and had fun.  What more could she ask for?  I think her time was :49.

 We were so proud of her.  Yay Lilly!

 The little kids had a great time cheering, eating, drinking, and playing!  I love this picture because Gabe sat off to the side and watched the others.  I don't know why I love it so much.  And Ella only wears her crocs on the wrong feet.

 Look like a small class?  Nope, just our kids with my friend Steph's kids. There are 9 of them together.  It's super fun when we go out together. ;)

It has been super hot.  The boys ended up in shorts and sucking on ring pops.  

For Lilly's first B meet (much more relaxed, score is not kept, ribbons for everyone) Andy had to make a presentation at work and I was on my own.  I asked our friends' Thomas and Jackie to meet me at the meet to help me with the babies and Ella.

Luke and Ella playing before the meet.

 

 This was the only picture I took during the meet.  There was good reason for this...

...Lilly freaked out the entire meet!!  She was swimming in 2 relays, 25 free individual and 25 back individual.  She'd never been in a relay before and I had no idea she was nervous.  Here she is waiting for the relays to begin.

Little did I know she was panicking inside.  Right after I took the picture the race began and Lilly started sobbing.  I had Ella and the boys sitting by my feet on the side of the pool because Thomas and Jackie hadn't arrived.  When she started crying I went behind the lane with her (leaving the kids with a friend standing nearby) and she was sobbing, "I'm not doing it!!"  This continued until the butterflier was swimming toward her and she should have been in the water getting ready to push off the wall to swim the final leg of the relay.  She refused! What should a mother do in this situation? The other relay members were relying on her and they'd want a ribbon!!  

I threw her in (placed her!) and she tried to get out and I gently moved her hand away so she'd swim.  

Catch Up

 June was busy and wonderful.  I realized today that I haven't blogged in 3 weeks.  Oops! I have many pictures that I'll share over the next week to catch everyone up on our lives this summer.  I can't believe it's already July!

Last month school ended and swim season began.  I will do a separate (long) post on the swim season but for now, here are some pictures I found from June!

I'm not sure what Gabey was doing here but I often find him in this exact position playing games on my phone.  He is very skilled with maneuvering his way around the iPhone.  He can do pretty hard puzzled games and loves to look at all the pictures and videos on my phone.

 Lilly has been swimming, swimming, and more swimming but we try to add in some time for reading and writing!

 Ella goes with the flow... She rides with me wherever I go and loves to play with a couple of the older kids in the neighborhood.

 Lukey being tortured though he loves it...

 Love this picture of Luke and Daddy.

 Ella and Luke have a unique bond.  They are so similar and play beautifully together.  It's so neat watching them.

 Lilly had her 4th dance recital last month.  It was the first time I let her wear make-up so she was excited.

 Lilly's recitals are about 25 minutes away.  One year we got stuck in traffic and almost missed it, another year I took two different ballet shoes (one from when she was 2 years old) so she had to borrow one as another child got off the stage, and this year we turned around four times to come home for things we forgot.  I thought it was hysterical.  Andy... not so much.

 Lilly danced well and had a great time. Ella loved watching too.  The boys stayed home with Jackie and took a nap.  

Oliver is doing great.  He just turned 8 months old and is still a pretty mellow puppy.  He's about 95lbs and still growing.

Shwew, that's some of what's been happening!  Stay tuned for more...