Swim Lessons

I have been teaching swim lessons for over 10 years now. I started back when I was only 15 and have taught at many different pools. While I've got a pretty sweet deal at the Y right now, I'm going to take a little time off, away from the water for a bit.

I have absolutely loved it, though. I've taught parents how to hold their infants so that they feel comfortable, retired men so they can get excercise, moms who want to be able to swim with their kids, adults and kids training for triathalons, teenagers who are embarrased at their lack of swimming ability, and probably hundreds of other kids along the way.

I teach a brother and sister, Sam and Kyla, and she made this book for me last week. It's too darn cute and I wanted to share it!

And this is from a mom who thanked me for teaching her 13 yr old son. He was such a great kid, even though so did not want to be there at first. I will definitely keep this little note because it is EXACTLY why I teach!

(yeah, that's a magnet. because yeah, it's on my fridge!) :)

Also, my friend Rachel had her baby, Adam James, today (or last night) and I'm SO thrilled for her! Congratulations Greene family!

Speaking of color...

Check out this blog. She's an amazing artist and her name is Kal Barteski. I haven't been folowing her for very long but I looove her stuff. More specifically this:

(click to enlarge)



How cool would that be on your kid's wall!?! Or with my name on my wall! :)

Kind of a boring day so far. No Lexi today, and I'm just waiting for Becky to wake up so we can eat lunch and head to the library to return books and a Dora movie that is a week overdue. Oops.

Craving COLOR!

I am just so ready for summer, and this new background is just what I need to get me in the spirit for those hot days that are right around the corner!

I haven't posted any videos in awhile, so here's a couple from today :)

A Quiet Saturday Night

My days are so full of giggles, tears, smelly diapers, movies, naps, Cheerios, kisses, cuddles, nursing, wiping snot, and reading books, that by bedtime I'm so tired that I think there's no way I can have any more kids because I can barely even handle two.

Tonight, I was so ready for them to go to bed that I had both kids fed, bathed, and jammies on by 6:30 (which is often before we even eat supper)!

In the midst of the bedtime routine (which I had to do by myself, since Wade is at a bachelor party), I get so caught up in how hard it is in that moment. After an hour of Reese's excuses of why she needs to come out of her room, and Beckett having a hard time falling asleep, I just want to lock myself in my bedroom and hide under the covers.

But then..... they eventually fall asleep. And its quiet. And somehow, it all magically seems okay again. And I quickly forget how stressed out I was and am filled with so much love for them. My sweet, adorable babies.

So it's now 10 o'clock and I have some time for just me. To sit on Etsy for as long as I want. To finish my pizza that I made Wade order for me tonight. To listen to Pandora. To stalk people on Facebook and blogs. To appreciate my wonderful, wonderful life.

And some random pics...

Mother's Day 2007 and 2009

Happy Tuesday!

Ah! It's finally nice out. I cannot tell you how much I L-O-V-E this weather!!!! I mean, yes, I understand that everyone loves when it's nice out, but I feel like I enjoy it even more that the average person. :)

We had a great weekend. Wade got to attend a friend's bachelor party on Saturday and then went to Miss Jordan's (Wade's cousin) high school graduation party. My kids were overly shy (as usual) so it took a lot of energy out of us. Not to mention, being up until 2 am on Saturday night, helping out strangers in need. On the way home from picking Wade up from the party, we stopped and helped a young couple who had just hit a racoon with their car. They were from Michigan, traveling to Wyoming. It was midnight, and their little Stratus was in pretty bad shape, so we gave them a place to stay for the night, fed them in the morning, got their car looked at and got them back on the road. They were such a sweet couple and I'm so glad God put us in the right place at the right time to help them!


Buddies, Reese and Livia hanging out on Sunday afternoon, soakin' up the sun.

It won't be like this for long

So yeah... so much for this posting every other day thing in May. That flew out the window pretty fast, huh. I've had plenty to blog about, but finding the time can be tricky.

Reese has been a crazy, tantrum-throwing, emotional, outta-control 2 year old this week. I absolutely love her to pieces, but WOW. I'm sure it's just a phase, but everyday (uh, make that multiple times a day) we are having dramatic episodes like it's going out of style. And over nothing! The wrong colored bowl, "no, I wanted to turn the TV on", wanting 3 snacks at once... and much more that I don't even know because I can't understand her because she's crying so hard.

When one starts to happen, most of the time we try to distract her. And if that doesn't work, we just reach our arms out to her and hold her. Not saying anything, but just loving her until she calms down. It's so easy to get frustrated with her when she's not even being rational. But that's just it, she's still only 2, so being rational is not even an option for her. Sometimes I look at her and think, wow, she really cannot control herself and her emotions right now. And it's completely age appropriate. So we try to validate her feelings and fix the problem without letting her think that whenever she wants something she can go bizerk.

*sigh* I know it won't be like this for long. (Hence the song. I cry every time I hear it. Stupid country music.)

Here she is in all her glory. She was hiding and trying to hit the camera away because she didn't want me to take her picture. I'm a mean mom.

Giving Credit...

where credit is due!

I have 2 recommendations for you, and they both come from my (adorably-ready-to-pop) friend Rachel!

The first one is in response to an older post about baby books. Her children are going to be so fortunate to have her as a momma b/c she is Miss Super Organized and already has her sweet, but not even born yet, baby's baby book already halfway completed! Rach, you are amazing. Sooo... I'm going to try to play catch-up, since my kid's almost 3 already, and hodge podge something together. She recommended the website Scrapblog to me and just like that, I'm in love. Here's an example of the adorable backgrounds, fonts and little stickers they have! I'm not done with this page yet, just still playing around with it.

The second one is a recipe for Cake Mix Cookies, found on her recipe blog! Reese and I made them this week and I'm already planning on making them again sometime this week :) So easy and so good!

Cake Box Cookies
1 box cake mix of your choice

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

Mix together. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies if you desire. (I did) Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes (9 min for me), depending on your oven or how well done you like the cookies.

And that's it! Reese and I made Rainbow Chip cookies and then drizzled a little homemade icing over them. We gave most of them away to friends, but Wade requested chocolate for the next batch so we might not have as many leftover this time.

So thanks, Rachel! I was thinkin' about you this week!