Underwater

For the past 5 weeks McKay and Ellie have been taking swimming lessons. They take from Pam Young who is a wonderful teacher. They love her and look forward to swimming everyday. The lessons are 4 times a week. At their last lesson they had someone come to take underwater pictures of all the kids.
This picture is exactly how the whole 5 weeks have gone. Ellie is gung hoe, totally under the water, and smiling. McKay has to have the top of his head sticking out, and even then he is not to sure he likes it.
Ellie is like a little fish in the water. She can now swim from side to side, or the whole length of the pool all on her own.

I love the hair cap and goggles that she wears every time.
McKay has been such a great sport and has made such progress in the water. He was very leery of the water before this. He has got a very nice back float, and is good at doing the swordfish swim.
My pictures to come. Their last lesson is tomorrow.

I'm a big kid now!

All the time lately my kids, McKay especially, have been doing things that really make me feel like they have graduated into a full blown KID rather than a little kid. McKay recently reached a milestone that cemented the deal. He lost his first tooth.

McKay is interesting because you never can really tell if a situation is going to be blown out of proportion or be no big deal. Dealing with other kids and loosing teeth I was preparing myself for the battle of pinning him down and tearing it out when it was just hanging by a thread. So to my surprise during one of the many times that I would ask if I could wiggle it, I just wiggled it right out. I just hope all the rest are just as easy. The tooth next to it is about ready to go as well. As McKay likes to tell it,"When it's gone there is going to be a rectangle." A rectangle hole that is.

Little Miss Stubborn

Our little Clara is such a sweet baby but she is super stubborn when it comes to one thing, learning to walk. Granted, I'm not pushing her, but I definitely do not carry her all the time. She loves to cruise along furniture and scoot on her bum and she is content to get around that way. She is plenty fast and still keeps me on my toes. Maybe someday soon she will decide to walk, but until then she likes to go under the table where it is just her size and all the chairs are within reach.

Big Brother

I used to wonder what it would be like to have a big brother. Sometimes I even wished I had one. So not having an older brother it is fun to see the big brother dynamic in our little family. McKay from the beginning has loved our baby Clara. He is great at giving her toys, sharing his crackers, and letting me know if she is headed for trouble. So I feel pretty comfortable leaving him in charge of her for a few minutes as long as I am in hearing range.

The other day he was in charge as I was on the computer. In the other room it got too quite and I could hear the muffled music of Clara's Easter chick. I went to check on the kids and this is what I found.

All the contents from the floor of the pantry out, and the pantry door shut.

I opened the door to find.

McKay had taken Clara in there to show her how her chick lights up in the dark when it plays music. Clara was happy in there until she saw mom and then she wanted out.

What a good big brother showing his sister the ways of the world, and how if something lights up it looks a lot cooler in the dark.

Dinosaur Museum

We spent a fun Saturday at the Dinosaur museum. McKay had been there on a field trip and was excited to take us back and show us around. Ryan went early with McKay and Ellie and took them to the 3-D Imax dinosaur movie. Clara and I joined up with them after the movie for lunch and the museum.

This picture isn't particularly cute, it just shows what a BOY McKay is becoming. This is just such a boy thing to do in a picture.

Clara was a good sport as usual.

I love this picture of McKay.

Playing hard at the water and sand table.

Ellie enjoyed making her sand pile and collecting the dinosaurs.

This was the main thing that the kids wanted to show me. When I showed up they didn't care about showing me any of the dinosaur bones, they just wanted to show me the giant shark.

At the end of the exhibit there are a few dinosaur skeletons in the sand that the kids can take their brushes and uncover.

We had a great time at the museum. We are sometimes not the best at taking the kids to go do fun things like that, so it was a fun treat for all of us. I'm sure we will be back.

Easter

I know I'm late posting these pictures.

Better late than never. Right?

The kids had a great Easter and participated in 5 egg hunts. We had a lot of candy around the house to say the least.

Ellie proud of her giant egg find.

Checking out their loot.

Clara enjoying the nice weather that weekend.

Clara checking out Aunt Mckensie.

Aaron, Jackson, & Ryan.

The boys took off on bikes and we had to wait for them to get back to start the hunt.

Patiently awaiting Dad's return.

Ellie's new "Ellie" book.

Clara giving her new bear love.

Ellie & McKay at the annual city Easter egg hunt.

Easter morning.

Searching for their presents.

The Easter Bunny comes into our house leaving bunny tracks everywhere. Some have clues that lead the kids on a scavenger hunt all over the house rounding up their presents.

The kids had a great Easter. They each got some fun new toys to play with and enough sugar to last until Christmas.

Plasma Cars

McKay and Ellie recently discovered Plasma Cars, courtesy of Grandpa David. This was on our first outing with them. We took them to a nearby small hill where they could get up as much speed as a 4 and 5 year old need.

Aunt Lindsay taking Ellie down the hill.
CRASH!
McKay getting ready for his solo trip down the hill.
His excited face.

If your around him at all you'll know this face. Mouth open with curled out lips. If he weren't sitting down he would be bouncing.

Me & McKay ready to race Lindsay & Ellie.

Since then the kids will ride on the Plasma Cars every time we go to my mom's. Ryan and I have both attempted to race McKay in the driveway and he leaves us in the dust every time. Ellie has figured out the trick to beat him, push with your feet.

Blonde Hair

No! We are not going to bleach Ellie's hair.

This was one of the few times that I have ever done her hair straight and as we were blowing it out she made the comment that " it looks like Grandma Sherrie's". I asked her if she meant blonde and she said yes. So since then she requests it by saying "Mom, lets do my hair blonde." Her hair did look more strawberry and less auburn when it was straight.

She loved having her hair straight and long. She was flipping it and playing with it all day. I was worried that I had started something. Luckily we didn't and she has only requested it one time since.

It really threw me for a loop looking at her with this hair all day. Just not her at ALL. Still cute just not my Ellie with her springy, crazy hair. Hopefully she will stay happy with her curls. I sure love them.

A Good Day

Being a mom you definitely have your good days and your bad days. This is proof that I sometimes have good days.

We were driving home from dropping Ellie at school when McKay started talking about mixing colors. "If you mix white and red it makes pink, and if you mix blue and yellow it make green."

It gave me a brilliant idea and I told McKay we were going to do a project at home with mixing colors.

When we got home I pulled out 6 glasses, filled them with water, and got out the food coloring.

McKay went to town and had a great time experimenting with the different color mixtures.

We had to refill 2 times.

All in all a great time, and a good learning experience. I just wish I were that creative and attentive everyday.