more backyard fun in the sprinkler....and more fun with the camera....seriously....64 pictures? this is just a sampling

car wash

had the kids help us clean & wash the car today. windows are streaky from overuse of window cleaner, toys have made it back into the car already, but i think they enjoyed it....especially getting wet.

pool pose

oh, i have so many pictures to post....but i'll just get this one up right now.
we've been spending monday, tuesday, and wednesday mornings at the pool. xander and cassidy LOVE it!
i've taken many, many, many pictures of swim team/lessons and cassidy prancing around in her swim suits (she doesn't mean to, but she just walks differently when she's in her suit walking around the pool deck.)
i'll take more time to post them later. promise...

new haircut

okay, it's summer....let him have a mohawk.

6 is almost here

xander's good friend, born just three months before he was, turned 6! i've been holding onto 5 that it is hard to believe the two of them are moving past that. 5 still seems like "toddler/baby" age to me. but 6? 6? that is a different story all together. we'll have to see how they manage to write this next chapter. i'm sure it will be entertaining.

happy birthday maggie. we loved celebrating with you!

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playing in the rain

it was pouring outside. we opened the door and watched it for a few mintues from the porch. then it hit me, it's summer, it isn't cold....so i told the kids they could go running in the rain. and just as soon as they got out to the driveway it all but stopped, just drizzling. xander got mad at me and told me i should have let them go sooner. oh well...who knew the weather would be a little crazy.
(just have to note, they dressed themselves today. love that they both ended up in navy blue striped polos. my "coordinating outfits" is rubbing off!)

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swim team

xander with his coach...
he isn't afraid of the water and is swimming without any floats. he loves wearing goggles and thinks he's the next michael phelps. okay, he hasn't said that, not even close, but he is convinced he knows all about swimming now. he's an expert. either way, he has already progressed in the f

typical cassie

this is so her. she would rather leave her hair down and push it out of her eyes rather than let me put it up. she loves music and carries her radio around (really it is an mp3 player and we've added all kinds of music including mama mia!) and she loves art -painting, collaging, coloring - it is what she loves.

teaching cassidy the ins and outs of baseball....according to the braves game program

friends, tents and a rainy day

we love these girls and love that they live just down the street from us!
thanks for playing makayla and ava!

she says....

in the bathroom...
c: "mom, girls don't have peanuts, boys do."

watching the ticker across the bottom of the screen todd announced
t: "the red sox are winning"
c: "why are they wearing red sox?"

c: "close it really hard!" when she wants a door shut all the way

c: "up-e-side-down" for upside down

c: "mom, mom, mom, mom!"
s: "yes cassidy? what is it?"
c: "i love you!"

out of the blue she's been telling everyone "i love you!" i love hearing it, and i hear it about 20 times a day, at the most random moments.

let's start off summer vacation..

...with strep throat!
poor xander woke up sick this morning.
as with every other time my kids have turned up sick, i did not accurately diagnose him!
he woke up complaining that under his arm hurt. my scientific guess was that it was a swollen lymph node, and upon checking out web md, found that you could have a swollen lymph node in your arm pit if there was an infection in your arm. sure enough, the cut he got playing baseball two weeks ago was beginning to look infected (again! thought we took care of it last week!) he was also complaining that he felt like throwing up, that his throat hurt, and then he didn't eat breakfast and fell asleep, taking a 45 minute nap all before 9:00am.
we were supposed to start of the summer by having his first swim team practice/lesson. so i got him in the car, brought the pool stuff just in case, and drove to register him. while on the way i called the doctor's office and explained to the nurse advice what was going on. "bring him in"...really? okay.
so i brought him in. after an hour and a half visit, a blood test and a throat culture turns up our little boy did have a swollen lymph node (at least i figured that one out) and he had strep throat. what? totally didn't see that one coming. checked out of there for $155 and headed home for lunch, another nap and a $127 prescription.
so, we started off with a bang. but by that night he had bounced back and was begging to go to swim the next morning. unfortunately we had to wait until wednesday, but hopefully, since he got sick at the beginning of the summer we won't have any other illnesses....right? knock on wood? "cassidy, go wash your hands!"

swim team

xander wanted to swim again and i wanted a pool to cool off in. so we joined the grandview neighborhood's swim team.
the first few days were a little rocky for xander. he was struggling to get down the end of the lane, and he was nervous about racing in a meet.
it was a hard mom moment for me...when he wanted to quit i wouldn't let him, even though i knew how scared he was. he spent two days out of the pool just helping out. todd got him in his parent's pool and got him swimming, so he knew he could to it. he just needed to make that decision for himself in the big pool.
we kept him off the lists for the first meet, but we dressed and went to cheer on the wahoos and to see what it was all about.
all the way he was nervously asking "mom, am i going to swim tonight?"
once there we found where to check him in and requested that he get in the pool with the team to warm up. still nervous he got in, but he made it. he took a break by flipping on his back, but he got all the way down.
getting out of the pool he asked again, "mom, am i going to swim tonight?" but this time there was excitement and expectation in his voice. "no, we decided that you were going to watch and see what it was all about." so we did...
but the next thursday, he swam three races! the freestyle relay, the 25m freestyle and the 25m backstroke. (i had to miss it because i was working) but todd was there to take pictures! we've got a little swimmer on our hands!