Stories

Bonnie invited us over to eat last week and I looked around the house to see what I could take. I didn't have anything to make a salad with... not fruit, chicken, pasta... just couldn't think of anything. So I turned to brownies. Yummy... I made some turtle brownies with nuts and caramel and took over some ice cream. Bonnie grilled chicken and hot dogs and made dutch oven potatoes, delicious. While we were eating Kyle heard a bang inside of the house. He jumped up and ran in, being especially attuned to that sort of thing. It turns out that Hazel, the dog, had climbed up on the table and had eaten the whole pan of brownies! She started in the middle and worked her way out, leaving only a ring around the outside of the pan. I think the dog was trying to get the crustier part on the outside of the pan when she knocked the brownies off of the table, hence the Bang! Grrrr. No brownies for humans. : (

We have started swimming lessons this week. The kids absolutely love it... but it is wearing me out just a little. The lessons start at 10:15 and we try to shower the kids before we go, so they won't have to shower at the pool. That shouldn't be so hard to do... but it is. I get home from the gym and hurry and feed, shower, suit up, load... We have been on time everyday, of which I am very proud.

The first day all of my little monsters were nervous. They were asking questions about what it would be like, wondering about their teachers and what they would be like. When we got there Brigham got put with the director and he has really progressed. He just tries and tries to swim, float, kick etc. with no fear. He swims like he is riding a bike. It is funny... The thing that really freaked him out was jumping into the pool at 6 feet. He wouldn't do it at six feet, but he jumped in at five feet with a noodle. Chicken liver.

Sarah is in kind of a blah class. Not making a lot of progress. She pretty much does the same things she did last year. But she loves it. She comes out of the pool grinning from ear to ear.

Rachel is practically giddy in the water. She enjoys every minute of it from the very first. She does have a hard time following the teachers instructions. She wanders off often, spashing and jumping. There is like a semi-autistic girl in her class that wanders all of the time and often Rachel will just follow her.

Now Leah... Oh boy. The first day she cried/screamed for half of the lesson. She played for a minute with the class then got out about 10 minutes early. The next day they changed her to a different class, too many problem children in the same class. Leah cried for about 10 minutes the second day but her teachers were very patient with her. Now she only screams bloody murder for about one minute and then she enjoys the rest of the lesson. The screaming is still plenty enough to be embarrassing.