Natural Born Swimmer

With summer looming closer, it only seems natural that the kids get back into their swimming lessons. Jasmine is a fish in water and is already on her way to out pacing the levels that she is age appropriate for and Nick is leaps and bounds above his preschool 1 level. It's weird to think just last fall Nick was crying and refusing to walk into the water at the Maplewood Community Center's kiddie area and now he is leading the class and floating on his back. Of course Jayna being the peanut that she is is still scared of the water but is more adventurous in the kiddie area, but she is getting better and isn't as freaked out when water gets on her face. Hopefully next fall Jayna can get into a class either with Chris or I, or better yet a class by herself.

Tony, Tone, Tone...what can I say he is fearless. He loved sitting in the kiddie area watching the kids and and splashing himself and me. The real surprise was when I brought him into the big pool. He did all the elementary positions that most bigger kids are afraid to try. I had him floating on his back, pulling him around the pool and he was kicking his little legs. That was a hoot watching this little guy with swim shorts that took up most of his lower body floating on his back and when I tried floating him on his front he kept putting his face in the water.

The water got cold and we had to get back to the kiddie pool but I think everyone had fun. I think now that the older kids have swimming lessons that we will be going open swim every Sunday until the summer. If you have little ones or just want to swim, come and join us at Maplewood Community Center we are there at 11:00 and stay until 1:00 at the least.

Beware Cute Kid Stories

Just want to give a big thanks to everyone that helped us out, it always seems it feels like it takes a small army for Chris and I to get some time out. It always seems like one of us is busy with something so it is rare that our schedules ever seem to be in sync.

Today (Sunday) was a busy day. The tinner guy was out to see our house and gave Chris the low down on what it is needed and hopefully we can get the show on the road. Today was also the first day of swimming lessons again for the kids. Jasmine is at level 4 already and is doing great with the strokes and Nick is attempting classes again. He is a lot better this time around. He isn't skiddish around the instructor or the water and seems to love the activities they do, so I am crossing my fingers it lasts.

I just want to share a little story about Nick that shows me that he is growing up more everyday. He came running over to me at the pool today and complained of water in his nose. I told him everything was going to be okay and asked what happened. Nick told me he was trying to smell the water. Okay one more...Chris asked me the other day if I had enough money for dinner and Nick said, "Of course mom does, she just goes to the bank when she needs money".

Got to love them and thanks again everyone the Wild game was great.

Minneapolis Hates Us

Some of you can relate, when everything seems to go wrong you just have to throw your hands in the air and laugh. Knowing that Spring Break was going to be a long week for the kids, I had thought ahead and decided to book a room at the water park for the kids. I thought this was a good idea until we got to the hotel. Many things told me right off the bat we shouldn't do this. The first thing was that Tony wasn't feeling better yet from his bout of sickness and him staying at my folks wasn't going to be pretty. Then my father thought it was a good idea to give Jayna some money for our dinner, but of course it was her money and no one was going to get it. So we said bye bye to $20 of it when it disappeared in the parking lot of the hotel, and what should have sent us home was that the hotel was full because the Twin Cities was hosting round one of the NCAA basketball tournament.

What put the icing on the cake was when we finally got checked in and comfortable we discovered that the water park was closed for the week and wasn't going to open until Friday. Now I was in a hotel room (way over priced) with four kids and no water area for the kids to play in. So after a lot of thought and weighing the pros and cons, I argued with the hotel staff, got my money back and checked out of the hotel after a long stay of two hours. On top of all that poor Lee tried to make the trip out with Zac. The bright side to this was we got free wristbands to the water park for a future day.

So with my defeated crew, I thought I would splurge and take them to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner before we went home to get Tony and this is why Minneapolis hates us...we lost $2 more dollars in the honor system pay lot and didn't get to eat there. We settled on Pizza Factory instead.

Poor Chris, he thought he was actually going to get a quiet evening home by himself. Nope, we all came home and he was off to a job in the middle of the night with no or little sleep. I hope the rest of spring break goes better.

Kiss Me I Think I Am Irish

Happy Belated St. Patrick's day. I think this is truly a lost holiday. The parade in St. Paul gets crazier every year. This year the kids missed the parade since it fell on Tuesday and well we were on spring break and slept in. I couldn't think of anything to really celebrate the holiday with so I let the kids make cupcakes with me and frosted them green and white. I think I found the recipe that I am going to use for the kids birthday cake...yummy. Jasmine was really cute and showed the kids how to play a game and she called it an "Irish" game in honor of the day. Next year I think we will tackle a shamrock pizza.

Share Toys, Not Germs

Why is it the only thing kids do is share their germs & colds. The first nice weekend we get in a long time I get to spend it inside with sick kids. This past week we have been battling a 24 hour bug with all the kids. I think Nick brought it home on Tuesday and like clock work every 24 hours another kid had it. So on a gorgeous Friday with Chris and Nick gone and Jasmine at school, Jayna and I got to spend the day doing pukie laundry and dealing with a sick baby. Kate (of Jon & Kate plus 8) says that sick kids add tons more laundry to your everyday laundry and boy is she right. It is hard especially when the kid is too young to hit a bucket. Hopefully this is like the others and is only 24 hours and as of dinner time we have been able to successfully hold down dinner and a before bedtime bottle so things are looking good. Now I am just crossing my fingers that Jayna can stay healthy. Chris has been kind of ill all week with symptoms, but he is just convinced that I gave him food poisoning with the new recipes that I have been trying out:-) I guess he will never know. (lol)

Speaking of Kate, I am excited that season 4 will be coming out on DVD because Jayna is wearing out our other three seasons. Her newest thing since Santa brought the discs were to watch the "naughty" kids while she is practicing her mommy skills around the house. Do you think they would notice it the show was Jon & Kate plus 9, Jayna would fit right in but what would we do without the bug? I guess we will keep her and be Chris & Jessi plus 4 someday 5, but not too soon.

Complicated, Confused & Content

C to the third power explains us completely. Spring has Sprung and our gears are spinning in all directions. Chris is still torn between working on the house and enjoying the last of the snow. Not to worry because I know the only guarantee in life is that snow melts and babies poop, so the house will be worked on soon. Am I the only one that is worried when Chris tells me that he and Tim are going to do the Tin work themselves? I guess I shouldn't be too worried because the addition looks wonderful and has passed inspections so far.

The house addition isn't even close to being finished and I am already trying to think of what else we can fit into it. Julie's update about puppies is exciting and the kids are hoping we can get one. Who can pass up Maisie's puppy picture. What the heck, we could totally put another person in this lovely cement house. No matter how small this house gets I wouldn't trade anyone in for more space and now that the weather is getting nicer we can get out and about. Yeah!!!

Jasmine's softball games start in May (Tuesdays & Thursdays), times TBA and we are approaching day 4 of fully potty trained Jayna. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope the Dora backpack keeps its allure. To top off our day baby Tony got his second haircut today.

Spring Fever

It is so exciting to hear all the news happening. The kids are excited to hear about the progress with Maisie and can't wait to see the puppies. It is hard to believe that our little Maisie is going to be a mommy. A lot is happening at the house too, Chris has gotten the bug to get going again. He has finished almost all of his plumbing and we are going to be waiting on the Tinner to do his job. The addition is definitely looking more finished now with the wires hanging out and actual PVC pipe in the walls.

Spring is looming near and Summer is just around the corner. Nick is almost done with preschool and is excited to start "real" school. He is in cooking school now and made Apple Crisp and parmesan Veggies. He is quite a chef, not that he actually eats the veggies. Jayna, not to be left in the dust by her siblings, is potty training like a pro. She has been wearing her Dora underpants and once she is all the way potty trained she gets her Dora backpack. She is excited to start school next year too, hard to believe she will be in preschool too.

Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine...what is there not to say about her. She loves to be busy. Spring is going to be full for her with Bowling, Horse Lessons and now her first year in Fastpitch. Thank goodness for Grandpa Johns driving services. It seems like these updates can go on forever. There seems to always be a kid doing something or the house changing, but guess what? Tony still isn't sleeping through the night and still isn't crawling or moving, but Tony is Tony and is content being Tony, nonmobile and loud.