Splishin' and a'Splashin!

I've been meaning to sign Kiersten up for swimming lessons for the last few years, but never seemed to get around to doing it. This year I finally got her signed up (well, actually my friend got her signed up since we were out of town the day of swim lesson sign ups) - I figured that she's 5 and really ought to know something about swimming! And I figured that I should get Tanner going as well. I was hoping that, if nothing else, having Tanner learn to swim might help encourage Kiersten learn to swim! However, Tanner was so young I had to sign up with him - it was a mommy and me class.

Tanner and I spent the two weeks doing "up-downs" where I would let him go farther and farther in the water each time he went up then down. It would have worked much better if Tanner would have stopped laughing and shut his mouth!

We also spent a lot of time trying to get Tanner to kick. He's quite stubborn and refused to do most of what we asked. Usually when I asked him to do anything he would say, "Tanner all done," and move to get out of the pool. While he didn't really want to kick, he'd walk around all the time saying, "kick, kick, kick," and "splash mommy's nose."

Tanner and I were supposed to work on floating on his back and kicking. He wasn't willing to even try if he didn't have a racket in hand and a ball near his feet that moved with every kick.

I had warned Kiersten's swim teacher (who also happened to be in our ward) that I would be really pleased if, at the end of two weeks, Kiersten would put her face in the water. (I was trying to not set my sights too high!) Kiersten loved "doing the monkey bars" around the pool.

Kiersten and her friend, Macy, were the only two girls in their class, which was nice - almost private lessons! (Thankfully Macy is as timid as Kiersten is, so they were pretty much on the same level!) They had a great time learning to float on their backs and kick their legs.

However, Morgan (her teacher) worked wonders and Kiersten actually put her face in the water, even if it was only for a split second at a time. Now Kiersten thinks she's quite the swimmer!
Neither of my kids passed their levels, so we'll be repeating them next summer! For now, we head to the pool at least once a week and practice the things they learned (even though Kiersten cries and tells me she doesn't want to) so we don't have to start at square one again next year! I am just grateful that it's now only once or twice a week, and not every day!

She's Graduated!

Kiersten has done a co-op preschool for the last 2 years (well, really Kiersten and I have done a co-op preschool!), and just last month she graduated. She'll start kindergarten on August 3rd, and I'm not sure who is more excited - Kiersten or mom!

Here she is with the other 2 girls in the group,
Hailey Walton and Macy Husted.


Here is Kiersten receiving her diploma. She graduated "with honors" (as did all of the kids!).
(With at least 3 moms in the group who are avid scrapbookers, you would think that one of us would think to close the shades behind the kids so we could get decent pictures, but unfortunately none of us did!)

Kiersten's graduating class included:
(back row) Kiersten, Carter Burns, Macy Husted,
(front row) Jonah Carlson, Hailey Walton, Wyatt Burns.


One of the other moms was in charge of graduation. She played Pomp & Circumstance as each child marched down the stairs, carrying a rose for their mom/teacher. Another mom read a poem to you, and had a small gift for you. Then I read “I Knew You Could” and had a candy train for each of you. After that Sister Walton presented each of you with your diplomas, and then we ended with lunch. All too soon it was time to go home and preschool was officially over. And now it is off to kindergarten for you!
18 May 2010

My Rugged Outdoorsmen

Mother's Day weekend our ward held it's annual Fathers and Sons Camping Trip (officially called the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Commemoration ). Nate and Tanner had a blast, of course!

Nate will have to come back later and fill in the details, since I wasn't there. All I know is that when he came home and I was looking at the pictures on the camera I started to freak out when I came to this first picture. I couldn't figure out what on earth had possessed Nate to give Tanner a rifle. Then I looked a little closer, and realized that it was nothing to worry about; it was just the tent poles. Nate was offended that I would assume he let Tanner play with a gun.


Even though I wasn't there, I could still tell Tanner had a great time , especially when it came to setting up the tent. He was right there in the middle of all the action, and I'm sure he was a great "help" to Nate; just like he is to me every day at home when I'm trying to get things done!

I just love sleeping children!

Just Say "Hi"

A few weeks ago I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and I looked over the counter and saw Kiersten in the family room playing church with her dolls. I'm not sure what she was doing - she was either giving a talk, giving a lesson, or reading a scripture, but she said, "Jesus said, love everyone. If you can't do that, (pause), well, just say "hi." Then she got embarrassed because she realized I was listening and didn't say anything else.

That constantly runs through my head, and I try to remember her advice. When I don't feel like being nice, I try to at least smile and say hi.

(The picture doesn't have anything to do with the story - it is from when we took the kids to the Gila Valley Temple Open House. I just happened to like it, and it looks like my kids like each other!)

A Family Af"FAIR"

A couple of years ago Kiersten and I enjoyed our first county fair. Last year we didn't make it, since we planned our Disneyland trip at about the same time the fair came to town. Kiersten regularly brings up the fair and how much fun it was, so we decided to go again when it was in town this year. We picked Nate up from work and ate a picnic dinner in the car so we could get as early of a start as possible (because heaven forbid the kids go to bed late, and I have to deal with cranky kids the next day!).
Kiersten was obsessed that night with the Ferris Wheel. I didn't even know she knew what a ferris wheel was, but that was where she wanted to start the night. Thankfully we were able to talk her into going on the carousel first (another favorite), so that we could start the night out with everyone getting a ride.When we started our ride, Kiersten was a little nervous. Ok, I was nervous too! It was kind of freaky to be going backwards and up and just when you start to get a little momentum, you stop and wait for the next car to be loaded/unloaded. Once we made it around the first time, and we started moving continuously it was much more fun. Kiersten relaxed and was able to enjoy it, thankfully! For the rest of the evening that was all Kiersten talked about, and how she wants to go do it again!

Even though Tanner was technically too short to ride a lot of the rides without Mom or Dad, most of the operators (well, the 2 we asked!) were really nice and let him go anyway. We just had to assure them that he wouldn't try to climb out of the ride while it was moving or anything. Even though we assured the operators he wouldn't, I wasn't so sure! Thankfully he had such a great time on the rides that he didn't even come close to climbing out.
I was really impressed our little county fair this year. They had the things that I remembered from last time - the rides, games, animals (this year the kids even got to pet the pigs - they have really wirey/bristle-y hair), booths, and places to take our picture (after we tried to get one of the kids, Kiersten insisted on taking one of Nate and I),
but this year they seemed to have a lot more than I remembered - they had a fire dance show that I found fascinating (although I worried as I watched it that Kiersten and Tanner might get some crazy ideas. Thankfully so far we've been safe!),
and they even had a sea lion show with 3 sea lions who did all sorts of tricks. Tanner was completely fascinated. (Unfortunately it was getting dark - this was one of the last things we did - and none of the pictures turned out.)

Doesn't that look like a boy having a great time?

We ended the evening with funnel cakes, something I remember and love from my teenage days working at, and going to, our local amusement park (Elitch's Gardens) - yummy! I thought one was plenty for us to share, but there was some sort of miscommunication between Nate and I and he thought I told him to order 2, so darn! We ended up with two! :)

I'm Ca-ca!

In the last couple of weeks, Tanner has developed his own name for Kiersten. I don't even know exactly how to type it . . . the closest I can get to what it sounds like is "cu-cu," as if you were saying "cup" but forgot the "p" at the end, and repeated yourself. Kiersten loves that he now has a name for her. (He's been saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" forever, and he calls himself "baby" but he hasn't had any sort of a name for her, until now.) But, when she calls herself Tanner's name for her, it sounds more like "ca-ca." She goes around the house saying things like, "Tanner, Ca-ca's here." or "Look, it's ca-ca!" Nate and I just laugh- she has no idea what it sounds like she's calling herself!

It's bad enough that Tanner has a Whinnie the Pooh ball and notebook that he loves and when he's looking for them he walks around the house calling out, "Pooh!" Or, when Kiersten finds them, she says, "Look, Pooh!" which always gets me running. One of these days I'll learn!

On another note, Tanner's speech therapist is pretty convinced that he's caught up enough that he doesn't need therapy any more (he's got more than 50 words and he's starting to put 2 words together), so we're down to just once a month.

Why do I bother boying toys?

This is Tanner's favorite way to spend the day . . .
He can go all day without playing with a single toy, as long as he can have the vacuum! He takes the plug and "plugs" it into the end of the attachment and he's ready to go.
Unfortunately I can't use this to my advantage. He won't play with it when the vacuum is really on, so I still have to go back and vacuum. But, thankfully if I need him to be occupied while I get something done, I can say, "Tanner, go vacuum the family room," and I can count on him being occupied for at least 10-15 minutes!