Learning to Swim

Hailey has always been a cautious girl. I have never really pushed her to do anything because when she makes up her mind to do something she does it. She was that way with potty training. She is a goal setter, when she decides she is ready to try something new she will pick a day of the week and then keep asking me when the day comes and then do whatever goal she has set for herself. Well we have been going to the pool a lot this summer and she swims with her floaties. Usually towards the end she will take them off and hang on to the wall or grab on to me. Today was the same, she took them off and then started treading water hanging on to the wall. Then she started to let go of the wall and then grab back onto it. Then she stared treading water going up and down the wall while letting go and grabbing back on. Then she started putting her head under and treading up and down the wall while letting go and then grabbing back on. Then she started to kick her legs and kind of float next to the wall while grabbing onto the wall and letting go. After that she started to kick and use her arms and when she ran out of breath she would grab the wall. This process took about 10 minutes and by the end she was swimming laps by the wall and only grabbing it when she needed some air. All the while I just walked up and down with her not saying anything except for an occasional "good job". It was amazing to watch the process unfold until she was ultimately swimming all by herself without any instruction. So today she learned how to swim! Of course she still has work to go before she is completely comfortable and swimming all around but it was neat to watch her learn how to swim.

4th of July Weekend

We had a really good 4th of July weekend. Charlie worked a ton at the beginning of the week so he took a long 4 kind of 5 day weekend. On the actual 4th we went to the beach. It was Aubrey's first time. Her dad stuck her right in the sand and she instantly started shoveling sand into her mouth. Then he took her in the water and kept letting the waves wash over her face so I took her from there and became her guardian so she wouldn't be eating sand and getting a face full of salt. She didn't seem to mind any of it but I did. Hailey mostly wanted to collect shells and hang out at the shore line. The weather was perfect and the beach is never packed. I had been dreading taking two kids to the beach but it was really fun.

Then we went back home and had a pork tenderloin cook-off. Neither of us had ever cooked that kind of meat before but we watched a lot of Food Network that weekend because it is a family friendly channel and Hailey likes to watch cooking so I think we were feeling chefy. I chose the grill and Charlie chose the oven and his turned out more tender and sweet while mine was more tough and savory so he was ultimately the winner but they were both good. He was also able to make two delicious sides: mashed potatoes and grilled pineapple. My meat is pictured on the left and his on the right.

After dinner we heard our neighbors doing fire crackers so we went outside and joined them and they let Hailey have some sparklers. So we were able to enjoy fire crackers without spending the money on them :) Then I put the baby to bed and went back outside to watch the fireworks going off at the baseball stadium near our house. Although I love fireworks up close it is the perfect way to watch them with kids because they aren't too loud and then instead of fighting crowds you walk back inside and put them to bed. We also went to the movies, dinner, a birthday party and the zoo that weekend. It turned to be a very nice stay at home vacation for us.

Growing Up

We had gone swimming yesterday morning and came home to shower and eat lunch. After Hailey got out of the shower I got in the shower and left her to get herself dressed. When I got out of the shower she came running to me with a plate in her hand and said "Mommy, I made my own lunch"

Isn't it the cutest little lunch.

She sure is growing up.

Boating Weekend

Over the weekend some friends took us boating. We had a good time, it was the first day of summer but it really wasn't hot it was a nice calm day.

Here's Hailey getting ready to set out.

Daddy and Hailey getting some swimming in by the boat

Aubrey maxin' and relaxin'

Hailey and some friends tubing, she liked it until it started getting too fast for her.

I tried some skiing and wake boarding. I was good at neither. But maybe with a little more practice I could get better at wake boarding because I at least briefly stood up on it.

The latest happenings

I don't have near enough time on the computer as I would like but yesterday I had a moment to look at other people's blogs and I noticed some links to cute blog backgrounds so I took a couple minutes and tried out a new background style. If I had more time I would have spent lots of time looking for the perfect background but I don't so we will give this one a try for now. Last week I finally took the girls to get their pictures taken professionally, they turned out really cute. They had their pictures taken in the green dresses pictured at the top of the blog. Last weekend we bought a Vitamix blender. It is the latest craze in our ward down here, so I jumped on the bandwagon as well. We wanted to get one to grind wheat but it also grinds up everything else you can think of and makes soups and ice cream in it as well. We have enjoyed trying to make new things in it and it has been nice to throw fresh fruit and vegetables in the vitamix to feed Aubrey. There is a green drink that I make in it that is pure fruit and vegetables and Hailey likes to drink it. I think it will be a drink I make a few times a week just to make sure we are getting the fruit and veggies we need. This is what the vitamix looks like and that is the green drink inside of it. I know it doesn't look too appetizing but it tastes good.

Shortly after I took a picture of it we started having some green drink issues.
First I spilled it all over the counter when I was trying to pour it out

Then Hailey spilled it all over her mouth and the floor

And Aubrey is always a mess when she eats but she's just cute

Yum, Yum!
I think every child tries to cut their own hair some time in their life. This week was the week that Hailey tried. She had just dressed up in her new dance outfit and we were out on the porch when she noticed a chunk of hair on the ground; I gasped at seeing the chunk and couldn't figure out how it got there. I picked it up and started comparing it to my hair to see if I had some how chopped it or I thought maybe I was having postpartum hair issues. Then I compared it to Hailey's hair and still didn't know because our hair color is similar. Then I looked at her scared face and asked her if she knew what had happened and she said "yes" but she didn't want to tell me. So I promised her she wouldn't get in trouble and she told me she had cut it in the computer room with her scissors because she was trying to make it pretty. After investigating the crime scene and seeing only another small chunk I took a look at her hair and for the life of me could not figure out where she had cut it. Her hair is so curly and wild that it made no difference that she was missing some hair. Hopefully she is scared enough that she won't try something like that again.

Well I should have some other blogs later this week but that is all for now.

Sisters love to have fun

Hailey loves being a sister. I often find Hailey doing the cutest things with her when I'm not looking. Here are some of the things they do together.
When I came in to get Aubrey from her nap I found Hailey in the crib with her.

This one was when Hailey was playing dress up and she wanted Aubrey to be a princess as well so she dressed her up.

Once again I came in to get Aubrey from her nap and I found them sitting up in the crib together. I have also found Aubrey sitting up in the crib by herself because Hailey has gone in there before me and then left, that was a little surprising to see.

Once again here is another nap time one where I came in and found a headband on her.

I must admit that I helped out with this stunt. Hailey had all her dolls lined up to feed them and I just added Aubrey to the mix.
I'm glad they have so much fun together. Hailey is like her other mother and gets really mad at us if she thinks we are doing anything to Aubrey that doesn't seem nice.

1st New Bike

We decided to get Hailey a new bike because the hand me down small one she had she didn't like to ride because it was too wobbly. So we set out to get her a purple princess bike and in the end she picked a Dora bike. We thought a princess bike would be more of a classic bike to pass down but she wanted the Dora one. Here she is helping to put the bike together.

She really enjoys the bike. We usually go out in the evenings to ride when it is cool and Aubrey tags along in the little red car stroller.