Swimming Lessons!

I put my kids into swim lessons for the first session in Magrath. This is the first year that we did them in Magrath. Normally we would drive into Raymond for the lessons. But I decided to stay in our town. It just seemed easier, plus we are supporting our town. Anyways, DJ was not excited at all. He was actually mad and screaming when we went. I came prepared and had worn my swim suit.

The girls' lessons were first. They were all so excited and did so well every day. I just had to keep reminding them to stay with their class and listen to their teacher. They just wanted to keep diving down or swimming around. Silly girls. Abbi and Cadence amazed me with how well they did. They started going down in the water and trying to sit on the bottom. This is a huge step for my kids. Usually they keep their heads dry. Brianna did really well too. She wasn't as crazy as her sisters but she was starting to put her head under the water too. I was so proud of all of them. Cadence and Abbi have gotten very good at jumping off the diving board. Abbi can do it all by herself with no life jacket. She's learned to swim to the edge. Cadence can do it too, if I'm right there just in case. We had  a bit of a scare at the pool one afternoon. She thought I was watching her, which I was at first, but DJ came and jumped on my head. So I was pushing him off and looking around for Cadence. Of course, at that moment, she had jumped off the board (when I wasn't looking). I didn't realize it, and kept looking around for her. I saw a life guard come running around and looking down. There was Cadence beneath the water. She came up sputtering and I helped her up. I felt horrible. She was crying and spitting out water. It scared all of us, so we all went back to the shallow end. But they've done so well with their lessons. Brianna jumped off the diving board and few times, with me helping her and her teacher catching her. She just wasn't a fan of it. That's ok, she still did very well. They enjoyed their 2 weeks of lessons.

The whole class going under the water with their teacher. You can see Brianna putting her head partly under water. Way better then what she would do before!

Abbi jumping off the diving board.

Cadence jumping off the diving board.

Brianna coming up after I helped her jump off the diving board.

The girls playing a game with their class. Brianna is on the left and Abbi and Cadence on standing beside each other on the right.

I finally talked Brianna into jumping into the water at the deep end, off the side of the pool. I was surprised when she said yes. So I took a picture of it.

The girls playing around with the kids in their class.

DJ wasn't as excited. I had to go in the water with him the first 2 days. Then I stayed out and his teacher would take him. Luckily his teacher was a boy. He does much better with boys! He was super shy and would whisper his answers to his teacher. But by the 2nd week, he was having fun and enjoying himself. I'm so glad that it worked out. He got to be a little braver in the water too. He is still very cautious about getting his face wet too. Which I told his teacher is ok, because DJ has tubes in his ears. But he would put his face in the water carefully and blow bubbles. That's a huge step! It was fun to see DJ having fun and enjoying himself. I'm so glad I put him in the lessons.

DJ finding treasure, to take back to his teacher.

Loved this picture of DJ working so hard on doing his kicks. So cute!

He was the fishy in the middle and this is him escaping!

DJ and his teacher jumping into the water together. This was a huge step for DJ, who refused to jump at all. His teacher was the best!

DJ and his class being big trees.

He got chopped down and is jumping in.

Running and jumping off the floating mat.

This was a big deal for DJ. He finally went under the big bucket and then came back out happy!

Another big deal, was DJ sitting in here like it was a boat. For some reason he hated it, but agreed to do it on the last day!

The last day of classes, all the kids were super excited because they knew that they were going to play lots of games and have treats. I was glad the two weeks were over and the kids had fun in their classes. It was a success!

The girls in their class with their teacher.

Last day of swim lessons with their treats!

DJ and his class waiting for their teacher to bring their treats.

DJ and his teacher, Jared!

Canada Day 2012!

This year I decided to run in the 5K race in Raymond with Megan, David, Chase and Trayden. This was on Saturday, June 30th. We had to be there by 7:15am. It was so early. All my kids wanted to be there. So we all got up early and went to Raymond! I was a little nervous, because I haven't been running at all. Again, I've just been doing Zumba twice a week. My own personal goal was to run the whole 5K. I started out with Megan. She told me to keep going, as she stopped to walk. I just did a slow jog the whole time. I made it in just over 35mins. I was pretty happy with that time. Chase came first, overall and Trayden 2nd. They made it in 21 mins and 23 mins. Crazy! They both got metals too. David did it in 26mins and Megan did it in 45mins. I was so exhausted after, but it felt so good to do it!

Chase and Trayden holding up heavy Uncle David!!! ha ha ha!

Here we all are after we came home. I beat everyone to the farm and had already taken a shower! Me, Chase, Trayden, David and Megan. Cassie is hiding behind us with her bike.

We hung around at the farm, because all the guys were helping dad finish his hay shed. They got the tin up and screwed down really fast with all the helpers. Dad was pretty happy to have it done. It was a hot day, so we decided to go to Wally's Beach. We all went and just had fun splashing and playing in the water. It helped cool us all down!

Trust DJ to find the only piece of shade around....even if it is almost under my chair! He sat there and dug in the sand for awhile!

Here's the whole clan at Wally's Beach!

Brianna making a mud pile!

I told Cadence to smile for me and this is what I got! Funny girl!

Abbi busy burying her legs in the sand!

Grandpa and DJ were playing in the water and talking funny to each other. I loved this picture I got of them!! So cute!

That night, I got a babysitter for the kids and we went out to dinner with mom and dad and Megan. It was a fun day. It was the perfect way to end the day. We had fun laughing and visiting together.

On Monday we took off around 10am, to go watch the parade. My kids were super excited. They got to sit with their cousins and things always are a little crazy when they all get together! DJ and Cadence were happy to find out that the scary skeleton guy wasn't there this year with the Stirling Haunted House. That one always freaked out those two! DJ loved the old John Deere Tractors that were in it. It was a fun parade to watch.

My cute kids ready for the parade. I bought them all Canada Day shirts and Brianna lost hers from the time I gave it to her to when she went to get dressed. We looked everywhere. Oh well!

Brianna, DJ, Cadence and Abbi with Keaton!

All the kids running out to get some candy!

DJ waving to the guy on the tractor.

Afterwards we made our way out to my parents farm. The Paxman side gathered there for lunch. My Uncle Scott and Aunt Angelica were there from Utah. It was fun to see them and their kids. Oh I should mention that I saw my Uncle Lloyd two weeks earlier with my cousin, Joe. They took a bike trip and were here for over a week. We spent a Sunday afternoon with them at my parents house. It was sure fun to see them and visit with them. It has been too long since we seen them last!

Later that afternoon we went into Raymond to the pool. My cousin, Ron, rented it for an hour. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast. Abbi and Cadence are crazy on the slides and diving boards. They just kept going and going. DJ had fun playing in the shallow end. Him and Mary stuck together and played.  Those two are so cute together. I had taken them for a little ride earlier that day, in hopes that they could have a little nap. Mary kept informing me that she wasn't tired. DJ was starting to fall asleep and Mary would look at him and yell, "Wake up DJ we are almost home." It was so cute. She yelled that a few times and then it was quiet. I looked back and they were both sound asleep!

We then went back to mom and dad's and had dinner. I had promised the girls that we would go back in for the street fair this year. By this time we are always so tired. But away we went! We let them go in each bouncy house and then we stood in line for the cotton candy. Grandpa Paxman was working the cotton candy machine and the kids thought it was funny that he was turning pink! We didn't stay long. The mosquito's were horrible. So we got the cotton candy and went home.

Brianna and Abbi loved to play and talk to Keira. So cute!

Having dinner at mom and dad`s. These guys just got back from boating...so I took a picture of them eating! ha ha!

Abbi coming off one of the bouncy things!

Brianna coming down the big slide!

Abbi, Cadence and Brianna standing in front of their Grandpa!

Watching Grandpa make their cotton candy.

DJ was a pink wired mess! He was bouncing off the windows on the way home!

Random Happenings!

I am way behind in posting, so I thought I'd try to catch up. We've done some fun things and I want to quickly write it down and post the pictures, so I can start writing about summer. So to start off with, way back in June we tried to do some fun things.

The first Sunday in June we woke up early and got ready for church and left home at about 10am. We drove up to Calgary for little Evan's baby blessing. He is such a cute little boy. We enjoyed spending the day with them. After sacrament meeting we went back to their house for dinner. It was fun to relax and visit and let the kids play. Uncle Cody had fun scaring all of them a few times. I love my kids reactions so funny to watch. I am glad we were able to be there.

Grandpa Pitcher with his great grandson, Evan.

Abbi loves to hold babies! Here she is holding Evan.

All the kids running up the stairs, away from Uncle Cody!

Mary and DJ ganging up on Uncle David!

The weather in June was very sporadic. So on the nice days, we tried to take advantage of it and do something. One nice afternoon we drove in to the new Nicholas Sheran park. My kids call it the train park. They love playing there. Usually we are the only ones there. We spent a couple of hours there playing. Eventually my cousin, Kristi, came with her two boys and we played a little bit longer. We had a good time.

DJ going down the big slide. I usually had to stand there so he could give me five on the way down! Silly boy!

Cadence and Brianna showing me how they can do the monkey bars by themselves!

I had this great idea of getting a cute picture of my kids together. Yeah, it didn't really work. This one was the best!

On a nice afternoon I decided to load our bikes on the bike rack and take them down to the fish pond. We would ride but you have to go on the highway a little ways and that makes me a little nervous with three 6 year olds. So we drove there. Then we went and tried out the new paved pathway. It was a lot of fun. We rode our bikes on the pathway till we got to the head gates. Then the kids wanted to walk across and walk down the trail. It was kind of hot out but we sure had fun exploring. DJ loves riding his tag-a-long bike behind me. It was the best purchase ever. Whenever we get on I say to him, "Are you ready DJ?", which he replys, "You ready mom?", and I say, "Yes I'm ready." , and he says, "Me ready." and away we go. The funny thing is, this happens every time we got on the bikes. He's so cute. It was a fun afternoon.

Taking a little water break on the pathway.

Cute DJ, who insists on wearing a hot and glasses, walking down the pathway.

Brianna and Abbi ran ahead and I thought that this was such a cool shot.

All four of my cute kids together!

It was getting a little hot, so we took a break on this bench.

Then the girls wanted to take turns taking pictures. Abbi took this picture of me with Cadence, DJ and Brianna.

Cadence and I!

DJ and Cadence having a little snack back at the fish pond. I had to go help Abbi!

Renee called me one morning and asked if we wanted to come over to her house for a spaghetti party. She told me to have the kids dress up in their swim suits. I bought some fudgsicles and brought them for dessert. The kids were super excited for this. Renee made a huge batch of spaghetti and we had all the kids sit on her front stairs and we told them to eat as messy as they wanted. It was funny to watch and they all had a good time. Then we got some water balloons out and I filled up a bunch. Then we let them have a water balloon fight. Renee always has such good ideas. It was a fun lunch and the kids had a blast.

Here are all the kids sitting on the stairs eating their spaghetti. We started out with giving them some crazy utensil to use. But that didn't last. So we gave them forks and told them to use their fingers too.

Keaton and DJ busy eating their spaghetti!

My three cute girls, eating their lunch!

Abbi really got into the messy part!

DJ enjoying his fudgsicle!

Everyone trying to fill up the water balloons.

All the kids running around trying to throw their balloons!

One morning DJ insisted on wearing two coats. I tried explaining to him that it was hot out. But that didn't matter. So I put his coats on and he got his boots on and he wanted to walk down and feed the horses. But first he had to get his stick horse and ride it to the horses. It was hilarious. Brianna went with him and it was so cute to see them walk on the side of the road. He wanted to show his horse the real horses. Too funny.

Cute DJ riding his horse with Brianna!

We took off one Friday down to the trailer. We were going to take a look at some land on Saturday. We decided to go a day earlier. It was very relaxing on Saturday morning. It was pretty cloudy out. My girls could see some big black clouds and kept telling me a storm was coming. I wasn't paying much attention to them. They went and got a board and I guess they drew some pictures and words on it. They told me later that it said, "WARNING STORM". They were pretty worried about the storm. We've had quite a few bad storms at home lately. There was a tornado warning on the radio on day and they all heard it. It kind of freaked them out. Anyways they did this and went to the end of the driveway and sat on their chairs holding up the sign. When a vehicle was coming one of them would jump up and scream "THERE'S A STORM COMING, TAKE COVER!" We had no clue this was going on. I heard screaming and went to see what was going on. They were running down the driveway and that's when they told me what they were doing! Sheesh, crazy girls. I guess one truck did stop and he rolled down his window and my girls said they threw the sign and ran away from the stranger. Oh my! Just a little bit embarrassing. So we told them they could no longer go down the driveway. They had to stay by the trailer. Sheesh, what are they going to think of next. I should of gotten a picture of them with their sign. But I didn't. Well, we went and looked at the land, and afterwards we decided to drive into Big Fork and have lunch. We stopped on the way to walk down to the river. We got some cute pictures. It was a fast trip but we had a good time.

Brianna, Cadence (with the crazy hair!) and Abbi, standing above this canal of water, I guess it fed into a hydro plant. It was kind of cool to see.

I had this bright idea of getting a family picture of us sitting on this log. As you can see Cadence and DJ were not impressed at all. He kept screaming, "ME GET DOWN!" Oh well, we tried!

DJ finally stopped screaming when his dad lifted him up onto his shoulders.

So that kind of gets us caught up a bit. Now I need to do the July 1st post. Summer has been a blast lately. We've been so busy, and having lots of fun! Have a great weekend!