Always Thinking

Tonight I sent the kids down to clean up the toys they had gotten out in the basement while I made supper.  About 15 minutes later, Briggs came into the kitchen and we had this conversation:

Briggs (with big, serious eyes):  "I'm sorry, Mommy."
Me:  "Why are you sorry?"
Briggs:  "Because when the sisters were cleaning up in the basement, I was just playing train table.  Do you forgive me?"
Me:  "Thanks for telling me that.  And yes, of course I forgive you."
Briggs (with a big smile):  "And if you forgive someone, then they still get ice cream, right?"

For a moment, I thought maybe my son felt guilt for not doing what he was asked to do and was truly repenting for his wrong doing.  Unfortunately, I think he was beating his tattling sisters to the punch and securing his dessert along the way.

Love my smart boy!

July Fun

July is almost over and school starts back up in about 3 more weeks.  Why is summer flying by so fast??

We all enjoyed a fun, crazy, tiring week of VBS as we traveled "Into the Wild" at our church.

We loved having my best friend, Christie, and her girls in town for week of playdates and best friend fun.

We've made lots and lots of trips to State Farm pool.

We've gone on our own, with cousins, and with friends.

And our swimming fun typically ends with ice cream treats.

Staley spent a fun day with Uma watching her cousin play softball, going shopping, and eating out.

Adelie's fun day with Uma and Papa involved some school shopping for charity, eating out, and a fun museum.  While she had her special day, Staley and Zach enjoyed a Daddy date day to the Riverfront Museum.  And Briggs requested a swimming date with Mommy at State Farm pool with his cousin, Caroline.  Everyone had so much fun!!

We had a fun day at Bicycle Safety Town with a friend followed by...

lunch at Culver's followed by...

a trip to the zoo.

Always good when you can check 3 things off the summer bucket list in one day!

We've also spent plenty of time playing at home, reading, putting on original plays and performances, playing outside, eating ice cream treats, walking to the library, and enjoying our lazy summer days.

I love summer!  I love that we've marked most of our favorites off our summer bucket list and still enjoyed nice, relaxing days at home.  I love spending these days with my kids and am already feeling sad about the impending start of the school year.  Why must time insist on always slipping by so quickly?!

Riding High

Adelie is my child that resists things that she thinks are going to be hard.  I'm not sure if it's a fear of failure or a preference to stay inside her comfort zone, but she has a distinct lack of desire to try certain things.  Reading is one of those activities.  Another is riding her bike without training wheels.  She learned to ride her training wheel-less bike last fall, but has been very resistant to starting back up again this year.  If I insist, there are usually tears and a very short-lived effort.

Last week I took the kids to Bicycle Safety Town.  Adelie cried about going.  She informed me that she was NOT going to ride her bike and was only going to ride her scooter.  When I insisted that she practice her bike for a little bit before she could ride her scooter, there were tears.  There was an insistence that I walk right next to her with my hand on her the entire time.  There were multiple ride-three-feet-and-then-brake efforts.  And then...

she started riding.

And riding...and riding...and riding.  She started out with little laps around one small loop.  Then she branched out to a bigger loop.  Then she started riding all over Safety Town, going up and down the hills and around the entire park.  She was starting by herself.  She was riding multiple loops without stopping.  She was having a blast.  And then she cried when it was time to leave.

Now Adelie can't get enough.  She's riding in the driveway and down the sidewalk and begging to go back to Safety Town.  We went on a bike ride down at the lower lake and she did lap after lap after lap.  She is so proud!!

And so am I!

Money Worries

Papa always pretends to pull quarters out of the kids' ears.  The girls always love it and ask Papa to pull a quarter out of their ear.  Last night Papa did his trick to Briggs.  Briggs's eyes got really wide (even more than usual) and Papa teased him about Mommy putting money in his ear.  After Papa left, Briggs said to me, "When you put money in my ear when I sleep, you're really gentle, right?"  I said, "Buddy, do you really think I put money in your ears when you sleep?"  He thought for a second and then replied, "No.  Maybe Daddy does it."

We don't really need another reason for this little guy to be scared to go to bed at night.

Speaking the Truth

Zach and I stained the deck and our porches this past week-end.  The first coat of stain on the front porch came out pretty spotty.  Zach and Staley were in the front yard looking at the porch and they had this conversation:

Zach:  "That just didn't turn out very good, did it?"
Staley:  "Actually, it's pretty terrible, but it's not like we're having a porch staining contest so it will be okay."

You can always count on your kids to tell you the truth...and to put things in perspective.

Progress

We've found our way to State Farm pool several times over the past few weeks.  It's so fun to see the progress in swimming skills and water confidence in all 3 of my kids since last summer.

Briggs is now going down the water slides all by himself AND jumping off the sides of the pool all by himself...over and over and over again.

Adelie is going off the diving board without her puddle jumper and can swim to the side all by herself.

Staley is now diving off the diving board.

And although I don't have a picture of it, I can now take all 3 kids on the lazy river by myself and actually have a semi-relaxing time.  #summergoals  #progress

Baseball

Staley just finished her last game of coach pitch instructional league baseball for the summer.  It is a laid-back baseball program with one practice and about a dozen games where the kids learn as they play.  It's a minimal time commitment and the kids all improved throughout the season.  Staley loved it!

Staley made vast improvements throughout her baseball season last summer and she picked up right where she left off.  We saw consistent improvement in her throughout the season.  She was very consistent with hitting the ball and demonstrated a much improved swing thanks to her batting coach (Grandpa).

Staley also demonstrated great improvement with her throwing motion and distance.  She could catch the ball if it came right to her, but catching remains an area that could use some work.  She was thrilled, however, as during one game while playing first base she stopped a ground ball and stepped on the base to get an out.  That was one of the highlights of her season.

Staley really enjoys baseball and also really enjoyed working on her skills in the backyard with Grandpa throughout the season.  This is her last year of co-ed instructional league, so we'll have to see if she wants to take the next step in her baseball/softball playing journey next year.

At least for this year, it was another fun and successful season.