Cooling Off

Dada took the kids with him to the car wash today and when they came back, they decided to turn the driveway into a kid wash.  A great way to stay cool on this hot day.

Stella's First Swim Lesson

Today marked the start of Stella's 2 week (8 sessions) swimming lessons.  And boy was she excited!

Here she is sitting with the rest of her class, listening to her instructors, Mr. Thomas and Ms. Lauren before getting in the water.

Here are some shots of her in the water with a big smile on her face.  When it was time for Stella to get in the water, she just went right in without any hesitation.  What a difference a year makes.

Here she is getting the back of her head wet and going for a swim with Mr. Thomas.

Here she is dunking her whole head in water.

Finally, here she is jumping off of the edge of the pool into her instructor's arms.

She was so brave and enthusiastic during her lesson and did everything her instructors asked her to do without any hesitation.  Stella had a great first day and we are so very proud of her.  And since I am retroposting, I will also share with you that on her second day, she jumped off the diving board at the deep end of the pool into 9 ft of water.  Of course, the instructor was their to catch her, but still, we are so, so proud of her.

While Stella was in the pool, Des was around the perimeter of the pool, doing what boys do best, like jumping in puddles...

...stomping on bugs and collecting seeds, leaves, and twigs...

...and occasionally sitting still for a bit...

Des was a great spectator through the 45 minute class and as soon as I finished saying those exact same words to Des and Dada at the end of the lesson, Des says to me: "Mama, I'm tired of this, let's go home!"

Doodles and Bubbles

Dada got some bath time crayons for the kids to play with and they just absolutely went bananas....they loved it so much!  They now want to take a bath every day just to play with these. 

Here is Stella drawing a self portrait...

...and Des drawing a happy face.

Bowls Of Fun

While I was feeling a little under the weather today and stayed at home to rest, Dada took the kids bowling.  He forgot to take the camera, so we only have iPhone pictures of their fun time at the bowling alley.
This picture of Des in his bowling shoes just cracks me up.  He looks like an old man or something.  This is the first time that Des has been able to actually bowl.

Getting their balls...

Stella's up first.  You can see in the last picture that Stella is doing her happy dance when her ball makes it to the end.  As an aside, Stella did get two spares during this bowling outing.

Now, it's Desmond's turn....

Let's Get Physical

Desmond does somersaults all the time these days and most of the time he does a great job.  I need to get it on video or film one of these days.  We don't encourage him to do this because I get nervous that one of these days he may just snap his neck.

He is also doing lots of other physical activities.  Jumping is his favorite thing to do, whether to jump on the floor, the bed or the sofa ( both of which we immediately make him stop) to jumping OFF the sofa onto the floor and landing on his feet ( he lands on his feet about 95% of the time) .

Sweet Nothings

I wanted to capture some of the sweet things the kids have been saying or doing lately:

The following conversation took place between me and Des during my morning sickness phase (that lasted entirely too long)
D:  Mama, do you still feel bad?
Me: Yes (as I am laying in bed)
D:  Then why don't you take your medicine?  It will help you feel better.  (He has also kissed me in order to make me feel better.  He is just a sweetie!)

I was sitting on the couch with tears streaming down my face because of all of the pregnancy hormones, a myriad of emotions, and feeling frustrated that my morning sickness would never end.  Stella came to ask me something and saw the tears and immediately asked, "Mama, why are you sad?"  And before I could answer, she just hugged me so tight in an attempt to make me feel better.  That sweet little hug did the trick!

At bedtime when saying her prayers, Stella insisted to Dada that they pray for Mama to feel better (again because of my morning sickness).

This conversation took place between Stella, Des, and myself one morning during breakfast.
Des:  Mama, Stella is not a mother.
Me:  No, Des, Stella is not a mother.  She is just a little girl.  One day, she will grow up to be an adult, get married, and then have a baby of her own.  Then she will be a mother.
Stella:  No way, I don't want to have a baby in my belly and get sick and throw up like you do everyday.

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

We had a nice and relaxing Memorial Day weekend...so relaxing in fact that we forgot to take a camera with us!  Ooops.  Dada did take a few pics with his iPhone.  Saturday after breakfast, Dada took the kids to the driving range to hit golf balls while I went shopping for a little bit.  Stella and Des each got kid size golf clubs earlier in the week and so they took them out for a test run.  Dada said that they had lots of fun.

Here is a shot of Des with his golf club running towards his Dada.

Then we all met up and had lunch at our favorite pizzeria.  After lunch, we went swimming at the indoor pool at the Jones center.  The kids absolutely loved it.  I was surprised at how easily and eagerly Stella went into the water considering her fear and hesitation with the swimming pool last summer.  They have this large water slide that the kids loved.  Des went on it with Dada 4 times or so and Stella went on it with Dada countless times.

While at the pool, poor Des was shivering for some reason even though the water was warm.  He didn't complain but when his lips turned purple, Dada took him outside for a little bit to warm up.  He is a skinny boy these days, maybe that's why he was shivering...no fat on his little body.

In the evening after dinner, we went to a nearby park we had not been to before.  The park had this cool butterfly bench that the kids liked.

We had busy but fun weekend!