Long Course, Short Season

Summer swim team has officially begun. This year D2 has joined her big sister.

The two monkeys are goofing around after a short rain delay.

Summer swim team is called Long Course.  It is so confusing because it is a super short season (2months) compared to Short Course which is (7 months).  The biggest difference is the length of the pool and the races.  In the winter, the pool is only 25 yards, so most of the races are quick and short.  In the summer they swim in a 25 meter pool and the races are usually 50 meters and longer.  In the summer they have open mile races in local lakes.

This summer D2 is making her first debut.  She is the only 5year old on the team.  Unfortunately for her, 8 and under's is the only age group, so for now she must swim against her big sister.   They are in different practice groups, but for meets they have to compete against one another.

For only being 5 this girl has some flipper legs.  In practice with just the kick board she out kicks some 9 year olds in the races.  It is when you add the arms and the side breathing that she slows down.  This girl has some big swim shoes to fill, but something tells me she will be just fine by the fall season.


Here she is at the first out door meet.  A little nervous or cold, I am not quite sure which it is.


D1, already to go.  A seasoned veteran.


I love this meet.  It is outside and very laid back.  I usually time so I can get up close and personal on the swim deck.  You get awesome pictures if you time.

Here are the two of them during warm ups. 



D2, hasn't learned how to dive off the block yet, but she will by the end of the summer, I am sure of that.


D1 was getting ready to swim in the relay.  She does the butterfly portion of this race. 

And she is off......  They ended up in 1st place! 


D2, swam the freestyle and backstroke for this meet.  Here she is wanting for the start gun.  She completed the 50, which was 2 laps.  So proud of her.  No DQ's.



At days end, D1 finished in 2nd place for her age group while D2 came in 15th.  A great swim weekend.

However, my proudest moment of the meet wasn't how they swam or how they did, it was after the awards presentation when my 8yr, turned to me and asked if she could go congratulate her new friend Mayson on her 1st place, high point win.  I literally almost cried.  Mayson beat D1 for the high point trophy.  All Gabby cared was that she meet a new swim friend and that her friend just got a trophy.  She walked right up to her gave her a high five and said good job!

That is sportsman ship at it finest, and I couldn't of been prouder.

I love swim team.  It teaches kids, so much more than how to swim. 

All about Dad

Another Father's Day gone in a blink of an eye.....

Like Mother's Day we went to the local grocery store to decorate cakes again.  It is a fun, cheap outing for the kids.  It works out perfect, 3 kids & 3 men, everyone decorates.

This time around we went right at the start so we would be sure to have a cake and a place to sit.  Jared helped Gia squeeze the frosting on Grandpa M's cake. 



Our little 3 year old insisted on working alone this time around.


Bella wouldn't let Jared see her masterpiece because she was making his cake.


Gabby was in charge of making Grandpa S's.


Here is Gia Pia's finished cake.  I helped her with the M. She got carried away with the sprinkles, but that was fine with my dad, because he is a dessert-a-holic !  Loves anything sweet.


Bella took the longest this time.  She was really into making it perfect.  The lady at the store was trying to teach her exactly  how they frost cakes.


Here is Gabby's finished cake for Grandpa S.

She is our creative girl.  Loves abstract art and colors.


Here is Bella's finished project for her Dad.  She wanted to out line everything.  Such a type "A" personality.  Everything perfect and precise. 




It is funny how everyone's cakes matched their personalities to a tee. 

Saturday we cooked out and fire-pitted with both set of grandparents.  It was a lovely night that ended with roasted marshmallows and grandpa tucking his grandkids in their beds.

Sunday we had a wonderful day.  Church, lunch then off for a full day of boating on the river with some friends.  A perfect sunny 85 degrees. 

Hope all you fathers, grandpas and husbands had a wonderful day filled with family love.

Party Season has offically begun...

Since May 1st, it has been party central around here.  We start the season off every year with Mother's Day and then a few weeks later celebrate Jared birthday/Memorial Day.  Then it is my birthday, Gia's birthday, and then Father's Day.  Next up is always the , 4th of July, my Father in-laws birthday, all followed by a tad break for the month of August and then we celebrate the start of the school year and then end  party season with Bella's Labor Day birthday.  My birthday was last week, and yesterday was Gia's so next up will be this weekend to celebrate Father's Day.

I love our back yard.






House of Five on Cambridge Drive, is that house.  It is our amazing deck/backyard that everyone comes to hang out at.  A typical Friday night is easily 15 neighbors eating dinner and enjoying one another's company on our deck or in our backyard.  Each family brings meat for their family and a side dish to share.  It is a great way to start the weekend and enjoy good friends.




This is how I spent memorial day weekend. Double fisted and surround by super awesome friend, neighbors and family.

YES....party season, birthday season, Cambridge love season.... they have all officially begun.
Memorial Day weekend is always the 1st real party of the season.  This is due to several reason. One being it is Jared's birthday and it is usually not warm enough to have an outdoor party much before this weekend. This year it was 90 degree's.  It felt way more like the 4th of July then the 31st of May.

Here is Bill our backyard neighbor with the girls.

Bill has a pool and we have an open invitation to swim everyday.  Did I mention my children adore him?  In April while we were on Spring Vacation, Bill was in his winter home in Florida and took the girls miniature golfing and out for ice cream so Jared and I could go out to dinner one night.  Did I mention how much Jared & I adore Bill????



This year the party seemed to gravity towards the new fire-pit area.
This area is in phase 2.





Last fall the fire-pit was a dirty,smelly pond.  This year it is a defined fire-pit area thanks to some great new chairs and rocks.  Next year the plan or phase 3 will be to remove the grass area and limestone it.  Of course that will all depend on the success of the next springs garage sale.

Happy almost Father's Day....a day to cookout and chill out!

A day of celebrations

So D3 turned 3 yesterday.  To make her feel like a big girl, we took her to get her ears pierced. 

Here she is waiting for me to finish the paper work up. 


Big sisters are being supportive.  Telling her it will only hurt for a tiny few seconds. 


The nice lady marking the dots on her ears.


Making sure the dots are even.



One ear down.  No tears yet.



Och, this hurts... but still no tears!



All done!  No tears!



Big girl now.  Aren't they so pretty?

Today, today, today, Today is Gia's Birthday!

My baby isn't a baby anymore.


Today




she turns 3!






People tell me all the time to cherish my days because in a blink of an eye they will be gone and she will be off to college. Most of the time, it is my retired neighbors who have to remind me to enjoy the little things. It is usually because I am complaining that she just peed her pants or spilled her milk all over the kitchen. Today, however, I am realizing they just might be right. It doesn't seem quite possible that she is 3 years old.










When we moved to this house on Cambridge Drive four summers ago we were just and ordinary family of four with hopes to someday be a family of five. A bigger house was our invitation to try one last time for a boy.

I always wanted to be a mother of boys. I loved sports and coaching, so I thought I would be the perfect mother to boys. God, on the other hand knew that my heart needed little girls. He knew that that my hubby would be the perfect father to girls. He knew that my father and father in-law need the love of girls. He just knew that our house needed to be filled with lots of girl power! Today my world is covered head to toe in pink and glitter and I wouldn't have it any other way!



With all 3 pregnancy's, I knew from day one they were all girls. I just always knew it in my heart. The 3rd time around I tried to let Jared believe for all 9 months that she would be a he. She was suppose to be his Jackson Earl. Our little Jack. The man upstairs knew better. He knew this family needed one more girl. Now hubby can't imagine a world without his trio of girls. They are his world.



On Saturday, June 16, 2007 our little family of four became a crazy family of five when a beautiful 9lb 2oz Gianna Josephine made her debut at 9am. She completes us.



How can you not love this face.....






Happy Birthday sweet sweet baby. Welcome to the rip old age of 3! It is going to be a world filled with so much fun. Preschool and play dates just to name a few. You bring so much joy to this family.