Last Day of Swim Lessons

It was overcast and looked like another day of rain, so I didn't bother putting my swim suit on before leaving for the swim lesson. Well a few minutes later on the drive to the lesson, the sun came out. Turned out to be a great day for the pool so Alyssa convinced me to stay from the time the lesson ended at 11:30 until 1:30. Not sure why but John didn't get into the pool after the lesson. He just played with the rocks and sat with me. Alyssa didn't seem to mind and found other girls to play with. I still can't believe that tomorrow is August and that I am still in the process of uploading vacation photos from earlier in the month to the kodak website and still planning to post vacation photos here.

Birthday

John woke up and had all his gifts open before Alyssa and I left for church. When we came home we had cinnamon rolls and french toast for breakfast since that's what John requested. He picked Deanna Rose Farm over going swimming, even though the whole time at the farm he kept on wanting to find the shade and sit on benches. I was feeling the same way as John since it was quite a hot and humid day, so I didn't mind at all! After we stopped at Sonic for milkshakes (for John) and slushes for the rest of us. Yum! Later on after dinner (John picked chicken nuggets) we had birthday cake and ice cream.

First Swim Lesson

So here is a picture Alyssa drew the before the first day of swim lessons. She wanted to give it to her swim teacher. The person in yellow in the top left is me. She explained that the dots on me were all of my mosquito bites! How nice! Jeff is below me in yellow and the swim teacher is the one in blue. The orange thing by the sun is the life guard. John is orange with the spiky hair and Alyssa in pink with her ruffles on her swim suit. And the pool with the two diving boards.

Fourth of July Fireworks

We made it out to a fireworks display for the kids. Jeff and I didn't really care to go but we knew it was something the kids would like to do. After arriving at least an hour early to get a space in the parking lot, we were a little suprised that the show only lasted about 15 minutes. Is that normal for a city fireworks display? Guess I remember other displays lasting longer but maybe my memory is already going! :) The traffic getting out of the parking lot and home took longer than that! The most important thing was that the kids seemed to enjoy it! It's all about the kids right? And doing fun things for them especially on the holidays.

Freedom Run

On the Fourth of July I finished the Lenexa Freedom Run (10K) race. (I'm the one on the right if you couldn't guess.) My only goal was to finish under an hour. My finish time was 59:13 - - 9:32 minute pace so happy about that, especially since I haven't been doing as much running as I'd like. My usual run on the treadmill is at a 10 minute pace so I can't complain when I haven't been doing much running outside....and the last race I ran I think was over a year ago.

Was just a spur of the moment decision....I decided to run this race the night before after seeing it on a website while I was looking for things to do on the 4th for the family. They had a parade that we all attended a few hours later.

Please Daddy Please

A trip Kohl's to get a few things. Decided a new cupcake shirt and pink monkey shorts would be money well spent (one less thing to have a fit about every morning). Later Alyssa saw a Little Mermaid pool that she just thought she would have to have or she'd die. I used my usual response of "well that's something we'll have to talk to daddy about later to see if that's something we can get"....(or my other response is "wow! that's neat! We'll have to add that to your birthday list" which usually works). So she said, "Well let's call daddy right now!"....oh, okay, so I gave her the phone and after talking to daddy...and doing a little wrapping around her little finger...and please daddy please... we were on our way home with a pool. So what's the next thing I was doing moments after arriving home...yes, blowing up a pool! !! :)

First Day of July

After picking up John from preschool we stopped by the library. Then headed home (so Alyssa could get her headbands)and ended up walking to another park close to our house for a picnic. Alyssa freaked out in the car when she realized she didn't have her headbands (but then never put them in her hair) and just wore them around her neck the rest of the day. I guess her "must have pigtails in rainbow color order" days are over for the time being. :) Still wearing the same clothes though.
After we got home the kids played in the yard for a few hours until I said we needed to go in because the mosquitoes were feasting on me!

Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condem.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
He learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
He learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
He learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
He learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
He learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.