A Morning at the Lake

For playgroup on Tuesday morning we went out to Lake Lowell.  It is close to home and on weekday mornings it is very quiet.  We've been there a few times already this summer, but I usually forget to bring my camera.  This time I remembered.

Gideon cuddled with me.  I dipped his feet in the water, but he was content to cuddle and smile on my lap.  He then fell asleep which made it easier for me to take care of my girls.

 He sure is a happy little man.

His hats are all starting to fit him, which is great because we need to protect his sweet little head from the sun.

 When we go to the lake my girls spend most of their time playing in the sand.

 This time though Lily spent a great deal of time looking for sea shells.  In the end she collected rocks and called them sea shells.  Someday we'll go to a beach where she can really collect sea shells, like her dad.  The only souvenirs that we brought back from our honeymoon were sea shells.  Tyson would pick a couple up on each beach that we visited.

I'm not certain what this game was.

She just filled up the star with sand and then went and dropped it in the lake one shovel-full at a time.

  Charlotte watered the water.

And had a great time doing it.

 Sweet and happy children, at least at time these photos were taken.  They were tired on the way home which meant crankiness from all.  Thankfully the next item on our agenda was naps.

Swimming with my girls

This evening I took the girls swimming over at Lakeview park again and I remembered to bring my camera this time. We go to this pool probably every other week, but I'm usually too busy to take any pictures. This evening there weren't a lot of people at the pool so I pulled out the camera for a few minutes.

Charlotte loved to stand in the water.

She was less certain when I sat her down in it, but didn't fuss at all.
Mostly she liked to sit at the edge of the water and play.
She watched the little waves as they came up to her.
She is so much happier now that she can sit on her own.
Lily was all over the place. 2/3 of the pool is between 1 foot and 1-1/2 feet deep so Lily can go all over the place. She stands on her tiptoes to move the elephant sprayer that is on the little island.
There is also a splash pad that she enjoys.
Running under the waterfall.
And playing with the sprays.
There is a giant turtle that she likes to climb, or at least try to climb.
Today she finally managed to get to the top.
The girls had a blast playing in the water and now they are both sound asleep so mommy can get some rest.

Why do they have to grow up so fast?

Someone needs to tell my girls that they need to slow down and take their time growing up, because they are getting way too big way too fast!

Charlotte thinks that she gets to sit up on her own now. I snapped this picture after she sat there for a couple of minutes this evening. It is just so naughty to be growing up so quickly!

We are back to trying to potty train Lily and I decided that she needs to have some more structure and a couple of little tasks that she needs to do every day. They are little tasks, like getting dressed, brushing her teeth, going potty, picking up her toys at the end of the day, things like that.
I wasn't sure how she would respond, because she has never seemed interested in things like stickers, mostly because I don't really keep them around, but when I put it up and showed it to her she was very excited. After we brushed her teeth this evening she ran to her chart and asked for the sticker. It is going to be a bit of a process getting her to understand it all, but so far so good.

We went swimming today with friends and Lily learned out to hold herself up in a tube.
Charlotte relaxed and even napped for a minute in her floating ring. I have a couple of water babies!

Summer is finally here!

And not a day too soon, well I guess it came one day early as tomorrow is the official start of summer. But if the weatherman is to be believed (which honestly he never is) this next week should be full of beautiful warm weather.

Now that the weather is nice we have been spending our mornings at the park with friends and then our afternoons are usually spent at home, but we have the occasional outing. Last week we went with our playgroup to the zoo and today I took the girls to Lakeview Water Park in Nampa. I was very proud of myself for taking both girls swimming all by myself. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was scared to death to do it, but we all survived and had a great time. I didn't get any pictures there because, well, my hands were full.

But we came home and continued with the water play on the back patio and I did manage to get a few pictures of that.

Charlotte is turning into such a big girl! I can't believe that she will be 4 months old in just one week.

She loves to be outside, but she gets very upset when the sun is in her eyes.
Lily loves to be outside as well, and she especially loves to wear her sunglasses.
She also loves the flowers. I made the mistake of letter her pick a bachelor button a few weeks back and now she wants to pick every flower.
I love my girl and her big pink ball.
Being outdoors has been so wonderful for the girl, but I think that I enjoy it even more than they do. It is amazing what some sunshine and exercise can do to improve your mood.

More Pool Fun

This afternoon it was finally warm again so we went and played outside. Lily was loving her pool and I was watering nearby and decided to see what she thought about getting sprayed a bit, and well, she LOVED it!

Kiddie Pool

Tyson and I gave Lily a little pool for her birthday and today it was warm enough to try it out. She started out a little uneasy, not sure what to think about this outdoor bath. But she quickly warmed up to it.She decided that it was a lot of fun to throw her little diving sticks out onto the patio and then stretch herself out to pull them back in.

What a happy little girl. We are so blessed! I think that we will be spending a lot of time this summer outside.
And just because I have one, her is a short little clip of her playing in the pool.

Swimming Lessons

Today was the last day of Lily's swimming lessons. It was such a fun class and Lily just loved the water. Of course she doesn't swim by any means, but she does jump into the pool when I say "ready, set go" and she kicks when I glide her around on her tummy and on her back. Mostly we just wanted her to feel comfortable and confident in the water.

Here are a few pictures that Tyson took today. They turned out kind of dark, but the baby is still cute.

Playing with the ring. She would drop it and then sputter when her head when under when she would lean forward to pick it up.

And showing her ring to daddy.

Gliding along on her tummy. The teacher would have us throw the little toy and the glide the baby toward it.

Smiling at her daddy.Here are a couple of videos that Tyson took today. The first here is Lily gliding around the pool. She manages to kick most of the time and will sometimes even use her arms to propel herself forward.

And this video is of Lily and I going down the water slide. She was such a brave little girl that we went down twice.