Splish, Splash...pool time!!!!!!!

We have had a fun filled weekend of pool time!! Despite Nate and I being a little under the weather it turned out to be a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect! It gave us a little taste of summer. The kids are LOVING the pool. They want to go everyday! Colton is making amazing progress with his swimming. He is jumping in by himself. ....and swimming underwater to the steps! I am so proud of him!!!

Emma is also loving the pool. She likes the little pool but today we got her in the big pool and she loved it too. She was a little nervous at first but then she was telling everyone, "look at me, I floating!" When she's in the baby pool she loves playing with buckets and balls. She also loves to float in that pool too! It's soo cute!

Ella Margaret is also being a little trooper at the pool. I bring her playpen up there and she just hangs out!

Now, getting us to the pool is an ordeal with all the stuff I have to bring....I will take a picture one day to show you... but it's so worth it because they are having so much fun! I cannot wait to take them to the beach!!!

Saturday we had a bunch of friends meet us up at the pool and had so much fun! It wore them out! I am really looking forward to a super fun summer!!!

Puppet Fun!

Tuesday Jill and I took the kids to the Hoover library for a puppet show. I had never been to the Hoover library and it was so nice! We will definitely be going back! They do different shows every week during the summer! This one was a little over their heads but I think they had fun just being together!!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

It has been raining soo much lately! It has pretty much rained this entire Memorial Day weekend :( The kids are dying to go to the pool but it rained all weekend and I bet the pool is freezing!! We did go and buy some pool toys and stuff to get ready for the pool. We are going to head out there this week!

On another note, since we were inside so much today, I put Ella in her super saucer. She loved it!!! And Emma was so cute playing with her! She told me, "We paying togeder Mommy".

Of course big brother had to get in on the action!!!

Swimming Lessons!!

Colton had his first swim lessons of the summer over the last 3 weeks. His teacher was awesome! We did them at the Y again...reluctantly. Last year was awful there...he did not get anything out of it. So this year I went with private lessons. Well, the teacher I got does not normally teach at the Y, she is just the swim team coach there. She usually teaches out of her own house, but was helping out because there were so many private lessons requested. Well, she is awesome....she didn't use ANY of the techniques that the Y uses and Colton really learned a lot!!! She is coming to our pool next week for another round of lessons. These will be better though...outside and 5 days in a row!

Jill kept Emma for me, which was a LIFESAVER! She would have never sat still during his lesson and I really wanted to watch. Ella Margaret was the perfect little angel during the lessons!

Perfect Weather!

The weather has been amazing the last 2 days. Mindy, Jill and I decided to take advantage and head to the zoo today. It was a perfect day for the zoo. The kids had a great time! Ella got a little sun on her face, I did the best I could to keep her covered but she would NOT keep her hat on! When we pulled up and saw all the school buses we were a little nervous but it turned out not to be too bad.

We did the train, Colton loved it!

Then we had a picnic lunch.....and ice cream! It started with just the big 2 getting some ice cream but Em and Sophie would not let that happen. So we gave in and got them some.

We rounded out the trip with the lions and girraffe's. Sophie said she wanted to ride on the lion and Emma wanted to ride a camel....interesting! Would have loved to see that!!

The kids were so pooped on the ride home!

Oh, and don't forget about sweet Brody who was sooo good in his little stroller!

His eyes were cracking us up, we were inside one of the darker exhibits!

Ella and her lovey

Ella has a new sleep buddy. Her little pink hippo blanket, her lovey. She is so cute with it. She rubs it on her little face when she's going to sleep. Usually, I lay her down and put the hippo' s head right next to her little head. It's so cute!!

School's Out For Summer!!!

Last day of nursery school was Friday...well Wed for Em since she got sick :( They both had a fun week! Colton's teacher did a theme each day. They had beach day, a camp out day, a picnic day and jammie day! Here is a picture of Colton with his teacher, Mrs. Branda, on Jammie Day.

Emma had her party on Wednesday. They had fun snacks and a jumpy thing in the classroom. Of course, Em would NOT get in. She's funny about stuff like that. She is very cautious. Here is a pic with Emma and her teacher, Mrs. Kendra.

Em and Colton both had such wonderful teachers and really loved going to school. We had very few days of tears! They both learned a lot and their teachers really took such good care of them!

Sick :(

Ella and Emma are both sick :( Of course, this all came down on Em's last day of school! Thursday afternoon she had a fever. And woke up with one Friday morning. Ella did not sleep well Thurs night and woke up with a temp Friday as well. So, Nate had to take Colton to his swimming lesson while I took the girls to the doctor. Emma was soooo nervous when she realized we were there for her as well. I have never seen her like that. But our pediatrician is so great, he told her he was going to look in Mommy's ear....and it wouldn't hurt Mommy....so then she sat real still and let him check her out. Once he was done with her, she perked up and started talking. She loved her sticker and her smiley on a stick!

Poor Ella did not like getting her ears looked at. She screamed pretty loud :( She screamed so much that her little head got sooo red on top, you can see it in the picture above. And that was after I'd dressed her! Emma was looking at her with the most concerned look. Poor Ella has another ear infection :(

Oh, I forgot to mention what happened when we got to the doctor. I went to get Ella out of the car....and there was poop running down her leg! (Amazingly, only a small little dot got on her clothes! which was a good thing, since I did NOT have a change of clothes) That will teach me a lesson!!! Well, I carried her inside and the front desk people could see my "situation" and pointed me to a room to clean her up. They even went out to get Emma from the car as I could not get her!!! What a day!!!! (That is why she is naked in the stroller!!!)

Love those doughnuts!

Tuesday we went over to Jill's to let the girls play. Ella and Brody both took a nap (Brody much longer than Ella). Jill ran to get us some caffeine and came back with a treat for "us". Powdered doughnuts! Well, as soon as the girls saw them they went nuts! I think they ate more than we did! They kept saying "another one". Of course, they were not too interested in lunch when that time came. They sure do love their playtime together. Everyday, Emma will ask me sometime during the day if she is going to see Sophie. It's so cute. I am really looking forward to summer and all the fun things they'll get to do together!!

Mother's Day!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day. My kind of day....lounging around the house all day! And Nate cooked me a wonderful steak dinner! The kids were so sweet. Colton told me Happy Mother's Day...gave me a big kiss and said I love you Mommy. Melts my heart! He is my sweet boy, even though he can make me want to pull my hair out and poke my eyeballs out sometimes!! Emma, of course wanted me to hold her a lot on Sunday, which I do not mind doing! She told me "happy mommy day" and gave me a kiss on the lips! That is her new thing and she thinks it's sooo funny! Ella of course was my snuggle bunny! I took 2 naps, largely due to the "outing" I had with Daddy and friends the night before!!! I am so blessed to be the mother of 3 beautiful, healthy and sweet children. There is nothing I love more than being a Mom and watching them grow. I am also lucky to have such a wonderful husband who is a great dad! I love them all more than anything in the world!!

Em and Colton made me some wonderful gifts at school. Their teachers really go all out for holidays and I love it!!

The ladybugs are Colton's thumb prints!

Em's hand print and thumb prints!!

Swim time is near!!!!

I just had to post some pics of Colton and Em in their new swimsuits! They are absolutely adorable!!! I still have to get the monogramming done on them but I had them try them on today. Em was NOT very cooperative...as you'll be able to see in the pictures. She is getting a new tooth and it is REALLY affecting her! Poor Ella Margaret did not get a swimsuit like the big kids...but hers is equally as cute...just hope it fits her!

Buck Creek

Nate took the big kids to the Buck Creek Festival here in Helena Saturday afternoon. They had a great time with Daddy! Colton got to do this bungee thing...I wish I could have seen that! He loved it!

My sweet, sneaky little boy!

This post is really for my own memory than anything else. I have 2 funny stories involving Colton I wanted to write down.

The first:

Colton told his Daddy that he wanted to make the color pink. He is really into mixing colors to make other colors lately. Like yellow and blue to make green, etc. Well, he told Nate he needed a white crayon and wanted to go to the crayon store. So he gave Nate some specific instructions on how to get to the crayon store. He told him to "take a left out of our neighborhood. Go past the Chevron and take a left. Then go towards my school. Don't turn at my school because that is the way to my T-ball game and we don't have one today. Go straight past my school and go straight for awhile". Nate said they went over these directions like 3 times...then Colton giggled and said, "I'm just kidding...there's no crayon store daddy!". What's funny is he did give the correct directions to get to his school! He is just so smart!

The second:

Colton was sent to his room this morning for time out. Nate told him to go up there and close the door. So he did. A few minutes later, Nate went upstairs to put Ella down for her nap. It was dark in her room and he had the door cracked. Colton did not know he was in there though. Well, Nate heard him open his door, come out, and shut it back. Then saw him run over to the playroom and heard him shut that door. (Kept his door shut so we'd think he was still in there!) Very smart. Nate said he gave him a couple of minutes to get comfy in there and then opened the door. Nate said the look on colton's face was priceless!

Truck Touch

Today we took Colton over to The Church at Cahaba Bend...they were having a truck touch. There were all sorts of trucks! A cement mixer, an ambulance, a police car, a digger, dump trucks, a monster truck..and even a pink limo!

He was sooooo excited...Emma on the other hand was a little priss pot the whole time. The expression on her face in this pic says it all....

He had so much fun climbing on all the stuff! At first he was a little nervous we could tell. He did not want to get in the police car...he was probably afraid they would take him away!! But Nate convinced him to get in before we left. Emma got on a few things but was so whiney I just took her over to the playground and let her play there. That seemed to make her happy...until she thought she saw a bug and would not continue down the slide...I had to pick her up off of it! Colton spent a little time in the jumpy things then we had to head out...Nate took the big 2, to the Buck Creek festival so I'll post about that later!!