My Not-So-Secret Ambition

Someday...

...I'll be a flower gardener...

...like my mom.

But until then, I'll chase kids,

teach them the art of smelling petals...

and take pictures of flowers after they've gone to bed.

Growing Fins

Stretching to become more fishlike--for two whole weeks--is hard work!

Gracie had all sorts of visitors come to watch her swim during her lessons at the end of June--"Who's coming today, Mom?" was what we were starting to hear from her. Granny, G-G, G'ma Colleen, and even Papa Greg and G'ma Joan made the trip up to see her swim. G'ma Joan even talked Papa into spending a night with us--here they are playing GO FISH with Gracie. (Even studying water creatures when out of the pool!)

Gracie learned how to blow some excellent pool bubbles...

...and how to use a kick board. On her last day, she was a very tired and very nervous about getting her face wet. She's sporting the Lochhead brow of concentration here.

Though she was nervous, she jumped! It took a lot of talking from Miss Hannah and her dad to get her to, but she did! :)

Here's that grin of hers!

She loved her time with Miss Hannah and Miss Kendall! Thank you for all of your time and guidance, teachers! If you look closely, you can see her little fins starting to form! :)

And of course, like the typical younger brother, Joshy then stole the show by going CRAZY with excitement when Dad stuck him in after Grace's lesson.

He was a maniac! Apparently the big, big bathtub agreed with him!

A "More Fuller" Day

Ten years ago when I was student teaching with Melissa Fuller, I never imagined that a mere decade later we'd be job-sharing and enjoying the SIX kids between the two of us!

We were lucky enough to have 3/4 of the Fuller girls spend the afternoon with us last week. Melissa and Amelia needed to run some errands and we jumped at the chance to have the girls play (and nap) with us!

I loved having the girls on their own--they say the funniest things when you're listening closely!

Gracie taking her turn with the Bubble Mower...

Lilly cracked us up! She is two and has her own special language--she uses all sorts of syllables and body language to get her point across. And she's rarely without some message that she wants to get across! :)

Snack time is always popular with Josh.

Notice the baby, sippy, AND pretzel in Lilly's hands...

We had such a fun day!!! We have to do this again soon!

Watercoloring

YAY! Gracie finally talked me into letting her paint with the watercolors that she got for her birthday. I always thought I'd do all sorts of art with my kids, but the reality is, art is MESSY and 3-year-old attention spans are SHORT! So, for weeks I'd been putting off the painting endeavor... Finally, I realized that she needed to have the paint experience--and having time off of work helps, too! :)

She is getting pretty good with her fine motor skills--she's good with her paintbrush, and starting to understand/is able to begin to "stay in the lines" (although the right brain in me doesn't really want her to stay in the lines! :) )

"Joshy on a swing."

This grin seals the deal--totally worth the mess. :)

Grace These Days...

"I just have ONE HUG left in my tummy..."

"There is a black GORILLA in G'ma Joan's room!"

"If I sleep for a long time for naps, THEN where are we going?"

"I like your toenails, Mom. They're beauuuuutiful!"

Sprinkler Squealing

The VanSickle girls came over for a fun afternoon of sprinkler screeching--a new sport. It involves running through the sprinkler very quickly and screaming in your highest pitch scream. :) What fun! We love these girls.

Denim and Diamonds

Last night I took a little sniff of the 2 oz. sample of Red Door that I keep in the bathroom drawer, and instantly I felt G'ma Caroline's hug and sloppy kiss on my cheek.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Grandma. We still miss you. Can't wait to hear your "Isn't that just AWESOME?!?" stories when we meet again.

Summer = Swimming Lessons!

There's no better way to kick off summer than by spending TEN MORNINGS in the POOL! Gracie is getting to experience swimming lessons for the first time this June. Hannah Davis and her daughter, Kendall, are teaching Gracie all sorts of fun water activities...

...blowing bubbles during "airplane rides"...

... "reach and pull" with her arm muscles during the dog paddle...

...and kicking while driving her motorboat.

She is quite talkative in the pool. (surprised?) I laugh as I overhear her telling Kendall that she likes her new swimsuit or that she has braids in today and she shouldn't get them wet. :) She's quite concerned about getting her eyes and face wet, so every day she tells them that she doesn't want to jump in today. But she'll slip in off the edge from her bum!

Hannah and Kendall do such an amazing job with the kids! We are so grateful for their sweet attention and care! One of the special games they play lets kids earn pennies to put in their cup by blowing bubbles, and then at the end of the lesson they trade their pennies in for three tootsie roll candies. This is quite motivating for Grace! :)

Thank you, Davis family, for giving so much time and energy to our kids! They're more like fish than when they began! :)

The Bink

...and their parents are so grateful! :)

Misplaced Toys

We have been working on "cleaning up" at the Lochhead house. Gracie is singing and counting while picking up, and she's earning stickers when she does it JOYFULLY and QUICKLY--a work in progress! :) Joshy is VERY good at throwing trash away--so much so that he often extends this skill with items that aren't meant to be tossed, so throughout the day you'll see Jeff and/or I glancing in the trash can. He also loves to take dirty diapers to the Diaper Genie--I need to get a picture of him crawling up the stairs with a wadded diaper under his arm...

G'ma Joan says that she always laughs when she sees toys out of place (when they're supposed to be put away) because she can almost imagine what her grandkids were thinking when they had to leave their play hastily. I have to admit, dollies found sleeping in my bed, magnets stuck to the washing machine, and dinosaurs found in the dishwasher have made me chuckle, long after kids have been put to bed for the night. I'm pretty sure Josh thought that this was the perfect cage for a Tyrannosaurus Rex--that, or perhaps he needed a bath.