1st Summer Swim League Meet

Our first swim meet was hosted at our home pool (last weekend!). I had excellent parking (ha)!
B was swimming for the first time in the 11-12 year old group which is often combined with the 13 and up group, causing him to swim with 15, 16, 17 and 18 year olds. The last event was the butterfly and he swam with an 18 year old - B held his own until the turn and then that 18 year olds stream-line knocked B out of the running for first - ha ha!
K earned some ribbons and proudly completed the 100 Individual Medley (IM) - this may have been the first time she has done this without being disqualified. She was very proud of herself, as were we.
The kids and I had a good time. Although Jason didn't get to see much he was able to come out and take some pictures. Enjoy!

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Princess A

The picture to go with the story.

More pictures (swim meet last weekend) to follow - my four year old is kicking me off the computer.

A good laugh

Picture this:

A dressed up in her purple tu-tu, ballet slippers and a tiara. Cute - yes! Then inexplicably her tiara falls off and all H E double hockey sticks ensues... she suddenly went boneless and fell to the ground screaming in frustration and anger. Replace the tiara - all is well.

Oh where, oh where could our Uncle Scott be?

Hey Scott - where are you?! I'm hoping that you are headed toward Hippy-Dippy Land, TX!

Sherry's healthy living update - swam (1500+ yards) Tuesday, walked with hubby Wednesday, 10 mile bike ride Thursday and yes - I'm on my way to another bike ride tonight under the supervision of my friend (and tormentor) Adrien - she's so great!

Tomorrow is the kids first summer league swim meet - it should be fun, busy and hot in our TX sun. Since I'm an old hat at volunteering I've told them to use me where they need me. I know I love it when people tell me that so I thought I'd offer myself up since I'll be there watching 2/4 of my kids swim their hearts out!

Happy Memorial Day to all! Not to be too sappy but I want to say THANK YOU to our service men and women - those in service now, those that have done so bravely in the past and for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice - you are all greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Dear Scott (headed home yet?)

Today I went to the gym (for the first time since the broken leg - A's that is!) - I did Circuit Training with my friends Nicole & Tanya. It was fun and it was harder than I had expected it to be - but great! So let's calculate this friends, bike Friday, bike Sunday, Circuit Training Monday - oh and I also did my bike again tonight! BooYA! Now here's the part that is ticking me off - my scales are going UP! Yea, yea - muscle weighs more than fat, blah blah blah! It just stinks to work hard and see that. I'll just keep working, I know it will go down. FYI I have been swimming consistently for five weeks and biking for two - so I didn't just start last week and expect some miracle.

This morning after working out I felt great - I said to Z, "this is going to be a great day!" He looked at me and said, "are we going to the circus?!" Apparently our versions of 'a great day' differ slightly.

No more potty news from A - every once in a while she wants to go but nothing consistent and I'm not willing to train myself right now so I'll continue to wait for more signs from her.

K got her braces off today! We celebrated with the forbidden food of chips and queso - hey no comments about my scale going up based on my queso intake (I didn't eat that much!). I'll get a picture soon of her beautiful smile! She looks great - always has but now it is a little less metallic.

B's a little under the weather -a cold and sore throat. If it doesn't get better I'll take him to the dr. soon. Until then it isn't slowing him down! Yesterday we celebrated Sabbath Day with our church - amazing fun and wonderful relaxation! We went to a Christian retreat (that surprisingly is about 10 miles from our house - had no idea!) and we prayed, swam, ate, watched a puppet show, and swung off a rope swing into the river. Some of us even got to canoe and swim in the pool. Next time I'm going to rent a big bus and go around and collect more people! Seriously I was so sad that some people didn't come - it was incredible!

Dr. Who is calling me - actually Jason is but he's wanting me to watch Dr. Who with him so I've got to run. Tell me when you will be here Scott!!

Dear Scott (weekly update)

I realize it has been several days since my last blog/email. Sorry about that (Scott mentioned possibly coming to see us and I've been cleaning house like a mad woman in preparation - NOT!) - seriously I've just been busy.
Monday was A's birthday and we celebrated by losing the purple leg - thankfully there was a very cute one that looked perfectly normal underneath all that purple.
Tuesday was another busy day at Jason's Clan - summer swim team, swim team, swim lessons and swimming for me too. Yes altogether we were at the pool 4 times on Tuesday! I took Mom for a pedicure for Mother's Day - immediately went out to the pool and scuffed it up. Oh well. On Tuesday - A began walking ONLY with shoes on for a few steps at a time and with a cast-like gait. She still walks with the right side out to the side and limps.
Wednesday I didn't go to work - still worried about A not walking and in addition we noticed earlier in the week she was drooling and running a low grade temperature (two year molars anyone?). Mom & Dad headed out on Wednesday morning and arrived home safely that night.
Thursday - A surprised me by walking into the kitchen from the living room (further than I'd seen her walk all week) without any shoes on! In addition today she's been very worried about going, "tee tee" and has taken her diaper off twice. Huh, what?! Seriously - am I ready for this? Seems like just yesterday that Z was potty trained - could it be time already? So now she's walking (still with her cast-like limp) and she's telling me when she wet and she wants to go "tee tee" - she's SO from Texas! I've always said "pee pee" where did she get this "tee tee" thing?! I think it is a Texas native thing (correct me friends if I'm wrong).
Oh yea in all of this I had a good TV week - Kris Allen made the finals on American Idol and tonight they voted off Coach on Survivor. Such a happy week! Silly Sherry!
FYI - I haven't heard from HR yet - but I am trying not to worry.
Hope to see you soon Scott!!!

B'day pictures as promised

LOVE this picture (not many of this kind out there!)


Opening gifts (FYI the band-aid is covering a none existent boo boo)


Yes - she's throwing away a small piece of paper. She is B's sister!!!


Z so happy!


Waiting for cake is SO HARD!


Z helping A out!


YUM!


She's so in love with her Daddy!!!

Dear Scott (What to do when you are cast-free?)

Take a BATH!!! Or as A would say - "baaafff!"

Today A got her cast taken off - she was happy when it was done but not so thrilled with the process or the x-rays afterwards. She's a trooper and what a great b'day gift! Happy Birthday little one - can't wait to see you walking and bossing your siblings around again soon!




Here's the before cast came off and then the celebratory bath afterward - notice in both she's giving us the "cheese" smile.

B'day pictures coming soon!

Dear Scott (oh my & ugh sick!)

Monday - late afternoon we realized that Z was sick! This is his representation of it himself sick - notice the barf on his nose and to the left of the picture.



Here's a picture to show that this boy was SICK! (Don't worry nothing graphic)


I've been busy trying to get caught up with work. I don't know how I got behind but I've been chasing my tail all week. Today I finished the montage for Mother's Day - I think it came out good. I hope everyone enjoys it on Sunday. Now I have to get back to work on the "paperwork" - it will wait until tomorrow. What was that famous quote about procrastination? Aw I don't remember I'll look it up later too.

Okay last but not least here's my almost 2 year old - just being cute. Don't worry I won't brag on her good behavior at child care today and I WON'T tell you she slept through the night last night - nope I won't say any of that!

Curious what she's wearing?

Her big brother's Thomas the Tank Engine tighties
(over a diaper and jammie pants) - now that's cute!

Loving her dog.

Cheese!

Concentration.

Dear Scoot (toothpicks and nonsense)

I can hardly ever find the time to email on the weekends. It used to be that was when I got all my “computer” work done and now I can’t seem to get time on the computer on the weekends unless I’m willing to wait up until 12am. Which I did this weekend but only so I could watch three episodes of Doctor Who – yep I’m that big of a dork, but I wasn’t alone!!
We ran around on Saturday – nothing exciting. Then Sunday was a busy day with church and then Front Porch Days (FPD) – our community does this every spring and it is one of my favorite things about this neighborhood! I love it – I’m never looking forward to it but once I go I’m so happy I did. It is crowded but every where I turn I know someone from school, Girl Scouts, swim team or church – love it! K was selling cookies this weekend at FPD for her troop – they donated the money to an organization that provides meals for kids during the summer. B wandered around, helped out the swim team booth a little and spent $10 on a huge bucket of kettle corn (ugh)! Did I mention we rode our bikes down there? So we were wondering how in the world we were going to get that stinking bucket home when one of my friends popped up and volunteered to put it on our porch – love this neighborhood!
I have a fun Z story for the day. Today I allowed Z to decorate some stars for our church next week and I gave him a toothpick (which I mistakenly called a q-tip, now that was an error!) and accidentally left the rest of the box there next to him. I came back a few minutes later to check on him and you can imagine the mess of toothpicks I found sitting next to him! He wanted one more and ended up dumping half the contents on the table.

Dear Scott (Happy B'day & Jinx)

I jinxed myself last night. No more talking about how great A is! I won’t even tell you about how she didn’t throw a fit at childcare today – nope won’t say a word about how she even saw me on the playground and still went to her class without a peep. Because if I do then it will be like last night. I commented on how well she’d been sleeping and WHAM she was awake at 4am yelling at me. Woke Z&K up – B’s the lucky one up at the front of the house. So don’t worry you won’t be hearing anything about my beautiful A today, you won’t get me to open up on this one!

Happy Birthday Z! My crazy smart little scientist performed an experiment after childcare this morning. While I was working to get A down for her quiet time Z asked if he could fill up a water bottle. I said yes, assuming (yea, yea I shouldn’t have!) that my Z-man would be happily drinking his refreshing water. When I walked in the kitchen there he was with his water bottle and two magnets, a plastic fork and a Gameboy cartridge in the bottle! I flipped! When I finally got to the point of finding out what in the world he was thinking I found out that he’d been trying to see which ones floated and which ones sank. Okay yea he’s brilliant BUT he destroyed a Gameboy cartridge – ugh! I backtracked, complimented him on his fine experimenting skills and then instructed him in the future to ask before he put things in water because you never know what might not be “allowed” in water.

I’ll write more later if anything happens in my quiet serene house – in other words check your email later!