Swim Team

I love to be at the swimming pool, love to swim. I am so glad I know how to swim, that it will be a life long form of exercise for me. One of my favorite things is swimming laps in an outdoor pool on a warm day. For all those reasons, I think fondly of swim team and summers at the pool while growing up. Today I remembered a few other things from those swim team days. I remembered the hard parts: gasping for breath, feeling as if you would never make it to the other side. I remembered clinging to the ropes, wanting so badly to be done.

Yesterday was the first day of swim team, and Caroline, who has never really swam on her own, suddenly jumped in and "swam" across the pool during her evaluation. Henry, on the other hand, did not even bother with the evaluation and just headed promptly to the beginner section. Caroline was placed in a group where everyone has been swimming much longer than her. Today, they started practice by telling her to swim two laps freestyle. She doesn't even know how to kick her legs and move her arms at the same time! She just went right along with it. I watched in amazement and fear. And this was followed by more laps, and more laps. I watched her growing fatigue from the sidelines and remembered the hard parts of struggling to keep up with better swimmers. As a mother, it was painful. Yet I know she would be bored in the beginner group. So hard to watch her learn to swim on her own, make her own way, struggle with her own limits and rise to her own challenges. I saw a little girl with fierce determination and was amazed. No complaints, no whining. 12 laps when prior to this she had never made it out of the shallow end. Swim team is tough.

Growing Up

Every day seems so similar with young kids. Same routine, same foods for meals, same bedtime and naps....And then you have these days that are marker days: birthdays, graduations....Days with lots of drama and excitement. We've had a lot of those recently! Last Friday was Caroline's last day of Kindergarten. I went with all the kids to celebrate and have an after-school picnic with her classmates. Her class sang, "I am a promise; I'm a possibility..." and dressed up as what they hoped to be when they grew up. Caroline dressed up as a Mommy, which would be a huge compliment to me, except that she only chose to do that after I explained that you have to be born a princess. A princess is not a career choice. And she did not like my doctor scrubs when she considered being a doctor. She was very wise in asking,"If I choose this today, do I have to do it later on?". Here is a picture of her with her classmates singing:

Each child was given a character award. Caroline's award was "Seeking Wisdom". Her teacher, Mrs. Howard, told the group that Caroline consistently seeks wisdom. This is Caroline getting her certificate from her teacher.

After all of that we played in the 97 degree weather outside! The kids lasted for over an hour with ice cream and popsicles, but we were all exhausted afterwards.

Our next big adventure was Caroline's first role in a wedding. She was the flower girl this weekend for a dear former college student and family friend of ours, Lexie Robinson (now Martin!). We drove to Richmond (Lexie's hometown) Friday night for the rehearsal. It was just Caroline and me and we had a great girl date. Got frozen yogurt, told jokes. I had warned Lexie that if it looked like it wasn't going to work, we would just opt out at the last minute. Caroline was great though. She made it through rehearsal with ease. Saturday we got ready for the wedding after she took one of the only naps she has had all year! This is a picture of us before we left Williamsburg Saturday afternoon.

Caroline did great during the service. Brandon and I sat in the aisles waiting for her. She walked down after the bridesmaids and just before Lexie, so she had some special "waiting time" with the bride. It was a beautiful wedding. Lexie and Chris were clearly thrilled and it was special to celebrate with them. I am so glad Caroline got to see that for her first wedding. This is Caroline and I waiting around after the ceremony.

The reception was a wonderful sit down dinner at a nice country club. Caroline and the ringbearer and several other young relatives got treated to chicken nuggets and fries and a video in the back room. She loved it. We kept checking on her at 8pm, at 9pm....are you ready to go? are you tired? No sirree...she loved every minute of it! We came home with a wide-eyed happy almost six year old at about 10:30pm.

And the next day? It's her 6 year old birthday! Oops...forgot to mention that in the midst of all of this she lost her other front tooth! The night before the wedding she pulled it out herself! She asked the tooth fairy for a "pink diamond" and was quite upset the next morning when she found a red Ace of Diamonds card under her pillow. She did not appreciate the humor one bit.

Back to the birthday....she woke up about 8am (late for Caroline) and we were all off to church. We did allow her to open one gift first, her HOT PINK Bible that she had wanted. A gift we had promised her for when she started to read on her own. It is really hot pink. Church was fine and then we scrambled back home to have a birthday party for Caroline and John Mac with a few family friends at the river. Here are a few pictures from that:

Caroline with her two closest friends, Sydney and Noelle:

John Mac had a wonderful time, until he fell asleep afterwards sitting up on my lap....

And finally, Hannah was a trooper. Despite missing her afternoon nap, she was still delightful and enjoyed the ice cream cake a lot!

I don't have any good pictures of Henry from the river, but I will tell you what he said to me after a day full of friends both at church and at the river....He got up from his mandatory "rest time" and asked me, "Mommy, who are we going to see now?". His introverted Mommy who had been social all weekend said, "No one Henry. No one today and no one tomorrow either."

Horses

I have always loved horses. As a little girl, I wanted to learn how to ride horses. I thought they were beautiful animals and I spent time drawing horses (big circle for the top of the head, connected by two lines to a little circle for the mouth was big artistic breakthrough for me). I had a small stable that I played with and a collection of Breyer horses that I fed pine straw and moved around the stalls. I still have that stable and horses. When we moved to our current home, I was so excited that a horse farm was only two miles away. We drive past the horses almost every day and I always remark on them to the children: are they outside today? are they wearing blankets? did you see the appaloosa out there? aren't they beautiful in the sunset?

Imagine my consternation when my oldest daughter today remarked that she "doesn't really like horses". Henry had asked me to bring down the stable and horses for him to play with when Caroline made her statement very nonchalantly. Not like horses? How is that possible? They are beautiful and live outdoors with all that is good and right...and have you ever smelled fresh hay and cut grass? Don't you love the smell of a barn? In truth, I went to pick out a birthday present for her yesterday, and as I passed by a large display of Breyer horses that many girls adore, I thought to myself: Caroline does not love horses. It makes me sad though. I know it is one of many ways that she is a different girl than her mother. When she came out with red hair and a large body, I thought: I can never think that she will be just like me. She is Caroline. I told all of this to my husband with sadness. He said a great truth: "You really want her to love Jesus. Everything else is negotiable really." I am glad the Holy Spirit is there to convince her of that. Clearly driving by horses and making nice remarks didn't get me very far.

The Best Toys in life...

..are free.

It's true. If you want something fun that a kid will really play with for a while, look for something that you don't actually have to buy. These are a few pictures from our newest favorite free toy: wood scraps leftover from making stairs for the deck.

Here is John Mac making a road with "mountains in it" for his cars.

Here is the pathway that Caroline and Henry made for their house:

Initially, Hannah sat safely in the swing observing all the action.

By the end, though, they were all a part of the action. Caroline and Henry are now "cementing" together their path with mud while John Mac had moved his cars over to flatter ground. A very good afternoon and I'm pretty sure they'll be back at it tomorrow.

The Only

Hannah and I were able to be "only children" this past week and it was wonderful. My parents had an unexpected extra room at the beach and called to offer room to whomever could fit. After much deliberation, my husband decided to give me a "Mother's Week". I took Hannah to the beach and Brandon stayed here with the oldest three. (Can you tell what a good deal this was for me?). I spent the week enjoying Mom and Dad without interruptions. We rode bikes, took walks, sat at the beach together, ate meals....it was great. Hannah came along easily and was pleased as punch to be the center of entertainment for most activities. Hannah and I loved every minute of it. I think we both felt like princesses for the week. I was so glad to have less moving parts for which to be responsible, no meals to plan. I loved to be able to go and do things so easily. Hannah enjoyed the attention. We were all able to watch and listen to her and she is really quite good at communicating. We clapped for her, we watched her every move and tried to understand each grunt, each pointing finger.

I drove home yesterday. Brandon had done an amazing job. The kids were well and the house was orderly. He walked out the door as I walked in, trying to catch up on work before the weekend. A few hours later I found myself with the house once again messy, multiple children crying, Hannah trying to injure herself by attempting acrobatics, dinner needing to be made....I wanted to sit down and cry. It is hard to shift speeds after getting to be so slow and quiet. I did realize I had better patience, calmer words....But I sure miss that beach air today!

Toilet Trouble

Our toilet stopped working sometime in the middle of the night. My husband came home late from a meeting and suddenly I was aware of the sounds of swishing, scooping, emptying, plunging...not so good to your ears while hidden in your covers in the dark. This morning was more of the same, but we brought out all the tools, even a plumbing "snake" we had in our shed. No luck. It all seemed kind of strange since we have never had trouble with this toilet before. I'm not even sure we've ever even used a plunger on it prior to last night. What could have happened? We did have one boy leave several wet mounds of toilet paper in and around the toilet in question during the day yesterday after he "cleaned up" after himself. Was there lots more toilet paper that actually made it into the potty? We like our plumber which made the expensive phone call feel a little better to make. He came promptly and within just a few hours we learned what had caused our problem: a rock. Yes, a large rock. One of the boys had brought it back to me while I was in the bathroom a few days ago. I had placed it on the windowsill at the time for lack of a better thing to do with a large rock in the bathroom. Someone else had creatively placed it in the potty....The boys claim it was Hannah. She is very curious about commodes. Either way, we gave our plumber a new "first".

Soccer Day

John Mac, Hannah and I were in for a real treat watching Henry yesterday and we didn't even know it. Henry had his first official soccer class. He is a little old to just be starting, most of the boys there have been taking classes since 2 or 3 years of age. I wasn't really sure if Henry would enjoy the class or not, but we needed something to keep him active since his school year had ended and Caroline still has several more weeks of school left. He had a blast. Henry hustled around the field. He concentrated so hard while dribbling the ball, practicing stops. He even raced to pick up cones at the coach's request. (Sure wish he was as excited about cleaning his room!). It was so fun to watch Henry in a new context with a new teacher, new friends, new experience. He approached it like he does so many things in life with exuberance and passion. Of course, the kicker is that sort of intensity allowed for a good crying session at the end. "What's wrong", asked the coach? "I didn't see him get hurt." No injuries involved; just very sad that the class is over. So glad we'll be back Thursday.