Swim Lessons

After much debate as to whether I should put J in swim lessons this summer, a friend invited me to join her group lesson. So, I decided to give it a try and I was absolutely amazed at the results!!!

First of all, J HATES having water on his head or in his eyes. Washing his hair is always a little stressful and he just isn't super adventurous in the water. We took lesson from Mrs. Carol, who has taught all levels of swimmers for 33 years, and it shows! Not only is she an amazing swim teacher, but a caring woman who loves the Lord. What a blessing she was/and is to us. By the end of the 10 days, J was holding his breath under water, jumping from the side and swimming to me, and retrieving rings from the steps of the pool. I was truly blown away!

 Retrieving rings to get used to kicking in the water.

 Not so sure about swimming under the water at first. But, he was a trooper!

 Songs and games to make it fun! Did I mention she is an awesome teacher?

 Not a fan of the back float. Thankfully, the pool was in the SW fly path!

 Swimming through a hula hoop!

 Retrieving rings!!! I was so proud.

 Lots of reassurance was needed at first.

 J's favorite..."The wheels on the bus!"

Jumping in!

We can't wait to practice our new skills this summer!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

This post is almost a month late, but the pictures are too cute. My wonderful sister-in-law celebrated her birthday at a yummy BBQ place in Coppell with many family and friends. J loved the restaurant as there was a fire truck parked outside...

Tyler...

What a retreat Tyler has been for me over the years. Thankfully, my wonderful husband and baby boy love it too. We have been able to visit several times this Spring for various reasons and enjoy great company and cooking each time. J has also learned to associate these trips with chocolate chip cookies, rides in Papa's truck, Kyle's tractor and fun cousin time.

Our first trip was to help celebrate my sweet niece's birthday! Here is some of the gang...

 Lauren always makes the most amazing cakes!

 Birthday girl :)

 Sweet boy!

 Yes, we had a sister battle on the see-saw...and Laura won!

 All in good fun!

 Happy girls and J is ready to go.

 J LOVES Papa! Playing at the little table.

 J LOVES La-La!

And likes to feed her cupcakes. YUM!

 Piano-playing with cousins. They make some beautiful music.

 Memaw and cousin M!

 "Driving to work!"

I love my sweet niece's face in the background.

Next, we headed back in for Laura's dance recital and J got to ride in my parent's newly acquired fire engine. It was a hit!

 This kept him and his Dad entertained while the rest of us attended Laura's dance recital. She did AMAZING and it was quite a show! :)

 I love these costumes and the choreography was superb.

 So graceful!

 The finale was done to the song "Jai Ho" and it was my favorite. Laura is on the far left and was the best dancer on that stage!

 I really enjoyed the "Bollywood" style.

 When I got home, I found J still in the fire engine! I think he would have slept in there.

 "How does this thing work?" J is far more mechanical than me.

 So so happy! I can't wait until our next trip.

Just like Daddy...

J wants to be so big and "just like Daddy" these days. Today, I got some time alone and my boys kindly mowed the lawn! It was precious... (You can click on the pictures to make them larger!)

 Working hard! Our yard looks so nice thanks to their hard work. :)