July in a nutshell

I feel like I've blogged a lot this month, but there is a lot I haven't shared yet. Here is to a very fun, but WAY TOO HOT July...

Staying up late to catch fireflies...

Swim party and BBQ with friends on July 4th...

Cotton candy... there's just something about that stuff, Mmmm...

Watching fireworks with friends...

Balloons and face paints at the Riverfest...

Drawing with window crayons. Evan has a tear rolling down his cheek because Makiah kept drawing over his words. Evan has been writing and drawing constantly. He is always making someone a card or trying to figure out how to spell new words. He LOVES it....

Bus tour with our ward playgroup...

And another round of Swimming lessons...

Evan bought goggles (or "govles" as he calls them) with his own money the other day and was so excited to use them. He has a hard time getting them on the right way though and won't leave them on. He loves them though and is always asking if he can go to the pool with his daddy. 

The kids did such a great job with swimming this time around (they did before too, but they have learned so much more). Evan isn't afraid to go under the water and Makiah isn't afraid to get her face or head wet. They followed directions and listened much better. Makiah wasn't afraid to try everything without having help first. I could see a big improvement with both of them. They will miss swimming... but I need a break from sitting out in the sun! We chose the hottest two weeks to have swimming lessons. 

New outfit and some crazy weather

Makiah got this super cute outfit from her Grandma and Grandpa Bateman. She even let me put a matching flower in her hair and take her picture :) She sure looks all grown up! 

Last night Makiah said her prayers and thanked Heavenly Father for her cute outfit from Grandma. It was kinda sweet :)

The heat here this week is insane. Our poor little "garden" is wilting on us. We moved it to the shade and gave it plenty of water... today it is looking much better then it does in the pictures. We got one tiny little bell pepper from one of the plants :) Not much, but it is still fun!

The kids have swimming lessons again this week and next. Lucky for them it isn't cold this time around. Unfortunately for me I have to sit in this insane heat to watch them. I feel like I need a shower just after watching them swim for a half hour. It is crazy hot out there. 

Time

Time is such a hard concept for kids. Yesterday Evan had a little experience where he realized that he couldn't simply start over. What happened, happened. It was too late to try again. We were on our way to swimming lessons and he realized that he forgot his "baby" (his teddy). He fell to pieces and begged me to go back. Since we were already leaving later than I wanted too... and since he didn't need his teddy bear to swim... I said no (I am such a mean mom). He wasn't too happy about that and insisted that I turn around. Well, lets just say that his tears didn't stop when we got to the pool. He refused to go to his lesson. So he missed it.

Later, on the way home, Dallas was with us. Evan told him that he didn't get in the pool today. I talked to Evan and explained that now he only has 3 days left of swimming lessons with his friend Carly. He said... "No! I have 4 days left!" I had to explain to him that he missed day 4 and now he only had 3 days left. He was so sad and quietly said... "I want to start over..."

Poor kid :( I wanted him to start over too. Maybe then he would have remembered his darn bear and the day would have been so much more enjoyable for the both of us.

I had to explain that we can't stop time, and we can't start over. The day was done and swimming lessons were over. Lucky for him, today he remembered his bear.... and he had a great time.

These pictures were from their first day of swimming, last week. They have two days left and they have loved it! Kiah was slow to get into it. The first week she stood around and waited for a teacher to show her exactly what to do. This week she jumped right into it. She isn't afraid to get her head wet and she loves to pretend to be all the different animals. Today she was sad because they went to the bigger pool with the life jackets. She wanted to be in the little pool and pretend to be a mermaid... :)

Evan isn't scared to get in the water... but he hates getting his head wet. He is the only one who won't dunk his head under the water. At first the teacher got him to stick his chin in and then on Monday a different teacher got him to put his face in. He had a bad day last Friday when it was cold outside. He refused to move away from the wall because he was so cold (and I can't blame him!). Other than that he has fun and enjoys the water. He is quite silly and loves to swim. He does get a little stiff and nervous when it comes to floating on his back or getting his head wet. Today he had fun with the life jackets... but he was nervous to jump of the side of the pool. Tonight we are going to take the kids swimming and hopefully get rid of some of their fears of the water. They are taking another session of lessons next month, so hopefully they will have the chance to learn a little more.