May 30 - Kinder Graduation

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday weekend. Julia went to a birthday party Sunday morning and then we all went to a neighbor's house to swim, otherwise we spent most of the weekend at the neighborhood pool. Not surprisingly, Jillian loved the water. In fact, she was in the pool for over 1.5h on Saturday!! Water baby alert!

Last week, Luke had his kindergarten graduation at school. They sang several songs and then were called down one by one to receive their 'diploma.' It was so cute!! Afterwards, he took a picture with his teacher, Ms. Bach and we headed out for milkshakes. 

This is the last week of school and I can't believe it's over on Thursday. We'll have a 1st and 4th grader, where has the time gone?! And Jillian is almost 9 months old. We had a fun summer jam packed with swim team, summer camps, a beach trip and visit by a family member. It's going to be a great summer!!

Luke & Ms. Bach

Jillian was great during the ceremony (Julia was doing a 'social loop' talking to people and missed the photo))

Luke's first ever swim race, from last week. So proud of him!!

May 22 - Luke is an Orca!!

Luke & Serene

After 4 weeks of swim lessons, it was time for summer (spring) swim team. Luke tried out with his friend Serene and.....he made the team!! Congrats Luke, you are now a PineBrookwood Orca!! We are so proud of him. All of his hard work paid off and he had no trouble swimming a lap in both freestyle and backstroke. Serene did not make the team but she went from zero swimming skills the first day, to stopping only 4 times when attempting a lap. She did incredible and plans to try out again next year. Her brother Omar, who is friends with Julia, also tried out. And while he had never had any formal swim lessons before, he made it across the pool. Congrats!

So far we are on week 3 of Orcas...Luke comes home from school, immediately puts on his bathing suit and cannot wait to go to practice. Zero (ZERO!) complaints from him. This is such a nice departure from soccer. They had a practice meet this past weekend and did fantastic...check back for another post with videos. 

8 and Unders getting ready

Julia and Hannah, teammates for 4 swim seasons

Jillian, the cutest baby at the pool

Jill (Julia's friend from diving is also an Orca) and she loves little Jillian

May 15 - Love and Diving

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there. I had a wonderful day on Sunday. I slept in (a rarity), had breakfast in bed (pancakes, strawberries and champagne) and then Julia and I went out to lunch together, did a little shopping and went to B&N to read. We finished off the afternoon with going to the pool (with Luke & Jillian) and then having a delicious fajita dinner. Fab day!!

Somehow it's the middle of May and I'm once again super behind on blogging. ARG! A few weeks ago we traveled to Conroe, Texas (about 1.5H north of us) for another diving meet. We shared a room with Lucy, Jill and Lucy's mom. We decided to skip the 6am practice on Saturday morning (it was 55 outside and it was an outdoor pool) and went to a delicious breakfast at a local restaurant.

We finally headed over to the pool and the girls competed on 1M and 3M. Just like the other meet, they were divided into different age groups and then tiered within each group. Julia competed in 'gold' on 1M, which was a step up from last time. She placed 3rd out of 3 and she was not pleased with her performance. She absolutely rocked 3M (silver division) and also placed 3rd. While she wasn't happy with 3rd place, there was only 1.5 points separating 1st and 3rd so it was very close, and she was happy that she 'nailed all of her dives. After the meet, Lucy drove home with us and they had a sleep over. The girls had a blast together and Lucy didn't want to go home the following day. 

There are no words for this cuteness

Diving meet fun

May 12 - Rascal

Don't let the sweet face of Jericho Barrons to fool you. He is 100% more work than all 3 of my children combined. No exaggeration. In good news, his fur has grown back and his coat is now shiny and soft. He was given the clearance to be neutered and it's scheduled for June 2nd. I'm hoping that will calm him down. We signed him up for PetSmart training and he's learned 'sit' and 'look at me' so far. Unfortunately, the trainer moved stores so he hasn't had training the last few weeks, but he starts up again this weekend. I am currently getting up at 6am every morning to walk him approx. 1-2 miles...BEFORE we walk the kids to school at 8am. He comes with me at pickup at 3pm and gets an hour walk around 9pm. You may be thinking "Wow, 4 walks a day? Amazing!" Nope. It's not enough for him, he is still a ball of energy. Anyone who knows me knows I despise running with every fiber of my being but I'm seriously considering taking up running with him. He is also extremely destructive in the house.

He eats shoes (he's eaten 4 pairs of flip flops in the last week), pencils, pens, wooden train tracks, likes to gnaw on the staircase and steals stuffed animals. He's extremely smart and has figured out how to open the garbage can, toilet lid, roll down the window in the car and push the handle down on the front and back door (he cannot pull the doors open, thankfully!). He does well in the crate but getting him into the crate is a real challenge. He goes 'limp noodle' and we have to manhandle in there. He likes to dig and eat plants/bushes in the backyard..really, he'll eat just about anything. He requires constant vigilance. He also has peed on Amelia several times-they both stop to sniff something and then he quickly lifts and 'marks'...hitting her in the face. And if you are wondering if it's possible for a dog to pee ON himself...the answer is yes. He's peed on himself-IN THE FACT. Don't even ask how, but it happened.

He's also super mouthy and I've had to ban neighborhood kids from coming to the house because they are unable to ignore him when he nips. The boys are the worse, they scream loudly and then run...which Jericho thinks is playtime and it escalates things. It's been a week without neighborhood kids and it's been....wonderful. My snack supply has lasted a week (it usually lasts a few days with the pack of kids here). 

Now, it's not all doom and gloom. When he's finally calm, he is wonderful-a snugly, adorable labbie! He is also getting better at fetching and very sweetly tosses the ball to Amelia (who is extremely slow these days) after he gets it. 

This was a particularly bad day..he stole the giant penguin and then ate a picture frame. I finally had to work outside and monitor him. 

Snoozing black labs

May 5 - Catchup

I'm pretty sure April was the busiest month we've had in ages. I still haven't even blogged half the month. In an effort to catch up, here you go:

Julia
Julia has been working hard at school preparing for her STAAR exams (state wide standardized tests) which are next week. She does Aquastar swim team twice a week and diving three times per week. For diving, 2 times a week are in the pool and the 3rd day is dryland training (trampoline work and diving into a mat). She LOVES it. She has a meet tomorrow and we'll be heading out later this evening to the hotel. She is also excited for the upcoming Orca swim season and for fall soccer. She's started working on her soccer drills a few times a week. She is an amazing helper with Jillian and works with Jericho several times a week on his training. She is still Harry Potter obsessed and is currently about halfway through book #2. She still plays with the neighborhood crew and they are calling themselves the 'Savage Sausages.' 

Luke
Luke has excelled at school and is above grade level for his math and reading skills. He wants to work on his multiplication tables this summer and Julia has agreed to help him. Although he was enjoying tennis, we stopped going a few weeks ago, I just cannot swing the 3.45pm start time with work and the baby. He has been in intensive swim lessons, 4 times a week for the last 4 weeks to prepare for Orcas. His back stroke looks great and he's working really hard on side breathing for freestyle. Orcas start next week and while he's not looking forward to the cold pool, he's excited to try it. His BFF Serene is also going to try out next week, so they are both pretty psyched. Luke also lost one of his front teeth in April and had a friend from school come over one day a few weeks ago for a playdate. They were so cute, they read their books when they got to the house because "We need to finish our homework before we play, mom." After complaining about soccer all fall, I was shocked when Luke told me he wants to play soccer again. So...we'll see if I sign him up. 

Jillian
Our little golden eyebrows is doing amazing. She is enjoying food now at dinnertime. And when I say enjoying..I mean I give her a bowl and let her have fun with it! I don't think she eats all that much but she definitely loves playing with it and throwing the bowl on the floor. She is quite the little chunker and the doctor is thrilled with her weight gain. She rolls all over the floor and has started to get up on all fours, so maybe she'll be crawling soon..we'll see. As of now, she gets where she wants to go by rolling pretty quickly. 

Dogs
Amelia has slowed down considerably in the last few weeks. If I think about it too much, I'll start crying. JD had to carry her upstairs one night and I had to lift her on the bed one night. She is definitely getting more exercise than she has in years...we are currently walking 4 (yes, FOUR) walks per day because of a certain crazy puppy. Jericho...well, I'll save him for another blog post. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

May 2 - Perfectly Plump

Easter

How is it May already?! I'm still not done blogging April yet. Julia was sick the week before Easter with a bad stomach virus and she was out of commission for over 4 days. She was better the Saturday before Easter, just in time for our neighbors annual egg hunt party. The kids dyed eggs, hunted for eggs around the yard and we had a delicious bbq lunch. Julia was tired and lethargic but she was happy to be out of the house. Also fun? Jillian ate her first strawberry (well, she sucked on it) and she LOVED it!!

The kids had fun Easter morning hunting for eggs around the house and going through their Easter baskets. They got a lot of candy, chocolate, as well as new toothbrushes and toothpaste. 

In Jillian news, she was 14lbs 1oz at her 6 month check up. She was back at the doctor for her 7 month weight check and our little chunker is now 15lbs 12oz!! The doctor was thrilled by her weight gain and her chubby, adorable thighs. If you are wondering if she is crawling yet, the answer is no. She is very adept at rolling wherever she wants to go and rolls all over the place. It's really funny. 

Easter Party

Perfectly Plump

Jillian tries bread for the first time

Best big sister ever

Look how big she is!