Summer of Swim

Cousin Noah at a swim meet at Del Norte, lookin' fierce

Another tough competitor, from the Under 6 division, the purple-goggled backstroke wonder girl, Mikayla.

So glad I pushed her to do swim team as she loves her swim meets and the M-F practices. I love what great exercise it is for her and am so glad she's learning how to swim so well.

I'm somewhat amazed that my little 6 year old is learning to refine her strokes and breathing techniques and can now swim a half length of the pool in practice on only one breath! A major improvement from the beginning of the season.

Getting a pep talk from Coach Beth at the starting blocks.

So, it's kind of funny, but I am actually turning out to be much more competitive and crazy at these swim meets than my high-school athlete husband. At her second meet, Mikayla took 1st place in backstroke out of all the Under 6 kids on either team. I was over the moon and of course, expected this to be a trend. I was not prepared for her major bummer of a swim meet the following weekend. She went from 1st to 6th place....and it did not phase her one bit. I was upset and slightly mortified inside by her performance, but tried hard not to show it.

Mikayla says, "So, what place did I get?" I said, "Well, honey, you got sixth place..." I prepared for heart-dropping, tear-filled outburst and instead heard, "Wow, I wonder what color ribbon I'll get?! I mean, I got a blue ribbon last week and I've gotten red too, but I haven't gotten a sixth place ribbon yet!" She was thrilled to learn it was an aquamarine ribbon to add to her collection, leaving Mom to be the only one still frustrated by the 6 yr old's performance.

Oh well. Get over it Mom. She's 6. People tell me at this age that they are so unpredictable that such a change from week to week is normal and somewhat expected.

Still. Doesn't mean I have to like it. :) Oh well, I'll continue to shuttle her to practice everyday, shoot pep talks and pointers into her ears before she swims, and cheer like crazy during her half-minute sprint across the pool.

End of Another School Year

Megan sang Skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink with her preschool class and "I Feel Like A Morning Star" to the parents. The best part, Megan changed the chorus and sang "I Feel Like A Racing Car" each time the chorus came around! She was the only one and she knew she was funny as she laughed through the whole song.

I've started saving the little plastic containers that blueberries, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, etc. come in and using them as gift packaging. It's easy to remove the labels, make a new one, and fill it with goodies.

This one was filled with some See's chocolates for Megan's preschool teacher. It was a nice addition to a simple card with gift cards inside.

Teacher Noel said a few words about our sweet Megan and how much she enjoyed having her in school this year.

Megan with Teacher Noel. We've had the pleasure of having Teacher Noel for 2 years of Mikayla's preschool and 1 of Megan's and she will be greatly missed next year!

The next day, the girls came with me to Mikayla's end of the year party at school.

Mrs. Valdez gave Mikayla her certificate of completion of 1st grade(or diploma, as Mikayla calls it), said some very nice words about her, and told us how much she would be missed next year. All tear-inducing comments for a somewhat weepy Mommy.

I don't have the words to describe the abundant love Mrs. Valdez has for each child who passes through her doors and how grateful we were to have her for a teacher this year. She is a fabulous teacher and individual.

We were so happy to find out that Mikayla and Erik were in the same class this year! These best buddies enjoyed playing on the playground and talking during class together. lol So glad they've been great friends for the past 6 years and didn't get "cooties" or "I hate boys/girls" syndrome as Kelsey and I were afraid they might in 1st grade.

Total goofballs!

As room moms, Kelsey and I put together the class gift for the teacher. We collected donations and made a homemade calendar for the next school year with pictures of the all the kids for her to remember. We also gave her a gift card bouquet with notes from the children and gift cards to places like Panda Express, Michael's, movies, Starbucks, Subway, etc. on it for her to enjoy this summer.

With it being the last day of school, they celebrated Mikayla's summer birthday. The whole class sang a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and she felt pretty special to celebrate that almost 7 birthday.

Can't believe Mikayla's on to Second Grade and Megan's ready for another year of preschool. We had such fabulous teachers this year, it really made for a great year of learning for both the girls. We sure hope our move gives us great schools, great teachers, and great new friends too.

Deep Question of the Day

By Megan.

"Would you rather be a garden fairy or a pink mermaid?"

well, which is it??

what the?

Megan has taken to calling me a Pokino Chokino.





She calls me that when she's mad at me.





She calls me that to tease me.





She calls me that as a term of endearment.





I have no idea what it means, but supposedly she's the only one allowed to use the term. Trust me, I tried, much whining ensued and I relented. I have to call her my Pinklalicious Princess and I am fondly known as the Pokino Chokino.





Awesome.

what's a marmagoose?

We were looking at the many rain forest animal projects that Mikayla brought home from school and trying to name them all. Megan says, "I think that one's a cheetah." Dad says, "No, it's a marmagoose." "A what?! There's no such thing!" I said, full well knowing that Dad likes to make stuff up. "I'm serious, there's such a thing as a marmagoose," Dad contends. He whips out the Blackberry and googles it...

sure enough...

he's right.

Marmagoose: a term summer day camp leaders use to warn other employees of potential child predators lurking in parks and around the children.
Second definition: a caucasian male aged 30 to 50 with a majestic beard and sporting thick black shades. They often drive commercial vans. Some of these vans have been known to contain the words "ice" and "cream" on the side.



Awesome. Thank you so much for introducing the children to that new word honey.

Santa Cruz 2011

We had tons of fun in Santa Cruz, even if our trip was shortened by a non-sleeping 19 month old!

Megan and Brock fondly named this the "Love Helicopter." It was aptly named with a spin, a song, and a smooch at the end! Too funny!

The girls loved bike riding all over the campground.

I had to capture the moment...Kendra actually ran around long enough that she got tired and sat still for about 20 seconds! Pretzels in hand, she decided the tent was a good place for a pit stop. Man, is she busy!

Best buds chillin in a hammock


Freezing on the windy, cold beach with dad.

The next day we had warmer weather and the girls did a whole lotta this! I could sit and take pictures of them laughing and chasing the small swells all day. Love. It.

Megan got brave enough to get buried in the sand this year. I think they did it to keep warm more than anything!

Surfin' USA!

ah, the chubby little legs. Love 'em now, you'll hate 'em when you're older my dear.

Kendra loved watching everyone build sandcastles

and took every chance she could get to knock them down!

the aftermath...

the cool sand is nice and all, but...

who wants to run on the shore when you can run head-first into the waves??

one of the hardest parts about being on the beach was watching the pint-sized daredevil. She runs straight into the water and often gets knocked flat on her tummy by the waves.
And this is what happens afterward! Sand up the nose, in the eyes and eyebrows, in the mouth, and other places unmentionable here. Awesome. No matter how cold the water was, or how much saltwater she gulped, nothing stopped her! She wanted more and kept running in and getting knocked over. Oh my heart. It was hard to watch her and talk to anyone else or watch the other girls.

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting with Julie and Brandon, Trent's cousins from Canada that live in Cali now. Our kids are similar ages and they have a 4 month old baby girl too. It was fun letting the kids play together on the beach while we all caught up with each other and the last 3 years of our lives since we've seen each other.
So much fun!

We had a great trip and if Kendra wasn't so busy and into the dirt, the sand, the food, the firepit, the neighbor's campsite, etc. etc. etc. we would've stayed longer. She DOES NOT sleep well outdoors and after hours of trying to quiet her, I took her for an hour long walk at 5:30am to let the others sleep more. We followed a large raccoon all through the campground and watched him hunt and forage for wares left out by unsuspecting campers. That was fun and all, but I didn't need more nights of that, so we packed up and spent Memorial Day back home as a family. Swimming, out to dinner, loads and loads of laundry. Fun weekend spent together.

While we were in Chico, the girls and I also got to visit Magaw's kindergarten class. Mikayla and Megan went early in the morning and stayed for all-day kindergarten, while Kendra and I showed up at recess time and stayed until lunch. You can see Mikayla reading on a special chair, Megan's singing songs in the front row, and Kendra on Magaw's lap "helping" her with the songs and visual aids. It was fun for the girls to be in her class for a day and bring their lunchboxes and watch Magaw teach. Mikayla, being a big 1st grader, even got to run a literacy station in the morning helping the kids with letter sounds. She felt pretty important, but said, "Wow. Those kids are kinda crazy, I mean, they act like preschoolers!" Pretty funny!
Who wouldn't have fun learning with walls that look like this?! All the fun, colorful, kid-created artwork is beautiful and makes me want to go back to kindergarten. Congratulations on another great year Magaw and here's to next year, in another new school!

Chico Challengers

My parents help start a little league for children with varying special needs about 6 years ago. They now have 6 teams and over 80 kids playing baseball each year and it is quite fun to watch. I took individual and team pictures of them last week and enjoyed watching them play ball. It was a real good opportunity for my girls to see kids on crutches, in wheelchairs, or with other mental/emotional needs playing baseball. These kids are all smiles and just LOVE to play ball! After 2 hours of picture taking, I had over 400 pictures to edit and organize, but here's just a few of their infectious smiles!

Danny

My mom and I took some pictures of Danny when I was in Chico last. He is graduating from high school and getting baptized next week.

He was all smiles!

What I Found When I Got Out My Shower...

I thought she was watching a show with a small bowl to snack on...guess she finished it and was still hungry! It's just a good thing she can't get the milk out yet!