Swimming!!!

We have wanted to put the boys in swimming lessons for a long time, but I always seemed to miss the sign up date, Dilan got tubes in his ears, and after school is always so busy. I finally decided that off-track lessons would probably be our best option. We put the older three in, because most people have told me to wait till your kid is at least four, because they grasp the lessons and principles they need to learn better, and I really don't think Tyler is ready. My kids are like fish, they love the water! Bryson was in the pre-level, because he was only five and hadn't had lessons. Trevor and Dilan started in level one, because they were older and hadn't had lessons. Trev has been able to swim for a while, but we wanted him to learn the proper techniques and different things that go along with swimming. This was good and bad, because he knew how to swim, he thought it was okay to goof off more. As a mom it was so frustrating to see him goofing off with his instructor, but I have to say his teacher had a lot of patience and really kept his cool....I was going nuts watching him though. I was also trying to hold a super squirmy 18 month old, which added to my frustration. They ended up being the only three to sign up in both classes, so they combined the classes and made one class. This worked out to my benefit in some ways and not so much in others. Tyler's preschool got out the same time as the swim lesson. If it was just Trevor and Dilan I would have felt better grabbing Tyler from school, and coming back for them, but I just couldn't do this with a five year old. Wednesdays were super busy mornings, but the boys loved swimming and it made it all worth it in the end.
Here they are on the side listening to their teacher.



and here is Bryson on his back



I wish I could have gotten more and better pictures, but Kairi really hated sitting there for the 30 minute lesson, and my phone (which is the only camera I usually have on me) was busy trying to keep her busy with either a cartoon or game. The swim lessons were a big success for two main reasons. First, they learned to swim a little bit better and second, it gave them something to do every other day while off track. It made off track time so much more fun, and seemed to make time just fly by. We plan to do another round of lessons next time they are off track too :)

YUM!!

Just a cute little blog on Tyler....Every once in a while we like to have ice cream downstairs. We really don't eat ice cream a lot at our house, and only after somebody's birthday do we even have it in the house. One special night we were eating ice cream as a family and watching a movie together. Can we say yum? Look at that long tongue!



Digging in deeper...



Spoons are for suckers!



He came up for air....



He managed to get every drop!



and look at that big, happy, messy grin....He is such a cutie most of the time.

Halloween!!!

Wow, time really does fly when your having fun :) My blog is so sad lately, it has been a month, A MONTH! We had a great Halloween. The kids were off track, so it didn't feel rushed at all.
We went and got pumpkins about a week before Halloween this year. The boys picked them out so fast, it only took about 5 minutes. Kairi loved riding in the wheelbarrow.

I really wanted a cute picture by all the pumpkins, this is what I got....

and this....at least some of the kids are cute in each one...ha ha

Then we took a hay ride. Everybody likes the hay ride :)

Carving pumpkins was fun, and the kids were crazy, but really I am not sure when they aren't crazy :)
Tyler was happy, because his was a happy pumpkin.

Trevor had a hard time deciding what he wanted to do this year, but he liked it in the end.

Dilan ended up drawing over the entire pumpkin. It was hard to get him to pick the face he actually wanted, but with some minor adjustments and a good scrub, later he chose his face.

Bryson wanted a mad pumpkin, and copied the same expression....seriously, he is so crazy!

Then he proceeded to kiss it!

I also managed to get this little video of the "Real Bryson." Dilan is funny in it too....they loved this video and have watched it a million times.

Trevor wanted to be a mad scientist, but I couldn't find a lab coat, so I suggested a zombie. He decided that he didn't want to just be a zombie, but a cone head zombie off the plants vs zombies game....here is what we came up with.

Bryson went to a pirate birthday party, and got most of his costume there, but we added the earring, beard, a better eye patch, and rotten teeth!

I bought this dragon costume a couple years ago a bigger size than I needed, because I couldn't find the size I was looking for. Then I went to another store and found the smaller size, so I planned to take this one back. Well, it has been sitting brand new in the bag for two years, and I decided to just pull it out and put it to good use. He was excited to have a tail, and didn't remember he was a dragon two years ago :)

Dilan wanted to be his favorite super hero BATMAN! I am actually surprised he hasn't wanted to be this before, because he loves batman! He looked awesome too, but he didn't like how the mask hooked under his chin (there is a little of his mom in him.)

Kairi was a ballerina, because her costume is actually a pair of pajamas she already had. I did get the little slippers for her. She was so cute, and seemed to really enjoy all the Halloween festivities that were going on.

We had a great Halloween!!