Decision well made

What is this? Well, it's where we have decided to spend our time this summer.

Yea baby! We've joined a pool for the summer!

I spent probably two months or so going back and forth about joining a pool. I wasn't crazy about paying the fees, but both children love the pool and I was anticipating a lot of free time this summer. In summers past, we've either had preschool or therapists coming into our home each day. This didn't really leave us with a lot of time to do anything else. Layton still attends therapy one day a week, but the rest of the days are ours! I looked at several different pools. The best option for our family was a pool in the neighborhood that my brother and sister-in-law live in. It's close to our home, a very good price, and most importantly it is never crowded. I needed a pool that wasn't too crowded so I could keep a good eye on my two non-swimmers, including my one big wanderer! Of course, I considered frequenting the public pools too, but I've been very annoyed at how all the nearby ones have covers over the main pool. 

 As soon as Layton gets to the pool he wants to eat his snack and drink his juice box. I don't know what it is about juice in a box, but it is a real treat for Layton. Probably because I've always had the rule that juice boxes are for special times only. My children just don't get them on a regular basis. He is allowed one juice box at the pool and then he can have water to drink.

 There's a real child back there somewhere!

I went to the dollar store and loaded up on cheap pool toys. I didn't want to spend a lot because we've already managed to loose a good 4 or 5 items. I try to have the kids play with the toys mostly in the "little" pool. The toys always seemed to disappear or get broken in the main pool.

So far, so good! I've been very happy with our decision to join the pool!

Consequence of speeding

Have you heard Chad rant about all the speeding that goes on in our neighborhood? If you haven't, you're one of the few. Chad absolutely hates the speeders in our neighborhood. I keep telling him he's going to end up having a heart attack over the whole matter. Yesterday, all the speeding finally caught up with someone. A truck with a trailer attached came flying around the bend right in front of our house. The truck lost control and its trailer hit one of the big cherry trees in our front yard. As you can see the tree was completely uprooted. The irony of it all was that it was a truck from a landscaping company. It seems that the owner of the company is agreeing to replace the tree. We sure hope so. While incidents like these make you thankful no one was hurt, I fear we might not be so lucky next time. There could have easily been a child playing in the front yard or perhaps a jogger going about his run through the neighborhood.  

  

My sister in law was nice enough to invite me over to take a few pictures of the kids. My niece is 4 and like all girls her age she loves to play dress up! 

And this little guy is only 3 months old, but we made him play dress up too! I didn't even know they made bow ties this small. 

I love this little red swing! It belonged to my sister in law's mother. My own children love it too. I'm always afraid Layton is going to break it though. The swing seems so small and delicate. 

Buddy Softball

Layton participated in a buddy softball program this spring. It was for kids with special needs. Everyone got a trophy at the end of the season. Look at this picture and you can see Layton mouthing the word "fanks" (thanks) upon receiving his trophy.

Progression of pictures

I notice a pattern developing whenever I try and take Sarah Meredith's picture. She always starts out by avoiding the camera altogether

or making one heck of a miserable face.

She finally gives in and flashes a decent smile.

Finally ending up with the silliest expressions she can think of.

For the time being, this seems to be a comfortable pattern for her. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of it in the future! :)

On the beach

As noted in my last post, we were able to spend Memorial Day weekend down at Myrtle Beach. We are very thankful for this opportunity and hope we get to go back again! Although, I think my kids preferred the pool over the sand and salt, we were still able to squeeze in a few beach days during our stay.