We woke up super early on Friday morning for the "swim championship." The kids were less than thrilled for having to get up so early to swim. Josh Davis is a local hero around here. He won lots of medals at the Olympics and grew up swimming at our local pool. They built this bee-you-tee-ful natatorium in his honor. It was the first time I had been inside and I was impressed.
Rocco was out of sorts. I don't know if it was the bright lights or the noise of the crowd but you could tell that he was nervous. He chewed on his goggles the whole time.
Lining up with the other littles.....
So proud of this boy for being one of the only 5 year olds to make it in the freestyle to the championship!!!
When he saw his name on the jumbo-tron, he thought he was a movie star! He did not care for one second what place he got!!
Yep! He is still nervous!
His backstroke cracked me up! He is not even trying at the end. He is gliding through the water just coasting to the wall.
He did a little better! Not last at least! He was dancing like a crazy kid like he won the gold medal!
Next up, it is Jillian's turn. I have another little nervous sweetheart. Insert goggle in mouth for chew toy.
And she's off. She had the dreaded 1st lane so it was hard to film her but we are super proud of her efforts!!!
She got to see her name in lights and she was thrilled. She posted her best time of the season!
This is our last week of swim team and the kids have worked hard this summer. Swim team is a commitment. Practice is every single day since the middle of May (well, weekends off). The kids have done an awesome job and work really hard.
Once upon a time ago, I was a cheerleader. I thought I knew a thing or two about cheerleading but evidently I missed some lessons. Did you know that cheers are performed at swim meets? It is the most awkward thing EVER!! The kids even run through a breakthrough. Ha! That's awkward too because remember you are not supposed to run at a pool. Ha! Here is a small sample of an awkward swim team cheer........
Jillian participates in the freestyle and backstroke. She is very studious and precise with her arm strokes. So precise that at the first couple of meets, she really didn't seem to understand that this was a race. Speed was not in her vocabulary.
This boy participated in freestyle, backstroke and a boys 100m relay. He is the only 5 year old on the team. At the beginning of the season, the boy could barely get across the pool. It made me so nervous. The coaches didn't give him any slack for being young and now he can go up and down the lanes of the pool without breathing hard. It is amazing!!!
From the beginning, Rocco clearly understood the meaning of a race. The first meet he zoomed off the blocks and impressed everybody. He earned ribbons for every single race. (He could work on his dive a little bit. Ha!!)
During the 3rd meet, they earned their "sharks." They were THRILLED!!!
This girl has been a trooper. Each swim practice is an hour. Each swim meet is about 4-5 hours long. It is hot and at times very boring waiting for a 30 second race. She has been so good cheering for bubba and sissy. We read books, play her computer, and play on Momma's phone. Most importantly, she talks to every other mommy at practice and makes sure she knows their name and all their kids names. She entertains everyone while we wait.
Rocco ready to go.
After several meets where Rocco earned ribbons and Jillian didn't, she finally got that speed was a factor in swimming. It lit a fire in that girl and she started swimming fast! Nothing like a little sibling rivalry!!!!!
Finally my big girl earned ribbons in every.single.race and earned a spot on the girls relay team. She has improved every single meet. So proud of her!!!
Finally last night, Rocco had his under 6 mini-championship. The boy totally understood that this was the time to shine. I have NEVER seen him swim like that and he rocked it! He won 2nd in freestyle and 2nd in backstroke. His relay team got 4th.
This is Roc with his amazing coaches - Lucy, Katelyn and Caitlyn.
And his sisters were right there cheering on their bubba!!!! When we were driving home, Rocco said if I could win stuffed animals at all the swim meets, I would have tried a lot harder. Nothing like a little extrinsic motivation!!! Ha!!
Both kids have qualified for the end of the year championships on Friday. We have to be at the pool at 6:45 in the morning. WHAT????? So silly!!! Then we will be done! And let me just say that everybody will be very happy to be done!!!!
Poor little baby #4!! There is rarely a time that I get to think about or talk about the sweet little babushka! Here is the little munchkin at my 2nd ultrasound. 12 weeks 3 days - I just know that because it says it on the picture. I feel terrible because I have not written anything down for this poor kid. And there is really no chance that I will remember to do it later.
Because I am a young-looking 36 year old (cough, cough), I HAVE to see an old-lady OB specialist (probably a more official term exists but who knows??) and the baby is looking great! I did love getting this high-tech ultrasound. You could see so many details including all 4 chambers of the heart. Pretty cool! Bryan and I have decided NOT to find out the sex of the baby. It was very difficult to not find out during the sonogram!!! I was sweating and I realized my fists were clenched. I really wanted to find out but I resisted temptation.
This is me at 25 weeks and Summer at 39 weeks. It is not a great picture. The little two had just lipsticked all over my mom's bedroom so we were not happy BUT this is the last time this will ever happen so we had to capture our bigness together!!!
On Monday, I got to crash Summer's delivery party and I got to meet the cutest little nephew you ever saw! McCoy Hayes Pearce was born at 4:16 weighing 6 lbs 11 ozs and this little man is alert. Here he is getting his foot printed.....
My kids were soooooooooo excited to meet their new cousin!!!
Lots of kisses heading McCoy's way!!!! So excited to have two little nephews!!!
Thursday night, we traveled downtown for Jillian's dress rehearsal of Peter Pan. The original theatre had a flood so we were sent to a ballroom instead. Jillian was ready to go!!!
This was her performance at dress rehearsal. Cameras/video are not allowed on the big day. You have to buy the $40 video from the studio of course!!
Today we were ready for the real deal so we had to take selfies to pass the time.....
Jillian has mastered the kiss face....
It was a well-done production and she had lots of fun with her dance friends. BUT We are ready for our dance vacation for the rest of summer!!!
Well we are full swing into VBS this week and Jillian is thrilled!!! The girl has hit summer mode and she is about impossible to get out of bed in the morning.
KK was listening intently to the Bible story!
Hadleigh was singing loudly to the Lord!!
The dynamic duo is leading the 3 year old class! ha!!
Jillian perked up when she and Rocco saw their good friend Maddie!
The last station of the day is the popsicle station. It is the quietest 3 minutes of the entire day!!!!
Summer has a good friend that works for Marriott and got us a great deal on some rooms at the JW about 10 minutes from our house for a "relaxin" start to our summer. We checked in and the kids made themselves right at home!!
The kids could entertain themselves with selfies for hours!!! My girls and my KK. He loves me so.
This is me and the Roc. Different vibe!!
Lord, this girl is so sassy and spunky!!! Makes everybody laugh!!
The JW is fantastic. Lots of pools, lazy river, 3 huge water slides, outdoor movie in the pool, smores by the fire pit, lots of activities for the kids. We even got to see an African animal exhibit and we touched a snake, saw a hedgehog, warthog.
Lots of swimming....
Posing by the waterfall.......
This was the "superhero" pose.... Hadleigh makes me laugh like crazy....
The silly pose.....
Another silly pose....
One last pic...my camera fogged up...about to get in the lazy river...
Not really a "relaxin" time but the food was great and the company was fantastic and I think it is going to be a great summer!!!!
Our end of the year awards assembly was this morning and Jillian made us all proud! She received her certificate and achieved all character recognition!
So proud of this girl!!! I can't believe she will be in 2nd grade!!!
This is a place for me to record the best moments in my life with my family in tow. Hubs and I have been married 10+ years and have three children all under 5 years old. If you are wondering, no we didn't plan it that way and yes, our hands our full but so are our hearts! Join us.....
