My mom turned 50 this weekend and we had a surprise party last night for her (yes, my parents are very young!). Everyone had a great time and I think we really surprised her! Here are a few pictures from the big bash....
Surprise!!
Happy birthday to you!!
Mom and dad, still looking good!
I found this somewhere and sadly, I understand all of this and have actually done most of it.
You might be a swimmer...
>If whenever you hear an electronic beep, and you instinctively jump, you might be a swimmer.
>If you have rings around your eyes unrelated to the amount of sleep you got, you might be a swimmer.
>If waking up before dawn to exercise seems normal, you might be a swimmer. (You might also be crazy)
>If jamming a piece of Styrofoam between your legs is not a kinky sexual activity, you might be a swimmer.
>If bugs die of chlorine poisoning when they land on your skin, you might be a swimmer.
>If you sport long, curling hair with split ends on your legs, you might be a swimmer.
>If the phrase "This set with fins" is better than hearing "You just won $1000," you might be a swimmer.
>If you answer, "I don't need to" when someone asks when you showered last, you might be a swimmer.
>If you love a good lightning storm when you have outdoor practice, you might be a swimmer. [hahahaha so so so true]
>When you learn how to squirt water 15 different ways, you might be a swimmer.
>When your long term goal is to slap your bicep on your lat, you might be a swimmer.
> When you wake up before six for the free doughnuts, you might be a swimmer.
>When you go through so much latex in one season you could wallpaper your room, you might be a swimmer.
>If a friend asks how a certain guy dresses and you reply, "I only see him without his clothes on" you might be a swimmer. [SPEEDOS!!!]
>If your friends have stopped asking you about your plans for the evenings, you might be a swimmer.
>If you go from store to store desperately trying to find your favorite sports drink, you might be a swimmer.
>If the first place you go when you're stressed out is a swimming pool, you might be a swimmer.
>If among your heroes are Janet, Jenny, or Amanda, or you know who I'm talking about, you might be a swimmer.
>If your daily apparel is held together by knots or is torn and see through, you might be a swimmer.
>If you have an inhaler in every color of the rainbow, you might be a swimmer.
>If the phrase, "50 double armed backstroke with a breast stroke kick¡± makes you happier than anything, you might be a swimmer.
>If being fish-like is a compliment, you might be a swimmer.
>If your friends don't even call you anymore because they know that you have no time to do anything, you might be a swimmer.
>If your nightmares consist of a series of numbers ending in 0 or 5, you might be a swimmer.
>If you have hickeys on your neck, you might be a swimmer or you might be lucky.
>If you sweat chlorine even after showering, you might be a swimmer.
>If you just don't understand the charm of the swim suit edition, you might be a swimmer.
>If getting smacked on the butt doesn't bother you at all, you might be a swimmer.
>If someone asks if you have any siblings and you start listing teammates, you might be a swimmer.
>If you cut yourself every time you shave, because you only do it 3 or 4 times a year and are out of practice, you might be a female swimmer.
> If you are determined, strong, smart and tough, you might be a swimmer.
And to add one last one... if your fingers are stained red from eating powdered Jello
every Saturday morning at the meets you might be an age-group swimmer.
On the Fun Slide with Avery...
All aboard!
My tiny little girl, what a princess!
On her first "big girl" coaster, Trailblazer
Before the ride started, Avery didn't look so good after it was over!
Yeah, she looks "Hersheypark happy"!!
When it rains it pours in this house and today we have another sick child to deal with. Rylee started to complain of a headache last night but I thought it was just from the paint fumes that got into the house (Dale was spray painting right outside the door). Well, this morning she woke up with her head still hurting, her belly upset and a fever of 102. She's such an active child so when she gets sick she really feels it. She camped out on the couch this morning watching The Bee Movie and now she's taking a bath to "wash the germs away".
Hersheypark was so much fun! The weather was perfect and the lines were not bad at all! It was a little chilly for the waterpark but that didn't stop Rylee from splashing around for a while. Avery went on her first "big girl" rollercoaster and liked it. I'll post the pictures later this week.
Miss Avery has a new talent, swimming! The summer started off with her being very clingy in the water and now she's a little fish! Her new thing, diving off the bottom step of the pool and swimming underwater to me a few feet away. She's so cute, she keeps her eyes open and kicks her little feet until she reaches me. I took her into the deep end yesterday to see how she would do and she dove right off the wall into 6 feet of water and swam to me, I was about five feet away. I didn't expect this to happen so of course the camera was at home, hopefully I'll get some good pictures of her soon.
One of the best things about living in Pa. is the summer produce and we are taking full advantage of it this year! We headed out to the local orchard this past weekend to pick
peaches for the first time. The peaches are on top of this huge hill so we got a great
view of the entire peach orchard and the apple orchard as well. The girls loved being able to
eat the peaches right off the tree. That reminded me of when I used to have my own peach tree. I loved waking up in the morning, stepping outside and picking my breakfast right
from the trees. Sadly, the tree overproduced one year and the branches split so my dad had to cut the tree down. Anyway, after we were done in the orchard we stopped at the playground before heading home for lunch.
**Disclaimer** Not sure what's going in with this post and why it's putting so many spaces in.
I tried to fix it, I can't, oh well!!
At the playground and still eating!
Look Ma, I can do it too!!
On the rock climbing wall.
We'll be heading out to Hersheypark for a mini vacation on Thursday so look for lots of fun pictures next week!!
Rylee did awesome once again!! We swam against Amity A.C. and only lost by 16 points, it was an exciting meet! She swam the 25 meter freestyle and the 25 meter backstroke this week. She's getting pretty good at backstroke now that she knows how to use the backstroke flags to avoid hitting her head at the end. Here's a few pictures from the meet. Mommy raced again as well but we won't scare you with those pictures, lol!!
After the race and still smiling!
Backstroke start, she can barely reach the bar to start!
Goofing off between races...
Sign me up, I wanna be on the swim team too!!
I decided to take Miss Avery blueberry picking this morning while Rylee was at school. This was something new to me so I had no idea what to expect. Thank God I had sneakers on both of us because we had to walk way out into the orchard and the grass was still wet from the storm last night. All the way out Avery kept saying "I don't likea blueberries". (Yes the "a" is there for a reason, she adds an "a" on the end of some words). Well, her opinion changed as soon as she had her first fresh picked blueberry. I think she ate more than what she put into the bucket and she's been eating them ever since we got home. I have a feeling that I'm going to have a massive diaper mess to clean up later. I also have a feeling that Rylee will want to go later this week once she gets home and gets a taste. That's okay though because we already ate most of the berries picked this morning.
Working hard
Who needs a bucket when you have an empty belly to fill!
Wow, this summer is just flying by so fast! Rylee had another swim meet this past Monday and she did awesome! She swam 25 freestyle, 25 backstroke, and the free relay. They didn't have a meet last week so she had two weeks of nothing but practice and WOW, what a difference that made! She looked so much better. The coach also asked me to come out of "retirement" and swim at the meet because they needed one more person for the relays so after 15 years of not competing or practicing I poured my body back into a competition suit and raced. It actually didn't feel as bad as I thought it would. I was nervous on the blocks but once I got into the water it all came back within seconds. I just felt a little strange racing against a bunch of 15 year olds who probably train year round! Anyway, one more meet to go and then the season will be done. Rylee has had so much fun so far, I really hope this is just the beginning for her.
We also have some really big Avery news to report.... She has officially given up her pacifier!!
Those who have ever dealt with a "paci baby' know how hard it is to get children to give them up but Avery did great and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. She still asks for her "buddy"once in a while but accepts that he is now gone. Now we just have to work on potty training. I think we're going to really work on that once Rylee starts school. It's just so hard to concentrate on it right now when we are constantly on the go. Well, that's the weekly update. Sorry, there's no new pictures this week, my camera has been collecting dust lately!
We took both of the girls mini golfing together for the first time, what a blast! We didn't keep score but I think Avery won, she tends to cheat a bit, lol!!
Who needs a club when hands work better, lol!!
Waiting for daddy to finish the hole.
Man, what a bust of a holiday weekend! It rained pretty much all weekend so we were stuck inside. We did go to the annual 4th of July parade Friday morning (in the rain,lol) but the pool was closed pretty much all weekend and the fireworks were cancelled for both nights. Finally by Sunday afternoon the sun came out so we went to the pool for a little bit and then went to see the fireworks that were cancelled the night before. Not much else to report. The swim team has a "bye" week so Rylee didn't have a meet on Monday but she's been practicing every day and I can already see a big improvement.
Riding the Bee ride
The Train Ride
Doing the Free Fall Tower (yes, she really IS crazy)
Rylee had her first swim meet on Monday and did GREAT! She swam two events, 25 butterfly and 25 freestyle. The poor girl, she got so excited before her first race that she forgot to put her goggles down but she kept going and even ripped them off halfway through the race,lol. I really don't think she even knows that she's racing against other kids yet, she's just excited when she finishes because she likes to hear the parents clapping for her. Miss Avery LOVED cheering for her big sister, but i think she liked the snack area better, every time I looked over she had convinced someone else to buy her a piece of candy. Yes, mean mommy put a stop to that after a while. Swim team practice is going good so far. It's Monday through Friday for a half an hour. They usually do a warm up of three laps (with a break after each one), work on stroke technique for a while and then do a warm down of a few more laps. The Wilshire Relays is coming up so they have been working on relay starts lately as well. Here's a few pictures of Rylee at her first meet!
Team Fees: $35.00
Team Suit: $43.25
Team Cap: $10.00
Goggles: $10.00
Seeing her complete her first race: Priceless!
Second race, the goggles are down this time!
Cheering her team on with her new best friend.
Even the smallest team shirt is way too big!
Yup, she's got the build of a butterflier, just look at those thighs!
Other than that nothing much is happening this week. We're trying to stay cool during this heatwave so we've been spending most of our time at the pool, which stinks for me because I can't actually get in the pool until I'm fully recovered. I have my final post-op visit in two weeks and I hope she tells me that I'm healed enough to swim!! I was told at my two week post -op visit that I could do "10 second dips" but I miss being able to be in the water with the girls. Good news though, the pathology report came back great. Everything was taken out and there's no need for further treatments or surgery. WAHOO!!! I can finally breath a sigh of relief after five years of dealing with this!
We've got quite a busy schedule for the next week. We have a wedding in Altoona (3 hour drive) on Saturday, staying there that night and then coming home on Sunday. The girls are staying with Dale's parents while we're gone. I'll spend the rest of Sunday unpacking from the wedding and then repacking for vacation. We leave for Ocean City on Monday as soon as Dale gets home from work and we'll be there for the rest of the week. Ugh, hopefully I'll find time to sleep!
Rylee has been begging to sleep in Avery's room for a few nights now so we finally let her do it the other night. On the nights that I tell her "no" she waits until Avery is asleep and then sneaks into her room without us knowing!! It's actually kind of cute, she brings her pillows and blankets down and sets up a little bed on the floor next to Avery's bed. Here's a picture from the other night, I snuck in after they fell asleep. On the nights when Rylee is allowed to sleep in Avery's room they squeeze into Avery's twin bed together.
We also joined a pool for the summer, YAY!! I'm sure we'll have lots of pool shots soon since I plan on spending most of the summer there. We've already gone a few times and the girls love it. I'm thinking of signing Rylee up for the swim team too. I'm kind of worried because Rylee is very young to be on a team but I know the coach there and she wants Rylee on the team and is very willing to work with her. We'll see, the meeting is Monday night and then we'll go from there.
Sprinkler pictures....
Sheesh, I guess I've slacking lately on the blog, huh!! It's been over a month now so I have to think about what's been going on. Let's see, Rylee started spring swimming lessons a few weeks ago and is doing great as usual. The coach for Wyo. Hills pool is trying to talk me into getting Rylee on the team this summer but I think we're going to hold off for one more year. I don't want her to start too young and get frustrated. Rylee also had a VERY big day last week, kindergarten sign-ups were Monday morning. She was tested and is ready to go so now we just have to see if she gets into the full day class or if she'll be going half days like most of the kids. Her school only has enough room for one full-day class so it's a lottery to see who gets in. We went to Chuck E Cheese after sign up with a few of the other kids so that Rylee would know them when the big day gets here. Avery has turned into a little chatterbox lately, lol! Her speech is great and very clear for her age as well. She's definitely turning into a little princess though and is more "girly" than Rylee but she'll still hold her own when we have our wrestling matches at night.
Easter was a ton of fun this year. The girls got WAY too much candy but hey, that's part of it, right? We had our egg hunt in the house this year, it was just too cold to be outside at 6:30am in the middle of March! Well, the girls are starting to yell for lunch so I better go feed them before they turn into wild animals. Here's a few Easter pictures for y'all to enjoy.
I'm sure you can figure them out on your own, I'm too lazy to label them today!!
