Good 'ol fashioned Spring FUN!H

Slip-n-Slide! He finally got the hang of it. And I could SEE the disappointment on Zoe's face when she realized it wasn't a pool for her to soak in. Oh my. I'm going to have to fill the frog pool up again, just keep my swimming pup happy!

Needless to say, he didn't need a bath that night! And he smelled quite manly and nice after generously applying all that shaving cream!

I eventually was quite a mess too. All in good (and clean!) fun!

Loving the new hair!

Well, it's only April and I can honestly say that we spend more time in our bathing suits than in our regular clothes...already! Bear Cub has officially become a fish at the pool. He can SWIM! He is doing so great...I really am proud. In fact, his swim teacher "tossed" him into the pool today, to test what he would do. Well, he quickly popped up, turned around, and kicked to the wall. And he happily had her do it again! We hear all kinds of comments at the pool from other parents to their kids...like, "See that little boy? He's swimming and he's smaller than you!" or "Wow, he can really swim!" We can't help but puff up with some pride...it's just nice to every once in a while be on that side of a situation! :)

BC has also discovered a real love of shaving cream, as you can see in these photos! He loves to spread it all around our patio table, drive his vehicles through it and make up little stories as he goes along. We have a great book called, My Truck is Stuck!, so he started making up a different words with his "piles of snow" as he called the shaving cream. But what amazed me was how he kept the rhyming pattern going (and correctly too!) even with his new words. So, not only is he having a ball with the shaving cream, but he's practicing his literacy skills too. Ha! Yes, I'm a teacher dork, I know.

You'll also see that he has a new, VERY short hair cut. It's his summer look. :) He now gets his hair buzzed every Friday by Daddy, and last week, we decided to go for it and take the front tuft off too. It is SO easy to keep and no tangles from the chlorine water. Mighty handsome, if I do say so myself. :)

We're off to Indiana this week to visit his great-grandparents, so I'll be sure to blog once we're home. Have a great week ahead and we'll be back soon!

Bathtub songs!

Just some singing fun in the bath from last night...don't mind my voice...eek!! Have a happy weekend! :)

The swimmer!

Well, I finally was able to get another video up! I've had trouble with that...so I'm glad this one worked. Just be sure to click on the smaller arrow, if that big one doesn't work. :)

Bear Cub is doing AWESOME in the pool! After four lessons, he is swimming! We bought some new goggles on Friday, and that evening went up for a swim. I was expecting him to just play on the steps and go under for his sunken cars, like he had been doing. But with those new goggles, you'd think that he had grown flippers or something! HE wanted to come out into the pool with me...and he was off! He now will drop his cars/toys in about 4 feet of water and want to go down by himself...he then pushes off the bottom and swims to the top! Amazing!

We still need to work on keeping his legs straight behind him while kicking and his swim teacher is going to teach him how to come up for air while swimming. But he's jumping in, going WAY under and swimming from us to the sides, steps, you name it...he wants to go!

We're really excited by this...although one of us HAS to be in the pool with him because he is SO ecstatic and ready to. No more just hanging around on the steps while he splashes around. Bear Cub is a FISH!! :)

I think he's grown...

Then vs. now...what do you think?? Big changes in a year! :)

I just had to look back in my photos to see what Bear Cub was up to and looking like at this time LAST year. Here's a flashback photo of him on his trike. I thought he was getting to be such a big boy back then...but my, oh my...he was still a baby!!! Have a fantastic weekend!

Now BC makes the bribes...oh my

Just a quick funny from last night:

I told Bear Cub that I had made his dentist appointment for next Monday (yikes...please say a prayer for us!) and he quickly replied,

"Make sure you bring a lot of money, Mommy, because I want a 2-piece train. I still LOVE trains, even though I'm trwazy (crazy) about cars now!"

Sheesh...my 3-year-old making deals with me. If my wallet looks big on Monday, does that mean he'll be happy and cooperative for the dentist?? Hmmm... we'll see! ;) Funny boy.

A Day at the Aquarium

We went to the aquarium this weekend and had a really fun day! Bear Cub LOVES to sit and study the fish in the tanks...he is fascinated by it all! I was proud of him because on this trip, he actually put his hand into the "petting" area and touched some starfish and other little creatures. After checking out the sea life, we headed outside to the splash park, where he ran and had some fun. The aquarium is RIGHT at the port, so we were lucky enough to watch a cruise ship get loaded up...and we even got to hear the horn blast a few times. Bear Cub jumped about 5 inches the first time that thing went off!! :) We had to run over and check it out right away. Enjoy the pictures! :)

T-Ball finale!

Studying his FIRST trophy!

We are proud!

Go Frogs! (although NONE of them look too excited!)

Getting his trophy...right out of the official, fancy cardboard box. Gotta love the YMCA.

Batter up!

Saturday was BC's last t-ball game for the season. Go Frogs! :) It seems like his team kind of dwindled away as the weeks went by, but we stuck it out! He did pretty well with his batting yesterday and had ZERO interest in going into the field. He did love receiving his "end of the season" trophy. He quickly put it upstairs on his desk. What a season!

Wondering what we do on days with nowhere to go?

We dress up in Halloween costumes, pretend we're puppies, and tour the "zoo" of our house, checking out the different animal exhibits in each room. Ahhhhhh....the imagination of a 3-year-old! :)

Swimming!

Hi all! Just had to update on BC's swim lesson today. He still shed some tears, but swam underwater to his teacher from the steps and then between Miss Heidi and me. I was so proud! Go, Bear Cub!! I'm excited to take him to the pool this weekend to show Daddy his skills... :)

Have a great one!

Just ramblin'...

Hi all! Hope you're having a nice week. Here it is Wednesday already! I want to thank those of you who comment regularly here on the blog. I REALLY enjoy comments, so if you read the blog, just drop me a quick little note in the Comments section! I like to know who's out there reading...if anyone!

So, we've been busy...as usual. I thought I'd just bullet my thoughts, since I'm not feeling overly creative and "write-y" today. :)

• Bear Cub started private swim lessons yesterday. 2 summers ago, he and I did a Mommy & Me swim class and he learned so much. He had no fear...jumping into the water, swimming on his own for 5-6 feet, going under water, etc., etc., etc. Well, we were all signed up last year for more lessons, but moved before they happened. So we spent our summer just splashing around and not trying to really "swim." We're back at it now! He did fine...some crying and clinging to his teacher, but as the time went on, he calmed down and was happy to continue playing (and going underwater) for almost 2 hours after his lesson. I think we'll have a fish on our hands within the next month or so. :)

• I've been subbing in a 4-year-old classroom at BC's preschool! Tomorrow will be my fourth time and I am loving it. It feels great to be back in a classroom, working with kids and the best thing is...it's only while BC is in his class, so we're on the same schedule. It has been FUN and I'll tell ya what...those 4 & 5-year-olds crack me up!!

• On one of these non-subbing weeks, I'm going to paint our den. These white walls are getting to me...

• OH BOY! Here's a big one for ya...I'm signed up to run a HALF MARATHON in November! What the!?!?! How did that happen? Well, after a fun dinner out with my Clermont girls, we peer pressured each other into registering. Do I run? Um...no...not until about 2 weeks ago. :) Ok, ok...I did train and do a 5K about four years ago, but this is 10 EXTRA miles on top of that. Am I crazy? Maybe...but I'm excited! I'm doing a run/walk program and am feeling really good. I'm up to about 3 miles in 30 minutes. :)

• Did I tell you we joined the YMCA back in December? Well, we did and we all have been enjoying it. Six months of no gym membership was too long for me, so on top of my new run/walk program, I also do some Boot Camp classes and workout in the gym. Bear Cub happily plays in the playroom there...they have a train table set, so I'm good to go! :)

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Have a good rest of the week! Bear Cub has his final t-ball game on Saturday and he says he'd like to play soccer again. That's fine, but we'll probably wait until August or so to sign up again...right now the focus is on swimming, because I KNOW we'll spend many hours at our community pools and the beach this summer. Speaking of summer...we went from a COLD Florida winter, to maybe 2 weeks of Spring...straight into SUMMER. Hello, heat! Welcome back home... ;)

A happy Easter!

Giving dog cousin, Luca, some love!

Checking out his eggs with Grandpa

Baby cousin, A...she looked so sweet in her little Easter dress! :)

Showing off what the Easter Bunny left for him

Digging through his goodies...

We were very busy last week with school, a fun overnight visit with Mimi, a trip to the zoo on Saturday, and a fun-filled Easter morning at home, and then on to Aunt Stephanie's for Easter lunch with family. Phew! Enjoy the pictures from our holiday "week." :) Lots of egg hunting here at home, at BC's school, and of course, from the Easter Bunny!