Odds and Ends

Chase and Dylan have just finished College for Kids. Chase, my boy who is not so fond of school, enjoyed College for Kids so much last year that he wanted to go full day this year. They loved their classes but they did not love the 8 a.m. start time!!! It was a full day for them. They started their classes at 8 and I picked them up at 5. They went Monday through Thursday for 3 weeks. Dylan's 2 favorite classes were chess and Legos. Chase had too many favorites to name just 2. I like that he took keyboarding. The last day of classes I had to pick them up at noon because the power had gone out at the school. Afternoon classes were cancelled! Some of their projects remain at the school and Dylan's rocket launch was cancelled. Of course we did not know that it was cancelled until we drove all the way up there.

Cade just finished swimming lessons. We did not know if Cade would ever learn how to swim. He recently discovered that he can swim with a life jacket on him. This has given him a great confidence boost. The start of swimming lessons was difficult. Cade was not comfortable in the water. He had a great teacher who kept making him try. One day, Cade swam BY HIMSELF a short distance to the wall. He was so excited! The next day he swam a little further BY HIMSELF and his confidence grew even more. The next day, he did even better. We are so proud of him!

Chase had his quarterly check-up at the growth doctor. He is now 53 inches tall!! He has made it to the 25th percentile. I can't believe that 3 years ago he was completely off the charts and now he is in the 25th percentile. I asked if they thought that he would start leveling off and they said that he is still going up the chart so they think that he will continue to climb up the charts. He also weighs 70 pounds! Cade had to be measured, too. He is 45 inches tall. Cade and Nate both had to hop onto the scales. Cade weighs 40 pounds and Nate weighs 25 pounds. Nate is such a cute little peanut.

This week we have nothing planned!! I am so excited to just be at home. Hopefully I can catch up on some work. Vacation time has put me behind!!

Having Fun at the Beach

The boys and I were able to go on a wonderful adventure to South Padre with my friend, Amy. Amy has written an excellent wrap-up of our adventure which you can read here. In spite of all the challenges we faced, we really did have a great time.

This was Nate's first time to see the ocean. Cade was little the last time we went to the beach so he did not really remember it either.

Nate is getting his toes in the ocean - not quite sure if he likes it.

He doesn't like it!! I think he did not like the feeling of the sand being washed away under his feet. He loved, loved, loved me holding him and dipping him in the waves. He would say, "Nother one, nother one, big one, big one, wow". He would come and grab me and want to go back out in the water. He wore me out!

Blake with his blue hair - it was quickly washed away.

The boys really loved playing in the sand.

The crew. Nate was not in the mood to have his picture taken.

All the kids had to pretend that they were being eaten by the shark!! Except for Nate.









Not happy! Of course, he did have some sunscreen in his eyes.


See how happy Nate is!

Dirty boy!

We were so glad to see Blake again after he was missing for an hour!

Dylan was buried in the sand and made into a mermaid. Nate did not like his brother in the sand. The boys were trying to give Dylan a girl chest, but they were uncomfortable with building the chest area so Amy had to come to the rescue.

Cade loved the beach and the ocean!! All of the kids were so good and so happy.

Here is our car being towed out of the sand. You can read all about it on Amy's blog.