Midwest Keech

Last night was "Diving Board Day" at swim lessons. I talked to Mia about it several times during the day... She was determined that she was NOT going to go off the diving board. - There was absolutely NO WAY she would be doing it. She said it was "too scary". Well, one of the first things Hannah did with her when they got into the water, was to put a life vest on her & talk to her about why we wear life jackets & how they can make us float. Mia was excited that she floated on her back without Hannah's arms holding her up. Hannah was very enthusiastic about Mia jumping off the diving board & explained that she would be in the water below to catch her. Mia came around to the idea & did it! I know she was still a little scared, but she did it anyway. Way to go Mia!!! Here's the video clip. She is very slow and careful. The manager lady practically drops her off the edge into the water, rather than her jumping. But, she did it - even though she...

As I mentioned yesterday, it was a bit gray & rainy. But, I took the kids to the park to play in the water. They had a great time. We got some pretty cute pics of all the kids. Mia thought it was funny to step on the water to block it from coming out. Adam really liked trying to squirt people... He was actually being a little punk. :-) Adelaide & Amelia had little watering cans from the dollar store. They enjoyed "watering" the dry parts of the sidewalk. Allison was SO funny! She doesn't really like to be sprayed, but she was SO excited to be out & about. She would run up to the edge of the rubberized water area and turn around & run back. Of course, she was screaming & squealing with delight the whole time. Too Cute! This is one of the last pics I took at the park. - K is explaining to me (& her mom) that she would like to stay a little longer & that she's not cold . Do you believe her?

Why is it that I am not really doing anything, but I STILL don't feel like I have any time?? Crazy, I know I am. Today, I decided to go ahead & blog some more. I've got a few things. Friday, the kids & I met Syndy & the kids at the children's museum. (That's another post.) Saturday, Bryan & I took the kids to see "Kung Fu Panda". They really liked it. Everyone was good, except that Allison got really antsy & restless toward the end. After the movie, we went home & let her take a nap for an hour or so, then we went to the pool. It was fun. Amelia was excited to show daddy the things she's practicing in swim lessons. Adelaide is super-jealous & wants to go to. Adelaide had a bast in the water & is getting more and more comfortable. Sunday was church with the normal craziness of getting ready & out the door. Yesterday (Monday), I helped Adam clean his room (ug!). It was VERY messy. The last few times he cleaned his room, he...

Friday, I took the kids to the children's museum here in town. We met Syndy & the kids and brought a lunch with us to eat while we were there. I like to start out on the 3rd floor and work our way down to the ground floor. That way, I don't have to play with everything on the first floor for a 2nd time before leaving. The girls really like the 3rd floor, especially the painting wall. It's great! They put on little smocks & paint on the window. There's usually a line, but we must have come on a good day. Mia & Adelaide just went right on in... No waiting. Like I said, they LOVE the Paint Wall! I asked them several times if they wanted to do other things, but they told me "No-" and to "Go away mom." Can you see the mess she has made of her paints? Poor Adelaide is still having trouble remembering to rinse her brush between colors. The girls like "cleaning-up" their masterpieces almost as much as they like painting them. Just give...

I put Amelia & Adam in swimming lessons this time around. They missed the testing day, so Adam had to be tested right before his lesson. He can swim (dog paddle), but he cannot float on his back or his front. I would like him to learn some more techniques for the water and/or some actual swimming strokes. I would have liked to put everyone in swimming lessons, but Adelaide is too young (at least this session) to do a lesson by herself. - I would have to participate in the "Mommy & Me" lessons. Amelia was really excited from the very beginning. Can you tell? At first, Adam & Mia were in the same 1.1 level class with Hannah. One of the managers happened to be watching & changed him to another level for the 2nd lesson. He seems to be having a good time & catches on pretty quickly. I am excited that they are teaching Adam to NOT hold his nose while he swims. He could swim SO much better if he used BOTH arms. The lessons are at one of the high schools....

I love the Beehives. They are SO fun. Just to give you a little background... One of the girls shared that one of her family's traditions is to have an annual "Shaving Cream Fight". She has mentioned it to the girls several times & they thought it sounded really fun. Well, I did give in & plan a shaving cream fight for our class activity on Tuesday. First of all, I had a few ideas about how things would go down. I figured that we would be squirting each other from a distance. Boy was I wrong! There was no distance at all. You had to squirt it in your hand & either throw the "blob" or smear it on your target. I got cans of shaving cream @ the dollar store & planned 2 cans for each girl. This proved to be more-than-adequate. I also planned to have a water balloon fight. The girls almost didn't want to do them, because they thought it was funny to be covered in shaving cream. And, when I say covered ...I mean COVERED . It was tons of fun, but SO...

Ok, here are the anwsers to my... Quiz?? Here are my "babies". They all look SO much alike to me. I think it's just uncanny. When the kids saw these pics of themselves, they were so excited. They have seen some of them before, but they love asking, "Is that me? Is that one...?" It's really very cute. Then they are excited to be able to recite to someone else who is who.

Today, I decided to play with "Picnik". My friend sent me a bunch of links she uses on her blog, and I've decided that I really like "Mosaic Maker" & "Picnik". If you haven't tried them, you should when you get a little free time. I "prettied" up a few pics & decided to share this one. Aren't they cute? They look like the loving older sister & sweet younger sister. Yeah... That's just what they want you to think. Then, before you know it, you have to pry them apart & throw them in separate corners. What do you do? Gotta take the good when it comes & try to hold on when it all goes crazy!

I was playing with Mosaic Maker & decided to make a collection of pictures of the kids at similar ages. I guess it's true that my babies "all came from the same mold". They are SO similar it is hard to tell some of them apart. Good Luck! Click on the pic & it should open bigger in a new window.

Yesterday, as I was doing Adelaide's hair for church, she said to me, "I want to play with Ba-kenna mommy." I responded, "You do? Why?" She said, "Because I like her. I miss her." I hated having to explain to her that Makenna & her family lived too far away to visit right now. Adelaide was only 18 months when we left AZ. We have seen the Cowand's ONLY 2 times since then, June 2007 & December 2007. It's been almost 6 months since we've seen them & I thought it was so cute that she remembered "Ba-Kenna" (who is 5 months older than Mia). It also broke my heart to have to explain to her that we'll have to wait to see her. I know how she feels. I miss Ba-kenna's mommy too. Love you Jess. Just wanted you to know we were thinking of you & your family.

This weekend, I had a great time! We (our YW Presidency) took our Laurels to Chicago. We had a blast. We left about 2pm on Friday & drove the 2+ hours to the city. We spent some time in Millenium park. We got to see "the bean" (The Cloud Gate) & the fountains. Some of the girls ended up soaked from playing in the fountain. At first, they were just splashing. Then, then they decuded they could take a picture that "looked" like they were laying in the water. Well, things evolved & before we knew it, these 4 were SOAKING wet. Of course, once they were wet, they decided to all hug the 4 of us leaders. Aren't they sweet? We then watched a concert on the lawn & had our picnic dinner. We were a bit loud & disruptive with the grape-fight and all the laughing. One thing we noticed, was all of the people drinking their wine @ the concert. It was a little weird. Being from AZ, having an open container of alcohol in public is a No-No. It was odd ...

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! I think Bryan had a good day. For breakfast, I made him fried potatoes and biscuits & gravy....mmmmm. But, my favorite was that we had enchiladas for dinner. No one would eat them except me & Bry though. How can I feed my kids if THEY keep changing the rules!?! I was under the impression that everyone liked my (well, Nana's) enchiladas. Well apparently, Adam had a problem with the flavor of the cheese (cheddar), Amelia cried about not being able to poke it & get it on her fork (and could not / WOULD not be convinced that it could be "scooped"), and Adelaide... well, I'm pretty sure she confuses enchiladas with lasagna (that she won't eat either), but she was asleep anyway. So, Allison, Bryan & I enjoyed enchiladas while Adam asked several times if he had to finish & Amelia cried. In fact, she cried for so long that when I asked her if she knew why she was crying, she stopped for a minute ...

OK, today is video Friday. I was looking through some video clips with the kids this morning & decided to share a couple of cute ones. This is one of my faves. - This is just typical for Adam when Amelia was born. He loved his little sis SO much. What happened? It's just funny to hear Amelia "whine" as her brother loves on her.

This one is of Adam & a little Amelia. It's a crack-up how Adam jumps around like a crazy person (that needs to be sedated?), and Amelia looks like she's gonna make herself topple over.

This is definitely my girls, fairly recently. I absolutely LOVE the song "I Wanna be Sedated" by the Ramones. It always gets me energized & makes ME move too.

We (Adam, Amelia, Adelaide & I) went shopping last night. Mind you, Adelaide "went" before we left the house. We were gone for (maybe) about 2-1/2 hours. We went to the mall & had to go straight to the mall bathroom. Where, Amelia "went" & Adelaide was dry. Next, we went to Kohls. While we were there, we had to make another dry trip to the bathroom. Then, we had a cookie from Mrs.Fields & made ANOTHER dry trip to the mall bathroom. We went to walmart & Adelaide says she has to go. Nothing. We do our shopping & again, she seems like it's urgent that she needs to go. Amelia goes. Adelaide does not. We get to Meijer & pick up most of our items & I ask her if she still needs to go. She says, "No. I mean, Yes." So, finally she goes. Crazy! When we got home, it was bedtime. One of us told her to go try going again. She couldn't. Duh, that's fine. But, she got out of bed probably 3 or 4 times sayin...

OK, so we went Father's Day shopping last night. We went to the mall and returned some stuff at both Walmart & Meijer. Well, the girls got a sticker on the way in to Walmart & on the way out of Walmart. Adelaide lost her sticker (who knows where), and I thought she was talking about it on the way home. (It's funny how sometimes they speak clearly & your amazed at what they come up with. And sometimes, the more you respond the more irritated they get at YOUR lack of understanding.) At least, I thought she was talking about her sticker on her foot. Apparently, she was talking about the "tickle" on her foot. Well, I finally figured that out & told her to leave her shoe on and that she could scratch it when she got home. "No mom, I have a tickle. I will tickle it at home." Then she went on to talk with Amelia about how she had recently fallen down and gotten a scratch & it was bleeding. It's just funny, I couldn't explain...

My intention was to let the girls play in the sprinkler, but we had a few issues with it. So, we ended up just taking turns with the hose. I think they still had fun... What do you think? Amelia is the older sister & had a harder time letting Adelaide take her turn. They both thought it was great to spray the other & also to be the one running away. I told Mia to spray herself. I didn't quite mean for her to spray herself inthe face. It was funny though. Boy, was she ever surprised! Allison stayed away from the other girls (for the most part). She was able to find one little puddle to step in. It really was more of a wet spot on the concrete rather than a puddle. This didn't stop her from stepping & jumping. Too cute! The wind was blowing, and Adelaide got cold but didn't want to go in the house. So, she crawled underneath the toddler climber thing & curled up there for a while. Well, along came Allison. Can you still see Adelaide curled up in the back? She ...