Swimming Lessons.....Part 1

Yes, it's that time of year again.....but at least this year I don't have to get in the water with Mackenzee. Last year was the mommy and me class and this year, poor Mackenzee had to do it all on her own.

We have progressed since last year though! If you recall, there was just a "bit" of desperate clinging on Mackenzee's part last year. This year she got in there and splashed her little heart out. She "swam" with the assistance of her fabulous teacher Miss Ashley. Would she put her head underwater though?

Yeah.....not so much. She finally put her face in the water on the very last day of class because Jaysen surprised us by showing up and she wanted to show off for him.

The fun stopped there though.

The purpose of this class is to get the kids to learn to be safe around the water and to not be afraid of the water. So, apparently this means that on the last day of class each class member goes off the diving board. :0) They are hopefully supposed to show that they aren't scared of the water and to show that they know how to be safe in deep water. One instructor waits for them in the water under the diving board while the other helps the child to either jump off....or in Mackenzee's case....painfully lower her down into the water.

This is Miss Ashley telling Mackenzee how much fun she'll have......I don't think Mackenzee was convinced. She was screaming so loud.....Jaysen and I were trying to stifle our giggles. I realize that sounds bad, but poor Miss Ashley was trying so hard and Mackenzee would not budge.
Even at the end of the diving board....Mackenzee had such a tight grasp around Miss Ashley's neck that her little fingers had to be pried off.


The lifeguards were so good and didn't even get her head IN the water. And she lived....even though I'm pretty sure she thought she wasn't going to make it.

Even with all of this drama Miss Ashley gave Mackenzee the go ahead to move on to the next class when she goes again. I think we may give it a bit of time before we move on to that though.

We are currently on Part 2 of swimming lessons with Landon. He was immediately bumped up to the next class on his first day and has now been forced to swim laps and tread water. :0) I'll keep you posted on his progress....

One Fine Face

Mackenzee had her very first dance recital last night at CSI. She was sure that she needed pigtails in her hair for her performance because she wanted to look different from all of the other girls. So, with excess amounts of gel and lots of rubber bands, we were able to glue back her short hair into two ponytails. Of course, that meant the feather hair piece had to be split in two. I will tell you....she was the only one with pigtails and two feather pieces in her hair. She still looked just like all the other girls though. :0)

Mackenzee has been taking dance since just January, starting four months after the rest of her class. She has enjoyed every minute of it and would go every day if it was possible. I was worried about whether or not she would freak out once she realized she was going to be performing not just in her little dance studio, but on a huge stage in a huge auditorium. The worry faded quickly. :0) She had a huge grin on her face the whole time.

Her first dance was a tap dance to "On The Good Ship Lollipop". The other number was a ballet dance to a cute Sesame Street song "One Fine Face". This was her favorite dance overall and she would go through the steps at home nonstop. Sadly, her teacher Miss Cassia won't be teaching at the dance studio any more as she has moved to Pocatello with her family. I met Cassia just after Mackenzee was born and she has been such a great dance teacher for Mackenzee. After she starting taking her dance classes all I heard about was her friend, Miss Cassia. They all said goodbye to her at the end of the recital and it was a sad moment. I know that Cassia has taught at Julie's Jazzworks for 8 or 9 years now. She will definitely be missed.

After the show Jaysen and I were talking to Mackenzee about how well she performed and how we thought she was so big for being able to get up in front of all of those people to dance. She looked at me and said, "But mom, I was the best dancer huh." {She doesn't have a high opinion of herself or anything does she?} Trying to deflate her a bit I told her that everyone in her class danced good. Of course, I was overruled by an overly proud daddy who told Mackenzee that everyone might have been good but she really was the best dancer. Mackenzee liked his answer better.We've got a two week break here before her summer classes start. She's disappointed that she has to take a break, but I am relieved as we needed to squeeze in some swimming lessons for her this summer too.

We really are proud of you Mackenzee. You did a great job and were adorable up on the stage. I'm so glad you have found something you truly enjoy. Keep it shakin'!

Piano Recital 2009

Landon had his piano recital on Wednesday. As with any other type of individual performance, Landon got himself completely worked up and freaked out over playing his pieces from memory in front of everyone. I won't even get into the details, but let me just tell you....I was one frustrated mommy by the time the night was over.

Of course his freak out was for nothing as he played both of his songs great. He did a really good job, and honestly, I wasn't worried about his ability for a minute. As his momma...I've heard him play those songs FOR MONTHS now. The stinker is just so worried about messing up or not being able to be perfect in front of other people that he would rather just quit everything and not try. It's hard to watch him do this to himself, and my heart literally breaks for the kid.

Anyway....back to his performance. He played 'Rover Roll Over' and 'Just Jazzin'. This is his third year of playing the piano and his sixth recital.

Here is a group shot of the kids he performed with. Landon has had fun being able to take his piano lessons back to back with my cousin, Taryn. He's the one standing next to Landon in the glasses. Even though Taryn is my cousin, he was born just six months before Landon. This year, my mom asked me to play a two piano duet with her. It was called 'Waltz for Two Pianos'. I had to get my piano brain back up and running in order to pull it off, but I think we got through it well.

We're going to be taking the summer off from piano and hopefully by the time school starts back up again Landon will be ready to get back into the swing of things.

Nice Try Jaysen....

Jaysen came home the other day and saw that our next door neighbor was having a mowing service come to mow her lawn. Now, our next door neighbor is a single mother who is a nurse and therefore works long hours and sometimes odd shifts. Her son is only 8 and she has HER grandmother come to watch him when she is at work. It also helps that her boyfriend has a mowing service.

With the background out of the way here....

Jaysen walks into the house and tells me that he thinks we should hire out a mowing service to take care of our yard because he just really hated mowing the lawn. For all you moms out there....I'm hoping you are feeling my pain here. :0) $150 a month to pay for a service because you just don't want to have to do it. Mind you....as far as the yard goes....that's all he has to take care of. I just looked at him and told him that if he got to hire out someone to mow the lawn then we were going to hire a maid because I really hated cleaning the house. :0)

He didn't think that was funny.

So, the mowing service idea was put aside. Several weeks later Jaysen gets the brilliant idea that Landon is now old enough that he should be able to start mowing the lawn himself. Landon is 9 years old. Our lawn mower is not the fancy kind that propels itself forward. Yeah......Both Landon and I gave Jaysen the "are you kidding me?" look. Jaysen attempts to sweeten the pot for Landon by offering him money. Of course, Landon accepts the challenge.

As you can see.....Landon had quite a bit of a struggle trying to push our monster lawn mower.

Poor Jaysen had to take over after just a few minutes. Landon was really upset that he wasn't able to pull it off. Jaysen is just going to have to be stuck with doing it by himself. Don't you just feel so bad for him? :0) {Merciless teasing has gone on over this....can you tell?}

BUT! The saga continues. Jaysen is now sure that we need a riding lawn mower.

Have you seen our patch of grass? I don't think he would even be able to turn it around in our small yard. :0)

I'm quite interested to see what idea he comes up with next. :0) He's as bad as my children! Honestly....I wouldn't have him any other way. He does keep us smiling......

Mother's Day

I am such a lucky mom! Not only did my kids get me a huge box of yummy chocolates, but we went out and played all day long. I love spending time out and about with my family. Especially when there isn't a time frame to deal with, or a schedule. Just enjoying the day together.
I told Mackenzee that we could walk underneath the bridge after last weekends outing. She was so scared! I'm not sure if she thought that the cars were really going to drive right over the top of us or what. She was relieved to see that there was a path that we could walk directly underneath the bridge. :0) You know, I drive over the Perrine Bridge fairly often but don't really pay much attention to it. It is a MASSIVE structure! Of course, to connect the sides of the Snake River Canyon, it would take something rather large. :0)

This is a fairly new statue out by the bridge called "The Twins". I think it is just gorgeous, and sadly, this is the first time I've seen it up close.

Here is Mr. IB Perrine himself. I didn't know this statue was here either. Kind of sad when you don't even know what interesting features you have in your own home town! I told my kids we were going to make it a point to go out and see everything we possibly could this summer. I think they are more excited than I am. :0)

As promised, I took Landon over to walk behind the waterfall at Centennial Park.

He was so funny about it too. I'm not quite sure why he would think he was going to stay super dry around a waterfall, but the water falling on our heads was not something he enjoyed. :0)
It was a fun afternoon spent outside in gorgeous weather. We did have to get back home for a bit so that I could write a paper for school, but it was nice to take this time and not worry about anything but enjoying the company of my hubby and kids.

Thanks for a wonderful day guys!

Cousin Fun

Because my sister's graduation was so late on Thursday night I figured it would be easiest to just stay the night at her house and then go home the next afternoon. My kids were so excited to have a sleepover with their cousins.
It was such a gorgeous afternoon that we decided to take the kids into Rexburg to go to the park. I had Landon bring a basketball so that all of us could play HORSE together. {Um...I totally beat EVERYONE!}

Actually, it was Landon who ended up giving Stephen all of his letters. He made some pretty amazing shots that could not be duplicated. This boy's got some skills. :0)

Mackenzee was just so excited to be outside {as usual}. I think it took her only just a couple of minutes to fall asleep once we hit the road to go home.

Thanks for putting up with us Melanie! I promised the kids we'd go back and visit again this summer. So, get ready!

Beaming with Pride

My older sister, Melanie, just graduated from the University of Idaho with her Bachelors of Science degree. Since this was such a huge moment for her I wanted to be there to support her and cheer her on when she accepted her diploma. So, with my kids, I drove up to Idaho Falls to watch her on Thursday night. My parents made the trip too.
Her degree is in Psychology. I'm assuming this is because she wanted to take after me. :0) Sure, she got her bachelor's and I'm only getting my associate's degree in a couple of months...but it was my idea first! :0) I told her that she would have to move by me in a couple of years so that we could open up a family counseling practice together. Stumpf and Burnham....or better yet....Burnham and Stumpf. :0) Good stuff.

Even though she is my BIG sister, I felt like a proud mommy watching her walk the stage to get her diploma. She has worked so hard on this and is such a great example for me as I try to get through my classes.

{Have you ever tried to take a picture that has seven children in it at 9:30 at night? Yeah....good luck with getting all eyes on the camera!}