Wyatt's Swim Lessons

Lila took swim lessons earlier this summer with an instructor, but Wyatt wasn't old enough yet to participate in the "Minnows" program. Instead, his swim lessons were parent participation required -- which meant we had to find a time when both Ben and I would be here. So... Wyatt didn't have his lessons until the first 2 weeks of August. He had four classes over a 2 week period, but I (and Lila and Piper) only went along one time to document his experience.

Wyatt and Ben before the class began.

Wyatt's class met in the Natatorium. It is VERY humid in there (one reason I only came the one time!) In the middle of the picture, Wyatt is about to jump in the pool to Ben.

This might be Wyatt's favorite part of class: the watering cans. They get to play with them and use them to get their faces wet. Wyatt just loves to pour and dump the water!

He wasn't so sure about floating on his back, even with Daddy there to help!

Here he's learning how to hold his arms out while he kicks. (This was obviously more fun than being on his back.)

He is pretty good at kicking.

Learning how to climb out of the pool... elbow, elbow, knee!

They provide a little incentive to climb out... a rubber ducky!

The ducky is also incentive to swim (scoop and kick).

Here he is swimming toward the duck after throwing it (he enjoyed getting to throw it too!).

Toward the end of class, they moved over into the really shallow water to practice reaching down to get a ring (and get their face in the water). I think this picture is funny because Ben is barely able to stay in the water at this depth! :)

Catching a ride on Daddy when it's time to get out of the pool.

Wrinkly feet!

The post-swim daze.

If it seems like I have more pictures of Wyatt's swim lesson than Lila's lesson, it's because when the parents aren't in the water, they encourage us to stay back (to not be a distraction). So I couldn't get as close to Lila as I could to Wyatt. Next summer they will both be able to take lessons at the same time, and Piper will be the one who has to sit and watch :)

For the Children {Guatemala Mission Trip}

At the end of July, Ben went with several others from our church on a mission trip to Guatemala. This was his second time going down there (he went before in 2009). On his last trip, he said one of the highlights for him was visiting the children at the state orphanage. He also helped with construction at the missionaries' compound (which has homes and a school), put on a drama for school kids in town, and handed out supplies at a mountain village. Well, of all those things, I knew the easiest for Lila to understand would be the orphanage -- that there are kids our there who don't have parents and probably don't have any toys of their own. I wanted her to have a part in Ben's trip. So we went to a store and bought some little toys, stickers, etc. that we could send along with Ben to pass out at the orphanage.

The loot.

In our little bag, we had a stuffed friend, toy, eraser and some stickers.

This was a PERFECT activity for my girl. Her eyes lit up when I showed her what we were going to do. I set out all of the items and showed her what went in each bag.

She took it from there!

While we were working, we were able to talk a little bit about what it means to be an orphan.

"Mom, if you died, would Wyatt and I go to an orphanage?"

And how nice it is to have toys you can keep in your own room.

Things we take for granted.

She had those bags filled in no time! We did 48 bags (a lot of the items were sold in sets of 12), plus I knew Ben didn't have a ton of room in his bag since they were taking other things down as well.

Is this fun Lila?

YEAH!

Originally, I had in mind that I would put this picture of Lila with the finished gift bags next to a picture of all the orphanage kids playing with their toys. Maybe Ben would even get a picture of them with the little parachute men floating in the air (that was one of the toys). Well, as it turns out, the mission team didn't even get to go to the state orphanage this time. The state workers were on strike! Bummer.

Instead they took our little toy bags along when they went to the mountain village.

Along with LOTS of other toys that were donated.

Ben did get a picture of a little girl playing with one of the toys we sent. (A whistle in the shape of lips.)

Ben had a great time down there again. (These are some of the school children who saw the drama they did.) He has said he wants to go again and wants me to go with him. I'm not sure how good I'd be at pouring cement. Maybe they need a team photographer??

Also, I found out that the children in the state orphanage aren't allowed to keep toys, so I guess God knew it was better that those little bags head up the mountain!

Berry Special Birthday

This year Lila told me that she wanted to have a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party for her 5th birthday. I didn't want her party to be *everything* Strawberry Shortcake (SSC), so I tried to incorporate the idea of SSC - namely the colors and fruits - into the decor and games.

Starting with the invitation, I didn't want it to be a store-bought SSC invitation. I mean, I did get a degree in graphic design... got to put my skills to use when I can! 

So I used selective SSC decorations... like these napkins.

"Lila Is Five" banner on the mantle

Strawberry balloons

Table decoration

(I was in a hurry so didn't realize it was blurry.)

Party favors included strawberry scented bubbles, SSC lip balm and strawberry fruit snacks.

Place setting

We invited eight girls to the party, but unfortunately only three could come. I think I will have to remember that next year (summer birthdays are just not easy), and maybe we will celebrate Lila's birthday in August when people will be less likely to be on vacation! 

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, the girls played with Lila's SSC dolls. After about 15 minutes, we were still missing one of the girls, and I thought "oh man, it's REALLY going to be a small party" but decided to go ahead and get started.

Our first activity was making a SSC flower pot (or pencil cup). I got these flower pots at Michael's Craft store but made my own inserts using clip art I found online.

The girls colored their inserts with markers.

It was fun to watch them each take their own approach to coloring.

The next activity was a game I created called "Strawberry Patch Match." Basically, it was a memory game where the girls had to find the matching strawberries.

Yes, I made the strawberries. They weren't very difficult.

After the party was over, I wondered why I didn't let the girls play the game more than once. I put some work into making it; I should have devoted more time in the party for it!

While they were playing the game, our third party guest arrived. YAY!!

Each girl "won" a SSC coloring book when they found a match.

The next game we played was a fruit basket game. I had four different fruit balloons, and the girls had to try and be the first to get all of their assigned fruit in the basket.

The four fruits were red strawberries, purple grapes, green watermelon, and gold pineapple. I just used a permanent marker to draw on the balloons. The strawberry and pineapple had a paper leaf top.

We played that game a couple times, then tried it where they had to stand in one spot and toss their fruit in the basket.

Next up: cake and ice cream!!

Party guests were Madison, Kendra and Chloe. Madison goes to our church, and Chloe was in Lila's preschool class. Kendra is the daughter of some friends of ours at our old church. It's hard to tell in this picture, but those are pink strawberry marshmallows in the centerpiece.

When Lila first told me she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake party, I was excited because I actually HAD a SSC cake pan! When my grandfather moved out of his house, my mom snagged the pan and gave it to me. I guess maybe my grandmother made a SSC cake for me or my cousin when we were little?? I don't remember that. However, the pan was from 1984 (this image is from the icing instructions). Strawberry Shortcake has updated her look since then. I wanted the cake to look like the SSC that Lila was familiar with, so I had to be creative.

I was really excited with how my modifications turned out. Of course, when Lila saw the cake, she asked "how come it doesn't look like the picture?". What!! I was expecting more along the lines of "oh wow, Mom, it looks just like her!" Ha, ha.

However, as I was getting the cake ready to light in the kitchen, I overheard Lila tell her friends, "Wait till you see my cake. My mom did a beautiful job on it!" So if I get carpal tunnel from frosting all those little stars, it was worth it :)

Lila's expression while we were singing to her.

Aunt Janina brought Lila a special SSC balloon bouquet. It is kind of her tradition to bring the kids a special mylar balloon on their birthday!

Lila also invited Mr. Mark and Miss April (good family friends and Lila's Sunday School teachers) to her party. Here Mark is telling Piper how much she will enjoy being in their Sunday School class someday :)

After cake and ice cream, the girls played with Lila's dress up clothes.

Last activity: opening presents!

I had talked to Lila before her party about making sure to say thank you as she opened her gifts. She did great!

Opening Aunt Janina's gift.

(Special thanks to Aunt Janina for taking pictures during the party for me!!!)

Showing Mark and April one of her gifts.

So, it turned out to be a smaller party than originally planned, but Lila had a fun time. In case you were wondering, yes, Wyatt was there. He just didn't make it into the pictures. I asked him if he wanted to play the balloon game one time, but he said no. And he ate his cake and ice cream in the kitchen (over the tile floor, not carpet). Despite his lack of representation on here, he had a fun time too. In fact, he fell asleep WHILE eating dinner that night. Literally. His eyes were rolling back in his head while he was chewing. It was pretty funny to watch. Guess the party wore him out! That's how you know it was a success :)