More Swimming

Today was the last day of swimming lessons. It was a free swim day and we all went. Judson LOVED the slide. He'd go down feet first and then head first. He would have stayed all day. Sawyer is not afraid of anything. He took off into the water. Of course, he is not strong enough to march as fast as he wanted to go. So he'd fall down, face first. We had a life jacket on him. However, that was probably worse than nothing. It prevented him from turning over on his back. He consumed mass amounts of swimming pool water. It did not deter him in the least. He, too, would have stayed all day with that fair skin turning a nice shade of red. (doesn't matter how much sun screen or how strong the SPF, this kid has at least 1 or 2 freckles pop out every time he gets out in the sun) Ansley was ready to go home after the first splash of water on her face. She did okay but she REALLY does NOT like water in her face.

Judson really enjoyed the lessons. There are no more openings for lessons this year though. Hopefully, we can get him in the pool some more and help him retain what he learned and maybe by next summer, he'll be really swimming.

Swimming

Judson has been taking swimming lessons this week. What a trooper! He's never really been swimming in his life. (Bad Mommy!) Several of the kids in his class are quite skittish but not Judson. He's always raising his hand to try something new. He REALLY wants to learn how to dive off a diving board like his cousin CJ. We told him he needed to be at least 8 years old and know how to swim. (Actually, I told him he needed to be 12 but he pointed out that CJ was only 9 and he was diving last year at the ripe old age of 8) You can tell by the pictures he's a bit tense but he keeps on trying and he practices in the bathtub each night so he'll be ready for the next days lessons.

On a side note, he just came in and asked if he was growing fur on his back. I asked why, to which he replied he'd been in the dog pen for "one whole hour" and he was trying to be a dog. He even sat in the dirt hole, like the dogs, to keep cool. He barked at me when I went out to check on him and his dad earlier. This kid is a riot! (And I don't think I've ever seen a dirtier kid in my life.)

Our Friends

What a wonderful group of friends we have! We are truly blessed with one of the best group of friends ever. We put out the word that we wanted to celebrate Ansley's Gotcha Day anniversary and they were ready. They even suffered through some major heat (what else is there in the South?) since we decided to have the party outside. We just wanted to say Thank You to our friends and tell you how much we appreciate your friendship. We also wanted to share a few pictures. We actually didn't get too many pictures because we were having so much fun chatting that we didn't get to take many pictures. (Dad, remember to click on the collage to bring up a bigger picture!)

Daddy

Daddy is very nice to me. He likes to play games with me. He lets me work outside with him. He reads books to me. He takes good care of my brother and sister . He takes me places. I especially like going to work with him and riding in the car with him. He teaches me alot of things, like math and geography. Another thing I really like is when he lets me type in the bills in his Excel spreadsheet. He teaches me about the plants in our backyard. He also lets me wash the car with him and he let me help build our swing set.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you!

Judson
(As told to Mommy, with minor editing)

Happy Gotcha Day Ansley! (June 12th)

Can you believe it has been a year? One year ago, Randy and his mom got to meet Ansley face-to-face for the first time. A very emotional day for them and Ansley. Ansley was suddenly flung into a whole new world with new people who looked, smelled, talked, ate, etc nothing like anybody she had known. She was flown thousands of miles away from all she had known in her short life to begin a brand new life. She was and still is a very brave little girl. She is a survivor in the most basic sense of the word. She landed on her feet and she is thriving.

Our family has changed too. For the better, I might add. She keeps us on our toes, for sure.

Ansley, thank you for being our little girl!

Little Einstein

Okay. Don't have any new news. We're just trying to get back into our routine. I just walked downstairs where Daddy and Judson are putting together their 600 piece world map puzzle. Judson asked his Dad, "is this the way it should look". (They were putting together Africa.) Dad said, "looks good to me". Judson asked, "But where is Burkina Faso?" Don't know where Burkina Faso is? Just ask my 4 year old. He'll tell you.