Swimming Lessons

Miss Kennedy took swimming lessons for the third summer!  She has been a fish since she was a baby so it is no surprise that she passed her level again this year!  

The skills she worked on this year were front stroke (freestyle), backstroke, elementary backstroke, scissor kick, and diving off the side.  The pool was so full of classes this session that Kennedy's class met in the 12 foot!  I was so proud of her for not being scared - who am I kidding?!  She is never scared of water!!

BACKSTROKE

DIVING!!!!

WATER SAFETY

I passed!!!  Onto Red Cross Level IV!!

First Summer Weekend!

Our first weekend of the summer was great fun!!  We have a tradition every Memorial Day weekend.  We attend Celebration at the Station and I look forward to it all Spring!  The Kansas City Symphony puts on a free concert outside of Union Station.  The audience sits on the hill overlooking Union Station.  We bring lots of food, blankets, chairs and games.  This year we brought some friends to experience it for their first time!  The children searched out their parents' electronic devices...no surprise. ;) 

Once the sun set, this children played with glow sticks and flashlights!  It was great watching the lights projected on Union Station and enjoying the KC skyline.   Eventually we turned out chairs around and watched the wonderful fireworks display over the WWI Memorial.  Quinn did NOT enjoy the fireworks at all, poor girl.  Too noisy!!  But she had done an amazing job all night considering how late she was up!  It was an awesome evening!

We also took our first dip in one of the neighborhood pools!  There had been quite a thunderstorm just a day before and the water was still chilly!  But Kennedy was still her normal fishy self - loving every minute in the water!  As I suspected, Quinn is going to be quite the handful at the pool this summer!  She thinks she can just run anywhere and go in the big pool at any time!  She will absolutely be wearing a flotation device all summer!  

Hooray for summer!!!

We can now cross off a few things from of Summer Bucket List!!!

#58: Go to a Free Concert

#38: Visit Multiple Pools (this was pool #1)

You Capture - Summertime

I am joining Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry for this week's you capture. The theme is Summertime!!

We're definitely in the middle of summer....excessive heat warnings and all. What better summertime activity than hopping in the pool!? On our trip last week we got to visit family so Kennedy and Eva swam in the backyard!

Another summertime must is time at the playground! The one below was in Red Wing, MN and was one of the best I've seen! Of course Quinn couldn't be left out!


You can't forget fun with friends!! this was the 4th of July with Kennedy's soccer team (minus one little girl). The coach awarded them their trophies!!!!

T-ball!!!!!!!!!! A summer staple, right?! Kennedy turned out to be a pretty darn good player!!!!!
Picnics! They are even better when you have them with cousins!!!!
New Adventures!!!!!! While in Minnesota we visited the aquarium. Kennedy hadn't remember seeing one in the past so it was like new to her! And Quinn enjoyed the new animals, too!

Made it to July!!!!!!

July 1st
Jeff, chilling before the fireworks! We went to Falcon Valley Golf Course where they have a little shindig before the 4th each year. Kennedy played on some inflatables, got her hair painted and had a snack. The fireworks were really nice - not too long. The years we stay in KC for the 4th we try to attend this event.

June 30th
Last day of swim lessons! Kennedy's teacher, Daryn, was signing her paperwork. Kennedy made it to the next level!!!!!! And she loved each day of her lessons!

June 29th
We tried a fun new project today! Sharpie tie dye!! I will be sharing more about this later!!!



June 28th
Today was a playdate with the mom's group from church. We met at Ernie Miller Park - a favorite spot of ours! I created some scavenger hunt things for the older kids and I think they enjoyed it! This is Anna and Kennedy crossing the creek!

June 27th
The master bathroom. This is the new tub preparing to be installed!


June 26th
Look how brave Kennedy is!!! She is making it through the laser light obstacle course!!! Ok, so those obviously aren't laser lights...just crepe paper! But it was fun to imagine!!! Even Dad and Mom gave it a try!



June 25th
Kennedy and I have been learning about worms! We were looking at a website to learn about a worm's body. Quinn decided she wanted to learn too!

June Photo a Day Take 1

June Photo a Day...

June 1st
Sweet little Quinn in a fun summer outfit! One of her favorite things to do is stand up (with help) and bounce, bounce, bounce!!!!!

June 2nd: no photo

June 3rd
Driving up to Iowa for my cousin's funeral.


June 4th
The only positive thing about a funeral is that family all come together. It was refreshing to see so many family members....wish we could see each other more often under different circumstances. Below are Marin and Kay! (with Mom and Gigi in the background)

June 5th
After the drive back to Kansas we headed to cousin Elijah's 6th birthday party. Quinn was a happy camper because we were outdoors!

June 6th
Pool fun! There will not be as many pool shots this summer. It is much too hard to watch Quinn AND get photos of my other fish!

June 7th
Pink Panther T-Ball game!!!

Playing Catch Up

Trying to catch up at my Photo a Day......rounding out May.

May 31st
We met some friends from church at the KC Zoo today! It was a warm one! We ended up spending the majority of the day just the 3 of us and I totally enjoyed it! Kennedy loves animals and the zoo is always a hit. She enjoyed feeding deer, riding the train, riding the carousel with Quinn, and her favorite animal was the Squirrel Monkey. Feeding the Lorikeets is one of Kennedy favorite things to do. You get a small cup with a liquid in it, hold it in your hand and extend your arm. The birds just flock! At one point she had 2 birds on her arm! I love this shot because she wasn't expecting the bird to take flight and Quinn was looking too! We only got to enjoy half the zoo on this trip. Unfortunately on the Africa side a gorilla got loose! They stopped letting people head that way, so we headed home. But not until after we enjoyed some free Dip n Dots!!!



May 30th - Memorial Day
The pools opened this weekend so Kennedy was beside herself! The water was QUITE cold - I didn't even get in! But it was Quinn's FIRST trip to the swimming pool! Considering how cold it was she really enjoyed it and had lots of smiles for us!

May 29th
Celebration at the Station! One of my favorite traditions!! This year we talked the Elliott's into joining us! Kennedy and bff Taylor had a great time goofing off!!! (Hopefully I will have a post soon about Kennedy's outfit...Quinn was matching!)

May 28th
Doggie mini spa day! Kennedy and I brushed the dogs today...forever! They have so much hair it is ridiculous! We have always joked that Izzy has so much hair we could brush and never stop and still not get all the hair! Later Jeff played doggie dentist! He has a great tool that helps knock the plaque off the dogs' teeth. Kennedy helped out by shining a flashlight on the dog's mouth. And Quinn was extremely interested...can you see her trying to work her way into the mix?!


May 27th
Birds!! We have started our bird watching - hooray! Miss Kennedy and I have our trusty bird book out along with the rockin' binoculars . This year we will be keeping a bird journal. We will track the date, the bird type, where we spotted it, what it was doing and the time of day. Currently there are 4 bird feeders in the yard and one bird bath.

May 26th
T-Ball Season has officially begun! Be on the lookout for lots of photos of the Pink Panthers soon!


May 25th
A bad weather day! The horrible tornado had just struck Joplin days earlier. Storms had been cropping up all over the Midwest over the previous weeks and were all over the news. On this morning, the gals and I had gone to a friend's for coffee and playtime. We moms were discussing how our hostess's home didn't have a basement and what they would have to do should a tornado head their way. I kid you not, just then the tornado sirens sounded! We all just looked at each other and no one spoke! Someone turned on the television and we tried to make sure the kids were unaware. It appeared the storm was East of us so we started to breath easier. That is until the Sheriff's office called into the news station and said they were taking cover!!!! We all decided to throw the kids in the car and just head to our homes - and our hostess had a safe place to go as well! I snapped this shot as we were driving home. The gals and I spent much of the afternoon in the basement watching the news!




May 24th
Oops! Forgot to take a photo today!

May 23rd
Last day of Kindergarten!!!! There was a family picnic on the playground - even Mema attended! This is a shot of 2 of Kennedy's friends, Ava and Brady. Seriously...kindergarten is over???

Swim Lessons!

Kennedy completed her first ever swim lessons this month!!! And she loved every minute of it! Luckily the lessons are at an indoor pool because it rained a lot for those two weeks! However, on watch day that meant it was super hot and loud and the lighting was stinky for photos!

A few days before lessons started Kennedy started to get a tad nervous. She was really worried the instructors would make her dive off the side! I tried to assure her that they wouldn't make her try anything she wasn't ready for and we walked through things she could say if she were scared or nervous.

But when I picked her up after her first lesson she had a HUGE smile on her face and said, "It was WONDERFUL!" She then looked forward to lessons every day!

Her main instructor was a boy named Luke. The secondary instructor was Megan. Kennedy was so thrilled!!! Miss Megan used to help out occasionally at her preschool! I was happy that she had someone she already knew!

Can you tell she wasn't a huge fan on the backfloat?! Check out that face!!! But now, two weeks after lessons, she is floating all over the pool by herself!!!

This was the end of lessons - they each got a sucker! And a certificate! Kennedy passed her level!!! I was so thrilled and so was she! Immediately she asked if she could start the next level the next week! Having your child master a skill like swimming is so fun to watch! Being that Jeff and I both spent so much time in the water as kids, we wanted Kennedy to be able to enjoy it as well! I think we first took her to the pool at 8 weeks old!!!! ;) She has always been comfortable in the water and now can get herself around the pool quite well! Way to go Kennedy!!!!

Summer is Here!!!!

Yippee!!!!! We love summer! And last week we spent almost every day at the pool!! Kennedy has always been a fish in water - but this year she is brave enough to go under water and stay there! She wants to be in the big pool and swim, swim, swim! But she can't really touch past the stairs! So I have to stay nearby. But that is fine - the water hides my big preggo belly!!!

I bought lots of different floating toys. She is loving just floating in her tube. I will have to show you the animal ones later!!!

This is just a cute photo of her I wanted to share!

And the flowers on our front steps....love them!!!!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!!!!