conversation

Today at the pool I had the following conversation with an almost 5 year old acquaintance who was playing/swimming with Braden:

Child: You picked out a cute head. A really cute head, huh?

Me: (confused) What head did I pick out?

Child: His head (pointing to Braden). Don't you get to pick out your baby's head? You picked out a cute head for him.

Me: (laughing inside) thanks, but I didn't get to pick out his head. That is just the head he was born with. But I think it is a cute head too.

Child: Yep. I want to have kids someday. But first I gotta get married, and then I have to get a fat belly.

Me: You're right.

Child: And I hope my baby will have a cute head like he has. Are you going to have more babies?

Me: Do you think I should?

Child: Yes, because your babies will be very cute. You will have more with cute heads.

now and then

We've been dodging the raindrops lately (really, does it need to rain every day??) and enjoying summertime activities when the sun is shining.

One of our favorite places to enjoy the sunshine is the pool. This year we got a family pass, and calculated that in order to "get our money's worth" out of it, we have to visit the pool 47 times (meaning 47 admissions - so if just Braden and I go, that counts as 2 admissions/times, because without a pass we'd have to pay $3 for each of us. . . . if Billy joins us that counts as 3 admissions - you get the idea). I think (hope!) we'll use it enough to justify the pass (it seemed a little pricey when I wrote out that check!). We've already gone a few times that we probably wouldn't have without the pass (quick trips or on days when it might rain and cut our time short) just because we can for "free." So far we've "used" 12 admissions (we can go as much as we want, there is no limit - I just want to keep track to see if a family pass is worthwhile investment for our small family).

Today we walked over for a dip at 5:00 when Billy got home, swam in the late afternoon sunshine for awhile, then walked back home. Braden loved it! He is so brave and is a little fish. He loves to jump of the edge of the pool, and is starting to kick a little bit when I hold him in deeper water. He does not mind being splashed or going under water a bit.

I didn't take my camera today, but did snap some shots last week:

Now - Even at the pool, B likes to play with his tractors and cars. :) Now that he's on the go all of the time, it is sometimes nice for mommy when he plays at the edge of the pool for a while. I am so glad he is not scared of the water, but swimming with a toddler who has no fear can be scary for me!

Then - just for fun, I found some pics from last June in my archives . . . check out our water baby last year! (too bad these pics don't really show how much bigger he is now)

Now - Braden plays/swims hard at the pool - which makes for a great nap when we head home. Last year it was easy to get him to take a late morning nap prior to swimming and he often fell asleep for his afternoon nap in the stroller during "swim breaks," allowing me to read or chat with friends poolside. This year it's another story! B is not about to take a morning nap, so we just power through the day, and he takes a late nap when we get home. He also is not very willing to take swim breaks - he's on the go in the water almost the whole time. But one day last week he was just tuckered out and actually fell asleep in the stroller . . .

Then - . . . which reminded me of last year when that happened regularly (although I don't think he was actually asleep in this pic . . . but you can see how little he was!).

Another fun summertime event in June is the Kalona Days! On Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful morning outside watching the parade.

Now - Braden wanted to be close to the parade action, but wasn't quite sure what was going on (why are we sitting by the road watching traffic drive slowly by?). He kept a close eye on the tractors and trucks in the parade, and preferred drinking from my "big drink" with a straw vs. his sippy cup (so I dumped my pop after he insisted on holding/drinking out of the big cup and filled it with water - he is NOT sipping a 40 oz soda! He looked kinda funny, though clutching his huge drink!).

He also loved the "hard hat" that he was given . . . the parade theme this year was "under construction" since there is so much construction going on in town this summer - so the phone company gave out hard hats instead of candy . . . speaking of candy, he didn't really catch on to the fact that it was candy being thrown/gathered (which is ok by me, because if he knew what it was, he'd have wanted to eat it all!)

Then - just for fun here's a couple of shots of little man at last year's parade:

Happy Father's Day

We are so lucky to have great dads in our family - thanks for all you do, Dad and Jim, and Billy.

We dined on Mexican for lunch - little B has become a huge fan of salsa (he double/triple/quadruple dips to get as much as he can with each chip - so funny!).

Today at church Pastor Schillinger shared the music video, Watching You (click below to watch - it has a great message! - remember to mute the music player at the bottom of the blog first), to introduce his sermon. I had not heard the song before, and loved it, and find myself thinking about it a lot (it applies to mommies and daddies) . . .

As Braden is getting older, it's becoming evident that he is "watching you" all the time and observing and imitating what we do - which is cute and fun, but is also a big responsibility. I'm glad that he has Billy to "watch." Thanks, Billy, for being a great dad that our son can look up to.

rain, rain, go AWAY!

We've had a lot of rain lately - much of it at night, so I guess I haven't thought about how saturated the ground is/how much we've really gotten.

Today we had a big downpour, and I guess there is just no where for all that water to go . . .

Looking North on our street

At the intersection of 12th/13th - just North of our house, looking East

Our street again (canal?)

Water creeping from our backyard to our side yard (South of our house)

Yikes! Our backpond - I mean yard.

I walked to the shed - water is over a foot deep!

Wow, Mom! I wanted a pool, but a pond is good too!

So far no water in our basement - just a little in the crawl space, and our stuff (Christmas decor, etc) is all on pallets, so is fine). Yikes!

ahh - summertime has arrivedi

The last day of school (with kiddos) was Friday, and my last official inservice day was Monday - but since I'm moving to 3rd grade, I spent T-Th painting bookshelves, sorting, organizing, and preparing my new classroom for next year. I am so glad that job is done, and pushed myself to get it done right away.

And now, (finally!), it is summer vacation! Braden and I slept in today hung out at home thins morning (doing not-so-vacationish things like laundry, mowing, and cleaning), and this afternoon hit the pool. We've purchased a pool pass this year, which I think we'll definitely get our money's worth out of, as much as B loved the pool - just like last year.

Ahhhh, welcome, sunny summer days!

Mommy's helper(s)

ONE more day! I have been frantically trying to wrap up the year with my (way too!) excited students AND pack up my classroom for the big move down the hall to 3rd grade. I have enlisted Billy to help move some large boxes, and also to take down posters and banners that were up high.

One evening this week we were working in my room, and little man really wanted to help with taking down those "high" items . . . Mommy really did not like that idea.

We have our hands full right now - B loves to climb - so we never know where he'll end up/what he'll attempt to climb. He (obviously) loves ladders, and has now climbed out of his crib once (we didn't see him do it, but we heard the thunk when he landed - safely, thankfully). Yikes!