Visit From Oma & Papa Dude

We were lucky enough to be the pit stop for Oma & Papa Dude and Sara, Emma & Zadi on their way to Cali for vacation. The boys were extremely excited to see everyone!! We had a lot to do in the two days they were here. First we went to Fun Day at the pool; then we had Critterfest at the Science Museum; then we had swimming at our apt pool; then we went to Chuck E Cheese's; then we had Radley's birthday party!!!  It was a busy two days, and the boys loved every second of it.  Kyler was so sad the morning he woke up after all of them had left.  He walked into every room to find them, and then went to a corner and cried because he was so sad they left!  It was heartbreaking!

They had a minature zoo (a zoo by Lubbock's standards since there is not one here) at the Science Museum.  Kyler was really not impressed with the outside animals because he thought it was too hot.  He is such a wimp when it comes to heat!

Apparently the kangaroo thought it was hot too!

Radley was not quite sure what to think of the animals.  I think he was a little confused.

There were elephants too!  This one was standing in the sprinkler. 

This was a HUGE elephant.  Seriously, I have never seen an elephant this big or an elephant with caps on the ivory tusks.

Damon wanted to show Papa Dude and Oma the Dori fish.

Radley was trying to catch a shark!

I found a baby hedgehog, and it was so cute.  It's hard to see but it was smaller than the palm of my hand.

Kyler was showing off his swimming lesson skills.

Trying to swim with Papa Dude.  I love the facial expressions.

The tongue is just too much!

Emma & Damon were very good about squirting everyone with water.

Kyler showing me that he can standup in the pool all by himself.  The mark on his forehead is a tatto from the Critterfest.  He really wanted to get his face painted, and Sara talked him in to getting a tatto on his face.  The lady doing it suggested that he put the tatto on his forehead.  He walked around the rest of the day saying, "Watch, I can make the monkey move!"  He then proceeded to wrinkle his forehead over and over!! 

 He loves those squirt guns!

Kyler was having a blast with Papa Dude.  He won't jump into the pool to anyone else now.  He told me he would only do it for Papa Dude. (As you can see, the shorts refused to stay up.  They fell every time he flug around.)

This was fun too!

After swimming and getting a bath, Damon was having a really hard time and fell asleep waiting for me to get out of the shower.  He was having so much fun, he was exhausted!

These boys had been waiting for weeks to go to Chuck E. Cheese's with Oma & Papa Dude.  Radley was not quite sure what to make of everything, but he had fun!

Nothing could keep his attention.  He got off every ride before it was over.

Damon was working hard hitting that basketball!

Peek-a-Boo, I see you!!

Making sure to get every last ticket!!

Swimming Lessons

I have gotten really nervous the last couple summers when we take our boys swimming because they don't know how to swim. Damon almost drowned twice last year (We literally found him floating face-covered in the water because we looked away for less than a minute), and Kyler is afraid of the water which makes me just as nervous. So this year I decided to sign them up for swimming lessons through Texas Tech. However, the only class they would let Damon in was a Mommy & Me class, so that wasn't going to work. We were able to get Kyler in a class, and he was excited!

The first day was extremely rough on Damon and Radley (making it hard on me too) because they were not allowed to get in the water. It wasn't too bad after that because they got used to it either sitting in the stroller or sitting with me. Kyler did pretty well. I thought he was going to make a lot of progress because he did amazing the first 3 days. The worst day for him was when they strapped a noodle around his body and tried to make him float by himself. That was not going to happen!! He was terrified to let go of his teacher. It kinda went downhill from there. He did great jumping off the side of the pool to his teacher, but he would not jump off the diving board. He had to be pushed into the water. I think it was worth putting him in the lessons, but if nothing else, it at least got him some exposure in the water.

On the last day of class they had a fun day where they turned on the lazy river, the fountains and splash pad for all the kids to play. Luckily, they let Damon and Radley get in the water too. I was so happy that my family was able to be here for that because I needed help, and it was so fun to see them get so excited and have an absolute blast!!

He was never scared to jump to his teacher.

Kyler got a new teacher this day which may have added to his nervousness, but he was not going to float on his own!!

His first attempt at jumping off was really scary for him.  He definitely needed a push!  There are two videos of him jumping at the bottom of the post.

This was the crew everyday.  I had so many people walk by and say, "That's a lot of kids!"

This was my view.  My little stair-steps.

Kyler's teacher, Henry, was really good with the kids, and as you can tell, they loved him!

One day we got to see the Red Raider walk by!

FUN DAY

Radley was having the time of his life at the splash pad!!  He was walking everywhere, putting his face in the water, and laughing out loud.  He really doesn't laugh very much so it was so fun to watch him!

He seriously had a ball!!

This little guy refused to put on his swim shorts so I just let him run around because I knew he would love it, and he did!!

Kyler was lovin' it too!  I think he was really excited to have his brothers play with him in the water.

This little one loves water.  He has no problems getting wet or having water in his face!

Pure Bliss

Had to take a break from running all over!

Papa Dude got in the water to help me take the boys around the lazy river.  This is him and Damon going through the fountains.

Radley and Kyler both liked the tube!

Despite the nervousness on his face, Damon was having a good time!

Zadi was there to take pictures for me.  I think she did a pretty good job!

Damon started having a lot more fun when we began crashing the tubes into one another.  He loved bumping Kyler and Radley!

I love the grip that Damon has on Papa Dude's shirt!

This little guy got some snuggle time with Oma while we made a few more laps in the pool.

Kyler was so scared to jump off the diving board. I thought since it was so easy for him to jump in off the side of the pool he would have no problem, but I think it was a little higher than he expected!

It looked like the second attempt the next day would be better since he walked to the end of the board all by himself, but he chickened out and needed help!

Trying to be a 'Fun Mom'

So I have never considered myself a 'fun' mom.  I don't do fun parties, let my kids get dirty, do fun activities and crafts, etc.  However, now that Kenney has been gone more and the boys and I have a lot of quality time to spend together, I thought I would try and do more fun things with the boys to keep us all entertained!  I have since learned I am not meant to be a fun mom!!  I am so horrible about letting the boys get dirty and I get so frustrated trying to let them do things that make messes.  Here are some things that we have been up to lately!

I saw this on Pinterest and have heard about other people doing this.  Basically you let the kids 'paint' with shaving cream by dying the shaving cream different colors and letting them paint in the bathtub.  I think the cleanest part of the whole thing was making the different colors.

I guess since we made the colors in the muffin tin, Damon thought it would be good to eat, even after I told him multiple times NOT to eat it. I guess he has to learn the hard way!

He also tried to taste the shaving cream, but I expected it from him!

Radley had fun, even though I think he was kinda confused about what was going on because this was not a normal bath!

I tried to crop out all of their naked little bodies because I didn't want them all over the internet!

I'm pretty sure they had a blast, and I had one MAJOR mess to clean up!

These two...

That water just kept getting more dirty and green as time went on.

They made sure to paint every surface they could reach!  And all over Pinterest and other blogs it kept saying that it doesn't stain and cleans right up. Yeah right!!  The grout lines are stained blue, green and red!!!  So now I have to figure out how to clean them.  Bleach hasn't worked so far!

But I guess stained grout lines are worth that smile!

I told you that water was nasty!

And this is the section that is stained!

Taking kids to the park counts as fun right?!?

This is Kyler and Damon's favorite posing place.  Kyler looked at me as he sat there and said, "It's a lovely day.  Take my picture."

Does this count as being fun, by letting my child go outside dressed like this?  High-waters, a short shirt, glasses, etc.!!

Then they wanted to go outside dressed up in their different costumes.  Damon has been getting himself all dressed up!

Kyler's hat blew off so he decided to keep it inside, but he still sported the rest of the Musketeer look!

He really loves to ride his scooter these days!

Damon just likes to run fast and chase Kyler.

These boys love dirt, rocks, and water!

He wanted to get in the water so bad!!  He would walk right into it if we didn't stop him!

Throwing rocks comes very naturally to our boys.

He was finally somewhat content just hitting the water with a stick rather than going all the way into the water, but don't worry he made sure to get mud and water all over!

I told Kyler one Sunday he couldn't get all the way dressed for church yet because I didn't want him to get all wrinkled, so this is how he walked around the house for an hour waiting to get his pants on.  I didn't expect him to put the socks on, but I love his dorky little personality!