26th week of pictures - Something Yellow

Something yellow was the theme for this week.  We had this theme awhile back so I was trying to decide what I would take a picture of that wasn't the same as before.  Then a couple days ago, this beautiful flower opened up and I knew I had to capture it.

 

A little story about these flowers.  The first of May comes and our new house was in need of some flowers or plants.  Unfortunately money was tight and we were postive we couldn't swing some flowers.  Luckily a nice guy my husband works with tells my hubby how his yard could use some thinning of his flowers.  So one day my hubby takes a bunch of buckets and gathers up a variety of flowers.  I was delighted.  What is better than free right!  Now Brian was all worried that none of these flowers would live but most of them have and we have some neat flowers, that will spread and give us more beauty.

 

So happy to have some flowers in my yard... and it just will keep getting better and better with each year.  Now we just have to save money for some trees in the front yard for some much needed shade on our house!

Supermoon

I just happened to look out back during the "supermoon" days and this is what I saw.  Well not exactly.  What I saw was this gigantic moon.  When I took the picture, it didn't look quite as gigantic.  Oh well... still pretty cool.

 

25th week of pictures - Father

This week's theme was Father in honor of Father's Day.  I have had some great fathers in my life:  #1 my dad, my grandfathers, uncles, friends' dad, etc.  But today I want to focus on the main father in my life now... my husband.

 

Brian is an amazing dad.  He is the type of dad that is involved in his kids' lives 100%.  It all started while they were in my tummy and he was reading to them (he thought it was odd but he still did it).  Then came diapers.  Yes Brian has changed his fair share of diapers.  He was even the type of father that got up in the night during night time feedings to change a diaper and rock a baby to sleep if needed.  He is always playing with the kids, whether it is sports outside, toys inside, even babies and house with his daughter.  I couldn't have asked for a more amazing dad for my kids.

Thank you dear for being a great father for our kids.  I love you.

 Train building skills a must in our dad!

Yes Jacob thought this was odd, just like Brian.  haha

Swimming Lessons

Another year of swimming lessons is behind us and once again the children did their best.  We go into swimming lessons hoping that our children improve just a little bit by the end.  Once again our children didn't disappoint.  I am personally just grateful they stayed in the pool (there were some mommies with children that wouldn't get into the pool).

 

This is how Jacob watches swimming lessons.

Next year will be his turn.

Matthew back floating.

 Matthew is an awesome swimmer.  He has no fear of the water.  When he floats, he just floats like a dead fish.  He thinks it is funny we call him that.  I am so proud of his swimming ability.  I can't wait to see what the future holds with this kid and swimming.  (I wouldn't be surprised if he passes up his sister one day).

Matthew front floating.

And his favorite part, jumping in!

Kimberly side swimming.

 Kimberly did really well this year in swimming lessons.  Let me first explain something about Kimmy.  Until she was 2 years old, she had a fear of water.  Not sure why but she hated water, especially baths.  Finally she realized nothing bad would happen to her and started liking the water.  But because of her fear, I didn't put her into swimming lessons too early.  Once I got her in them, she loved it.  She still has a bit of a fear and it shows in some of her swims but she is trying and that is what matters to me.  If her instructor wants her to try something, she does and she practices until she knows she is doing it correctly.  Because of her fear, she is a bit slow in learning.  That is okay with me because she still loves to swim.

Side swimming on the other side.

Front stroke.

I am super proud of my two fishes.  Can't wait to practice what we learned in the pool this summer!  Thanks Sports Academy!

24th week of pictures - Backyard

This week's theme is backyard.  I LOVE MY BACKYARD! And it is just going to get better with each year we live here.  The backyard at this house is one of the reasons we bought this house.  It is big, spacious, and many things to be done to.

 

This is from our grove of trees.  This backyard had a grove of plum and maple trees that haven't been touched in years.  Some of the trees were diseased and some just didn't have any room to grow.  That was Brian's first project.. thin out the grove.  His second project was to put in a fire pit.  This is the view from that fire pit.  When in the grove, you feel like you are up in the mountains at a campfire.  Then you look out and see that you are in your home.  Lovely thought.

This is our garden.  We tried gardening at our old house but we could only have a tiny garden.  So we were so happy to have a lot of room to build our garden.

This is the view from our south corner of our backyard.  See how big.

This is our deck.  As you can see, it is on the right side of house in the afternoon, all shady.

This is the view from our deck.

And of course my children love this backyard.

So happy about my backyard and still so many more improvements to come.  Happy Happy Happy.
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/06/52-week-photo-week-24-backyard.html?m=1

23rd week of pictures - End of the School Year

End of the school year for us means last day of school pictures.

 

Matthew on his Graduation Day!

Kimberly with her best friend Katie!

But for our family, end of school means swimming lessons start.  I feel that having swimming lessons start the week after school ends is the best.  My kids are still in a structured mood from being in school so they don't complain about having to do the lessons in the morning.  Plus we get them out of the way and then we can plan fun things for the rest of the summer.

 

Here is Matthew with his teacher Hannah.  He learned that her name can be spelled forwards or backwards and it is the same.  haha.  I really will have to get a picture of him with his goggles facing me.  He looks like a little alien boy.

Here is Kimmy and her teacher Rylan.  She is the cutie that looks like she is drowning.  haha.  Just like my Kimmy to make a new friend on her first day at swimming... the little girl next to her in the picture.

Summer is finally here and we have many fun things to look forward to.  Bring out the sunscreen and swimming pools!
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/06/52-week-photo-project-week-23-end-of.html?m=1