Last Day of Swim Lesson Boot Camp

The two weeks of swim lessons were grueling for me, but a total blast for Finley.  She absolutely adores swimming.  If you ask Finley to go on the boat, she is so-so about it, but if you ask her to go on the boat to swim in the lake, she is all about it.  She loves the water.  She passed her two week class and graduated from Guppy to Goldfish.  Her tasks were: comfort in the water, put their face in the water, breath control (blow bubbles), glide, kick with barbells, row-row arms, back float independently, roll over, turn and climb out of pool, and retrieve rings from floor of pool.  She did merit an "almost" in the back float, but she is nearly there. We sadly have to say goodbye to Mr. Chris because he only teaches the two week classes, which I totally understand since he is so amazing with the children.  We went from Finley crying nearly the entire first class to her being in love with swimming.  I credit Mr. Chris with a lot of that love.  He is so fantastic with the kids and you can tell how much he loves his job.  If anyone is looking for swim lessons, be sure to check out Houston Swim Club in Pearland.  Because Finley is such a little fish, I decided to have her take two swim classes every week until the summer is over.  Hopefully she likes Mr. Cameron as much as Mr. Chris, he has a tough act to follow.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

When Finley woke up yesterday morning, I told her it was my birthday.  She asked first if there would be a party.  Then she wanted to know who would be there, I think she was a bit disappointed that it would only be me and Daddy to celebrate with.  She also requested a juice box and cake.  We all went out to dinner at Danton's and I had delicious Crab Balinese.  Finley dined on fried shrimp and some of Daddy's sausage, red beans and rice.  We all headed home for chocolate cake.  Finley sang a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday and then told me to open my present.  She then told me what my present was, "Mommy's puter!"  She showed me the beautiful card she had made and we unwrapped the new computer together.  It was such a wonderful birthday.
A look back at the past two birthdays.  She has grown up so much.

The Not So Lazy Days of Summer

So sorry for the lack of posts lately, Finley has had swim lessons every day for two weeks straight.  It has made for a very busy couple of weeks.  So busy, that she asked to have her picture taken.  I guess she really does like having her picture made and was a bit sad that I haven't been so photo happy as I usually am.  I still have hundreds of pictures to sort through from our trip to California, so I hope to get through those this weekend.  In the meantime, Finley graduated from the Guppy Class to the Goldfish Class and she starts lessons only twice a week for the rest of the summer.

Swim Lessons

The first day of swim lessons was rough, Finley began to cry half way through the lesson. And the crying never stopped. She did all the things her teacher, Mr. Chris, asked her to, but she cried the entire time. Thank goodness swim lessons are every day for two weeks straight. Yesterday was her second lesson and she did great, her teacher even commented on her improvement. Today was her third day and she is absolutely loving it! She is going to be a fish in no time. She isn't scared of the water at all, which is just fantastic.

Kemah with Grammy and Grandad

Picnic on the Patio

When Grammy and Grandad were visiting, Finley enjoyed a picnic up on the roof deck. Fruit, hot dogs and the outdoors make Miss Finley a very happy little girl.

Strawberry Picking

We headed down to Froberg Farms to pick strawberries with Grammy and Grandad. There weren't a ton of strawberries because it has been such a warm spring here in Houston. We managed to get two buckets full, which is plenty of strawberries for us. Get ready for picture (and cuteness) overload!

Flowers from Daddy

She did such a wonderful job in her dance recital!

Dance Recital in Photos

Funny Picture

Finley looks amazed that the toy car can do a wheelie.

Last Dance Class

We had our last dance class for the year this summer.  Finley is going to have a busy summer of gymnastics and swim lessons, but I know she is going to miss Mr. Carlos and her dancing friends.  I hope that we can get Finley back in dance class in the fall, she definitely loves it and next year she can start intro to tap.  Her favorite part of class is always when Mr. Carlos brought out the tap shoes to keep the beat.  The class all got lollipops for doing such an amazing job in their recital.

Tammy's Playgroup Baby Shower

I am so lucky to have found such an amazing playgroup.  Tammy is expecting a little sister for Samantha in August, so we all got together to let the kids play and eat, eat and play.  And most importantly, we got to celebrate the impending arrival of little Sloane, I am sure she will fit in just perfectly into the playgroup madness! The amazing diaper cake was made by Courtney, it is so unfair that she is such a talented seamstress. Every diaper cake I see her make tops the previous version.  All the kids get along so well, it is such a nice way to spend our Thursday mornings.

Crawfish Boil at Kirby's

Look how much our little crawfish lover has grown.  This year, she actually got to eat the crawfish.  And eat the crawfish she did!  She must have had at least two dozen, possibly more.  And she ate plenty of Clifton's bacon wrapped filet.  And when she was done, she asked for more crawfish.  And she proceeded to eat an entire plateful on her own.  She loves em!

She had so much fun collecting pine needles with Grandma and she even got to meet a turtle that had hitched a ride with the crawfish.  Note her most adorable crawfish dress.