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Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Moving On...

Recently, I've had a heck of a time getting xanga to do what I want it to do - so I'm taking the advice of several good friends and moving my blog to a new location. Please reset your bookmarks for
http://royalabcs.blogspot.com/

Sunday, 10 May 2009

Mother's Day

I was awakened by a wonderful treat this morning - breakfast in bed! :)

Well, OK - I'll be honest - I wasn't truly "awakened" by it... I was up for about an hour, just listening to the sounds downstairs... that was half the fun! :) When I heard them start stomping up the stairs, I quickly rolled over and went 'back to sleep' because I knew they'd be crushed if they didn't get to wake me up.

What arrived in my bed was a new pyrex 9x13 pan with a lid and hot/cold carrying case. Who could ask for more than that?!? I"ve always wanted one, but didn't get one as a wedding gift way back when (geez - 9 years ago, can you believe it?!?), and never got around to getting one. Now I finally have one! Woo Hoo!! Inside, and staying nice and warm thanks to the heat pack were chocolate chip pancakes and a bagle/egg sandwich. The kids helped crack the eggs, stir the pancakes, and sample the chocloate chips. There was enough for the whole family, so we ALL ate breakfast in bed together - and watched the end of the princess movie they had started downstairs with Daddy. (The Princess Diaries, to be exact) It was a wonderful morning!

After church, we picked up Grammy and headed down to my mom and dad's for a cook-out. The whole Mangan crew came up from Greenwood, and Uncle Donn came down too. We had a big crew, all gathered to celebrate the mothers... Grammy and Bezzie as the queen mothers of the group, Margo and Rosemarie as the second level, and me on level three! :)

After the first burgers on the grill of the season (for me, at least) we broke out the sports equipment. The little kids took turns batting a whiffle ball, then got into some heavy duty hide-n-seek games. The bigger kids took over the back yard with a foot ball and played team keep-away. It was great fun - some of my female cousins get VICIOUS when that competitive edge comes out! At one point, Benny and Daniel entertained themselves smashing maple tree seeds with the ends of the croquet mallets - hey, they were having fun! It was a really wonderful afternoon! I kind of forgot to pull out my camera :(, but did get these two shots...

Four Generations on the Mangan Side

Teeny, at one point after lunch, really wanted to climb up in this tree... it's a pretty tall tree and Alex really had to hoist her up there, but she was pleased as punch to be sitting up so high and looking down on everyone else. Then it was time to get down... well, she quickly discovered that getting down isn't NEARLY as easy as getting up! Not only is it a little scarier coming down, but it also scrapes your tender little bottom when you slide out of a tree wearing a dress! Her little thighs are sporting some nice scrape marks, but she really didn't fuss or whine about it.
Swim Lessons Take Two

Thursday was our second day of Swim Lessons - the kids were so excited, they wanted to skip "regular school" so they could go right to swim lessons. I had to convince them that their teacher was in school too, so she couldn't teach them during the day! :)

Today they spent a little more time working on floating. Teeny took to it pretty quickly - but then wanted to try this synchronized swimming, water princess kind of move - which made her sink, of course! :)

Benny, on the other hand, wasn't so keen on the floating idea. He likes having human contact - float just feels little too "free" to him! He spent the first minutes of floating time clinging to the teacher like a little monkey.

Then he finally got around to giving the floating a try... the first time, not so successfully - still unwilling to really let go and relax

He did a little better the second try...

The last part of the lesson, each kid gets to stand on the edge and jump in. Tenny was ALL ABOUT this - she was thrilled to jump right in and go way over her head... Benny, as you can guess, was a little more apprehensive and did more of a slow slide into the pool... :)

Tuesday, 05 May 2009

First Swim Lessons

Today was our first experience with swimming lessons (I know, Trev and Ginny - we should be ashamed to have waited so long... :)
Anyway, we took lessons at Fishers High school - Home of the Swimming Tigers

And home of the FAST (Fishers Area Swimming Tigers) Swim Club

Their teacher was a high school swimmer named Amanda and she was very sweet with them.

All the way TO the lessons Christine was very concerned that they were going to make her dive - and she's afraid to dive (aka - stick her head under water very far), while Benny was totally OK with it. He 'dives' in the bathtub almost every night! :)

So we suited up in new swim suits (I didn't want their good UV body suits to get all chlorinated, so we got 'regular' suits to use in the pool), new goggles (Tinkerbell purple ones and green Nemo ones), and new flip flops.

They were so excited and ready to go! They had to wait a few minutes for Amanda to finish with her previous group, so they sat along the side wall of the pool. A 'class' consists of 4 students - and that's considered a group lesson!

We had some issues getting the goggles to fit just right - they were pulling down on Benny's ears (as you can see in his swimsuit picture!) and pulling down Teeny's hair. We'll have to work on the fit before the next lesson. Amanda tried to adjust them a little, but didn't have much luck either! Teeny was happy to cheese it up for the camera while Amanda was adjusting Benny.

While Amanda worked with another little boy (his sister kind of chickened out and didn't want to get in the water at all) Benny and Teeny waited anxiously on the side of the pool. They couldn't wait to get into that water!

Teeny kept glancing up in the stands and posing for me... so I just had to oblige and take her picture. Sorry they're a little blurry - we were sitting a ways away and I didn't use a flash...

Finally it was Teeny's turn to get into the water. The first round was just Amanda helping them get used to the water - she held the kids at their comfort level (by the arms or by the hands) and kind of pulled them around in a wide circle out the lane line and back. Teeny, who was more apprehensive in the car talking about swimming was very quick to relax and have fun with it. (Sorry the video has no sound - I forgot I have to specifically turn it on with our little camera - but even with sound, it would have just been noise in that big natatorium)

Benny, who is usually totally brave about the water was actually quite a bit more apprehensive! He kind of clung to Amanda's arms and even wrapped his legs around her legs like a little monkey! Alex and I were so surprised because usually he's the braver one when it comes to water stuff!

After a couple of turns floating out to the line and back, Amanda started letting them get a little braver. The first thing was having the kids hold onto one of her hands with both of their hands, and she had one hand under their belly - then encouraged them to put their legs out behind them and kick. Tenny did this on her 2nd time out - Benny did it on his 3rd turn.

Then, she let them take a turn, if they wanted, with a kick board. Again, Teeny took right to it, so then Benny had to try it too. They both did great!

Each time back to the wall, she asked them to hold onto the edge of pool and 'bob' up and down in the water. Basically, hold their breath and dunk their whole head under water. This is what Teeny usually calls "diving" - but she didn't hesitate to do it for Amanda.

She went up and down with no trouble! Several times in a row, actually! Here I caught her on her way up!

Benny wasn't so sure at first that he wanted to let go of Amanda, let alone try a bob - I couldn't believe it!! I think the deeper water kind of scared him - up north where he can stand in the water and dive at his own pace he's fine - but seeing this was way over his head was a little more scary! You can see him talking with Amanda - saying "NO" he didn't want to let go and hold onto the side!

Eventually, he got brave and gave the bob a try. He never did two in a row, but he did do one bob each time he came back to the side of the pool. Not too bad for a first try at swim lessons!

I was very proud of them! They're so excited about going back on Thursday... they go twice a week for 1/2 and hour at a time. I am going to have to remember to bring a short sleeved shirt next time, though - it's HOT in that natatorium.

PS - swim lesson bonus - kids are exhausted and fall right asleep with no whining, getting out of bed, etc... SWEET!!!! :)

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

Spring 09

Soooo...... haven't said much since September.... ummmmmmm, no excuses really - just short on time! :)

March for Babies 4-26-09
We had OUTSTANDING weather for the March for Babies walk this past weekend. It was 80 degrees and sunny! Nich, Cassie, Rachie, and Mason were able to join us so it was a real family affair! We wanted the kids to walk as much as possible, so we didn't take strollers, just a wagon. The ended up walking the better part of the 4 miles on their own little legs - I was pretty impressed! After the first mile or so, we started a 5 minute rotation in the wagon - especially for little Mason! The deal was 5 minutes in, the 15 minutes out. The kids who were out were tricked along the road by playing the "jump" game - an adult holds hands on each side of the child and whenever there was something interesting in the road like a painted line or a man-hole cover the kid would get to jump and the adults would swing him/her way over the obstacle. It was fun - and my arms got as much of a work out as my legs! Hye - whatever works to get them down the road! :)

At the end of the walk there were hotdogs, chips, and a bouncehouse - the kids were in heaven!

Preschool Program 4-23-09 - "God Bless the USA"
This was such an adorable program!! Each class (age group) sang 2 songs by themselves. Between each group they had individual kids come up and identify their state. Each child had to say their state's number (that it was added to the Union), state name, and state motto. That's a lot for a little person to remember!! After 15 or so states, they'd have a class sing one of their songs. Then, they did a neat tribute at the end to all members of the armed forces and sang "God Bless the USA." Of course there were all the usual kid antics - one little girl crying, a little guy who wandered off on his own, lots of waving to mommies and daddies in the audience, etc.... One kid came up to do his state in the mic and before he could talk a big burp slipped out! The whole audience cracked up and he was too embarrassed to do his line! Benny and Christine did great with their lines. I have video clips, but I haven't figured out how to upload video from the actual video camera yet... so here are just some still pics for now.

Arms up - Everybody now!!

Mother Hen - checking to be sure Benny is doing what he's supposed to!

Benny's Big Line "I am the 3rd state, New Jersey, The Garden State"
We tried really hard to get him to say this line with a New Jersey accent - and he did it REALLY well... but when he did the line at school for the first time, someone must have commented about it and it embarrassed him... for a while he wouldn't say the line at ALL... so we finally convinced him to just say it normal, which he did beautifully!

Teeny's Big Line "I am the 5th state, Connecticut, the Constitution State" Could they have picked any bigger words for her to say?!? WOW! But she did a very nice job!

In true 4-year-old-fashion, Benny spent a big part of the program look off into space, looking at his shoes, and for a while bopping the girl in front of him with his hand! :) I didn't get a picture of that, but the video is hilarious!

Race for the Cure 4-18-09

Once again we walked with the Mt. Vernon team, and we had a beautiful day for walking downtown. We took the kids this year for the first time and I think they really enjoyed it! I was worried about navigating all the people with our strollers, but we did just fine. Maybe we didn't power-walk quite as quickly as we usually do - but I think we still moved pretty fast! Teeny was thrilled with all the PINK stuff around, Benny was more impressed with the snacks... :)

Part of the walk goes past the Indianapolis zoo, and they always entertain the walkers with a decorated elephant. She would wave her ears at us, raise her trunk, and bow on one knee!

Another highlight of this race was the kids got to ride on an ACTUAL school bus for the first time. We didn't have a chance to snap a photo until we were on the way home, so Benny wasn't super cooperative.

Here's a peek at our Easter adventures

That rascally rabbit hid baskets up in the trees... so the girls had to climb a ladder

And even up on the ROOF, so Benny had to REALLY work for his basket!

Of course, Teeny couldn't let Benny have all the fun, so she got to have her chance up on the roof too!

Some eggs were in cars...

And some cars were hiding the grass with out eggs! This was a mystery car that the Easter Bunny didn't remember bringing. Just a hunting bonus! And it couldn't have been found by a better guy!

Cheesin' it up inside on the couch...

And out by the tree...

Hunting Fun

Best Friends (for the moment...)