We Basically Swim All the Time

If we aren't at school or inside eating, chances are pretty good that we are swimming somewhere.  It's too hot to do much of anything else.

Liv LOVED her last teacher for swim, so I signed her up for lessons again each evening at 5 because he was supposed to be teaching them too.  {What was I thinking?!}  For some reason there is a different teacher, but Olivia is still rockin' the class.  My dad took her the first two days of practice and kept texting me about how she was beating all of the other kids in her group during their kickboard races!

Yesterday {yesterday!  Do you see how caught up I am!}, David and I took the neighborhood crew to the pool for public swim while Liv had her lesson.  She got to enjoy the slides before and after practice too.  While this heat is no fun, I am thankful for all the pools our kids are able to swim in AND for the fact that our girls are such good swimmers!

➹  This little fish right here can swim the entire length of our pool, take a short break, and swim right back to the other end! ➹

➹ Swimming is way more fun than homework! ➹

Sydney's First Day of Preschool {Year 2}

Sydney had her Meet the Teacher the same morning that Olivia had her first day of school.  Her classroom this year is in the same room where Olivia had her first preschool experience with Ms. Susan....I love that!  After we met Ms. Janna, we went to Bosa's for a back to school donut with her little buddy, Hailey, from last year!  These two couldn't be more opposite, but it's sweet watching them interact with each other.  

On Tuesday, I took Sydney in for a back to school haircut -- I swear she gets her hair done more than I do!  I just love it in that short bob cut!

Wednesday was her first official day.  She was very nervous and apprehensive going in to the classroom.  She really wanted me to stay with her, but Ms. Janna was great and had her sit on her lap right from the get go.  Nana picked her up for me after school, and her teacher said she had an AWESOME day!

We got there a little early on Friday and Face Timed with Nana and Poppy before school started!

And, because you know I love comparisons....here's a few from her first days last year!

➹ Matchy Matchy last year... ➹

➹ Matchy Matchy this year! ➹

➹ I mean, seriously?!  Such a little baby! ➹

➹ Love this big girl! ➹

Here's to a great preschool year for Sydney!

Olivia's First Day {Week} of First Grade!

With our school system on a year-round schedule, it means that the girls go back to school much earlier than everyone else.  Liv's first day of school was July 20th!  Isn't that crazy?  Most people would call that the middle of summer, and we are back to schooling it.  While I usually feel that our summers are too short, when our extended fall and spring breaks roll around, I am thrilled!

Olivia was super excited this year to see some familiar faces in her class at Meet the Teacher night. Even knowing some good friends in her class, she was still a little nervous on her first day.  She told me that she wished she was still in Kindergarten, and I have to admit I sort of wish she was too.  She's no longer dropped off at the tiny Kinder playground, she waits for the bell to ring with all of the big kids on the giant playground.  And, after attending the curriculum night, I'm seeing that first grade is even more hard core than kindergarten in terms of academics.

I'm excited for her year - I know she is going to have a great one!  Love my big girl SO much!

➹ Walking towards the school with friends...➹

➹ I hid out in the hallway {behind a door} so I could make sure she was alright walking in since she met up with Riley and her family on the drive over and wanted to walk in with them.  She had a giant smile on her face the whole time!  ➹

➹ After school -- love their little visors they made! ➹

➹ Day 2 on the playground before school starts.  I love how she is always holding hands with her friends. ➹

➹ Woooohoooooo!  We made it to Friday! ➹

And, now, because I love looking back... here are Liv's "first day of school" pictures from the last several years!

➹ Preschool, age 3 ➹

➹ Pre-K, age 4 ➹

➹ Kindergarten, age 5 ➹

➹ First grade, age 6 ➹

Just a Spoonful of Sugar...

Last Christmas, we took the girls up to a  huge church in Phoenix to see their Christmas program -- it was incredible, with live animals and angels flying from the ceiling.  I remember them saying there would be a summer performance of Mary Poppins, and just knew it was something I wanted to take Olivia to.  I got tickets the morning they went on sale, and ended up getting four tickets 11 rows from the stage.  We asked Riley and her mom to go with us, and made a little date of it for the day before school started.  The girls LOVED the performance -- it was so AWESOME -- and they got to have their pictures taken with some of the props and the actors!

➹ Everyone is looking at Sheri except for Olivia! ➹

➹ Feed the birds...tuppence a bag.... ➹

➹ In one part of the play, the statues in the park come to life -- this was one of the statues. ➹

➹ And now there are two statues! ➹

➹ Chim chimerie chim chimerie... ➹

It was such a great way to spend the last day of summer! 

The End of Summer Break, Part 2

I guess I sort of jumped the gun with my last end of summer break post, because there were a few things that hadn't been included or hadn't been done yet!  So, here we go with part 2.

➸➸  I signed both girls up for swim lessons AT NINE AM the last week of summer break (M-Th).  My plan was to get us up and out of the house in the mornings in preparation for school starting.  It was tough, but I think it may have helped us out.  Olivia DID sleep until 10:30 on Friday morning, so if nothing else, it wore us out! 

On one of those days, I invited the neighbor girls to spend the night and go to the pool with us the next morning so they could do the open swim after the girls' lessons.  I think they had a blast at the pool, and they did such a good job of watching out for Sydney.  My plan was to leave at 1 {because, hello, 9-1 in 100+ heat is more than enough}, but I let the girls do a couple more jumps off the high dive.  I should have stuck to my 1:00 time frame because on Sydney's second to last jump, she started swimming in circles in the pool and I had to jump in to get her.  She was never in any danger, but she was taking forever to get to the side of the pool and the lifeguard was giving me the side eye. 

➸➸  We saw online that there were requests for school supplies and backpacks for some local children in need, so one afternoon Nana and I took the girls supply shopping.  They picked out all the colors of folders and papers and backpacks for another child and were so excited to go drop them off at the collection location.

➸➸  Olivia takes her lunch and a snack every day, so we tried to stock up on some new and different foods she might want at school.  

➸➸  While David was out of town, I took the girls on a Bahama Bucks shave ice date.  Olivia had picked up a new Lego Friends kit and did the whole thing while eating her treat.  This is her new favorite activity and my new favorite nemesis {tiny pieces EVERYWHERE}!

➸➸  We were missing Liv's friend, Ava, so we decided to go out for a special lunch date at the fancy Olive Garden.  The girls were so cute and felt so grown up!

➸➸  And, well, here's a couple more swim pictures!