Sydney's swim lessons

This was the first summer that we decided to get Sydney some official swim lessons.  We had heard from our friends Chris and Hillary about this lady who taught swim lessons out of her backyard.  They only had rave reviews for her so I signed us up and soon as I could.  I would show up to her house, shoo Sydney in the back gate with just her swimsuit on and a towel, and then come back 30 minutes later to pick her up.  On Friday, Craig and I got to go see her "show-off" and we were just AMAZED!!!  Seriously, Sydney went from being able to do absoultely nothing, not even able to hold her breath, to being able to swim under water about 10-15 feet.  And she just has so much more confidence now in the water.  She doesn't cling to you for dear life anymore but she also knows her limits.  We will definitely be using Ms. Melanie again next year too!!

Showing us how she holds her breath

Look how good the kids are for her...they each sit on a diamond and listen so intently

Sydney swimming from her diamond to Ms. Caroline

And back to the diamond

Practicing kicking

Practicing her arms - pull, elbow, up, reach

Ms. Melanie telling Sydney to jump out and swim back to the side

One of the things I learned was to always teach them to swim to the side or step and not to you.  That way they learn to swim to something constant instead of to a person who might not be there or not paying attention.

Getting ready to swim all the way across the pool!

Go Sydney go!

Made it!

Diving for a ring

Great job Sydney!

We're so proud of you Sydney!

Our sweet little baby is ONE!

Wow! Where has the time gone??! Harper is such a sweet, easy-going, fun little girl. She is just always happy. Harper is officially a walking machine and loves to just walk around...she just walks from room to room with a big ol' smile on her face because she's so proud she can walk around. It's too cute. She is also eating all table food and drinking whole milk from sippy cups - so long bottles!! Harper is a typical little sister too...she always wants whatever Sydney wants and to be wherever Sydney is. I think Sydney is finally starting to see that they can play together and I hope that lasts! For Harper's first birthday, we had a Luau party at Jack Carter pool. Well wouldn't you know that we haven't had rain in weeks, and of course it rains at her party!! It was totally fine though and the kids got about 30 minutes in the pool before the lifeguards made everyone get out. Thankfully Jenn held the kids over with goldfish while Craig hurried back with the pizza. Harper LOVED her cake and probably would have eaten the whole thing if I would have let her. We are so thankful to have this wonderful, precious gift from God in our lives and can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Birthday girl!

Cupcakes and Harper's smash cake

Harper loves going to the pool

All the kiddos after they pulled us out of the pool early...

Testing out the cake

Sydney thinks it's funny to get messy with icing

Pretty sure she loves it!

The empty pool and giant dark cloud overhead...we still had a great party though!