Growing WarriorsJust your typical family…

The pool will be closed this week for the season. I forced my poor kids to get in one more time to say goodbye. Its been hot here this week, and the water temperature was tolerable (in theory) so it seemed like a good idea…

– Allison REALLY did not want to swim – she kept whining, “Mommy, please don’t make me get in, please can’t I go inside now? There, I’m wet, are you happy? Can I go in NOW?”

Meredith was a bit more agreeable but still not super thrilled with the coolish water.

Lydia however was thrilled. She hopped right in, swam and played nonstop and I had to almost drag her from the pool when her shivers started creating visible waves.

Goodbye swimming pool……till next season!

And as a side note, if you were entering a photo challenge on Flickr for fun, with the theme being water, which one of these pictures would you submit:

I’m leaning towards the one of the legs or of Lydia blowing bubbles because there are several other entries of drips. Which one do you like the best? You have to let me know SOON because entries have to be in by tomorrow (Monday). Thanks for your help! I’ve decided to try to enter this challenge for fun each week to sorta push myself and get some practice, etc.

Yeah yeah yeah, I know it isn’t until next Wed, but we celebrated today because the girls and I will be out of town next Wed. She had a blast! We went to the rainforest cafe (where I couldn’t get a good picture in to save my life, but I did get this one:

Then we came home to open presents:

After that, we had cake!

Lydia apparently is entering a very dramatic stage of her development. This is her yesterday –
. She flung herself on the stairs in utter despair. The issue? Her ponytail was not ballerina perfect. And tonight after being tucked in, this child came out of her room SOBBING.Sobbing like there’s no tomorrow. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but I was quite positive she had dozed off and had a horrible nightmare or had crashed out of her bed or SOMETHING. Finally I get the sobs quieted enough to understand the root of her despair – Her toy puppy named “Lovely” was bored of the bed Lydia had made for her! Oh the anguish.

I have just submitted my 200th index!

Back to your regularly scheduled programming…must get started on my 201st index now

At our science and math club today they had a team building activity of trying to build a bridge out of straws, paperclips and tape that held the most weight. My girls were on a team that had some issues, so they wanted to try again when we got home. This is Meredith building her bridge. None of the pictures of Allison came out well, but her bridge really blew me away. Her bridge could hold my big glass of ice water! Oh, if only her group had listened to her – The team’s bridge collapsed under the weight of one single penny. Meredith’s bridge somehow turned into a hippopotamus at some stage. I am not sure what happened there.

Look what guru cousin Alan did for me – he gave me a way to display my flickr pics here on the blog – eventually I will revamp the blog so that they are better linked to the front page, but as a preview, here ya go – Photo albums

And look what I just realized…from here where I write my blogs, I can now post pictures without even going to Flickr..just to test that, I give you:

and

These were taken Friday with my new lens at the girls’ math and science club meeting.

Jessica, originally uploaded by deannajo.

We did a quicky five minute photo shoot this afternoon (because her HAIR looked good, lol). After I uploaded the pictures, I felt very discouraged. I stink at this, I don’t know what I’m doing, blah blah blah. But look! Look what a bit of software can do to a picture! Other than part of her arm being chopped off, I think I (now) really like this picture! Oddly enough, I don’t mind part of her head being removed

7 months pregnant (32 weeks)

A few months ago that is, Lydia had her first dentist appointment ever. I took pictures. Then I bought a new camera and never took the pictures off the old camera. Now I have. Here you go:

The appointment went well. No tears were shed, no cavities found, she opened wide and got a goodie bag when all was said and done. We go back in Jan. I think this picture is funny. Apparently no one told her she could shut her mouth for a few minutes.

We also have: