swim team

As soon as we knew we would be moving to this area, I started researching extra curriculars for everybody. Our community is tagged onto the top of a very large master planned community. Though we don't have free access to the pools and facilities, we are invited to participate in sports leagues and activities. It is the best of both worlds for us to be out on a bigger lot while still having access to stuff for the children. Just a week after we moved in, Grace and Grant attended a swim clinic to brush up on their skills and try out for the swim team. We were especially proud of Grant. He had just barely started learning strokes at the end of last summer and had a lot of ground to make up. But he did it! Grant made the team, and Grace was put in the intermediate class of her age group.

During the school year, swim practice was every afternoon/evening, Tues-Friday. We were at the pool from 4:30-6:30. I finally just started packing a pick nick dinner which felt like a hassle at first. But it was actually quite nice making dinner early in the afternoon and having the kitchen cleaned up. When we came home from practice my work was all done! Once school was out, practice started at 8AM.

We really felt like our lives had been taken over once the meets started. Every Saturday was spent out in the muggy heat cheering, waiting, volunteering, and keeping littles happy.  Grace and Grant loved the meets though. They both improved a lot over the course of the season. Neither of them brought home a lot of ribbons, but our rule has always been that they are only competing with one person: their self. The ribbons they did bring home were signs of complete success in this regard. At the last meet, Grant got a personal best in both his events (free and back), and Grace got a personal best (free) and an 8th place ribbon (fly). She would have gotten something for the breast stroke too, except that she was dq'd for an illegal scissor kick under the water right after diving in. Whoops! She was especially thrilled about the 8th place performance. This league is meticulous with tracking times, and the kids compete in heats according to seed and dual race times. The last heat of each event features the fastest swimmers of the age group. She started the season in the second heat and worked her way up. At that last meet, she was finally in the last heat for butterfly. Even though she came in last, she was so proud to have made it to race with that group. 

{just doing a little dance before taking the blocks... this guy kills me}

last day of school

The G's only had a little over a month in their new school. The last few weeks were a bit hard- all of their friends in AZ were out for the summer when they still had 3 weeks to go, and the work load at their new school was much less compared to their last. We were busy with swim team by this point so our afternoons and evenings were busy which was good. They both adjusted really well to their new classes with much thanks to their sweet, sweet teachers. Gracie aced the standardized tests they administered at the school year's end, (as in, she got 100%...) and Grant's reading tested into a 2nd grade level. We are so happy they enjoy school, and I'm working on seeing what we can do to keep them challenged. Theirs is a top ranked elementary school in the number 1 school district in the whole state of TX. They have a gifted and talented program that is spoken highly of, but I just found out that it takes quite a while to matriculate into it. Hopefully we will find good spots for them next year. (Sheesh!) All that being said, we are truly very grateful for the teachers and classes they were assigned to when we moved here.

They had one morning to be lazy before swim practice moved to a morning schedule. Grant spent it sleeping in. He finally came down stairs at 11:30, ate his breakfast, went back upstairs to get dressed, and then came down and ate his lunch. Grace got up as per her schedule the day before, got dressed, and went straight to the craft supplies.

Outings

We made a rather last minute call and took the kids outta dodge for the Memorial Day weekend. We stayed in a little lodge/motel room at a Jellystone park in the hill country. The place has a couple of pools, a splash pad, a giant inflated pillow (half the size of a football field), and lots of activities for kids. Cori and I agreed that their was a definite trailer park feel there. We probably won't go again. But the kids loved it so much. We just unplugged and let them call the shots. They made some new friends, we found a local ward to attend on Sunday, and we did a little driving tour of the beautiful country up there. 

During the blue bonnet bloom, we spent a couple of Saturdays out in Brenham. We were AMAZED at the flowers. We drove through miles and miles of them. We took pictures (more to be posted later), visited some historic sites there and in Independence, and stopped in at the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. Let me just throw this bit of goodness out into the world... Blue Bell makes an Italian Wedding Cake ice cream. It is life affirming. So is Jeffery's toothy smile.

Easter

Our Easter celebrations were sweet and simple. We had a little Easter egg/treasure hunt. We had our annual passover dinner (on Sunday this time, instead of Thursday...maybe next year I'll get it all together!) It is more and more fun doing these activities with everyone as they get older and can understand. Cori and I are always grateful for times we can spend talking with our children about the Savior.