First backyard swim party

Farewell Bubba

It's official. Quade has been bubba-free (aka pacifier-free) for a week! He was only using it while in bed, at school (to prevent biting), and when he was really, really sad. But he still really loved his bubba.
From a speech-language pathologist perspective he should have been rid of this nasty thing a year ago. however, when i was about to have Price i admit that i needed him to have his "bubba" to make my life easier. The real deadline for me was his 3rd bday.
We finally decided that we were ready for whatever ramifications came from losing this treasured friend.
So at naptime on Father's day his last bubba went in a box and was sent to babyland. He cried in his bed for an hour and a half before falling asleep. Fortunately he has taken naps and fallen asleep without his soother all week.
I was worried we were going to have to sign him up for PA ("Pacifiers Anonymous") but it looks like he wasn't as addicted as we thought.

bye bye bushes...hello garden

This is a pile of our old bushes...i asked our landscaper if there was a shrub charity. she didn't know of one.

Here are the new plants/trees arriving...it was like Christmas.

This is the backyard btwn the garage and house...the first pic was taken on tuesday, 2nd pic on wednesday...they worked fast and it's my favorite part of yeard.

This pic is of our church friends playing whiffle ball in the backyard, just so you can see the before pic.

The front of the house

Quade enjoying a smore and our new backyard!

Quade's turn to swim

a lot of you have asked me how quade has done with the survival swimming lessons...he didn't like it as much as price. he screamed every lesson for 4 weeks! his teacher thought that he would reach a turning point and stop crying. she obviously doesn't know the passion and persistence of my little boy. =)
Here are a couple of clips from his clothes check-out on Monday.
(i apologize for the wild videography. i was videotaping with our video camera and our digital camera at the same time and had price on my hip...so you also hear price complaining in the background.)

This was the beginning of the "check-out"...i'm putting it on here to show you that it's not an easy thing for these guys to float on their backs fully clothed (note the green crocs from last summer...)


In this clip Gayle (an instructor in training) flips quade over to see if he can correct himself and get into a floating position...



This clip is where she pretends he falls in from the side and flips over. he swims the whole way to the side...once he has a goal in mind he won't stop to take a breath.

Fence, tree removal, and bball

Here is the retaining wall in process...note the pecan tree in the forefront.

Here's the new fence...note the tree is GONE! they had to move the retaining wall closer to the house b/c of a gas line. so the fence was going to be hitting the tree.

The tree was on it's last limb (sorry for the bad pun) so we decided to have it removed while it was still easily accesible. i was soooo sad that morning as they cut it down.

now the boys can run around the garage and be completely enclosed in the fence. they can also ride bikes on the driveway without me worrying about them going into the busy street.

(note: price is not riding a bike yet...just planning ahead. =)).

Bruce's pride & joy...thanks JP for all the help putting this puppy together.

late last week and this week they stained the fence (i describe it as the color of a tree trunk...subtle, blends in with the landscaping)

only one more post to come...the real landscaping!

Not only can he swim...

he can crawl!
yes, starting on June 1st Price took his first "crawl".
This first video is from June 3rd.



this is a video i took yesterday...amazing the difference a week makes! my world has changed drastically...i now have 2 mobile children...AHHH!!!

Infant Survival Swimming

Our summer, so far, has been pretty laid back. The main thing we have been doing is swim lessons. Not your run-of-the-mill lessons, mind you...these are infant survival swim lessons. Bruce found out about this lady (Bev Steinfink, Aquatots, www.infantaquatics.com) through a work friend of his.

We have been going 4 days a week for 10 minutes each kid, each day. Both quade and price go and are one-on-one with Bev. I have been sitting on the side of the pool biting my nails! It's stressful!

She basically is teaching them to swim, then float on their backs and then swim. For Price, he had to learn to float and to find the surface from being on his face (flip-over).
Well, after 9 classes Price had his "check-out" where he was fully clothed and she simulated him falling in the water. I taped the lesson for you and a clip is below...be forewarned it may be difficult to watch.

Mini-vacation (and mini-advertisement)

This past weekend we took a "mini-vacation" to possum kingdom lake. It is about 2 hours (if you have no traffic and drive like bruce) west of dallas.
It was a fabulous family time. The boys were great and it was a beautiful lake (cliffs, great cool evenings, dry air). Bruce and I played tennis 2x! the boys swam and played. I would highly recommend the Cliffs at possum kingdom if you need a little get-a-way (i wish i got a kickback for my little promo).

2 cool dudes

3 cool dudes

More stonework

The retaining wall for the fence

The finished product!

So the concrete and masonry is completed. Yesterday the guy put up our new fence. I will posting those pics soon...stay tuned.
Party at the macs!

Masonry at its best