ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2011

John took a week off in mid-March to install a radiant barrier in our attic (supposed to help reduce the heat that gets to your house -lowering your electric bill). the kids were so inquisitive about daddy's ventures into the attic that he let them go up with him. :)

(Biruk had chosen to go on an errand with me, therefore he's not in the attic. :) he got to go on his own afterwards!)

and of course, you know you live in the desert when you can go swimming on St. Patrick's Day!

We had 90 degree weather (even over 100 2 days) in mid to late March -so swimming sounded awfully inviting! The pool is about 70 degrees.....still too cold for mom and dad!

PICS & VIDEO FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND

We had a great time together as a family this past weekend. The weather here was unusually cool -down in the 90's -so we spent a lot of time outside. :)

getting ready to take off on our first family bike ride

just biking to our neighborhood park



daddy and his girl -even if her hair is a mess!

the boys riding down the hill at the park

lil missy posing

sweet boy -all on his own he picked up all these water bottles he found while playing at our park

riding home...and literally 30 seconds after this pic we got caught in rain! it was crazy!

this was actually from a few weeks ago when Biruk learned to ride the bike w/o training wheels!

the kids practicing holding their breath -watch and listen to Biruk...no floaties! and when he comes up he wants to know his "number" :) ie: how long he was under. :)

the kids biking down the hill at our park

they love to race down this hill!

Biruk riding his bike

SWIMMING!!

it's getting warm enough to swim!!

or as Biruk would say "za swim mom YAY!!!"

Biruk will sit on the first step ONLY and splash around and put his head in the water ~but he will NOT go in any further...no way no how.

for now, that's totally fine. We'll let him get adjusted and then take him in with us. We'll probably have him wear the "muscles" or a life jacket for quite awhile to build up his confidence level.


I love the above pic -it is SO Biruk's personality....that giant smile of his!

we were told most Ethiopians don't really like sweet things and we should stay away from dairy too...apparently Biruk didn't get that memo. This boy could eat ice cream for every meal!

The 3 of them chose ice cream bars for their after dinner treat the other day ~I think they're enjoying them. :)

LOTS O'SWIMMING GOING ON

Last week, my sister's pool was finally completed and they invited us over TWICE to swim.

The first time was to play in the water AS the pool was being filled, the second time for a belated b-day party for Jacklyn.

baby Jameson is getting SO big!

look at both of these boys -Jameson above and Jeremiah below -such BIG brown eyes. :)





playing in the "deep end"

that's ALL 11 kids in there at 1 time too!

then we got to come back to play last Sunday to celebrate Jacklyn turning the big "5".:)

look at that face! :)

we had lots of floatation toys as well as a few life jackets to keep us adults sane! watching so many little ones in the water is tough -not that floatation devices are a reason to NOT watch the kids, but it certainly helped us!

Josiah got the biggest kick out of splashing and splashing!

lots of diving going on!

yes, that's Elizabeth jumping off the diving rocks too.

daredevil!

*I had a video of Elizabeth jumping into the pool -but it wouldn't load/process...will have to work on that later. :)**

SWIMMING

I had John take this video the other day cuz the kids were SO funny.....jump, swim, get out, repeat...it went on for what seemed like an hour! the funniest part is their facial expressions as they jump in, which you can't see in the video...but you CAN see how funny they dive in.

it's hard to believe they've really only been swimming for 3-4 weeks. The first whole week, Elizabeth would only play on the step or HAD to be attached to one of us. Then the 2nd week she decided it was OK to float around the pool in a floaty thing...now look at her!!

And Becca and Andrew are swimming GREAT. we need to work on "technique", but that will come in time. We're just so proud of all 3 and how far they've come in such a short time!

OUR WEEKEND IN PICTURES

We had a great weekend..full of family and fun...and swimming :)

Saturday evening we were invited to our neighbor's swim party at one of our local pools.

The kids had a BLAST!!!

caught Andrew stuffing food in his mouth. :)

I love this shot of Elizabeth!

doesn't it look like they're conspiring? :)

my blue eyed beauty




and of course Sunday was Mother's Day.

after church, the whole family came over to our house for BBQ hotdogs, swimming, and homemade ice cream!

Jeremiah's first real swimming experience

grandma with Josiah and baby Jameson

Joanna trying not to smile

Elizabeth trying to play with Jeremiah

Josiah getting his first real taste of swimming

enjoying homemade ice cream on the patio

these 2 were TUCKERED OUT!

I can't think of a better way to spend our weekend....and with it consistently over 100 degrees here now, I have a feeling we'll be spending ALOT of our weekends (and weekdays!) in the water. :)