How To Become A Fish - Jack B Style

1. Sign up for swimming lessons with Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Jessica.

2. Always smile so Ms. Jennifer doesn't notice that you never stay on the steps like you're supposed to (even though all the other children are following the rules).

3. Start counting and laughing during the floating exercise to distract Ms. Jennifer from making you actually DO the floating exercise.

4. Stand on the diving board long enough that Ms. Jessica gets out of the pool and throws you in (even though all of the other children are jumping in) - it's much easier to be thrown.

5. Laugh REALLY loud while you slide in and maybe Ms. Jennifer won't be so aware that she pulled you in while you were still trying to drink water from the water hose.

6. Make cute faces at Ms. Jennifer so she will kick your legs for you and all you have to do is hold on to her (you have to be really, really cute to pull this one off)!

7. Have Ms. Jessica get out of the pool to throw you in again (because it was so much fun the first time).


8. Somehow talk Ms. Jennifer into letting you ride on her back while she takes all the other (orderly) children through their exercises. (I really can't explain how I make this one happen, but here's the proof).

9. Splash a lot so it's really difficult for Ms. Jennifer to take her attention off of you for even a second!

10. Finally, just laugh and hug and laugh and hug until Ms. Jennifer just holds you and plays in the pool and forgets about all those silly exercises completely!!

So, maybe the name of this post should have been, "How to Avoid Doing Any Work in Swimming Lessons" instead, but we took a few liberties with the title:) We did LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Jessica and Jack is still talking about them. We found out at parent day WHY he is talking about them and loves them so much!! Though the evidence of these pictures doesn't really point to it, they were able to get him to do LOTS in the pool! We can't wait to swim with them again next year!

To Infinity and Beyond

Toy Story 3 has been a HUGE topic at our house for MONTHS now!! Jack B had never been to the theatre before and Ben and I knew that "3" would be the perfect first trip. He loves the first two so we knew he would be beyond excited for this one. And he was.... We had been talking about it for weeks.

We made the trip to Destin to "The Rave" b/c our home town theatre is the very, very, very last resort for any movie experience. We ate at our favorite resturant where Jack ordered for himself some "big ole crab claws" and informed me that he no longer needed assistance eating these. (I'm telling y'all - the kid eats an adult sized portion of fried crab claws for an appetizer and then a plate full of shrimp. He's taken seriously the idea of growing up BIG and strong:)

Because I'm one of the directors for our Vacation Bible School (which was set to start two days later) and my husband's grandmother is getting married on Saturday (a whole other post:) and I'm the director of the wedding, I had a few errands to run before the movie. You can imagine right.... So, then we headed all over Destin looking for 150 blue plates, square grid pretzels (that are not as easy to find as you would think), some Toy Story and Princess paraphanelia (this was for valid wedding preparation - i.e. bribing the flower girl and ring bearer to walk down the aisle:) and a few other odds and ends, we were ready for the movie.

We went all out and decided to watch in 3D. I did not realize that if you didn't wear the 3D glasses, the movie was blurry or I wouldn't have gone this route b/c I never thought Jack would wear his glasses. But, it turned out that he was so overstimulated by the big theatre, all the pictures, the life size version of Shrek (which we have a hate/hate relationship with) and the 3D movie that he sat completely still throughout the entire movie with his glasses on and didn't MOVE!!

I was concerned that we had tramautized him to the point that we might never get him in the theatre again, but when we left, I asked, "Jack, did you like Toy Story 3?" and he nodded in the affirmative. Then I asked, "Do you want to watch it again?" and another affirmative. Then he looked at me and said, "I wanna watch "The Upside Down Show." which is a normal request so I think we're ok:)

We had a really fun day. I'll leave you with some pictures I took with my phone during our day. What mother would leave her camera at home and not commemorate the first movie experience??? Hmmm.....

Jack at the splash pad right outside the theatre: (I don't know HOW we kept him out of this water!!)




Waiting in line by "3" to get in the theatre, but with our eyes always on that big green Shrek to make sure he doesn't get any closer:)

It's always nice to have Daddy with us to take a picture of me and Jack - always such good quality too:)

With the exception of my friend Emily (who we've already established has seen three kids just a little cuter here), isn't this the cutest kid you've ever seen in 3D glasses??

I thought so!

Beach Buddies

Jack B and I got to go to the beach with our "beach buddies" (aka as Shonna and Caroline) yesterday. We loved it and had the most fun - we were so thrilled to get to enjoy our Florida beaches and hope we get to do that some more this year. We are so saddened by the oil spill, but being the wife of an oil field worker, I also know the need for this work. The truth of it is just that bad things - tragic, horrible, life-altering things - happen sometimes. It's sad and there will have to be lots of changes b/c of it, but we should all still understand that this is a product we need and everyone uses and that this country cannot live without. Having said that, we are certainly going to miss these beaches when the oil does get there so we were excited to have this day.

Time to Relax:

It was a good day!

Just Because....

.... he's so stinking cute - this kid of mine!!