TYLER’S FIRST SWIM LESSON

Tyler finally had his very first swim lesson today!

He has been waiting and waiting for this day, and to be honest, so have I!

I tried to find someone to do private lessons with Tyler last summer and again this summer.  There was always the choice to take him to the YMCA for private lessons, but since we are not Y members, the fee for a 30 minute session is outrageous!

So, since we have been introduced to the wonderful aquatic center in Grinnell, that is just 18 short minutes away from our house, we have realized how amazing it is!  And the best part is that they have a list of people to be called that will give private lessons.  When we were there on Saturday, I wrote down about 8 names and numbers.  I gave the first person a call just last night, he called back today, and was willing to have a lesson with Tyler already this afternoon!  So, as you can imagine, Tyler was beyond excited!

I woke them up from a short, but much needed nap, and we headed out to the Grinnell pool for Tyler’s first swim lesson and for fun swim time for Brady and I.

Tyler did great and listened and tried everything that his instructor told him to do.  I was very proud of him and we will enjoy the next few lessons that we can get in before having to go back to school!

FUN WEEKEND

We had Lee’s parents here to visit us this past weekend, so we stayed busy and had a good time!

Friday night we met Sam and Eula in Altoona at Jethro’s for dinner.  After dinner, we went over to Prairie Meadows horse track to watch a few races.  Lee came out with a few more bucks than what he went in, so it was a successful and fun evening for all of us!

Saturday we drove over to Grinnell to go swimming and then Saturday night we went out to Sugar Grove Winery here in Newton.  We enjoyed sitting out in the beautiful weather, listening to music, and the boys loved dancing the night away!

Beautiful sunset out at Sugar Grove Winery.

                   

The boys dancing up on the deck.

  Brady moved his chair even closer and Tyler didn’t stop dancing (until he was tired, exhausted, and ready to go home!).

LOVE THESE BOYS SO MUCH!

We took a trip to Williamsburg last Friday morning to meet my mom and do some back to school shopping for the boys.

I am loving that the boys and I can do random and quick trips this summer.  We have never been able to do this in the past because of nap schedule, behavior, etc.  Both of them DO still take naps EVERYDAY, but they are now really good at falling asleep in the car at their nap time and can handle a shorter nap than what they used to in the past if we are on a little trip.  At home, Tyler will still take about an hour and a half nap, where Brady could take anywhere from a 2 hour to a 3 hour nap.

This summer has been very different than any other and I must say that I have loved it!  They are growing up!  I love them to pieces and love the time that we get to spend together during my summer break! 

POOL TIME

We have really been enjoying our summer at the public pools!  We’ve been trying a few different ones out in the area and really love the aquatic center in Pella!  We went on a Sunday a couple weeks ago since Lee was home and able to come with us.  Here’s some pictures of the awesome aquatic center in Pella.

 

   Lee and I even manage to find a little time to relax in the pool!  :)

LAST T-BALL GAME

Tyler finished up his first T-Ball season Wednesday night, July 10th.  He enjoyed it and showed much improvement this season!  He said that he liked T-Ball, because, “it’s not too hard.  You don’t have to run very much.”  Oh boy!

Here’s some pictures from his last game.  The coach planned on Rootbeer floats and a water balloon fight after the game.  I’m pretty sure the water balloon fight was the highlight of the season for everyone on the team!

#8 for the Rockies—Tyler Reynolds.  First T-Ball season 2013.

   

For the last two games, they did coach pitch for the last two innings of the game.  Tyler did awesome!

Brady doesn’t watch one second of the game.  He runs around, finds his friends to play with, and picks flowers. Do you know how many times I told him NOT to climb this fence?!!! Water balloon fight after the game. I even let Brady get in on the action. Love this picture.  All the boys are going in the tub for more, and I’m pretty sure Lee just got hit by the other coach.  Love it! The happiest boy ever after a water balloon fight!   And even though the water balloon fight wasn’t meant for Brady, I let him go throw a couple anyhow, he still cried because he didn’t get to throw as many as he wanted to.  Ugh!

DESPICABLE ME 2

Lee and I took the boys to Despicable Me 2 last weekend.

The “big deal” about going to this movie, was because the boys were earning money to spend on whatever they wanted to from the concessions at the movie theater.

Tyler had been having some issues with talking back and bad attitude, so I started him (and Brady for fun) on a behavior plan.  I decorated 3 mason jars.  One for ‘Mom’, one for Tyler, and one for Brady.  Each of their jars had their name and a Despicable Me Minon on it.  My jar was full of coins.  To earn coins, they had to be good to each other, to me, and to not have any timeouts at daycare (when they went).  IF there was fighting, bad attitude, or talking back, they had to take a coin out and put it back into my jar.  This system worked very well for both of them!

It ended up that Tyler had $6.10 in his jar and Brady had $6.50 in his jar when it was time to go to the movie.  This worked out so perfectly, because it turns out the kids combo snack at the movie theater is $6.00!  Then they got to put their spare change in their piggy bank when we got home. 

They loved the movie and they were both very proud of themselves that they got to pay for their popcorn, skittles, and powerade, with money that they earned for being good! 

I’m still thinking of what “plan” I’m going to do next—there’s still 5 weeks of summer vacation left!  :)

SUCCESSFUL SLEEPOVER (AT HOME)

Knowing that the boys would be sleeping with Dylan in Dylan’s room while in St. Charles, we thought it was a good idea to see if our 2 boys could handle a night together at home.  We have tried this in the past, probably just a few months ago and they did not succeed.  A few months ago, Tyler tried to sleep with Brady in Brady’s room, but he got scared, so the next night, we tried Brady sleeping with Tyler in Tyler’s room, but he just couldn’t fall asleep.

So…

This time it worked! 

It didn’t take either of them very long to fall asleep and they didn’t goof around at all.  They really wanted to do this, because they think that if they can sleep together in the same room well, than their Dad will make them a bunk bed!  :)

This is how I found them when I went to check on them before I went to bed.  Before I moved Tyler’s body so that he wasn’t taking up the whole bed, I had to snap a couple pictures!