Grandma Jo

Grandma Jo was so kind in helping us with some landscaping in early August.  She went shopping with us to find plants and come up with a plan.  She even drove by our house in the early morning hours and hopped out of her car to make sure the layout and spacing looked right.  On this day she stopped by to answer more of my questions.  As soon as she pulled up, the boys were out the door to greet her (and ask for some gum).  "Take a picture of us!" Walter said as he stood by her (that's when Henry made his move and disappeared). 

 

 

You have to do a silly picture, too.

Which makes Grandma give you more kisses and hugs.

 

 

Sodas

Making sodas is one of the special things that Henry and Walter like to do with Grandpa.  They are learning from one of the best!   

 

*One soda memory that will stick around for awhile:  The boys ate their delicious sodas, ran upstairs and proceeded to jump on grandma and grandpa's bed.  They came down after jumping to report that someone had a tummy ache and moments later the soda reappeared!  Lesson learned - Sodas and Jumping don't mix.

These Boots Were Made For...

...technically, these froggy boots were made for playing in the rain, but on this day they ended up coordinating with Walter's cast and pajamas while he displayed his amazing kicks and fancy hand moves. And boy is he fast! Obviously he was too much for my camera phone to handle!

At Home

These two love to take pictures and videos of themselves being silly.

With Otto

At the Pool

As previously mentioned, we try to keep everything fair around here...especially when it comes to having "movies" made at the pool.  So now it's Walter's turn.  When we found out his arm was broken, one of my first thoughts was about the pool - we were at the pool e-v-e-r-y day.  What would we do?  Thankfully, that handy dandy cast cover became part of our lives (so glad we only had to use Press 'n Seal Saran Wrap and plastic bags in the kiddie pool twice!).  As you can see, the broken arm didn't slow him down a bit!  And if his mom hadn't forced him to wear a life jacket it would have been so much easier to keep his head under water like he wanted to!

 

A typical jump off the diving board - Walter Style.

 

A silly jump.

 

And jumping off the high dive to Dad. 

The last week the pool was open, Walter decided he wanted to make the big jump.  Nate caught him once or twice and after that it was a common occurrence for me to look up and see both of my boys jumping off the high dive, one after the other, like they were jumping out of bed in the morning - no big deal!  

Swimming Lessons

Okay, so I'm warning you that this post is a little video heavy.  The last week of July Henry took swimming lessons at our local pool.  He started in Level 1 but after his first lesson, his teacher thought he should go to Level 2.  Henry loves passing levels, so he was very excited.  We then had to explain that you don't normally pass a level each lesson, which was his expectation, and he was not pleased when we told him the goal was to pass Level 2 by Friday - how boring!!  Thankfully, even with walking pneumonia thrown in the mix he was able to pass Level 2.  It was pretty amazing to see the progress he made - looks like I was holding him back just a bit!

 

Henry before swimming lessons: 

 

After one lesson:

 

For real, just one lesson!  Did I mention this is the 12 foot section?!?

 

Synchronized diving is naturally the next step...

 

 

His lips were a little blue, but here he is holding his Level 2 certificate.

Sharing

Having everything "even" or "the same" is very important for someone I know.  So when Henry and Walter were going to share a bag of Big League Bubble Gum, Walter sat down with two bowls and literally counted out each strand of bubble gum -"one, one, two, two, three, three...."