A double play date

I'm learning the trick to keeping both boys happy is to schedule a double play date, with one of each of their friends, at the same time. That way, neither feels left out - and they're all generally still young enough in age, that all four boys will play together too (I know this won't happen forever but I'm taking advantage of it while I can!) :)

Flight of the Conchords

Jon and I went to see the Flight of the Conchords show last night and it was amazing!

I managed to get some really good seats and gave Jon the tickets a couple of months ago as our 10th anniversary present. He was pretty excited (as was I), considering the last time these guys toured was 3 years ago, and who knows when they'll tour again!

If you haven't heard of these guys, check out their show on HBO - hilarious quirky New Zealander comedians who also happen to be super talented musicians too! We had a blast - I'm so glad we went. :)

Swim Team Pictures

This morning was pure madness - the first pic shows us trying to line up the entire swim team by height, trying to get these kids organized (and to wait/stay in line when they really didn't want to) so they could march up onto the bleachers for the team pic.

The second pic shows the boys' swim team - it's big!! And impressive. We won our first meet on Thursday - I know it's because we have a lot of strong swimmers of course, but I think it's also because we just have a lot of swimmers, period! ;-)

While I appreciated the photographer's attention to detail and wanting to get the perfect picture of the team - this pic took FOR-EV-ARRRRR. And the kids were just melting in the sun - their patience and stillness melting away too!

THEN. Because, I guess, we're in the Silicon Valley - one of the parents who's in charge of the end of season slide show/video, decided to video the kids doing a few claps, chants, and moves - all choreographed to music, while he taped it with his drone flying overhead. It was a little insane, and felt over the top. Yet I can also tell it'll probably be really fun and cool to watch at the end of the season. :)

After the team pic, we then had to wait in another excruciatingly long line for individual pics. It was quite the process, made for a long and dull morning, and my boys were more than done after. :)

But! I can't wait to see what they look like!! I guess you could say I'm a proud swim team mama.

Pool time

Enjoying this hot summer day in the pool. 😎💖

Swim Meet Madness

Logan swam in his first swim meet today!! So much fun and I couldn't be prouder. We set a goal to beat his time trials time - which he did by 2 seconds!! Woohoo!

As you can see from the pics - it was pretty crazy and packed to the brim. (The second pic was the kids warming up) Luckily my soccer sideline chairs fit right in with the umbrellas crew! LOL The boys and their friends all loved those (plus my mountains of snacks) immensely. ;-)

Looking forward to a really great season!

Swim Team Psych Dinner

We went to the Swim Team Psych Dinner last night - to get the kids pumped for their first meet tomorrow! (Callum is still insistent that he doesn't want to race, but Logan is going to give it a try!)

For some reason I had the wrong time on my calendar - so we showed up about an hour early for the dinner. I didn't want to bother going back home only to pile into the car again shortly after - so we stayed to hang out. And, because it was so damn hot, the kids went in the pool to cool off. First shot is of Callum looking like some cool old man wrapped in his robe. :) The other two are of the sea of swim team kids!!

Party!

I didn't snap too many pics of the party since I was running around making sure food dishes were filled and refilled and guests were happy.  But, I managed to at least click a few (and got a few from Jenn too).

The party was a huge success!  We really had a great time throwing the party and everyone seemed to enjoy all of the food, music, pool time, etc.  Kids had a blast and several in the neighborhood have been coming up to me each day (during swim practices or what have you), thanking me again for inviting them to the party!  Families that weren't able to make it have been texting or emailing me saying word is out that our party was a blast.  Ha!  Pretty funny but all of that just feels like affirmation that we all had a good time.

And, everyone loved the remodel and backyard too - woohoo!  We look forward to throwing many more - this summer and on!

Prep and Food!

I'm finally getting a breather to blog about our big housewarming BBQ we had last weekend.  We've been wanting to have a bunch of friends over for awhile - but it took awhile to settle into the house and then get the backyard done (which wasn't a part of the original plan!).

I had a few issues with the turf guys and had been harping on them for the last couple of weeks to get their asses out to fix (a mistake we found) and finish the job.  They FINALLY made it out on Thursday to complete everything.  Talk about last minute!  Phew!

I had spent the week running all over the place buying food and drinks and pool toys, etc. for our party - Jon had been traveling but came back a day early - so he and I spent Friday prepping the backyard for the party (setting up new - additional - umbrellas I had just bought, extra tables and chairs, etc.).  He also fired up his smoker and the two day smoking marathon began!

While Jon was in charge of the meat, I took care of the rest.  It was going to be a big party and an all day long sort of thing.  About 80 people RSVP'd yes (I think the final count was closer to 65 - but still not too shabby!) - so I didn't do anything too fancy or time consuming for the food and drinks.  Lots of store made dips with bread, guacamole and chips, etc.  I did things like slice up the bread ahead of time to make it easy to refill when bowls needed refilling.  Same with the veggie platter - I cut everything ahead of time (but aren't the peppers just gorgeous?!?).  The only thing I decided to make was the watermelon, feta and mint salad - super delicious! :)

Check, check and check!

Took care of a few more items on my "honey do" list this past week!

The boys' Legos are OUT OF CONTROL. They have so many it's impossible to keep things clean and tidy - plus they have a lot that they've built and like playing with/never taking apart. Since I knew we had a big party coming up this weekend, I had to figure out a way to put these built ones up and out of the way of little toddler hands.

I found some slim stainless steel shelves on Amazon and decided to give them a try. I figured three of these 3' long shelves would be more than enough for their collection.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

You can see how the boys jam packed each shelf - yet we STILL had a ton of leftover pieces with no shelf space to put them. :(

Ugh.

One of my biggie to-do's was finding a bench and mirror for our backyard/pool changing room. I found them and put them together just in time for our party! Phew!

Foosball Shark

Logan is pretty much glued to the foosball table at summer camp. There's another kid that's really good - and the two of them have decided to build a "club" of foosball players, where they create tournaments each day for anyone who's interested. Pretty cute!

Honey Do's

I've had a growing list of "honey do's" for Jon to do - but he's been away all week (traveling for work) and I've been getting more and more impatient. So, I've slowly been knocking them off my list myself.

Here's Logan using his new reading light, which I set up for him last night. He's awful about reading in the dark (basically), so I thought if I installed an actual reading light, he might use it!

Summer Camp

After Swim Team practice, they move right into summer camp - which (this week) is at the same location. Callum basically just stays in his swim clothes all day since he generally opts in during "free swim" time during camp. Logan, meanwhile, is glued to the foosball table, playing any kid (or 2) that will step up to the plate. He's becoming quite the shark - so watch out if he asks you to play him!

Swim Team Practice

The boys finished Day 3 of their Swim Team practice today. Every afternoon they are totally beat from the extra exercise and sun they're getting - but every day I've checked in on how they're doing and if they're enjoying it, and they say they are! So we shall see how it goes.

Logan was a bit more intimidated by practice today - he was overwhelmed by the number of kids and the back to back drills the coaches were yelling out (most of which he didn't know so he felt like he was behind the curve ball). We talked a long time tonight about some strategies he could use the rest of this week to help cope with the chaos of it all. Since I've done a lot of swim team stuff in my youth, I tried to give him several pointers and talk him through it which he seemed to like. He also seemed more at ease hearing I've been through it all too and knew what it felt like :)

Swim Team Time Trials

Logan asked to join the swim team (of our local rec center) this summer - I was impressed he wanted to give it a shot since he's not yet a strong swimmer (yet he's ultra competitive - so he doesn't like to lose). So we talked about that, and he told me he knows he may not win, but he still wants to give it a try. Yes!!

I figure the experience is going to be great and the practices alone will be awesome for beefing up their swimming abilities. Luckily the neighborhood team is pretty relaxed - so even if the kids just go to practice but never compete in a meet, it's totally ok. :)

Anyway, next week starts the season and this weekend were time trials. The rec center was super packed and as all swim meets, quite chaotic. And, intimidating for the boys with so many kids warming up together in a single lane. Callum swam about half or a full lane and then got out and told me he was done. Logan wouldn't swim any laps during warm up - he was too nervous and shy. (Both reactions I totally understood and expected)

6 and unders (Callum's grouping) started off first. One lap of freestyle. I got him as far as standing in line behind the blocks but as he watched the other kids (some very good) diving in and swimming - it was all too much for him. He gave me a big fat NOPE.

Meanwhile, Logan's group, the 7-8 year olds, we're getting ready next. He was nervous but still game to give it a try. So I had Callum just sit in a nearby chair to watch and coached Logan through it instead. He thought he'd give jumping off the block a try but the minute he climbed up he said no way :) and decided to jump from the edge of the pool instead (which they totally allowed).

So, first pic is him in the 2nd lane from the right swimming his 25 free! He hung in there and did great. The timekeepers at the other end told him he swam it really well and that really boosted his confidence. :)

After a few minutes of waiting, it was time for the 25 backstroke heats. I took a few more pics of him in this one since I was standing poolside next to his lane. There were two teenagers, you can see them kneeling down and talking to him while he's in the pool getting ready, who were coaching him and showing him how to kick off the wall (he's never done any of this before). It was so wonderful and I'm super grateful for those two kids. They walked along the side cheering him on the entire way! (He was huffing and puffing and very last but it didn't matter)

I was bummed Callum didn't want to give it a try because he loves the pool so much - but I'm not even sure he would've made the full lap so maybe it's for the best. :) He did love the social aspect of it, hanging out with friends and snacking all morning, which is the other part of this that I'm glad about.

Tomorrow are the breast and butterfly trials. Logan told me after he got out from back, that he'd like to come watch (it's more of the older kids, given the strokes), but doesn't want to swim the breast (he's just started learning it but probably would have a tough time making it across). I said that would be great - so we may try to make it back tomorrow morning too. We'll see how it goes!

Summertime Pooltime!

This was yesterday - the boys hung out for awhile around lunchtime and then again in the evening when one of Logan's friends came over for a sleepover. Callum is so in love with the pool that he generally goes in multiple times a day. In fact, I'm posting this from the pool deck now, while he plays in the water! :)

Last day of school!

Wow! We finally made it!!

These two kiddos were only 15 minutes late on their last day of school. Whoops! :)

They were also really grouchy and uncooperative about me taking a pic to commemorate their last day. Oh well. I'm still super proud of them - they both had a wonderful first year at their new school!

Looking forward to a fabulous summer ahead!! :)

Every girl should own a crown (of some sort)

You can see how wiped out I am. It's been a long week (and day/night). But, the party was a success and Jon and I had a great time meeting so many fun people!

(This was actually probably my favorite of the props I made, so I grabbed it on my way home to keep for myself. Heehee)

A Progressive Party

I've never been to a Progressive Party before! But it's quite a sight actually. ~80 people basically walk from the first (appetizers) house, to the next (dinner) house, to the last (desserts) house! And since we were all dressed up, it made it even more fun I thought. Kinda like Halloween (which this neighborhood also gets into!).