more white water

I know you are probably wondering what in the WORLD I could say more about white water. I know......really, I am a bit surprised that I have so much to say about it too, but I do. Bethany, I started to write the story of the cleaning lady, but it just came out as griping, so I didn't. Anyway, this is funny and short. S still says her "K's" like a "T". So instead of Cookie, she says Tootie. It is really cute, although I do realize we should get her help because while it is cute in kindergarten, it won't be so cute at high school (or stool) graduation! But at white water, this little speech thing was more humbling than cute. When we were done swimming and headed out, S wasn't thrilled. She wanted to go to the kitty pool. So, she starts screaming, "I want to go to the kitty pool! I want to go to the kitty pool!" Now say that like S would say it. Yep, pretty embarrassing!

growing up

I don't know why the white water trip story is so long and why I have so much to talk about from swimming, but I had a lot of realizations at white water.....there was a lot of growing up!

We get passes to White Water every year. We love it. We didn't get to go a whole lot this year, but we did swim a lot at other places. We went today, probably for the last time this summer. We had a great time, but it was kind of sad. But, for you to understand why it made me sad, you need a little glimpse into our previous trips to white water or other pools.

The first summer with kids, we had M and another girl in our home. M was 6 and did great in the water. She wore her life jacket in the deep ends, but wanted it off in the shallow ends. If she was afraid, she wanted to be by herself. Yep, this feisty fireball wanted no one touching her if she was nervous. Having no one touch her gave her a sense of control and security. We had a great time at any pool we went to, and she naturally learned to swim. She swam with her life jacket, and when possible, she just gradually and naturally learned to swim. Before we knew it, she was a pro. Actually, we were with our friends at a hotel pool, and we wanted a picture of them all jumping into the pool together, but we couldn't get the picture fast enough, so we had them jump in, swim to the side, get out, and jump back in. After they had done this a couple of times, we realized that M was SWIMMING all by herself over and over in the DEEP end! And that was it....off she went.

The next summer we had M, H and A with us. H was very similar to M except that she did NOT want to keep her life jacket on. Every chance she got, that jacket was off and she was trying her best to swim. She, like M, just gradually and naturally became a swimmer. H is a quiet girl, but she is definitely determined and strong willed. She follows the rules, for the most part, so we weren't to nervous with her.

A, on the other hand, did NOT like the water. I am not just talking about kind of not having a great time. I am talking screaming and climbing up our legs afraid of the water that barely covers her TOES in the beach entry pool! Oh my!!!!!! We were thinking that if we just held her , she would be just fine, so we went straight to the lazy river and tried holding her in it.....surely that would work! Umm.....NOPE. That did not work. She clung so hard to us that it hurt. She was very afraid. We finally figured out what worked best......we put a small floaty ring around her waist, she sat on a bigger floaty ring, and then sat on an inflated boat. We held on to that boat as well. She STILL did not feel safe. She did float down the lazy river in it, but her face was tense and strained, not relaxed. I would not say she had fun, but she eventually tolerated it. Really, what kid cries when you announce, "We are going to white water today!"? We tried. We tried hard. She acted like that every time we went to a pool. We figured that the next year would be better.

Well, the next year we had S too. A was NOT better about the water, well, not really. S took after A, not H and M. S did NOT enjoy the water either. So, gradually and eventually, they took baby steps. They would just sit on the stairs at hotel pools, and we would just put on those life jackets and floaties and more floaties and take them in the deep end and endure the grunting, groaning, screaming, crying and clawing. Hmmm.....and I wonder why people don't want to go to white water with us......sounds so pleasant! Just kidding!

Fast forward to this year........we went to White Water, and while there have been gradual steps and small victories in the pool adventures, it just kind of hit both Autumn and I all at once. It just seemed like one day we had to force them into water covered in flotation devices, then the next day they were just swimming away!

Yes, folks, our babies swim! Let me tell you about our day at white water with our 4 grown up children. They put on sunscreen. Let me rephrase that.....they put on their OWN sunscreen. They have kind of been doing that for a while, but it just seemed so grown up on this particular trip. We went directly in the wave pool. No whining, no grumbling or crying about how deep it was. There was no crying about sharks in the pool (yes, that has been an issue in the past). They just happily got on their life jackets and splashed on into that pool right to the deep end. The two big girls went out with little floatie rings and hung onto them, then swam around and came back to the rings.

We got out of the wave pool, and they wanted to go to the big huge tower of slides. Yes, they have all gone down these slides before, but this time seemed different because they ALL wanted to go and we didn't have to talk anyone into it or bribe anyone to go on it! The two big girls decided they would go down the big huge straight down slide. I don't even or haven't ever gone down that slide! We asked if they were really really really sure like a hundred times, and they said they were, so off we went up the huge tower. The two little girls and myself got a tube and went down the twisty slides, and the two big girls and Autumn went down the slide of death (that's what I call it, not them....and I only call it that in my head not to them, just so you know). I was just sure M would have to come walking down the stairs because she chickened out of it, but nope. They all three came down with smiles on and loved it!

We then headed over to the lilly pads. If you do not know what this is, it is big lilly pads that float in the water and are attached to a rope from the bottom. It requires a lot of balance to get across those pads, and there is a rope above you to help pull yourself across. My first memory of the lilly pads was from when I was a little girl. My mother and my aunt Nancy were DETERMINED to get across those things. It seems like we stayed for hours while they tried time and time again to get across, falling in the water every time. It could be that they fell because they were laughing so hard! I remember my mom being so amazed at all the little kids who could get across, but these two grown women couldn't. So I had two things in my mind with the lilly pads: 1-grown women should never try because I remember feeling so sorry for them when they kept falling off. 2- they are pretty much impossible to cross.

M and H have been able to cross those lilly pads since we first started bringing them. It was a struggle at first, but they are so determined, that even if they were just barely hanging on, and it took forever, they did NOT let go. They made it to the end. Every time they cross those silly lilly pads, I think about how proud and amazed my would have been! I know it is silly, but I do think of that every time! So this time A wanted to try. Really? Yep, she wanted to try. Let me tell you that she is just as determined as the oldest two and she crossed those lilly pads! Watch out world because these girls WILL do what they set out to do!

Then we went on to the yellow slide. This isn't the tallest slide, but it is enclosed, and you do not go down it with a tube. You go down this slide on your own and end up in the deep end....yes the dreaded deep end. Earlier this year, we decided to all go on it, instead of one of us staying with the little girls. They were kind of excited, but VERY scared. And they did have on life jackets, so we weren't expecting them to swim by themselves in the deep end. While standing in line, we got a million questions, as well as very wide eyes. When we got to the top, Autumn went first, then M, then H.....then S. She was scared, but she went. Then A........the lifeguard looked at me and gave me the head nod. I then proceeded to sit A in the blasting water and shove her down the slide.....easy right? Ummmm......not so much. She wouldn't sit. I lifted her up, but she put her feet down to stand instead of sit. With everyone behind me getting a little irritated, I had to do something. So I lifted her little screaming self up, kicked her feet out from under her, and sat her down in a hurry before she could get back up. All that was left was to shove her down, but oh man, she latched on to the bar above the slide. So what do I do? After I kicked her feet out from under her, I scraped one hand off, then the other as she screamed like crazy, then shoved her on down! The lifeguard looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and said, "Oh she'll like it, don't worry!" I went down the slide and caught up with the rest of the family where A informed that the slide was "so cool" and she will go back next time! That is when I brought out the lecture about trust. "You just have to trust us A. Sometimes we know things you don't and we want what is best for you. You just need to trust us." In that split second, I thought about how true that statement is with our heavenly father and us. A did not appreciate my profound thoughts in the middle of white water and only cared about getting to the next thing.

This time, however, the "yellow slide" experience was much different. We said we were going on the yellow slide, everyone got out of the pool and came, we got in line, everyone went down the slide on their own, and a good time was had by all. Wow they are so grown up!

The last thing we did was the lazy river. It was almost closing time, so there wasn't a lot of people at all in the lazy river. After we were in it for a while, Autumn and I talked about how different this experience was. Autumn and I had all of the floaties and we were being lazy on them in the lazy river. The girls (all of them can touch in the lazy river) were ahead of us being "dolphins" in the water. All four of them were "diving" in and out of the water, swimming and having a great time. On one hand, it was so fun to not have to watch them as closely and to relax a little and to not have to hold them. On the other hand, it was so sad to see how much they are growing up! How does this go so fast?

One of those days

Well, since I can't post the pictures I from the first day of school, I will tell you about the other day. It was just one of those days where things just weren't going as planned. I know you have had those days. It was one of those days for us. We headed out about noon or so and headed to the big city to get some errands done. Of course this doesn't sound like fun to the girls, so we talk to them, prepare them.......well, really we bribed them! Yes, we told them if they were good, we were sure to get a treat before returning home! Off we went. We had some specific things that needed to be done. Let me tell you, that one particular errand, we have been trying to do for a long time, and it involves a lot of waiting. We went to a place the other day (with 4 girls) and waited over an hour and a half just to find out they did not do what we needed to do....we had to go to a different office. We were so happy that on this particular day we would finally get this task done and checked off of our list.
We arrive at the parking garage, find our parking spot, and get out of the vehicle. Ummmm......problem........we do not have the right papers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? No.....no papers. That means we have to try a DIFFERENT time! While I can laugh at this problem now, it was NOT funny to me at the time. In fact, I was not a very nice person for just a little bit. I did not act very nice at all. So we keep driving.
Autumn had the idea to go to a hospital, since we were nearby, to visit a person we know. Well, I guess we don't have anything else to do, so let's go! So we went to the hospital, and as we were going in the parking garage, there were no spaces, so we had to keep going up. Remember, I was in a bad mood, so this really irritated me. However, my children found great joy each time we went up the little hill to the next level. Why do we buy passes to amusement parks when we could just go to parking garages? So we went to the very top of the garage. That's right....we passed up a ton of spaces just to go to the top. We got to ride the elevator, go through the tunnel, ride another elevator, find the information desk (which also had really fun displays), ride another elevator, find our friend, then ride all of the elevators back again. THEN, we got to go DOWN the parking garage. While I got a little car sick and dizzy from it all, the girls had a blast! Ok Trinity, CALM DOWN and enjoy the moment. I don't think God could have spoken it clearer. It seemed that no matter how stinky my attitude got, the girls found joy in the things I thought were irritating.
Next stop.....to the mall to pick up my contacts. Check. That didn't take very long at all. And by the time we got there, my attitude was MUCH better....you might have even considered me a little fun by this time! And just guess what the eye place in the mall was next to.....an escalator! So guess what we did? Yep....we rode it up, then back down. The girls wanted to just walk around the mall, so we did! And in our walk around the mall, we rode every escalator and elevator. We got a treat and went to the other stores for the day.
So, the lesson I learned............RELAX......don't stress out over things that don't really matter.....enjoy the moment.......and........ride some elevators.......they might make you a little sick, but the six of us sure had fun!

Just so you know......

I have tried to post pictures for the last two nights. I don't know why it isn't uploading the pictures. I will have pictures up soon....promise! And for the record......this is the shortest post EVER!!!!!

First Day of school

Yay that my pictures uploaded! We had a great first day of school. We found their backpacks at Children's Place on sale for $8.50 each.....quite the good sale AND they had FOUR different styles! The girls got GREAT teachers and we are really excited about the year.
I can't believe how much they are growing! S is in kindergarten this year! M was in kindergarten when we got her, then repeated kindergarten the next year....I can't believe the last one is in kindergarten now! It is fun to look back and see how far they have come and how much they have grown up. Actually, it's therapeutic to look back...sometimes it is hard to see how far they have come if we just focus on the problems in front of us. So I like to look back every once in a while, and times like this where there is a lot of tradition is a good time for that.

The girls did great getting up early and getting ready. No whining. No fights. No fits. THAT is why I love the first day of school! They were all nervous, or more excited. M was nervous about 4th grade math out of a book, H was nervous/excited to see all of her friends, A was nervous that she would get in trouble and get a ticket, and she was also nervous that someone would be allergic to something, and S wasn't really nervous, she was just excited because she heard that her teacher gives out gum!

When they came home, they were actually pretty grumpy and kind of mean. But I see it like this: Kids will fall apart where they feel the safest and pull it together when they feel like they have to. For example, most kids (hopefully most kids) act right at school, but come apart at home, but if you notice the kids who have trouble at school......it might be because that is where they feel safest, not at home. Anyway, didn't mean to put all of that out there, but I did. Back to the story....the girls pulled it together well at school, but they haven't had to do that in a while, so it really drained them and they just fell apart at home (actually on the way home!)

But when we talked to them about their day, S's highlight was that she didn't move her bone. If you move your bone in her class, it means you didn't make good choices. I'm sure we will have our share of moving the bone, but I'm also very glad it wasn't the first day!

I asked A if she learned anything at school and of course she said yes. I fully expected to hear something rather profound. Maybe a new word or something about somebody there. Oh no....this girl did learn something new........she learned that the water out of the water fountain really tasted good!

H was VERY excited that she got a Popsicle! Yep, the highlight of her day...a Popsicle! She also enjoyed telling us whose class all of her friends were in.

M took a test the first day. She wasn't thrilled because she said she didn't know a lot of the answers and doesn't think she did good on the test. But overall, she seemed to be happy. She is going to have to work really hard, but I think she will have a great year.

I know this is going to be a good school year....can't wait to see exactly what is in store. And, just so you know...A's teacher is our good friend, so she knows to expect the unexpected with her (like dead mice and stuff!)

I-love-chants....I-love-chants....I-love-chants....I.....

Yes, I LOVE chants! I make anything a chant. I wave my hands up and down with the rhythm of the chants. My kids at church know me and know how I love chants. They also know that sometimes I wait to proceed with whatever we are doing until all of them are chanting with me. Just picture this little example with me...50 kids at children's camp waiting to eat lunch when Miss Trinity comes out with a letter for one of the kids from home. What do we do? We chant. Open it....open it....open it.... and we keep chanting until everyone is chanting and then the person opens the mail. That is just one example. My kids, my church kids that is, pretty much know, and I don't have to get very far in the chant before I have a whole bunch of little voices chanting with me.....music to my ears!
My other chanting buddies.....my sister Bethany and my friend Emily. We all three LOVE to chant. I must say that Emily has come a LONG ways in her chanting abilities. Used to, she made up the craziest, non rhyming chants with no rhythm at all, however, her chants were very funny and we all got lots of laughs from them! They have come a long ways, and now she makes up great chants, most of the time. When we were getting ready for VBS, she was thinking of ways to decorate her room. She decided she would get some boxes and "make it like a horse, then paint it like a cow." Random I know. But it made a great chant and it will still pop up into my head and I will chant.... make it like a horse, paint it like a cow........make it like a horse, paint it like a cow...... Yes I do. I know that this is probably a little too far into my brain than most of you wanted to go, but I really do like chants. They really make me happy.
Saying all of this, you know my girls love chanting. We chant all of the time, and even though you probably wouldn't guess it, Autumn likes chanting too. I know she sure doesn't come across as the chanting type, but she is a really fun chanter, let me tell you. We chant at pretty much anything. We might be driving down the road, for example, and one of the girls says, "I want a drink." (That is a very whiny voice when she says I want a drink). So instead of trying to deal with the whiny girl, we just might chant, I want a drink......I want a drink.......I want a drink....... Most of the time, by the time we get done chanting, everyone is happier (because chanting does that to you) and the whininess (made up the word) is gone for the moment. That is one of the MANY times we chant. I'm sure you can all imagine some other scenarios, and I just don't want to torture you to have to read about all of the times we chant.
But...................
You do need to know about a particular chant. A was in pre-k, and we got a "yellow slip" in her folder. She moved her car that day from green to yellow. Going from green to yellow is not good. It means you did something wrong and got in trouble. Now, this wasn't the first yellow slip of the year, but if I remember right, she had been doing really good, so we were a little frustrated/disappointed to get a yellow slip. The front of the slip had the check mark by "not following directions". Well, that is very broad. Sometimes that is all that is on those slips, so then we have to go through the long process of trying to figure out exactly what happened and why did they not follow directions. Sometimes, that long process ends in calling the teacher to get the whole story. This time, however, on the back of the slip, the teacher had written something like this: A, along with several others were chanting "We want pizza" in line at the cafeteria.
Oh man, I have to admit, that I just started CRACKING up! I couldn't help it. I couldn't hold back the laughter until I wasn't around her. Nope, I just laughed really hard right there in front of her, with her big brown eyes and wrinkled eyebrows looking up at me a little confused. I could just imagine in my head all of these little kids lined up, waving their hands up and down, and chanting we want pizza at the top of their lungs. No, I couldn't hold in the laughter. So we asked her what happened. Well, the cafeteria usually had pizza on every Wednesday. But they changed the menu unexpectedly, so the kids came to school thinking it was pizza day, and they didn't get pizza. From everything we can tell, A did not start the chant and honestly, she doesn't even like pizza that much. BUT, the girl will join in any chant. Poor girl....she was very confused at why we chant at home but get in trouble at school......oops...I guess we shouldn't chant that much.
Needless to say, we had a talk that day about how shouting "we want pizza" might have hurt the cooks' feelings and that while chanting is VERY fun, you just have to chant in the appropriate times (which I needed that lesson too). But, we just had to test her and see if she would join in another chant. We started chanting things that didn't make sense like "I like dirt.....I like dirt.....I like dirt" I guess it is going to take a little more than just one talk about not joining in any chant, cause she joined right in right away!

Adopting another child

Before you call me and ask me what in the world we are thinking, just read the rest of the story please! In church today, it was announced that you could sign up to "adopt" a student for the year. You make this teen part of your family by spending time with them, taking them to dinner, going to their games, etc. I think it's a great idea and a great way to disciple and help these kids grow in the Lord. I was so excited about it, so I signed up after church. I asked the girls if they were excited to adopt a youth, and three of them answered with a yes, and one with a no. Then the questions started:
When are we getting the kid?
Where are they going to stay?
Who are we getting?
Where do they live now?
When are they coming?

Obviously, they were very confused. They thought we were getting another kid from foster care to live with us. No matter how many times I explained that we aren't having another kid come to live with us, they did not understand. They kept on asking where the kid we are getting is living now. I'm guessing that no other child in the church was confused by the adopt-a-kid program like ours were! Well, I THINK that everyone understands, but only time will tell. We find out in a couple of weeks who we get to "adopt". The girls are so excited to "adopt," even if it is just a pretend adoption!