R is for Rebel Relaxing on the sofa!

This will be my post for Sat. 7/28/07More silly water slide pictures. These are from Friday July 27,2007. They had their last swim lesson and then I let them stay at the pool for another hour and 15 minutes. By the way Megan can now do a forward somersault. She went to the pool yesterday with Mike and he had her jumping off his knees. Then he would have her tuck and tumble. He finally told her to go try it by herself in the shallow water and she got it.
After I got off work yesterday I picked Paige up from a sleep over at Brittney's and then took her to the pool since Mike and Megan were still there. So we got to see Megan do her somersaults. She was so cute and so proud to show Paige that she could do it!

Last night after dinner I took the girls up to the park while Mike was at home on a conference call. Thought I would get them out of the house to burn off some energy and give Mike some quiet . We stayed at the park for an hour or so then stopped at Handel's for ice cream. We even brought Mike home a cone.

We had some much needed rain last night. It started around 3 a.m. a nice soaking rain. Our trees and flowers will be thrilled, and maybe our grass will green up!

The rain stopped in time for swim lessons. The kids had so much fun that they wanted to stay after class and practice. So I let them stay for an extra 45 minutes. They had the pool all to themselves too.

Paige has moved up from a level 4 to level 5 today and she is so proud. She is also proud of the fact that she has mastered the forward somersault.


Megan's swim instructor was impressed with how much Megan's backward streamlines have improved.. Being silly on the slide!
Megan kicking off from the wall going into her back streamline position.
Paige doing a forward somersault...she even did two in a row!


Summer smiles! Can't you just smell the chlorine ?

After another fun morning of swim lessons...it was much warmer today and the sun was out the girls got cleaned up and after lunch we went to take Joe Boxer out for Aunt Deb.

Joe is too cute, when we went out to the sun room he went straight for his doggy treat jar. We made him wait until we came back from the walk for his treats. I think the girls enjoy giving him his treats as much as he enjoys getting them.
Look at Bud and Deb's BIG sunflower and then look again and notice the bungee cords holding it up on the rain gutters. Too funny!

This is my post for Tuesday 7/24/07The pool was a little chilly yesterday! Can you see Paige standing on her tip toes to keep her tummy out of the water. Brrrr it was overcast and chilly( at 10:30 a.m. ). I even wrapped their beach towels around my shoulders and legs while I was watching. They never complained and did their lessons happily. Paige is proud of the fact that she has won all of the breath holding competitions in her class. Those big cheeks come in handy...ha ha. The sun finally came out after we were home. It did sprinkle a little around 6 p.m. just in time for me to grill the chicken.

About a week after we got back from vacation I got Megan to go down the slide by offering her a dollar. I knew she could do it.. She had gone down the slide at the hotel in Orlando and loved it. So I offer her a dollar and promised to be at the bottom and she did great, the current pushes them to the ladder. After that she went down another dozen times that day, but I told her just one dollar for the first time not a dollar for each time! ha ha:)

Here she is on the slide today after swim lessons. It is hard to get a picture of them zooming down the slide. This is the best shot out of 4 or 5 times .Swim America Swim Lessons started today. The girls will go each day for a 30 minute class. With the Swim America lessons there are different levels and as your child masters the skills in each level then they advance to the next level of the program. It is nice for me because both of the girls are in the pool at the same time so there is no waiting around. They both did very well. As a matter a fact they were both used as examples to the other kids of how to kick your legs correctly (Megan) and how to do your arms (Paige). I am very proud of them. After swim lessons I let them stay and swim for a while until they were cold and wanted to go home.

One day after I went to work the girls wanted to try on Mike's motorcycle helmet and sit on the motorcycle. These are the pictures that Mike took of them.Do you recognize the white helmet that Megan is wearing? Yep that is my old helmet with the mouth guard removed. That thing has some miles on it and good memories with my little Honda XR-75.
The girls "going fast" on the Suzuki....Mike's free bike. He got it from a friend that had stored it in a barn for 10 years. After Mike dug the mice nest out, cleaned it up and gave it some new fluids it runs like a charm. Not much on looks but it runs fine and the price was right. As I recall he got the bike on a Wed. and by Sat. it was running.
This hand sign that Megan is giving below is now referred to in our family as "Shamu Rocks" after our trip to Sea World. Paige wouldn't do it...party pooper!

Rebel is a tent dog. He loved going in the tent last weekend and playing with the girls. I came out and he was laying in the tent while he was on his tie out. Hey Dad and Shann do you recognize that old sleeping bag in the background? That's my old Coleman...must have a bazillion miles on it....all over N. CA, Nevada, Modoc, Sly Park a few times not to mention Aunt Daisey's cabin. That's a good ol sleeping bag and they don't make them like that anymore. Can you tell I love my sleeping bag...wouldn't trade it for any new fangled one...although it does weigh a ton.

How to roast marshmallows by Megan and keep all the adults at cousin Jess's graduation party entertained.1) Get cousin Ann to open a fresh bag of marshmallows.
2) Load them onto your stick and get your hands pretty sticky.
3) Look as cute as can be while roasting the marshmallows.
4) This is the important part don't catch the marshmallows on fire or drop them in the ashes.
5) Deliver the roasted marshmallows with enthusiasm to anyone who will eat them in this case Aunt Marilynn. I don't know if Aunt Marilynn really likes marshmallows or if it was just the cute smile and animated conversation of our funny 5 year old, but she sure did seem to enjoy eating them as much as Megan enjoyed making them.
These photo's were taken on the first weekend of June 2007

Over the next few days I am going to post some photos from June and early July that I did not get a chance to post because of vacation and birthdays and lack of time. So here we go!Rebel at 9 months modeling the latest in doggie life vest fashions. I needed to get Rebel a life vest since we have one for Rowdy. I prefer them to wear them when we take them out on Jim and Barb's boat and when we take them canoing. I had a coupon for a local pet store so I went there first, the only ones they had cost $50.00, oh my gosh! So I ended up looking at Anderson's (should have gone there first) and they had these for $15.00, plus my discount. Since we got Rowdy's original life vest they have changed the style a bit. I prefer the one we already have for Rowdy. It is much easier to get on and off and it has a little metal ring to attach their leash to. This one has leg holes to put their paws through...whoever thought that up has never tried to convince a puppy to put his leg in a nylon mesh hole. Then after you get the legs in you have to zip it up their back. So by the time you are done the dog feels like he is being punished but for what? Our original life vest has a padded neck hole that slips easily over their head then it has adjustable straps that go under the dogs chest and midsection, they just clip like the clips on their collars, plus it has that loop for the leash and two handles so you can lift them like a six pack out of the water. It is a much better design.

I actually had Rowdy wear the new vest and Rebel got the old one since it was easier to put on him and we don't need to leash Rowdy because he stays close by. I am happy to report that Rebel did not get sick in the boat (my prayers that I sent up must have worked). He also loves the water. He would swim out to us in the lake and paddle around for the fun of it. Unlike Rowdy who if you take him out to the "deep" water he immediately swims for shore. Rebel also liked to jump the waves coming in and to put his entire face (including his eyes) underwater to try and grab stones. It probably helped that the water in Lake Lanier was so warm too. But he really had a fun time and he wore himself out. Crazy pooch!

Paige and Megan kicking back at the little playground that is next to the sprinkler park.

Megan from 3 months to 6 years in the blink of an eye. Megan Leanna age 3 months October 2001

This was the last time that Aunt Shann came to visit us in Ohio, Megan was just 3 months old and it was October of 2001. We had the best time and made some great memories that week.
Megan meets Pop-pop for the first time at 9 months in April of 2002. And it is love at first sight! Paige is almost 4 years old, this picture was taken on the deck of our old house.
Megan at 10 months.
Megan's 1st birthday July 14,2002, we celebrated at Aunt Terry and Uncle Steve's house because we were getting ready to move.

Where did those curls go?
Brandon, Brittney and Aaron got Megan her first soccer ball for her 2nd b.day.
Megan had a Pooh and Piglet cake for birthday #2



Megan age 3, we don't have any digital pictures from Megan's 3rd birthday because our camera was being repaired that month. But these were taken in August of 2004.

Megan's 4th birthday, this is when she got her tiara and matching earrings.
Megan age 4 July 2005
Megan at the Columbus zoo June 2006
Megan picked the theme for her 5th birthday it was a "Hello Kitty Hula Party", we played musical beach towels and had a hula contest. We also had a blow up pool, a crazy daisy sprinkler and two slip and slides going all at once, oh and a Hula girl pinata too!

Blowing out the #6 candle on her birthday cake 7/14/07