Holidays Grim

You know the telephone game where something is said from one person to another and the end result is unintelligible?  That's exactly what happened when Tam learned Christmas songs at school for the kindergarten holiday program, then came home and taught them to Kate and Yeb.  

It was fun to go to the kindergarten program and hear was all the songs actually say.  The actual version of this song says (I think) Holiday Christmas, or maybe Holiday Traditions, or something like that.  Who knows?  We only sing "Holidays Grim" at our house.  

Tam Turned 6!

Tam looked forward to his birthday for months.  He waited patiently (for the most part) through the other two kids' birthdays, so he was pretty hyped up to FINALLY celebrate his own.  We decided to keep it as low key as possible, because the last thing Tam needed on a really exciting day was even more excitement he didn't know how to deal with.  As it was, it was a very rough morning, but he had a great afternoon, enjoyed all the attention at kindergarten, and was pumped to have his little party that evening.  

Tam got a birthday crown from school, and Kate decided to make one for everyone else.

He chose macaroni and cheese for his birthday dinner, and then Grandma and Grandpa came over for cake, ice cream and presents.  It was really fun for him to be the center of attention and to enjoy all the birthday festivities.  The next morning he wanted me to explain in detail exactly when his next birthday would happen.

His new favorite line to use when explaining why he can/is allowed to do something is now "Because I six."

First Swim

We went to Kerry's sister and brother-in-law's house in Huntington to celebrate New Years, and while we were there Tom's parents invited us to come swim in their pool.  Even though the boys came home last spring with plenty of pool season to enjoy, we spent the whole summer ridding them of giardia.  I'm guessing that all the chemicals in pools would have probably taken care of any danger of it spreading to other people, but....ick.  So the boys still hadn't been in a pool.  Come to think of it, they've only been in a bathtub twice, both times at Tom and Nancy's house, because we only have showers at our house. 

End result: they now think of Tom and Nancy's as the coolest place ever, and they still had the awesome kid confidence that since they knew what swimming was, they would surely be master swimmers.

We headed over to the pool, got the kids and Kerry all in swim suits, and had to keep a VERY close eye on the boys because they had no concept of the danger the pool could be.  They were seriously trying to just jump in.  After getting life jackets and floaties on everyone and going over basic safety, they were ready to try it out!

This shows a little of the excitement Yeb had.  And me at the end yelling for Kerry to grab a kid?  That also happened repeatedly. :)

It was absolutely hilarious.  Seriously.  I think that it made up for about a month's worth of tantrums to see them swim for the first time.  Yeb just flailed around, yelled in excitement and was continually thrilled by the water splashing on his face, Tam had the initial flail and then started watching the older kids to copy, and Kate calmly paddled around all the mayhem.  

 After swimming for a bit, Kate was still paddling calmly, Yeb had retired to the steps to play with some water toys, and Tam had swallowed enough water to make himself throw up, which ended the pool play date.

I'm excited to take our whole family swimming this summer, and to get Tam and Kate in swim lessons!