Sunday

Max lost his first tooth today. He was so excited. He has been asking when he will start losing teeth for a year now. It was really funny, I heard him yell in the living room and he tore into the bedroom to show me his tooth was loose. I told him to go eat some chips, thinking it would be a day or so before it came out. He had it out in 15 minutes. He was really excited and took the tooth to church with him in a baggie.

He is especially proud of the hole.

And of course Mattie had to get in on the action.

Tuesday

Well, it's in. Who's ready for a pool party?

I know Max is. He helped the guys put in the liner before we had to leave for basketball practice.
Then he helped smooth out the wrinkles by sliding down the slope into the deep end.

A few hundred times.


















The water was freezing, he was the only one brave enough to do it.


Mattie wanted to, but only got a toe in before she decided it was way too cold.

Basketball and swimming make for a long day.

Monday

Today we went swimming at the Y, again. Sorry there are no pictures, but it is indoors and really humid, so there is no way I'm taking my camera in there. Everyone is really excited about Jeff and Adrian coming this week!

We'll be back tomorrow with pictures!

We surprised Mark with breakfast in bed Saturday. He's been working hard on the pool.

Mattie picked one doughnut at the store, and then ended up eating Mark's when we got home. So Mark ate Mattie's.

Max will eat any doughnut.

Here's to Saturday mornings!

Thursday

This is Mattie's new favorite doll, a tiny Larry. It's actually a finger puppet, but Veggie Tales is her new fav cartoon. Sorry, Elmo.

Chalk and bubbles are the summer theme until the pool is ready.

Monday

Hey! We're back! This whole "summer vacation" thing has everything turned upside down, schedule wise, so we're getting everything settled.

We have spent a lot of time at the Y swimming, which Max loves and Mattie tolerates. I was really surprised how timid she was about the water. She really didn't like it at first. There were lots of tears and "no, mama" 's , but she eventually warmed up to it, but never got off my lap. The next time was better, she will go about knee deep (for her, so about six inches) and say, Look, mama, I swimming! But she was happy, so we had a good time.

Max is all over the place, under the water, kickn' around, having a great time. He is the one that talks me into going everyday, and practically gets everything ready himself, so that is big for him. He really likes it, so we will probably still go (a little bit) even after our pool is up, because the Y's pool is so shallow, and it may be the best way to get Mattie used to it.

The only pictures I have are from Memorial Day last week (sorry). We worked outside all weekend on the pool and the yards. Mark tore out the old liner, I work on the paving stones, and Mattie and Max played in the new sand box. We decided to eat outside, which was really great, but I forgot about the nasty smell from the old liner. Mark was a trooper and didn't mention it, and the kids never seem to smell anything, unless it's something I'm cooking they don't want to eat.

We had the traditional Memorial Day feast, including Mark's special hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, everything.

This is how Max looks at food he likes, someday I show you what he looks like when he doesn't like it, but ya'll have probably already seen that.

Then we topped it off with homemade strawberry shortcake and whip cream.

It was a hit, with only a hint of moldy rotting liner.