Swimming pictures and video

As promised, here are some photos and a from yesterday's class. James can jump into the water, swim to his teacher, swim back to the wall and them swim to the steps. I was so impressed and he seemed to be having a great time. His teacher has been doing an awesome job with him.

James jumping in


James swimming to his teacher


James climbing out of the pool


Video of James swimming

The patio cover is done!!!

Our patio over is all finished now!!! Last week they finished up the electrical work, hung the speakers, fans and flood lights, and put the brick on the columns. Our friends came over last night to hook up the stereo system for me. Afterwards, we ate dinner and enjoyed some good conversation on the patio. It all looks great and we will definitely be enjoying it for many, many years to come. Here are some pictures of the final product.

Swim lessons at the YMCA

We finally got off our duffs and enrolled James in swim lessons. He went to the YMCA pool four times last week and will go four times this week. The first two days were kind of a bust because he had a substitute teacher and she wasn't great at handling more than two kids. Thankfully his real teacher knows her stuff and keeps James in line. James has been doing really well with kicking and floating on his tummy but still can't relax enough to float on his back. Hopefully these next four classes will go well and we'll have a little fish soon. When we went to the pool on Friday, he only wanted to wear his arm floaties and not his life jacket. He was jumping in and swimming back to the wall to do it all over again. I'll post photos soon.

Patio cover - Week 2

A lot of progress was made on the patio cover this week. Monday the electician came and did all of the wiring and the framers finished the overhang. After that, the shingles were put on and all the hardiplank went up. The painters came and our new screen door was hung Saturday morning. Finally, the gutters were put on Sunday afternoon. Here are some pictures from this past week.

Overhang finished


Shingles on and hardiplank finished


All painted, gutters on and new door hung

Zoobilee and weekend fun

This past Friday we attended Zoobilee with our friends, the Keaslers. It was a lot of fun to see th animals in the evening for once (we always go in the morning). They were all out and about enjoying the nice breeze. We thought that since it was a members only event that the crowds would be smaller than normal but boy were we wrong. The parking lots were packed and we had to park quite a ways away. Oh well, we could all use the exercise. The boys had a great time and that's all that mattered. Below are some pictures of the boys in their frog masks.

John in his red frog mask


James in his frog mask sitting in Kristen's lap


The rest of the weekend was super busy. Saturday afternoon I had a baby shower to attend so the boys got to hang out with my parents at their new house. After the shower, I picked James up and we went to his friend Emily's birthday party. It was over just in time for us to catch Kung Fu Panda which James LOVED. Hopefully we can catch it again before it leaves the theaters. John got to spend the night at Gammie's house which was a lot of fun for him.

Sunday morning we met up with my parents, my Aunt Santos, and John to have breakfast. James gave my dad his Father's Day gift, which my dad really liked. We got him a portable GPS system so that he won't get lost in Houston anymore. Sunday afternoon we hit the pool for a bit before picking up Molly from the pet ranch and going to Kristen's for dinner. James did really well in the water so I'm hoping that he enjoys swimming lessons. He starts today (Monday) and has eight 30 minute sessions. Check back for pictures and updates!

Patio cover, Week 1

After weeks and weeks of searching, we finally found an awesome contractor to build our patio cover. Thus far he's been doing a great job of keeping us informed with the days activities. This past week they moved a couple of sprinkler heads, poured the concrete and got the cover all framed up. Here are some pictures from this past week.

Wednesday - Concrete poured


Thursday - Framing started


Friday - Roof framed


Saturday - Felt laid down for shingles

Our new toy

Well we finally broke down and got ourselves a Wii. Thus far we're having a great time playing the games we bought. Our friend brought over his Wii Fit and we had a blast with it. James loved playing the soccer balance game. James is slowly starting to learn how to play Mario Kart. Here are a few pictures of the boys on the Fit board.

James heading the soccer balls


John on the fit board

Birthday Party Fun!

The day James had been waiting for all year had finally arrived. It was FINALLY the day of his birthday party. He was so excited to jump and slide on the inflatables. He had a blast with all of his friends. I hardly got any pictures of him because he was too busy running around having fun. Everyone had a blast, even the adults. A huge thanks to everyone who made the long drive to Katy for the party. We really appreciate you coming to celebrate with us. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts. Both boys are having an absolute blast playing with everything!

The cake (both the boys are obsessed with the Backyardigans)


James after he went down the slide. This was by far the favorite inflatable in the room.


John in the obstacle course.


All the party guests after a long afternoon of jumping and sliding.


Blowing out the candles

Final Soccer Game

James' final soccer game was this past Saturday. He actually did a good job keeping up with the other kids and kicked off the ball after the other team scored a goal. Plus they won their game! We plan to put him in soccer in the fall but we are switching to the Katy Youth Soccer league. There the teams are only 6 kids and they play 3 on 3 at games. This way he'll get a lot more playing time and will hopefully develop more skills. We'll keep practicing over the summer. Here are some photos from the game and James getting his trophy.

James running on the field


Getting ready to defend


I got a TROPHY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!

James celebrated his 4th birthday last Thursday. He wanted to go eat at the jungle place a.k.a. Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We sat near one of the gorillas. James had a blast going around to the different animals and seeing the alligator and elephant they have outside the restaurant. He opened his presents from Mom, Dad, and John after dinner. He is totally in love with the new Lightning McQueen car he got from John. Poor John was not a huge fan of the restaurant. The fake rain storms really freaked him out and he didn't enjoy sitting near the moving animals. Here are some photos.

A puzzle clock


Opening a gift from Mom and Dad


New Lightning McQueen car