Brrrr!

What should have been a fantastic week for swim lessons, ended up the total opposite. Mommy signed me up months ago for the parent and tot swim lessons at Fairfax pool. Little did she know, that the weather would barely reach the mid-70's this week. All of the babies were shivering with blue lips. Mommy and I still went everyday despite the cold weather and some of my fussiness (due to the cold). The best part of the swim class was playing with my buddies, since many of Mommy's co-workers and friends also signed up their little ones. Finley and I look "super" excited to get into the water, don't we?!?!? Finley's Mommy is job-sharing with my Mommy next year. It was great to see him since it's been awhile!Finley is negotatiting with Carter and I... "if you go, I will go too!"

Here is my silly bear walk that I do when I don't like the way the ground feels on my knees. Mommy keeps trying to convince me to just stand up and walk, but crawling is still so much faster!!!

Finley let me borrow his rattle to help Mommy get me dressed each day. She agrees with Heather when she mentioned it is like wrestling an alligator these days! After all of my hard work, all I got was this fancy certificate. I thought it should have also called for DQ, but Mommy was too cold to even consider ice cream.

Here we are at the end of class. Notice the smiles?!

Part of the class was learning to dive off of the diving board... no seriously, it wasn't that we had to dive, but we did need to "jump". All of the parents just about fainted when they heard that the babies were going to go off the diving board. Mommy said, "No way am I going to let my baby go off of that thing!!!" She didn't say that to the instructors of course, but in the end, she gave way to peer pressure and made me walk the plank. Surprisingly, I didn't scream at all, although I was a bit shaken afterwards. We practiced jumping off on the board on Tuesday and Thursday. Mommy requested that they turn on the waterslide so that we could go down together, but they didn't have time. Next week, I am signed up for my last week of swim lessons for the summer and all I can do is pray that the weather is much warmer and that I don't have to go off of that diving board again!

Laurie Jo hosted the week's playdate. Her theme was farm animals and she even had some funky farm hats (we weren't even going to try to get a picture of all the kids in a hat). Ms. Lily is getting so big... look how cute Lily and her Mommy look!

Maddy was there too and I haven't seen her since her swim party. She showed us all kinds of fun animal sounds that she knows. At this point, I can growl and meow, but we are working on many other animal sounds too.

Carter and I were playing with a massager that belongs to Laurie Jo. Mommy thinks I should learn how to use that on her back. Funny how we have tons of toys to play with, but instead we just play with everyday items around the house!

Laurie Jo offered the Mommies lemonade and margaritas (the real reason the Moms love playdates). To Mommy's surprise, I didn't mind eating the lemon, as you can see above. She says she can't figure me out because I like black olives, pickles and lemons, but I won't eat vegetables! In case you are wondering what my onesie says, it states, "Man of your Dreams" and it was given to me by my uncle Jimmy. He is trying to teach me the ropes of being a ladies man!

My latest craze is playing in our toilets. Daddy even bought toilet locks that are supposed to keep me out of the toilets. Little did he know that when the toilet "sweats" the sunctions unstick and I find myself the greatest toy invented. I alread know how to lift the lid... one less skill my parents need to teach me when they potty train! Mommy tells me this keeps her on Daddy's case to keep the toilets clean. He is the toilet cleaner of the house.So this is why my Dad is in the bathroom for sooooo long... reading material!My second most favorite toy in the bathroom is the funny, spinning thing with toilet paper. If you come to our house, you will notice that the paper rolls are bulky and strange looking, since Mommy insists on winding the paper back up after I spin it off.My parents left me on Thursday night because they were given reserved Country Jam tickets that night, by our neighbor Don. They were happy to go on a date and I went to the neighbor's house for a few hours and then to Grandma Lois' for the night. We had fun and Grandma let me stay up late (because she had some friends over). It was a win-win situation for all!

Daddy's all smiles with his "adult sippy cups" of choice

Mommy is dancing away to the music. Am I too young to be embarassed about my parents???

The reason they left me was for this guy, Tim McGraw (they were in the 5th row off to the right of the stage, and the jumbo-tron was right there too, which is why Tim McGraw looks like he was right in front of them...Mommy wishes!)

This was their actual seat placement at the Jam... great tickets! The guy on stage before Tim McGraw was Blake Sheldon, who Daddy liked better than Tim McGraw.

Back to me.... I now know the "secret spot" that the dog bones are kept. Liberty is loving me even more these days, because I give her at least 4 milk bones each day. Most of the time, Mommy doesn't notice that I have ANOTHER bone in my hand until it is too late. Liberty is looking a little chunky lately, so my parents will probably need to re-locate the dog treats. I tease Liberty by handing her the bone and then snatching it away. It's a good thing she isn't a pit-bull since I probably wouldn't have any fingers anymore. She usually gets the treat after Mommy comes to the rescue or if I accidentally drop it. It doesn't take long for Mommy to realize I have a treat for Liberty because I crack up laughing with this little game we play.

Mommy finally captured me dancing the other morning. While I have my breakfast, I watch Disney Playhouse and they always play the "Hotdog Dance" during the show. We all dance and sing to the song as part of our silly, morning routine. Unfortunately, Mommy held the camera vertically, so you will have to tilt your head to see me dancing. I think I have good rhythm and skills!

On Sunday, we went to Great-Grandpa Jim's house in Woodbury to celebrate his 85th birthday! All of my aunts (great-aunts and aunt Stefanie), uncles (great-uncles and uncle Jimmy), cousins, Papa and Grandma Sharon were there. We had a nice time eating lunch, visiting and swimming together. Great-Grandpa is in the very late stages of Alzheimer's but he always has a kind smile and "happy eyes" when we visit. We always cherish our time with him.

Daddy and I swimming in the pool. I am pretty brave around water now (thanks to the diving board episode)

A fun day at Grandpa's pool

Grandpa was pretty tired and was falling asleep as we were reading him our birthday cards and giving him our gift. Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Stefanie, Mommy and I tried to keep him awake for a picture, but we didn't have any luck. He must have been pretty tired from his birthday celebration!

To end our week, Mommy and Daddy loaded up my wagon and we headed to Irvine Park to see the animals. I was amazed by the Lemur (the silly looking monkey that looks like a raccoon). It had a huge tummy and it was making chattering sounds at us.

In the beginning, I couldn't figure out what the heck I was looking at... is it a raccoon or a monkey? Maybe I will call it a moncoon! I am still intrigued by this creature...I started to laugh because I think this animal is quite funny! You can see the little rascal in the background. I am looking forward to Daddy's work picnic on Wednesday so that I can check-in on the animals again. I really had fun at the park and I had a fun and busy week overall!