Braska Bear

Braska reporting: Me and Kinlee have swim lessons on Wednesdays with Coach  Danielle.  She’s really good at teaching us.  We’re both able to swim the WHOLE way down the pool by ourselves, but we still get pretty tired. I am just now getting good at jumping, so tonight I wanted to do it a lot.  And Mommy took some movies and helped me put them together for you.

Mommy is having fun with Auntie Rachel’s camera. So we’ve been doing a lot of “cheeeese.” Sometimes I do my serious thinking face, though. KiKi had swim lessons tonight, and she pretended to be a puppy. But she swam pretty good tonight!  Then we went to cheer with Daddy while Mommy had a meeting.  We need a staycation, Mommy says.  And a blank calendar. We watched a little baseball and football, too.  The Cardinals forgot to play at their game tonight.  But the Bears played great and WON!  Da Bears!

KiKi started her first swim class with friends.  She was pretty excited about it.  Then we went to Grandma C’s house.  Our cousins were in town, and we always try to visit with them when they come to Grandma C’s.  I didn’t really feel like playing much, just did my own thing with the flashcards today.  That’s my favorite game.  Throwing flashcards all around.  Shay and KiKi and Xander ran all around like crazy kids. But they stopped to take a picture of us all together before we came home. Daddy and KiKi had some cuddles after we got home.  That’s one of KiKi’s favorite things to do.  And Daddy’s too.  Even Belle got in on it under Daddy’s legs. That’s a pretty good day, I think.  Lots of fun, then home for family time.

For America’s birthday, we like to go to Miss Cindy’s house, so this year… we did again! We were SO glad to see Grandma C.  KiKi squeezed a little too hard though. Miss Cindy always has the best snacks. She even had neat things to keep the chip dip cool while we were outside when it was 105 degrees! Since we were going to be in hot sun for a long time, we wore our outside swim suits. They keep our arms safe from sun.   We like to hang out with Mommy in the water.  She kept trying to relax on the lay-down thing, but me and KiKi climbed on top of her.  We called it the Mommy Boat. Mommy tried to help me work on my floating on my back. Because I do NOT like that at all.  But I did pretty good this time!  We counted to 10 each time we practiced, and we did lots of practice times! KiKi had to do it, too, of course.  She did a good job! We were in the pool ALL day and had so much fun!...

Daddy was supposed to be home today when we woke up.  But he’s not.  And we’re sad.  He got stuck in Texas because they wouldn’t bring him home last night like they said they would.  So this morning they sent him to Miami. We didn’t think that was on the way from Oregon to St. Louis, but I guess we were wrong.  We hope he can get home today. While Daddy was flying to Florida he took this picture to send us.  That’s the ocean. And we hope we get to see it and splash it in one day! While Daddy was in Florida, we went on a little trip of our own.  It’s our special weekend at Aunt Karol’s !!  Mommy took us to a town in Illinois called Springfield that’s between our house and their house.  Then we put all our stuff in Aunt Karol’s car and off we went!  Yay!! We got to go swimming!!  And sometimes I just like to play in the water when I’m not swimming. We LOVE that the big kids swam with us too!...

We went out to see my teacher, Miss Amy, today. She wasn’t at her own house, but she was playing with Ella, her niece, at her house.  Ella’s 3, like KiKi, and she was really fun to play with. The water was kinda cold, but we still got in.  KiKi got in first. I swam around too, but then we played for a while in the water table by the pool. We were there for a while, we had some lunch by the pool, and then Ella’s big sister Emily brought us popsicles!  They were yummy! Thanks Ella, and thanks Miss Amy for letting us come and swim!!

Mondays are busy around here.  First I go to school.  Today, Mya came to feeding with me, and she helped me.  She is so good at teaching me new stuff.  Everybody should get to have a friend like that. After nap, I go to swim with Miss S. After swim, I get dried off and we pick up KiKi and Daddy so we can go to cheer!  Tonight I practiced climbing up and standing tall with my coaches.  The first time, I did a little better by doing my high-V instead of just holding on to them. And then the second time, I did even better!  I let go and did a high-V way up on top! KiKi likes to do the big stand-ups too.  Here was her first one tonight… And here’s her second one, when they went all the way up!! See me there at the bottom looking up at her?  I am not ready to be up that high yet, but yay for KiKi! After cheer, we go home and go to bed. It’s a full day!  Monday’s are fun at our house!

(Seriously? This is day 100 of this year?  Unreal.) Mondays are when I have swim class.  Me and Miss S go swimming together, and she helps me learn how to do it better.  I took a break for a while when it was cold, but now I’m working hard again.  I’ve been using this when I swim, but last week, Miss S said I was doing better and could just use the regular swim belt that they have.  Mommy hasn’t seen me swim for a while because she’s been working or busy when I had swim class. I was excited she got to take me tonight! SO… tonight she was surprised to see me doing this…. (yep, it’s movie time…here it is…) And one more little peek at my out and in. It was FUN to go up and down the pool all those times.  I did 10 laps!  In case you can’t see my silly face in that one…  here’s another one… I was so excited that I got to swim all by myself.  I was laughing while I was swimming! It is going to be a REALLY ...

Mommy and Daddy went out tonight with PaPaw to a special show.  Auntie Rach and Uncle Patrick came over to stay with us.  But we didn’t really “stay” much, at least me and Auntie Rachel didn’t. First we went to my swim lesson at the Y.  KiKi and Auntie Rach watched me practice with Miss S.  I’m doing pretty well.  It’s about time for a new swim movie, I think! After I got done, it was time to get dressed and go home for a shower.  First we had to stop and play with the mirror a little. I got cleaned up and dressed again, Stopped for a quick book with Uncle Patrick, and me and Auntie Rachel went to a meeting about a show I’m gonna be in later this month.  After we got home, we got ready for bed.  It was a busy evening!  But it’s always fun to play with them when they come over!

The doorbell rang today and KiKi went to open it.  Mommy got there right at the same time and told her she can’t just unlock and open the door without Mommy’s permission.  She told us both that we have to wait for an adult to open the door to make sure we’re safe.  Man… there is just ALWAYS something new to learn! The mailman was at the door to give us a package that wouldn’t fit in the mailbox.  We didn’t know anything was coming, so we opened it right away.  This is what was in there…. It’s called a Puddle Jumper, and it’s like the one that Jack let me borrow.  I just love to swim with this, because I can do it all myself, moving around and playing without holding on to anything.  Since we need to give Jack’s back to him, our extra special secret shopper got it for me!  What a nice surprise! All day I kept asking Mommy to take me to the Y to swim.  But we couldn’t go today.  I hope we go soon!  AND I’m ready for summer at ...

I got up early today, but then I went back to sleep in Mommy’s bed.  I didn’t sleep very well last night, so she let me sleep for a while.  But then it was time for school and I just woke up!  I was kinda snotty in my nose, so I got to take a nice warm shower. We call it de-snotting.  I just like it because I LOVE to take showers! Oh, and it really does feel better to get all that icky stuff out of my nose.  I finally got to school, and it was PJ day, but Mommy forgot to take a picture of me in my p-jammies because we were in a big hurry to get to school and then after school too.  Don’t worry, I’ll wear p-jammies in a picture again soon! We finally got to eat lunch and take naps, then when Daddy got home, we all went to the Y.  Mommy took me and KiKi to the pool to play and swim and swim and swim, while Daddy went to work out. When we got home, Dad showed how strong he was. Except he sure made a funny face while he was picking us up in the...

Last Saturday we went to our first dance class.  Me and KiKi got in our pretty pink outfits with our white skinny pants.  (Mommy tried to take a picture while we were still watching Word World.  Of course we’re not going to look at her then!) It was a little chilly that day, so we thought we better wear our sweaters, too. Dance class was at Grandma C’s and PaPaw’s church, so we knew where to go. When it was our turn for class, we all sat down in a line and waited for Miss SJ to show us what to do. I really thought it was fun!  I even got to practice the princess walk with Miss SJ.  I tried pretty hard to do what she was doing. (There’s a little movie down here if you can’t see it.) KiKi got upset a little when another little girl cried.  And she didn’t want to do the group things we did.  But I think she will like it more next time.  After we did some more fun things, it was time to go. Then we we...