Brielle's 1st time as a Tadpole

Brielle participated in swim lessons for the first time. It was a series of about 8 lessons, and tonight was her final night. She is signed up for another session this spring. She was in the "Tadpole" group with her cousin Josie and one other girl. Her swim teacher's name was Taylor. Several other cousins were at this same lesson time in other groups, including: Connor, Emma, Sam, Wilson, & Pierce... for a total of 7 cousins! Thanks to Brielle's aunts :) for always getting her to swim lessons while I was at work and Tim at track practice.

The younger kids wear floatation belts as they are learning because the shallow end of this pool is 4 1/2 feet. This is the same pool where Kristen, Jenny, and Alexia swam for 10 + years each through club swim team & high school swim team.

Brielle had a lot of fun and always looked very comfortable in the pool. One skill she seemed to master over the last few weeks is her "bobs". She plunges underwater and comes up with a smile :). She is very proud to show this off whenever she would catch us watching her. Her backfloats and doggie paddle improved too.

Another skill they worked on was jumping off the starting block. Sometimes Brielle wanted Taylor there to catch her, but Taylor worked on encouraging Brielle to jump on her own. In the photos below, Taylor was off to the side and Brielle did jump on her own. You can see a big smile on Brielle's face after she did it.

And a FIRST for tonight... Brielle jumped off the diving board. She walked to the end so quick and jumped right off, that this is my best picture :). I switched the camera to video-capture, but didn't get it in time. That's okay because I'm proud of the fact that she jumped off right away. Later, Taylor gave the 3 girls their report cards & a treat. Brielle was pretty excited about her Skittles, since Taylor told them last week that if they did a good job they would get Skittles.

Josie & Brielle :

Spacial Awareness

Last week Brielle & I were walking back to my car after swim lessons. She was seeming very grown up as she was munching on an apple that Jolene gave her and talking to me all about her swim lesson.

We walked through the parking lot and up to the driver side of my car. I was reaching to open the door, when I said, "Oh, Brielle, this is not your side. Your car seat is on the other side."

Brielle said, "I know, Mom, but if you would have parked the car in BACKWARDS, my car seat would be on this side."

"You're right!" I said, as I was wowed by her spacial awareness. :)

iPod touch & Brielle

Brielle is showing John how to work Dad's iPod touch. There are a couple games on it that she is pretty good at playing. One is a matching game and the other is a whiteboard where she can draw. She also likes the Google Maps app-- she likes to look at the roads and will sometimes tell us she's looking at a map of a certain place-- such as a city or a farm. She will tell us we can use the map she has found to get somewhere. She calls this her "GPS."

She "explores" through the apps on the iPod touch and has found things Tim didn't even know were on there. For example, she found where you can set the different sound effects such as alerts & beeps. Brielle & John were laughing at the variety of sounds. Also, the other night Tim woke up to hear an alarm going off at 12:30 am... he had to look around before he found out it was coming from his iPod touch. Hmmm... we think Brielle must have been the reason for that too!

Baking chocolate chip bars

Aprons on + measuring cups in hand = ready to bake with Dad.

Handprint & Footprint Artwork

Brielle & John often come home with some very cute artwork that they make at Aunt Becky's house. Becky thinks up some creative projects, often using handprints & footprints to make different pictures. It's fun to hear the kids explain what they made & how they made it. The kids say it tickles when Becky paints their hands & feet :). The artwork is fun to hang up at home and great for the box of keepsakes. We also can see how their hands & feet change over time.

PB & J on her own

Brielle, John & I had a picnic on our porch Friday. Brielle made PB & J sandwiches for herself & John. She even got everything out all on her own. She was very proud of herself... and so was I :).

In pursuit of Thin Mints :)

More techno talk from the kids...

Today John said "I found some BIG DVDs!! I found some big DVDs!"

Castles & GPS

Conversation after reading one of Brielle's Disney Princess Books:

John: "Is that castle for all the princesses?"

Kristen: "Yes... would you like to see a castle someday?"

Brielle: "Yes! Where is there one?"

Kristen: "I don't know..."

Brielle: "The GPS can tell us."

Perspective

I haven't taken many blog-worthy photos lately... so I went into my archives and chose one that makes me smile :). This was taken by the photographer at Jenny's wedding. During Jenny & Jef's wedding ceremony, it was pretty sunny, so John was chilling out in Tim's shades.

Naps & Baking

John has been a little "under the weather" so it was a quiet weekend for us. Tim even worked in a nap since John warmed him up & relaxed him so much :).

Last night, Brielle helped Tim make some homemade bread... yum! A couple months ago, Tim decided he wanted to learn how to make homemade bread. He has gotten great tips & advice from his mom.

Brielle's favorite job is when Tim asks her to help him "punch the bread." In her words, "You get very dusty."

Here she is today with the finished product.