Swim lessons

Ella has been taking private swimming lessons once a week for the past month or so. She absolutely loves to be in the water and has had so much fun and learned so much with one on one instruction. All the girls have completed their life saving instruction "swim float swim" lessons and are now moving on to regular stroke instruction. She is learning the Red Cross method that has 6 levels and can eventually take her all the way to life guarding. Ella is the only one that has an interest right now. Scheduling is hard for Taylor and Emma is more of a lounge swimmer so time will tell with them. I am not pushing them since they have both completed the most important life saving techniques so I now they have the knowledge and ability to save themselves if ever needed.

Ella with Miss Amanda, her instructor, choosing her diving eggs.

Ella swimming through a hula hoop in the pool. It is lowered a little every week so she can get closer to the bottom with each try.

Ella swimming with "big" arms(regular swim stroke) and eyes in. She can swim the length of a therapy pool this way coming up to take a breath and putting her head right back in. She is also is great at the back stroke.

Emma hanging out in her corner while Ella has her lesson. It is so nice that they let her do this so it keeps her busy, too. They both then get a little hot tub time to warm up.

Lazy day...

at the Sharpe's for Champ and Romo. They both love to lay in the formal living room where the sun shines bright through the window most of the afternoon. The floor is nice and warm with lots of room to spread out. It's good that they don't mind sharing their space.

Ella

The girls have been working on many things at preschool over the last few months getting them ready for kindergarten. With each thing they master they get a certificate of completion that goes in their "graduation" book that they will bring home at the end of the year. I haven't gotten to see this yet so I am very excited. They have each mastered their letters, shapes, colors and counting to 10. Emma is also part of the "100 club" which is counting to 100 with NO help. Ella is almost there....we have been practicing. Counting to 100 is not a requirement but something fun for the kids to work on. This doesn't need to be mastered until the end of kindergarten so there are no worries if Ella doesn't get there just yet....just the pressure of knowing that Emma has already done it. They also had to recite The Pledge of Allegiance which is so cute I wanted to share it. We will be having parent/teacher conferences for kindergarten readiness later in March. In fact, I have already registered them for the school year starting in fall but I don't think it has quite set in for me yet. The girls are very excited though!

Emma

Finally!

We have been waiting for our new piano for a couple of months now. We researched, shopped and picked this one out around Christmas but they only had the floor model at the time that was in poor condition so Dave finally got to pick up a new one today. The timing couldn't be better. Taylor starts her private lessons this week with the same instructor that taught her group lesson. She is very excited about the lessons and the new piano.

Taylor's Date....

...with daddy. Friday was the father/daughter dance at school. This was the first one so we weren't sure what to expect but Taylor had great fun! She got to get all dressed up, hair curled and even a little make-up (lip gloss and sparkle face powder). Daddy even got her an arm corsage to wear. Each girl got a long stem red rose, punch and cookies, a waltz dance lesson and their picture taken. Emma and Ella are hoping they do it next year so they can have a date with daddy, too.