Michael Phelps ... Who ?

As all of you know Connor is taking swimming lessons and is LOVING them! Not only is he loving them , but is quite gifted Ms. Karen , the instructor , says. ( He must be my child :-D ... Oh wait , I can't swim at all...) He is taking a specialized swimming course called ISR or Infant Swimming Resource. We had heard on the news and from a few fiends about this " Drown Proofing" that you could take your kids to from infancy , but I never gave it much thought. Come on , they really teach babies how not to drown ? Well, am I glad we decided to try it ! Karen is AWESOME!!! There are ISR instructors all over the country , so if you have a child6 months to 6 years , sign them up! Now , after seeing it with my own two eyes, I think it should be a law especially if you live near alot of water like we do. Anyway , enough with that soap box! On with the pictures ... You will see Connor , Ms. Karen and those Magic Toes and Airplane arms I told you about! Oh yeah , and Owen and Noah... We wouldn't want to leave them out just because they aren't swimming yet :-D




Swimming with his new " Free Style" arms




Airplane Arms and Magic Toes .... Look I can Float!!!



This is Karen touching him on the back of neck to help remind him to flip over on his back and get his air. They focus alot on survival skills like this for the majority of the time . So, they learn not to panic because they know how to " Float".




Lets not forget how cute Noah is :-)




And Owen !!!




We had some serious arm and leg action going on today !



He is so proud that he can swim now and Karen says he really has caught on quick for his age . when she opens back up in April we will be starting Owen and Noah with her. Not knowing how to swim well ,myself, I am so thankful for this program and for people like Karen Wilson who dedicate their life to saving other lives ! Especially our Babies !!

I Wanna Lead Singing Just Like You , Uncle Greg!

Owen has always enjoyed watching Pawpa and Uncle Greg lead the song service but last week he started singing in the service wtih them. Monday morning I thought I heard him singing and came around the corner just in time to catch this video. I hope everyone else thinks its as cute as " Mommy" does!!!

Get Fit With Owen

Hey , at least someone is using th treadmill!!!!

It's Rainin.... Baby Stuff ! HALLELUJAH !!!

Tuesday night we " Salem Chicks" threw a shower for our Kelly. Much planning ( and lying... more on that later) went down to get everything just right for our dear friend . I must say , it went off without a hitch and I think everyone had a blast. Well, I had a blast :-) So here are some pictures and I will comment as we go along... I promise I will get to the lie before it's all over!




The cake turned out better than I could have hoped for ! If you live in the Tampa, Lakeland, and Orlando area ... Karen is your gal for cakes! She used to work for Disney and WOW!!! Bonus , it's REALLY yummy!






Thanks to my sweetie pie hubby , I only had one baby to worry about for the evening!




Noah got in some rug time with Aunt Kelly before everyone arrived!



Abby Johnson and Noah


We were so thankful and blessed that Kelly's family could make it to the shower ! A special thanks to Sister Beverly, Kimberly , Brooke , Lindsey , Kerry , Abby and Brady for making the effort to come out and party with us !




Brady Johnson and Noah :-)




Noah and Lindsey Kickin it on the floor while Aunt Kelly opened presents!




OK , I'm not going to post EVERY picture of EVERYTHING she got , but she got some great stuff! Absolutely one of the cutest moments of the evening was when Kelly opened the diaper bag/ Backpack. Brady looks at Aunt Kelly real funny and says " Is that for Jos-u-a when he goes to school ?" SO CUTE !



The turtle hat was priceless ! It also came with a matching set of pj's!





We even had Lindsey model it for us :-D




Mommy even got some gifts for her . I HATED wearing the hospital gown when people came to see me and the boys ! My Mom always bought me some new PJ's for the hospital at my baby showers and they were some of my favorite gifts . So , Kelly HAD to have a few new pair herself. everyone needs to feel pretty after they have been through that mess!





Abby and Brady got the turtle and duck for " Wonder Pets " ! So sweet ! I'm not sure how to type out how the duck says " This is serious!" . Kerry ... HELP please :-)




All of the Miller/Spezzano family bought her highchair! Awesome gift!



I must say all of kids were very well behaved but I was soooooo impressed with Brady! I have three boys of my own that are MADE to mind at all costs but they would have bee miserable having to sit and watch quietly for that length of time! He was SO good! Here's to Brady making it through the " girlie party" with flying colors!






Now to that lie I mentioned earlier! About a month ago 8 of us went in together and bought the stroller/ car seat combo for the " shower" gift. I must confess before you all reading this that I have LIED like a rug for weeks covering our tracks! We kept having these bewildered conversations about who might have bought it and I would throw our different suggestions as to who may have made the purchase. Unfortunately we did not get a picture of the look on her face when we finally brought it out of the back room after all the other gifts were open , but it was great!





There is nobody in the world that deserves all of God's richest blessings as much my friend Kelly ( oh yeah , and Jim ! ) !! She has stood with me through good and bad ... two pregnancies in two years , there was A LOT of good and bad !
So , I publicly praise my Lord for such a wonderful friend , who I know will be a great mother . Come on Joshua we're all waiting for you !!!

Disney On Ice

Last night we went to the Forum to see Disney on Ice. I wasn't that excited about it and I'm pretty sure Brent would have rather eaten cow chips but once we got there it was FABULOUS!!!! We had awesome seats on the fourth row from the ice... the excitement was building the closer we got to 7:30. So , all that being said , about fifteen minutes till show time I sent Brent and Connor to the bathroom and to get ONE snack. You realize that it is all a HUGE scam! They get you in with reasonably priced tickets an then WHAM they get you at the concession stand. When they came back all of my instructions had been totally disregarded when Connor saw Cotton Candy that came with a " Flounder" ( from the little Mermaid) hat . Well, Brent decided that if he got Connor one he HAD to get Owen one , how unfair would that be?! So here they come with two bags of pure sugar ( otherwise know to parents as CRACK) and a bottle ( a very nice Disney on ice bottle ) of lemonade. I think to myself " Self , the $10 you sent with them did NOT get all that " , and I was right ... Highway robbery! My $10 got ONE of the bags of cotton candy and super cool flounder hat. OK , get over it moving on... Owen didn't like cotton candy , so he HAD to have some popcorn. Let me pause for a moment and say , it is a good thing for the kids that Mimi and Pop aka Brent's parents came with us because I nearly stroked out at the cotton candy. So , off Brent goes ( with a large wad of Pop's money YEAH!!! ) to get Owen a bucket of Popcorn ( Super cool Disney On Ice reusable bucket ) and his own bottle of lemonade. O k , we are set ... We have spent a small fortune on snacks , but we're set.

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Look how cute he is... Maybe it was worth the $10 :-D

And Photographic proof that even the most unlikely people turn into complete ding bats when they have kids!!!

Grandparents catch the " Ding Bat" bug too :-)

Now , too the show ... IT WAS AWESOME!!! I really do think I had more fun than the kids. The Lion King was first on Mickey , Minnie , Donald , Daisy and Goofy's Magical Vacation....

Next up was the Little Mermaid, and let me just say I think I would have sold my right arm when I was kid to see this one. Ok , the truth is I'm 26 and I was SOOOOOOOO excited !!!

Sebastian was awesome!!

I loved the Ursala costume!

Noah can sleep through anything !! :-D

Next was Lilo and Stitch ... Not my favorite , but still cute!!

After Stitch we had an intermission . YEAH potty break :-) During which Connor weaseled his way into a snow cone in a Stitch cup .... more sugar !

Now one of my favorite parts ... The Mary Poppins Dancers came out and sang " It's A Jolly Holiday" and "Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious"

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Sorry , it was really dark in there , this was the best I could do.

Last , but not least was Peter Pan....

Hey Bekah , it's Tinkerbell!!!

At the end they all came out together and danced... it was great!

All in all , we had a great night. Full of sugar and all other kinds of bad for you food , but they ALL had a great rime. Even Noah liked all the lights. And even though he wouldn't admit it at the point of a gun , Pop had fun being with kids while the were enjoying themselves so much.

If Disney on Ice is coming to a city near you and you have kids , GO! Or if you are like me and LOVE the Little Mermaid , no matter what age you are and how ridiculous it looks, GO!!!

New Pictures Of The Boys

I realized yesterday while talking to G.ma ( actually she told me ,I didn't have to realize!) that I haven't posted new pictures of the boys in a while .

This is Connor's " leave me alone I'm watching Sid The Science Kid" smile. He doesn't look like a " little" boy anymore!




Noah sitting with Connor on the couch. Notice the look on Connor's face ...



Noah having floor time , otherwise known as " OWEN leave Noah alone!!!" time:-D
Also notice his " Wilkinson Eyebrows" !




Owen ( stinker) doesn't like to look at the camera right now... Sorry this is the best I could do!

All three of them watching PBS... even Owen will sit still for " Super Why". PRAISE GOD!!!