Trouble...

I knew there was trouble when I went to wake up the boys for swimming lessons and their bedroom door was locked. I actually thought they were still sleeping, but that was a sign that they were doing something they shouldn't. I got the key and this is what greeted me when I opened the door...



Zack and Spencer had opened their window and knocked the screen out. Of course it was an "accident." They explained that they were just trying to see out into the garden to see if the plant Zack gave me for Mother's Day had started growing yet. (It hasn't and it probably won't at this point.) Boys will be boys...

My oldest is 15! (I'm not getting old...)

My oldest daughter turned 15 yesterday. It's hard to believe she's been with us for that many years, but we are so happy she is the start of our big family. She is a kind hearted and wonderful child. She is getting to be so grown up too. She had a job at the community pool this summer working in the concessions area. She enjoys the money she is able to earn and the treats she can consume while there. Kate did have to work on her birthday, so we opened had her birthday dinner of steak and baked potatoes and opened her gifts before she was off to a Youth pool party. She requested ice cream dessert. It was made, but since she and Jordan had homemade ice cream while there, we are saving it to eat today--complete with candles.

Kate with all of her gifts...

Some new make-up...
A Sudoku type book...
New and even "real" CROCS...
Card from the Olson's...
Big box...
An I-pod docking station...
What?
A Cell Phone!

We love our KATE!

Big 3 year old

Sidnie loved the new "girl colored" shirt she got from G-ma and G-pa Olson. She had to wear it the very next day to church. Mom got out her pink ruffle skirt and even though the stripes are going different directions, she's still pretty cute.

Father's Day

Mom had gifts picked out for "Dad," but forgot the morning of to even wish James a Happy Father's Day. We had to get to church to be reminded that it was the day for honoring Dads. The primary children sang in sacrament meeting. So, after church we finally broke out the gifts and "sang" to James.



We love James and are very grateful for all his love and hard work on our behalf. We feel very blessed to be together as a family.

Three years old

My baby turned three on Saturday. So hard to believe. It was a crazy day with a swimming meet in the morning and trying to get errands, cleaning and activities in later. Sidnie really wanted to go swimming, so we opened presents, sent Kate off to babysit for the Buggs and went to the pool for the last hour. Sidnie could not really come up with a dinner she wanted, so we got pizza and made sugar cookies for dessert--dessert was what she did request. Hopefully she enjoyed it enough. Early in the afternoon we let Sid open her first gift, so she could watch it while we ran some errands and worked on getting the bathrooms clean.

Waiting for the birthday song to finish...
A happy smile...
Disney's Tangled...

Ready to open the rest of her gifts. Here she is in the Birthday chair in her swimsuit and new sunglasses from Kammie...

A gift from the Olson's...
New clothes...

A large package...
Tearing some paper off...
A playdough bus...(fun for all)

A Dora pirate movie...
A sleeping Beauty "polly" sized doll...

A sugar cookie with three candles...
Waiting to blow them out...
a smile...
And they're OUT!
We sure do love our little Sidnie girl!

Didn't work so well

The Amaryllis didn't bloom the 2nd time around. It sprouted up two green leaves/stem things, but no blossum of any kind. Kind of like when tulips or daffodils bloom one year and sprout up the next year with out any flowers. Oh well. Maybe if we plant it later in the Fall, it will grow again in the Spring.

The green sprouts grew so tall, that they kept flopping over.

Hair fun

Sid's older sisters like to play with her hair. Here is a twist thing Jordan did.

Sherwood Swim Meet

The Sherwood Sharks are our biggest rivals in the Central Arkansas Swimming League (CASL). They hosted the meet this past weekend on the 18th. They have an indoor pool and can train year round, but they then take part in the summer swimming events. Oh well. Besides being a bit disorganized, the kids did well. (And we have NO photos this week.)

SPENCER had the biggest improvement of all the kiddos. He cut more than a minute off of his time on the kickboard 25 yard event with a time of 1:16 this week. WOW!!!! That's a minute and 11 seconds off. Yeah Spence! He's even interested more now in doing his arm strokes in practice. Maybe we'll get a freestyle out of him by the end of the season. We just need him to be able to get all the way across the pool.

After the kickboard event, were the team 100 yard freestyle team relays. Zack's team, Maumelle's A-team in that age group (8 & under boys), was able to take 1st place over the Sharks. That was awesome! Jordan's 12 & under C team didn't even get put in place in time and the race started. So they missed out even trying. Most of the assigned members didn't show up to the meet, but they snagged extras, and then didn't get out to the pool in time. Oh well! Kammie was on an 18 & under B team for some reason and they took 5th (which was also last). The Marlin's C team didn't start because the first girl was talking and not ready when the horn sounded. So much for that disorganization.

Zack did well, and was did well in his age group for the Marlins, but the Sharks often seemed to have someone faster in each event. Zack swam his 25 yard Freestyle in 21.03 and came in 2nd. He won 1st in his 25 yard Backstroke with a time of 23.68. He did NOT get DQ'd in his 25 yard Breaststroke and earned 8th place with a time of 38.03. And in 25 yard Butterfly he took 2nd place with a time of 28.60. Yeah Zack!

Kammie took 2nd in her 50 Freestyle, complete with a flip turn and a time of 37.62 (a gold time). Kammie finished in 3rd place in 50 Backstroke with a time of 48.96. Kammie finished 3rd in 50 Butterfly in 52.22. And although she didn't want to swim her 100 IM, she did it anyway and earned 6th place with a time of 1:48.50. Good Job Kam!

Jordan improved her times this meet and that is exactly what we want from all the kids. In her 50 Freestyle she finished 13th with a 40.91 time. She was 14th in 50 Backstroke with a time of 51.65. And she earned 7th place in her 50 Breaststroke with a time of 54.25. Go J!

1st Swim meet of the season

The Maumelle Marlins first Swim Meet was a home meet on Saturday, June 11, 2011. Jordan, Kammie, Zack, and Spencer are all on the team this year.

[6 and unders can swim kickboard and 25 yarders. 7 & 8's swim 25 yard events. 9 and up swim 50 yard events, unless it's IM.]

Spencer swimming kickboard at the Mock (practice) swim meet on Monday the 6th of June.
Spencer in the water with his kickboard ready to go.
And he's off...
Farther out and making his way across the pool (25 yards).
We are glad that Spencer was willing/able to have this experience. He finished 32nd of 33 kickboarders age 6 and under. He did it in 2:27.98. I'd say we are hoping for the "most improved" award by the end of the season. He just needs to learn to kick bending his knees less. That kills all his momentum.


Zacky was one of the oldest in his age category last year for swimming and did very well. This year he is on the young end. He swims against 8 year olds and they can even be close to turning 9, while he is just 7. He still swims 25 yard events though.

Zack back stroke...
Another shot of his backstroke...
Zack butterfly...
Zack did well for this meet. They have gold, silver and bronze times and once they earn a higher time, the compete in that category. Zack got a first place ribbon in the bronze division for his freestyle, but earned a gold time (20.15). [Next meet he'll be swimming in the gold division for this event.] He earned a first place ribbon in the 25 yard backstroke in the silver division, but with a bronze time of 29.12. Zack was on a 100 yard freestyle relay team (4 people each swimming 25 yards) that took first place with a time of 1:34.25--he swam the 2nd leg of this relay race. He got disqualified in the breaststroke for not bringing his head up each stroke cycle and earned a first place ribbon in the butterfly in the bronze category with a bronze time of 31.97.


Jordan is new to the swim team this year. So being older and just starting can be difficult to compare to those who have done it for years. She did a great job We just want her to go out there and improve and get better.

Jordan doing freestyle...
Jordan doing backstroke...
Jordan doing breaststroke coming at the camera...
Jordan just pushing off the wall on breast stroke...
Jordan is in the 12-13 year old girls category. They swim 50 yards, which is two lengths of the pool. I was very proud of her for doing a flip turn on her freestyle. Her freestyle time was 42.70. Her backstroke time was 57.94. She earned a 7th place ribbon on her breaststroke with a bronze time of 57.65. Way to go J!

Kammie was one of the oldest in her age category last year and has now moved up to be on the younger side of the 9-10 age group. This means she moves from swimming 25 yard events to the 50 yarders. This is a transition for her. She can do flip turns, but opted not to do it on her freestyle this meet. Kammie participated in the 100 yards Individual Medley (IM) event. [This is swimming one length of the pool of each stroke. You do butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, then freestyle.]

Kammie swimming the breaststroke on her IM.
Kam on the freestyle of her IM. (She needs to work on conditioning. She was taking long breaths by the time she got to her freestyle.)
Kam on her backstroke...
Kam butterfly farther out...
Kam butterfly closer up...
Kam butterfly on her way back...
Kammie received a first place ribbon on her IM in the silver division with a silver time of 1:50.22. She won a 4th place ribbon on her freestyle in the bronze division, but earned a silver time of 40.50. Kammie earned a 5th place ribbon on her backstroke in the bronze division with a bronze time of 53.33. She received a first place ribbon being on a 100 yard freestyle relay team swimming the third leg. Their time was 1:03.53. And she earned a 3rd place ribbon for her butterfly in the bronze division with a bronze time of 54.92. Yeah!

We (Kammie) noticed as we were leaving the meet that Zack's name is on the Maumelle Marlins record board in two events. They track the records by age group and event. We knew he earned a Meet of Champs record last year being on the winning 100 yard freestyle relay team, but we didn't know he had set two records. Here they are for his freestyle and backstroke. Way to go Zack! We have other friends whose names are still on the board. (Issac, Caden, and Jayce.)