Sun Kissed

I simply love that my children's faces look so alive when they have spent a day at the pool. Or, in our case every day at a pool for the past week or so. Their little bodies and cheeks are darkening up and when they get out of the bath or shower I just can't help but fall in love with them all over again!

It is with much excitement that I write that FINALLY, just today I now have THREE swimmers. I did the whole swim lessons thing and the many different approaches to help one of mine along with her fear of going under water. Nothing was working and I resolved to let it go. And then it just happened. She sat watching EVERYBODY else do it. Then, a 9 year old patiently worked with her until she got it. I will post a picture later with all three girls with their goggles on under the water playing with each other. It brought me such joy to watch.


This picture is just a teeny tiny glimpse into what it is like when I get together with my siblings. Here are my three girls with Nick and a handful of the cousins! We are out every day enjoying the summer because of the pool!!!!

Ramblings

...I'm just having a hard time feeling like I have anything post-worthy to write about. I mean, I've been bouncing around in my head about how big of a wimp I am because I said all these great things about the stage of life I'm in and then the tantrums hit and my coping skills flee. I immediately go to that place in my head that says, "Survive this." Because I lived in a state of survival for so long, I leap back there when the going gets tough. And the tough is going. With a certain daughter just being plain, flat-out MEAN, I find myself getting MEAN. Here I am trying to teach her not to do the very thing I'm doing.

These summer days are sure different. It's like I need a "thing" to do each day just to keep us sane. I often wonder if we lived in Africa would we feel this same daily need of something? I see how one of my daughters is beginning to notice "America's" beauty and it makes me want to fly to a third world country today.

For now~ we'll keep playing Trouble and Go Taco (a version of Go fish from Taco Cabana!) And hit the pool when I feel up to it!