Swim Little Fishies!

My sweet, sweet Ed loves the water. "Watch me, mommy!" This child has never been afraid to try anything. To this day, she is game for new adventures!

The first few years of Ed & Katya's young lives were spent in Southern California. We knew that water safety was a given for our kids to learn. After Hero flunked his first class at the Y, I thought maybe we would be wearing floaties until the end of high school! Then, we met the Divine Miss Veronica, Master Swimmer and Teacher of Water Safety to Little Ones!

Miss Veronica held classes in her backyard pool, which was a safer and more intimate place to work with the kids. Classes were two weeks long, with a final exam on the last day. During the two weeks, moms worked one on one with their kids as they learned how to float. Floating until they could get to the side of the pool, or floating until another person could navigate them to the side were the lessons learned. On the last day of class, we were told not to dress the kids, but keep them in their street clothes. As I watched my little Katya walking near the pool, the teacher brushed by her and gave her a little push. Into the pool she plopped and immediately came up and floated on her back! Then Miss Veronica jumped in and was never further than five feet from Kat. In order to pass the class, Katya had to float for 10 minutes with no help. She cried and called my name (as my heart slowly made its way to my throat), but dagnabit!! The wee one floated for the full ten minutes!



Then, it was Edwina's turn. She had been playing dolls in the house while Katya was being tested. Ed walk out to the side of the pool and was pushed in by one of the other parents. She assumed the floating position, smiling, and promptly took a ten minute nap. I don't have a picture of her in the dress she wore to the test, which by the way was pulled up over her face, but here's a shot of practice with Miss Veronica.



Watching the girls take their tests was a very heartwrenching experience for me. But I must say, that to this day, I have been completely comfortable sitting on the side of the pool reading trashy magazines while my darlings splash and scream in the water! Below is a picture of all four while swimming on vacation. I can't believe they agreed to pose!



Oop, oop, dittum dattum wattum - choo!

Friday Fragments - ADD Style

Not than anyone who contributes to this wonderful Friday segment has any form of an attention disorder... I speak for myself in this regard. Every wonderful day of my life is filled with fragments; there is nothing structured, even while I am at work. I am in awe of how the heck I ever get anything done! Every now and then my head will whip around and I realize, that it is just God smacking me upside it to help me get it together. After that, my thinking improves and I start with the lists!

Princess Katya returned from China on Monday night, after a six-hour layover in Los Angeles. It was only supposed to be a three hour layover, but someone....and I'm not naming names....plugged up the toilet in the plane after everyone had boarded. When the airline potty specialists couldn't rectify (no pun intended) the situation, everyone was asked to deplane, luggage and all. The next available plane took off three hours later and there were many joyous reunions at 11:30pm in St. Louis. We took balloons so that Katya would see us right away. (Like any aiport is going to be crowded at 11:30pm!) It was a late night for me, especially since I worked the next day. I told Katya to sleep for about two days or until she couldn't hold it any longer. Poor thing was still on China time and could not get to sleep until 4:00am. She's almost back to Central Time at this point. Pictures and stories to come this weekend.

Rock, who is/was/always will be my Rock Star, played a game of softball with friends this week. He slid into second base and took off the first layer of skin from his calf, the size of a banana leaf. He was so brave...he didn't even tell me until the next day. As I looked in horror, he asked me what he should do. I would have called 911, and taken a ride with some of Missouri's hottest looking guys! But, since Rock is not really interested in guys, we got him cleaned up and gave him a drum of neosporene. He had a birthday party to attend, and didn't want to gross out the guests, so he wrapped it and still received a ton of sympathy. All the girls wanted to take care of him! It looks really gnarly now that it is scabbing, but at least there are no signs of infection!

I finish up another temp job this week. It's a place where I've worked before, so the routine is not scary. It's trying to remember the names of everyone that is a challenge. By the end of the week, I can name about a dozen of the 80 people in office. The employees here are really wonderful and so understanding when I send them phone calls that have nothing to do with their area! I like working for air conditioning companies; their air is always working! This is a plus for me and my chubby little thighs during the awesome summer months in St. Louis - 95 degrees with 90% humidity.

The Holiday weekend is upon us! What fun things are you doing? There are a gazillion things going on in downtown St. Louis. But, in case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a little uncomfortable with crowds. We will watch the fireworks from the parking lot of a church close to our house. There are three shows held during the time between 9:00pm and 9:30pm. We bring the lawn chairs, snacks and bug spray!

Happy Fourth of July! Have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by my Fragmented Fridays, hosted by the brilliant and awesome Mrs.4444. Click here, to get to her post for Friday Fragments.

The Graduation Party....

My little social butterfly is hosting her high school graduation party tonight. The planning began about three weeks ago. Initially, the guest list totalled about 140 people...mean mommy said "No! Shorten the list and then we will talk." The list came down to 75 and mean mommy said "No! Cut that in half!" We came to an agreement with 40 guests invited. Mean Mommy began to pray for rain, vacations, other graduation parties, and for some...the brainless ones...simply blank stares into outer space trying to remember what they were going to do tonight! (I know I'm bad...I'm a mean mommy, I'm supposed to be bad!)

So far, everyone is behaving.... There is dancing in the "That 70's Show" basement of ours, there is coloring and message writing at one of the three tables in the backyard, there is frisbee throwing down in the bowl, (the common ground in the back that was supposed to be a pond, but never finished) and the dog has not left my side in the last hour. Ed made Tootsie wear the Ladybug Doggie costume, which Tootsie says "is completely humiliating. I'm gonna get that Ed!"

We have the Thespians sitting in the kitchen, stealing frosting off the cake with their fingers! Ed's posse is hitting on every guy here. They came dressed for action tonight! Sister Katya keeps checking on me (probably to distract me from someone downstairs doing something of which I would not approve). Rock and his friend Keith are playing chaperons for me tonight. Retro is working late...a likely story. He just didn't want to be around to watch the debauchery, or the clean up the next morning.

People are arriving at the same speed as those who are leaving. This has been a great party...nothing like Katya's 16th. Rock reminded me that Katya's party was in the middle of winter, when there's not much of anything else going on. That's why there were so many bodies around. It tooks us a week to weed through the debris!

I'll let you know what kind of garbage is left tomorrow morning! Hey, school's out for summer!