Swimming Lessons!

Being summer time also means it is swimming time. So, we signed us up for some swimming lessons at the outdoor pool by our house. Last year it seemed silly to be swimming inside when it was 100+ degrees outside (hint:foreshadowing here). The last week of course has brought some absolutely gorgeous weather which actually allowed us to turn off our air conditioning (this has never been done before in the month of July). Although we have been enjoying the cooler temperatures very much, it hasn't made for great swimming weather in an unheated swimming pool. Poor daddy probably deserves some sort of medal for agreeing to get in the pool two day in a row when the temperature was below 80 degrees (74 degrees, 62 degrees).

We're hoping the weather cooperates a little better next week so we don't have shivery, blue lipped boys coming out of the pool each night!

William and Daddy waiting their turn by the pool

At this age, we're working on being comfortable in the water and some preswimming skills. Hence the toys.
A scientific investigation. Very serious business.

We had a huge downpour one of the evenings right before we were supposed to leave to swim dropping the temperature from 81 degrees to 62 degrees. Wonderful.

Heidt Family Hulabaloo

Last year in December, we decided it would be fun to get together with all of John's immediate family at our house. A few of them haven't ever been to our house and they've never all been at the same time! We had a wonderful weekend! I was so worried about a few key things that turned out to not be a problem at all! Yay!

• #1 biggest worry was the weather! We were hosting everyone at our house with the exception of John's sister, so we had 11 people sleeping at our house for 2 nights. I was so worried that with so many bodies/showers/etc that our house would become unbearably hot and our air conditioner would be able to catch up. Everyone would be crabby and not want to come back because of the heat. I can't tell you how much sleep I lost over this one. Reality: we had record setting low temperatures over the weekend! With the highs in the upper 70's we didn't even turn on our air! Unbelievable! The only problem is now no one will believe us when we talk about how hot it gets in the summer!
• #2 biggest worry was food! I've never feed 12 people for 2 days before, so I was so worried I would forget something essential for other people (like coffee) or run out and people would be crabby and not come back to visit ever again. Reality: We made a big meal on Friday night and I actually had leftovers! Hurray! As far as I know, we didn't run out of anything essential. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if anyone doesn't come back to see us again for a long time - then I'll know!
• #3 big worry was kids playing together. Two year olds are not known for being good at playing nicely or sharing. I was worried about how it would all go down with the introduction of 3 new big kids. Reality: William was so in love with his cousins and playing with the big kids, he wouldn't have noticed if there weren't any toys at all.

So, here are the pictures, although I'm disappointed that I didn't get a few of the key shots on my list. We were so busy! I'll have to try and grab these pictures the next time we see people, although Amelia will be bigger in the pictures, which makes me a little sad.

Grandpa Heidt was able to arrive on Thursday. Here he is multitasking away....

Friday we took Grandpa to the Transportation Museum while Daddy went to get a little work done. Grandpa's job was to chase William while I navigated the stroller.

Grandpa and William peeking out of the train window

Grandpa and William both really enjoy trains. So, it was fun to watch them enjoy each other and the trains so much. I was just along for the ride and to take pictures of things that caught my eye. Trains just aren't my thing. Although, most of those pictures didn't really turn out because I was either trying to keep the stroller in motion of holding the baby on my hip.Amelia is more my speed - playing in her stroller

I like the lettering and colors in the sign. But, I can't tell you anything more about it.

Grandpa and William admire the trains.

Look! It rhymes: C, B, Q 1582....Big black thing for gasoline

William expertly manning the train controls...

Cutie peeking out the window.

William working at the controls

Admiring all the different levers and controls. A rare pause in the constant activity.
William likes to drive!

Amelia with the Amelia Earhart LN sign

My grandparents used to live in Decatur, IL.

PS: This train has a cushion underframe

Rusty coily thing

Mama and William in front of the Burlington Route engine

Friday evening, John's sister (Cathy), brother (Jim) and brother's family arrived in time for dinner. Amelia liked meeting her Uncle Jim. You can tell by her devilish grin. Or maybe it is because the camera red eye setting isn't working right.

Amelia also got to meet her Aunt Kendra for the first time! I'm sad we didn't get ANY pictures of her with her cousins! Gah! What were we thinking?The kids playing in the playroomkids

On Saturday, we decided to take everyone to Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm is the kind of place that has something for everyone: history, animals, trains, and adult beverages.Grandpa with William and Uncle Jim with cousin Mike

Amelia happily riding in her stroller (and bundled up - it was COLD!)

Jim, Kendra & Mike (where are their other 2 kids? We don't have ANY pictures of them! Gah!)

Our family in the animal park (aren't we cute?)


Saturday night I was on a mission to eat outside and enjoy the AMAZING weather so we ate at Magpie's on Main Street St Charles. All of a sudden it was Sunday morning and everyone had to leave! It was so sad - I've learned that I LOVE having a houseful of people! It was so much fun getting up every morning with everyone together. It was so touching and sweet to see the cousins play together (always makes me a little emotional!) as well as introduce our Amelia Ann to everyone. I was so sad having everyone leave and I felt surprisngly rejuvenated after a very busy weekend. I can't wait to do it again!

Learning to Sit Up

Look at what my baby girl can do! I'm so proud of her! She isn't very steady yet, but I was SHOCKED at how strong she is! Go baby girl! (and also, sniff! where did my little newborn baby go?)

My sweet baby girl - she is so smiley!
Hi Mama!Destined to love vehicles. She LOVES to look at the buses and other vehicles William shares with her. Please note: although he is willing to share now, Amelia is not willing to actually touch any of the vehicles. Very soon, I am going to have trouble on my hands when Amelia becomes a little more mobile.

VBS

I think I will just always be behind. And out of order. The out of order drives me crazy. But, there isn't anything to do about it but move on. We have been so busy this month with 2 trips to Rochester, a fourth of July celebration, Vacation Bible School, a Heidt family reunion (post still coming about this) on top of everything else we have going on.

Anyway, our church did Vacation Bible School and I was the teacher for all the kids again this year (three years running now). John was roped into being the general runner/getter as well as official photographer each night. We were both exhuasted by the end of the night. As was William. Which is why I'm posting here about it. William loved VBS with all his heart, which is why I'm posting about it here. Technically, William is too young for VBS. However, there were only 2 little girls signed up in the preschool age group and the director asked us (yes, she asked us) if William could come a year early to VBS.

So, John was running around, I was teaching, teaching teaching, and William was running around with excitement until he would collapse on the way home. Several nights he even commented "I'm tired." which is unheard of around these parts. Amelia spent most of her time being passed between different moms who were helping with the various events. She was very spoiled by the end of the week. She forgot that sometimes it is nice to just lay on the floor. Or not be in someone's arms for hours on end.

Amelia hanging out with Mama in the nursery between groups
William liked nothing better than to be on the stage in front of everyone else during the opening.
Playing games with the other preschoolers. Otherwise known as: not listening and making the teenagers in charge of the games mad.
A group effort to help William run the sling shot.
William shoots water balloons from the sling shot with some help. I'm not sure how I feel about him learning to use this at such an early age. His sister may bear the brunt of learning this skill.
A safer skill is blowing bubbles - still requires some assistance to ensure he doesn't eat the bubbles. The girl in yellow here is William's teacher, bless her heart. I think she was more tired than any of us by the end of the evening every night. She was wonderful with him and so patient!
Bubbles are fun!

Sibling Sweetness

Sometimes having two is so wonderful it takes my breath away. Other times it is so much work, that I don't have time to take that breath anyways.
On this particular day, I was holding Amelia and talking to her and she was talking back. William wanted to get in on the fun and requested to hold "our baby sister" (and yes, that is what we call her - she belongs to all of us). So, I put her in his lap and waited 2.45 seconds

John rolls his eyes at me, but I like to dress them in their "little sister" and "Big Brother" shirts on the same day. And no, I'm not trying to tell you anything this time.

William loves to hold his sister and help with her - he is such a sweet brother (most of the time)

Sometimes it works out so Amelia can join in our book reading routine before bedtime. She already likes to read books!

I know it looks like they are sleeping, but they are reading books together in William's bed.

Rochester

We were back in Rochester for the weekend July 10-13th to see more family that was in town (and yes, we are crazy). We got a lot of visiting in and enjoyed some beautiful weather outside! These pictures are all out of order, but I don't think it makes a difference. Here is a sampling of what we did:

We visited Grandpa Heidt and William showed off his Big Brothering Skills
Amelia got to meet her other Uncle Mike for the first time. At first they just check each other out from afar...
But, then they couldn't help themselves
While Amelia snuggled with Uncle Mike, William colored with Grandpa. Or maybe Grandpa colored while William watched.
The snuggling
We also went for a walk in the neighborhood. We noticed that Mike and William have similar taste in clothes (or Mama and Aunt Tien?). Both of them are wearing gray shirts, brown cargo shorts, white socks and tennis shoes.
Amelia enjoyed her walk from the stroller
William enjoyed examining each and every object we encountered along the way. I think we were walking about .00000000000056789 mph. Here he is playing with a helicopter seed and trying to make it fly.

Amelia and my aunt Sheila (Amelia's great Aunt)
Two smiling faces
Saturday night was declared "Game Night" at the McGarry house. We were so excited to see Uncle Mike again (it gets confusing sometimes having two uncle Mikes and a cousin Mike). Here Uncle Mike is working on his throwing/catching skills with William
More throwing/catching - can you see the ball mid air? PS He doesn't catch the ball...
Maybe wearing a glove will help with the catching part?
My dad wearing his party hat for Game Night (or a plant basket if you want to get technical)
My Uncle Bobby hard at work shucking the corn.
My dad hard at work sweeping the deck in preparation for "Game Night"
Grandpa and his girl Amelia relaxing on the deck
Aunt Megan came too! William talks about both Uncle Mike and Aunt Megan ALL the time. He likes to talk about what they did together the last time he saw them and how much it would be to see them again.
Uncle Mike also took this opportunity to introduce William to squirt guns. Big squirt guns.
And I'll say he loved every minute of it!
I'm not sure if it qualifies as a squirt gun when you require a hose to fill it up
My cousin Chrissie (or honorary Aunt Chrissie according to William) drove in for Game Night also!
Amelia was pretty excited about that...
So was Grandpa Kevin. I guess I should quit being amazed at what people will do to get a little smile from a baby...
The party flag is up (blocks the bright sun from my parent's deck in the late afternoon)
William has talked Megan and Chrissie into setting up a race track for him to play with
He also talked Aunt Megan into crawling through the tunnel (under the coffee table) in a skirt. More than once

William read books with my aunt (his great aunt) Sheila

William and Sheila reading

We went for a walk with Grandma Kim

We played some games. William's contribution was a demand for Real Birthday Cake (with some help from his daddy)

We blew bubbles with Grandpa

We blew bubbles with Grandma Kim

We played puppets with Grandpa Kevin. A lot.

My cousin Chrissie. Chrissie recently moved to Wisconsin from Ohio to complete more veterinary training. This is the closest she has ever lived to our family - she can come and visit for the weekend now (although she is SO busy with her training, it won't be very often)

My uncle Bobby holding Amelia. This face wasn't his fault - she was CRABBY.

That's better - uncle Bobby showing off his magical baby skills.

Chrissie and Amelia

These two were very cute together...

So happy!