Fish Faces and Chasing Rubber Duckies

Checking out her certificate while dripping dry.

After grabbing said certificate and ripping it a bit, she sort of poses for the camera.

Seven weeks after beginning (the seventh was a makeup after the sixth lesson was stormed out), Olivia has completed her first swim lessons. at the North Pinellas YMCA Now, she doesn't exactly have her fins yet but her kicking skills have come a long way, she handles going under water well and she can pull herself out of the pool from the wall to safety. Not too bad for a collective three hours of lessons. Her last session might have been her best. The other two students didn't show and she really took to the substitute instructor. She was full of giggles the entire half hour and squealed often while swimming assisted to her favorite pool rubber ducky.

(She has, however, recently mastered her fish face complete with kissy noises. Man, is that cute. And no, she didn't learn that at the Y. Just a sort of related side note. )

Olivia got a certificate of completion for the parent-child class and promptly crumpled it up I'm sure it had no meaning behind that act whatsoever. We'll still keep it for her scrapbook because Mommy and Daddy sure are proud of their l'il mermaid. We'll take a break from formal lessons for a little while but for now we'll practice in Nana and Grampy's pool and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Family Night at the Trop = Red Sox Win

A Red Sox Nation Family... even in the south.

What you looking at punk?

Peek-A-Boo ballpark style
.

Where's Olivia?

Here I am Daddy!

Hats make my head itch!

We try to go to at least one Red Sox game a year and Friday night was our time. This was Olivia's third Red Sox game. She has long outgrown her original Red Sox gear so we outfitted her in new Red Sox Nation attire and headed south to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The game started at 7:10 p.m. and after Victor Martinez's two homers the Sox bested the Tampa Bay Rays with a 3-1 final. Unfortunately, it was the only game in the series the Red Sox would win. Maybe we were the good luck charm and should've gone to all three.

Livi, naturally, looked adorable and despite the lack of smiles in the pictures was all grins most of the night. She happily clapped and cheered no matter which team was doing well - we're teaching her about that. She'll get it soon enough. And once again she quickly became a fan favorite throughout the night. She also really enjoyed spending quality time with Uncle Rich (darn it if we didn't get pictures of the two of them - or him at all. Stupid, stupid, stupid.) who is surely going to teach her some ball skills when she gets bigger. It was a great family night out, indeed.

To make the night better, the Yankees lost their game, too. But once again unfortunately, they won their other two games over the weekend. We won't give up hope. It's not over yet. Go Sox!

A Masterpiece in the Works

So that's why it's called finger painting.

Me likey!

I wonder if I can get Mommy and Daddy to let me do this at home.

Oh, man I'm getting this stuff all over me.

I'm gonna give Aiden a hand and show him how it's done.

Mason might be done but I'm not even close!

Do I have something on my face?

This is awesome!

Yes! I just might be the Purple People Eater!

Are you sure this is OK?

I think I've run out of canvas. I guess it's a wrap.

And the final masterpiece on display at school.

A few weeks ago, Olivia's teacher Ms. Christiana decided it would be fun for the kids to finger paint. So she got out the purple paint, which happens to be Livi's favorite color, and they went to town. Boy did they ever. Olivia was beside herself with joy while the other kids weren't as enthusiastic. Perhaps we have a budding artist - or just a girl who loves to make a mess. In either case, we love how happy she looks in the photos her teachers sent us.

Oh, don't worry, it's non-toxic paint. Thankfully.