Activities in the Summer...

So before we head off on our annual Beach trip I wanted to blog about some of the happenings that Braylen has been involved in this summer.

I will start with Gymnastics! We go every Wednesday morning at 9:30 and it is only 30 minutes. Can you imagine occupying a toddler any longer than that....or trying to teach them....man! We start out in a group circle doing activites then we move on to circuit training learning how to do the balance beam, the bars, front rolls, cart wheels, trampoline....etc. We then end the class in the circle again where they lay on their stomachs and sing a "Bye Bye" song! This has been a fun experience and I plan on keeping her enrolled through the end of August and then taking a break since she starts back Mothers Morning Out in September.

Our next adventure was SWIM lessons! Mrs. Jill is the swim instructor and she is known as the SWIM WHISPER....how funny is that! Anywho, she believes in starting the kids out at a VERY young age and then their progress will be less difficult the older they get. The video I am going to post is Braylen swimming to the ladder. They start out up and down until they can gain control to put their heads in the water and float on their stomachs. She loves floating on her back and is very good about swimming under water and kicking her legs till she gets to the side of the pool or your arms. We are VERY pleased with how she has down and will continue to keep Braylen in swim lessons once a week starting in the FALL....! Grant was a swim baby and did swim team growing up and would really like to see Braylen enjoy that sport! Swim lessons lasted ONE week and were about 15 minutes each day (she charges a $1 a minute,) I think if they are older the lesson last a little longer but it is hard on the little toddlers. Oh and parents aren't allowed in there until the last day...so this is the video I got....and of course she was crying for me to rescue her....lol! Ever since her lesson, when we go to the pool, all she wants to do is practice her swimming. That just blows my mind because Mrs. Jill mentioned not to over do it with them at the pool...just review it a little in the beginning and then just let your kids play like the others.....however....all Braylen wants to do is practice and swim....so neat! And one last thing....every time we talk about the pool, Braylen says "Jill gives suckers" that was her reward after every practice...Mrs. Jill gave them suckers and that sure got Braylen through it....lol! This is a picture before we go into the lesson and then the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlrWhHrEu9c

I have more videos of her lesson but they are too short to share but once again we were super impressed with Mrs. Jill and look forward to Braylen continuing her journey of swimming with her. Oh and this picture is her eating her lunch after swim lessons.

Outside of going to the pool and playing this summer we have also enjoyed the sprinklers. She is so funny about them....she would rather drink the water than run through them and play. Well whatever floats her boat but she sure was cute doing it.

We also have been with a lot of our friends this summer and the babies below are my best friends from highschool kids. Addie is Nikki's little girl and A.J. is Nicole's little boy, they are only 3-4 weeks apart.....they are about 8-9 mths old. Braylen loves treating them like they are her babies. I am sure we will have NO problem with her playing with our new addition!

Sorry for the long post but lots to share but I also wanted to let my followers know that I am doing GREAT! Went to my specialist appt. last week and there is NO MORE fluid in the kidneys, baby still measures small but not abnormal and everything looks great! They even said I could ask my regular O.B. if I could stop going to the specialist and they could do my ultrasounds monthly to monitor the umbilical cord.......! So I go today and definitely will ask. The specialist did say, don't be disappointed if they say NO...it would only be because of Insurance purposes. So that is that update and one last thing....I THINK WE HAVE A NAME!!!!!

Carsen Faith Schmeelk (we are still working on the spelling of Carsen but I am pretty definite this is the route we are going... can't wait to meet her!)

4th of July Weekend...

The 4th of July weekend was VERY busy for us! We kicked off the weekend Friday night at the Cumming Fairgrounds where they always have a HUGE firework display.....! We met up with all of our friends, grilled out, socialized and watched the fireworks. Braylen was not a fan of the fireworks this year....they were too loud. She would say, "Firework.....BOOOOM!" It was cute but she wasn't liking them at all. However, she did get to enjoy the evening with some of her favorite friends!

The next morning, Saturday, we woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast together as a family. I usually teach classes on Saturday mornings so we never get to enjoy it together but I didn't have to this past Saturday so it was nice to have family time. After breakfasts, we all got dressed and loaded up and went to the Cumming Parade, where they had over 20 steam engines to lead the rest of the parade participants. The Steam Engines were SO LOUD......! People were passing out ear plugs left and right and sure enough Braylen did not like the noise. It was SO LOUD that even MY own ears were burning. Not sure if we will be doing that again......! The steam engines are also really SLOW so it took forever and they were loud so we were all starting to get a little miserable.....! We might try it out a few years down the road so she can collect fun candy but definitely not anytime soon....ha! The picture below is us strolling to the parade because all the roads were blocked off and then the one after that was after the steam engines had finally rolled by she was able to sit down and enjoy some NERDS......she is sitting quite lady like, isn't she....lol! After the parade, all she kept saying is "ChooChoo is LOUD".......!

After the parade we went home, ate some lunch, and changed into our swim suit! We all went to out good friends, Evan and Tara's house for more celebration of the 4th of July Weekend. Us Moms/pregnant moms all went to the pool with the kids (their pool is VERY kid freindly) and all the guys and some of our other girl friends went on the boat and hung out on the lake all afternoon. It was a great afternoon of sunshine, swimming, socializing, and relaxing, we definitely enjoyed it. After a long afternoon at the pool we all headed back to Evan and Tara's house for some yummy dinner. We grilled BBQ chicken, roasted potatoes, grilled vegetables, corn on the cob, every appetizer you can imagine and then an amazing fruit cookie pizza.....it was all SO YUMMY! Pictures below are of all the kids getting bathed after a long day at the pool, Caleb and Braylen eating some dinner, and then them all relaxing trying to enjoy a movie!

Sunday was an even better day for our crazy, busy weekend! I woke up at 5:00am to get ready to head down to ATL to run in the 41st annual Peachtree Road Race. My race time started at 7:35, so I had to get up, drive to Marta, hop on with TONS of people and get in my placement group in time to run 6.2 miles! I love this race, it is such a FUN race and is a GREAT tradition to start with your family. My family is usually with me when I run this race but this year was a little different. This year, the race was on Sunday and at our church, the guest speaker was TIM TEBOW.....needless to say...they all backed out of the race to go see TIMMY! They got to do a personal breakfast with him, which was super intimate and then he spoke in both services. Hannah has those pictures to share. I was able to make it to the last service to listen to him. It was a crazy and fast morning for me. Oh....I must add...that while I was racing.....I was 3 minutes slower this year than last....which was expected.....because I am 7mths pregnant....WOW...what an accomplishment.....! Oh and the weather was PERFECT! So after the race and church, Grant and I came back to the house, showered, laid around and then went down to our pool for a FISH FRY with our neighbors....it was YUMMY food as well and Braylen got to play with some of the neighborhood kids, which was nice.

Monday, Grant had off and we did a lot of things around the house! He also got to play a lot with Braylen. Braylen is also VERY into her babies....so we always take them outside and play with the babies, or bath the babies, or stroll the babies....it is something with the babies.....and she has like 7 babies that she rotates throughout....! So the weekend was VERY eventful but a lot of fun was had.