So proud...

I know, I hate it when parent's go on and on AND on about their kids too...but I figured it's my blog and so I can toot Kyler's horn a little bit because I really am so proud of him and the hard work he's put into swimming this Summer. :)

When Kyler first started swim team at the beginning of the Summer, he knew all his strokes, was what I would call a "swimmer" but was definitely still a beginner. The first couple of weeks of swim team practice, he definitely improved but was only racing his teammates from Ventana Ranch and was holding his own. His first meet against other kids in the city was a real eye opener for him. For one, it was a brand new experience actually doing a meet and racing in all the different events. He ended up coming in 5th, 6th and 7th in all his events and left feeling pretty discouraged in himself. We told him that this was all brand new and now he knew more of what to expect and what to work towards.

Work he did! He worked his tail end off this Summer. He jogged with me almost every morning 2 1/5 miles, swam in jeans and a shirt at practices, did everything his coaches asked him to and didn't miss one practice or meet....and he didn't complain once. Well, not about anything that had to do with swimming anyway. ;) It was so cool to watch him improve every week at meets and go from 5th, 6th and 7th place, to 3rd and 4th to 2nd to 1st place in his events. BUT, my very favorite thing was the fact that he was excited about his ribbons, but he was way more interested and focused on his TIMES and beating HIMSELF every week. THAT is probably what impressed me the most about our little man.

We went to District yesterday to try to qualify for the City meet and again, it was a whole new experience with official times, places and rules. If everything isn't done correctly, you get disqualified. Kyler's first and favorite event was the IM and he got disqualified because they thought his kick in his breast stroke looked like a dolphin kick. He wasn't doing a dolphin kick but it resembles one when you're looking from across the pool. He came in 2nd and would have made city in that event but got scratched. He was very upset and was fighting tears out of disappointment and frustration but within a few minutes was over it and focused on his next event which was another favorite of his, the backstroke. He won 1st but got disqualified AGAIN for touching the wall on his side, instead of his back. His coaches didn't even know it was an illegal touch. They disputed the call because it's legal in high school but the call still held and he was scratched again. I have to say, he has the BEST team and coaches in the world because when he got disqualified AGAIN after coming in FIRST his team surrounded him and I think were more upset about it than he was and he was pretty upset. But again, within a few minutes he was okay and focusing on his next event, the butterfly. He came in 3rd in his heat and 4th overall and qualified for city. His next event was the freestyle and he came in 1st in his heat and 4th overall and qualified in that one too. His last event was the breaststroke and we were worried because that's what he got disqualified from in the IM. He was 1st in his heat and the judge came and talked to him after he swam and we thought he got disqualified again but the judge just told him to kick his legs out more so it doesn't LOOK like a dolphin kick...so he didn't get scratched and qualified for city in that event as well. Whew! So, he'll be doing 2 relays and 3 personal events next week at city.

I'm just so proud of his hard work and how he handled being disqualified. Sometimes I think it's easier to not have made it than to know you made it and not be able to compete. But life throws things like that at you all the time and it's nice to know he was disappointed but didn't fall apart or hold onto it so it ruined the rest of his day and events. Sometimes as parents, we get so discouraged and worried if we're giving them all the life skills they'll need to go out in the world and to not only live up to all their potential but hopefully make their own mark on the world. So moments like this make my heart smile to see that he's already gaining some of those skills that we're working so hard to instill in him....and see that he IS listening to us, at least some of the time. ;)

Okay...all finished....thanks for letting me toot Kyler's horn a little bit. Getting to share these fun little highlights in our lives really does make them all the more special! Thanks guys! :)

I don't think they know who they're dealing with...

There are times where my older two not only don't give the little one enough credit, they don't even see him coming and it's almost comical because 9 times out of 10, they have it coming. ;)

Kyler and Mikaela both wake up happy and ready to go. I have no idea where they get it because Kamden is like his Mom and Dad and wakes up a little grumpy and it's about half an hour before he's ready to socialize. He just likes the quiet and wants to be left alone. Kyler is going through a stage where he literally loves nothing more than to aggravate the other two and he's learned that the best time to aggravate Kamden is first thing in the morning.

The other day, Kamden was coming downstairs and I could hear Kyler bugging him and all I heard in response was Kamden's ear piercing scream to "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!" To give us all peace, I told Kyler to go outside in the back yard and pick up dog poop before swim team practice. Kamden heard the word outside and said he wanted to go outside too. Kyler ran to the back door, opened it and told Kamden to come on. When Kamden got to the door, Kyler slammed it in his face. I automatically braced myself for his scream, but Kamden just reached up and locked the door and let out the most villainous little laugh. You should have seen Kyler's dumbfounded look. Kyler had it coming too...little toot. I wouldn't unlock it for him either...I made him ask his little brother to let him in...and he did...but not without some much deserved groveling.

Never a dull moment with three kids in the house...never. ;)

Possible changes ahead....

So, there might be changes on the horizon for the Glade's. If you know us well, you know that none of us really like change. In fact, I think Mikaela is the only one of us that goes with the flow pretty easily. We've had some recent changes in our lives and with the kids getting older and with the ages they are, we decided to put our house on the market and see what happens. We've lived here for almost 10 years so this is a big deal for us. We're stepping out of our box a little, testing the waters a bit, taking it as it comes and seeing where it may lead us. Any one of those things are hard for us, you put them all together and whew! We're a little nervous but no one's had a panic attack yet so I think we're doing pretty good so far. I know some people can change and move easily but unfortunately, we AREN'T one of those lucky people. ;o) We're also not desperate to move and buyers are in the mindset that all sellers are so we might end up staying put and that's okay too.

It's been hard for this "type A" girl to let strangers tromp through our house without us here but it's starting to get a little easier as it's shown more and more. Being "type A" I like a clean house but it's hard to keep it in a state that it can be "show ready" with 15 minutes notice...especially with 3 kids and the youngest having toy tornado abilities and talents. You should see his work! I will go upstairs to just do a quick check and in that short period of time he would have toys all over the just picked up downstairs AND backyard. I swear, he would win gold medals if it was an olympic event! ;o)

It's been fun to look at houses every weekend. We've found a few that we like which is good to have in our pocket in case we get a good offer on ours. The hard part has been deciding if we want to keep the kids in the same schools they are now or branching out into the unknown. We've been here so long that we're now a part of a small town in a big town so it would be hard to leave.

But we will see how it goes and just take things as they come to us and go from there. We will definitely keep you posted! Wish us luck and more importantly, sanity. :O)

THAT she hears!

The other day we were heading out the door and the kids were getting their shoes on and I was doing a few last minute things around the house before we left. Kyler came running back in the house to "inform" me of the most recent of Mikaela's transgressions.

Kyler: "Mommy, Mikaela told Kamden he wasn't smart!"

Mikaela: "I DID NOT!"

Me: *Sigh* (I find that I sigh a lot) "Mikaela did you tell Kamden that?"

Mikaela: "No!...I said he was dumb"

**I guess if she's going down, she's going down being quoted correctly**

Kyler cutting in: "You can't say that anyway because he has a brain and so that means he's not dumb. And actually, everyone has a brain and so no one is dumb."

Mikaela: "That's not true! Mommy says people don't have brains and aren't smart ALL THE TIME!"

Of course she hears THAT....she never hears me ask her to pick something up or clean her room but THAT she hears!

And before you judge me...you know the people I'm talking about when I say that. I can't be the only one who sees all those crazy people out there. ;)

Kamden, the quick witted....

I shared this on facebook the day it happened but I love it so much, I had to share it again.

Kamden asked for a hot dog for lunch so I made him one. When I gave it to him, he said he wanted soup. I reminded him that he had asked for a hot dog to which he told me Spiderman wanted the hot dog but he was Peter Parker and wanted soup. I think my 3 year old is too smart for his own good....but he still had to eat the hot dog. ;o)

Mikaela growing up so fast....

She really is! She's starting to talk so grown up. Sometimes I think she talks like she's 17 instead of just the 7 she is.

We were at ballroom practice one day and all the kids were sitting down in a group having a little talk before class started. There is a boy in their class who is about 14 years old and so polite and already comfortable in his own skin. The kids started getting up to practice and he held out his hand to Mikaela to help her up. No boy had ever done that to her before and so she had no idea what he was doing, so she stood up and THEN handed him her hand. He's so good natured, he kinda laughed and then caught up with the group to start dancing.

I was a little surprised she didn't know that he was trying to help her up. I mean, come on, this is Mikaela we're talking about. She LOVES stuff like that. She's always all over being helped and doted on.

After class, Mikaela came and sat down next to me.

Me: When Raphael held out his hand to you, he was trying to help you up.

Mikaela (smiling to herself): Ohhhhhhhh. Yeah, I SO didn't get that!

Me: I'm kinda surprised. That seems like something that would be right up your alley.

Mikaela (laughing a little and shaking her head): Yeah, you'd think!

Yes, growing up so fast....

And I wonder why sometimes I go to bed wondering if I've accomplished anything that day....

And this just might be an example of why. ;0)

A conversation between Kyler and I on the way to one of his practices....

Kyler: What if I ever need to get glasses?

Me: Then you'll get glasses.

Kyler: But I don't want to get glasses.

Me: Well, it's not something to worry about because your eyes are fine.

Kyler: But what if they don't stay fine.

Me: Then, we'll deal with it when and if that ever happens. But Daddy and I don't wear glasses so you'll probably be fine.

Kyler: Yeah, but what if I need to get glasses?

Me: *sigh*

Our June....

It's Summertime and we're loving it! Is there a better time of year? I don't think so! You just can't beat beautiful, warm days outside and so we've tried to do as much out there as we can because it will be over before we know it.

Things have settled down for us a lot which has been nice. I'm LOVING taking a break from our hectic schedule and not having to be somewhere every night. It's wonderful just to be home and not have to go anywhere. Sometimes it's the little things, eh?

Kyler joined the swim team for the Summer and is really enjoying it. He's becoming a stronger swimmer every day. He practices every morning during the week and then has swim meets early every Saturday so there is no sleeping in for the Glade's this Summer but that's probably a good thing. It forces us to get up and get going. He's had two swim meets so far. His first one was a completely new experience for him and he came home with lots of 5th and 6th place ribbons but his second, he knew more of what to expect and came home with 3rd and 4th place ribbons so he's definitely moving in the right direction. He's such an overachiever and wants to experience EVERYTHING and so he swims in every heat that he can in his age group so by the end of the meet he's EXHAUSTED. We keep telling him he'll have more energy and do better if he sits a few out and rests but he doesn't want to miss a thing. His team got to all do a logo for their shirts and towels and his drawing was chosen so he was pretty excited about that.

Mikaela is just enjoying doing nothing at all. She didn't want to take the Summer dance classes and we're also taking a break from ballroom so the only thing she's doing is swim lessons. She's working really hard and is doing much better. Hopefully, by the end of the Summer she'll have the freestyle down pat.

Kamden is also taking swim lessons but he's not making much progress. He's not afraid of the water but for whatever reason, he's decided he doesn't want to put his face in the water. This coming from the little boy who LOVES to jump off the side into the pool. Little TOOT! So all we have to show for the month is that he'll put his face in the water up to his nose and that's it. Stinker...but I guess we'll still keep him anyway.

June was a rough month for me. I splattered chemicals on my legs and got blisters all over them. Hailey tripped me and I totally fell flat on my face. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see too. Thank goodness my only audience was Kyler and a guy passing by in a truck. Lazy dog! I scraped up my chin, hands and knees. My dentist cracked my perfectly fine tooth so I had to go to a specialist and get a root canal. Needless to say, I won't be going back...ever. I had surgery on the vein that got all the clots when Kamden was born. It ended up being a bigger deal that I was expecting. I thought I would be feeling pretty good in a few days but it was a tough two weeks. I'd forgotten how stressful it was worrying about getting clots all the time which is one of the side affects of this procedure. I'm doing much better now. The only thing that bothers me is standing in one place for any extended period of time. I can even jog again (with my compression stocking on which is super sexy by the way ). Plus, I found a jogging buddy.....Kyler! I'd been looking for one but it's hard to find someone who lives close by that can go when I need to go and Kyler asked if he could go with me in the mornings. He puts me to shame though. He's in so much better shape than me.

Mike is exhausted. His hours are still insane but the good thing is that HE'S FINALLY had it and told his boss he was done and so they're hiring him another contractor who should start next week. So HOPEFULLY, work will get better and he'll get home at a decent hour. He took a little bit of time off when I had my surgery which was so nice and our Godsends, the Schimke's, took the kids for the day and night which was a huge help. I don't know what we would have done without them this month.

The kids had VBS this month. It was a fun, but hectic 5 days. I always leave VBS feeling old and tired. I think because it's at night and we get home so late, plus, it's BUSY and LOUD! The kids love it but I think that's where the "old" feeling for Mom kicks in. This year my older two won goldfish. Yes, real, living fish. Yay! It's hard to tell through writing but that yay has sarcasm dripping all over it. So, we go buy them each little one gallon tanks for our new members of the family, put them in and they start swimming funny a few hours later. I had fish when I was younger but I still had no idea what was wrong with them. Kamden is upset because he doesn't have a fish so we go to the pet store for another goldfish for him. The pet store guy tells me that their tank is too small for them and they're dying. Darn! Again, sarcasm but the kids are horrified. The pet store guy tells me only bettas can live in the one gallon tanks so of course the kids want bettas. BUT bettas fight and have to be in the tank by themselves. So the fish we were going to get Kamden to go in Kyler's tank doesn't work anymore. So instead of leaving the pet store with ONE 27 cent fish, we're leaving with 3 bettas and another tank. I'm hoping the goldfish at home are already dead and so we can just flush them and be done but they're still holding on. The kids won't let me flush them and put them out of their misery but are crying because they're "suffering" (oh the irony). So, I ended up putting them in our little waterfall fountain in the backyard hoping to make their death quicker but they love the fountain and are thriving instead. What I'm going to do with them this winter if they're still alive is beyond me...but I'll worry about that then I guess. So, Pre- VBS, I was happily fish free. Now Post- VBS, I have two goldfish outside and 3 bettas and 3 tanks inside and still wondering how exactly this happened....

Speaking of the backyard, ours is FINALLY starting to come back together. It's been quite a process after the Winter we had but it's so nice to have it in one piece again. The only thing we lack is getting the baby grass to get more mature so the kids can play on it again. After that, I think we'll be good to go for the season.

Well, I think that's all our June news. Still eventful but less hectic....we're definitely enjoying the break from the school and schedule madness. We hope you're all having safe and fun Summers and you have a fantastic Fourth of July! As always, keep us posted!

Sending Out Lots of Love and Hugs,
The Glade's

Click for June Pictures: