Journal: Week of June 17, 2024

While away, I had a few more items purchased on my Etsy shop.  When we returned, the items shipped to Maine, New Jersey, and North Carolina. :) Items sold this past week included lanyard pen holders, classroom window curtains, and a dog bandana.

Ashlyn and her friend, Andy, went swimming on Tuesday afternoon for about an hour.  Our HOA in the neighborhood was sponsoring, Pops at the Pool, so we had a popsicle along with enjoying the pool for a bit.

Tuesday evening, Ashlyn completed her BSA Astronomy merit badge.  They were able to complete everything but one requirement while camping at the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Her last thing to complete was to draw a sketch of the Big Dipper's orientation in the early evening sky.  Then a few hours later, sketch it again including the North Star in both sketches and the position.  I could sure tell the difference between the views from our campsite, Glacier Basin, in comparison from our house with all the light pollution.  It was much harder to see, but it was there.  Saturday evening, Ashlyn submitted her last requirements for her BSA Camping merit badge.  

Summertime Swimming

Summer of 2015, both kids started swimming at Emler Swim School in Frisco.  I cannot say enough positive things about this swim school.  It amazes me to look back at videos from when they both started compared to now.  Summer of 2016, Jakob started swimming with Swim380 and in the summer of 2017, Ashlyn joined Swim380 also.  Check out their race times, pictures, and videos below.

Watch Ashlyn's swim races from July 28, 2018.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rMGM8EVEWvB2Eitd7

 Ashlyn took 2nd place for her 25M kickboard race and 2nd place for her 25M backstroke race.

	Swim 380	Swim 380	Swim 380
	6/17/2017	7/15/2017	7/29/2017
25M Kickboard	49.65 seconds	40.28 seconds	-
25M Freestyle	Refused to do this race.	42.40 seconds	42.54 seconds
25M Backstroke	49.88 seconds *used kickboard	46.79 seconds	46.3 seconds
25M Breaststroke	-	1.55.09
25M Butterfly	-	-	-

	Swim 380	Swim 380	Swim 380	Swim 380
	6/16/2018	6/23/18	7/14/2018	7/28/18
25M Kickboard	32.6 seconds	35 seconds	31.35 seconds	30.38 seconds
25M Freestyle	40.6 seconds	-	-	-
25M Backstroke	40.6 seconds	38.53 seconds	34.82 seconds	29.81 seconds
25M Breaststroke	-	1:01.81	1:01.96	51.69 seconds
25M Butterfly	-	-	56.38 seconds	46.81 seconds

Watch Jakob's swim races from July 28, 2018.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/b6x3qmoJU7ZVUe7R7

Jakob took 3rd place for his 50M Breaststroke race!

	Swim 380	Swim 380
	7/16/2016	7/30/2016
50M Freestyle	58.65 seconds	57.57 seconds
50M Backstroke	1:11.84	1:02.75
50M Breaststroke	1:21.43	1:15.65
25M Butterfly	48.18 seconds	-
50M Butterfly	-	-
100M Freestyle	2:28.03	2:03.43
100 IM	-	2:27.53

	Swim 380	Swim 380
	7/15/2017	7/29/2017
50M Freestyle	43.59 seconds	47.78 seconds
50M Backstroke	59.03 seconds	-
50M Breaststroke	Weather Cancellation	-
25M Butterfly	Weather Cancellation	-
50M Butterfly	-	1:05.41
100M Freestyle	Weather Cancellation	1:43.28
100 IM	Not scheduled	2:10.81

	Swim 380	Swim 380	Swim 380
	6/16/2018	6/23/2018	7/28/2018
50M Freestyle	38.29 seconds	37.03 seconds	36.94 seconds
50M Backstroke	47.65 seconds	47 seconds	45.03 seconds
50M Breaststroke	-	50.28 seconds	48.75 seconds
25M Butterfly	-		-
50M Butterfly	-		-
100M Freestyle	1:27.34	1:33.47	1:30.94 seconds
100 IM	-		-

Ashlyn's 1st Swim Meet

This little, sweet girl swam in her first swim meet on Saturday, June 17th.  Ashlyn absolutely loves being in the water and her confidence is building each day!  It is hard to believe, but we started weekly lessons with Emler Swim School, located in Frisco, in June 2015 for both her and Jakob.  This summer, both kids are swimming with Swim 380 and at Emler Swim School to continue to practice and build their endurance.  Our next meet is this upcoming Saturday.

	6/17/2017
25M Kickboard	49.65 seconds
25M Freestyle	-
25M Backstroke	49.88 seconds

6/17/2017 - 25M Kickboard Race

6/17/2017 - 25M Kickboard Race
3rd Place

6/17/2017 - 25M Backstroke Race

6/17/2017 - 25M Backstroke Race
2nd Place

I was super proud of her backstroke race!  One of the things I told her before she raced was to make sure she touched the wall when she finished racing.  She used her kickboard for this race, more for confidence, and only used her legs.  Another girl, in the lane to her left, was ahead of her.  However, she forgot to touch the wall and from watching the video Jeff took, you could see the adults with the timers talking with her to get her to touch.  In this process, Ashlyn finished her race and touched the wall resulting in her getting 2nd place!  She was ecstatic as you can tell from the picture!  

Ashlyn participated with American Heritage Girls (AHG) during Kindergarten and will continue as a Tenderheart this fall.  One of the bible scriptures she had to memorize was from 1 Timothy 4:12.  She remembered the scripture and meaning behind it.  Her racing group this summer is ages six and under.  I wanted her to remember that even though she might be smaller, she can do anything she sets her mind to.

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young.

1 Timothy 4:12 NLT  http://bible.com/116/1ti.4.12.NLT

Lana and I took the kids to the north pool yesterday afternoon.  We had rain in the morning which canceled tennis camp for Jakob and swim team practice.  Ashlyn practice her backstroke using her arms and before we left for home, swam the entire 25M pool length and then went back the other direction!

Jakob's 2nd Swim Meet

Click here for high resolution video

A year ago, Jakob started swimming at Emler Swim School in Frisco, TX.  At that time, he understood the concept of freestyle, but struggled putting it all together.  He also would bring his head up to breathe rather than side breathing.  Through weekly swim lessons with Emler Swim School, he not only has improved on his freestyle swimming, but also learned backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.  He also participates with Boy Scouts, and through all the swimming practice he passed his swimming test for this summer's Boy Scout Camp at Kia Kima.

This past summer, Jakob participated with Swim 380.  It is a recreational swim team in our community.  He swam three times a week practicing all of the strokes.  Jakob also learned how to dive into the water and flip turns.

Yesterday, he competed in his second swim meet with Swim 380.  I am so pleased with him for beating all of his times!  Jakob is scheduled to swim weekly with Emler Swim School this fall and he will go to the Denton Natatorium with either Jeff or me to continue to build his endurance.  I love we have a starting point and goals for him.

	7/16/2016	7/30/2016
50 Freestyle	0:58.65	0:57.57
100 Freestyle	2:28.03	2:03.43
50 Backstroke	1:11.84	1:02.75
50 Breaststroke	1:21.43	1:15.65
25 Butterfly	0:48.18	-
100 IM		2:27.53

Swimming at the Pool

Last Thursday, my cousin Janet came over with her kids, Aidan and Jack.  We took all the boys to the pool and they had a blast playing in the water!  It was fun taking pictures and we snapped a few really fun shots of the boys jumping into the pool! After we finished at the pool, we came back to the house and cooked hamburgers on the stove.  Everyone ate really good after playing in the pool for a good two hours!

The funniest part of the day was Jakob learning who Aidan and Jack were again.  He has met them before, but I think he just did not remember.  He was really excited that his cousin Aidan and his cousin Jack were coming over! Then he referred to Jack as baby and sometimes baby Jack!  Recently, Jakob found a little ball that Jack brought over and Jakob was concerned to make sure we got it back to baby Jack!

Roland worked really hard to get into this photo that Janet was trying to take.  Then I thought it was funny because he posed as a 13 year old!

Swimming, Playgrounds, Zoos, and More!

I'm a little behind on my weekly updates!  Last Monday, I took the boys to the pool.  They both enjoyed the time at the pool.  Before leaving, they wanted to play in the splash zone area.  Both boys had a blast and using my phone I took pictures and some video!  Check out the video here!

I took Jakob to two libraries last Tuesday.  We went to Aubrey Library to sign Jakob up for their Summer Reading Program.  After the library, we had plans to go to the Lewisville Library to watch the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Brothers clowns.  Jakob laughed the entire time with the clowns!  I also went to CVS to pick up a few items after we had lunch on Tuesday.

Jakob and I went to the playground at his new school on Thursday afternoon.  We stayed for about 30 minutes since it was pretty hot outside.  I wanted to get out of the house and also let Jakob run and play for a little bit.  He would have kept playing if I had let him!  He is always full of energy!  We actually ran into a friend while we were there and visited with her for a little while.

Friday morning, Jakob and I went to Frank Buck Zoo and walked the zoo and fed the two giraffes!  He really enjoyed feeding the giraffes and I had no idea how he would react to it!  It was pretty cool to feed them!  We fed Moffey and Nelson.  We learned it was mating season and the two giraffes had been fighting, so they had to keep from separate from each other for a little while.  The giraffes would stick out their tongues and wait for the lettuce we bought to feed them!  Great moments!  After the zoo, we rode the small train and played at a playground next to the zoo.  Jakob really enjoyed the playground and especially the tire swing.

Jakob did super at his ice skating lessons this past Saturday!  I took pictures and video of him skating.  I will finish editing the video and uploading it to my blog soon.

Jakob's Swim Lessons '09 - Scrapbook Layout

Part of the above layout was created using Coordinates Collections Oceanside kit.  These are pictures from Jakob's swim lessons from 2009.  He began Level 1 when he was 3 years old, but struggled at doing what the instructors wanted him to do!  A year older made a big difference!  He did really well on the basic things they expected and wanted him to be able to do and he passed Level 1 at age 4!

This current year we have enjoyed the pool at the amenity center near our new home!  Jakob loves the water and he is continuing to practice his swimming!  The video below is him attempting to swim with his floaties in the pool yesterday.  Mom noticed he appears to be smacking the water and reminded me to work with him on cupping his hands.  We might go swimming tomorrow morning if the weather starts to clear up from the past two days of rain and overcast.

Swimming - Roland & Jakob

I took the boys swimming yesterday morning. We were the first ones at the pool at 9AM! Jakob really had a blast in the regular pool with his floaties and attempted to follow through the procedures to swim with his floaties. Before leaving shortly before 11AM, both boys wanted to play in the splash zone area. It was funny to watch since they both were working on timing it correctly to be underneath when the water dropped!

Lions, Tigers, Bears..Oh My

Roland had his first orthodontics appointment on Monday. The planned treatment is about 20 months. They created his records by taking more x-rays and creating his mold of his teeth. They also put spacers, or separators, between the back teeth to create space so that orthodontic bands can be placed at his next appointment. He has instructions regarding the spacers. However, he CANNOT have any sticky foods, such as: gum, caramels, taffy, now and later candy, tootsie rolls, starburst, licorice, or skittles. There is a list of foods he also cannot have once he gets his braces. Looking at our schedules, Roland has band camp next week (6/15-6/19) and a vacation with us the week after (6/22-6/27). They did not want him to be sore for band camp or the vacation. I was able to schedule his top braces on Monday, June 29th at 8AM. They do top first and then bottom to give them time for the adjustment in their mouth.

We went swimming with Jakob's friend on Tuesday. They came over to our apartment at 10AM and we went to the pool for a good 2 hrs! By noon, they were getting hungry and cranky. They were much better after eating hot dogs. The boys played after eating with toys and then it was time for naps.

Roland had a dentist appointment on Wednesday. He had one of his bottom incisor teeth either chipped or had a soft spot when it initially came in and was more and likely missing part of his tooth. He started going to Jakob's dentist in Coppell since he is covered under our insurance. I told him after his mouth was no longer numb, we would go and get ice cream. I looked up coupons for Sonic and they had a few Buy 1 Get 1 Free ice cream deals. After Jakob woke up around 3PM, I decided it wasn't TOO hot and we would walk. This way I knew I would burn some calories to be able to eat the ice cream! I ended up ordering 2 chocolate sundaes and 1 ice cream in a dish. The coupon made one of the ice cream sundaes free and figured Jakob would eat one. Sonic also has a special between 2PM-4PM where all drinks and slushies were half price. The boys originally wanted slushies, but the machine was not working. I ordered cherry limeades instead (Jakob wanted a red drink) and me a diet cherry limeade. Overall, I only spent $5.51 for everything and figured that was okay. Before we left for Sonic, I had looked up the point values of the different ice creams. The ice cream in a dish was only 6 points and knew that would not ruin my day of eating good (especially since we were walking too). The ice cream comes out and guess which one Jakob wanted...the one with NO chocolate or the cherry! I let Roland have the cherry because he asked but I thought it was just too funny based on how I had it all planned out!

Thursday sure was busy. We went and listened to the story time at Barnes and Noble. It was okay. The lady reading held the book so she could read it and then held it out for the kids to see the pictures. It really is not hard to hold the book where the kids can see the pictures and read it at the same time! Jakob's friend, Mason, and his mom were with us and we both agreed! The other thing was she was reading 2 princess books! There were 4 girls and 2 boys there listening. What Kristi and I did not understand was why didn't she read one about a princess and one about a knight and a dragon. Oh well! After we finished at Barnes and Noble, it was time to take Roland back to his mom's house.

The Lewisville Library had Kelly the clown from the Ringling Bros. Circus on Thursday afternoon. He was quite funny and entertaining. Jakob and Mason both laughed! The circus teams up with the library each year to give free tickets for children to the circus for reading 5 books. Jakob has read his 5 books, now I just need to take it to the box office and exchange it for the actual ticket. While we were there we learned how to get free tickets for adults too! We became FANS on their Facebook page and once they get to 1000, we will get 1 free ticket per household. I love free events! Sometime in July or August, we will go watch the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.Mom visited for Friday and Saturday. We had to run errand and we went to the post office, CVS, McDonalds, my doctor's appointment, haircut for Jakob, Wal-Mart, and last but not least Starbucks! We did all of this before 4:00PM! We really needed the recharge at Starbucks! We had dinner at Olive Garden and then did a walk around the complex while Jakob rode on his bicycle. On Saturday morning, we woke up and went to Staples and Kohl's. I wanted to use a coupon for Staples for a current special on paper. Mom laughs because she has tons of paper, but I told her I tend to use my rebates from recycling my print cartridges for paper. The special this week was a ream of copy paper for $1 after store coupons and Stapes easy rebates. It was too good of a deal! We headed for Chick-Fil-A to purchase lunch and take home to eat before going to our first musical of the year. We saw the Wizard of Oz and it was good. The inside jokes here and there were funny. For instance, the cowardly lion talks about how he didn't have any courage. He continues to go on about how his father took him up on a high rock looking over the village and told him how one day it would all be his! Then comments how he was afraid of heights. Nice Lion King reference within the musical to make you laugh! The musical was very similar to the actual movie, in reference to the dialogue and singing. However the special effects and the overall performance makes these musicals fun and exciting!

Today, I would like to do some cleaning around the apartment. We are halfway through June and I have not done any scrapbooking!! NONE, ZILCH, ZERO!! Part of the problem is my mess in my room! I have stuff all of the place right now on my card table (scrap table) making it really tough to do any artsy craft stuff. So hopefully, I will get in gear and clean today!

I hope everyone has a great week! I am proud of my walking last week. I had 14.7 miles!