The Jennings: More May

Swim Lessons:
Brooklyn took a 6 day swim lesson course from Emily Jones in our ward, and man she was a great teacher. Brooklyn however, struggled, and seemed pretty traumatized by the whole thing, poor girl.
Our pool had been too cold for me to get in, although the boys would swim occasionally. The Jones' had a solar blanket on their pool, so it was warmer than ours, but still just too cold for Brook.
She'd sit in the pool and just scream, "Mommy I'm cold!! Mommy I'm cold!!" I'd try to be prepared and bring extra dry towels for in between her turns, I even brought hot chocolate one day so she could sip it and try to warm her insides. But she'd just shiver uncontrollably. Even after she was done, I'd get her dressed in dry clothes, she'd refuse the otter pop every single time from Emily, we'd get in the hot car, I'd put a blanket on her, and wrap her up in it when we got home, and she'd STILL shiver for a good 30 minutes. She often wouldn't talk or eat lunch, but instead just fall asleep for a super early nap time. Poor thing :( Casey swore she had early signs of hypothermia. Oh man, the things we put our kids through...

It was pretty painful watching her scream and cry her whole turn, and even when it wasn't, she'd be stressed and start to cry asking, "is it my turn again??"

However, I was impressed with her ability to try and negotiate. She'd start crying when I started getting her swimsuit on at home, and the whole drive over. But when I got to the actual street that swim lessons were on, she'd say things like, "I can't swim, I need to eat lunch." Or "I can't swim, I need to take a nap." Or, my favorite, "I can't swim, I need to poop." ha ha :)

The good news is, that a couple weeks after swim lessons ended, our pool was warm enough for both her and I to get in, and turns out she was listening to what Emily told her, and the other kids who were more advanced. She once told CJ, "If you fall off your noodle, swim to the side!" And now, she is a great swimmer and LOVES to swim. She wants to show everyone how she can swim, and it's great. So, hopefully the torture was worth it :)

Graduation:
CJ's school had a ceremony for those moving up from kindergarten and/or moving onto another school. CJ got to be presented by his cousin Abigail.

(I jumped the gun and missed the actual hug picture :)

He did great at Montessori House and really enjoyed it and learned a lot. He sewed buttons, wrapped gifts, learned all 50 states and 7 continents, can fold an apron better than I can, is my most helpful kid in the kitchen, etc. I probably would've kept him there, but it came down to me wanting and feeling like he was ready for all day. If he stayed at Montessori, he'd still be in the 1/2 day class. It'll be nice to have him and Payton at the same school, but CJ definitely is sad that he doesn't get to move up to the "big kid" class at MH. Who knows what the future will hold though, right?

Nice of Grandma and Grandpa to come.

CJ had to get pictures with his best friends at school, Emma Freeman and Collette Judd. (Shouldn't surprise me that they are girls. He's always loved girls :)

(Really sweet though, on separate occasions, the parents of 4 other kids came up to me and said, "~CJ is my son/daughter's best friend. ~They talk about him constantly and pretend to be him when they play at home. ~He's the only kid from school my son wants to invite to his birthday party." It's great that he is a kind friend to so many kids.)

He and Miss Nikki

PJ birthday:

Payton turned 8!!

He got some practical gifts from me (socks, journal, photo book of him, etc) and some super fun/exciting gifts from Casey (Rayman Legends video game, Lego Batman Tumbler car and Joker's Ice Cream Truck)

We went to Kid's Club, got to ride the carousel, get lunch, and see the Lego Movie at the Picture Show (kids got in free, so it was $4 for both Casey and I!!)
We came home, brought Everett with us (Beck was still in school) and swam.

Had dinner at the kid favorite McDonald's.

The next day we went to the IDEA Museum, where he'd been wanting to go for a while.

Then Saturday he had some friends over to swim,

have cupcakes,

He loves this secret pen/blacklight set that he got from his cousins in Virginia.

and do a piñata.

Then a couple days later Grandpa and Grandma took him out for Bahama Buck's.

What a great birthday celebration that lasted for days! Then a week later he had another special day and got baptized. (That'll be another post.)

Random:
Had a fun night and took crazy photo booth pics at the wedding of one of Casey's coworkers, Erin and Mike.

The kids helped pick plums at grandma's house.

Grandma Lindy had been drawing with the kids, and the next day Brooklyn drew this on her own. I thought it was the first 'face' picture she'd ever drawn, and text it to Lindy, because she must've inspired her :)

This was CJ's drawing of a bad guy. Aaahhh!!

Had a cousin sleepover with Beck and Rett, and went to Fountain Hills to feed the ducks, play at the park, and in the splash pad.

We had this little puppy staying with us, for a combination of about a month, while his owner was undergoing surgery and health issues. Brooklyn sure adored Prancer, and tried to carry him everywhere.

I tried my very first cupcakes at the Sweet Tooth Fairy, and loved them.

The kids got their groove on at Ashlin and Landon's wedding reception (with Grandpa Gordon in on the fun.)

Brooklyn got chosen to go up on stage during Kid's Club, which is like the highlight of her life, but when she's up there, she like freezes and doesn't smile, silly girl.

We celebrated the end of school by going to ZoYo for some frozen yogurt.

Payton making pancakes, woohoo!!

My parents finding a snake in their backyard, and bringing it over to show my kids while Lexi was babysitting.

Brooklyn's first time voluntarily putting her head in the water and trying to swim, after the traumatic swim lessons.

While getting gas I noticed this Allen Wrench sticking out of the side of my tire. How does that even happen?? Had to go get a replacement for that one.

End of the school year pics:

Most of Payt's class after the play.

Payton's award from his teacher, which totally doesn't surprise me.

That kid is a reader, I tell ya. Just the other day we went to the library and he checked out 17 books. They weren't even like picture books, but either chapter books, like Magic Treehouse, or lengthy comic books. He read them ALL in 1 day. I tallied up that he had read at least 4 hours, possibly even close to 5 that day. Can't get him to eat, swim, play with friends, etc when he's reading. He's almost always got one close by.

CJ at school on Emma's birthday, with Collette too.