Swimming Success?

Jentry participated in swimming lessons at the Sutton pool last week.  This was actually her third experience with swimming lessons.  She took two different classes at the YMCA, when we lived in Lincoln.  The go around was quite a different experience.  The classes where scheduled to be held Monday through Friday, 11:30 to 12:00.  I signed her up thinking I would just take an early lunch that week and it wouldn't take me long to shuttle her around the little town of Sutton.  Miss Wendy was even nice enough to have her suited up and ready to go at 11:15.  The daycare kids usually eat at 11:30, however Miss Wendy said that she would set aside a plate of food for Jentry.  This way she could eat after she was done swimming.  Miss Wendy is such a thoughtful person!

Monday everything went as planned.  Jentry was ready to go when I picked her up and we made it to the pool with plenty of time to sign in and find a place to sit and wait.  When the instructors were ready, they asked all of the kids to line up and for the parents to exit the pool.  Little Miss Independent had no problem saying goodbye to her mom and confidently lined up with the other, much taller, kids.  Jentry was assigned to a group with two male instructors.  I really didn't think much of this until I started observing that Jentry was not participating at all.  She looked nervous and wouldn't do any of the tasks they were asking her to perform.  This is not like Jentry at all!  I have nothing against male swimming instructors, trust me, however I was kind of wishing that Jentry had been assigned to one of the female instructors.  I really think a female would have encouraged her more to participate instead of just letting her get away with her shy/nervous girl act.  At the end of lessons they let each child go down the big slides.  The slides are Jentry's favorite thing to do at the pool and she has been down them countless times all by herself.  Not this day!  She continued on with her act and said no to the slides.  On the way to the car, I asked her why she had acted so silly.  Her response was, "Well, I was hungry mom." 

Tuesday I was hoping for a better outcome.  I had given Jentry a pep talk or two and Miss Wendy even gave her a snack so that she wouldn't have any excuses.  When we arrived, I knew something was strange because all of the kids were already in the pool.  Apparently, they had moved the time up to 11:00 without calling to notify me.  Jentry got there in time to go down the slides.  This time she actually went.

Wednesday was somewhat overcast, but the temperature was still 80 degrees.  There was no threat of rain until late afternoon, however I received a call around 10:00 that classes had been cancelled.  Really!

Just when I was doubting my $15 investment, Thursday we finally had a good swimming experience.  Jentry was assigned to a different, smaller group and really did well.  She was excited and could not wait to go back on Friday.

Friday Jentry somehow passed Level 1 B.  I am not exactly sure what that means, but she had a blast and can't wait for next year. 

Bedtime Blues

Jentry has been having a tough time going to bed lately.  I have tried many different tactics, but so far none of of them seem to really solve our bedtime issues.  I even tried bringing out the star system again, however it has almost been a month now and only three stars appear on the paper.  Three nights out of the last thirty have been fairly miserable, which just makes me want to cry.  I am completely at a loss and don't even know what to try at this point.  Every night it is the same routine.  Our bedtime procedure goes splendidly until Jentry finds the one, meaningless thing that she is going to get stuck on.  After that, forget anything you have ever read in any parenting book. 

Last night Jentry got upset, because I wasn't laying Snuggie down right.  I have to admit that I was complete void of patience at that point and might have handled Snuggie a bit rough.  She then burst into a full-blown meltdown.  "You hurt Snuggie!"  At that point, I simply said good night and walked away.  This meant that I didn't sing songs or tuck her in like usual.  After thirty or so minutes of Jentry standing outside our bedroom door crying and repeating "Mama can I tell you something?" over and over and over again, I gave in.  I opened the door held her hand and quietly walked her back to her room.  I was hoping this might calm her down enough that she would at least get back in her bed.  This is when she said to me. "Mom, if you would just apologize to Snuggie for hurting him, then you can sing me songs."  AHHHHHHHHH!

This is only a phase.  Repeat it with me...This is only a phase.

Life Celebrations

We spent last weekend celebrating life in many different fashions.  Nathan's Grandma (Norma) McKenzie passed away on June 5, 2012.  I never had the opportunity to meet her, however her family spoke of her with such loving words I am certain she was a remarkable woman.  The funeral was set for Saturday morning, so Friday we traveled to Lincoln and had supper with the McKenzie Clan (pun intended).  It was great fun to meet everyone.  Geographically, John's family is very spread out so everyone enjoyed the time together.  That night we got to stay at John and Jan's condo in Lincoln.  I love staying at condo because it always feels like a mini vaca.  Jentry loves staying at the condo, because she gets to ride on the elevator. 

Saturday, Nathan and I celebrated Grandma Mackey's astounding life of great faith while Jentry got to spend the entire day with her cousins celebrating their youth.  It was quite interesting to hear Jentry's comments after I explained to her that Nathan's grandma had passed.  "I can't wait till I'm an old lady and I can go to Heaven too."  Oh, if we could only keep our childlike faith!

Saturday evening, Nathan and I traveled to the Arbor Day Farms in Nebraska City to celebrate a marriage of Nathan's long time friend, Mike Terryberry to a beautiful, free-spirited, bride name Aunnie.  We had a wonderful time and danced the night away with friends.

“ The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." ~ Oprah Winfrey

The Front Porch

Life has been rather crazy, busy lately.  We spent memorial weekend celebrating Nathan's ten-year class reunion, which was great fun.  We also helped some friends butcher 250 chickens that Sunday.  I certainly can't think of any other way I would have rather spent my holiday weekend. (Enter sarcasm symbol here.)  In retrospect, it did give us something productive to do, I got a chance to brush up on my chicken anatomy and Jentry had a blast playing with the other kiddos. 

On Monday, Jentry headed to Orleans to stay with Grandma and Papa Bose for a few days.  I had to travel to Norfolk, VA and Raleigh, NC for some client meetings.  According to Papa, Jentry was an absolute angel the entire time and even put herself down for a nap one day.  What?  Of course she did!  Never mind the fact that I have not been able to get her to nap for the last two years!  Ugh.  I guess I am glad she was good because it increases the chances of them wanting to take her again. 

Friday Jentry went to spend time with her dad and I planed a very productive weekend for Nathan and myself.  We spent the entire day, Saturday, shopping in Grand Island.  I think I stretched Nathan to the limit and set a new record for him in consecutive hours spent shopping, however we accomplished a lot.  I even ordered new office furniture.  My office has been somewhat make-shift since I moved and while I was out east, Nathan surprised me by priming the walls so that we could be one step closer to paint. Yeah!  Here is what my office looks like today.  It doesn't look like much now, but I hopeful that I can take some stunning "after" pictures very soon.

Monday night we finally found some time to sit and relax on the front porch.  Literally.  I would have never pictured myself as a front porch kinda of girl, but now that I am slightly older and actually have a front porch to sit on, I long for our time of nothingness on the front porch.  We have gotten into a not so healthy habit of drinking chocolate malts on the really hot days.  I have very vivid memories of my dad making me chocolate malts as a child.  Maybe it was because they were super yummy or maybe it was just so bizarre to see my dad making anything in the kitchen, I am really not sure.  Either way, I still crave dad's malts and want to pass that wonderful memory along to my family.

 My lovely blender pusher

I Can't Even Smile

I got a call from daycare today just after lunch.  Miss Wendy wanted me to come look at Jentry's mouth.  She had fallen off the scooter and smashed up her mouth pretty good.  Thankfully, this is the first major hurt my little girl has had to endure, but that made it all the more tragic.  I found her lying across Miss Wendy's lap with a princess ice pack over her mouth.  You could see that she was trying to be very brave, but the minute her little eyes met mine she began to bawl again.  I was instantly heartbroken.  I too tried to be brave and act like everything was just fine even though I wasn't so sure about the patch of skin dangling inside of her mouth or the fact that her lip was already the size of a grape!  My poor baby!  I managed to remain calm however and offered to take her home.  Of course, Jentry wanted to leave with me immediately. 

When we got home, I put her on her bed and tried to make her comfortable.  I put a towel down over her pillows to protect them from the blood.  Jentry wanted her Snuggie, but insisted that he sit next to her so that he wouldn't get all bloody too.  As I was starting a movie, Jentry began to tear up again and said, "I can't even smile, mom."  As any decent mother would do, I promised her a chocolate malt for supper.

I sure hope my baby heals quickly... without a trip to the dentist.  I want her smile back!

Poppies

Our new yard in Sutton has little to be desired, at this point.  The previous owner let things go, to say the least.  The positive side to this is that I have a new project and can pretty much start from scratch.  I have lots of big plans in my mind, however it is a much different story to actually find the right people in town to make my big plans a realization.  We did find a guy to take out four big trees and lots of little stragglers a few weeks ago and boy did that make a world of difference.  Nathan said he hardly recognized the house.  We also were able to find a guy to grind out the old stumps.  This process was quite interesting to watch and much to my surprise only took a matter of minutes.  The stumps are gone, whoot, but the yard now looks like a mine field.  Now to find someone to level everything back out.  At least we are making some visible progress!

Despite the negatives, there are a few select flowers that are very beautiful and I plan to keep them. However, they may need to be thinned out and/or moved from some pretty random places.  One of these select flowers is the poppy.  There are tons of them and they take over a big chunk of the front yard.  Nathan has tried several chemical methods to kill them off, but they keep coming back each spring.  A few weeks ago they were blooming and looked great for about three days.  If it were not for their nasty, ugly stems and leaves I would consider keeping them.  Jentry loved them and called them her flowers because they were a gorgeous shade of dark orange, which is still her favorite color.

Teeth, Cows , Dolls & Moms

Jentry had her very first dentist appointment last Thursday and oh was she excited!  Kelly's sister-in-law, Heidi, referred us to her employer, Pediatric Dental Specialists, in Hastings.  The experience was absolutely wonderful and Jentry did amazing.  They were able to get x-rays and pictures of all her teeth and clean them too.  Apparently this never happens on a first visit.  I was so proud of her.  She looked so tiny in the big chair, but she never once acted scared.  Because of her wonderful behavior at the dentist, Jentry got to choose McDonald's for lunch and pick out one toy at Walgreen's.  Out of all the toys she chose a pink golf bag set, which I am sure made Nathan happy. 

Next, mom got to purchase a present for herself....HEADPHONES!  Now Jentry can watch her movie in the back, and I can still listen to the radio.  As I looked in the back seat, I almost came to tears.  Who was this big girl?  Where did my baby go? 

 We made it to Orleans in no time and Jentry got to spend a little quality time with Papa while I went with Grandma to her club night.  I had a lovely evening with the Modd Mates.  There is never a dull moment with that group of ladies.  Grandma and I were out a little later than we had anticipated.  We arrived home around 10:00 PM, and I was slightly worried about what we might find.  The house was dark when we pulled into the drive. I opened the front door I heard a little voice running to me.

Little Voice: "Mommy, you're back!" 
Me: "Where's Papa?"  She shrugged her shoulders and kept hugging me tightly. "Is Papa asleep?" 
Little Voice: "Yeah"
Me: "How long has Papa been asleep?"
Little Voice: "A really long time, like 10 minutes!"
Me: "Where is Papa?"
Little Voice: "In my bed"
Me: "Should we go find him?"
Little Voice: "Yeah, but we have to be very quiet.  We don't want to wake him up."

Sure enough, we found Papa asleep in his underwear on Jentry's bed surrounded by stuffed animals with the light on.  It looked as if Jentry had been playing in the room for awhile.  Oh, Papa.  I wish I would have taken a picture...then again, it is probably best that I didn't.

On Friday, Grandma had to go to work but Jentry and I got to ride along with papa and feed cattle.  Jentry even got to drive the old Oliver tractor!

Jentry just loves riding in Papa's pick-up, because she gets to sit up front.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning in the pasture.  I just love the contrast of the blue sky, green grass and black cows.  Simply beautiful!

Jentry also got to take her dolls for a stroll in Grandma's old doll stroller. 

Jentry loves playing with Grandma's neat doll toys.  She spent most of her time putting dolls in and out of the old crib, highchair and stroller.  She also got to meet my very first Cabbage Patch doll, Tanya Madge.  She was by far my favorite doll.  You can tell by her dirty, worn-out body.  I think Jentry kind of looks like Tanya.  Who knew that one day I would have a real, live, baby girl with short, blonde hair!

Saturday we took Grandma out for lunch in Holdrege and spent some quality girl time doing a little shopping.  I had a wonderful time and I hope she did too.  I am so very thankful that I have her as my mother and hope that I can model her amazing example with my own daughter.