Soapy Sea Foam

So I like pinterest and I try to actually use what I pin.  The girls LOVE anything Science or sensory.  Okay, Audrey is not always so thrilled about the sensory play.  But I showed Celia this Sensory Foam idea and she was very excited to try it.  So I found an empty bin and we made some soap foam.

1/3 cup Dawn dish soap
1/3 cup water
1 TBSP cornstarch

Since our Dawn was blue we did not need any food coloring to make it look like the sea.  I tried making this with my immersion mixer but it did not do the job.  So I dug out the monster, my huge and heavy food processor and started making multiple batches of soap foam until I filled up the tub.  The cornstarch was almost magical, it held the foam for a long time.   I ended up adding more cornstarch/water as needed.  I originally put a cup of Dawn, water, and 3 TBSP cornstarch into a bowl and used the immersion blender.  When that failed I then started putting it into the food processor a little at a time, it foamed up a lot.

I hid shells in the bottom of the bin and for what ever reason they could have cared less.

5 seconds into it and Celia wanted cars for a car wash

So I grabbed some cars and they had fun with a car wash

Here is Audrey in the water big rinsing the cars.

This might seem like a lot of work for sensory play but it entertained my girls for over an hour.  Do you know how amazing that is??  It not only entertained them for an hour but they continued with part of the play scheme once they were done and played together inside the house for a bit.  

So a Pinterest Accomplished task that really worked!!

Just because

25 years

It has been 25 years since my father passed away.  This year I did something I never thought I would do.  I returned to Greenwoods swim club, the place where he died.  We were at a swim meet when my father suffered a heart attack.  I continued to swim for our swim team, Wedgewood but whenever we had a swim meet that took place at Greenwood, I skipped that meet.

Celia's mini-championships this year took place at Greenwood.  And so I put my big girl pants on and went to the pool.  It was ok.  It was fine.  25 years later and the pool looks eerily the same.  But we were there for something entirely different.  We were there for his granddaughter and that felt more weird to me then anything else.  25 years prior, could anyone have predicted that this beautiful and amazing little girl would have been in that same pool?

 So Dad you would be proud of Celia for many reasons.  

But this swim season she showed a side of her that was certainly a priority to you- being a team mate.

A little friend of hers was crying at her first meet.

I was told by her coach that Celia made sure to stay with this little girl and kept reassuring her.

When Celia finished her race, not knowing that the little girl backed out of her own race, she went immediately to congratulate her.  At mini-championships Celia finished her backstroke race and could not wait to get a view of the pool to see her best friend swim (not the same girl that was crying).  She wanted to cheer on her best buddy.

This whole sportsmanship and team spirt thing was what you believed made swimming.

It was a pat from a coach and a word of encouragement from a friend.

Sure winning was fun but that was not what the entire point of being on a team was all about.

Just had to add this!

I also have to add this odd fact.  I was driving the Tuesday prior to mini-champs thinking about going to Greenwoods.  I was wondering if it would affect me in someway.  I am honestly not an openly emotional person but you know this is sort of different.  I looked over at the car next to me and it had a bumper sticker advertising Cecil County.  It completely threw me as my Dad's name was Cecil.  I just saw the Cecil at first.  So who knows Dad, maybe you threw a sign out to me!

Our Other Champion

Celia had mini-championships this evening.  This is a child that was very certain that she was not going to participate in ANY meets this swim season.  I was so okay with that as the swim season is short but tiring.  Her coaches convinced her to try a meet and then it continued until she ended up at mini-championships.

She swam freestyle, backstroke, and was on a relay.  I just wanted to have fun watching her, I had little expectation of her getting to the podium.  In true Celia form she surprised me!

I loved this picture because one of her coaches was patting her head.

I love that on our team, no matter what speed you are, the coaches treat you the same.

At least that is what I have seen so far!

Here she is, in her jump/dive for freestyle

There she is in the circle in freestyle

She swam next to her best buddy, the sweetest little girl.

Here is the cutest little nearly 7 year old swimmer

So here was backstroke.

I had no expectation for this stroke.

In practice she bounces off of the lane line, never traveling a straight line.

They put her in the slowest heat (1 of 3 for the event)

Guess who was on the straight and narrow and did an awesome backstroke?

She placed in the top six and made it to the podium.  

She is the peanut standing in front of the number 6.

Here she is in the same spot for her relay.

They had a coed relay team.  She just learned how to do a relay today at practice!

So to say that I am proud of my little swimmer is an understatement.

I am proud though not that she made it in the top 6 (and the top 8 in freestyle) but because 

she gained a lot of confidence.  She worked past her fear and conquered it!!

Our Champion

Audrey had her lesson championships today.  I can't say that she is swimming all over the place but she has made some progress.  Since she basically never had a lesson prior to being on the lesson team at our swim club, I think she did very well.  Don't pay attention to her flat expressions in the pictures.  When Audrey swims in the pool she has a big grin on her face.  Audrey LOVES swimming.  She is just not into all of the noise and the crowd.

Here she is with her game face on.

Um can you stand how cute that is?

Here she is swimming with her buddy the lifeguard Chris.  By the way Celia refers to him as Ken.

 Showing off her first place ribbon (everyone achieved that place)

Waiting for backstroke

Perfecting her backstroke

Some more of the no clue why she is making that face- face.

Happy 4th Birthday

To Cole!!

Happy 4th Birthday

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and Daddy!!

I interviewed the kids about Daddy.

On his favorite color

Audrey: Red and Black

Celia: Blue and Navy

On his age:

Audrey: 3

Celia: 38

On his favorite thing to do

Audrey: Pway with Audrey

Celia: Play video games

On his favorite thing to eat:

Audrey: Chicken

Celia: Barbecue 

Celia says that her favorite thing about Daddy is that he tells her stories at night.
When asked the same question Audrey said Purple and Pink.

Our Little Swimmer

So Cecelia agreed to swim on the swim team again this year ONLY if she did not have to participate in any meets.  I just wanted her to gain confidence and be able to make it across the pool with strength.  Swim team is every day for 30 to 40 min.  It is a short season but the kids do make progress with practice every day.  Celia has made dramatic progress, especially in her confidence.  The coaches convinced her to do a meet and she did awesome.  Today was her second meet and she was set to do freestyle and backstroke.  Unfortunately just as she was supposed to swim backstroke they asked everyone to get away from the pool due to thunder and lightening.  At that point Audrey was DONE as it was 96 degrees, past dinner, and we had been there for 3 hours.  So I went to one of her coaches and immediately signed her out of the meet which annoyed Celia but the sky was really looking awful and I knew we were not going to get the rest of the meet in.  By the time we reached our car (half the participants were also heading to their cars) they had called the meet and postponed it to another day.  It was quite the drive home in that storm, glad they did not wait longer!

 She just received instruction on how to dive yesterday.

She only dove off of the block a few times yesterday!

 Look at that stream line and her great coaches right beside her!

She finished strong and did an awesome job!

We need to find a solution for her little sister.  Waiting around at a meet in the heat for 3 hours is not the most fun.  Of course the main meltdown happened when I let her go in the baby pool with her clothes.  She was so hot that I just let her go and then she freaked out when she found out I did not bring a change of clothes for her.  We have come a very long way with sensory issues, but I really should have thought before I did it.  She was not happy with the clingy clothes but fortunately after her tantrum they dried quickly.