They Can Deceive You

Don't let this "little" stuffed animal bucket fool you.
And don't let the adorable smile from Mckinley surrounded by the animals fool you. As I was on the phone this morning she demanded (and I do mean demanded) that I pour out the bucket of animals in her bed. With her in it. It is full of stuffed animals that she received as gifts prior to being born. She loves them.
 And then leaves them for me to clean up!
Brax has become very interested in his Lego's this summer. He is becoming quite creative and even a little patient when he has to fix them because they came apart.

A HUGE Deal

It all started on the Fourth of July.
 Mckinley has loved the pool this year. Last year she would hardly get in but this year she loves it. She doesn't want to sit on the side (no matter how cool you tell her she looks), she doesn't want to be in your arms, she wants to be in the pool, by herself, and she wants to get there by jumping in. One problem. She can't swim. It was really making pool time no fun. I just dreaded the thought of getting in and fighting with her about having to stay in  my arms. Why not put on the extra life jacket we have, you ask? Because she didn't like it.
Fast forward to July 4th. We had our little pals over and they were in the pool like fish. Brax loved having someone to rough house with and cannon ball with. The bigger kids weren't wearing life jackets but he didn't seem to care. The smallest friend had a life jacket "thingey" that goes around the front. It's called a "puddle jumper" and Brandon put it on Mckinley to see what would happen. She loved it. She can now jump in and float around. And she'll even agree when you tell her she looks cool!
And before the end of the night Braxton took his life jacket off and came up and whispered that he could swim without it. I stood on the side ready to rescue watching. I held my breath and then I saw it. Braxton swam from one side of the pool to the OTHER with NO LIFE JACKET! We were all quite proud.
He asked when he climbed out if he could put his life jacket back on the next time he got in. Of course I said yes. But it's a great feeling knowing that he can be in the water without his life jacket if he had to.