Picture perfect

My friend Heather is in town for a few days so a few of us got together today for a swim/beach date. We used to meet every Wednesday after school for a play date but most of the sensible people have moved away from Miami so now it's just an occasional thing. We had such a lovely time. The kiddies enjoyed it too. I don't have any photos of Heather or of myself, again.

My bathing beauty

Lily looking so grown up

goofy kid

Kelly and Jacob

Heather's daughter Raegan

Lily diving. I shot these on continuous because she asked me too

Rosie's Cannonball

what kind of grin is that?

Rosie and jacob

The original Big Foot Pool Monster.

I think Lily was more tired this evening than she is after an hour of non stop swimming for her team practice. Both girls were fast asleep by 8pm. It was really a lovely day.

Diving in head first

Yes, I know I have been a very bad blogger. I received a couple of emails from cousins pointing out that I hadn't blogged and checking that I wasn't dead. It sort of happened accidentally when I didn't go to the parade and the people that did, didn't provide any photos for me. I was a little miffed on both counts and had nothing to write about.

Suddenly 5 days had passed and I was loving life sans computer. I've neither blogged nor read blogs and Facebook hasn't interested me either. Perhaps I should have myself evaluated by a professional. So tonight I flipped back through the camera and bought the blog up to date.

Tonight marked Lily's last night of swimming for a whole month, can I have an "Amen Sista" to that. As much as I love staring at the coachs legs I am not loving stopping whatever it is we are doing and heading home to get ready for swimming in the middle of the afternoon. It's summer, we are supposed to be footloose and fancy free. She is taking a month off. She will probably be as slow as a turtle come August but she is willing to take that chance. I/she wants some unscheduled downtime.

I didn't take my camera with me today, I didn't think anything shocking, amazing, or otherwise picture worthy would be happening, WRONG. Friday is funday. They do lots of silly things and today Coach decided to get permission from the lifeguards to let them hit the diving boards. Yeah, and I had no camera. Thankfully I had my phone. Much to Lily's chagrin they weren't allowed to hit the high boards and they were not allowed to dive, only jump.

As much at it looks like she is assessing the situation but it is not the case as she was not in the least bit scared. See how little she looks? Eek.

Ready for impact. It looks as if she is about to hit that board but it is the other side of the pool.

They got a second turn on the lowest board and were allowed to bounce before they jumped. Look at the little dare devils smile!

So there you have it you are all up to date.

Kid in a bag

You would think that since the girls are spending so much time together at the moment that they would be fighting like cats and dogs but the exact opposite is true. The more time they spend together the better they get along.

Today I was doing all sorts of things around the house and I found them playing with this old cloth bag. Lily asked me if I would video tape her doing something. I obliged.



Frnakly, I think she is nuts.

Taking it up a notch

Lily is still making her beaded hair grips and has really taken them up a notch. Now she is making them like this. The dragonflies

I know it's rude to brag but really this kidlet of mine is so talented.

Silly girls

We have the worst grocery stores here, They really stink. One is slightly better than the rest but oh how I wish we had Trader Joes. I love that store. Supposedly it is coming but it's not here yet.  If I need anything decent we run to the Natural Market. I ran there today and the kids found this:

I told them that Lily would get stuck if she tried to cram her age 10 body into it but she begged to differ. I still don't quite know how she managed it. They both had those silly smiles on their faces the whole time we were there. Silly, silly, girls.

The Heat Parade

Yes I know, yesterdays post was all about me sporting a Heat shirt and heading off to a big parade. I didn't go. Long story. Hubby went and took the girls. I couldn't even get within 300 millions miles of the parking lot for the Metro Rail. I'm fine, not sulking to much.

I watched it on T.V. I found out the next day that we all could have gone into the arena and met the players had I said something to a certain person. Yeah I know, it's a little late to tell me that the day after, don't ya think? Anyway the arena was a mob scene and I really get bat sh*t crazy in crowds so it's probably best that I didn't know.

The girls and hubs had a good time. They went with our friend Kelly and her kidlets and neither one of them took a photo of the parade. In their defence they had 7 kids between them and about 100,000 people around them so it was tricky.

Once things were finished it turned into a mob scene trying to get back on the train so a security guard told them to walk the train tracks for a mile until they saw another station and take that one. The wait was still one and a half hours. Suddenly I'm not feeling so bad after all.

They eventually made it home, tired, hot and hungry. I was cool, refreshed, energised and raring to go.

Walking the tracks

Tired of walking the tracks

a kabillion people ahead of them at the Metro station

Lily in her Heat garb behind the Miami Arena

Rosie in her Heat garb

But alas NO freaking Heat parade photos...what is wrong with these people!

Don't tell anyone

For t he first time in my entire life I own a T-shirt with a team logo on it. I'm not really sure how it  happened but during the play-offs I became a crazed Miami Heat fan.

Tomorrow morning the Miami Heat are having their victory parade. Normally I have a client first thing on a Monday but as luck would have it she is involved with the Heat so she has had to re-schedule so we are taking the kids to the parade.

 The kids are going to be all tricked out complete with the Heat logo painted on their faces, Jacob has a shirt and hat so that left me looking like an innocent bystander. Wasn't going to work. I didn't like the champion shirts that they are selling for a kazillion dollars but I found a really nice red one that is perfect.

 I really don't think the Queen would approve.

Crafty little child of mine

We are having some sort of tropical "thing" pass over us and drown us with torrential rain. According to the weather man, who is wrong nearly all of the time, it will rain all week, copiously. When you live here you have to prepare for this sort of thing, well maybe you don't have to but I do.

I have a little cupboard of craft projects that the girls know nothing about. I buy them when I see them go on sale or Jakie passes down things her girls have grown to old for. Today I scurried into my box and found a book of things to do and the next thing I know Lily is as busy as a beaver and  so concentrated on what she is doing that I can't even get her to answer me.

She had taken some old fashioned hair grips and adorned them with seed beads. They look absolutely gorgeous. Tomorrow we are going to the craft shop to get some more beads in different colours as we only have a few in this size.



 
and then the origami queen made herself a little box to keep them in. Perhaps tomorrow she can make an origami ark!

Spur of the moment ideas are the best

Last night as we were leaving swimming we stopped in the car park to talk with Paula and her family and I don't have any idea how it came up but it became apparent that Paula had a full change of clothes in the car. This then made me realise that we could do an unsleepover, so we did.
I always think that spur of the moment ideas are so much more fun and this one didn't disappoint. The girls just had a ball together. BY the time they had showered and eaten dinner it was already after 9pm and they were only just getting started. The Miami Heat were playing a make or break game for the NBA championship at home and we were all watching that while they did all sorts of crafts and before we knew it was midnight. (and the Heat had won...woot woot.)
I really don't know exactly what time the 2 of them went to sleep but I do know that it was after 1.15 A.M.  and somehow Rosie managed to keep the pace with them. My dearest oldest child then thought it would be a wonderful idea to wake everyone up at 7.37 this morning, I didn't agree but not much could be done as they were awake. I drank a cup of coffee and was soon just as hyper and mental as them.
Paula's Mum is a gourmet chef and since I know there is no way I can compete with that I decided to do something utterly nuts for them for breakfast in hopes that Paula wouldn't focus so much on the food but more on the fun. I blindfolded them and led them to a table full of food and let them eat "blind". It was hilarious and they loved it. I highly recommend it. But I will warn you, things get messy, very messy.
We had planned to meet Paula's family at the zoo but the weather didn't co-operate at all so we spent the day at home. I finally had to call an end to the fun as it was time to head back to the pool for swimming. I didn't mind at all, I had those lovely legs to stare at again.

Playing games last night.

 Making origami whilst watching the Heat game 

Rosie watching the Heat game

Very early this morning

   


After I watched the video for the millionth time with Rosie I realised that I was duped by Paula. She could see! At one point she is eating egg and she pushes her fork into it and naturally just uses her finger to "pop" into on to her fork. Hello you can't do that if you can't see it. Lily is the only one who kept her blindfold down the whole time. They loved it though and had fun with it.

 I had to laugh at swimming tonight because all the kids in Lily's level had stayed up really late to watch the game and all of them were exhausted but because it was pouring not to many people showed up so the the head coach married the classes together and sent 2 coaches home early. The kids had a different coach, from a higher level and he pushed them hard. REALLY HARD. I kept a close eye on Lily and Paula in case they drowned as they were swimming as if they were pulling an anchor. When Mari arrived to pick up Paula she was laughing too.

 We came straight home tonight and both of them went directly from the shower to their beds and it was their idea. Sweet dreams tired little girls. Tomorrow will be another adventure.

It's not all bad

When I talk about Lily's swimming I spend a lot of time focusing on the boring hours that are spent sitting poolside. I've decided to focus on something a little more positive. Meet my new positive focal point  ~snort.

 It appears that all of us Mums are changing our focal point.
I might take up swimming in the fall, I think it would be good for me. All the mums are considering it.

I wouldn't believe if either

After you have read this post you will probably decide that I am a nut job, to quote my cousin and will never read this blog again. Actually he called me that after yesterday's post but I assured him that it was nothing compared to todays.

My friend Jakie is still dealing with the issue of her dogs. She has bought in a professional trainer, her vet, and a myriad of other helpers but so far not much has changed. Right now both dogs are still separated at all times but they are walked together, on leashes and if they try anything they are immediately reined in. And that, after a week, is as far as things have moved.

Jakie is going nuts, she loves her dogs and  I love  like her dogs  I have one client in particular who is really great with dogs. Her dogs are therapy dogs at the local childrens hospital so I rang her and asked her for advice. "Tell her to call Cindy" was her immediate response. To see who Cindy is click here. Did you click there, you have to, go now! Jakie and I had talked about her before as I have seen the results of her work on this other clients dog.

Yeah yeah yeah, I know you think I am mad and it is a bunch of poppycock but I have to tell you it was amazing stuff. Today at 3pm, Jakie, her daughter Caro and myself had our meeting, oh and of course Gypsy and Julia were there too. I was there because I witnessed the ordeal and for support.  Oh and just to make it all a little more whacko it is done over the phone. You can fly Cindy in but really who has the extra cash at the moment?

I can't remember a lot of what was said but I do remember being told that the dogs don't really "get why we are all acting to strange and why we are all so tense? Julia is completely at a loss as to what she has done wrong. You would really have to know this dog to see how that statement is such a Julia statement. They want things back the way they were. They started to fight over something so absurd. Gypsy was trying to do her job, walk me to the door but Julia was getting in the way so Gyp's snarled at her and then Julia didn't understand why so she didn't move out of the way. When she didn't move Gypsy got really mad. The rest, as they say, is history. Cindy asked why Julia got so mad and attacked so badly and she said, I don't know, but apparently she was shocked that she had done it. Cindy then described alot of what went on that morning and she had no way of knowing it.

Now Cindy asks a few preliminary questions before she starts a session but some of the stuff she says it is impossible for her to know. My other client said to be sure to ask a question that only we would know ie, what is there favourite toy. Hah, there is no, one answer fits all, reply to that one!

Look I said it was weird. I know I sound like a fruit loop but it was honestly amazing. Cindy was working towards resolution, (obviously) but she didn't get it. Normally she does. They want everything back to normal but they skirted the issue. I must say that they were incredibly calm while she was "talking" to them. We talked about other issues with the dogs and other stuff.  I wish I had the notes here with me but Jakie has them. The next step is a behavioural therapist. A regular trainer can not do what is needed here. When you are working with 2 potentially aggressive dogs, (those words actually made me shake and Caro made fun of me) you have to have someone who is truly experienced and can visually size up the body language between them. Jakie has to stay out of the equation from this point on as she is to upset by it all and the dogs are feeling her anxiety and it is making things worse. I make things 100 times worse. Cindy picked up on the anxiety within minutes (snort) When she told me to keep Rosie away from Gypsy I nearly feinted.....bet the anxiety hit a record high then! Sorry that word aggressive freaked me out and I lost my train of thought, where was I? Oh, APDT dog trainers are specifically trained to handle this and handle it with positive reinforcement not with aggression. Most trainers suggest, pincher collars, shock collars etc. which a bit like fighting fire with fire. Cindy went on to tell the dogs what is going to happen next and how the dogs have to behave. All in all they were very receptive and just want things back to normal. I learnt something today which really surprised me: there doesn't have to be an alpha dog. In a house pet or in this situation with 2 house pets there shouldn't be an alpha pet, both dogs should be the same even if one tries to be the boss it shouldn't be encouraged cos YOU are the boss.

Yeck I couldn't even boss around a hamster let alone a dog. I suck.

I am a wimp
I am a wimp
I am a wimp
Ha ha ha, at least I know it.

Oh and today I took on a new client and shortly after dinner I panicked and realised I hadn't asked if she had a dog so I rang her back. Yes, she said, a German Shepherd. I didn't hear anything else cos my head hit the tile floor when I passed out. I'm kidding, she said she would put it in another room. I was going to ask her if it knows how to open doors but then I thought she might hang up on me so with a shrill voice I said, Okay thank you, I'll see you tomorrow. I don't think she understood a word I said cos I was shrieking like a shrew.

this whole thing is so exhausting.......or maybe it is just the thought of being dog chow tomorrow, either way I'm off to bed.

I'm "that" person

Part of me doesn't really think that I should post this but I am a very truthful person and I did this so here it is in black and white. A confession if you will. I am laughing but at the same time I am not...if that makes sense. The laughter is nervous laughter. If you happen to be in law enforcement why don't you just skip this post and come back tomorrow and if you are in law enforcement all names in this blog are fictitious, yeah, that's my story and I am stickin' to it.

Tonight when the girls and I left swim practice we were driving down the street that we take to get to the main drag when we saw a peacock. There are often peacocks here and it isn't unusual for us to see them anywhere in Miami. I was just about to say something to the girls when I saw a gorgeous tail feather at the side of the road on the grass so I pulled the car over and jumped out to get it for them. I left my car door wide open cos the kids were in the car, they were only a couple of feet away from me but by now you know I am neurotic. As I bent down to pick it up I saw another one a couple of feet away but it was behind a fence. The fence resembled this one but it was really really old, white and parts had fallen down.


I told the girls I could see another one but at the same time I noticed that the peacock was walking around to my side of the car so I decided I better hurry and get back in in case the peacock tried to get in the car. Yes, in hindsight I now realise that that is a totally ridiculous thought but birds, animals and I just don't get along so I had visions of this enormous bird getting into the drivers seat of my car and terrorising my children. I said to Lily, I dare you to grab that feather. It was a dare because the peacock was about. I then said to her it is the other side of the fence so it is on someones private property so be quick, and be careful. She literally only had to reach about 2 ft and as you can see by the fence it wasn't hard to do.

Kidlet flew from the car and was back in a flash. I started to pull away when words that will haunt me for a long time came out of her mouth, "Mum, I broke the fence". "WHAT? What do you mean you broke the fence?" Rosie then said, "she broke the fence". OH dear heavens, I didn't know what to do. I was already away from the property and looking for a place to turn around. I was blurting questions at her in rapid fire succession and not getting the answer I wanted to hear. Both girls and I were laughing hysterically. I finally found a place to turn around, a driveway which made Lily say, "great, more trespassing" and headed back to the scene of the crime. When Lily had climbed back through the fence she stood up to quickly and her back hit the top rung of the fence and it fell down. It was completely rotten which explains why after further inspection that so much of the fence was broken and laying in the grass BUT that is not the point, the point is we damaged someone elses property. At this point we are guilty of trespassing, stealing (the feather) and fleeing the scene. Holy cwap we are going away for a long time. All these thoughts are going through my head.

We pulled down a side road and kept talking about what we had done. We knew what the right thing to do was, we needed to go back, knock on the door and turn ourselves in. After discussing the odds of whether a Cuban Mafiosa lived there or an ax murder Lily finally decided it was probably a really nice old English gentleman, (yeah right) and that we needed to head back. I rang Jacob, I don't know why I just did but he didn't answer, I swear that man can sense when I have screwed up.

After much deliberation I knew that I had to go back to the house of the crazed axe murderer and confess and hope to god he didn't want me to fence his whole garden for him or didn't decide to call the police and press charges. I always tell the kids to do the right thing. I pound into the feeble little minds that they won't get into as much trouble if they just tell the truth. Now I had to walk to the walk and talk the talk. I swung the car around and we parked across the street. As we got out Lily told Rosie to get her blanket and to suck her thumb cos that way she would look sweet and innocent and how could anyone get mad at a sweet child. We all dissolved into hysterics again and then I grabbed their hands and we started walking up the long driveway. As we climbed the steps to the front door I took a deep breath and kind of pushed the kids behind me in case  Yosemite Sam answered the door with guns blazing.

The first time I knocked I was so darned scared that you wouldn't have been able to hear it if you had been standing the otherside of the door just waiting for me to arrive. The next time I knocked like I meant it. We saw the blinds move and heard little kids voices talking Spanish. I braced myself but nothing happened. I waited for a minute then knocked again. Again the blinds moved and again nobody answered. On the fourth attempt I knew it was do or die time. I whacked the door the looked at the blinds, they saw me and still ignored us so I explained to the girls that they were not going to answer. We waited I called Hello and Hola and then we walked slowly back to the car.

We tried to do the right thing. Lily started to giggle again and Rosie suggested we go and get some nails and a hammer and just "fix" it. I thought that was a bad idea so we kinda hightailed it to the car and left. We drove around the perimetre of property as we left and I really don't think they will notice this new bit of fence that is down cos it just blends in with all the other bits.

I learnt a valuable lesson and I don't care what is on the otherside of a property line it can freaking stay there and rot for all I care cos I will never EVER touch it again. EVER. What kind of Mother suggests to her kid to do something like that...oh that would be me.

Oh dear gawd. I have stooped to an all time low.

One amazing little girl

 If you are not already familiar with this family and this absolutely amazing little girl please take a minute and go to their blog.

 Ivy Joy has to have heart surgery again tomorrow morning. Her family is asking for lots of prayers, I know that lots of you can do that for her.
 click here please
 Once you get to her blog scroll back and read her story she truly is amazing.

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to my Father, who in my never humble opinion, set the bar pretty darned high and also to Jacob who is an amazing Father to the girls.

If it's good for the gander then it must be good for the goose, at least that's what my girls think. The girls decided that Jacob would LOVE breakfast in bed so that is what they gave him but luckily for him I cooked it and they only served it.  They were so proud as they carried it into him.

In fact we pretty much dittoed Mothers Day today. It was such a lovely day that it made sense to do it all over again. The only difference was that instead of eating dinner on the Beach we headed to a BBQ joint of Jacobs choosing and had a huge meal.

I love this card that Rosie made. He has so many teeth,

For all of my astute readers, yes she is wearing a different bathing suit finally. I bought her 2 new ones for swimming lessons and she won't wear anything else. Today I said the others were in the wash......bad mama.

This girl loves her the beach, oh wait, this girl loves everything 

bliss

begging to go out deeper daddy

We headed to the beach late n the day which is when Jacob loves to go. We were amazed out how crowded it still was. We had so much fun but then we usually do. Rosie is more of a dare devil that Lily in the waves but perhaps that is because she stays in Jacobs arms. Happy Fathers Day.