Who says you can't have fun when it rains!

On Friday Trinity spent the day with us after she got to have a sleep over the night before. We all went to "The Little Gym" for Lukas' sports skills class. Everybody waited patiently for one hour before his class was over. Keira hung out in a corner by the window when I took this photo just before Lukas' class started. As you can see, Fridays are still jamie days in Doescher Land.

It is way past this little girl's lunchtime. She was quite hungry. I took the kids to Rosatti's, two doors down from the gym and they all ate a VERY good lunch! 

Those four all had to sit on one side of the table. It's been a while since I had this much room to myself! 

Saturday, Danny's 5th birthday party. I hope I didn't catch that disease!

So it's been raining all day and the kids know that I don't mind them playing in the rain. It was also our first day of school, which lasted way too long for Lukas, who was ready to go out in the rain even before breakfast. After school and lunch, we got out raincoats, boots and the camera. The boys were wearing underwear only under their rain gear and Katharine wore not much more.

Oh yes, Lennon finally got his own raincoat. No more having to wear Katharine's old whale raincoat that kind of flows away from the body. 

Once the boots were filled with enough rain, they decided to take them off and just splash in bare feet. Why they didn't do that right away, I don't know.

Choo choo train in the rain. Katharine and Lukas ended up going back and forth between wearing their boots and not wearing them. After they were drenched from head to toe, they hopped in the tub where Keira joined them after her nap. And yes, Lennon decided to flood the bathroom floor. There could be worse...there HAS been worse...but that is another story.

Splash!

We all got really wet today...

Dance Camp Week 1

Katharine went to dance camp this week and has learned quite a bit. Monday through Thursday she and Trinity had class from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. First, I have to say that that is quite an achievement, most of us adults wouldn't be able to do what they do, on top of that on a daily basis. Katharine got up every morning, had her breakfast, got changed into a leotard and tights, put on her old ballet slippers, yep, I had to buy her new ones this week as she had danced holes in the old ones, turn on Peter Pan music (Stephen Sondheim, NOT Disney) and start dancing until it was time to put on shoes to get in the car to go to camp.

The campers all got these black pants from Ms. Sheena this year.

Here she is getting ready for her tap dance.

Hip hop.

Ballet

Jazz

Cheer

Tired campers. I do have to mention that these cute little girls were the youngest in the group of older kids and held their own wonderfully compared to some of the 10 year olds. I am so proud of what they have accomplished! I can't wait for the second week which will be in August.

Ugg-A-Wugg

Somebody snuck a handycam into last Saturday's matinee of Peter Pan- enjoy the rare footage!

Lukas's swim lesson

Lukas's swim lessons have not gone quite as swimmingly as Katharine's. Week 1 is complete, and I think that Lukas is now more afraid of the water than he was when he started.

I snapped this photo on Day 1 during happier times, before it set in that swim lessons would consistantly result in his head getting wet.

The rest of the week looked more like this- Lukas standing on the side of the pool with his fingers in his mouth, quite often crying. This is the same kid who is always blowing bathtub bubbles and jumping face first into our backyard inflatable pool.

The teachers there are great, and try really hard with them. He always lasts the whole class, and I give him high fives for his effort. And afterwards he always talks about what a great time he had… but dang- that boy has got to learn how to swim one of these days :)

Borderlands!

I usually get asked what we do at Gearbox Software, so here is a trailer of our latest game "Borderlands" which will be released in October.

I'm actually working on a different project within the company, so I'll be able to enjoy this one as a fan along with everyone else this winter.

Katharine's swim lesson

Katharine and Lukas are taking swim lessons this week and next week. I finally took some pictures today. Katharine is the only girl in a class full of boys and she kicks you know what! Yesterday she out dove all the boys by 3 kids' body lengths and today she out floated them on her back. You go girl! There is almost an hour between the two classes, so I pack dinner for all of us and we picnic outdoors everyday. It is a good thing that it is pretty mild and pleasant this week, otherwise we could not do that. Today we went to a park that is just about a minute away from the pool and the kids got to watch ducks. There are no pictures of Lukas in the pool yet. Erik usually takes him to his class after dinner and I take the rest of the gang home for a bath and down time. From what Erik has told me, Lukas pretty much screamed the whole time because he did not want to put his head under water. He is way more timid than Katharine. The funny thing is that he is always super proud when he comes home from swim class. Maybe I can get Erik to take some pictures of Lukas 

tomorrow.

Lukas does have a VERY good time splashing in the puddles at the pool.

Katharine crawling without help. She needs to remember the angle and to keep her fingers together.

A typical Lennon look.

This is where she out floated the boys in her class.

Watching Katharine and paying attention to what her teachers said. He does know what they are talking about when they tell the kids to make Super Man arms.

Back crawl.

Katharine had a little diving contest going on with one of the boys in her class. Guess who won?

Picnic in the park.

We had cheese and crackers, baby carrots, meatballs, watermelon, homemade yogurt with cereal, pink lemonade and for dessert chocolate oatmeal cookie.

Katharine loved the yogurt and cereal best.

Watching the ducks.

Now Playing: Peter Pan

The musical "Peter Pan" is now showing at the Doescher household, playing non-stop seven days a week.

Today's 8 AM performance...

Tickets are free, and very crafty as well.

In all seriousness, if you have Netflix you should rent the the Cathy Rigby version for your kids.

But again in all seriousness, if you don't want to listen to your kid sing "I've gotta crow!" 24/7 then maybe you shouldn't...