Random pictures from our summer

Crazy clothes day at VBS

Claire getting her run on

Laureli's turn

Fun at OMSI

Piggies!

Just one of those days

Tucker got a hair cut

Swim Team

We all know that Claire loves the water and has been in swim lessons since she was 20 months old. Just like last summer we took a break from our regular swim lessons at the Courthouse and took them at our community pool instead. During our first lesson Crissy (the head instructor) comes to me and says "Claire can swim, she must join swim team!"

I was a little hesitant at first. After all, Claire is only 4 yrs old and we had already missed part of the season and two meets being in Florida. We had camping plans meaning she would miss another meet and several practices. We didn't want to commit to something knowing we wouldn't be able to participate in everything nor make swimming a chore for Claire that she would lose her love of the water. Crissy assured me that is was completely okay and to come when we could. Great! We are in!

Claire LOVED it! She did amazing. We are so proud of her! She competed in the 8 yr and under category, doing the breaststroke, freestyle and 2 relays.

Thanks mom for coming to her first meet and taking/sharing pictures. Dan captured a video (the link is below) of one of the races.

 <div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script> <div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202230142785003" data-width="466"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202230142785003">Post</a> by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/daniel.reiman">Daniel L R Reiman</a>.</div></div>

Hard earned!

Early this year we noticed that Claire's bike was getting too small for her. Missing the window to give her a new bike as a Christmas present (and her birthday was too far out) we decided that she needed to earn it. Dave and I came up with few additional chores for her to do, while Claire and I created the chore board. It wasn't pretty but we did it together and she loved it. Explaining to her that each time she finished a chore she could mark it off and when all the boxes were checked she could pick out a brand new bike. Anyone she wanted! It took about 6 weeks and we spent that time looking online and in stores at her options to keep her motivation up. 

Claire's with her finished chore board!

Daddy and his helper

Goofing around while Daddy puts the bike together

The annoyed look I get when I ask him to stop and look up for me :)

TADA!!

She picked one with a seat for her babies to ride. First one to ride... giraffe of course

We are open to suggestions and more ideas to help teach the girls the importance of hard work, earning and saving money. Right now they both have chores, but no allowance, the chores are part of being a member of the Hicks family. Everyone has a part and things to do. If Claire wants to earn money or a toy she can do extra chores. We are teaching them tithe first, save second and spend last. Raising kiddos in an instant gratification, materialist world is challenging, but we are hoping we are on the right track.

Oreos and Milk

We hardly ever have Oreo cookies in the house (mainly because I have zero will power) but on a rare occasion (I gave in to temptation at the store) we do. On this day we sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine with milk's favorite cookie. 

Claire and I had to show Laureli how to "dunk", she was a little unsure but quickly got the hang of it.