Swimming lessons and Spring??

So I have decided that maybe I should be sent to an institution for a while... what crazy person puts all 6 kids into swimming lessons AT THE SAME TIME!!??!! I have decided that person is me. It started out that Cloe was on a different day but there were not enough people in her class so they moved her over :( so hers are on the same day as the boys. On the first day I took 7 ..nope not just the 6, but 7 kids with me to the pool on my OWN!! Yah... that was an adventure. My sister worked a strange shift that day so I still had my niece Jordan with me so we had to find her swim suit because I wasn't going to bring her just to have her sit on the side and watch the other have fun, but that also meant Claudia, who class is in the morning, was coming along too. Mike works mondays so I was on my own. I thought I was going to go insane as I managed to get the kids out of the house on time and to the pool, unloaded and walking nicely up to the doors and when we got to the front desk with the perfect amount of time left to get the kids changed I found out that I WAS AT THE WRONG POOL!! Yep I went to the pool I registered them at but guess what, there are 2 pools in town, but only 1 does swimming lessons. So I had to load all the kids back up and drive them across town to the other pool unload them and get them signed in and changed for lessons. Matt and Tom were 15 minutes late for their very first lesson. At least that meant that Ben, Josh and Sam were on time for theirs because they start 30 minutes later. We all relaxed after that and had fun. We stayed for an extra half hour after that just to have some fun after the chaos. It was good. The kids all got out when I said it was time to go, we changed and headed home to find that I forgot to put the slow cooker so we didn't have any supper ready. Does anyone want to know how hungry 7 kids are after 2 hours of swimming and a bunch of chaos before hand? Yep the snacks they had before we left didn't stay with them for long and they were cranky. Thank heavens for peanut butter sandwiches and milk. Well we survived that day, and that next Wednesday we managed to get there on time and have a fun day. We had Some fun this week too and I am loving watching the kids grow with their confidence with swimming. It was funny though because my boys don't float... they try but they just seem to sink slower LOL! I have some photos I took that I will share at the end.

The hardest thing about swimming lessons though is that Spring came and Spring went. The first day of Spring was like a miracle where we went from having TONS of snow piled everywhere to it melting with puddles and even some plants growing where the snow and completely gone. To during this past week having SNOW AGAIN!!! Yep.. Snow in Spring. I am seriously questioning if we really are having Global warming or if the world governments played some cruel joke on everyone for these past years. Really! Either that or we are converting to the land of Narnia where the White Witch is taking over and we will never see Spring, or Summer ever again!! That is the theory the kids have anyway. So if we can figure out who this White Witch is and Kill her or find a great big Lion to do it then maybe we will FINALLY actually have SPRING!!! I am so tired of the kids crying when they wake up because there is MORE snow.

On the side note I need a bragging moment as a Mom. I know we are not suppose to brag but really I have given birth to 6 wonderful kids and I think I earned that right when I get the chance. So Ben I think has turned out to be a really amazing person. First of all he has been for a year and half (since December 2007) been getting up 6 days a week (Yep even Saturday) to deliver papers in the morning because he wants to earn his own money because he knows we don't have enough to buy him everything he wants. So he has saved up and bought himself an electric scooter, Over $500 towards a laptop (the rest given to him by his Grandma for Christmas), not to meantion that he has paid for movies, food and ski trips that he has wanted. He is currently working towards a new bike since his was stolen a year ago. But that isn't what has me the most impressed, it is his willingness and wanting to help us out. The couple of times we haven't had enough food to make lunches for the kids he has paid for subway lunches. What kid does that? His lastest is that after he has his new bike he ants to help save up for a new vehicle for the family.. "We need one that fits us all that won't break easy Mom" is all he says and then walks away. I don't remember wanting to help out my family like that as a kid. I don't know what I have done to deserve him but I am glad he is mine. His latest accomplishment is beating out all of the kids in his grade during the battle of the books for a lunch at Earls tomorrow, as well as going up against 2 grade 7 students in the Challenge section of the battle. He won the chance to bring a friend to the same lunch. He is also an A student and is working towards getting an trophy at the end of the year to celebrate that. I am one lucky Mom and thank Heavenly Father everyday for my blessing of Having Ben as my oldest son.

Well from great bragging to shameful admitance... I have finally made it back to get weighed in this week. I had many excuses not to including the new swimming lessons with Cloe that were not orginally planned to be in the way. So I snuck in one and I think I should of skipped it.. yep I am up but only by 1.4 pounds over 3 weeks. What has me upset about is the fact that I am basically swimming for 3 HOURS twice a week for 2 weeks now and I still went up. My mother seems to think that maybe it is because I and getting close to that wonderful time that all an look forward to every month. I am worried that all the extra excersize has kicked in that stupid gene that has got me to this point. I am thinking of talking to my doctor about it and see if there is more we can do without surgery to get my body to accept that it will not starve to death because I am working harder. Mom wants me to wait until after I have had that time.. I just am so tired of feeling tired because I am carrying around so much extra weight. Well we will see what happens.

Well now for pictures and then off to bed. I will start with swimming then move onto my my almost spring pics. Have a good one.

Matt and Tom waiting for class to begin..


Kicking fun


Matt tries the front float


Sam Ben and Josh waiting for class to begin


Sam actually enjoying lessons


Ben and the teacher discusing how he and Josh both sink


Claudia having fun learning her front float.. Hi Daddy


Modeling her cute swim suit


The day before the first day of spring....


The first day of spring


April 2nd :(



**side note... just as I went to publish this post my internet went down so this is a few days later and I have adjusted the date on the last picture a it was taken the day I wrote this. I will be offline for a couple of weeks as I pay my other bills first before bringing my self back on line. I dream of one day when we no longer have to struggle.. until then we do what we have to.
Dyanne****