Violin Concert

In school this year Kenzie was able to take violin again. Because she took it last year she is in the advanced class. They had their first concert of the year. They did a really great job. I am so proud of her and all of her classmates. Below is a picture of all of them on stage. If I can ever figure out to get the video off of my phone I will post that too.

When you have a short kid this is the only picture you can get of her. It is of her leaving the stage.

Santa train

I know that I am way way way behind in updating my blog. So I have a new strategy and we will see if it pays off. I know that I have a lot to catch up so I am going to start with now and work my way back.

This past Saturday we took the kids on the Santa train. We went last year and they loved it so we were excited to go again. The train leaves at the station about 10 minutes from our house. After we get started Santa and Mrs. Claus come through the train and take pictures and talk to each child. Then some helpers came through and gave each kid a candy cane, a small pack of crayons and a coloring book talking about the importance of railway safety. After we got to Springfield we stopped and headed back in the direction we came from. On the way back a group came through and sang a couple of carols in each car. It was a really nice time.

Cam did really well at the mall seeing Santa (post to come) but he seemed a little bit more shy on the train.

Kenzie on the other hand was very happy to see Santa and to have her picture taken with him.

We all a great time. I love this picture of my boys looking out the window. They were playing a game to see who could find the most tires.

Still alive

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Things have just been very busy this summer. We made three trips up to New Jersey to spend time with all of our family and friends. We have taken a few day trips to some cool new places. And we have been just plain busy enjoying the time off of school. We are down to one week of the summer left. This week we plan on surprising the kids with an overnight stay at Great Wolf Lodge as a last little hoorah before school starts. Thursday MacKenzie has to go to school for Seminole Camp. Because she is starting middle school this will be an opportunity to learn where everything is, what is expected of them, and meet the teachers. Then on Tuesday the 7th she will begin her first full day as a middle schooler. That same day (the 7th) Cameron goes in to his school for his meet the teacher day. Cameron will be starting three day preschool on the 8th. Hopefully by then we will be starting to get back into the regular routine of school and home. I am looking forward to getting back to the gym while Cam is in school. The summer, the trips to NJ and the lack of exercise have not been kind to me. With the kids out of school I had an excuse to slack but once they go back I have nothing to hide behind. Also hopefully I will have a lot more time to update you on all the fun things that have been going on in our house.

For now I will leave you with a little teaser. We have a new addition to our house. We are all in love:

Water Boy

Look at what Cameron can do!!! This afternoon we were at my Aunt Kate's house swimming in the pool. The kids were having a great day. After lunch we headed back into the pool for a little more swimming before we headed back home. I decided to take Cam's floaty off and see if he could swim. After he realized that he could do it he was a fish swimming back and forth between my mom and me. I am so proud of him. I guess swim lessons are paying off.

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Happy Birthday Kenzie

I know I am a day behind but things have been kind of crazy around here. Actually I am very far behind on my blogging and hopefully I will catch up very soon. For now I wanted to do Kenzie's birthday post.

It is very hard to believe that my baby girl is 11. It seems like just yesterday I was in the Bahamas with Rob's family hoping and wishing that it was true that I was pregnant. And now here we are only two years away from having a teenager. Ugh lets not talk about that or rush that along. I am very happy that she is only 11 for now. 13 is way to close for my comfort. MacKenize is turning into such a bright and wonderful young lady. We do have our bumps in the road with her as I am sure many of you have had with your kids but we are working on making things better day by day. She is so super smart (you will find out more about that soon) and very creative. I know that whatever she puts her mind to she can accomplish. So today (and yesterday) I wish her all the best for the year to come. While looking for something last weekend I came across her birth announcements. So I will leave you with that. Happy Birthday to our first born angel.

Not a baby anymore!!!

From this.............


To this......

in just four short years. I can't believe how big he has gotten!!! Happy Birthday little man. We love you.

(thank you Laurie for the great picture)

Great Wolf Lodge

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Great Wolf (part 2)

Before Rob left for Iraq we had decided that when he returned we would take the kids for a mini family reconnection vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor waterpark resort hotel. Perfect for winter when you need something to do with the kids. We did head there in December but most of you know what happened then. So a few weeks ago we finally made it down there for our family get away. The kids had no idea that we were going. We picked MacKenzie up from school Friday early and headed down. Once you get off the exit before you get to Great Wolf there is a Sonic. I love Sonic Cherry-Limeades but the closest one is 40 miles from our house. So before we checked in to the hotel we stopped for a few drinks. Kenzie was pissed when we told her that we just took a ride for Sonic. She said "I know we didn't just drive 2 hours for Sonic!" We said sorry and headed out down the road. About 2 minutes later Rob put the blinker on and we turned in and she started yelling in the back seat "I knew it I knew it!!!!" No she didn't. She had no clue. Everyone was excited. We were able to check in and go straight to our room. We surprised the kids this time by upgrading our room to the Wolf Den Suite. This room has a special kids room that looks like a cave on the outside and bunk-beds on the inside. They even have their own TV After we unpacked we suited up to start the weekend. We spent the next three days wearing our bathing suits and getting wet. Only time we stopped was to eat and take naps. While Cam was napping Kenzie went out and enjoyed the MagiQuest game where she can be a wizard with her magic wand. The kids (all three of them) had a blast. I really enjoyed it too. We swam, went down the water-slides, checked out the arcade and just enjoyed being together. I was also lucky enough to be able to sneak away Sunday morning for a wonderful hot stone massage. I was glorious!!!! Overall it was a wonderful vacation. The kids talk about the next time we go to Great Wolf all the time.

Mermaid

For the past year MacKenzie had been taking ice skating lessons. This turned out to be the best thing for her. She thrived out on the ice. And more over she loved it!!! But unfortunately on Feb 6th due to the massive amounts of snow the ice rink collapsed and the building was destroyed. The owners of the rink are working diligently to rebuilt and get it opened up as soon as possible but that could be anywhere up to a year. So we thought it would be good to find a new outlet for MacKenzie's energy. Seeing as she is only a few months away from being 11 and she does not know how to swim we thought that swim lessons would be the best choice. In the beginning she was not feeling it. Since MacKenzie knows everything she was certain that she would sink and drown. After her first two lessons I spoke with the teacher to let her know that we would be missing the next weeks class since we were going on a mini vacation (pictures and blog to follow). She let me know that Kenzie would do well and would be swimming if only she could get over herself and the fact that she was convinced she would sink. I let her know that I would talk to her. The kids did not know that we were going on vacation. After we got there and Kenzie was in the pool Rob and I both worked with her. First we had to get her to go underwater. It took us a few times but she finally tried it and realized that she would be OK. Then Rob told her to hold her breath and go under and try to sit on the bottom of the pool. That is when the light bulb moment happened and we had a break through. As she tried to sit on the bottom since she is so light she couldn't get to the bottom instead she just hovered a few inches off of the bottom and Kenzie realized that she was floating. After that she was trying to swim as much as she could. I think that after the next few lessons she will be swimming. She is even looking forward to jumping off of the diving board this week without a noodle. I will post some pictures from her past lessons and hopefully Monday I will be able to post pictures of her swimming after her lesson on Sunday.

Mini Rainman

So I found out a few weeks ago that Cameron is a whiz at jigsaw puzzles. I had bought a few 24 piece puzzles from target for him to try. So one afternoon we sat down and I showed him the basics to doing them. Then I stepped back and left him to see if he could figure them out. To my surprise he flew through the first one. So on to the next, and next , and next. He completed four puzzles without any help. The next day we went back to the store to get some more and this time harder. The next one was a 63 piece I Spy puzzle. Not a problem. He is amazing. He loves to do them and will take them apart and do them over and over again. Each time he gets faster and faster with them. I also bought him a 100 piece Toy Story puzzle. I think it is time to try that one. I am so proud of him.

Still Here

Yes everyone (mom and Genea) I am still alive. As many of you know life has been very crazy around here. There have been a lot of things good and bad happening in the Swanson household. We are still trying to deal with the loss of Rob's dad. We are also working on school for both kids for next year. Kenzie will be in middle school and Cameron is going to start preschool. So I have been filling out applications for both. Add into that gymnastics, swim lessons, girl scouts, girl scout cookies, Rob going away, me going to the gym and a mini vacation and there is no time or energy for the blog. I have tons of pictures to add so I will get them up as soon as I can. Hang in there I am trying to get everything updated as soon as possible.

Ted Swanson....Father, Friend at OneTrueMedia.com

This is the slide show that I created for Rob's dad's memorial service this weekend.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com