Summer 2014

The Cowsers have been a busy bunch this summer!  Alyvia and Colson both did swimming lessons this summer.  Alyvia, as per usual, did fabulous and is a fish!  Colson surprised me so much, in a good way!  His class was only 3 kids and they each had a teacher, perfect for Cole.  He put his face in the water and did really well kicking his feet while on his belly, a big improvement from last year.  He even "jumped" off the diving board :)
 

Baby K was such a good sport during swimming lessons.  It was a long time for her to keep busy without getting in the water!

We also had to go uptown for Heritage Days!  The kids had fun on rides, watching some of the talent show and getting ice cream to end the evening!

 

We got to take the boat out at Oak Run once and play at the beach a couple of times too!

  

June was fast and fun and ran right into July!  Busy, busy, busy!

Last Days of School

Colson's last day of school/Mother's Day Out was May 15th.  I'm so proud of how far he came this year!

He was so nervous at the beginning of the year and by the end of the year he looked forward to school!  He made friends and did so well!  I'm so glad we did this for Colson, I think he will do so much better in pre-school next year.

Alyvia's last day of school was May 30th.  She had a fabulous first grade year!  Her teacher, Mr. Melick, was great and she is ready for 2nd grade!

I am super excited for us to be home together this summer!  It's the first summer where I'm working only part time and I feel like I get to spend so much more quality time with them.  Livi is already listing off all the things we should do!  Here we go!

Our new toy

With our growing family, we decided that we had to sell Alan's jet ski last fall.  It wasn't really designed for a family of four (now five!).  So, Alan did some shopping around this spring and found us something that is more family oriented-our own boat!  Although I'm a little nervous about the investment, I have to admit it's fun to have :)  We took it out for the 1st time on June 14th with Anne and Finn joining us.  We put in at Chillicothe and headed downtown to pick up Nana too.  It was a good first run!

Snacks on the boat are the best!

Finnegan enjoying the cuddy

My 3 favorites

Our family

Then we went out again a couple of days later for a little early Father's Day family day.  We headed North to Henry to check out the water that way.  Alan found a little cove that we could anchor in and Alyvia convinced us to let her swim :)  We had such a fun  family day!

Livi was worn out on the way back!

 I don't know that I'll always be so happy about it, but right now, I'm so happy we have this boat!

Summer Activities

Summer has officially started at our house!  Alyvia is doing both swim lessons and dance class this summer.  Last Wednesday she started dance, Broadway Bound, through the Peoria park district.  She was so excited and she loved it!

It's a combination tap, ballet and jazz introduction class.  She paid attention the whole class and tried her very best-I am so proud of her! 

Today we started swim lessons too. This girl is not afraid of anything I tell you!  She got right in the water even though it was a bit chilly this morning.

With work, dance class, swim lessons and play dates we should have a really busy summer!

Water Fun In The Sun!

Today we hosted Cowser family fun at our house :)  Every Sunday we usually get together for lunch with Mamaw, Papaw, Grandma Alice and all the aunts, uncles and cousins.  It was supposed to be such a nice day, that we volunteered to have it at our house.  We had lunch and then we let the kids play in the front yard with the slip 'n slide, the baby pool and Aunt Kelly's water table.  They had so much fun!

Reagan & Colson

Livi on the Slip 'N Slide

Brenner & Colson play together

Kinsley, Livi, Brenner & Reagan

Colson loved the water table!

It was a beautiful afternoon to be outside and the kids had a blast!  Hopefully we can have more family get-togethers like this throughout the summer!

Swim Lessons

We signed Alyvia up for swim lessons last Thursday and she has been so excited!  Today was our first day.


All ready to go with "her swim bag"





It could have been a warmer day to go to the pool. It rained this morning and when the sun finally did come out it was only in the low 70's. 

Before lessons-wrapped in a towel already!

The water was chilly to say the least.  Liv was such a trooper though and I think her excitement kept her in the water most of the time.   Nicole, Reagan and Maggie are the teachers for the class.   Ryan, Katelynn and Haley from Punkin' Patch are in her class-so that's fun that she knows some of the kids!

She was a popsicle by the end of the 40 minutes.  She did great though and was one of 3 kids that actually seemed to enjoy the lesson.  Hopefully Thursday will be much warmer!