, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

My nephew.

, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

Will watches and bides his time until he can jump in the water!

, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

When jumping in, Maggie insisted on having something in her hand.

, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

Maggie is swimming all by herself and doing so well. I am so proud of my little fishes!

, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

Maggie after jumping in the pool. She even went off the diving board and went under water. Such brave little folks I have.

, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

Walker learned to dive. He did it right 1/2 of the time - the other half he did major belly floppers!

A Day at Papa's Pool

, originally uploaded by Jenniferschwalm.

Walker was so brave and went off the diving board many many times - even after Nana's dog, Maisey, jumped in front of him and caused him to bounce off of the diving board before falling in. He took the dog in with him, so he did feel somewhat vindicated for being pushed in by a dog. My babies are growing fins!

Pure Joy

Walker loves helping his Uncle Travis and Mimi at the Deli. He's always helping with the dishes, making food, cleaning, etc. He's such a good helper that several customers have asked him where his Deli shirt is - all employees wear a green shirt w/ the deli logo on it. Well, Shelly finally got Walker a T-shirt with his name embroidered on it with the deli logo. So we surprised him today and went into the deli for lunch and Uncle Travis presented him with the t-shirt.

Walker absolutely has the best "joy" face ever. The most simple things give him the greatest joy and the joy is so pure and innocent and sweet that it truly almost makes you cry watching him. His smile gets so big and he giggles - he just can't contain it. I knew he would react this way today so I was sure to bring my camera to capture it. He could barely speak he was so thrilled - his thank you's to his Mimi & to Uncle Travis were whispers of awe - that they would do something so nice for him. You would have thought the shirt was made of gold!

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Walker is hard at work doing dishes!

Barber shop.

Walker was in need of a haircut so we played barber shop today. Maggie wanted to do barber shop too, so she got a little hair cut. It ended up being a little more than I anticipated, but that's what happens when you attempt to cut a squirmy 2 year olds hair. I think it looks really cute - it already looks cuter down than it did before. She is so pleased with it - she keeps running to the mirror to see her "barber shop." In September I will take her to have it professionally done in a more traditional bob - but, so far, looks good to me. The final picture is of Walker feeding Will his yogurt - It's so great to have help!

Where does time go?

I really don't know where time goes. We haven't really been busy, but here it is Sunday again and I don't know where the time went!

Friday we took Walker & the kids to a seminar to learn how to show goats. There is an open pee-wee class at the Butler Farm Show in August, so we learned that there was this little seminar happening and decided to "start 'em early" and take them. We learned a little bit but realized that we will probably have to start our own club to compete with our meat goats. The Farm show only recognizes dairy breeds at this time, but hopefully by the time Walker is 8, we'll have made some headway in the right direction. Walker did really well listening to the girl instructing them and learning how to show. Starting tomorrow, we are going to take goats out each night to practice. Maggie even got in on the lesson, so we are going to allow her to try to show also. She was so cute strutting this little wether around.

Saturday I went to an Amish benefit auction and got 13 perennial plants to put in our new and expanded playground bed. We need to get some weed barrier and mulch before it is finished, but I will put the plants in tomorrow probably. I got some really pretty pink hydrangeas for next to the playhouse, day lillies, and more. I'm excited to see how it will all look.

Today, Erik wanted to surprise us with a trip to Erie to the beach, but the weather forecast was for thunderstorms in Erie, so we skipped it. Hopefully we'll get another chance this summer.

We've been exposing Will to new foods since he loves "table" food so much. I allowed him to have one of those breakfast bars the other day and this is the result. I then had to give him a bath because he had the gooey fruit center all over him!

Oh, a funny story before I finish for today. Last Sunday, I had to give the children this big lecture on how they needed to ask permission to do things or to get or play with things in the house. We were having problems with the children getting food out and not closing cabinets, the freezer, etc., and putting away toys. Anyway, in my lecture, I told them, "Everything in this house or on this 40 acres belongs to Daddy & me! Even if it was given to you as a gift, as long as you keep it in our house or on our 40 acres, you have to ask permission to use it, play with it, eat it, walk on it." So fast forward to a few days ago and Erik comes in the house and says Walker wanted a popsicle, but "Momma is so mean, she says I have to ask permission for one because I have to ask her if I want anything on this 30 acres!" So Erik told him he'd see what he could do about getting them a popsicle from me. My words got through but will they last?

I am such a mean Momma!