Cramming It All In

After a long summer of swim lessons and camps, our schedule is finally wide open.  Maggie has officially graduated from swim and Jack completed his last bout of camp last week.  Nothing like finally freeing up 3 weeks before school starts back up again.

So with that being said, please excuse my semi-absence, but we are really cramming it all in these last few weeks.  And boy did we cram this week.  Jack hosted a playdate with his friend Nate, had a sleep over with Sophia, and in between that we went to the Zoo and Nature Quest at the Fern Bank.

We have no shortage of plans for the next week either... a playdate with Wesley Kate and Bradley, a visit to Nate's house {Jack is thrilled about this drop off adventure--here's hoping Nate's momma is too}, and a swim playdate at Ansley and Landon's house.  Now I better get planning week 3, also known as the final week...yikes! {yes, I got teary eyed last night thinking about Mag's first day of pre-school and Jack's last first day of pre-school}

So on to a much brighter note...

Certainly not the greatest picture, but I thought I better include it.  It's one of the only shots where you can see something other than the back of my kid's heads.  Me and zoo pictures just don't mix.

This is the first of many shots of the back of heads...but at least you can see the animals, right?  And sadly, Carys and Cambrie missed the group shot.  Jennifer couldn't get her garage door open.  Don't you just hate when that happens?  But, they made, just a bit tardy.

The little bird house was hoppin' on our zoo visit.  Jack had at least 5 or 6 birds come to nibble off of his seed stick.

I know, more of the back of their heads, but I so love this picture.  The two of them sat there for a good 10 minutes {a record for Jack} just watching this sleeping panda bear.  It was either pure exhaustion, starvation, or as I like to think, they just wanted to be the mellow kids I'd always hoped for, even if only for a few minutes.

Maggie showing off her new panda stamp.  One for each hand mind you.

Sadly, the sheep had just been sheared at the petting zoo, so we couldn't brush the animals this visit.  So Maggie, very reluctantly, pet one with a bare hand and then skedaddled off.

{Yes, that is sweat on his head.} We rode the carousel this trip.  It was a very hard decision for Jack...you see he prefers the train, but wanted to be with his best friend Sophia, who had chosen the carousel.  After much debate, here we were.  Jack lasted one circle on the giraffe before he wanted to sit on the safety of the bench with Maggie.  My dear boy sure is a cautious one for all of that energy he has.

Three days, one playdate, and one sleepover later, here we are at the Fern Bank Museum.  Our primary purpose was to visit the new Nature Quest, but we got to see so much more.  Dinosaurs being one of the big highlights.

A semi-group photo.  At least one of the few of us who happened to show up around the same time.  We are missing Wesley Kate, Bradley, Ansley, and Landon.

Jack and Miller's best dinosaur impersonation.  Between the roar and the climbing on the exhibit, I am surprised we weren't shown the exit.  Gotta love boys {or as Jack likes to call he and Miller "the Jokers"} {know where he got that from Erica?}

A Little Taste of "Pond Life" Camp...

How cute is this?  He is a turtle if you didn't already guess. {who just might need a haircut} 

And if it couldn't get any cuter, it did...when he came crawling out of his classroom door very s...l...o...w...l...y.

A First and A Last

Monday was a very bittersweet day around here.  It was Maggie's first trip to the Aquarium and my Mom's last full day with us.  After spending over a week with Grandma it was very hard to say goodbye.

In an effort to postpone the tears, we trekked to the Aquarium with two, still very tired, children.  Every first with Maggie is like a first for me.  That child has a way about her that makes every experience new and wonderful all at the same time.  And although, my mom and I have been to see the fish umpteen times, it was a day to remember with little Mags in tow.

It didn't take long for Maggie's droopy blue eyes to brighten up when she saw the wonders of the ocean.  She pointed, smiled, giggled, and touched every creature she could get her precious little fingers on.  And once she was home, she crashed hard for a much needed afternoon nap.  I'm sure dreaming of flippers and gills all the while.

Pictures at the Aquarium are very hard to come by, but here a few sweet ones...

 

Dumbacher Family Reunion

After an entire year of planning, we finally had our Dumbacher Family Reunion this month.  My sweet and very ambitious Mother volunteered to plan the every 5 year event this go around.  It was quite a task to tackle.  With over 100 family members to contact and events to plan for a 4 day weekend in Chattanooga, it was work to say the least.  I did get roped in to a few of the planning details, as I knew I would.  But over all, my Mom deserves all the credit.  Even though she did sign my name to every email she sent out.  How guilty was I feeling?

Our immediate family bunked together in a cabin a few minutes north of the city.  It was a full house.  My kids loved it, but are slowly recuperating from the lack of sleep and busy days.  As am I.  The reunion, however, was a hit.  My Mom came through with flying colors.  And it was fabulous to see my Grandpa's side of the family, who now live all over the country.  All I can say about those Dumbacher's is they really know how to have a good time.

We spent Thursday at the Children's Museum in downtown.  Can I just say this place was FABULOUS?  It blows our big cities Children's Museum out of the water...who knew?

Maggie was beside herself with excitement!  She loved this place.  I have been waiting for her to drop her morning nap to take her to ours, but then she started swim lessons, and blah,blah,blah.  So now I have no excuses--it's time.

Friday was a Riverboat Cruise on the Southern Belle.  My Grandma and I took the kids while the rest of the family went white water rafting.  We had about 30 Dumbachers on the cruise.

Jack and Maggie spent the majority of the boat ride up there in the Poo Poo deck, or whatever the correct terminology is.  And by the way, does my Grandma look incredible or what?  Sure hope I got some of those genes.

Me and my sweet, sweet angel on that deck thing.

 Friday evening there was more fun to be had.  The entire Dumbacher clan met at a reserved pavilion at Coolidge Park.  Again, a huge compliment to Chattanooga.  This park was incredible.  The pavilion was glassed in and air conditioned...woo hoo!  And just outside our pavilion was a spray ground and a carousel.  Jack mainly entertained himself playing baseball with Daddy and Uncle Jon.  Jack is super pumped about T-Ball this Fall.

My Uncle Jim, Jon, and Aunt Scrub.  And I must note here, that my ahhhhmazing Aunt Scrub did all of the cooking for the BBQ.  70 something people to feed and the food was excellent!  Obviously, cooking is her passion...more power to her.

And here comes one of my responsibilities of the weekend...the Friday night game.  We always have some sort of Dumbacher trivia game.  Notice how I strategically placed the sign to have everyone in game position on time.

 A new game idea for more than 70 people, and this being like the 5th reunion I've attended, was not easy to come by.  So I solicited some help from my trusty second cousin, Tim Dumbacher.  We are sporting the team's winning prize here.  It was quite a fight to the finish.

Saturday day was filled with a house party at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary's incredible cabin.  So you can imagine, by this point in the day, not to mention the weekend, my kiddos were EXHAUSTED.  Don't fret, this Mommy thought all of this through before packing up for this vacation.  And my solution?...bring the nanny!  And thank goodness I did.  My kids were cooked by Saturday night.  Abby was there to get them home safely to their cabin beds.  {And I must also point out how adorable Jon and Abby look together, that, my friends, was my underlying plan...wink, wink...wish me luck}

Trying  Pushing for a Grandma, Mommy, Jack, and Maggie picture before my little ones had to be tucked in for the night.  This was as good as it got.

Me and the fabulous party planners.  Again, I can take very little credit...it seriously was ALL my Mom and Aunt Scrub. I was in good company though.

But, I can take credit for this!  Tim {again, I had to solicit his help} and I put together a family slide show for Saturday night's dinner.  Even after some technical difficulties, we pulled it off.  We had pictures all the way from the 1900's to present day...it was pretty incredible.  And I swear we didn't even know that this picture was going to show up on the screen when we had our picture taken...pretty nutty, huh?

And as tradition goes, each family gets a group picture at the Saturday night dinner.  Here is Paul Dumbacher's family {we sure do miss him} sans tired kids and a nanny.  We actually have the smallest family of all.  So imagine about 6 more of these families and triple the size.  It was a packed reunion, in more ways than one!

Almost A Graduate

We are almost there...I can see the light at the end of this tunnel.  And it is beaming!  It has been a long six weeks and quite a commitment.  But, my Maggie is almost an ISR graduate.

I say 'almost', because her instructor and I have decided to put one more week into it to perfect a few undesirable habits on Maggie's part.  Other than that, she is an official floater.  She even did a few pseudo fall ins today and came up into her float beautifully.

Her swimming has definitely taken a back seat to the float.  But, I am a-ok with that.  All I know is she can float and therefore my little daredevil (I use that term very loosely, you have to remember all I have is Jack to compare her to) is finally safe.  She has a much greater awareness of the water and therefore much more respectful of it.

So at the end of a fully committed 7 weeks, we can finally enjoy the end to our summer.  I foresee a few swim playdates hosted by the Cibula kids!

Congrats Mags!  We are so proud of you!

There is some of that 'undesirable behavior' I mentioned earlier...her hand on her inner thigh.

Ms. Gina, or "Nuh" as Maggie likes to call her, is working hard on breaking that habit.  We saw lots of progress today.  Maggie can be a stubborn little thing when she wants to be.  But, usually the mention of her after swim treat, which is a "pop" is incentive to get it done.  Maggie has been known to yell "pop" over and over again from her float position as she waves her hands in the air telling us "all done" in baby sign language.  As pitiful as it may sound, it is really quite cute.

Working on getting that swim back.  Maggie has decided that floating is the more comfortable route to take.

Because He Is So Stinkin' Cute...

...and because I finally figured out how to make my pictures on Blogger bigger.  Hopefully now, no more grainy images.  I had to do a little experimenting.  And who better to experiment with than my handsome boy?  I am super excited about this new find!  And I bet you are too.  Now, you get to see life sized images of my kids {wink wink}.

Now off to laundry, preparing for tomorrow, and then my latest read.  Which is, To Kill A Mockingbird. I know, crazy huh?, that I've never read that classic.  Somehow it missed my required reading list in high school.  Loving it though!  Only about a third of the way through and totally hooked.

Ta Ta for now!

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Red, White, and Blue Fun

Another eventful weekend for the Cibulas. America's Birthday celebration started on Saturday for us and lasted all the way until Tuesday. The kid's laundry baskets look like they could belong to good ol' Uncle Sam. No shortage of red,white, and blue clothing around here.

We started our 4 day celebration with the Zimmerman's annual 4th cookout. Lots of swimming, good food, and plenty of friends--always fun for us and the kids. With Mags on the move, it was a whole new experience this year. Thankfully Jack does a good job at keeping himself entertained with his new found love of swimming {and I mean actual swimming}, so it was only one to chase around the pool deck. Not too bad.

We also enjoyed our neighborhood 4th party at the clubhouse. I don't recall it ever raining on the 4th, but it did this year. We had a nice sunny morning at the pool, came home, napped, and right as we were headed back for the evening festivities, we were hit by a severe thunderstorm. After waiting it out {all of us sporting our red, white and blue}, we were able to make it to the party for a couple hours before the rain blew in again. Unfortunately, fireworks were postponed, so Jack and I caught the D.C. celebration on TV before calling it a night.

And this leads me to why we celebrated for 4 days. The fireworks were postponed until Tuesday evening. Of course, we couldn't let patriotic Jack be deprived of the celebration. So it was off to the clubhouse again for another late night. Mommy and Maggie stayed home for a much needed early bedtime. But our dear Jack was surely feeling the effects the next day. Two late nights are two too many for him. Good news is we got some great naps out of him this weekend!

Happy Independence Day to all! I sure am proud to be an American {as you can see Maggie is too in the picture above}!

Okay, I just had to share this. Jack is very in to "accessorizing" his outfits these days {socks and hats to be precise}. So this is how he showed up at the Zimmerman's Cookout. Luckily, he was in his bathing suit before most guests even arrived. Gotta love a little display of independence on "Independence Day".

Jack and Miller, the stars and stripes boys, kept themselves fully entertained doing 'boy things'. Here is their best impersonation of a firework. If only pictures had sound effects.

Okay, so maybe I didn't shadow Maggie around the pool deck the entire time. She had plenty of swim time with the Daddies and babies.

Can I tell you how much I love this picture? What is the 4th without a big slice of juicy watermelon running down your chest and pooling into your belly button? I adore that messy boy!

Works like a charm every time...the popsicle group picture.

Jack is officially our little fish. Back and forth between a parent and the pool steps is how he spent the majority of his July 4th, 2011.

And our careful boy will even be thrown in the water before his lap back to the stairs! As long as it's exactly like Buzz Lightyear. {though this may not be shocking to you, this is seriously a milestone for us!}

My sweetest little firecracker of the night.

And my messiest little firecracker of the night. I don't know what I would do without one of each.

I don't know what it is about my kids and the American flag. But, there is some serious happiness going on when they get one in their hands. Another proud American?