Bein’ Franklin

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 15th, 2008

* This is another “forgotten” post.  I’m discovering a theme with the entries I’ve not published.  They all include pictures / video.  I’m guessing that’s what I’ve been waiting for to publish them.  This one was started on July 18th.

For the past two weeks, the kids have been going to swimming lessons at Texas Tech.  This is our second year to take lessons there.  We really are impressed with the program they have.  The kids learn a lot and have a great time.  And the price just can’t be beat. As luck would have it, these have been the coldest two weeks of the summer yet.  It’s been cloudy just about every day, so the water has been cold.  It hasn’t seemed to bother the kids too much.

There have been two notable differences this year from last year.

1) I didn’t have to swim. 

I like swimming, really I do.  But I would rather not have to participate in swimming lessons.  Last year, we signed Timothy up to be in the Aquatot class (3 & 4 year old) and Emily was in Level 3.  Both of these classes do not include parents swimming.  We didn’t sign Zachary up for anything, because we figured he was too young.  Swimming lessons for 2-year-olds wasn’t a choice in Plainview, so the thought hadn’t occurred to us.  Well, the first day of lessons last year, Zachary expressed in deep disapproval at having to just watch his big brother and sister swim.  Noticing his distress, the pool manager informed us that there is a class for 2 year olds.  It’s the mommy-and-me class.  So, I pulled out my swimsuit and got in the water with Zachary.  It was fun, but I was glad to get to stay dry this year since had graduated up to be an Aquatot.

2) We knew some other people at lessons.

Last year, we had lived in Lubbock for about a month when we had lessons.  This year, two other ladies from my work had signed their kids up for lessons at the sign time.  Between the three of us, we had signed 9 kids up in classes ranging from Aquatots to the Diving Class.  So, as we watched our kids swim,  the moms got to visit.  That was a lot of fun for everyone.  It has been a nice way to spend some time with friends and not think about the fact that we’ll be moving away in just a few weeks.

Now the part that you are all reading for.  Here are some pictures.  Emily was in level 3, Timothy in Level 1, and Zachary was an Aquatot.  All three kids mastered all parts of their class.  If we go back to Tech next year, which I think we will, Emily will do Level 4, Timothy will do Level 2, and Zachary will do the Aquatot class again (you have to be 5 to be in Level 1).

And, here are some videos.

Emily — Level 3

Her teacher was Kelsie.

Timothy — Level 1 His teacher was Kendall. (I know I took more than one video of him, but can’t find the others.  The others may have been on my phone that broke the day we moved )

Zachary — Aquatot

We found out today that his teacher’s name was Louis. Zachary has insisted on calling him Roger for the last two weeks.

Posted by DaddyFranklin at May 15th, 2008

Today, I went with Timothy’s class on a field trip to a place in Lubbock called Kenny’s Korral.  It was a blast, as you can probably tell from the pictures and videos.

Posted by DaddyFranklin at May 8th, 2008

Posted by DaddyFranklin at April 27th, 2008

I was in tears by the end.  Very powerful and moving

Posted by DaddyFranklin at April 9th, 2008

We had an amazing trip over Spring Break this year (March 17 - 21) in San Antonio, followed up by an excellent Easter visit with Lori’s family in Granbury.  I still have every intention of posting a full report of what we did along with pictures, mainly for the sake of my own memory.  Here’s a compilation of photos in the form of a slide show.  Enjoy:

Posted by DaddyFranklin at April 7th, 2008

Extremely entertaining and amazing talent!

Posted by DaddyFranklin at January 1st, 2008

You’ve got to check out the video that Lori posted over on her blog and at YouTube that celebrates our family’s highlights of 2007.  I’ll cross post it here so everyone gets a chance to see it.  I hope she doesn’t think I’m stealing her thunder.  It looks to me like she put a lot of effort into it and I give her all the credit for sure:

Posted by DaddyFranklin at August 4th, 2007

As Lori shared over on her blog, the last two weeks have been filled with swimming lessons for all three kids. Since it was on the Texas Tech Campus, I was able to make it over most days to have a look-see. It was a lot of fun just watching the children learn all their new water skills.

On the last day, it was drizzling outside, but I decided to take the camera out anyway. Fortunately, I snapped a few videos, without ruining the camera, so you can see how much fun they had. Now, most of the videos are from the last day and that was their “fun” day so you are not seeing all the “hard work” they put into their lessons. I’m proud to say that all three of them are a whole lot better in the water than they were just 2 weeks ago. I hope you enjoy the videos:

Swimming Lessons #1: Emily Diving

Swimming Lessons #2: Emily tubing

Swimming Lessons #3: Mommy and Zachary on the boat

Swimming Lessons #4: Timothy off the deep end

Swimming Lessons #5: Zachary off the deep end

Swimming Lessons #6: Zachary jumping from the edge

Swimming Lessons #7: Zachary riding the whale

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

Posted by DaddyFranklin at May 18th, 2007

The children’s choirs of First Baptist Church of Plainview performed their annual spring concert last night and we got to witness just how much our kids are growing up. You can surf through our videos on YouTube and see the steady progression in our children’s performance ability. Timothy sang in his first official choir concert last Christmas but you can still see that he is quite the newbie when it comes to public performing. I’m still proud of him!! On the other hand, Emily holds nothing back. She’s there to perform and perform with passion. I particularly like her facial expressions when she gets really into it. Yeah, we watch a lot of American Idol!

Let me also give some kudos to Lori (not the candy bar) for the ENORMOUS amount of time and work she put into leading the first and second grade choir this year. Having helped her a couple times this year, I cannot see why anyone would voluntarily put themselves through that and yet she does. I know that her time invested in their lives makes an impact and is a fundamental part of the church’s role in helping to raise children into godly adults. Way to go, Lori!!

Posted by DaddyFranklin at May 16th, 2007

We attended Timothy’s end of the year ceremony at his pre-school yesterday. He sang a total of 6 songs and if you compare it to last years video, you can really tell that he’s growing up. It was a busy day for us since Emily had a dress rehearsal for her Ballet Recital which is coming up this Saturday. And by the way, my talented little girl has a solo. Also, at the same time, Timothy had pictures for T-Ball. Zachary accompanied me with Timo. Then, immediately following the pictures, Timothy was to have his second T-Ball game, which we had to skip so he could go get ready for his ceremony. I really don’t like the “soccer mom” lifestyle but I imagine I’d better just get used to it.

I hope you enjoy the videos and pictures!

Timothy’s ceremony 2007 Part 1:

Timothy’s ceremony 2007 Part 2:

NOTE: This second video was made with our digital still camera because the battery ran out on the camcorder. As you can tell, Zachary was trying to help video the concert.