Tripple tutus and applesauce

Sara has been helping me dig my garden and get it read for planting.  She helped me pick up all the grass, sticks, and trash today in the yard. We worked really hard.  Also we planted tons of carrot seeds last year, she proudly helped.  I mostly ate the carrot tops in my green shakes but I left the carrots in the ground over the winter.  So yesterday and again today we dug up probably 300 baby carrots. She helped me wash them and collect them in several batches.   Pictured below was our first batch we dug up.

Dan made some nice coleslaw last night with them and today Sara wanted me to make applesauce, so we put carrots in with the apples.  Also we added some lemon juice, cinnamon, all spice, and maple syrup (instead of honey so that Brennan could have some too).  It turned out really good and was very tasty.  Sara helped me load it all into the blender.   Sara and Brennan both ate tons of it today, so much that we made a second batch.  I think we used 6 apples and probably 30-40 baby carrots.  We still have a lot of carrots left over.

Sara is really excited about all the bulbs coming up in the yard right now.  She asks to water them every day. I usually let her and she does a pretty good job.  It'll be nice to have help watering, it's a big job around here.  We have several yellow and purple crocouses that have come up, she is restraining herself from picking the flowers.  We have so many bulbs popping up that we are going to have a flower explosion soon.  I'm worried they will be at their peak bloom while we are in Bama and Sara will miss it. I really hope not, she helped me plant a lot of them and she can't wait for them to bloom, she keeps asking me to tell her what they all are. 

Also today a box came for her that had tutus in it that Nanna had made for her.  She was really excited to try them all on.  Video 1  Video 2  She was a little confused that we called them tutu's because of her Grandma Tutu, she couldn't figure out if they were from Tutu or Nanna, so I set her straight on that.  Also, she thought that you were supposed to wear them over a dress and i explained that over her pants was just fine.  Then she wanted to go on a bike ride wearing her tutu.  Right after she tried them all on she said out loud, "Nanna, I thank you with all my heart".  I thought it was really sweet.  Thank you Nanna for taking the time to make her something very special!

Today she also had another really good swim lesson.  The teacher is amazed and so am I, at how much she likes it and how fast she's learning.  I almost feel like she's getting more out of swimming lessons than her music lessons.  She learned to kick today and float on her back while kicking and she retrieved small rocks under the water without even wanting to come up for air,  even though she was done she asked the teacher if she could do it again without goggles and she went way under the water holding her breath.

Her teacher is so cool too and great with kids.  Sara has to ride a pool float that is like a big foam noodle but it's hollow in the middle.  She rides it like a horse between her legs but because it sticks up, she says it's Thomas with his smoke stack.

 So the teacher told her to jump in the pool from the side while riding the Thomas float, she told her she had to hold her breath and jump in.  The first time she didn't hold her breath and came up coughing.  The teacher blew in the end of the tube float and water shot out the other end up into the air and she said to Sara, "Oh look, Thomas forgot to hold his breath too, he's full of water".  Then she told her to jump in again holding her breath.  This time Sara did it and she handed the end of the pool noodle to Sara to blow in but she couldn't blow any water out the other end, so the teacher said, "Oh look, no water, Thomas must have held his breath that time, good job Thomas".  It was really cute and Sara LOVED it. 

We will definitely be taking more lessons, it's been a great experience for her and I know she will be a lifelong great swimmer and hopefully she'll come away loving it.  There is a 3 year old girl that is supposed to be having lessons with her but every time they get her in the water she screams bloody murder until her mom comes to get her.  I'm glad Sara is not doing that.  She is really getting a lot out of it. I feel so lucky that the pool and her teacher is right in our neighborhood!