Swimming Class and Strawberry Cake

Swimming lessons are going, well, 'swimmingly' -- for Zoe ....

..... and for Ella (who works very hard to keep her chin out of the water)!!

This past Monday was lesson #3, and for the first time both girls 'swam' on their own a short distance, wearing their float belts and using the noodles, and later in the lesson they swam only wearing their float belts. It was very exciting and quite the moment!!

I love how much trust the girls have in their wonderful teacher Alyssa .....

..... and I LOVE the big smile of a new SWIMMER!!

It also was pretty cute watching all four kids swim on their own -- they reminded me of little ducklings paddling along in the water : )

This past Wednesday was lesson #4 and I have to say I'm happily surprised at how quickly Zoe and Ella are getting comfortable in the water and learning all these new skills. They both jumped in twice and totally went underwater (wearing their float belts) and they each swam half the distance of the pool on their own, and back (again wearing their float belts). Each time they looked at me they had the BIGGEST smiles on their faces and my own face was sore by the end of class from my own big smiles -- it's going so well and I couldn't be more proud : )

And even though these next photos have nothing to do with swimming, the girls and I made a little cake the other day and it turned out so pretty I just had to share : )

Simplicity at it's best: