2 wheels... or 4?

Yes, I know. I've been rather inexplicably absent recently. While I have plenty to blog about, we've been rather busy doing all the things I have to blog about. Kind of a catch 22 don't ya think?

Anyway, a couple weeks ago, Micah had been begging to get a bigger bike. He's been distraught about the fact that all his cousins and his sister have bigger bikes while he's still riding around on his little 12 inch bike with the training wheels. So Kevin made a deal with him, as soon as he learned to ride on 2 wheels, we'd get him a bigger bike.

So on a Saturday afternoon when Kevin was home with nothing to do, they went outside to do just that. It took him a while, but he finally caught on. Every time he got a little tired, they'd take a break, and Micah would come back a little while later doing a lot better. He did so well that when I went out on my girls' night out later on, I got a phone call that Micah had ridden all the way to the park without any help(that's just a little less than a block away)!

Last weekend, I happened to drive past a yard sale with a boy's bike out front. When I stopped they said they were asking $5 for the bike. It was a really nice bike and it was in great shape, so of course we bought it! Micah is not quite tall enough to get on by himself so Kevin or I have to hold the bike up for him, but he's learning to get it going. And he loves being on a big bike now!

Chloe and Micah spent this evening racing up and down the street on their big kid bikes!

Jadon was not going to be left out!Jadon is definitely enjoying the fruits of Micah's labor because now he gets to learn on the little bike. Four wheels is just fine with him!

Little Boy Blue

My SIL, Megan, asked me about a month ago if I would cut her little guy's hair. The timing finally worked out this week, so she and BJ brought little Teegan over to play barbershop on Tuesday. He was not terribly impressed with the idea. But BJ did a pretty good job of distracting him with one toy after another. He really sat pretty still for how upset he was to begin with.
Still, little T.T. was definitely relieved to be done with the whole ordeal. Megan was a little sad to see all his baby hair go, but doesn't he look cute?

Where I've been

I've had no internet access for an entire week. It's been very difficult to handle. Fortunately, I've had plenty of other things to keep me busy. Namely cleaning up this mess.

Our basement flooded a couple of weeks ago after 6 or so inches of rain which translated into 16 inches of water in the house. So here is our basement spread out all over the yard. My favorite is the Christmas tree standing in the middle of the backyard. Can we say redneck?Thankfully, most of our things were saved. And despite replacing the motor on the dryer, all the appliances survived. There was some damage to the drywall and the doors in the new bedroom, but hopefully not too much.

I truly appreciated the clothesline and 80 degree weather while we waited for the dryer to be repaired.

The funny thing is, after all the cleanup I did, I managed to have a lot of the basement, at least my part, much more organized than before. And that feels great. Sometimes you just need a little push to get something done.

Is it summer?

I do realize that summer hasn't officially begun. Most kids aren't out of school yet and the weather is a little iffy with lots of rain and temps ranging from 60 to 80 day to day. Nevertheless, the things that typically mark our summers have begun full force this week. Tuesday was Kevin's first softball game: the first of many. And last weekend we had a cookout at Aunt Ann's house. Fun, fun.
Jadon got to go on his first kayak ride with Daddy. He asked to go again as soon as I pulled him out of the boat. What do you think? Did he like it?

Of course, the kids got to do some fishing off the dock. Micah, was a little disappointed that it was not quite as fruitful as his last fishing trip, but he still had a lot of fun.

Jadon, however, thought it was the best thing ever. He caught his very first fish. I'm sure the first of many. Even Teegan thought it was pretty neat that he got to touch it.

Kevin took the kids back to Aunt Ann's on Monday to fish some more. Jody even brought her brood out to join them. I think her philosophy is that her kids will just have to latch onto their uncles if they ever want to learn to fish. They must have all had lots of fun out there. It sounded like they all got to catch quite a few. I wish I had pictures of the seven kids all fishing off Aunt Ann's dock. Assuming Lydia got in on the action. Maybe Jody will have some to share.

Anyway, we're off to a blazing start this summer. I hope you all enjoy yours as much as we plan to.

Rainy Days

We've had quite a rainy spring around here. Despite all the warmer weather, it has led to several days of staying inside because the ground is covered in muddy puddles. So this was a very common sight in our house last week. It really warms my heart that my kids like to read so much.

Even Jadon likes to get in on the book time. Thankfully we have two very nice libraries available to us. They definitely make rainy/muddy days a little more fun.