A Memorial day to remember

For his third birthday, we got Alec a balance bike. A couple of kids in our courtyard had been riding them around, and it seemed to us like a fun alternative to training wheels. The idea is that the child can push themselves along and gradually start gliding farther and farther, building up the ability to balance and steer.

That whole building up process took Alec maybe a week back in January, and since then he has been getting more skilled and confident on his balance bike. Yesterday morning we went for a walk/run to Lake Lagunita (a little over a mile away) and he balance-biked the whole way (and back).

For whatever reason, yesterday afternoon we decided to try riding a bike with pedals. We borrowed a bike from a neighbor and set to it. Alec was fairly apprehensive about this, and took several minutes of just slowly and barely moving, just pushing himself with his feet little by little. He was resistant to our encouragement to try and glide farther and/or put his feet on the pedals.

I finally got him to agree to pedal if I was holding onto his shoulders so that he wouldn't tip over. We pedaled in one direction, with me holding on the whole time to build up his trust, and then turned around. On the way back we got moving good enough that I let go for a second or two, with my hands in place to grab him if he faltered. He did great and when we came to a stop I told him that he had done it, and I think this boosted his confidence. On the very next time he went about 50 feet by himself, and then was basically good to go. We ran and got Brittney to come watch, and then he had to show all of his friends.

This whole time Alec is just beaming, a simple satisfied smile on his face as he pedaled around the courtyard. I jogged next to him his first couple of times around, but it became clear that he was very sturdy and very careful, and so I let him go by himself. After about 3 laps, he was willing to try starting by himself and was successful at that right away too. I was just standing their dumbfounded as he proceeded to ride around for the next hour and a half or so, like he couldn't get enough. (We were unsuccessful in getting him to come in and eat with us, but I can't blame him, since just watching him was more fun than eating for us parents!)

It was amazing to watch him go from being reluctant to confident and able in a matter of minutes. I think it would be hard for anyone to be that sturdy and sure on their first day of riding a bike. And to see the joy on his face as he enjoyed his new found freedom and speed. What a wonderful experience for all of us. Charlie even clapped for him spontaneously as he rounded the corner one time.

Charlie had fun learning to drive and trying some rollerskates from our neighbor (a girl, if you couldn't tell). He is so funny and different than Alec. Every time that his feet would roll out from under him, so that he was basically just hanging by his arms on my hands, he would just start laughing like it was the funniest thing. Alec in similar situations seems to have been more scared by such near falls. So fun as our boys grow up. I love being a dad.

Also, I am totally sold on the balance bike idea and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in getting a child to learn to ride. We got ours at www.kazambikes.com

and have been very pleased.

Haircuts!

Before:


Right After:


The morning after since Dad's haircut happened after bedtime:


Note to future self - Three haircuts in a row will make your arms ache and fingers cramp, so learn to cut faster or get better scissors/buzzer-thing.

Utah Surprise

Inspired half by Chris' Grandma and half by my sister's crazy last-minute trip up to WA, we decided to surprise everyone in Utah and drive out for Chris' brother's mission farewell. Edward is leaving to serve the Lord in Merida, Mexico in a week and a half. We loved surprising everyone either at home, or at work. We drove out Thursday night, and then napped/surprised everyone on during the day Friday and had a big family BBQ on Friday night, for Chris' birthday! I felt like a lame pamper-er making him drive all night and help with the kids a bunch after we arrived so I could de-kink my back. At least the party was really fun with lots of family.

Saturday was the exciting AGA event (an early Independent or a late IDES tournament. I'm not sure it was ever decided). Edward pulled off a great victory, with Thom and James close behind. Although, Chris would've won, had you discounted the first 6 holes. The boys had fun hitting balls and making putts when we went to pick the players up.

Sunday was Edward's talk in Church and it was awesome. He had so many people there to support him and his talk was really great. I am impressed and think he will be a fabulous missionary. We had a family dinner after with TONS of people and, as always, yummy-Dixie-food.

Then, we drove home Monday. Crazy short trip. Crazy long drive. This was the first Utah trip where I was not ready to make the drive home again. Oh, and like everyone in Utah already knows, we had blizzard like conditions from Provo to Salt Lake. It's practically JUNE?! The picture doesn't do it justice. The slush splashing out from cars would cover our windshield completely and 100% obstruct our view for a good few seconds.

Mothers Day

**Wow, its been so long since I've posted. I'm pregnant and really starting to feel it now and that's my excuse. I'll post once a day till I get caught up: mothers day, Chris' birthday, Utah trip, haircuts etc... **

I had such a wonderful mother's day, in fact you could say it was ideal. Breakfast in bed, clean house and kitchen, flowers, a present or two, singing in church, naps when we got home, and a yummy dinner. Somehow Chris did it all this year. :) He's amazing and I love him. Mothering is a beautiful, hard, yet rewarding job. To help me notice, and remember the best parts, I've been keeping a "Happiness Journal" sporadically over the past year or so, where I record some moment of mothering happiness that happened that day. Its been very helpful for me to focus on the sweet moments and laugh at the hard (putting a positive spin on hard moments is fairly amusing in hindsight). Anyways, I'll quote from my journal about this Mother's Day:

--Sunday May 9, 2010- Mothers Day. So many sweet moments today. How to choose? I'll start with yesterday. I had thrown up early in the morning (food poisoning?) and lay in bed till lunch. Chris took the boys to the store and picked up some Mother's Day surprises for me. (With the pretext of getting something for an upcoming presentation) Alec, when they got home, said "let's go tell Mommy!" Chris said, "shh.. it's a surprise" and yet Alec could hardly contain his excitement. He ran upstairs to me and said, "We have a surprise" I asked about Daddy's business cards and Alec just smiled and said "They're by the other flowers" "His business cards?" I asked. "No its... (BIG GRIN AND EFFORT TO HOLD BACK)... a.... surpriiiiisssse." He is getting so big. I love him. I really love being Alec's mom, and Charlie's mom. Two cuter boys do not exist. I love being a mom.--

Together again

Chris is home!!! The boys were really excited to pick him up at the airport today. He recognized us pretty quick despite our best attempts at surprising subterfuge. What a week. I think I only averaged about an hours worth of tears each day. For some reason, this trip/conference was harder on us both. Chris was so ready to be home and we were ready to have him home. His presentation and poster session at the conference in Toronto went well. And Alec learned how to pump on a swing while Chris was gone. Its been something he's worked on and tried to do for many months. Charlie only had one bloody lip while Chris was gone. Seems like Charlie has bled from his mouth a couple of times a week in the past month.

Anyways. Here's to not putting the kids to bed, or eating treats, or sleeping, or locking up by myself tonight!

playing with "babies"

This is how my boys play with "babies." I'll have to keep a close eye on them when the real baby gets here.

Ups and Downs

Man, this girl baby has like jumped my estrogen levels off the charts. Well, probably not literally, but these past few days have been full of weepy nonsensical tears, the sweet munchies, and an easily irritable attitude. Poor boys. Poor Chris. Poor house.

On the upside, we had another fun courtyard party last night for Cinco de Mayo. Catered yummy Mexican food, field games (three-legged race, potato sack race, and a foot race), pinata and ice cream. Put that together with nearly perfect weather (it was maybe 2 degrees too cold) and we had a really nice evening last night.

Back on the downside, Charlie got stung by a bee today! He handled it 10 times better than I did my first sting two years ago. He didn't even cry! His hand didn't swell up so that's good. I hope the bee died. It gave me yet another opportunity to tell Alec and Charlie to leave bees alone. They are dangerous and scary. Its possible I'm over doing it a bit, but its for their own good. I'm not sure how heroic I'll be if they have some angry bees after them.

Still down, Chris has a conference in Toronto next week. Blah.

Ending on an up, I may have figured out a more pleasing-to-look-at digital pattern of a car track quilt I want to make for the boys. (Go figure, it looks better in Word than Fireworks...my own fault I'm sure) Its my current project that has occupied a lot of my brain power recently. Even a small car rug costs so much and I do have tons of scrap material that could be used well in a quilt. Hard part? I've never attempted patchwork quilts before, and I'm pretty sure they need to be precisely cut and sewed...something I'm not experienced in. Maybe this will just turn out to be like almost half my project ideas: unfinshed, nay unstarted. My favorite part is designing them and after that I usually lose steam.