New Bikes

Emily had a tough time choosing the bike she liked the best. After writing down the pros and cons of each bike and test riding all of them she chose this one. She loves it and is having fun learning how to use her gears. She rode all the way up a big hill to the park the other night with her new bike. (Ryan is so proud)

Joe loves his new bike.

I have to watch him a little closer now because he thinks he is big enough to ride around the block by himself like Emily. I am waiting for the day he decides he can ride to Grandma's house like dad.

Josh has inherited Joseph's Shark bike and is excited to say that it is his. But he is not quite ready to give up his Fred Flinstone ride.

Raymon Raving Joshua

Our friends brought their slip and slide over the other day, and the kids had a blast using it. I was very entertained while I was watching because the boys did not understand the concept of waiting their turn, and Josh didn't quite get how the whole thing worked.

Emily went and got her goggles after a few slide and Josh thought that was a good idea, but the only goggles he could find were the shop glasses from Joseph's toy fix it shop. Later when we were looking back at the pictures we had to laugh because Josh reminded us of the Rabbits on the Wii game Raymon Raving Rabbids.

Boots the Monkey

In October 2005 Joseph was almost 2 years old, a big fan of Dora the Explorer, and all he wanted to be for Halloween was Boots the Monkey. The only problem was that costume was not in any store, I was 6 months pregnant, and we were getting ready to move out of state.

First I tried to talk Joseph into another costume, then I frantically searched the Internet for a boots costume. I did find a couple but for no less than $100.

Luckily Grandma B saved Halloween by making Joseph this perfect costume.

After many uses the tail came off from being pulled on too much so I hung it in the boys closet meaning to sew it back on the next time I had my machine out. Years passed and I finally got around to fixing it. When Joseph saw that I was fixing his costume he was so excited. I told him that Grandma made it for him when he was two and it probably wouldn't fit anymore, but he still insisted on trying it on.

We were able to get it on him. (He even crammed his feet in the slippers) Even though it clearly didn't fit Joe was happy to be wearing it again.

This whole time Josh was watching wanting to get in on the action. I was curious to see if it would fit Josh so I asked Joseph if Josh could try it on. Joe had me take a few more pictures and then he happily handed the costume over to Josh. It fit Josh a lot better and Joe was excited to see it on him. Joseph turned Dora on the TV so that Josh could watch it. Even though it was a hot day Josh happily stayed in the costume through the whole show.

Joe told Josh that he could be Boots for Halloween. I asked Joe what he was going to be and he said happily, "I'm going to wear my cool Pirate costume."

Joseph had me hang the costume back in his closet. I don't think he is ready to give it up yet.

Family Bike Ride

Last week while Ryan went on his bike rides I would go out in the front yard with the kids and ride my bike with them up and down the street. It has been a fun way that we can burn off the night time energy and spend time together getting a little exercise, but the kids noticed that Ryan was getting to leave to go on his bike rides and they wanted to go too.

So tonight we loaded the kids and bikes in the car, and drove to the park. (Ryan rode his bike up to the park but the hill is too steep for the kids) The park near our house was great for this because there are many paths weaving together so I could ride my bike around the area where Josh was slowly scooting around on his "bike".

Emily flew around the paths really well.

Ryan stayed with Joseph and tried to help him figure out the brakes on his bike a little better. Before tonight if Joe needed to stop his bike he would just ride it into the grass.

I can't say that it was a great workout , but it was fun to spend time together and the kids had a great time.

Chef Emily

I am having lots of fun teaching Emily how to cook this summer. She has always been good at helping me in the kitchen, but now she is learning to do things on her own and she is becoming pretty good.

Like I said in a previous post one of Emily's home work assignments at the end of last year was to bake a cake. Since then she asked me quite frequently if she could bake one so I decided it was time to move on to other things, and Emily was excited to try.


We started with the simple things that are made from a box like mac and cheese. This is an essential skill for any girl who is interested in babysitting. She did really well the first time and even better on her 2nd try. She is now even more helpful at lunch time.


After she mastered the concept of following the directions on the back of the box we moved on to real recipes. (I know you are all thinking cookies) She has made us pancakes for breakfast and then for the ultimate test I had her make banana bread. That sounds simple but we had enough bananas that she had to double the recipe. I am happy to say that she did a beautiful job even with her helpers.

For those of you who want to taste the treats Emily makes all I can say is good luck!

Her brothers are always hovering..... waiting to devour them.

Memory Game...

Shelby had this on her blog and I thought it would be fun to try.

Memory Game.....
Here's a little game! Will you play with me?
Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember!
Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.
Ready, Set, GO!

Fireworks

Last week when the big white tents started popping up in parking lots Joe got very curious. When I told him that the tents were where the fireworks were sold he began pointing them out more....When they opened for business he started asking when we were going to go buy our fireworks.....By Wednesday he was really worried that they were going to close before we made it to the big tents so he started pointing the fireworks out in the stores.

Thursday night Ryan and Joe headed off to the firework stands to get us some. Joseph was very excited. When they got to the stand Joseph noticed a clown firework and pointed it out to his dad saying "That would be so scary for Aunt Tracy." Ryan asked him if he wanted to get it and of course he said yes.

(When Tracy was young Ryan let her watch the movie "IT" while he was babysitting. Ever since then she has been terrified of clowns. Nobody claimed to have told Joseph about this.)

Friday afternoon, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend the 4th with them. When we got there Joe showed me all of the fireworks they had bought. He was especially proud of the one he bought to scare Aunt Tracy.

When Tracy arrived Joseph proudly showed her the firework and asked her if it was scary. I asked Joe who told him that Tracy was afraid of clowns. He said it was Grandma but Tracy suspected Ryan and went after him.When the sun finally set the fireworks started. The kids loved the sparklers and Emily even talked Ryan into letting her help him light a cone. We saved the clown for last and Tracy lit it to help her get over her fears. It was kind of creepy when the whole face lit up.

When the fireworks were done Joe started asking when the next holiday was that we could light fireworks. Luckily it is only a couple of weeks away.

Family Reunion

Summertime means that it is time for family reunions. We went with Ryan's dad to his family reunion this last weekend down in Richfield. It seemed like every town that we past on the way had large groups of people at the parks and a few even had signs at the freeway exit advertising their family reunion.

Ron's family has a reunion every June. Emily really likes going to it because then she has cousins to play with. There is even a girl right around her age. Emily is very social and when it was time to eat she found a spot with some of the relatives and talked their ear off. I couldn't really hear what she was telling them but I heard her say her brother's names a few times. Hopefully it was all good.

This year they had a few games for the kids and let them earn prizes. All of the kids got squirt guns. I had Joe and Josh bring theirs to me while the bigger kids were busy still playing games and having races. I filled them with water so they could have a head start. Joe immediately started going around squirting anyone he saw. Josh followed but usually just sprayed the ground.

It didn't take long for the rest of the kids to catch on that there was water to fill their guns and the water fights started. This really upset Joe because of course they all turned on him. He told them that they were not allowed to squirt him because he had a gun. They were all twice as old as him so they didn't listen. This upset Joe and he started to cry.

Grandpa went over to try to make Joe feel better and explain things to him. Just as Grandpa had Joe settled down Josh walked up to Joe and squirted him in the face.

All is fair in water fights!

(Thanks aunt Tracy for catching it all on film :)