Bike Riding

Butterfly decided that she wanted to learn to ride her bike without training wheels a couple of weeks ago. We went across the street to the church parking lot and I gave her a little push and she went a few feet. We tried again and she went a little further. One more time and then she was riding all the way across the parking lot. (these pictures are actually taken later at the school nearby)Ladybug came out about that time. She had taken the training wheels off her bike a couple years ago, but then wiped out and wouldn't ride again. Her jaw dropped as she saw Butterfly racing across the parking lot. She grabbed her bike and off she went. She told me that she wasn't about to let Butterfly get ahead of her! Yes, she does have a bigger bike, but wanted to ride this smaller bike that a friend gave to her.Panda wanted to join in the fun, of course, so she pulled out her tricycle and away she went.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip Report

We arrived at the pumpkin patch pretty close to our arrival time goal. We paid our fees and with the help of the map made our plan of attack. We decided to tackle the corn maze first this year. As we walked toward the corn maze, we (the moms) about panicked when we noticed that the jumping pillow was not inflated! Hoping that it would be inflated later, we continued walking to the corn maze, after a stop at a tree swing and a teeter totter.The girls tested their navigation skills by leading us through the maze. I'm not sure they knew where they were going, but they enjoyed being the leaders. We (the moms) enjoyed listening to their cute conversations. After finding our way out of the maze, we headed over the swinging bridge to another tree swing, tricycles, horse swings, and a hay bale maze. Once the girls wore the moms out by making them run the horse in circles, we continued our exercise routine on the pedal cars. Yes, they apparently make pedal cars for two people, just so young children can further poop out the moms. It really was fun, until the hill... My legs are going to tell me about that hill again tomorrow.
We (the moms) we delighted to see that the jumping pillow had been inflated. So, we encouraged the girls (as if that took great arm twisting) to go have fun jumping. They invited us to join them and, of course, we couldn't refuse. We jumped until our post-baby bladders could take no more bouncing... some things just aren't the way they used to be.On our way to lunch, the girls had to make a trip down the tube slide. We enjoyed our lunch in the picnic area and marveled at the beautiful weather! We couldn't have had a better day.
After lunch, it was off to the playground area. The girls wanted to review their fire pole sliding, swinging, log swinging, and climbing skills. After brushing up on those skills, we took a ride on the paddle boats. Mine wouldn't steer. I thought we were going to be stuck on the little pond all afternoon. Thankfully, paddling backwards worked.
We were getting to the end of the afternoon, so we let the girls pick what they would like to do before we left. The older girls chose the tube slide again and the younger girls chose the jumping pillow. A good time was had by all. Once we were sufficiently worn out and VERY thirsty, we headed to the car. Snacks and drinks were passed out and we headed for home.

Exchange with the 4 year old

4 year old: "Mommy, they aren't letting me play."
Mom: "That's not nice. Why not?"
4 year old: "They said I'm being mean."
Mom: "Oh. Well, are you being mean?"
4 year old: "No, I think they heard an imagination."

Back for Homecoming and Misc.

We went back again this weekend to see my parents and do a few homecoming activities. The girls just HAD to get their candy harvest in for the year (the parade...).

I was so glad to get there and back safely. As we were headed out Friday, we came upon two different accidents. That always makes me more edgy while driving.

Sunday, we drove straight to church and enjoyed the youth dinner after church. The youth are raising money to go to Higher Things again. I hope someday that I will get to go with my girls. :)

After the dinner, we took Ladybug to her clarinet lesson. Since her teacher is 45 minutes away from us, this was only her second lesson. She did wonderful. Her teacher is awesome!

Off Track

Ever feel like your day is derailed before it even begins? That's how mine is today. The pipe going to my shower head broke last night, so I couldn't take a shower in my shower this morning. The plumber can not be reached until possibly tomorrow. Anything I have tried to accomplish today has taken double the amount of time to get done. Can I just start over?

The good news is that we do have water. It wasn't a break that is a drastic emergency. We do have another shower in the house.

I just hope my day gets back on track!

Aging

Here's Proverbs 23:22 as heard from Butterfly as she was working on her memory work: "Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother because she is old."

Monday

Glad it's over! It was a busy one. We got our school work done, had an appointment, made two trips to get the 17 enormous mums that Ladybug sold for choir, delivered 12 of them, took her to choir early for a group photo, picked her up after choir. Guess I shouldn't wonder why I'm tired!

Too bad Tuesdays are too busy for a nap...

Family Photo - My side of the family

Mom and Dad celebrated their 40th Anniversary on June 6th. We told them that for their anniversary, we would do a family photo. We hadn't done a whole family photo since Ladybug was a baby! We were able to get together today and get the photos done. We were pleased with how they turned out.

Yesterday's picture

In case you were wondering about that picture....

No, we did not get a new or different rabbit. That was a rabbit that we saw at the state fair. We thought it was so cute. It sat there with its nose poking out, waiting for someone to come along and pet it.

We went to the fair Monday and I've spent all week trying to catch up with life. We had a good time, though. We went to the birthing barn and saw baby calves, sheep, goats, pigs and chicks. I didn't think the girls would be interested in the rabbits since we have one of our own now, but they were even more interested this year in all the varieties of rabbits. From there we went to the Wild About Monkeys show. One of the boys from our church ended up being one of the volunteers chosen from the audience.

We spent some time at the midway and let the girls ride several rides. They love that!

After lunch, we went to a presentation on rocket science. It was very well done. The girls enjoyed it more than they thought they would.

We spent some time in the agriculture area learning about soil and grains. Panda's favorite part is sitting in the combine.

As we left, we made a pass through the petting zoo. We were tired and ready to go by the time we headed to the car!

Wordless Wednesday

I remember

Nine years ago, I woke up with my oldest daughter who was 16 months old at the time. I don't remember now what may have been planned for the day. My neighbor, a friend of mine, called. She had been watching the Today Show and told me that I needed to turn on the tv. The first plane had just crashed into the Twin Towers.

I turned on the tv, wondering what could have gone wrong that a plane could run into a building like that. How does an accident like that happen? My friend and I continued to talk on the phone as coverage went on live, when we saw the 2nd plane crash into the other tower. Seeing that plane crash into the tower, it was easy to figure out that this was no accident. Who would do such a thing and why? And then the report came in that the Pentagon had also been hit. Flights were being grounded.

Coverage returned to rescue attempts at the towers. The sight I would see next will forever be engraved in my memory. It was a sight I would never had expected. The first tower collapsed. The second tower was shortly behind. New York was in chaos. Despair was seen on everyone's faces. My heart ached for all the families who lost loved ones.

And then came the report of the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. The plane, as we would find out later, whose brave passengers would not allow another plane to crash into another building.

It all seemed so unreal. I stayed in front of the tv all day, trying to find out more information, hoping to find answers to my many questions and all the while feeling guilty that my 16 month old was near by. Would she pick up on any of the horrible things that were going on? I certainly hoped that she could remain in her innocent world, playing as usual.

I remember feeling so relieved for the families whose loved ones for whatever reason were late to the Twin Towers that day and escaped the disaster and for those few who were rescued, even from a stairwell, which unbelievably kept them safe as the towers collapsed all around them.

I am so thankful for those who have served and those who still serve our country, continuing to fight for our freedom and safety.

Slowly it creeps in...

It used to be that there were no school activities on a Wednesday. Slowly, schools added sports practices to Wednesdays. It should be ok as long as it doesn't interfere with the actual time of church activities, right? What could the church going parents say? Of course at that time also, teachers would not stack a lot of homework on a Wednesday night either.

Fast forward down the road many years. Now I have students who have sports practices on Wednesday, of course. And they are loaded down with home work that evening as well. Add a catechism class to that load and they are wiped out.

But, it gets worse. Now, they are scheduling parent teacher conferences on Wednesdays. In the school where my husband teaches, they have always had after school meetings on Wednesdays (which annoys me anyway). They had a meeting this past Wednesday to discuss how they could make up the regularly scheduled meeting which would be missed due to scheduling the parent teacher conference on one of those Wednesdays. Seriously.

There are about three teachers who have church activities on Wednesday (my husband is one of them). They were essentially "bullied" into having a double meeting on a Wednesday to make up for that conference (which my husband was unaware of in the first place - somehow that conference ended up on the schedule). He found out today that this Wednesday conference is kind of a test. If it goes well, they'll do another Wednesday conference in the spring. That just makes me angry. See how it creeps in.

First Day of School

We school year round, so I decided to just choose a date for our first day of school. I chose the day after Labor Day. That's when school started when I was growing up and it just seems like a logical time to start over. I had intended on getting some pictures of starting our first day, but our first day ended up in the car repair shop!

Thankfully, I was able to start my van (barely!) one last time and get it to the shop. I figured it was the battery (since it is the original battery in a 2005 van). There was a day, when I could change a battery myself. Unfortunately, the way they design these vans, the battery is buried under a bunch of stuff that require shop tools to remove.

We packed our school books and sat in the shop while they replaced my battery. Butterfly got all her work done there. I'll have to stage some photos later. I guess it would have been funny to take pictures going into the car repair place...

Some days...

I wish other people could see my girls the way that I see them. But, I guess that's why I'm their mom. I love and appreciate them the way their are. They aren't perfect, but they're a gift that I treasure.

Along those same lines, some days I wish we could just be secluded in our own little world where we could get things done at our own pace without the thoughts, opinions, judgments, and interruptions of everyone and everything else.

Clarinet Lessons

Ladybug had her first clarinet lesson this afternoon. It was awesome. My friend, Jay, is teaching her and he loves beginners and loves the clarinet. He teaches with such enthusiasm and I'm hoping her will draw her out of her shyness.

I think she's off to a great start. I'll be looking forward to the next lesson. :) I enjoy being a fly on the wall and hearing what Jay has to say to a beginner.