This was the other big accomplishment of the weekend: new bikes!
And not only that, but Robbe is *this close* to officially riding a two-wheeler. We’ve had two good days of practice and I think after one more session of Chris chasing after him, he’ll be good to go. Can you imagine no more training wheels?!?
I see lots of family bike rides in the future.
We weren’t planning on making a trip to the Eleva Broiler Fest (the festival in the town right next to mine growing up), but when all three nieces are in the parade (and one of them is celebrating her 16th birthday!!), you load up the car and fight your way through the chaos.
It was a beautiful day for a town festival. In the two hours we were there, corn dogs were consumed, the boys played a couple of carnival games (and won some sweet snakes), and we scored an impressive haul of candy during the parade.
Our little family had a really lovely day overall. More details on today’s other adventures tomorrow—I can only fit so many photos in one collage.
What do you do on the first 90 degree day of the year? Go swimming, of course! Thanks to Uncle Jim and Aunt Lynn, we had quite the pool party.
It’s going to be a great summer. I have a good feeling about it.
Today was a good day for our relationship with Blossom. I think he’s starting to realize how awesome we are. We played with him several times and he even climbed right onto our hands when we tried to get him out of the cage. Definitely making progress!
That’s right. We have a new member in our family. Meet Blossom Dandelion. He’s a Winter White hamster and he’s adorable.
Robbe has been lobbying for quite some time to bring a hamster into this house. We’ve done tons of deliberating, and researching, and budgeting surrounding the new little guy and finally we just had to go for it.
The transition has been a bit tough so far. Turns out you need to leave new hamsters alone for a couple of days when you first bring them home. Even though we were well aware of this (thanks library books!), it’s still hard to do. We all want to be your best friend, Blossom! LOVE US!!!
We’re trying to keep our enthusiasm in check. Really trying. And I think it’s working. We brought him home yesterday afternoon and already he’s more interested in us and doesn’t seem to be scared to death. That’s good, right?!?
I’ll keep you posted on our best friend status. Fingers crossed!
No more tees for these two. One practice session of hitting pitches this afternoon and they’re practically experts. Too bad no one wanted to take baseball this summer—looks like we’ll just have to keep practicing in grandpa’s backyard.
It’s hard to beat this.
We got to spend all afternoon and evening with these friends and we couldn’t be happier about it.
My mom and I are taking a six-week pottery class (at this amazing place)! It’s been on our to-do list for a couple of years (ugh), but we’re finally doing it (yay).
Tonight we learned pottery wheel throwing and slab pottery techniques. I’m really excited about this. And we’ve got five more weeks to hone our craft! Stay tuned for finish product photos.
When it’s raining (again) , what you really need is a bit of color in your life. Hope this brightens your day.
Chase checked his annual 4-H demonstration speech off the list tonight. This year’s topic? How to make Mr. Mans. It was Chase’s choice and he did a great job brainstorming the outline of his speech, creating the poster, practicing, and then presenting it (at last). With the help of his trusty visual aid holder, he had no fear standing in front of the crowd. It was pretty awesome to witness.
I won’t say he had the smoothest finished product but he was happy with it and that’s the important thing. A link to the speech is below for your enjoyment. I also included a second video where Chase shows exactly what Mr. Man is (it’s hard to see in the video).
We’re very proud of our big guy tonight. :)
It’s been a full year since we said goodbye to Chris’s dad. Somehow it feels like much longer than that and not nearly that long simultaneously. We’ve been spending the weekend reminiscing and enjoying the quality time together. I’m so grateful for family.
Robbe was really feeling his outfit today. I feel like you can see the confidence exuding from him in the photo. A seal on his t-shirt (he was excited it was a real photograph and not a graphic), a shark tooth necklace (or a velociraptor claw necklace, depending on who you ask), and secret spy sunglasses.
It was pretty sweet.
Summer arrived today...just for the day. To celebrate the boys had an underwear water gun fight. It was pretty epic.
You look away for one minute and your kid manages to scale a decent-size tree. I should probably have been a bit more worried. Instead, I was just super impressed.
The boys have been really into drawing Mr. Mans lately (the singular is Mr. Man). I won’t give too many of the details away here because they will be revealed soon. I know that the stress of not knowing is probably very extreme so text me if you don’t think you can wait a few days.
Growing up, you have no idea the amount of sacrifices and energy and love that goes into raising kids. You’re so enveloped in your own world that the concept is not only unimaginable but unfathomable—as it should be, I guess.
I’ve been a mom for seven years now and every single day I’m realizing what it means to be a mom. As much as I have to teach them, I have an equal amount—if not more—to learn from them.
I love these boys. I love being a mom. And I’m beyond grateful to the two women pictured above (Chris’s mom on the left, my mom on the right) who raised their babies into the people who could raise our babies.
We’ve been waiting since February for the How to Train Your Dragons 3 movie to come to our neighborhood budget theater (movies for $5!) and our dream finally came true tonight. Toothless, the main dragon in that movie, might be one of my all-time favorite animated characters.
In honor of the movie, I forced the boys to pose with the new dragon sculpture outside the movie theater. It was meant to be, right?
Is there anything better than homemade bread? Knowing exactly what the ingredients are, the smell of it baking, eating it warm…it’s all so good.
I checked out this book from the library, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and it has inspired me. You make one batch of dough and it lasts in the fridge for two weeks. Then you take out 1/4 of it at a time and make a small-ish fresh loaf for dinner with just a few minutes worth of work. Genius, right? And the bread is really delicious, too. There are a bunch of different recipe variations that I haven’t explored yet, but I’m excited.
As witnessed tonight, brothers do come in handy sometimes. They might not always get along. They might not always see eye to eye on things. But they really are best friends. I’m just so glad they have each other.
small city | BIG DAYS
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