Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

You know who had a birthday last month and I completely missed sharing about it? Miss Gail! I *cannot* believe our little princess is 5 years old! I tried to convince her to stay 4 for just a little bit longer, but she insisted on having a birthday anyway.

For the last two birthdays she's wanted a Minnie Mouse cake, but changed her mind at the last minute. From Minnie to Cinderella and from Minnie to cats. This year it actually stuck though! (Frozen and Moana were tempting her a lot!) Her birthday seems to just sneak up on me every year. We count down to it, but I'm still not ready for all the planning birthday celebrations entail. 

We did have a little party for her with her family the day before. Cousin Casey rode over on a special trip with Nanny. Robin and her boyfriend, Marshall, also made an appearance at the party. I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on the cake while the kids played.

Some time during the morning, my mom took the kids to the store and Casey came back with a wind-up boat to play with. The bowl he found wasn't big enough for the boat to float around in, so I filled up the sink for him. Before I know it, both him and Ms. Gail are running off to change into their bathing suits and then they hopped into the sink as I pretended to not be watching. You can only do this at Aunt Sadie's house! They were so sweet to watch! I couldn't stay no!

Ms. Gail love love loved her cake. It's not my favorite, but if the birthday girl loves it, then that's all that matters.

I seriously can't get enough of these two! Nanny had gotten Ms. Gail a "phone" which had lip gloss in it that resembled apps. I can't tell you how many fingers she painted with lip gloss!

She also could not wait to try on her pink hair! She thought it was the best thing *ever*!

 

Ms. Gail had to share her birthday with me this year as Mother's Day landed on her special day. Because I knew how much she enjoyed bike rides, I opted to have us check out a trail that runs through town. It did not disappoint, though Ms. Gail found herself having to walk up several hills. I think we biked around 3 miles round trip.

Conveniently enough there was a gas station right off the trail so dad suggested we "go check it out." Ice cream all around! The perfect incentive to go just a little bit further.

Because we didn't get to roast hot dogs at her party, like requested, we gathered around for a roast that evening. Pretty sure roasting hot dogs is one of the kids' most favorite thing to do.

S'mores are just an added bonus :) 

We Got NEW Bikes!

Last weekend (March 10-11ish) the temperature hit 70 degrees on Sunday and it was AMAZING! Did I mention it was still the beginning of March? Seriously! Last year all it did was rain. I think this area set a record for consecutive days with rain. Not this year! 

The weekend before Perry and I spent the majority of our time finishing up the extra room which will now be our spare room / library. By library, I mean we have A bookcase in there, so that counts, right? I finished painting in the early afternoon, and then jumped in on painting in the main part of the basement. I wasn't planning on spending the whole day painting, but I'm not in the mood very often so I took advantage of my willingness and got a ton done.

In the meantime, Ms. Gail spent her afternoon trying to ride her bike without her training wheels on. It was a hand-me-down bike and one of the training wheels broke off this past fall, so I took them off and bought her new ones to put on, except I didn't put them on. I encouraged her to try to use the balance bike to scoot around on but she was having none of that idea. Before Perry and I knew it, she had gotten the hang of stopping and starting on her bike (without crashing!) all on her own. I was floored when she brought me out to see and she was biking up and down the road. Girl was determined!

With the weather being so perfect this past weekend, we took the kids to the store to pick out new bikes. HD and JP were both in need of bigger bikes (and new bikes because they left theirs in the rain a few too many times...) The kids were SO EXCITED!!

We ended up having to take JP's back to the store. Turns out using the hand brakes was a little challenging for him. He ended up with a green (duh) bike that only has petal brakes. 

Ms. Gail's new bike was one size up from the one she learned on and is still a little on the big side so we opted to keep her extra wheels on until she was more comfortable riding on this one.

After spending the whole afternoon biking around the driveway, the kids begged us to take them on a bike ride.

I willingly brought up the rear and happily let Perry take the lead. He and the boys were always way ahead, stopping occasionally to wait for us to catch up. Ms. Gail really struggled going up hills, but so did I so I gladly walked with her.

My bike was also in need of some serious work. It would shift gears without me actually shifting gears and was terrible to ride. Did I mention the left hand brake for the front tire didn't work? That was a problem that was hard to get used to! As soon as we arrived home, Perry brought both our bikes into the garage to see what he could do to fix them...

***Several weeks later....***

It's a gorgeous spring evening out and HD comes excited inside to tell me he can bike without hands. Of course I *have* to see this. When he says he can bike without hands, he actually means, he can quickly take them off and put them back on again. Robin and I reminisced about biking down our gravel road with no hands. I should have left it at that but I didn't. I went and got my bike to show HD how I could also ride with no hands. For the record, I would like to say I CAN DO IT! With that said, on my final run, I took my bike down the driveway and picked up speed. A LOT of speed. With no hands. Before I got to the garage I went to stop, not remembering Perry FIXED my front brake handle. Previously I had to squeeze it really hard for it to kind of work. Now I hardly have to touch it. So with that said, I instictively grabbed that brake, my bike immediately stopped. The back end came up over the front and I lay smashed on the pavement underneath my bike. Robin is now dying of laughter. HD has a look of embarrassing disgust on his face and Ms. Gail is screaming "MOOOOM!!!!" So yeah. No bruising though!!

So Long Training Wheels!!

I don't know how to say this other than just saying it. HUNTER AND JP CAN BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!!

Hunter has struggled for a few weeks now with his balance. He was very wobbly when starting so he'd either stop pedaling and fall off his bike, or he'd put his feet down and drag then until he stopped. He would try two or three times and be done. This past week he finally got enough confidence and determination to keep trying. He almost had it when on his 16'' bike, but as soon as he hopped on JP's, away he went! 

As a reward, instead of animal crackers, I took the kids to get slushies. Hunter was SO proud of himself! He told our next door neighbor that "the next time you see me riding without training wheels, you have to give me a dollar." And that's exactly what she did when she saw him that night. He was so excited! The rest of the evening he walked around talking in his big-kid-i-know-everything voice. It was adorable!

That brings me to JP. From the time we started practicing a few weeks ago, he had it. He wasn't nearly as wobbly as Hunter, and could bike longer than Hunter. But he also would only try once or twice and be done. Just getting him to get on was a struggle because he wasn't motivated to even try. I offered slushies, frosties, dilly bars...basically anything to get this kid on his bike, but he just wasn't having it. He was great about running down the road for Hunter to chase him on his bike and very encouraging for Hunter, but he wanted nothing to do with biking on his own. Until I mentioned Ninja Turtles... Now he can bike without my help. I was lucky to get a video of him, because he didn't want me to watch. At. All. Or cheer for him either. He still struggles with starting, but once he starts, he goes and goes!

For learning how to bike without the extra wheels, Hunter gets to go with dad to pick out a new helmet, and his own golf club. JP also gets a new bike helmet, probably a Ninja Turtle one, or a green one none the less, and has also requested Ninja Turtle Playdough. He thinks it's something we can buy at the store, but I'm thinking about just making some green playdough and wrapping the container it's in with NT fabric.