Melia Without Training Wheels, Isaac Rides His Bike

Monday night, the girls wanted to ride.  Isaac amazingly also wanted to ride.  I say amazingly because before now, he's ridden a little bit in the yard, but didn't really care about it.  Oh, but now!  Bike riding has become VERY SERIOUS.  He stoicly rides along.  The smiles in these pictures are only because he was being photographed- they are not due to his "having fun."

 Esther and Kerzon getting in on the fun :-)

 What??  Off-roading already?

We decided it was time... Time to take off the training wheels.  Monday night with Daddy was full of lots of frustration, lack of balance, and heavy huffing and puffing. 

But Tuesday and Wednesday, she got the hang of it and was cruising around like she'd been doing it for weeks!  (The hardest part is getting started!)

Even after a crash, she's all smiles!

(Note:  There's no pictures of Kiera because she wasn't on her bike at this time.  She was in time out because she rode on the road before Mommy got outside, even after being reminded by Sissy... Lots of tears, but an important lesson!)

Things are clicking,.. when she's on tune?

Yesterday Melia really started picking up on the reading without getting herself all worked up!  She was reading words out and about, signs on the road, labels in the store... It was VERY exciting for me to see things clicking for her, especially because that's what I've been counting on instead of pushing her too hard. 

So last night, on the way home from Bible study, I asked her if she'd read any words to Gma Nae.  Her response had me scratching my head...

"No momma.  I wasn't in my reading tune.  It was playing tune time.  You know, I have lots of tunes:  shopping tune, reading tune, dancing tune, playing tune, math tune, singing tune.  My singing tune is on right now!..." (and she breaks into song..)  OK babe- as long as you've found the ON button for that reading tune!!!

Third Year's the Charm...

Finally, I successfully grew peppers.  I am happy.  :-)

All Lined Up in a Row

Issac's Funny Faces

I had the camera one day last week and Isaac came up to me and wanted me to take his picture.  Then he wanted to see the picture.  Then he made another face, and so on and so forth.  We were both giggling uncontrollably by the time he ran out of faces, and I just had to share :-)  I wish he didn't have food on his face, but during the season of fresh fruit and veggies, this kid just doesn't stop eating!  Enjoy!

Striped German

These beauties are from our Striped German heirloom tomato plant.  Don't they remind you of a sunrise?  And look how meaty they are!  No wasted space :-)  So fun!

Esther's Kittens

These little punkins were born Monday morning, August 29.  She actually had them in the girls' closet, and neither Melia nor Kiera had any clue!  Gabe heard the baby kitty cries from the living room and went to investigate!  We got the box all set up, then told the girls what had happened.  Right then, while they were watching, Esther had baby number four!  What a special experience!  We have two girls and two boys (to the best of my knowledge :-), one gold boy, tan/white girl, gray girl with a smudgy nose, and gray boy!

So... we're taking requests if you're in the market for a kitten!

Dream Come True... Almost.

I was scanning through the yard/garage sale list on Craigslist, and found Gabe's dream yard sale!!!  Look at the bottom right picture. 

Then look at the description and the bottom left :-) 

I loved laughing at his disappointment... hee hee hee. 

He's moping now... HAHAHAHAAA!! 

I have a stomach ache from laughing too hard...heh heheh.  Heh.

Can't....get....comfortable....

The Cartoon Model and Hamburger Rocks

I found that my 1 lb of hamburger meat made about 1 1/3 cups of hamburger rocks.

On the schedule for today:  Plum Amaretto Jam and Mango Plum Jam

YUM!