Amazing

I think I blogged about Josh trash picking a bike for Esther a while back - and it did the job. She loved her bike. About a week ago Garrett thought it would be fun to mess with Esther's bike. I don't know what he did to it, but the make-shift training wheels weren't doing the job anymore and she couldn't ride it. She was sad and I was sad for her. Thursday I made up my mind that she was going to get a new bike. I knew it wouldn't be too expensive and thought that I might find something on sale, and I did! She didn't care what it looked like, just that it was her, "new bike"! All the way to Walmart she said, "My new bike, mommy?" It was too cute to be annoying.Esther riding her new bike. She does circles in the driveway all day long!

The last post didn't have any Gideon pictures, so I couldn't leave him out of this one. We've discovered that he LOVES cantaloupe and really any fruit will do. He's also done with being fed. He enjoys feeding himself, already! Looks like I'll be bathing him every night from now on!

So cute, right!

This is the highlight of the post! Garrett is the bravest (or craziest) kid I know! This evening while the kids were cleaning up the outside toys, Garrett got a little distracted, big surprise, I know. Anyway, we look out the frond window and he is flying by on his bike, with no hands! He wiped out at the end of the yard, got up and started riding again. He didn't know we were watching him, as he went into the street, with no hands, balancing himself with ease. When he would feel himself falling, he caught himself, got balanced and let go again. As he did it, my mouth was dropped open and Josh said, "I was never that brave, I would have never done that!" It's hard to see, but about 3 seconds in he lets go for 2 seconds, catches himself and at about 7 seconds in lets go for the remainder of the ride. This kid never ceases to amaze me! Notice the new mo hawk too - he's too much!

Open house

Tonight was the night that Olivia's been counting down for. Open house. Meet the teacher. See her classroom. Meet some other kids. Ride the bus! The way the evening started out at home I was second guessing how it would go at the school. Our babysitter forgot to show up for the other kids (partly my fault because I didn't confirm with her mid-week), so at 5:30 I was scrambling around trying to get a sitter, and thankfully got one who only lived right down the road. When I got back from picking up Courtney, I left the car running and yelled in the house to "come on!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I hear Josh open the bathroom door, and Olivia's screams come flooding into the house. In the two minutes that I was gone she had crushed her big toe underneath the toy riding tractor in the front yard. Blood was gushing from her foot and Josh was wrestling with a band-aid. Josh and I exchanged some short jabs at each other and hit the road at 5:51 pm. I wanted to leave at 5:45, ugh, I hate being late! Olivia bounced back quickly and was ready to go when we arrived at school at 5:59 - one minute early! I failed to get any pictures of her in the classroom, mostly because we were shuffled so quickly in and out. I did get pictures of her one the bus. Olivia quote of the night, "I'm sooo excited!"

She picked the first seat on the bus - typical.

The whole ride she sat looking out the window and didn't want to talk - not typical.

Our small group met at our house while we were gone and this is what Es and Garrett looked like by the end of the time.

This is how they got that dirty. They, along with two other toddlers, threw dirt at each other while they chanted, "CHINA, CHINA!" This is the second week in a row they were attempting to dig to China.

Stink Face, the poor and death

Gideon has started the nose snort. I'm not sure if I did it as a baby, or if it was one of my siblings, but Gideon does it. Josh calls it the "stink face", and Gideon has started doing it on command. It's pretty cute...everything he does is cute at this age.

Stink face #1

Stink face #2

I was filling the pool with Gideon in it the other day and he was trying with everything in him to catch the water. He tried with his hands and his mouth, he didn't get frustrated, he just tried and tried for a long time.

Tired of not catching water, he headed off to the big pool to play Peek-a-boo with his brother.

This was Esther tonight. She insisted on wearing these big boots outside and than thought she would try riding Olivia's bike. She's sure got her own sense of style and adventure.

The kids have been saying some really interesting things lately, here are some good quotes. . .

At dinner last night this was Olivia's prayer: "Thank you for this day, thank you for our food (it always starts like that), I pray we will help the poor people, Amen."
When asked what makes people poor, this is what she said, "Like, when they don't have any food, or clothes." Maybe we should give them some of ours."
Oh, God, that she would always have a giving heart.

Here's one from Garrett, I can't decide if it's funny or serious.
"MOM! MOM! I can feel my heart!" He says to me, with his hand over his heart.
I place my hand there also and say, "Yeah, I feel it too!"
I walk away as he says, "Mom, when my heart stops beepin' I'm gonna die, right?" I stop in my tracks and think to myself, "Is my 4 year old talking about death and did he just say his heart was 'beepin'?
"Umm, yeah", I say a little shocked. "When your heart stops BEATING, you will die."
"I like to feel my heart beepin."
Kinda makes me laugh - kinda makes me wonder what made him put the two together. . .

So Big, So Fast

I am overwhelmed with the speed that kids grow at. At I sat here, uploading pictures, I got tears in my eyes thinking about all the changes that are happening. Life comes so fast and I feel like I can't keep up. Gideon is pulling up on everything, and today tried to step from one piece of furniture to another. He's cutting four top teeth at the same time and eating table food! Esther is using complete sentences to communicate, I may be the only one who understands her, but they are sentences non the less. Garrett is constantly trying new things, like riding down the hill in front of our house with his feet on the middle bar of his bike, standing up! He's out grown his nap and will be the oldest child at home this fall. Which brings me to my next point, Olivia starts school. My little girl will ride a bus to school every morning, something this mama's not ready for. I'm preparing myself now for the morning of September 3rd, so that I can hold it together until she's out of sight. I know she'll be fine. She's social, obedient, and more than ready to start. I just don't know if I'm ready to let her go. And the really sad part about all of this, is that this is only the beginning. I've got three more kids to watch fly into childhood, can't I just push pause and take it all in slowly?

Sleep is something this kid's not doing a whole lot of these days, I had to capture it while it lasted.

One of the places Gideon likes to pull up to.

Beginning the pull up. . .

. . .to standing, and soo proud!

"Oh, mom, you're over there. . .here I come!"

On another note, we had a great weekend with Pa-Pa and Nana! Olivia wore Nana out playing UNO!

A Nana quote, "Esther is SOOOOOOO easy!" They had the honor of watching Esther and Gideon while attended the wedding.

Thanks to Gideon's teeth, he wasn't quite as easy - but Nana and Pa-Pa did a great job of keeping him happy! Thanks guys!

Wedding Time

We traveled to Indiana this weekend to attend the wedding of my close friend Amy. Olivia and Garrett were in the wedding and Josh and I sang in the ceremony. It was a long but wonderful weekend.

Olivia getting her hair done. She looks too grown up!!

Garrett and Olivia ready for the ceremony.

Look at those studs!

Mommy with her babies.

Garrett "corn-holin'", otherwise known as tossin' bean bags.

I really like this picture, but there's a couple people missing, I think.

Craig, Amy and myself. Again, I like this picture, but there's some one missing.

Awww, so cute!