Bikes Katelyn Style

Katelyn also learned to ride her bike without training wheels this week.  as with most things she has a bit of a different approach then Dallin does...

there was a bit of this....

 and some of that...

 so she decided to try her hand at roller skating...

Skating proved to be more challenging then we had previously thought.

 So she went back to the bike and what do you know, she got it.  she was the first of the three kids to be able to balance on her own and she is by far the fastest rider. Cameron offered her a treat if she could ride by herself to our next door neighbor's house, and she did, no problem.  she just needed a little confidence in her abilities... sometimes bribery does wonders when it comes to things like that.

Bikes, Dallin Style

Grandma and Grandpa decided that on Grandpa's last day here it might be fun to teach the kids how to ride bikes without training wheels,  The kids were so excited!  Teaching someone how to balance on a bike proved to be a bit more tricky then I thought it would be.

 The strategy that seemed to work the best was holding onto the back of their shirts and helping them balance that way.  It seemed to work pretty well.

over and over again we each took turns with each of the kids, riding back and forth, back and forth, over and over and over again.

 Dallin fell a few times and was very nervous about passing a certain rose bush. he preferred for us to hold the handle bars and his shirt... I can't say I blame him... he tended to run into things because it took him a while to get the concept that he was the one steering the bike, not us.

 Grandpa had to show the kids that, once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget... apparently that's true.

 This is my own blackmail picture.  I'm putting it out there so no one else can use it against me,   it's just to prove that I did just have twins and some shirts are best left unworn for a while and sometimes you need to see a picture to make that obvious...

After practicing for a while with slow progress, Cameron offered Dallin a treat if he could ride by himself for 3 sidewalk squares... amazingly, he did. once he knew he could do it,  it was pretty easy from there,  he road farther and farther  until it was no problem for him to ride to the neighbors house.  we've been practicing every day and now besides being a bit wobbly he is a pro.

way to go Dallin!

School Days

 My kids love school, They love their teachers, and they love learning... they express it in different ways.

 Katelyn has never been one to tell me much about her day, she kind of reminds me of a teenager boy in that sense,
me: Hi honey how was your day? (cheerful smile)
Katelyn: huffy breath grunt, (scowl)
Me: what did you do today?
Katelyn: growl..... mom. I don't want to talk about it.
Me: well, what did you eat for lunch today?
Katelyn: Mom!

so it's a bit refreshing when she comes home and goes on about how she was playing this game at recess, and her friend said this.... and then she said that... and then they did ..... and it was so funny.

Dallin loves coming home and presenting me with all of his school work, he shows me one thing at a time, and is excited to tell me about his day. he comes home  pretty regularly with toys from the treasure chest and notes telling what a good kid he is, and we don't doubt it.

Grant gets to stay home with me.... I don't think he minds too much....

our little photographer

Dallin's decided he would like to experience what it 's like to be on the other end of the camera... He loved it!  in fact he may never go back.

Grandma Louise was generous enough to let him practice his photography skills with her camera... the only camera we own is my Cannon Rebel and it's not that I don't trust him... it's just... yeah.

  He captured a new prospective of our back yard.

What can I say? he LOVES it!

Earings

 a while ago I had told katelyn that she could get her ears pireced for her 7th birthday, then school started, babies came, and an assortment of visitors came and went and I completely forgot... Katelyn on the other hand didn't. so while everyone else in the house was napping, Grandma Louise, Aunt Amy and I took Katelyn to Claire's.

 i hadn't actually gone into great detail about how ears are pierced, I figured we would all be better off if she didn't realize that they would be punching a hole in each ear, maybe she always knew and decided to do it anyways but  I think she only started wondering about that whole process when the Claire's worker kept asking her if she was nervous.... why do people do that?

 Thankfully they did both ears at the same time.  She was so brave, she didn't cry, or freak out. she saved that for later when we had to clean and twist them for the first time...

She of course choose the hello kitty earrings. she has been great at reminding us that it's time to clean and twist them.  My little girl is growing up.