Conner rides a bike, Kate has a BFF and Sadie can sit up!

CONNER RIDES A BIKE
Conner is sometimes a little overly cautious. He gets a little scared of "dangerous" things sometimes. Other times he is a complete dare devil. You never know what he is going to do without out fear or what will leave him in tears. So, Ben and I have been a little slow on teaching him to ride a bike without training wheels. Ban had been working with him, but with Ben out of town for three weeks in a row this month, Conner just wasn't making any progress. So, I am proud to say that I took matters in my own hands and taught Conner to ride a bike! I took those training wheels off (using my own tool set that the kids got me for my birthday) and off we went! I ran up and down the street beside Conner. Luckily this was one of those things that he was fearless at! He is now riding a bike all by himself- even to school (with mom or dad trailing behind). The other day Conner and Ben even rode to a park- about a mile away! Way to go Conner!






KATE HAS A BFF
I happened to be substituting in nursery one day when I witnessed the most interesting thing. Kate and another little girl decided they were best friends. Kate and Alessandra kept holding each other's hands and walking around the class, stopping periodically to hug each other. Now that school is in, they get to see each other every day because they both have older siblings in Kindergarten at the same time. Last week, we invited Alessandra to our house for a play date. It was a first for both of them to have their own friend to play with instead of older brother and sister's friends. They played outside, they played dress ups, they made things out of pink playdough. It was so cute! Kate talks about Alessandra all the time and tells me all the things they are going to do together (make cookies, play babies and go to Disneyland together are this weeks' plans).




SADIE CAN SIT UP
Sadie is just getting so big! By that I mean that at five months she is just getting so active and fun, as well as she is really getting big- what a chub! She is almost rolling over by herself and she can now sit by herself- for short periods of time before her big head gives into the pull of gravity and she topples over!

The Worst Day of Kate's Life

Kate has been on earth 1216 days so far. I think most of them have been pretty great. She has an awesome dad, a mom who tries hard not to be too crazy, a big brother who adores her, and a baby sister who hasn't made up her mind about her yet, but tries hard each day to like her. Her room is painted her favorite color (pink) she has just about the most gorgeous hair I have seen on anyone (adults included) and she has a great personality. She really has a lot going for her, but today rates as the worst day ever in Kate's life. Here's why: Kate is great at going potty as long as she never has to go #2. We have struggled with this for a long time. No incentives or punishments work for her, because she just doesn't care. So, preschool has started. We all know that you can't go to preschool unless you are potty trained. So, even though Kate's teacher is also her mom, and even though Kate's preschool is at our house (for anyone who doesn't know, I started my own preschool this year and we converted a portion of our garage to a preschool. I have 8 darling kids three mornings a week...) you still can't go to preschool if you are not potty trained. We kept telling Kate this before preschool started and she was doing very well. Just an accident here or there. Then, preschool started last week. She started having lots of accidents and basically refusing to go potty. She figured that since she was potty trained so she could start preschool, she didn't have to worry about it once school actually started. Ben and I told her all weekend that she couldn't go to preschool on Monday if she didn't go potty. She still kept having accidents. So, this morning Conner went to Kindergarten, I went to teach preschool, and Kate had to stay with her dad all morning while he worked. She was allowed to either sit in the chair in our bedroom, or sit on the toilet. She cried for two hours, and pouted for an additional 45 minutes. While I was outside with my preschoolers she gazed down at us from my bedroom window with big puppy dog eyes. She was absolutely crushed! It didn't help that our beautiful, but very clumsy, Kate fell on her way back from dropping Conner off at Kindergarten and banged up her face and knee. But, on the bright side she only had one accident all day. Hopefully she will do even better tomorrow so that she can go to preschool on Wednesday. So, the moral of the story is that sometimes you have to be a mean parent... even if it hurts you even more than it hurts them. Advice anyone?

Soccer Season Is Here!

So, soccer has begun! By some strange coincidence both the kids have the exact same uniform. Kate wanted pink. Conner thought Superhero red would be great. We settled for green. Conner has practice TWICE a week now, and both Conner and Kate have games on Saturdays. It just so happens that most of them are at the SAME time. Sure is great that we bought that minivan so I can totally be a soccer mom now!

Kate, in her first soccer game EVER scored a goal. When talking to Dad all about it later said, "I scored a goal so cute that Mom clapped for me!" Only Kate could turn scoring a goal into a totally "cutsie" girl activity...

Conner, on the other hand, is ALL BOY! He scored FOUR goals in his first game of the season. We were told by another parent at the game that he is a great runner and should play football next year. Am I ready for that? Ben, on the other hand, says he is ready for a youth wrestling league. Am I ready for THAT?

(Check out the Conner video at the end of this post.)











Although Sadie can't play soccer, this week she at least learned that she had feet. When you lay her down on the floor it is like a reflex action that she must grab her feet and pull them toward her mouth. It is really an unexplained feat of nature that babies can actually do that! (Sadie especially) If an adult had the same size proportions as Sadie (so chubby I stopped counting thigh rolls at 6 each leg...) they wouldn't be able to move, let alone lay on the floor and put their feet in their mouth. Not to mention, chub rolls are super cute when you are a baby...not so cute years later...

Wedding Cake Diva

So, I had another wedding cake this past weekend (Yay!). The colors for the wedding were red, yellow and orange. To tell the honest truth, I spent a couple of sleepless nights worried about if the cake would turn out OK with those colors. It actually turned out to be one of my favorite cakes ever. I had so much fun and I think it turned out awesome! What think you?

Bad Blogger/First Day of School

So, I have not blogged in a long time. Sorry to all 3 of my fans. So, I will attempt to catch up.

Conner started Kindergarten! I can't believe he is in school every day. When asked what his favorite thing about kindergarten is, Conner said "I love everything!" He has already met a best friend- Austin- who also loves Star Wars, Superheroes and climbing on things.

Check out how cute Conner was on his first day at school...