Falling Behind Already

Well, I said I would try to blog once a week and I think it's been 3 weeks since I posted. So I'm going to give a little update about each of the kids and will try posting some random pictures. The next post will be blog-related pictures.

• First I'll share how excited we are that our 2 oldest boys finally learned how to ride a bike. My dad took Jacob and Jordan last Wednesday (July 16) to work with them for a couple of hours on riding their bikes. They came home disappointed because they hadn't made much progress and hadn't learned how to ride on the 1st day. My dad and I tried to explain to them that you don't learn how to ride a bike in one day and encouraged them to keep trying. So they decided to go again the next day. My dad took them again on Thursday and Jordan (my 9 year old) came back very excited because he had stayed up and ridden for about 25 or 30 yards. Jacob (my 13 year old) was disappointed because he had not made much progress from the day before and now Jordan could ride a little bit. Jordan wanted to show me so my Dad gave him a little push on the driveway. We expected him to ride off the driveway and pretty much stop right there, but he went all the way to the end of the street! He still had some trouble braking and turning, though. That would come the next day. On Friday Jordan decided to practice in our cul-de-sac and on our street to get better. He managed to learn how to push off on his own and turn - still needed some work on the braking. Jacob decided to take a break on Friday from practicing. Then Saturday Jordan was really doing awesome on his bike riding all around and guess what: he thought it was fun! We tried to tell them both over and over how much fun it is to ride a bike but they didn't believe us and said they didn't want to learn. By the way, all of this came about because we grounded them from all electronic toys (game systems and computer) until they learned to ride a bike. This might seem harsh but it was the only way at their age to motivate them to get out and learn. So Jacob became motivated on Saturday to learn to ride because Jordan was riding all over having fun and was ungrounded. So Jacob tried and tried and tried until he finally got it! So now our boys are finally riding bikes and enjoying it and we're all very happy!

• Random story: On Sunday at church the offering plate was coming down our row and when Jacob went to pass it to Jordan they dropped it (Jordan normally puts our check in the offering plate and he was trying to take it and put the check in it at the same time). Money and checks flew all over the floor and pew! It was so embarrassing! Jordan and I had the giggles for about the next 5 minutes.

• Rachel story: When we moved to our new house, we decided that we needed a cordless phone with several handsets. So we got one with a main base and 4 handsets. We have 3 of them downstairs and one upstairs. We can call from one handset to another to talk to each other. Well, Rachel quickly learned how to call from one handset to the other. She loves to call the boys upstairs and tell them to come down or to do something else. I'll randomly hear a handset buzzing and she has picked up the phone and calls. She'll say things like: "Mommy, will you come watch a movie with me?" "Boys - come down to dinner." "What are you doing?" etc. The funniest time was when she called Jordan upstairs and said, "Jordan, tell mommy to come fix my lunch." and I was standing right next to her in the kitchen. Jordan laughed so hard! She does the funniest things. The other night when we were eating dinner, Joshua was crawling through the kitchen and spit up on the floor. Rachel shouts out, "He spewed!"

• Random story 2: We were eating dinner at Chick-fil-A last Friday night and I had Joshua in the high chair to my right and Rachel was in the booth to my left. I was feeding Joshua baby food and eating at the same time. Scot was across from me and Jacob, Jordan, and their uncle Ryan were in the booth right behind us. Rachel wanted to go play on the playground so I told her she had to finish eating her chicken first. She asked me if I would "spin it" to her. That is her phrase for feeding her. Scot was on the phone so I will give my excuse now that I was distracted by what he was saying on the phone. I proceeded to dip her piece of chicken in her barbeque sauce and then put it into Joshua's mouth instead. As soon as I did it, I realized what I was doing and Scot saw me do it at the same time. We both dove for the piece of chicken before Joshua could even chew it. The look on his face was priceless. He opened his mouth as he had done for several bites of baby food before and when I put the barbeque sauce-covered chicken in his mouth, his look said, "Mommy, what are you feeding me? Have you lost your mind? Hmm...I might like this!" He couldn't even close his mouth around it or he didn't have time to because I grabbed it so fast. Scot said that he was about to say, "What are you doing?!" but I realized before he had to say anything. I wish I could have taken a picture of Joshua's face. It was hilarious! Scot and I were laughing so hard! One of those lose-your-mind-for-a-second moments! Thanks goodness it was only for a second!

• Random pictures:




• For my aunt Susan: picture of the outside of our new house. I'll add pictures of the inside when we have it all fixed and unpacked.

• Pictures from the 4th of July (on next post):




• Joshua trying to climb up the stairs:




• Rachel using the phone: