Love to you...

Happy Valentines Day! Love to you all.....
Ella had a Valentine program on Friday at a retirement center and then again this morning at school. It was so sweet! I love her school - the program included bible verses, funny songs love songs, loving God songs...it was perfect! If I can get it to load on here, I will post... The kids made Valentines for the older folks in the home and afterwards went up and talked to them and handed them out.
I love this picture....Ella did not hesitate and went right up and talked with them. She has her hand on the ladies leg... :)
Both kids had Valentine parties today at their schools and then tonight we had our own Valentine surprises and dipped pretzels and strawberries in chocolate like last year. Although, Silas joined in this year...mostly just sucking off all the chocolate off the strawberries...and not eating them.
Ella's valentines we made....they turned out cute, but a lot more time consuming then planned.
This was the Valentine we sent out to grandparents.
Here are a few other pictures of my monkeys doing tricks and crazies outside.
Here is a home school day...interesting attire she came up with. She is wearing an old scarf of mine as shirt...and then a tutu...
Ella reading to Caleb...I thought is was sweet. She is blowing me away at how well she is reading. She was reading to him about Eskimos living in Greenland...
Until the next time....

Riding Bikes

It was a monumental weekend for bike riding! Yesterday Ella decided she wanted to try riding her bike without training wheels. We have not been practicing with her, but decided to go for it. Daddy took the wheels off and away she went after a few tries! She is riding all the way around the block on her own with daddy running close behind.

Well today, Caleb decided that he could do what Ella could do! We took the wheels off and he picked it up right away too. He is a little more wobbly than her and has not figured out how to stop and get off well yet, but he made it all the way down the street with not a hand on him.

They were so excited and we were so proud of how brave they were. And, no big falls either! Something really special is that grandma Katherine and great-grandma Mimi are here visiting, so they got to see it! Here are some videos.



Ella riding bike



Caleb riding bike

Halloween

Here are some pictures from our fun Halloween night! We trick-or-treated in our friends' neighborhood and there were lots of us! Then, we went back to our house later in the evening to see neighbors on our own street.

Obviously, Ella was Rapunzel, Caleb was Ironman and Silas was Pooh. I was really happy that Silas kept his costume on the whole time. (Thanks Gwyneth for Pooh!) Ella bought the Rapunzel hair months ago with some lemonade stand money she made. Caleb borrowed his costume from grandma (thank you!).

Here is a little video of Silas trick-or-treating...

Bye crazy Einstein hair...

Before...
There were no "to-do's" about this first haircut like you do with your first. No pictures in process (I was here by myself) and no planning...I just went at it...it needed to be done. Silas is a really messy eater and food is constantly in his hair. And, not to mention, it was beginning to look like crazy Einstein hair. We didn't have to cut Caleb's hair at this age...it never got this long. Hopefully it looks alright...I am sure I will have some touch-ups to do tomorrow. Love ya little guy...

Haircuts

I am not the best at getting the kids haircuts done on a regular basis...I usually wait too long in between so I don't have to spend the $$. I tried cutting both kids hair myself last time. Ella's I did not do good...very crooked. Caleb, I did alright, but it took me about 1 1/2hrs. I know I will get faster the more I cut it, but I just wasn't wanting to take the time this week. They need to get their pictures done before we head out of town and I wanted to make sure they were right. So, here are Ella's and Caleb's haircuts. This is the shortest Ella's has ever been. She was super excited and wanted it as short as mommy's. I think she looks too grown-up. :(

Happy Birthday America!

We spent a relatively quiet day at home this year celebrating the 4th. In the morning, we went to a free neighborhood festival with some bouncy houses, train, petting zoo, etc and the kids had fun. Then a midday swim in the pool and finished off the day spending time with my sister, brother-in-law and cousins! Hope you all had a great 4th.

How did I miss this?

Even though this is the 18th day of consecutive 100+degree days here in Austin, our garden seems to be thriving in the midst of it. I am not watering it more than the rest of the yard...still just three times a week. Everything is doing good, except for the peas...I think it got a little too hot and they are the farthest thing in the garden from the sprinkler. Some things are growing well....just nothing to eat off them yet. Our strawberry plant has picked up in the last few weeks. I also have more squash than I know what to do with. They are amazingly fast growers, which is how I missed this one....I can check the garden on a Friday and see a tiny squash growing and by the end of the weekend, it will be about 6-7in long. I can see the yellow squash pretty well, but I keep missing the green squash; I think it blends in more with the soil. So, this green squash measured 15in long! It will probably not taste great...I heard it is ideal to pick them when they are smaller. I am not a big squash fan (well, to be honest, most vegetables), but I have figured out how to use them in cooking where I can actually eat them. They are great grilled and tossed on our homemade pizza. Just yesterday, I found a recipe for sweet fried summer squash and it was yummy.

It has been such a delight to go out to the garden with the kids a couple of times each week and see what we have to pick. Looking forward to some onions and carrots soon.