Nicolas' Big Boy Bike!

My little boy took the first giant leap towards being big - he learned to ride is bike! He used Kirsten's old bike for a while but because it wasn't his, he wasn't that interested. He had birthday money that I've been saving for a while and so we bought him a bike on Wednesday.

We went to the cul-de-sac to learn and within about 10 minutes he had could pedal really well. Because he can ride the gator he knew how to steer already which made it so much easier.

He was so proud of himself and Adison was so jealous, all she wanted to do was ride too, but her legs aren't quite long enough. Unfortunately I didn't have any money left for a new helmet so he's using Kirsten's old one that expired in 2001!! I just hope it doesn't ever have to save his head! It took him 2 days and then he learned to pedal backwards to brake and now there is no stopping him!

He knows that once he can ride without training wheels he can have a dirt bike or 4 wheeler (money permitting!!). I'm so proud of him!

Drawing with Chalk

I've been trying to do more creative things with Nicolas and so we got out the chalk one afternoon. He wasn't bothered to start with but then he wanted to draw circles - pretty much the only thing he can draw.

Blake came down to play too but he just sat and watched and then Adison thought he'd make a comfy seat!

It's so cute how much Nicolas and Adison love Blake, it's like he's another older brother to them.Nicolas wanted me to draw a picture of him and for those of you who knew my artistic ability years ago, you'll see it hasn't improved! I'm making the most of Nicolas thinking I draw well because Jaden and Kirsten used to think the same and then thier artistic ability exceeded mine years ago!

Adison above and Leo below!

Music at Preschool

Nicolas comes home singing the sweetest songs so I've wanted to join in one of his music classes for ages. Tori watched Adison for me this week so that I could go a long.

They have a class role call (poor Nicolas is last as a 'W' to get him used to being last in everything in school) and have to answer their names to practice for elementary school. Then they all hold on to a loop on the rope ready to go to music.

They literally walk at snails pace, but it's so cute to watch.

Ms Kathryn leads the music and it's songs geared around learning colors or numbers.

I was amazed by how quietly they sat and listened. Nicolas isn't big on participating (like Adam and Jaden), but his teachers say that he will listen and then sing the songs when they get back to class.

He was much happier when they got to get up and march around.

It was such a cute experience and I'm so glad I got to see it.

Who Do I Look Like?

Adison actually has quiet a lot of me in her, for a Woodall baby, so I always wonder if she will have any of my parents in her. Whenever I put her in a short little dress with matching pants I always think of this picture of Mom aged 2, I think it's so cute. Adison doesn't really look like Mom, but she always has her arms full of blankets and babies, just like Mom did.

She is also aways pushing her babies around too. Her stroller is slightly more advanced though!

I look much more like Dad than Mom, so when I look at Adison I wonder if her eyes are actually Dad's eyes, not mine. My Dad was such a cute little boy, but there is nothing of him in Nicolas, Nicolas is all Woodall!

Now I have children of my own and appreciate how much my parents have done for me, I'd love to go back in time and see what my parents were like as children and how my grandparents raised them. Because I never met my paternal Grandfather he would be the one person I'd love to have known. Maybe because Adison is born on his birthday she will have some of his disposition which will give me a connection to him.

I love my family so much and I'm so proud of the legacy they've given me. I love my new family too and feel so luck to have such great in laws, so that my children have such a wonderful combined inheritance.

Honeysuckle and Pansies

I love taking pictures of the kids that I can embarrass them with later in life and Jaden just sets himself up all the time! He tries very hard to be 'cool' but his definition of cool and Adam and mine is very different. He had a phase of wearing fingerless gloves all the time, and then he lost one, so he just wore the other for extra 'coolness'. Then he came home with a studded leather bracelet and my favorite was last week when he found this top hat in Nicolas' dress up clothes. Nicolas was given it at a birthday party where he had to be 'fancy'.

Jaden decided that he would wear it to be cool (and he's just commented on this being a picture of him in his 'awesome cool hat'!) but he just looked very strange! Mom let me wear all kinds of awful things that I thought were great - the worst being skin tight jeans that I'd poured bleach all over and definitely did not flatter my chubby 10 year old thighs - so I try very hard not to discourage the kids from creating their own identity. Sometimes they make it very hard not to laugh at them but so far, apart from Kirsten getting highlights in her hair, they haven't made any mistakes that we can't fix.

The honeysuckle started to flower this week and Jaden and Kirsten both like to eat the flowers. Adam showed them years ago how to lick the stamen to get the sweetness, but they ignore that and just eat the whole flower.

Nicolas and Adison were confused by the whole concept of eating a plant, but Jaden tried very hard to convince Nicolas it was good.

Adison quickly lost interest and went back to picking the flowers rather than eating them.

I've given up trying to stop her from picking my flowers. She holds on to the petals for hours in her hot little hands so she does appreciate them.

She knows that she shouldn't be picking them as this 'I'm pretending you aren't there' face shows.

New 'Woodland' Flowerbed

My latest 'little' project has been making a new flowerbed under this tree. These photos are from 18 months ago to show what it used to look like. Grass has never really grown here and since I made the patio, the water just rushes off the patio and down here. I made the flowerbeds either side of the path, but after all the rains last year there was virtually no top soil left so there was no chance of growing grass around the pavers.
Adam's suggestions was a series of gravel boxes to trap the water, but that didn't really fit with my vision of the garden, so I decided to move some of the dirt I had behind the fence and make the whole area into a flowerbed. Moving the dirt would also clear a space for me to make a compost heap, which is something I badly need.I imagined it would take maybe 10 barrow loads of dirt, but it was closer to 30! I also had 'help' from Leo who would dig away the fresh dirt as quickly as I laid it! It's amazing how much dirt he can move with just a few scrabbles of his paws, I would think it's at least 10 shovels fulls, and it's very annoying!

It was well worth the effort as it looked great. I bought a few plants and was all excited about planting last weekend. Then I suddenly had the brainwave that if I bought some drainage pipe I could put it under the flowerbed and it would channel the water off the patio and under the flowerbed!
Of course as the flowerbed was already made, it meant digging a big trench - 80 feet to be precise - though tree roots and through the bed, but I knew it needed to be done or else I risked my whole flowerbed being washed away.

I also had to dig up a section of my patio.

The fact that Adam is in these shots makes it seem like he did all the work! He fitted the drain for me and re-laid the pavers, but I'm too scared to ask him to dig for me in case he throws his back out again!

He had his team of 'helpers' to assist him!

There are so many carpenter bees in the yard at the moment and so the kids favorite thing is to try to hit them with tennis or badminton rackets.I finally got the pipe laid but then I was too tired to plant anything! I did that the next day and I was planning on mulching this weekend but I don't know where time went, so two weeks on and the flowerbed is still not finished. Once it's mulched I'll post pictures of the finished project. It did rain most of the night and the bed is fine, the drain got a bit blocked but it channelled a lot of the water away, so I was happy that the flowerbed will solve my drainage issues and it looks wonderful.I did get to finish the flowerbed under the bottom tree thanks to some free day lilies from my friend Jennifer. I just need a couple of azaleas in the corner and it will be perfect.

Adam and the kids burned all the old fence panels and wood so now I have a clear area for my compost bins and the yard is almost cleared up and neat. As Adam says, the yard is never done, but the landscaping part is, now in the fall we will plant soft fruit and maybe next spring I'll try vegetables!