Mastering Two Wheels

For several months Abigail has been wanting to ride her bike with no training wheels. So, daddy took them off, however fear of falling kept them from practicing much. Recently however, Abigail has shown a renewed courage to try again. She let daddy help for a while but over the last two days she has been practicing 'by herself'.

Go ahead cement - make my day!

Today, I somehow happened to catch on video her first 'ride'!




An ever supportive brother who only ran into her with his car a few times!

Master of the road!

Discovering An Oldy But A Goody

What: Shredded Wheat

Ingredients: Whole Grain Wheat (note on box: Contains Wheat)

Dimensions: 2.5"w x 3.5"l x 1"h

Exibit A: Place 1 wheat biscuit in bowl.
Use hands or spoon to break into desired pieces.
Warning: Clean up required afterwards

Exibit B: If desired, sprinkle with brown sugar and milk.

Exibit C: Enjoy!

Thank you to our sponsor - Grandma Nita!

The Joy of Earning

About 3 weeks ago we went into Build-a-Bear with a friend and Abigail saw an animal that she HAD to have. Sorry Chica- not today. All that day and the next she kept talking about it. Having never been this interested in something Chris and I decided to make her earn it. So we set up a chart, explained it, and began the sometimes hard lesson of earning something.

Each job had to be completed to our satisfaction,

she then colored in the square and recived $1 to put in a jar.

Taking creative liberty with the folding of towels.
(notice it is a house complete with door and window)

Washing dishes with Daddy.

Not all jobs were met with the same enthusiasm.

Now 3 weeks later, the sweet reward has come.

The second her kitty was stuffed she pulled out her wallet for the lady.

Matching pink bathrobes (thank you Great Grandma Norine!)

So far her little gray kitty has no name- if you have any suggestions I am sure she would appreciate it. A few she has liked but not stuck: Mushy, C.C. (cute cat), Door Knob, Mussolini, Marigold, Tabitha...

Summer Puddles

The kids and I just returned from a whirlwind visit to our favorite summer junior camp at Pleasant Valley Christian Camp. A peaceful and beautiful beyond words rustic jewel several miles past Elbe. We drove up Wednesday morning and came back this evening.

We went on a hike and got soaked! The sun hats kept their heads a little dry.

I did not enjoy the serenity of it so much this year however. Perhaps because we had to drive through torrents of rain (missing the road to camp), or because it rained ALL Wednesday yet was very warm and humid, or I had two small children in tow while being 6 1/2 months pregnant, OR because I had to sleep in the girls lodge (which I don't particularly care for...) sharing a bed (2 bottom bunks pushed together with a large middle gap) with those same children...being pregnant in a twin bed is full enough...Oh well. We are all very exhausted and I can't wait to climb in my own bed tonight. I just reminded my self that I'd much rather the rain than the heat, and I need to do laundry anyway!

Abigail loves to jump- she had fun jumping over puddles.
Elijah loves to copy his sister - he had fun, oops, he didn't ususally make it all the way!

Can I do it mom? Can I?

Sure! (I need to do laundry anyway!)

One of Tacoma's Best Kept Secrets

I wanted to share a heart of Tacoma Secret that not many people know about:

Blueberry Park.

It's 23 acres of blueberry bushes begging any passerby to come and eat! Owned by MetroParks and kept up by volunteers it is an enjoyable, and tasty family activity. Grab a bucket and come on down! (But go to the bathroom first - they only have a honeybucket)
It is located on 72nd and D st. Just east of the Fred Meyer's on 72nd and Pacific.

Post-picking balance practice.

So much life...so little time to blog...

A few highlights of the last week and a half:

Chris, along with his mom and brother-in-law ran the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon! They all said the first half was pretty good, but by the end they're bodies began to give various reasons not to run that far again. Amazing you guys! My body would tell me not to run again after the first mile. (Well, if I were ever to run that far...)

Jon, Chris, and Trish

Due to the recent hot weather, and a husband who faithfully waters the garden, we have been bringing in a great harvest of beans, cukes, tomatoes, and a few raspberries on the side. The garden is doing so well!

If you are near us and like beans and tomatoes and cukes, please come and have some! Our pear tree is just about ready too!

On Sunday Chris and I had a 'date' trip! We left Abigail and Elijah with Grammy and Pappy and drove to Portland for a wedding. We have a group of 7 families that get together every summer to reunite and remember the good ol' days of George Fox University (particularly the engineering program). The last of us is married now, and all but two families has kids (come on you guys - get with it! Ü ) Congratulations Evan and Chrissy!

L to R: Tibbitts, Bruces, Eykelboschs!, Combs, Barnes, and Nelsons
We missed you Sargents!

And the last tidbit I'll share about this last week was that we said goodbye to the first car we purchased together- and made that life changing step- we bought a minivan. I never thought I would do it, but three car seats leave little choice. The kids absolutely love it though! They both want to ride in it all the time!

Goodbye small fuel economy car - hello big huge not as economical van!

How do I love my Chicken? Let me Count the ways...

I havn't said much about our chickens yet...yes we have 4 chickens. Let me tell you a bit about them... We have two white leghorns about 6 months old and 2 younger arcana chickens maybe 3 or 4 months old. Well, chickens are very strange creatures. Very entertaining to watch-even more entertaining to catch-

Try catching one outside the coop!

-but they are not the kindest of creatures, especially to each other. Due to the age difference of the chickens we have kept the older and younger ones separate until recently. We tried to put the 4 together many weeks ago but the older ones were so mean-pecking, scratching, picking them up by their feathers and dropping them...really. One of the babies seemed especially sensitive to this mistreatment due to the fact it was malled by our neighbor cat in its first week or so of life- and of course this was the chick that the older ones picked on the most. Well, I could not stand the brutality (aka reality) of chickens so we seperated them again.

The 'babies'- don't they look on edge?

Well, last weekend Chris decided it was time again. So now they've been together almost a week, and so far they are all alive. However, I wonder if chickens with starve themselves to death out of fear of older chickens. The younger chick stay up on the roosting stick all day, their only 'safe' place. Despite 100 degree weather I never saw them come down to eat or drink. The one time I did see one down, it was standing next to the water but wouldn't drink out of fear one of the big ones would come near. To help out Chris will go in the coop and make the little ones come down, and then stay in there to chase the big ones away if they come near while they frantically eat and drink as fast as they can. Well, we'll see how the next week goes.

Yes, I make them scrub with soap when they come out.

'Why chickens?' you may ask. Well, because they are so adorable a chicks (but man they poop a lot), they kids would have fun, they are entertaining, and fresh eggs! To date we've gotten 21 good eggs and last week two...uh...well the shell wasn't hard. I'll just say that. (We think a result of the heat and Chris freaking the chickens out with a shovel the day before) When the babies start laying they are supposed to be blue, green or pink eggs! That will be fun! Oh and we knew they would be good fertilizer. (Before the grass totally died due to the lack of rain, we had nice green rectangles all over our yard- wherever the coop had been.)
Well, I'm am sure I have now told you much more than you wanted to know about our chickens. Thanks for hanging in there with me anyway.