Buddy boy wanted his training wheels off yesterday.

After a lot of,
"I just gotta keep practicing"
"if at first you don't succeed try, try again!"
"I'm gonna give up"
"are you happy Mommy?"
"am I doing good?" and
"I'm going to ride my bike like Clayton!"

Now look at what he can do today.

On the road.
Interstate from Ft. Kearny bridge.
Chugging the water before we enter desert land.


Visiting our old stomping grounds and friends.

It's been such a lovely, sunshine-filled week.
Each morning I've walked the 3 kids a half block out our backyard to VBS. This has given me 3 whole hours to do whatever I want. (Does that sounds selfish or what?!)
What I've wanted to do it such sit on my front porch, soak up the sun and gaze at these lilies.

But instead the mornings have consisted mostly of laundry, cleaning and errands. Still, so nice...

Our week is about to get lovelier because we have visitors coming in! Great G'pa, Auntie, and cousins from Tulsa. The plan is: lots of playing, chilling, and more playing.

"So I recommend the enjoyment of life, for there is nothing better on earth for a person to do except to eat, drink, and enjoy life. So joy will accompany him in his toil during the days of life which God gives him on earth." Ecc. 8:15&14

We are home from CO and trying to get back into normal mode. Until I put up pics, I'll leave you with a snippet of our adventures. Let's just say, the wind was wild and so was I. I guess we were in the WILD, wild WEST.

A Father:

shows love.
protects. (See the bat on the wall?)
learns from his father and his father's father.
is humble.
builds a relationship. is faithful.
gives guidance and strength.

Dear Daddy,
Happy father's day. You are SO kind. I love you too much. Love, Leyla
P.S. Please take me to Hawaii sometime soon.

Dear Daddy,
Happy father's day and Merry Christmas. I love you, Caden

Dear Daddy,
I love you so much. You are a hard worker. Chloe

Itinerary Past & Future:

A bit wonderful &
a bit grueling
of a weekend.

Friday night's wonderful pre-race pasta dinner- celebrating my wonderful 30 years on this earth- with wonderful friends.



Grueling 5:15 alarm buzz. Wonderful sunshiny day. Grueling 20K race a.k.a. Dam to Dam. Wonderful to cross that finish line. I think it might be wonderful to do another grueling 1/2 marathon....?
.

Ok, enough with the word grueling and wonderful. It's about to get annoying.

Saturday Daddy and Cade put their tools to work on our new pop-up camper. (I'd post a pic of it, but it's really ugly. We still like it.) It's now packed and ready to head to the mountains.

Meanwhile, I took the girls to watch some little friends in a ballet recital. Noah's Ark meets ballet, so cute.

Sunday morning promised to be beautiful, despite our aching bodies. Since we all happened to coordinate for church (don't worry this never happens), I made everyone get some pics.

"Mama, I picked these flowers for you" Snap. Oh, little boy, you melt my heart.

The Mr. and I spent a lovely Monday and Tuesday in Minneapolis. On birthday business and real business. He took me to a the 112 Eatery. A yummy birthday dinner, except for the veal thymus gland.

We are home today and tomorrow until 6pm when we head to CO for a visit of old friends and more camping - real camping - in the mountains.

Time to unpack and repack.