Learning to ride a bike

Last summer Rion wanted to learn to ride his bike. So we tried to teach him. We spent countless hours trying to help him. There were many times that he seemed so close to taking off. And then he would fall. Then came the tears and the self-doubt. Rion doesn't do well when things are hard and riding a bike was proving hard. Many of our lessons ended with Rion crying that he would never learn to ride his bike and me frustrated that he gave up so easily. Meanwhile, Torii, who is never one to give up, was riding his bike all over the place. Near the end of summer, Torii's bike broke. Since Rion didn't look like he would be riding it any time soon, I let Torii use Rion's bike. More recently, we've been enjoying an early spring and spending a lot of time outside. A couple of weeks ago Torii took out Rion's bike since his bike was still out of commission. Rion had a fit. He wanted to ride his bike. Dreading a repeat of last summer, I asked Rion if he was really going to learn to ride his bike this summer. He said he would so I prepared myself for another tough lesson. But before  I could get another word out, Rion hopped on his bike and took off. I asked him if had been practicing lately and he said he hadn't. And just like that, my little bird found his wings and learned to fly.

Weekend with the boys

Not long ago, Fred and I saw Elton John in concert. After the concert I regretted not taking the boys. Sure, they only knew some of Elton John's songs from Gnomeo and Juliet, but they would have had fun. So when it was announced that he would be performing in Grand Forks, I had to get tickets. I wasn't really looking forward to driving to Grand Forks just for a concert, but sometimes I'm just not willing to say, "We'll do that someday, but not today." Plus how cool is it that the boys can say their first concert was an Elton John concert? Since the boys and I went to Grand Forks and Fred had to work, Cordelia stayed with Grandpa and Grandma for the weekend. That was nice for her since she doesn't get to spend a lot of time alone with them. And as much as I missed Cordelia, it was nice just hanging out with the boys. I always find it funny how removing one person from a group can change the dynamics. I especially enjoyed my time with Rion. We don't get to spend a lot of time together. Mostly because his brother and sister are such attention hogs. There were moments over the weekend that I looked at Rion and couldn't believe how big he has gotten. He's already changing into a young man. And he's such a smart, creative, thoughtful guy. Sometimes I forget that because he's often the source of my frustrations at home. It was great having that time together.

The boys really liked the concert. They started to get tired about 9:30. I figured we had to be getting to the end of the concert soon so I told them to hang on a little longer. Plus we wanted to hear "Crocodile Rock" before going. Well, he finally sang it at 10:40. It was the last song before the encore so we stayed to listen to the encore as well. The best moment of the night was when Elton John sang "The Bitch is Back." I don't think I've ever played that song for the kids. Not only because of the word bitch in the title, but it's not on either one of the Elton John Cd's I have. The kids might not have noticed the offending word if it had just been sung, but the word was also flashed over and over on the giant screens behind the stage. I looked over at Rion and his eyes were huge. "Mom, he said the "B" word!" We had a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

It's finally winter

It was bound to happen. Winter finally arrived. For February it was still really nice out today. Anytime you don't have to go out in multiple layers, hats and gloves in February is a good day. It has been nice without the cold temps, but I was still hoping for a little snow to play in. We finally got that last week. We got 2.5 inches and it was nice enough to go outside and enjoy. 

 Cordelia has a Rugrats umbrella that she takes everywhere. She took it to church one morning and a couple had to stop in the middle of the parking lot to tell us how cute she was. The snowpants she is wearing are a little big for her. I got them for next year, but she insisted on wearing them.

When I got outside Rion was shoveling the driveway. What a nice guy.