Bicycle season is upon us, and two little children are pumped! Tonight was the first night out with the bike trailer and the tag-along bike. Every first trip of the season is sure to hold a couple of challenges. For me it was pulling 60 extra pounds of wobbling child up a considerable hill. Oh, and once we reached the top of the hill we realized that my back tire was completely flat even though we had just aired up all the tires....thorn from last season. Our next challenge came as Bennett's right pedal fell off. Soon after is was replaced, her left pedal fell off. Soon after it was replaced some other nut and bolt came off in the road. The bolt was recovered, but the nut is forever lost. Anyway, we had a great time and we made it home safely.

The Three Stooges

Nana purchased matching shirts for the little cousins this past weekend. Bennett thought it would be fun if they all wore them today since they are spending the day together. She refers to her sister, her cousin and herself as triplets, but I prefer to call them "The Three Stooges."

Nacho!

Bennett and Ainsley love the movie Nacho Libre, owned by their father. They especially love the singing scenes. Tonight they requested a viewing of a few of their favorite scenes. If you are familiar with the movie, the above scene is when Nacho poses as a member of the mariachi band and sings a song to his luchador opponent, Ramses. The Girls find this quite humorous, as you can see that Ainsley has a pleased look on her face as she glances at her dad to see his reaction to the scene. He found it quite humorous as well.

After a couple weeks of illness, I think we're all finally back to pretty good health, and thus the postings on this blog will probably pick up again! I've posted a few pictures tonight and will try to get back into the swing of things here. You may remember the above sandstone chick that Bennett refers to as "The Queen." Well, she was telling us tonight that The Queen really lives the good life, and you can see here that she is right. The Queen was found sitting on her throne on the couch sipping lemonade out of a flower pot cup with a beverage umbrella. Bennett also told us that The Queen is looking for an eligible bachelor to be crowned "The King." We'll be looking for "Mr. Right" as we hit summer garage sales. The Queen's only criteria for her mate is that he must be some type of bird figurine. If you know of any male bird figurines seeking a lovely lady who enjoys long walks, long talks, lemonade and romance, send him her way!

We would like to thank the people who place these riding toys randomly at outdoor shopping centers. They provided our girls with some much needed entertainment during some weekend shopping. Ainsley needed some cheering up as she was not pleased to be shopping at the outdoor shopping center. She kept asking when we would be going to "the big hallway" which is what she affectionately calls the shopping mall. She was disappointed that the location we had chosen featured no hallways at all. These rides eased her pain a bit.

Story time for some little sisters...

Strangers Among Us

A sign that Ainsley might be getting healthy is that she's resumed play and costuming. One thing that we enjoy about our kids is that they often leave the room looking like themselves, but in the blink of an eye, they return as completely different people who we cannot identify. Ainsley walked off as herself and returned to me as some little kid trick-or-treating on what must have been a sunny, yet chilly Halloween. I honestly have no idea where she even came up with that pumpkin. Bennett has not yet resumed this activity of dramatic play....hopefully her next false identity will show itself soon!

Hope Your Birthday Is Too Cool!

Here is a drawing Bennett cranked out shortly before coming down with round three of whatever the neverending illness at our house is. It is three cool people at a really cool birthday party for a cool person.

Here's the scene at our house. All family members are down for the count. I got up long enough to take the picture and post it. I think I'll go lay down on my sick mat, just to Bennett's right on the living room floor now.

The kitchen was looking good this morning when the phone rang. Then Ainsley hit. She likes to take advantage of moments when I'm occupied to do what she does best, as seen in this picture. Here we have bean bags, plastic storage containers, sunflower seeds, dishtowels, burpcloths, books and a bear. Based on what I've seen out of her before, I'd rate this tornado an F2.

Sick and Sad Part II, Continued

So, Bennett seems to still be sick and sad. Her cold has turned into infection and she's feeling horrible. She is very sick and sad, and the only way I could get her Sick and Sad Photo was to take it while she's sleeping. What I enjoy about this photo is that while she was sleeping, Ainsley decided to label her with some garage sale stickers she found in a drawer. She chose to label her with the stickers that say "MAKE OFFER." Ha! I thought that was pretty funny because at this time I think Ainsley would gladly give her sister away to the lowest bidder. If we had stickers that said "FREE" I am sure she would have chosen those for her sister!

Bennett made a weather wheel at school. She decided it did not contain all the symbols necessary for reporting the weather accurately in our region. So, she added a symbol of her own, the twirling tornado, to which the arrow is pointing. We don't need any super duper mega doppler radar when we've got this reliable tool in our home!

King Cobra!

Bennett and Ainsley are fascinated by snakes. We got them a king cobra that you put in water for 7-14 days and it grows. Here is Ainsley with "Slither" after his 14 day soak. He was originally about 18" long and I'd say he grew to be about 4 feet long. I think Slither is about as close to having a pet as we will ever come in this house, so if we're going to have an artificial pet, why not make it a highly venomous and creepy one, right?

Now, here's something I'm sure very few people have seen. We have a parrot and a bluejay sailing throught the "skies" on homemade hang gliders, or so Bennett tells me. Funny that two animals completely capable of flight have chosen this man-made form of transportation. Oh, I will so miss this child and her entertaining ways when she goes off to school in the fall!

Following in the footsteps of her big sister, Ainsley is beginning to spend some of her time dressing up and pretending. She had me clip this little blanket over her head and she told me to call her "Mary." I said, "Oh, Mary is this your baby, Jesus?" She responded, "No this is my baby, Ava." I guess we better start focusing our efforts on teaching her Bible story accuracy.

Slides and Sea Otters

As spring arrives we spend more and more time playing at playgrounds or in the yard. The other day Ainsley was referencing the slide and the "sea otter." It took me a moment to figure out what she was talking about, but I finally realized that sometimes we call our playground toy a see-saw, and we sometimes call it a teeter-totter. Well, when you cross a see-saw with a teeter-totter you get a sea otter!

Party Time!

Today we had a celebration in honor of April Fool's Day with some friends. It was a great time for The Girls, even for Bennett whose cold is quickly dissipating. Here you see Sage (Bennett's April Fool's Day alternate name) and Ava (Ainsley's party name) having some fun with their friend Yoda (aka Toby) at the party.

Sick and Sad Part II

Ainsley is chipper, but Bennett is now sick and sad. I tried to take her sick and sad photo, but she would have none of that nonsense. She did have a good nap this afternoon...hopefully that means tomorrow will be a better day. She did display great sorrow when I informed her after lunch that a nap would be required today. Through a massive amount of tears she exclaimed, "But I had such great plans for this afternoon!" Drama is greatly magnified by illness.

Sick and Sad

Ainsley has contracted a considerable cold. Here is a run down of her day...Cry, eat fruit snacks, cry, sit with Mom, cry, watch 5 minutes of Hi-5, cry, paint, cry, cut up paper, cry, eat lunch, cry, sit with Mom, cry, nap! I'm about to cry myself!