It's Officially Summer Here When...

the kids don't leave the pool even when it's raining.

Father's Day.

Bicycling Just Got A Lot More Fun.

While one kid performs stunts on his bike

the other mastered riding her bike without any training wheels and rode 10 miles on it last Saturday.

He's Finally Here.

David's teacher had a son this week. If you remember, I knitted him an alphabet blanket. Once I found out his gender on Tuesday, I completed the rest of the gift -- a bib, a pair of booties and a hat. David wrapped it up last night and brought it to the school this morning.

Considering I didn't know the baby's gender until this week, I figured there's a 50% chance it might be a girl (just because I prefer knitting for girls), so I had knitted this skirt and a pair of girlie booties. I still need to finish up some details, but otherwise it's ready to be gifted. Anyone's expecting a girl?

Our Saturdays.

Saturdays are not what they are used to be. But they are sure what I want them to be. Ask Seth though and he'll probably give you a different answer. I'm usually up early and go for a run before the kids are even awake. Later, we tend to our lawn, garden and trees. We also try getting the kids involved even if it's only a few minutes before they run off to play soccer or baseball.

Seth taught the kids when taking the weeds out, making sure to get them with their roots.

With Julia's help, we might need to bring another truck load of dirt in our backyard.

As soon as David's hands get a bit muddy, he preoccupies himself with more fun activities.

Meanwhile, Julia and I have only one thing on our minds -- food.

It feels good to take care of our "land" and teach the kids a thing or two about responsibilities, hard work and being good to our planet.

A Dream Job.

I found the above picture in David's school folder the other day. I guess it takes the pressure off Seth and me to save up for this kid's college education. I saw he misspelled STOP and instead wrote SOAP. I tend not to correct my kids' spelling and have them eventually figure it out on their own. I had noticed before that David gets very discouraged when he realizes he made a mistake and eventually doesn't even try again. It might not be the right strategy for every kid, but it works for mine.

A few weeks ago after being frustrated that Julia enters his room anytime she desires, he attached the below sign on his door. When asked how he knew how to spell these two words, he said "I thought and then my brain told me how". I guess it pays off him reading for an hour every night.

Memorial Day.