training wheels off and both hands on the keys

Kate's had some exciting times lately!!  Here's pics from her Let's Play Music recital.  She just finished the second year and she loves that she can play the piano with both hands!  We were very impressed with the 3rd year students and are so excited for Katelyn to keep learning next year.  She has become a very confident and on-key singer, and she's SO cute playing the piano in perfect position.  

 She's always smiling in this class!  It's so fun.

 singing one of their songs

 Here are the cute kids in her class singing the 3 parts of "Don't put your trash in my backyard"

And also, last week Kate decided to take the training wheels off her bike, because she had a goal to be able to keep up with her friends Aaron and Thayne on their bikes.  She was finally ready!  Eric spent an hour or so running up and down the street with her helping her balance, and he totally enjoyed it.  She never fell once!  By the end he would just help her get started and then she would go by herself.

 The next evening she rode for about 2 hours straight, and mastered starting and stopping and turning by herself.  She wouldn't even come in for her favorite dessert!  She was so focused and so HAPPY!

 This is day 4, after she rode 3 miles next to me running with the double jogging stroller.  Hallelujah!  I have a big girl!

 And now she just needs a bigger bike, she's too tall for this one. :)  Way to go Kate!  

kate video

This is huge for me.  Monumental.  I have a child who can ride a bike, which means this summer I will be able to run with all 3 of my children!  So proud of Katelyn, she's pro after only a week of no training wheels.  What a big girl I have.  I know lots of kids learn to ride when they're like 4, but we're so happy that she did it when she's ready and brave enough.  :)

owen and whit movie

here's a cute one of Owen making little noises, and then Whitney comes in really excited about something, it's just so Whitney.  loud and full of big gestures. :)  Don't worry, we went right out to see what Whitney was talking about.

smiles

Here's our super smiley boy!!

smiling at Dad

 at Whitney

 at Mom and Dad

 at Mom again

 at Whit again- he totally smiles at Kate too, and everyone else.  So cute.

funnies

a few Whitney funnies I've been meaning to record: (and some from Kate too)

she says "inside outside" for "inside out"

before Owen was born one time she told me "you're making me have contractions!"

she uses the phrase "until Jesus comes again" a lot when she's upset, as in "I'm never going to do what you say until Jesus comes back!" To her it means some long-distant, unknown time.

She's been saying lately "Owen is cuteing up the earth" or He's cuteing up the car, or the house, or wherever we are, or the whole universe! But with her pronunciation it's hilarious, "He's cute-in up the ohth"

When we stopped for lunch in Barstow on our trip, the girls reactions to the toy they got in their happy meals were hilarious. We sat down to eat and Katelyn told me "When I saw those ponies (in the display) I whispered to myself, 'I want the yellow one' and it came true!" and Whitney said " When I saw those ponies, I burst into flame!" Burst into flame? really?? She's said that a few times since, like "I was about to burst into flame when Owen was smiling" so apparently spontaneous combustion is a positive thing in her mind! :)

Also Katelyn said to me the other day that I kept using her seat in the car as a "car shelf"- aka there was stuff in her way.