Would you like some catch-up?

Let's bring up the mood a bit with the interesting things our children have been saying lately:
Kdee: "I want to retire from school" (this, from a sleepy first grader early in the morning)
Little B: "I'm a cute boy!", "I love poop.", "Me...me...me...me...and my friend Mitchell...Mitchell are going to play outside" (hard to get those sentences out when your brain is working faster than your mouth! By the way, I have no idea who Mitchell is!)

As you might suspect, the kids have been entertaining us quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. Sometimes good, sometimes hilarious and then sometimes it's along the lines of pulling out our hair. If you have kids or have spent time watching kids, you get the picture!

There have been some important firsts lately, with the biggest one being that Kdee is now able to ride her bike like a big girl! We took her to the elementary school playground (aka big open lot and lots of big, open green spaces) to finish her official training. ribB was an awesome coach and finally, we saw her take "flight". The proud smile on her face was one of those "never forget" moments--it was huge and so thrilled. She didn't even have a big fall, like I remember during my first ride, but...she did drive (slowly) into the school wall. When it was obvious she was getting tired (although she wanted to keep going), we made our way home for PHOTOS (I forgot the camera earlier, darn)! The above photo that shows her sprawled is indeed a real fall--although it wasn't nearly as bad as it looks (which is why it was kind of funny to take the picture...Kdee got a good laugh out of it!)

Another first, maybe not as huge but a really nice first, is that little B went to sleep without his nuk this past weekend. He told me, "no nuk tonight, mommy" and I about fell over in shock. This was a bigger letting go process for Kdee, so I almost jumped up and down right there when he said "no". Wow!

Yet another first, the smallest one on the scale of firsts, was my first time cutting little B's hair. It went really well, and I'm glad to say that the results actually look good for someone who's not a trained stylist! Fortunately, anything would be an improvement on his previously shaggy look, so my best cutting & blending of hair looked alright. He seemed pleased with it, too, and has received some compliments--yippee!

Life has felt more hectic than ever lately, so the delay in blog entries means there's been a lot going on. Now, I tend to be a wordy writer, so to save you all the pain of reading really long descriptions of news that's almost 3 weeks old, here's a quick recap of some of our adventures:

--A hectic Saturday 3/31! The ribclan went to the school's "Kid Karnival", where Kdee won lots of candy and prizes...she was hyperly ecstatic! Afterward, we left on a 3.5 hr trip to southern WI for a family baby shower for Rusty & Teri (ribB's cousin/wife who live in ID). It was great to see them and the many other members of our family, whom we haven't seen in some time. Believe it or not, we decided to drive back home that night...and arrived back at 1:45am. Note to self: don't do that again! (Kids still wake up early, no matter what time they went to bed...well, at least my kids do!)

--a Palm Sunday dinner with Mom and Paul, who were good sports about our dazed family (and cranky kids).

--a weeknight date out, such fun after a busy couple of days. ribB and I enjoyed an evening of dinner and shopping (ok, more like browsing!) while our fave babysitter, Ann, hung out with the kids. No make-up stories this time, just clumsy little B running into a door and tripping on some steps with her. Kdee told her not to worry about! As for ribB and myself, we really enjoyed a few hours to talk without interruption and just relax.

--Easter in La Crosse with ribB's family. Kdee didn't have school or karate that day (thanks, ribB for staying home!), so we headed to LAX after I was done with work. We had a really great dinner at the "Whistle Stop Cafe", where we enjoyed watching the trains go by. It was a hoot, and the fish fry rocked. We got a bit of time with ribB's parents that night and the next morning before we headed to ribB's Aunt/Uncle's for taxes and catching up with them--very enjoyable! After dinner with Barb/Tim, we headed back to LAX to a hotel, since ribB's parents were watching our nieces and nephew overnight. It was interesting playing the Easter Bunny at a hotel...good thing it had a big bathroom for organizing baskets! On Easter Sunday, our family enjoyed a church service at ribB's old church--where little B decided to chant "OH MY GOD" over and over. Yikes. Despite his impromtu outburst, we thoroughly enjoyed the service. We went back to the hotel where Grandpa brought over our nieces/nephew for a swim. Afterward, we went back to their house for Easter dinner and a very fun Easter Egg hunt. By the time we got home at 9:30pm, our family was exhausted!

--On Mondy we remembered my dad with dinner & dessert at the local DQ, and some fun playtime outside at home. We were in stitches laughing as we played with the "Skip-it". Adult coordination is not nearly as pretty as a childs when it comes to this toy. (For evidence, I will post pictures of ribB and Kdee.) I'm sure my dad got a good chuckle as he watched us...

--This past weekend was a lot of fun, as my good friend Linnea (or Milly Euteneuer) came to visit. She got snowed out on Oscar weekend, so we made sure to make up for lost time with lots of shopping and great meals on Sat & Sun. We even enjoyed some live music on Saturday night...along with the Outlaws bike gang from Milwaukee. (There was a motorcycle rally in town.) I definitely enjoyed lots of laughter and good talks with her--there's never enough time together!
ribB was a good sport and did lots of kid duty (and even cleaned the floors, too!). ribB also got out, though, to his archery league banquet. I think he envisioned lots of wild game as his dinner, but instead enjoyed pizza and beverages. He had a great time doing the league and is planning on doing it again after softball. Ann, the babysitter extraordinary, watched the kids as ribB and I got out for our fun evenings. I think we confused her as we left separately!

Whew! More adventures to come...