Time to ride bikes!

Kaitlyn is doing great getting used to her brakes! She is a speed demon - not too shocking! She just needs some practice stopping before she hits things.
NO MORE TRAINNING WHEELS!

Kelsey learned to ride her bike without training wheels after about 4 practice sessions! We tried last year but didn't see any motivation - she begged to have them put back on after the first day! This year she was motivated! She practiced gliding down the driveway and gliding down a little hill near our house. One day she was having lots of trouble so I sat on her bike and realized that the steering wheel was crooked! She had no chance! Once I got that fixed up, she did it after 2 more practice days. She's going around turns, going up hills, she's ready for summer!

Time to Say Good-bye to the train people til next year!

Kelsey and David were happy to take turns racing the train through the country and the city. They like to turn out the lights and make the train fly around - literally off the tracks.
Ryan and Kaitlyn preferred to play with the Barbie House on this night. They all had a good time playing in the train room one last time before the train is packed up until next year!

I Just Got My Ears Pierced!

Kelsey jumped out of the seat - thrilled to have it done! Kaitlyn sat very quietly and almost started to cry! She was so set on having it done but I think she was surprised that it hurt!
Wait! What! This hurts!

Oh Yeah! Kaitlyn was completely confident that she wanted her ears pierced. She's been waiting a year to have this done!

The bear in her hands kept inching up toward her ears. She didn't care at all about carrying a teddy bear into the mall. She was really scared when it finally came down to the time to do it.

She wants to have this done , but she doesn't want it to hurt?

Random Wackiness

Kaitlyn posed for Kelsey with this poor naked baby while I was vacuuming upstairs. The girls took about 20 pictures of various wacky things...standing on the couch, the babydoll's eyes, the stairs, etc.
a self portrait

Kaitlyn rode her new bike around the neighborhood twice tonight! Kelsey preferred to use her scooter and hang out with Paige. Kaitlyn learned all about braking on the hills following a scary race that we had together! I had to catch her bike to stop her when I realized she didn't know how to brake!!! She was so scared that she kept peddling one time and then braking. She got the hang of it by the second trip around.

Kelsey's cool pose on her razor scooter. She explained to me that she tucks her t-shirt in to her pants because that keeps her from sweating - ? - and also she was very proud of the fact that she could store her water bottle in her waistband - ? - very cool.

Last Snow of the Winter?

The girls got to do some sled riding on Tuesday night! Kaitlyn lasted about an hour and Kelsey stayed out until it was dark! She was soaked but she loved it. She stayed out sled riding with Paige for about 2 hours!
Kaitlyn carried her sled up the hill about 5 times, then I carried the sled. I went down a few times too! That hill is just the right size.

No fear! She doesn't mind spinning around or going backwards.

Kaitlyn's really into pretending now. She took "snowy" her snowball pet down the hill - backwards.

Kelsey had to try out going down the hill backwards after she saw her little sister doing it!

Trip to Massanutten!

We went on a weekend trip to Massanutten in VA over President's Day. The girls were very excited to see their Aunts and Uncles. They put on a show all weekend....

Waterpark Time!

The girls really liked this warm water pool. It was about 85 degrees! They kept going under the water and we had to keep our eyes on both of them but Kaitlyn was especially brave! She would just go right under and swim around. She even figured out to get to the bottom and push off the floor. She was smiling the entire time - even under the water.
The girls got brave and tried out the slides and water fun area of the park for a little while!

Sliding with Pappy Bob! I think he let Kaitlyn win the race!

The girls liked the waterpark. I think Kelsey could have stayed in the pool the entire day. We had to force her to try out the lazy river and slides. I didn't get very many pictures because we were busy the whole time we were at the park!

Massanutten Snow Fun and Hanging Out

We were all glad to see snow on the slopes and on the snow tubing park. We got all dressed in our gear to try out the tubes. The girls were excited at this point...
At this point, Kelsey had already said that she would only go down once...

At this point, Kaitlyn had already said that she wasn't going down ...I explained that we had no other way down!

Crying...I am reasoning with her. We're here, the whole family is doing this, you might like it, we don't have this at home, you can hold on to my tube, I'll buy you a pony,,,etc...

Kelsey saw some other kids and she was excited to go down the slope!

The girl's reaction when they found out that Uncle Marco had picked out their tinkerbell toys!

Kelsey checking to see what Kaitlyn got...

Kaitlyn checking to see what Kelsey got.

gifts from Spain for everyone!

Kelsey and Karen in their cool new hair-dos (sorry Karen). It's a cute pic

Kelsey's Valentine's Day Party

This is Kelsey at her table. She sits with these six friends everyday. She was a little shy with me there that day but I have a feeling this is a good group. The girl side of the table took their frame craft very seriously - trading stickers, looking at each other's work.
Here's Kelsey at group playing a game where you aren't allowed to smile. Kelsey was never able to get through the sentence without smiling! She had to say "Happy Valentine's Day to you but I just can't smile" and the other student was allowed to make faces and be silly the whole time! Kelsey ended up being "it" 3 times because she just couldn't do it without giggling!

I got to play 2 games with the kids! I made a sight word match up with hearts and the silly smile game. I loved checking out the class. The little boy that Kelsey talks about (Bryce) is sitting right behind her in the striped red shirt. After getting t0 hear all of Kelsey's comments about her classmates, it was neat to go in and meet them! They're a great little group.

23 years later...roller skating again and they still have the same skates!

We went roller skating this weekend. I thought it would be fun because I remembered how much I loved it when I was a kid...23 years ago! For some reason, I thought I would put skates on too and skate with the girls. I saw the other parents walking with shoes out on the floor but I thought I was good to go with skates. Well, Kelsey is our star skater and Kaitlyn and I hung back. Kelsey went around about 20 times and Kaitlyn did about 4 1/2 with me carrying her for 1/2 of one round. Seriously testing my 36 year old roller skating skills with a 34 pound child to carry! She has no idea how much danger she was actually in that afternoon!
Taking a break on one or our adventures around the circle. It took us a good 15-20 minutes to get around. Kelsey circled us about 3-4 times!

Little roller rink girl! They want to take Bob next time! Can't wait to see that!

Snowy Days

"Gotta get the snow out!"

"I'm a wild child!"

We had some fun this week out in the snow! The girls helped me shovel the driveway...until Bob sent his friend with the truck and our neighbor came over with the snowblower. I guess they thought we needed help! We were determined to get it done but it may have taken awhile with so many breaks to jump into the snow piles!

Here We Go Steelers!

The girls and I watched the play off game this Saturday! Go Big Ben! Defense! and lots of other cheers were yelled out during the game! If it comes down to Steelers and Green Bay, Kelsey and Kaitlyn say they have to cheer for Big Ben! Sorry Pappy Bob! Here We Go Steelers!

Pajama Day!

Kelsey had pajama party day at school this week. She took her bitty in her backpack to spend the day with her!

Birthday #4!

A tired little 4 year old! I thought it must have been about 9:00 but it was only 6:00 when the party wound down! I think these sleepovers are going to get more exhausting the older they get! Maybe they'll start sleeping in after staying up all night in the next few years!

Uncle Gary really wanted a singa-ma-jig. Better put that on his birthday list.

Good times in the basement. Ryan told us "don't talk" "don't look" He's got a whole routine down while he's shooting. I guess we were interupting his game!

Kaitlyn wanted to get right down to the basement to ride her bike! January birthdays make riding outside out of the question!

I think she was really surprised! We didn't hint at all about a bike coming!

How nice that Kelsey was happy for her too! This bike is so pretty! She looked like she was surprised!