Boo's Pre-K End of Year Ceremony

Lil Bit and I had the pleasure of attending Lil Boo's end of the year ceremony today. Turns out, it was a little graduation of sorts. It was so cute. He has been working hard on his assigned song and he did great.

He's come a loooong way from his first preschool musical performance. Do y'all remember this one, right after Lil Bit was born? You might have to view it on a computer vs an apple device. It was before I posted things on youtube. Anyway, he's definitely come out of his shell since then!

I can't believe he'll be in Kindergarten next year. It's all day long now, ya know. I won't see him ALL DAY-Monday through Friday. What will I do without my Boo Bear?? Sniff. Sniff.
Well, I just won't think about it now...

So, on a related note, what's on tap for summer? Swim lessons, soccer, and visits from friends and family! Oh, and bike riding, of course! It might even reach 65 degrees this weekend.

More Catching Up!

Lil Bit reconnecting with Sandy

And Murray.
Doesn't he look thrilled?

We were even able to get in a day at the beach.
It was a beautiful day and they played so hard.

Some cousin time!

Our friends who live next to BeBe raise chickens.
We were able to go over one morning and gather eggs and help feed them.

Strawberry pickin with our friend Callie and her twin baby brothers.
This makes 2 years in a row that we've been able to pick strawberries with Callie.

Had to include this big smile!

We went to visit some family in the upper part of the state.
When you say, upper part of the state, you have to say it in BeBe's Southern accent and say, uppah paht of the state. :)

Cousins who met for the fist time that day!
I think they got along just fine, don't you?

Their farm was complete with a cart and pony named Pirate.

We really had a good visit in SC. And we were able to do more than just what the pictures show. But man, all of that time outside had my allergies out of control. My eyes were so swollen and itchy most of the time and I spent most nights with cold compresses over them. Ugh.

We're so excited to have some of our friends and family come up to AK this summer!

Catching Up

I kind of lost my blogging mojo there for a while. I just couldn't get it together after a full day of mothering to get photos from my camera or phone on to the computer and then to the blog. It was all just too much. Lol.
I'm sort of feeling up to the challenge of catching up on things now... 

At the end of March, the little ones and I hopped on a C-17 headed to Charleston. We barely made it to the terminal on time. They changed the flight overnight to an earlier departure time and we almost missed it. But, luckily we made it and we took a direct flight from AK to SC for a short 7 1/2 hours! It usually takes 12-14 hours to fly commercially with layovers and missed flights and lost luggage. The C-17 is the way to go! BeBe and PawPaw were able to get on the Airforce Base in Chs to pick us up too which was a nice bonus. No taxi ride for us. Easy peasy!

We spent about a month in SC. We were trying to catch a C-17 back to AK but one never popped up on the schedule, so we flew back commercially. The kids did great and it was so nice to have B-man waiting here in AK to pick us up! He was a welcome sight for this mama's tired eyes. He's so handsome and has a smile that I just LOVE.

So, here are some pics showing our SC adventures.

C-17 flight. I love the bottom right pic. We had landed in CHS and the ramp is open in the back. The lights had gone out for about 10 seconds  and this was their frightened expression as the lights came back on. Hehehe.

Easter cookies, egg hunts with friends, and dyeing eggs for the bunny.

Country life!
Lil Bit was over the moon excited about the cows!
"Look Mama, LOOK! A cow, mama, a cow!!"

We made brown-eees for G, GPa, and Kirstin and Aunt R and Uncle D for April Fool's Day.
Get it? Brownies vs brown-ees?

Egg Hunt at church.

Easter Morning!

Easter Best!
Susu, their Sunday School teacher in SC (who was also my SS teacher growing up) told me after church that Boo, Bit, and Callie (their friend) told her all about the Easter story. She didn't even need to teach it to them! :)

The Boys

More catching up to come!

Lil Bit Skuuts Along

We searched the Anchorage area high and low for a balance bike for Lil Bit. But the only ones we could find were too tall for our little lady. So, then I began to search Amazon. I finally settled on the Skuut bike. It was the shortest one I could find and it would grow with her. So, we ordered it and anxiously awaited its arrival.
You should have seen her the day I put it together for her. She was overjoyed that she was getting her own bike. "Is it mine, Mama?? Is it my bike? I like it Mama. I'm so decided (read: excited)!"

Do y'all remember Boo's wooden bike? Well, hers is very similar to that one. In fact, B-man may have modeled his craftsmanship after the Skuut bike.
I have to say, I really am amazed at how Boo skipped the whole training wheel phase. I owe it to his starting out on the balance bike which I owe to B-man. It's really been since last August when we were in SC that he last rode his balance bike and he just picked it up again so easily when we brought home the Red Rocket a couple of weeks ago! B-man was the one who advocated for the balance bike route and I'm so glad that he did.

And now, Lil Bit is on her way!


This is her first ride! This is how they start, just walking it along, kind of standing over it.




This is later the same day. You can see she's gotten more comfortable and is sitting on the seat and is skuuting along more smoothly. I wish I had a picture of her when she was on it and had both feet up in the air and was balanced!! Way to go Lil Bit!!

I guess it's time for Mama to get a bike too!

Third Time's A Charm

Is it third time's a charm or third times a charm?

I went with time's as a contraction of "time is" but I don't know if that's right and I tried to search online but found evidence in support of both options. Anyone know? 

Anyway...
Boo is all over it on the bike. The next day we went out after his inaugural ride he learned how to start on his own!
He was doing well and I decided to draw a big stop sign on the road so that he could practice stopping.

Which brings me to the question from the top of the post...

Third time's a charm:








He's got it now! He asks to ride his bike nearly everyday.
That being said, he's always a little nervous getting out there, but then he's fine. He may or may not have gotten that from me.

Up next, Lil Bit's turn!