Apples & Biking Go Hand in Hand

Look, the child can bike one handed!

So carefully riding and watching over her precious cargo.

"Look Mommy, It's the cutest little apple in the world that I have ever seen!"

I think she's the cutest little thing in the whole world that I've ever seen :)

Kids Need Reading Glasses?

I had my camera upstairs the other night to take pics of Chloe's braids, but ended up catching the kids wearing Todd's reading glasses instead.

They both wanted to act silly while I took their pictures.

Trip to the Optometrist

Owen hung out patiently in the waiting room, flipping through an activity book and filling out the answers. Bean was relegated to the floor by my feet after not listening about keeping shoes off furniture and out of the way of other patients.

Owen did well holding the pirate patch in front of one eye at a time to read the letters as they progressively got smaller.

Chloe thought it was fun, too. Like her crimped hair? She went to sleep with wet braids in her hair the night before.

Doesn't she look small in this chair?

What is a visit to the optometrist without a dinosaur to celebrate?

So glad that Owen has fun at doctors' offices and can be relaxed!

He did well answering the questions....what looks better? A or B? 2 or 3?

Chloe made sure Dr. Dickinson knew she did NOT want eye drops on this visit. It was still fresh in her mind that Mommy had eye drops to have her eyes dilated several days earlier and couldn't see for squat without the stylish wraparound sunglasses.

Chloe did better at holding still and looking through these 'binoculars' to read the letters. Owen was more interested in sticking his hands around to spin the dials and poke his fingers into the eye holes. :)

After the exams were complete, Dr. Dickinson allowed each kid one turn of raising and lowering the other kid in the chair. They enjoyed that.

Owen has a slight astigmatism in one eye, but will likely see that disappear as he matures. Both kids had 20/20 vision. So hopeful they both keep that and don't inherit my wretched vision.

Owen's Report Card

Ok, so general conduct needs improvement. But he's normally the first to finish his schoolwork and is bored, so he gets in trouble for playing around or talking. Hard to be too upset when he's kicking out top grades on reading, writing, spelling and math.

We Love IKEA

The kids had fun playing in Smaland for a little while, then we checked them out to have lunch upstairs inside IKEA. Owen had a stomach ache, so Todd took him out to the car to chill while Chloe and Luke had fun in the cart. Martin just tried to take in the immensity of IKEA while I pulled out picture frames and organizational buckets galore to take home.

Owen's 7 year Check Up

He chilled in the waiting room on Daddy's lap with his DS until we were called back.

Owen weighs a whole 43 pounds!

Has normal blood pressure.

And measures 45 inches tall.

Owen loves walking down this hallway with the fun tiles filled with dyed liquid to squoosh around.

He has to jump on each one :)

Strong heart and lungs

Dr. Bowman wanted to know what happened to all of his teeth!

Look at that boy touch his toes!

Strong long legs

And chilling again while waiting for the nurse to come back in with the flu mist vaccine for each of us. Owen volunteered to go first and then changed his mind. He was hesitant it would burn and asked for Daddy to go first, then him and Mommy last.

Dr. Bowman gave the thumbs up that he is one healthy boy :)

Bounce House Birthday Party

Sweet kids, happy to stop & smile for the camera while waiting for the bouncies to finish filling up.

Chloe hadn't seen Sophia since the spring and was so happy to play with her again!

Smiley boy.

Matthew's Daddy Billy stopped to join Chloe's and Sophia's tea party.

Owen climbed onto the side of one of the slides and tried to ride it like a horse.

Matthew, Nate and Owen. The Three Musketeers.

Matthew is one of Owen's favorite friends.

They were patiently waiting for the kids to stop singing Happy Birthday so they could blow out the candles.

The pictures shown above do not give any indication other than our kids were the happiest creatures on the planet. And for this two hour window, they were.

I'll leave it at that.

Chloe's Five Year Check Up

We started out the day with pigtails. But they came out before naptime at school.

She wasn't in trouble, but was being very coy about letting Mommy take her picture in the waiting room at the pediatrician's office.

Chloe thought she was pretty cute with her head in my lap.

She weighs 39 pounds.

Has normal blood pressure.

A whole 43 inches tall!

Doesn't she look cute in her paper towel princess dress?

She thought so, even though she didn't like the teddy bears.

Dr. Bowman was listening to Chloe's heart.

And listening to her take deep breaths, which amused Chloe.

Chloe's counting and self-awareness was put to the test when Dr. Bowman counted a sixth toe on one foot.

All done with the check up. Dr. Bowman gave Chloe a hug and a kiss before walking out.

This was the last smile before we told her she needed to get shots.

The poor child was in hysterics. She fought hard, kicking & screaming until just before the shots were given. It didn't take her too long to calm down and then in the car, she said "It didn't hurt that bad."

chain Style by Jane Dickerson

I just got my copy in the mail today!

That would be Lorelei's gorgeous necklace on the cover.

And my lampwork lentil on the right side :)

It was one of the first focal beads I sold out of my Etsy shop.

Lorelei has nine pieces of jewelry featured in this book. NINE! How cool is that?!

I'm so excited for her. And for me, that one of my beads is now published. My etsy shop is also listed in the Resources pages at the back. Sooo soo cool!

You can buy your copy here :)