Momentus Bike Day

Today was a very big milestone for the kids: DD took off her training wheels and DS got a "big boy" bike!

Here's DD, looking pretty happy with herself (as well she should!!). I only had to push her once, for about 5 feet, and she was off and going like she'd been doing it for years! She hasn't fallen once, amazingly! Her training wheels had gotten bent up a bit and she's been balancing for a while, but she still relied on them at times so I didn't want to take them off too soon. Now she's riding like she's never had them on at all. Amazing! She turns six in May, and she had a hard time with brother getting a bike while she didn't get anything--never mind that she'll get tons of stuff for her birthday--so I let her get the horn she's tooting in the picture below.

And here's DS, doing a great job of pedaling his new bike! He had a little bit of a hard time with the brake being part of the pedaling, but he's figuring it out pretty quickly. For the first half-hour or so I had to keep running over to him and moving his legs so that he could see why he was stopped and wasn't going to go anywhere, but by the time I made him come inside (so I could cook dinner--I'm SUCH a mean Mom) I only had to help him once or twice in 20 minutes.

I'm being really hard-nosed about making the kids wear their helmets, and I'm trying to set a good example by always wearing mine. Of course *I* didn't get on my bike today--I was too busy running after Ryan. I'm hoping that by Wednesday he'll be comfortable enough with his new bike that we (the kids and me) can bike to school and back.

And here's a picture of our cat, Fred. Ryan always points to him and says "That's MY cat, Fred!" LOL! Never mind that Fred is older than both kids, he's Ryan's cat apparently.

Fred is a BIG kitty--we ran across some of his paw prints in the mud the other day and Gillian got really mad because she thought that a dog had been running around in our back yard (which is fenced). He has HUGE paws. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of them in a way that shows just how big they are. He's a darn good cat, even if he does look somewhat demonic in all the pictures I have of him--he has light-colored eyes and he doesn't like to have them open much when I'm taking pictures. (Not like I use the flash on him outside--he must be remembering being inside and having the flash go off.) Silly cat!

Hopefully I'll have some knitting progress to report tomorrow--today I managed to get two rounds done on the Shetland Tea Shawl, which is some progress but not a lot! :-)

I've been going through some pictures and ran across this one. My wonderful hubby had gotten me roses a while back (I think these were for Mother's Day last year) and I just had to take a few pictures. I got a little creative with some framing in PhotoShop.

Presents from Germany

I got a surprise in the mail from my Aunt Louise in Germany:

Three awesome balls of sock yarn that I've never played with before, and a tote bag! The only sock yarns I've played with have been Lion Brand Magic Stripes, and I've heard people rave about the ones Louise sent so I'm excited about trying them! I don't have any socks OTN at the moment, and I've been thinking about how I need to change my basic sock template to fit my foot better. I learn something new with each pair of socks! This next time around I'm going to try two socks at once on one circ (instead of two circs) so that I don't lose my place so easily. I need all the help I can get. ;-) I really love the reddish ball, so I'll probably start with that one. They're all so neat, it'll be a tough choice when it comes time to start! Of course, I need to finish Greg's sweater first....

Speaking of Greg's sweater, here it is in-progress, also known as "super secret project #1" in my sidebar. Now that he's seen it I can show pictures. I'm about 2/3 of the way done with the sleeves, then I only have the neckline and collar to finish. Woo hoo!!! I'm really tired of plain stockinette, but I think it's going to be a nice pullover. It's been a lot easier to work on now that I don't have to be so paranoid about him seeing it.

These wristlets and scarves are for Greg's boss' daughters. The pink/purple/blue yarn is a closeout ribbon yarn from Hancock fabrics and the black is Wool Ease. They were pretty quick to make--I did all of them in a week.

Hopefully the weather is going to cooperate this weekend so that we can take the kids, the bikes, and a lunch and go on a family bike ride. It's really dreary outside now, but it's not supposed to rain. We'll see....

Bike stuff

I've decided to name this year "the year of the bike" for our family. Yes, I realize we're only four days into it so far, but I'm going to be optimistic. :-)

DH used to ride a lot before we met. He gets this nostalgic look whenever he talks about it, and the kids are approaching the ages where we can go out as a family and have a good time. So I got a new bike for Christmas, and we also got a bike trailer and tow hitch to get us all to the bike trails. Riding bikes on roads here in Tulsa is insane, so people drive to the bike paths where they can ride in peace.

Here's my new bike:


And here's the boy in the new trailer:

And a little bit different view, with no children.

So far I set it up (including the handle and front wheel for the stroller set-up) and we walked to pick up Gillian from school. It does fit both children, but it gets heavy when Gillian gets in. She's 46+ pounds so that makes sense. Of course it could also have felt heavy because I hadn't noticed that the tires weren't inflated properly. LOL! They're big tires--20"--and go over bumps with no problem.

Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to go out as a family and ride around. I think Gillian really wants to ride her new scooter, which will make it easier on DH to pull just Ryan in the trailer. :-)