The kids...

 

 You may have concluded by looking at these impressive pictures, but we now have 2 more kids who can ride a 2-wheeler.  Jon took Hallie around the block a few weeks ago until she had it (and she caught on pretty quickly).  Kale really wanted to learn how to ride the 2-wheeler last summer, so he made Jon take off his training wheels, and then could never ride his bike.  So, as soon as it got warm enough outside he just started trying to learn by himself.  Kale has been outside every day this week starting at 9:30 and has been outside almost all day.  He finally got the hang of it yesterday.  I loved watching him out there (it was too cold still for me to venture outside) trying over and over again to stay on his bike.  I love that he didn't give up when it was hard for him, even after seeing how easy it was for Hallie to pick it up.  I'm sure lots of kids (and adults for that matter) would just assume they couldn't get it, but not Kale.  He just kept trying and falling, and then trying some more until he got it.  We've got some pretty awesome kids.

 A few days ago Hallie and Kale were playing at friends houses, so Rachel and Sky were left to their own devices.  I thought Rachel might hermit down in her room and just read as she is wont to do sometimes (who knows where she picked up that habit), but instead she thought up lots of fun things to do with Sky.  They played outside together, and then came in and had a tea party -- with Rachel's real glass tea set -- with a select few dolls and animals.  Then they made bracelets and had reading time.  I just loved seeing the 2 of them play together without the other kids -- it's such a different dynamic than when they're all together.  It was such a sweet moment for me to see how loving and attentive Rachel was to Sky.

 And now one last thing.  The girls were in their school musical last week -- it was Alice in Wonderland.  Rachel was a card soldier and Hallie was a white rabbit.  They loved it!  I felt so proud watching them perform their little songs with their groups.  Both girls knew all their words and actions and they were both among the most responsible kids in their groups (I know because I had to help out at lots of practices).  Thanks to those who came to support them in this -- it really meant a lot to them.

Last night, as I was going through Hallie's backpack, I found a paper she had done at school.  At the top she had drawn a picture, and then underneath it she had written this: "I can be honest.  I can cep seqits."  I puzzled over this for most of the night, trying to figure out whether she was learning Spanish (because any word that has a q in it is obviously part of the Spanish language) and what it could mean.  I finally realized that the second part said "keep secrets".  Since Hallie can't say her r's, it sounds like "secwets" when she says it, and "seqits" was how she decided to spell it.  It made me smile.

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