The O'Fallon Cycling Club

The kids and I went with mom's cycling group on a bike ride. I had Elise, Carter, and Lauryn with me on a weekend to St. Louis and I brought my bike trailer along. We hooked it to mom's bike and she said she'd pull it and I put Elise in a double sling on my back. Mom was such a trooper. The picture below was at the halfway point just before we turned around. We took a little breather :) Not including the trailer, she was pulling at least 95 pounds! You can see Lauryn's face smiling in the trailer window. Go Grandma!

I love this shot of mom emerging out of the tunnel, you can almost hear the theme song from 'Chariots of Fire' in the background! :)

I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...!

This is Elise peaking out of her pouch on my back.

She sat in the sling for the whole 45 minutes while I rode down the trail. She just looked around at the beautiful scenery. Never made a peep.

Lauryn's Dance Class

Lauryn is starting dance. She takes Ballet, Tap and Jazz from a little local studio. It is really good for her to have something of her own and she's taken to it well. She definitely has the posing down. These are two of about 10 different oh-so-graceful-and-beautious poses! :)

A Post For Grant

I started noticing that there weren't really that many pictures of Grant on the blog lately, so I took him to the front porch and did a little impromptu photo shoot with him. He's going through such a cute big boy phase. He's growing up so fast, but still the sweet guy he's been since day one. I feel like a lucky mom to have him. :)

Lauryn's Daddy Date

Lauryn got a new "ball gown" from a friend of ours and was so excited and wondering where she was going to wear it. Soon, she came running in to me telling me that daddy was going to take her on a date to the "nicest restaurant we could afford" and he was going to dress up and she wanted me to fix her hair and on and on. When the night finally came, it was like she was getting ready for prom. We got her all gussied up and then she and daddy went out to a local steak house. They had a magical time and I heard about all the wonderful details the next day. It was a special memory for the two of them.

Baby Wrap

I've used this baby wrap with the baby on the front before and I was waiting for Elise to be old enough for me to do it with her on my back. She loved it and stayed on my back for 2 hours. The first hour she stayed awake while I worked around the house and got tons done. The second hour she fell asleep. It was so cute.

Science Center

We went to the Science Center for a field trip the other day and there is a contraption that blows a stream of air and a beach ball balances at the top in mid-air. These next pictures are all shots of Elise who was completely in awe of the spectacle. She stared and gaped at the magical ball for five minutes or more. Long enough for me to get right up close and take these pictures standing over her and she didn't blink an eyelash :)

"Hmmm, I wonder if I can get this thing in my mouth without dropping it..."
"...steady...steady..."

"Jackpot!"

Carter got a hole in one! (Or ten)

Physics Lesson #1

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

The kids decided to each make a course down the water table and then have a race with their boats to see whose course was the fastest. I asked if I could join and we started making hypotheses. I said, "Hmmm, I think that if I do a straight line my boat will go down the fastest" Lauryn and Grant, I guess, didn't see the wisdom in this idea and each thought that a curvy line would be the fastest. It wasn't a fair race, really. I had the laws of science on my side. I kind of felt like it was cheating...my boat went down six times before the second place boat ever arrived. It was a fun science lesson for them, though:)
We also saw a 3-D dinosaur movie while we were there. After it was over they all wanted to go to the dinosaur dig pit. Carter was ecstatic that he found a dino skeleton just like on the movie.

What a great day...just one reason why I love homeschooling. :)

Elise with her Lamb at 7 Months