5 is the magic number

5 seems to really be the magic numbered. We tried last year for Jackson to do swim lessons and tried for him to do his bike with no training wheels and he was not having it. He kept telling us..."Not until I'm 5!" We kind of thought it was a master stall tactic but we decided to wait to continue when he was 5. Crazy enough our stubborn boy turned 5 and is now doing swim lessons willingly. I should note I'm not allowed to watch him in the pool but the report from his teacher is great. And today he mastered riding his big boy 2 wheeled bike. We are officially done with the balance bike and are ready for the Sunriver bike trails. It took us awhile but when he was ready, he was ready.  Now if we could just get him to like hair cuts. 

Breakfast at Gram's

We skipped church and headed to Gram's for a delicious breakfast. The kids were so excited that Uncle Tommy, Aunt Irina, and Uncle Tommy's phone would be there.  Even better than the yummy food and adults were all the little loves. I got to snuggle with sweet Marisa. She is the sweetest baby. Emmeline loved playing hair salon with Aunt Irina and got the most beautiful braids done in her hair. She looked so grown up. Looks like it's time for mommy to watch some YouTube videos on braiding.

My crew taught Jacob all sorts of naughty new tricks but the cutest was Emmeline reading to Jacob. She wanted to practice being a teacher so she insisted she read it upside down. Surprisingly with as much as she struggles with reading she did amazing with it upside down. Maybe we are on to something???

Happy Birthday Ruth

Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet niece Ruth! Ruthie was as cute as ever at her party. It was the cutest theme and her mama did a great job. Emmeline was still batting a nasty bug but the boys and I had a blast playing with animals, riding ponies, playing, and eating delicious food! Miss Ruthie we have loved watching you grow this year and can't wait to see everything you do this year. 

Road block

Tonight the kids and I had a lesson in being flexible. We left our house to head to Awanas to find a sea of lights and police cars. At the bottom of the street we saw what must be the pride of the Vacaville PD - a brand new shiny SWAT vehicle. We had received a reverse 911 call and had several texts telling us about the situation just up the street but really didn't get the extent of the situation. Sadly a man up the street held himself up in his house and was not stable. When we left for Awanas I never really thought it would escalate to the point it did. We headed home to full road block. No one was now allowed in or out and people were now told to stay indoors. The kids did so great and went with the flow. We ended up having a last minute sleep over at Nonie and Papa's house. Nonie and Papa were so great letting us crash there. We didn't have anything with us, but we got them settled and in bed they were excited.  The police department did a great job of keeping the neighborhood informed. Chris enjoyed a quiet night locked in the house with Jet. I decided to try and stay up and see how the stand off would end. I could hear a loud pop and held my breath wondering who it came from. About 45 minutes there was another pop and a huge flash. My friend who lives down the street  told me they received a message that he was detained but the street would be closed for awhile still. At 12:45 I was able to go to sleep thankful that no officers were harmed and thankful that the neighbor didn't get his wish of S.B.C. What a long day and night for so many. So thankful my kids handled it so well. In the morning they were very excited to go home and see  jet and  head to school. Of course the first thing they said at school is ... We couldn't sleep at our house because a bad guy wasn't safe with a gun. Yikes- I quickly clarified that with their teacher.