Settling in

So, I don't know if it was clear from that last post, but Ellie has been riding a Strider bike for the past couple of years (LOVE those things!) and just recently started badgering us for a bike with pedals. So I got on Craigslist and could not believe my eyes when I found a beautiful little hot pink Specialized bike (complete with white wicker basket) for sale for a fifth of what they go for new. And it was in great shape. "I can't believe a little girl owned this before us!" is what I must have repeated in awe to Joseph a million times because I just didn't understand how it was not trashed. All of our stuff is after about 6 months. Anyway, we somehow managed to snap that up and now Elinor is the proud - PROUD - owner of an awesome, high quality bike.

This morning was one of those lovely, idealistic times with little kids and perfect weather. I loved Jake's cool and casual slumming there on our front porch with a muffin and some lemonade. I also loved Elinor's little dog peeking out of the basket of her shiny new bike.

The cherry on top of this whole experience was how quickly she took to riding on two wheels with pedals. I was sure she wouldn't learn before she was four because we don't push these things and she hadn't shown interest until about two weeks ago, but she showed me! And she is completely independent now, starting and stopping with no assistance at all. I tell Joseph all the time (I'm sure he's sick of hearing it) that Striders make us look like much more attentive and intensive parents than we really are because our kids start riding two-wheelers SO young. Caleb was barely 3-1/2. At the rate Jake's going, he'll figure it out before he hits three. Aah, Strider bikes. I cannot sing your praises loudly enough.

In other news, we did move out of our non-child-friendly townhouse and into a great little neighborhood in Sunnyvale. This move was fabulous. We gave the movers the date, they told us they'd show up at nine, they unloaded all our stuff, we locked the house back up and were eating lunch comfortably back at corporate housing by 1pm. We slept in corporate housing until we could live more comfortably at the new rental, and gradually started spending more time there until we moved in officially.

Jake looking for some more challenging terrain on his Strider.

First day of school. Em and Caleb are back in public school this year and loving it.

There is a really great school just down the street from where we are, but it is full this year so we are driving a couple of miles to another school. There was the possibility of being called back to our home school, but Emily told me the other day that she wished she didn't have to go back, so that settled it in my mind. Both kids seem to prefer the overload school, so that is where we will stay for the time being.

We are always frequent visitors to the local library. It was awesome to see Caleb investigating this reading man and figuring out that he was a statue.

Sort of random here (okay, super random, but it's been sitting in my photo file forever now and I want to move it) - a couple of months ago my Mom flew me out to Salt Lake to run the half marathon "with" my sister. It was a crazy whirlwind trip - I left Friday afternoon, ran Saturday, got back Sunday morning in time for church. PS - Sarah is a speed demon. She finished in an hour and a half. I finished about 30 minutes later, and about 5 seconds before this picture was taken.

And... back to the kids. This was right before one of our last visits to the pool at our townhouse. The kids sure loved swimming! This is why Em is so dark in her first day of school picture!

We are loving our new home here in Sunnyvale. There is always so much to do and the weather is always so lovely! Come visit!