No more training wheels

I don't know what it is about fall and teaching our kids to ride their bike without training wheels, but that is when we have taught all three of our boys!

Sunday evening as I was sitting in the garage waiting for Jared to get supper done on the grill I asked Braylon if he wanted to take his training wheels off of his bike. He answered rather quickly.... NO! I said, "ok, but your brothers could do it when they were 4." That changed his mind really fast. He decided that he would let us take those wheels off.

So since supper was almost ready I told him we would do it after supper and I headed in to finish up the stuff in the house. I couldn't figure out why it was taking them all so long to come in to eat. Then it hit me, they are probably out there teaching him how to ride without those training wheels. So this is the conversation I had with myself as I went to check....

"They better not be"
"You know they are"
"They wouldn't do that, they knew you wanted to see it"
"They are men, they don't think like that"
"Keep your cool...."
"Man, I just wanna scream"
"It's just a bike ride"
"No it's not!!!! It's his FIRST bike ride without training wheels"

Open the door.......

"Seriously, are you guys teaching him to ride his bike without training wheels?" All eyes turned to me!

Braylon looking so proud looked right at me and said, "Look Mommy, I can do it!!"

How could I get mad? He was so proud, but.....

I wanted to cry.... 1) because they did it without me getting to see my baby ride without training wheels for his very first time, 2) because where did my little boy go? he has grown up so fast and 3)this was the last one of my kids that I would get to watch ride their bike for their very first time without training wheels and my family didn't have the courtesy to wait till after supper or to at least come in and tell me to come watch!

So I took pictures, I cheered him on and felt my heart break in a million pieces all at once!

It was getting rather dark, I was upset, and I still don't know how to run my new camera so please disregard the blurry, not so good pictures of Braylon's First Night (not time) riding his bike without training wheels.

There he goes

Boots and all!! Can you see that big ole grin on his face?

He thought crashing was the best thing ever and hit this tree several times, on purpose!

Oh Braylon, where did my baby go? It seems just like yesterday we were finding out that we were going to have baby #3 and here you are 4 years later, riding your bike without training wheels. I am so happy to see you grow up and to see you conquer new and fun things, but I am also so very sad.

Love ya little man!

1st day of school for 2010

I can not believe that I have a 6th grader and a 1st grader already. This time next year I will be sending my youngest off to Kindergarten. My, my, where does the time go???

Here are some pictures from our morning as we were getting ready to head down to the end of the road to get them on the bus. They were really not wanting to take pictures, but I reminded them that we do it EVERY.YEAR and that they might as well get used to it b/c they will be getting them EVERY.YEAR until they leave for college:) That made them super happy.

Braxton has Mrs. Kaden this year in 6th grade. He will be changing classes 3 times throughout the day and will hopefully be learning a lot. He is a great kid and does a good job in school.




Mr. Cool here.... Bronson, is in 1st grade. His teacher is one of my greatest friends, Mrs. Frederick. He will be changing classes one time throughout the day. This is a little bit different than what they generally do, but I think it will be great for the kids and the teachers. Bronson is a very sociable kid (not sure where he gets that) and tends to struggle just a little bit. He has had some tutoring from some great teachers and is doing so much better. I know that he will have a great teacher this year that will be on top of him and make sure he is doing good and will make sure he gets what he needs.



I am super excited to see the kids through this year. I can't wait to see how much they mature, learn and branch out a little bit more on their own.

Here is to a great year for my kids and their teachers.

Tidbit

Just wanted to post this so I wouldn't forget about it someday.

As I was dropping the boys off at Dad's on Monday morning I told them to have a rotten day. I love saying this to them. They know I am totally kidding. Then this is how the rest of the conversation went.....

Me: No, seriously boys have a great day.

Bronson: K

Braxton: Any day with Da (my dad) is a great day!!!

Me: silence

Me: Love ya

Boys: Love ya too

This made my heart just swell!!! Braxton is so close with my dad. I know when I told my dad this he was so proud and his heart just swelled too.

So just a little morning tidbit that I didn't want to ever forget about.

Have a great day!

Take a look below

I have been so far behind that I uploaded all my pictures one night to my blog and then finished the posts as I could, so take a look below at the last 12 posts that I have done in the last week, but all say that I posted them on one day.

Hopefully I am somewhat caught up now and won't ever let that happen again!!!

Slippin' and a Slidin'

We were going to have Braylon's best friend, Logan for a weekend so we decided to get us a slip and slide so they could play outside all weekend. They loved this thing!!! They played, played and played some more.

Pitchin a tent

We have been trying for the last several years to do a little Shaw/Frederick vacation for a weekend. I think last year was our first year in several years that we didn't do the whole family outing, but we did manage to get a couple's only weekend in instead that year.

This year we went camping in Macon. It was a beautiful campground, fantastic weather and a super fun and relaxing time with great friends! We swam, fished, hung out, took walks and smelled like..... dirty skanky sweat bombs!

I love having these memories!

Riding their bikes

We left on Bronson's Birthday so we put a candle in a cookie to celebrate for him.

Roasting weinies!

Fishing!

Such a cutie pie!

Our home for the weekend

The men making our supper

MMMMM, smores!

I love this picture of Jared and Braxton

Best Buds!!!

Bronson's 7th Birthday Party

I can't even believe that Bronson is 7 already!!! Where in the world has the time gone???

This year he wanted a fishing cake, a hunting cake, a camo cake and then he finally decided he wanted a Cardinal's cake. It was very yummy ice cream cake.

We had a little get together with the grandparents and some close friends a couple of nights before his birthday. He made out pretty well.

New fishing stuff from his brothers

Swim shoes and a Cardinal tank top/shorts (his favorite outfit now) from the Buford's

This kid is so weird.... he wanted a Buddy's Place shirt so Grandma Teresa got him one:)

A new knife from Grandma and Da

Fishing pole from Grandma Teresa and Gramps

Tackle box from Grandma Margie

A new flat screen TV for his room from us and Grandma Teresa & Gramps

New golf club from Grandma and Da

Sleeping bag from the Frederick's

A brand new Cardinal hat from the Dunlop's

Little Miss Maty getting in on the action

Our traditional family picture at every one of the boys' birthday parties

All the kiddo's

Trying to act so cool!

He is windy enough to blow them all out at once

Happy Birthday to my favorite middle boy, Bronson Lee!

You have been such a joy to watch grow these last 7 years. I can see myself in you more and more each day.

Thanks for being YOU, Bronie Butt:)