Just another manic monday...

We had a house-full of fun this morning. We've been planning a bike celebration for a couple of weeks, but the weather has not been cooperating with us. Our plan was to have all of our friends over for a bike parade but it just didn't quite happen. This morning we went ahead with it anyway and the kids had a great time. There were just a few involved, but they made their bikes beautiful and then rode around on the street together for a while. It's been a bit chilly these last few days - but kids never notice that kind of thing if there is something fun to do.




This masterpiece of spoke weaving on Liv's bike was done by Liv's oldest cousin Maggie. I love seeing older kids and younger kids work together and help each other out. This happens a lot at our homeschooler's playgroup and at the co-op we were attending last winter. There is a natural flow of play between all of the age groups in homeschooling circles. You can see how the older children are learning to consider the needs of others when they look out for the little kids. And not only that... they are experiencing the joy of watching babies and toddlers grow. Last week Maggie was looking after Ivy for a few minutes and they came up with this -


A tea party in the play room for a dinosaur and a sleeping baby (this is Ivy's favorite doll - her name is Sh-Sh).

I believe that Maggie was following orders here - Ivy was directing the play. She watched intently as Maggie served tea to Tiger-Lily, our lazy pregnant cat.
She actually drank her cup of tea but when Ivy went towards her to take the cup she gave her a nasty scratch. Ivy is a slow learner when it comes to the cats. She gets scratched all the time but it doesn't stop her from trying to grab their tails or lie on them like they are pillows.

Which reminds me of a little story... two nights ago I was awoken from a deep sleep by some very primal sounding screams coming from Derek. I sat up - adrenaline pumping - to see if he was ok. He told me that he heard the cat hiss at something outside and then with no warning, she jumped off the window sill and onto Derek. Then she leapt from his chest onto Liv's bunk bed. The next morning I could not believe my eyes! He had several nasty puncture wounds on his chest and a wide scratch on his arm. I wish I could send a recording of Derek's scream to a film studio - it was definitely horror film quality.