Bikes, Beets, Smoothies, and Sunshine!

After riding horses over the weekend I came to the realization that Parenting children is like riding a horse. You must stay calm, they can sense your fear and will take advantage of it, when (not if) you get thrown off you absolutely must get back on. No yelling, they spook easily and feel nervous when the rider is not in control. Kind words of encouragement and a gentle touch go a long way. I came to this revelation on Monday morning when I was trying make my child ride her bike. She had not ridden said bile in over 6 months. She completely freaked out, cried, and over reacted.  She is still using training wheels so I don't get what the big deal was, but she was terrified to ride it. She cried and was shaking. I just walked slowly beside her for a while until she felt comfortable. During which time I had a little counseling moment with her about the difference between "Can't do it" and being afraid to do it. Now she is speeding around the neighborhood again. Man, when those training wheels finally do come off she will be a speeding bullet. When Max came home from work that day she told him how she conquered her fear! I'm said to say she seems to have inherited her mother's fear of failure. She would rather not try than fail. 

Monday was so hot! After going to the park we had to cool off so we busted out the slip N slide.

Rhett ate sand while Kellyn rested :)

I asked Rhett if he had been eating sand. He said, "You not ask me that, Mommy." as sand falls out of his mouth.

Kellyn resting after slipping N sliding. 

Our roses are making a come back!

Tuesday

Kellyn was at preschool so Rhett and I made smoothies and poured them into juice pops. We put carrots, kale, blueberries, a lot of honey and some orange juice in them. 

Rhett played while Lily napped :)

We played outside and got dirty for the next few hours until it was time to pick up Kellyn. At one point I came inside to fold the laundry and could hear him singing while playing in the sand. It was the sweetest sound to a mother's ears. 

When Kellyn got home we checked our beets and saw that one looked ready to pull. We pulled it and saw that it was so huge! I feel like a real beet farmer. Just call me Dwight Shrute of Shrute Farms :)