The Lundahls

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Ezra on two wheels

It's always nice when your kids surprise you with new skills. We've spent a lot of time at the park lately so as to give Eliza and Ezra plenty of cruising-time on their pedal-less bikes. The theory was that if they get enough time balancing without their pedals then by the time we put the pedals back on, they are equipped with the right skills.

I had my doubts.

Ezra has proven a more eager student--possibly because he has no fear of trying new things. And, it helps that his best friend took his pedals off of his bike to learn too.

Well, just a few days ago Ezra's best friend decided he was ready, and learned to ride sans his pedals! Upon seeing him ride around the park for a few minutes, Ezra came to me and stated, "Mom, can we go home now? I think I am ready to put my pedals back on."

It was suggested that perhaps his friend would give him a turn on the bike with pedals. So, Ezra gladly got on his friend's bike, pushed off and started to ride!! It was amazing! He looked like a pro right from the start!

Here he is just minutes later:

I am so glad we skipped the whole training wheels and holding-onto-the-back-of-the-seat bit. That looks exhausting.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentines!

Despite the fact that I had a million other things to do this week, I decided to complicate my life by attempting to bake. Oh yes. Me. Baking. It's not that I am a horrible cook. I can follow a recipe if I have one, but I don't have the experience in the kitchen that lends to "instinct". Thus, I spent a few more hours failing in the kitchen in the last 24 hours than I'd like. But, in the end, the Preschool Valentines party was a success. I enjoyed myself, and the kids did too. Here's a sample of the goodies I made... can you smell the chocolate wafting through the screen??

Can you spot a cupid's arrow?

Brownie Pops dipped in melted candy. Not the prettiest. Well, let's be honest, they are down-right messy. But...mmm....

A colorful array of sugar, don't you think?

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Growing Peach Trees and Kids

Well, it's time for my monthly post. Seems I don't get a chance to post as often as I'd like, nor do I take as many pictures of my kids as I used to. (Ashlyn's childhood is seriously lacking in documentation so far!) But, I do what I can.

The last few weeks I have been marking my time by the growth of my peach tree. See, a couple of weeks ago I took the advice of a nice man from Minnesota ("dontcha kno'?") who made an infomative 8 minute YouTube video on how to prune peach trees. He pruned an entire peach tree in 4 minutes flat and it looked like an upside-down broken umbrella when he was done (on purpose, mind). I was a little shocked at how much of the growth he cut off--everything skinnier than a "pencil" got chopped off completely and then he cut just about everything else back by about half! I had to give myself a little pep-talk before I made that kind of dramatic sheering on my little 3-year-old tree. But, before I knew it, I was hacking away! My peach tree went from a huge bush of "sticks" to a skeleton. Shocking. Eliza kept saying, "Mom, but how will the tree grow if you keep cutting it back?"

Fantastic question, Eliza.

I was so tempted to get into a beautiful speech about the importance of pruning back the unnecessary things in our lives to make room for growth of the essentials, but I didn't. I simply said, "Sometimes you gotta cut the tree back to help it grow later."

And so, for days I held my breath to see how my little peach tree would fair. Did I kill it? Is it too shocked at losing so much of it's appendages?? I was so worried that I had cut too much...

Then, about a week ago, Eliza screamed from the yard for me to come see the tree. (Apparently I wasn't the only one worried about the poor thing!)

I came out and saw this:

Not only was the tree alive, but it has started to blossom!

{Exhale}

Looks like I did right.

In other news, Ezra is growing up. It's so surreal for me how much of little man he is now instead of a toddler. Just recently he threw a fit about something (it escapes me what it was about...) and so I sent him to his room and told him he could come back when he was calm.

He got quiet in there a few minutes later so I went to check on him (thinking he'd cried himself to sleep), but he was just lying on the floor with his blanket sucking his thumb. He looked so sweet and childlike in that position. But then, he defied my assessment by sitting up and looking straight into my eyes and with tears welling up in them he said, "Mom, I am really, really sorry. I shouldn't have thrown a fit like that." And then he gave me a great big hug and a sweet, sincere kiss on the cheek.

{Heart clenching}

He has come a long way. Even months before he wouldn't have acted with that type of maturity to understand his folly and try to make restitution.

I'll happily log this Mommy Moment away in my "Jewels" file.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Somebody just got a Wacom

I am beaming.

I am staring at this beautiful, shiny black tablet with awe and excitement. It's all mine: a Wacom Intuous4 Tablet. Don't know what that is?

Take a gander...

This baby is going to make my life in web design expand to a life in graphic design, which then will make my life in web design sooo much easier.

That is, after I learn how to use it. {Insert belly laugh}

Sunday, January 8, 2012

We hiked a mountain.

"Mom, can we hike another mountain today?"

That was what Ezra asked me as we drove home from Church today. A big smile crossed my face and I got that surge of parental pride. My son is an adventurer! But not just him...

Yesterday our little family decided to hike Camelback Mountain. Shiloh and I did this hike several times when we were dating and married, and it happens to be the spot where Shiloh proposed to me. Needless to say, it's a place we love.

But, we hadn't hiked this in YEARS. I think the last time we did it was New Years 2006, with baby Eliza in tow. So, on a whim we decided to resurrect the tradition. We told the kids the night before and they were bouncing off the walls with the excitement of hiking to the top of a mountain!

Here they are at the base getting ready to go (practically bursting with excitement):

The trail was pretty well traveled for the first half mile. There are rails and stairs here and there:

Beforehand, I told the kids that a large part of hiking was sticking together as a family. So, Shiloh and I each "spotted" a child all the way up and down. It's difficult to tell from the above picture, but this little section is incredibly steep. In fact, on the way back down Eliza just held onto the rail and intermittently slid down to Shiloh.

The kids could *not* have done this hike on their own--it was far too steep and there was a ton of climbing over large rocks and boulders, but it was a beautiful example of trust and teamwork to have each child with a parent to aid their direction and keep them safe. My heart was just bursting with all the symbolism of this hike. (Can't wait to pull it into teaching opportunities down the road!) Eliza kept saying, "I am going to remember this day FOREVER!"

Here's my little hiking buddy:

After about 1.5 hours, we made it to the top and here was what we saw!

Amazing, right?

The summit is not very big. (No joke, it didn't seem much larger than my downstairs.) And there are CLIFFS on 3 of the 4 sides. (Yes, that is a cliff behind Shiloh). So it was a little nerve-racking when we got to the top and, of course, Ashlyn wanted to get out of the backpack. I conceded, but I was not so daring as to let her out of my arms!

The aforementioned cliff is behind Eliza now... She was still within my reach though--trusty mama bear instincts coming through.

The descent took a little longer than the ascent due to the kids needing far more help. (Who knew it would be harder to get down off boulders, than get up them!?) So, the entire hike took about 3.5 hours.

I have never been more proud of my kids than I was as we stepped across the threshold into the base of the hike. it was a much harder hike than I remember (I used to do the entire thing in 1.5 hours!). I was sore and thirsty, but my kids stayed positive and energetic the entire hike.

As we reached the end Ezra proclaimed, "Mom, this was the best day ever!" I couldn't have agreed more.