June showers bring July flowers?

Our week has been pretty rainy, and we've been doing a lot of indoor type of stuff: painting, playing with play dough, coupon shopping. We pulled into the store on Friday and Laura calls out from the back of the van, "Mom! Walmart Again?!" She's not used to going there once a week, we used to go when she was in preschool:)

The weather was nice and sunny on Friday so we headed to the hills for another family hike. Except this time my sweet hubby suggested I bring my mountain bike so I could get a chance on the trail. I really enjoyed it, although I'll be the first to admit that I am very much a beginner and this trail isn't a beginners! I don't have a lot of confidence, but that'll come. The wild snapdragons were all over the hillsides and the huge bumblebees were too! The girls had handfuls and Ryan didn't make a peep the whole time: he loves to just swing his feet and look around. I met up with them on the way back and we stopped at the stream. Laura tried to throw a rock into the creek to splash Brent and accidentally hit Eden in the back of the head. Yea. After we got her calmed down, fifteen minutes later, we enjoyed the rest of our adventure.

Eden is phasing out her naps, we moved her bed into Ryan's room, bedtime is going better, and Ryan is starting to crawl more often. But only when he's not in a hurry, scooting on his tummy is still faster on our wood floors. Still no teeth! The last few days we've been playing the girl's new favorite game: Hi-Ho Cherry-O. What fun...

Also, we finally got a piano! I have been diligently saving all my violin money and extra pennies for the last six or seven months and after finding a great deal on KSL, of course, we are now the proud owners of a Yamaha Clavinova. I love being able to play again. (I'm definitely going to take all my music with me now, Mom) And having a piano for teaching violin lessons will be great. Also the girls have been on it pretty much constantly and Laura asked for lessons. After the first day she was already playing Mary had a Little Lamb, after the second she moved onto Hot Cross Buns, and on the third we learned the notes of the right hand on the staff. I was so excited until I realized it was because I'm used to my violin students taking 4 or 5 months to get to that point. Piano is definitely an easier instrument to start out on! My other favorite features are the volume control, the recording feature so I can accompany myself on the violin, and the headphones. Otherwise the girls would already be driving me nuts. They love the demo songs.

And finally, Brent got another A on his most recent class. Yes, he's smart. S-M-R-T! We're all enjoying his month long break from school, I think he's on his third book already. In fact he's reading the DaVinci Code next to me right now:) Hope you had a great week too!