The three R's......

.....could stand for so many things. The three little Rineharts....(sure)...... In the life of a teacher we could be talking about Reading, Riting, and Rithmatic (but hey, it's still summer...so we are not going there!) No, today the three R's stand for Rollerskating, Riding Bikes, and playing in the Rain.

After receiving roller skates for his birthday Jon could not wait to try them out. And, like any normal little sister, Kayla saw how much fun Jon was having and had to have a pair of skates for herself. They both got to try them out today and they had so much fun! They really did catch on pretty fast...but, we still had our fair share of tumbles.




It really makes me laugh to think back to Tracey and me roller skating on the small cement pad in the back yard. We always pretended that we were ice skating and tried to do all the tricks that we could copy: turning in circles, skating backward, trying to lift our leg behind us....(roller skates are HEAVY!) I know that there is no way that Mom and Dad could have gotten us to put on all the safety gear that I piled on the kids...helmets and elbow, knee, and wrist pads....they must have had a heart attack every time we put those silly skates on!

Just as Jon and Kayla were getting the hang of rolling around on their skates it started to rain on them. At least it was a nice summer rain without the lightening and thunder of a storm. So instead of calling it a day they decided to play in the rain. They rode their bikes and all three of them found some puddles to splash in. I think the puddle splashing was Lily's favorite part!! They were soaked, but had a great time!

Getting Older

The boys in family keep getting older and older. It is hard to believe that Jon is now 6 and Jamie is solidly in his third decade!! At least he will always be older than I am....that makes being 30 a little easier to swallow.

Jonathon got to have a small celebration on his actual "birth" day and got a new Dinosaur DS game from Mom and Dad. However, we saved the big party for Saturday so that we could celebrate both Jamie and Jon's birthday together. We had a great time. The party was at Jim and Debbie's and the majority of the family was represented. It was so nice to hang out and talk with everyone.

Jonathon wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday...which took the pressure of baking a cake off of my shoulders. Probably a good thing since the family isn't big into cake but can eat our weight in ice cream!



So who exactly is turning 6 and who is turning 31? A little hard to tell the difference!


Jonathon got his own little birthday cake on Wednesday so that he could blow out the candles on his own.


The one thing Jonathon really wanted for his birthday was a pair of roller skates. They were repeatedly asked for and moved to the top of his birthday list. Great Grandma and Grandpa Rinehart made his wish come true. As you can see he just lit up when he saw them. Not to worry for the safety conscious....he also got all the safety gear that goes with them!


Jonathon was spoiled with so many great gifts. He is still into Star Wars (much to Daddy's delight) and got some cool new toys to add to his collection. He also got lots of new clothes, video games, toys, and some of Grandma's homemade chocolate chip cookies. Now we just have to find room for all of his new stuff.


Happy Birthday Daddy and Jon!

And the winner is......

So, Jonathon won the prize for "First Visit to the Emergency Room", Kayla got the prize for "First Surgery", but Lily had to push the envelope and surge ahead of both of them, not only did she receive the prize for "First Extended Stay in the Hospital" a mere week after she was born....oh no, that wasn't enough for her!! Today she shoots to the head of the pack and wins the award for "First Child to Get Stitches".

After her shower this morning, Lily was playing in the living room on her little purple chair, when she got a little over excited when Clifford came on. She started rocking her chair and over it went! Her poor little face went straight into Jamie's tuner. She totally split her lip open. Blood everywhere and me wrapped in my towel!!! Why is it that these types of accidents never happen when you have two parents at home? Nope, it's me all alone trying to figure out whether I am over-rereacting and her injury isn't really that bad, or if she really does need stitches. I hate making decisions like this!!

I ended up taking Lily in to the Emergency Room (we finally get to use the accident insurance that I signed up for and Jamie has to stop giving me a hard time!) and she did have to get stitches. Four of them. Two on the inside of her lip and two on the outside. She handled it like a trooper and got lots of compliments from the hospital staff. She even got a new teddy bear out of the event. It has lovingly been named, Stitches!

The worst day....

Today was one of the worst days I've had in a long time. It all started early this morning when I started off to work and got a mile or so from home and realized I forgot my sunglasses and eye drops at home, so I went back to get them. I then got to work and broke one of the kids toys I was giving to my boss as a hand me down, literally as I was handing it to them. A canceled testing session that ended up in me calling into an executive meeting via video conference. My golf cart ran out of batteries in the middle of the street on my way back to the shop. And Jenni called me about Lily's accident (read the post above). I got home and started cooking dinner on the grill, Jenni walked into the room and said, "ummm....the grill is on fire." I through the lid open and it was seriously on fire, some of the built up grease from the hamburgers the other day lit on fire. So, I turned off the gas and taught Jenni how to use baking soda to put out a fire.

All in all, it was a pretty crappy day.

Jon's bike ride

I don't know if you remember the blog posting about the dog awhile back where I explained that parents should not open their fat mouths until they know all the facts. Well....I didn't listen to my own advice. Earlier this summer I told Jon that I'd buy him a brand new bike as soon as he learned how to ride his without training wheels. I figured that would buy me some time, because no kid learns how to ride a bike the first time. Recently, Jon has been asking me to take the wheels off his bike because he thought he was ready to try it out. I, like a good dad, kept saying, "remind me and I'll take them off tomorrow." And tonight was the night, I no sooner climbed out of the car than he was attacking me with the request to remove them, so I obliged and told him to get his helmet because I was sure he was going to crash and burn. And here's the video of his first try.



I guess I owe the kid a bike.

Rock Stars

So the kids finished up bible school this week and remembered that we own a karaoke machine...that meant it was time for a rock concert in the living room.
Jon spent the week being a Red Raccoon and Kayla belonged to the Purple "smelly" skunks. They had a great time and Jon's group was the proud recipient of the prized "Golden Boot" four times. He will proudly tell anyone who will listen to him!! Kayla's favorite day was crazy hair day....it fit in well with our rock concert.

Slip and Slide

Alright, it's been years since you've even thought of a slip and slide...and I'll tell you why. BECAUSE IT ISN'T MEANT FOR ADULTS. Our friend Laura gave Jon a slip and slide for an early b-day present and we broke it out almost immediately. The kids really didn't get the idea of how it worked so ole dad had to demonstrate the proper slip and slide technique, but there were two things wrong with this idea:

1. Dad never had a slip and slide growing up and was winging it.
2. Slip and slides aren't meant for adults!

The new versions of this classic toy come with an inflatable sled, and my first pass at this toy was a success and kind of fun. Then I got cocky and tried it again, but on this pass I started running, entered into perfect face-first diving technique, hit the ground and started my slide...and all heck broke loose. The stupid sled skidded to a halt as soon as I hit the plastic, my momentum carried me over the sled at a good rate and the impact left me breathless and i proceeded down the track in such an elegant form that the kids, my in-laws, and Jenni (imagine that) were wiping tears off their faces from the laughter. I finally got the wind back into my lungs and rubbed the emerging red spot on my entire chest and officially proclaimed the slip and slide a kids toy. We all had a lot of fun with it.

Jon is a pretty good slider,

Kayla doesn't know how to slide (can you blame her for not wanting to learn after watching my debacle),

and Lily just likes to play in the water spouts. Being summer you can imagine all of the water fun we're having.

T-ball

One of the fun things about summer this year has been t-ball. We play in this little league that is called "Just 4 Fun" and that is how they run the league. The t-ball games don't keep score, every kid gets to bat, and coaches are on the field to help the kids with the rules of the game and for tips. Last year both kids played, but Kayla was the typical little girl player who was more interested in the flowers than the game. But this year Kayla was just as into the game as Jon and they had a blast playing both in the field and batting. Jon is getting to be a pretty good batter and will be in coach pitch for sure next year. I don't know how much longer old dad can help coach, my baseball knowledge only goes so far, but I'm having a good time. Maybe next year we can get that old softball spirit out of Jenni and she can take on the coaching duties?