Chef, Doctor, or BMXer?

Once we got through birthday festivities, July has been a pretty calm month.  The kids are still enjoying Hadley's birthday goodies, including the chef wear,

doctor kit (they will play with this with each other for a long time!),

and doll stroller (though the doll doesn't spend as much time in it as the kids do).

Owen has stepped up in big brother duties a bit by putting on H's shoes for me.  This is a small thing, but so wonderful to see them cooperate with each other and be helpful to me at the same time!  H has reached the independent stage of wanting to dress herself, buckle herself in, etc., so it's really nice that she lets her brother help her do this.

I still love family reading photos.  You may notice that Hadley is sitting on her daddy's neck in this one, but he was still able to read the story, "It's Hard to be Five."  (Owen has great expectations for turning 5, by the way.)

Hadley loves yogurt.  She fed it to herself with a spoon, but then decided to go a step further by rubbing it all over her face.  Maybe she heard about yogurt facials...?

The weather has warmed up even more, and we are spending a lot of time outdoors at parks, playgrounds, and parties.

H's first bikini!  (borrowed from a friend at a spontaneous backyard pool party)

Rory lives in the neighborhood and is just a week older than Hadley.  He had a minion party, and his momma said she was going to keep this picture to embarrass them before their first date in the teen years. :)

H loves to swing on these kinds of bars at the playground.  Always makes me nervous, but she is my little adventurer.  (Today she climbed to the top of one of those multi-story indoor playscapes and wasn't sure how to get down.  Luckily her brother escorted her down for me!)  Owen was too long to keep his legs up.  Ha ha!

They refilled in the wood chips at our local playground.  But, it wasn't very consistent - check out the high/low swings O had to choose from.

Oh, and before I forget...  This happened!  See anything missing from the back of his bike?!?!

We finally lowered his bike seat, and with just a few pushes, he was off to the races without training wheels. Once he got going around the block, he did not want to stop.  He must have circled the block at least 6 times!  Since we didn't have bikes or proper running shoes on, each parent took opposing corners of the block to keep an eye on him.  It was so awesome to see the light bulb go off, and now he LOVES riding his bike at any opportunity.  Hooray!