weekend update

I love these holiday Monday mornings.  I love the whole second semester of school.  It seems there is a holiday every other week.  Such a nice gift in the winter when we are all a little weary of school, but the last day of school is still months away!

Saturday a couple of fun things happened.  Emma learned to ride a bike.  She's 8, in third grade and has just never taken the plunge to get on a bike.  She really doesn't have a big bike her size that's all her own.  I think she got her last bike when she was 3 or 4, so she's due for a new one.  (And I have it from a reliable source that Santa was ready to get her one until she asked for a clarinet instead!)  But since there are 3 kids older than Emma, there is a bike in her size.  We convinced her to try it out Saturday.

It took her about 3 tries to figure it out.  I had gone for a short walk.  When I left they were filling the tires on the bike.  When I came home 30 minutes later, Emma was riding all around.  We have a great spot to learn to ride.  It's a cul-de-sac with just enough of an incline to make "starting" a whole lot easier without getting too much speed.

Clay also got on his new bike (from Santa) and got a feel for it too.  Oh, and Kelli on her little bike with the training wheels?  Too cute.

Earlier on Saturday, the cat was outside with the dog.  The cat is black, about 6-7 months old and feisty as anything!  The dog is white (a German shepherd) and about 10 years old and doesn't move very fast at all!

Kelli opened the door to go outside and Duane heard this awful animal screaming sound.  He looked and there was a woodpecker on the ground with the dog and cat standing over it.  The cat had caught the woodpecker and mortally injured it.  The dog picked the bird up in his mouth, gave it a chomp and put it out of its misery.  Thankfully the dog then dropped the bird.

Duane had them both come inside while we disposed of the bird.  Makes me a little nervous to think about getting chicks this spring again.  We'll have to keep the cat away until they are big enough to stand up to him!