Ten on Tuesday v.5

1. My sister is having her baby RIGHT NOW and I'm dying that I'm not there. I mean, I didn't really think I'd be there in the hospital with her, but I thought I'd be in the same state. Guess I'm going to have to wait 8 whole days to see Miss Avery, and this makes me surprisingly sad.

2. We've had a crazy fun week. June tends to be that way, with so many events to celebrate, in addition to regular summer fun. 

3. We started with Marie's birthday (another post coming), which I think lived up to all of the anticipation. She got breakfast in bed, wanted to go berry picking (Bucket List #24), helped me make her Hello Kitty cake, had her favorite dinner, and got a mammoth-sized Barbie house. 5-year-old heaven.

4. Speaking of which, she chose Isaac's for dinner that night, much to the chagrin of Kyle, who was rooting for Red Robin. Man, he really worked on her - begging, bribing, and threatening until I threatened him in return. But I was proud of her, she held her own and stuck to her guns. She usually gives in to him on everything.

5. Funny thing is, she's not really a pushover, she just likes making other people happy. So am I proud of her for being selfish?? I'd like to think she just knew it was the one day she could look out for herself. :)

6. We went on a family bike ride the other day. We've only done that a couple of times before. So we decided to go big and bike 9 miles into Mt. Gretna (Bucket List #4), stop for some dinner and ice cream, and bike 9 miles back. The only problem: 18 miles is a pretty long distance for us non-bikers! Let me just say, there were definite doubts along the way...

7. Surprisingly, although there were doubts, there were no complaints. I'll say it again: NO COMPLAINTS! Unheard of. The kids were rock stars. And we had a blast. Even though we severely underestimated the time it would take us, and were riding back in the dark - just us, the fireflies, and the boogeyman.

8. Speaking of which, Kyle has turned into a hard worker! And that exclamation point is for good reason. It's not his fault, it's ours. But we're determined to instill the value of hard work, and it looks like it's finally working. He does his chores without complaints (usually), he's agreeable when Kevin asks him to help with something extra, and he helped Kevin install a neighbor's pool liner. Not to mention that he's out running a mile or two everyday.

9. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. Knock on wood...

10. And lastly, yesterday Kevin and I celebrated 13 years! It was without much fanfare or excitement, but I'll just say this: I love him a million times more than I did 13 years ago, and I'm so happy to be doing life and raising a family with him. And I love that he's mine forever. We went out for sushi, fro-yo, and a little shopping. And this is all we have to show for the day: