Rebecca's 4th Birthday

As you might know, Rebecca's birthday is on 3/17. Yep, St. Patrick's day. While I'm sure she'll find plenty of creative ways to spend her birthday, like, in college, we're still planning the kid-oriented parties. Last year's theme was Tinkerbell, this year it's My Little Pony.

She did the birthday thing in class, but left the real party for afterwards. Rebecca invited all of her classmates, and a few other friends, to Elm Grove park for an after-school lunch party. Everyone showed up and the parents stayed around chatting, snacking, etc. Then the pinata game was started. That thing worked like a champ and stood up to everyone's pummeling at least once (15 kids).

Of course, our planning was a little off. The pinata goodies were tiny My Little Pony rubber thingies and Tootsie Pops. After the scramble for goodies, we found that the kids could have cared less about the ponies. So, after everyone consumed their Tootsie Pops, it was time to boost our sugar intake with cupcakes. Plenty of energy left for everyone to hit the playground equipment for 15 minutes before going home.

Check out our photos.

Rachael's First Solo Bike Ride

Last Friday, Rachael did it! After weeks of practicing in the schoolyard, Rachael brought her bike-riding experience home and performed her first solo journey without training wheels. In the beginning, at school, she'd ask Mom to watch her bomb down the curved brick path -- crashing or taking out anyone in her way. Dad even got the chance to witness her tenacity.

So, today, she asked (for the 100th time) for Dad to remove her training wheels. Dad agreed, broke out the socket set and pulled the wheels off for good.

Here's the raw, uncut footage of Rachael's first bike ride without training wheels. We shot this in the alley behind our house. About 20 minutes following this video, Rachael and Dad did a glory ride around the block. Now she's got to learn to use the brakes instead of her feet!

We're excited (and a little terrified), to say the least.