latest jerome family news

We'll this week Austin hit a couple of milestones. He lost his first tooth on his own. If you recall the post before, the first tooth that he lost was pulled out by Dr. Bob. He was soooo excited that when he bit into a pair at school it just popped out. That night he had to put it under his pillow and of course the best time to see if the tooth fairy had come is at 4am. And of course the tooth fairy didn't dissapoint so he had to share the information with dad at 4am. I dont mind, he was excited. The tooth fairy has setup a couple of special hunts for the kids which they loved in the past. Now every time they lose a tooth they talk about asking for a hunt.

The next big news is that he is VERY close to riding his bike on his own without training wheels. We usually spend a little time each night ,when it isn't raining, out front goofing around and riding scooters and things and I always ask him if he wants to ride his bike. A couple months ago he reluctantly agreed to take a spin after I assured him I would be right there with him. One up and down and he was done. He is a bit scared of course so I'm not pushing too hard. I just keep encouraging him and assuring him I'll be right there with him. This week he said no again but he gave me a pinky swear (That is the kids way of saying they promise) that he would try the next night. So the next night we got the bike out and his helmet and, oops, his helmet didn't fit any longer. So we got mine out and adjusted it to fit and we were ready to go. I guess we'll have to go out and get a properly sized one for the big guy, geez, losing teeth and growing out of his bike helmet. So I kicked the kick stand up and, "wait dad, I wanted to do that" says Austin, So we had to put the kick stand back down so he could kick it up. Now were set, and off we went. I'm barely hanging on and he is doing all the balancing himself. we went up and down a couple times and he was done. He got a little scared I think but he wasn't even close to crashing. "OK bud, we'll put it up." So off the the park by our house we go for a heated round of a rubber bouncing ball game.

10 minutes into the game Kort needs to use the restroom so while she was getting the helmet on Aussie and I took off. She was right behind us but coming down the hill she didn't want to use her front brake because she would flip over. She doesn't like using her rear break for some reason (We need to work on that) so I'm standing there and she is heading right towards me yelling that she cant stop. She is picking up speed and I'm getting set yelling "I'll get ya Kort". I'm standing there trying to figure out how I'm gonna get her but not get smashed by the bike. I didn't get it figured out in time and although we got her stopped she bumped her knee pretty good. We got her home, jammied up, how it's made on the TV and some ice for her knee.

Guess who wanted to ride his bike more? So we get out there and we start cruising up and down the street. I want to make sure he has confidence in me staying with him so I keep holding on, but I also want to show him that he can do it himself. So I let go and jogged next to him. He didn't even know it and when I told him he looked at me and had the biggest smile (less one tooth). It was precious. He was SOOOO proud of himself. That was enough excitement for him for one night so we rode back and put the bike away. I think he'll keep at it and before long he'll be on his own. That will be cool because for a couple years now Kort has been awesome at riding but we could only go as far as he could go with training wheels or not take him. It should be a fun summer of bike riding.

Thursday night the kids and I went to dinner at a chinese place and one of the owners came to take our order. She asked Kortne a question and Kort had something intelligent to say and from that point forward she was enthrawled with Kort. She came back and told her that she was a special girl and she asked her name and had her say it a few times. Then she came back and on the back of her order pad she asked her to spell her name. She said she knew Kortne was a special person and wanted to make sure she had her name right. She walked away and Kort said "I think I just gave her my autograph." She was all smiles and felt SOOO special. I'm not sure what that was all about but she definately thought Kort was something special. She is right, she is.

So it was a fun time with the kids this week. I just realized I didn't have any pictures to add to the blog so I'll work on that. The trees around here are blooming so I'll try to remember to take the camera to the park next time we go and get some pics.

Chow...

Do you have rocking chair moments?

I saw this video and had to share!



Occasionally I need a reminder of what is important in life. I have to ask myself am I making rocking chair moments? A rocking chair moment is a memorable event that I'll remember fondly when I'm 90 and sitting in a home in a rocking chair thinking about my life. A qualifying event would be Nascar in Vegas baby! I wont remember my big screen TV, but I will remember helping coach Kortne and Austins first baseball team. I'll remember times with people and not things. This is a special guy-husband-father in this video.

Bring on the rocking chair moments!