Once upon a time there was a fair maiden, who at the ripe old age of two, got her very first bike from her grandma, Queen Debby.

Our Princess E. was really quite interested in the trike…

…but preferred to be pushed around on said tricycle by King Daddy, and didn’t really ever get the “hang of” pedaling the wee bike.

Time went by, another princess, Princess A., was born into the family and the princesses’ aunt, Duchess Meesh, decided that it was time for Princess E. to receive a “big-maiden” bike and pass along the trike to Princess A.

This time it was Queen Mommy who ran along beside Princess E. and tried desperately to help her steer down the right path. But even with the training wheels, Princess E. never really seemed to be too interested in bike riding.

More time went by, (but no more princesses were born into the family!) and Princess A. was given a “big-maiden” bike complete with training wheels by a friend, and Princess E. started to ride her own bike fairly well.

So Queen Mommy removed the training wheels in hopes that her Princess E. would learn to ride sans-training wheels. But, alas, Princess E. just took over Princess A.’s new bike (which still had training wheels on it) instead. Occasionally Princess E. and Queen Mommy would take her training wheel-less bike out for a “run” but it usually ended in the Princess madly exclaiming, “BUT YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN’T LET GO!” And she would return to the second bike that still had the training wheels.

Then one afternoon King Daddy coaxed the Princess into easing through the courtyard BY HERSELF with NO TRAINING WHEELS. And it was decided that the “big maiden” bike was just simply not big enough. Our princess had grown two very long legs. And knees…that kept hitting the handlebars.

So a new, even bigger “big maiden” bike was purchased. And it just seemed too big for the Princess. So the training wheels went back on this newest bike.

But ‘lo – cousins and friends from villages afar, and schoolmates who live nearby, were all learning how to ride their bikes. And that may have just been the push that our Princess E. needed.

Last week, it finally clicked. First, on the training wheel-less bike. Princess E. finally understood the glorious feeling of the wind in her hair as she biked round and round the park. Only stopping when it was mandated by Queen Mommy “time for bath!”

And yesterday, King Daddy was yet again able to coax Princess E. into trying her new bike without training wheels.

And now…she can officially ride a bike…

And they all lived happily ever after. (Until her first big crash, at least.)

The End

Just some photos from a little photo shoot we did this afternoon. The last time I made her sit still for two minutes so I could snap more than one photo was her very last day of being five. And look, she has been six for over one month already!

She looks WAY older than six to me…

And?! Really? Six year olds know how to do the “eye-roll” already? I thought I had at least a few more years on that one.

Yeah. She is all six. And all beautiful.

E: “Mama? I think that I am six already.”
M: “What’s that?”
E: “Yeah, I think I should already be six, because I can already read and write all kinds of stuff, and I don’t even need your help. So it is like I’m six already, right?”

Right. Oh, boy.

So, we were in church on Sunday. And she is still just a little bit too short to prop her elbows on the back of the pew when we are kneeling, so she puts a few hymnals down to kneel on for that optimal praying position. The lady behind us was giggling at her perched precariously on top of two hymnals and then she asked Em, “How old are you?”

“Oh, I’m 5 and a half, but I turn 6 on April 9th!” Em said so proudly. And then? The lady made the mistake of saying, “Oh, really? I thought you were at least 7 or 8. You are so tall and your printing is so nice and neat!” (She was writing letters to Daddy during part of mass.)

Cripes. Emma was beaming. “Mama! She thinks I am 7 or 8! Wow! And I’m only 6. Well, I’m almost 6!”

I threatened right then that I was going to put the hymnals on her head to make her stop growing.

I’m not quite sure what is going on around here lately. I find myself just watching the girls, or staring at photos of them and wondering, “How in the world did we get here?” “Where did my little girls go?”

And don’t say I am yearning for a baby, because I so am NOT. I am not even really nostalgic for, or missing when the girls were babies, necessarily.  I love the ages and stage we are at right now. I love our little family and it just feels right. It feels complete.

I am not really sure what I am feeling. I guess I just want them to slow down. I can’t keep up with all of their milestones, their funny stories, or antics. I feel like the days are just slipping through my fingers, along with all of their youth and innocence.

I feel like I am going to wake up tomorrow, and they are both going to be packing to leave for college.

And now? Em wants her haircut. I got mine cut yesterday and she can’t stop playing with it and telling me how she wants hers cut short, too.

I love her hair. I’m trying so hard to remember that it is her hair, but tell me she isn’t going to look even more like she is 7 or 8 with a short little bob, than she would with her ribbons and pigtails?