Christmas Cuties

I told you this was going to be a marathon blogging day. You should be grateful, I've spent my entire nap-time freedom on this project :) Dan took some pictures of the kids in their Christmas clothes. They were all too cute, I couldn't narrow it down.

December crafting . . .

Zeke LOVES anything that has to do with paper, colors, scissors, tape and glue. The first words out of his mouth when he wakes up are frequently "Can I glue?" So, we have passed December crafting away! Here is a SMALL sample of the things Zeke (and Kaiyah) have done.We made paper chains to count down the days until Christmas. A few weeks ago we went to some friends' home and they had chains as well, but on each link they had written a name. Every night when they take off a link, they pray for the person on the link. I LOVE this idea. We'll have to do it next year.Dan came up with the idea of making homemade clay that can be baked in the oven after you make stuff out of it. Saturday we spent ALL DAY on this project. It was a lot of fun.The following picture is Kaiyah's 'I know I'm not supposed to do this but I'm going to do it anyway face.'So, after eating a bite of clay that contains a cup of salt in it, this is Kaiyah's 'maybe I should have listened to mom and dad face'!We didn't get a picture of the final results, but here is a glimpse of what my wonderfully talented husband made. I was impressed.

Shack Kids update . . .

The kids are napping, and Dan is off Christmas shopping, so get ready for some marathon blogging! Last night we were invited to a one-year-old birthday party for a friend's little girl. Zeke and Kaiyah had a great time playing with all the other kids that were there. The party happened to take place right across the street from the one Krispie Kreme shop in town, so of course we had to stop in and get a dozen (at the tune of $15/dozen). So hyped up on chocolate cake and donuts, we headed home. This morning, we finished off the donuts for breakfast, and then I promptly left for language class. When I returned home I found one particular 3 year old boy who was BOUNCING off the walls and apparently hadn't stopped talking or moving since I had left! Haha. Here is a video of another incident that happened recently that we thought was pretty funny.

Kaiyah is growing up and blabbing all the time. A lot of times it's a guess as to what she is saying, and then out of the blue she will say a long sentence that is very clear and concise! She LOVES her baby dolls. She usually gets out of bed with her blanket in one hand and a baby doll in another. Recently she has been climbing down from the dinner table to go get a doll to feed during the meal time! We may have to keep a closer eye on the "mothering" that baby number 3 receives! Kaiyah has also been telling us every time she goes number 2 "in schuie, in schuie" while pointing to her diaper, and often when she goes number 1 "in pee pee, in pee pee". This might lead me to hope that she will potty train early, but the fact that she has wet through her diaper during the night on several occasions recently makes me think we have a ways to go! Here are a few pictures to enjoy of the kiddos . . .
We ate at a restaurant recently where the kids received balloons. Didn't take long to discover the fun that can be had with a balloon and the hair of a 1 1/2 year old!

Christmas baking

You may have noticed a lack of blogging in the last little while. Well, Dan has been busy/preoccupied with other areas of life, and so the blogging world, when left in my hands has been pretty well neglected. Partly there hasn't been anything exciting enough to blog about, or maybe I've just been too tired to think something was exciting enough to blog about! All that to say, yesterday the kids and I started our Christmas baking, so I made a special effort to make sure a couple of pictures were taken that I could post for your pleasure. Now, without further adieu . . .

Why We Go to Bed Tired . . .

Zeke is Three!!!

You ask, "How old are you now, Zeke?" Zeke excitedly holds up three fingers on each hand, thrusts his arms into the air and shouts, leaning forward, "I'm threeeeeeeeee!"

That's right! Zeke is three years old today! And such a blessing he has been to us! Today, Dan offered to carry him up the stairs since it was his birthday. He said, "Daddy, birthday boys don't need to be carried." He also went outside to the playground at our workplace (where we could still see him, by the way) and looked after Kaiyah for us. Ah, they grow up so quickly...

We celebrated the occasion yesterday, when we went with some friends to a local mall-type place to ride kiddy rides. We then came home and ate taco salad and train cake and opened presents. Zeke had a lot of fun all day.

This morning, we surprised Zeke with a doughnut breakfast in bed. He didn't seem so excited at first, but he grew into it quickly. We also gave Zeke his last present, which was a tee pee and a tent, with a tube that connects the both. He found it when he came out to the living room and was very happy, but asked, "Where's my other present that I get to open?"

Anyway, we've had a lot of fun the last two days and we thought we'd share a little bit. If you'd like to see other pictures, click here.

Duck Duck Goose & a Hurt Little Girl...

Here are a couple of videos of the kids (and Dan) playing Duck Duck Goose. They haven't quite got the concept of where to run yet. On a side note, right after this video, Kaiyah went to her bedroom and proceeded to follow Zeke's lead in jumping on her bed. She fell off and got a big gash in her head. If Dan has anything to do with it, those pictures will follow!

Tami was right. She went out for the evening before the video was finished, so I'm adding Kaiyah's picture here. She's okay, though it looks bad. She seemed more concerned with the pony tail holder Tami put in her hair than with the band-aid or the cut on her head. She only cried for a few minutes and she didn't bleed much at all. Anyway, she seems to be doing well now.

All patched up!

Zeke likes to play on the computer...

Well, Zeke's not even 3 years old yet, but he already knows how to get around on the computer. Here's a little video of him playing on one of his favorite sites.

Active Little Girl...

Kaiyah likes nothing more than to go outside and play, and she doesn't let skinned knees stop her from having fun. She's an active little girl, who loves to run, play ball, and do other fun stuff like that. Here's a picture of one of her knees. They both look the same, though.

Knock, knock...

"Knock, knock," said Zeke.

"Who's there?" asked Tami.

"Banana," replied Zeke.

"Banana who?" asked Tami.

"Uh, banana bread!" exclaimed Zeke.

He's funny.

Cute Kids...

So, we have some pretty cute kids. We have three short things and three pictures to share.

The first is about Kaiyah. One of her favorite past-times these days is to wait until we are cleaning up the kitchen and pick through the swept up pile to see if there's anythi

ng she might like in it. This is something we will be able to tell all her friends about when she's a teenager.

The second involves Zeke. The other day, he took a two and a half hour nap and it was approaching dinner time, so Dan woke him up by taking his picture. He thought it was really funny and Dan got a cute picture in the process.

During Zeke's nap, Kaiyah found a package of wipes and rather than pulling them all out of the container as she normally does, she pulled out just a couple and started to dust our tea tables. She's a very helpful little girl.

Weekend Fun

This past weekend we headed to the beach with some friends of ours We all had a great time relaxing in the sun for 2 1/2 days. Zeke had a blast playing in the sand with his new Spiderman sand bucket (which we some how failed to get any pictures of) and playing in the pool, which you get to see in this little video clip. Kaiyah had a great time as well. More pictures to come on the family blog!

Birthday gift ideas for Zeke and other cute stories!

So, the other day Tami took the kids out to play in our apartment play area and there was a teenage kid riding a scooter around that looked like this:

Zeke watched the kid for awhile and then solomnly informed Tami that "Someday I want one of those at my house!" Tami chuckled and said "Don't count on it Buddy" to which Zeke responded, "I DO count on it, I want that for my birthday!" So, in case anyone is at a loss of what to get him for his 3rd birthday, there you go! Ha!

Other cute stories about Zeke: recently he has been getting into creative play, and it's amusing to see how the world we live in influences his play. For instance, he builds aquaducts and old walls with his blocks, he delivers water on his bike just like the "water man", and he pushes groceries around in Kaiyah's grocery cart, pretending to deliver them to people, because we frequently order our groceries online and have them delievered to our house.

Not to be overshadowed, Kaiyah is doing some pretty cute things, too. A few days ago she saw Zeke and some other kids playing duck-duck-goose, so yesterday she started coming up to us and tapping us on the shoulder and saying "Duk, duk" and then running off looking back to see if we were chasing her! Today she has discovered the art of walking backwards, so all day long she's been walking backwards everywhere, just as proud as she can be! Also, for a few days now, she's been walking around with her quilt over her head and she keeps running into stuff. It's pretty funny to watch, too.

They are fun kids!

Blue Eyed Kids...

It may be up for debate who our kids look like, but there is no doubt where they get their gorgeous blue eyes!

And on a side note, our baby won't be a baby much longer . . .

The kids being kids . . .

Zeke and Kaiyah love to go outside and play on our playground. It is fun watching them interact and play together now that Kaiyah is old enough to participate. They love going down the slide together . . .

most of the time . . .

There is plenty of grass to be seen here, but not much to be touched. Usually there is a "keep off the grass" policy. However, our apartment complex recently put in a small plot of grass around the playground area just for the little kids to be able to play in. Zeke refers to it as "my grass" and makes a point to walk in it whenever we go out to play!

Zeke Dances...

Here are a couple of videos of Zeke dancing. Enjoy.

Kaiyah Walks Around...

Here's a video of Kaiyah walking around the living room the other day. She's going everywhere these days.

Kaiyah is ONE!!!

May 29th Kaiyah turned one year old! Why are we a few days late writing this post? Because we have been busy having parties and making cakes! I think the final count was 5 cakes! Crazy, we know. There is a long explanation as to why she had so many cakes, but that isn't what this blog is about. Rather, this is a celebration of God bringing a sweet, happy, sometimes opinionated little girl into our lives and we are so grateful for her. As with every baby, it has been an amazing year watching her grow and develop and continually learn new things. She is worth every one of those cakes and the work that went into them :) Enjoy the pics . . .

Zeke Stories...

So, Zeke has been getting out of bed at 6 or 6:30 in the morning lately, so Tami had an idea that she heard from somewhere to buy a clock, pull the minute and second hands off, and color the clock a certain color (in our case, red) around the time you want your child to get out of bed. So, we colored the clock from the 7 to the 8 and told Zeke to get out of bed when the clock gets to the red. While we were coloring the clock, Zeke pointed to the 5 and 6 area, and said, "We need to color here, too." I'm not sure he realized what he was asking or if he just wanted to color some more, but it was pretty funny. Then, when it was bedtime, we explained again about the clock and said our nightly prayers. Zeke prayed and thanked God for the red clock. When we finished praying, he said, "I pray the clock get in the red." He's pretty cute.

Earlier that day, Zeke closed his finger in the cabinet door and started crying like it hurt really bad. Dan kissed his finger and Zeke said, "That not make it feel better." Tami said, "Do we need to take you to the doctor?" Zeke answered, "No Mommy, doctor not make it better, God make it better." Anyway, we've got a cute boy and though he can throw some fits these days, he's really sweet and we're grateful for him.

More videos...

Here are another couple of videos. Be sure to scroll down and see the other 3 if you didn't already.

Video Catch Up!

We aren't very good about taking video, much less posting them. So, this blog is a video catch up of the last couple of months. Here are three. There should be a couple more in another post. Enjoy!

Kaiyah's Dedication...

Today we had Kaiyah dedicated. It was a special way to celebrate Mother's Day. She did great. It fit her personality getting to be front and center for a few minutes! Here are a few pictures:

What's new about Kaiyah?

So, after living in Brazil for two years, where all the baby girls have their ears pierced, Dan thought it was a good idea to have his daughter's pierced should he have one. So, after moving to our current location, where many baby girls do the same, he continued to think that it would be a good idea for Kaiyah. Tami was a little hesitant at first, but eventually got tired of everyone around us telling us that they thought Kaiyah was a boy, even though we continually dressed her in pink.

So, yesterday we took Kaiyah to a local pharmacy (where they pierce ears) and had her ears pierced. When they finished, Dan asked how much and they said (about the equivalent of $3). Dan said that at $3, maybe he'd go next. We think we'll wait on that, though. Kaiyah did a great job, though. She cried for about 10 seconds, but after that, she was fine and hasn't acted like they hurt at all since then.