Zeke, Kaiyah and Sierra

Zeke is Reading!

2011-03-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

This is a video of the first ever STORY TIME with ZEKE! Or, at least a small clip of it. The way we're having to upload videos right now only lets you do 90 seconds. If you didn't see it, don't miss the Sierra Sweetness in the post below.

Sierra

2011-03-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

So, this is supposed to be a really cute video of Sierra waving bye-bye and giving a high five, but alas, blogger has been blocked in our country and thus I can't get the video to load.

Note: Oh good, mom says it's working for you guys even though we can't see it here. Enjoy!

Sunday Morning Conversation...

2011-02-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

Zeke has been sick the last few days with fever, but it's been over 24 hours since the fever left. Sierra, however, started running fever yesterday and continues today, so this morning, Dan was planning on taking Zeke and Kaiyah to church. Sierra was going to stay home with Tami. We explained this to the kids, and this is the conversation that followed:

Zeke: "I don't think I should go to church either, since I still have a snotty nose."

Tami: "The fever is the bigger deal, and you haven't had fever for 24 hours, so it's probably okay for you to go, but if you feel like you should stay here, that's okay, too.

Zeke: "I think I better stay here."

Tami: "Okay."

Dan: "So, just me and Kaiyah will go then."

Kaiyah: (high fives Dan)

Five minutes later...

Zeke, to Dan in the kitchen: "Actually, Daddy, I think I should go with you."

Dan: "That'll be good. Why did you decide that?"

Zeke: "Well, I thought Mommy was going to play here, but she said she's just going to listen to church and study."

Fun stuff.

Be sure not to miss Kaiyah's story below...

Kaiyah cuteness

2011-02-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

The last few days Kaiyah has been wrapping her arms around me and saying, "You're my hero." This morning she got stuck behind a chair and I got her out. She came over, gave me a hug and said, "You're my hero, mommy, you're my hero. [Sierra crying in the backgroud]. And you're Sierra's hero too!" Too cute, but do you think she watches too much Higglytown Heroes?

Salad Party!!!

2011-01-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yay, a salad party! Wait, what?

That's right. We got invited to a salad party at Zeke's school today. Not knowing what to expect, we showed up at the school and were led to Zeke's classrooms, where we saw a rather large group of adults seated in kids' chairs along the wall. We joined them and watched as the students were marched in wearing their special chef outfits.

The students gathered around a table filled with all sorts of salad items, some of which included peas, carrots, potatoes, and corn. They played some music and told the kids to make a salad until the music stopped. Some kids were piling their plates high with salad. One kid was crying. Zeke was slowing making himself a very very small salad.

Once the music stopped, the kids stopped making salad, and the kids were led one by one to their parents to give them a taste of their salad. Zeke, when he saw the first kids giving it to their parents, he started to sneak more food onto his plate, I guess knowing that he didn't have to eat it.

After most of the kids went, we got our bite of salad, exclaimed how good it was, and put a little paper metal around his neck. Then all the students were marched out, we were thanked for joining, and that was it. It took about half an hour, but it was fun, and definitely educational. (-:

New Years Party

2011-01-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

Our New Year's Eve celebration in this house was nothing to blog about. However, Z had a costume party at school for the occasion! When they told us the children should dress up we asked, "Like spiderman?" knowing we had a spiderman costume at home. But, spiderman was unacceptable apparently. Luckily, Maw Maw and Paw Paw's Christmas present to Z came to the rescue and he went as a fireman!

And she is off . . .

2010-12-30T05:13:00.000-08:00

Let's Have a Tea Party...

2010-12-29T00:59:00.001-08:00

Kaiyah got a tea set from Zeke for Christmas and she really likes to play tea party with her baby, whose name, incidentally, is Baby. Today, she was playing and Dan turned on a kids' song called, "Let's Have a Tea Party." Kaiyah stood up and said, excitedly, "That my tea party song!" and then she asked it to be played over and over again. Fun stuff.

Sierra, continued...

2010-12-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Here's what Tami was talking about in the post below (read it if you haven't). Sierra loves the camera. She can be pitching a really big fit about something, and if we pick up the camera and take her picture, she immediately stops crying and starts smiling. Usually, we can't even get a picture of her when she's crying, but the picture below shows a progression of about 10 seconds. She's a mess.

Sierra is 6 months old!

2010-12-19T01:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Sierra was officially 6 months old. Where has the time gone? At six months, here's a little bit about Sierra:

* She can sit up for a few seconds, but isn't really stable yet.
* She is up on all fours and lunging around the living room. I have no doubt it will be a full blown crawl in no time.
* She loves to eat and is pretty good at feeding herself "fist foods."
* She does not like crowds . . . AT ALL. We discovered this Thanksgiving Day, and it was confirmed again last night at our Christmas party. Our typically laid back, happy baby becomes pretty hysterical in crowds, to the point of being a challenge to calm down. It's the strangest thing. She has also developed 'stranger anxiety', crying whenever someone she doesn't know well talks to her. Notable exceptions, there have been several 30-something single guys that she has been perfectly happy to spend the evening sitting in their laps.
* She is her daddy's girl, whenever she is crying, Dan gets out the camera to take a picture and she IMMEDIATELY starts smiling. She's a mess!

From the mouths of babes

2010-11-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Picture Tami in the kitchen washing dishes . . .

Zeke: Can you play with me?

Kaiyah: Can you hold me?

Tami: Do I look like I can play with Zeke or hold Kaiyah?

Zeke: God should have given you 100 hands so you can do everything your kids want.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-17T05:44:00.000-08:00

"Indian and Pilgrim planting corn"

"What I'm thankful for"

Smiley Sierra Nicole

2010-11-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

This little girl melts my heart...

Our little monkey...

2010-10-27T22:48:00.001-07:00

Fun in the Leaves!!

2010-10-26T10:55:00.003-07:00

Last weekend we happened upon a bunch of trees with fall leaves! It's funny the little things in life that can bring such joy. Trees and leaves aren't the most common sight what with living in a big city. All the kids wanted to do was to make a pile of leaves and jump in it . . . so, that's what we did!

Zeke the Realist...

2010-10-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Zeke's our little realist...

From Tami:

Zeke was feeding his Bonko Bear. I said, “Aww, you’re a good daddy.” Zeke looked shocked and said, “I’m not a daddy. This is just a pretend bear. I’m just pretending to feed him.” I looked at Kaiyah feeding her baby. “Are you that baby’s mommy?” Kaiyah, “Uh-huh!” Zeke to Kaiyah, “That’s just a pretend baby!”

The other night we were eating dinner and Kaiyah called me Daddy. So I took it upon myself to call her Zeke and call Zeke Kaiyah. Kaiyah thought it was the funniest thing in the world. She laughed so hard she got hiccups. Zeke, in the meantime was on the other side of the table yelling, “NO! I’m Zeke, not Kaiyah!” He kept saying, “You’re just joking, aren’t you, Mommy.” I finally told him I was and he said, “Well, why did you joke like that for so long?”

From Dan:

A few weeks ago, we were on a boat and Kaiyah started to pick something up off the ground, or at least I thought she did. So, I held out my hand, and she dropped something, which appeared to be nothing, in my hand. I proceeded to pop the imaginary food in my mouth, chew it up, and swallow it. She giggled and bent down to get me something else. Shortly thereafter, she held out her hand and I did the same for her. This was the first time I had tried this game with Kaiyah, and she's the one who instigated it. I tried something similar with Zeke when he was about Kaiyah's age, and he said, "But there's nothing there." He has also always felt a need to clarify whether things are real or pretend, whereas Kaiyah, pretends that everything is real. It's really funny.

Ah, the differences in children…

Zeke's speaking Turkish!!!

2010-10-01T03:21:00.000-07:00

Well, a little. We picked Zeke up at preschool the other day and his teacher said, quite excitedly, "Zeke said 'Hayır' today!" Then, today, when we went to get him, she said, "He's not just saying 'Hayır' anymore. Today he said 'Yapma'!" "Hayır" means "no" and "yapma" means "don't do that." Well, it's a start. (-:

All the happenings . . .

2010-09-18T03:08:00.001-07:00

Zeke just completed his first week of preschool! Friday was a little tough, but in general he did incredible, far better then I ever expected. I'm so thankful! So far we have been very pleased with how the school manages everything. Zeke's favorite things about school thus far are getting to play computer games and getting fruit tea for breakfast!

Even with all this growing up he is still my little boy. Periodically he will come up to me and say, "Can you cuddle me mommy, since I haven't had much cuddle time today?" Such a sweetie.

I wasn't sure how Kaiyah would respond to Zeke being gone so much, but I think she is enjoying getting to rule the house a few hours every day! There is also a big park right by Zeke's school, so she has enjoyed getting to play there a few times this week.

I love listening to Kaiyah talk. It is sometimes hard to pass on the cute little things they say and do at this age. An example is this: "Kaiyah shewwee not, mommy." or "Want to play hide and seek not, want to play beach ball." When she answers a question affirmatively, she often says, "Uh huh. Oh yea!" And the other day we were playing brown bear, brown bear. At the end of the game Kaiyah told me to ask her "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?" She responded, "I see mommy's blue eyes looking at me!" Ha.

Sierra is 3 months old today! She can roll both directions, but more typical is for her to roll from back to front and then squeal until someone flips her over. Then she promptly rolls over again, and so the cycle continues. She is still a pretty easy, laid back baby. She goes to bed between 7 and 8 at night and wakes up between 7 and 8 the next morning. We'll take that! It is fun to watch as she starts to observe her brother and sister. She'll be in on the fun before we know it!

Rolling Over Now!!!

2010-09-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

Alright, enough of the smiles. (See the video below.) Sierra's rolling over now! She learns something new every day!

Sierra in the morning...

2010-09-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

This is a video from the last day of vacation. There will probably be more later. Sierra likes to give her Daddy smiles in the morning...

Amazing Memory

2010-08-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today I was walking down the street with Zeke when we passed a hotel. Zeke asked, "What is that?" I said, "It's a hotel." Zeke said, "We lived in a hotel once. It had fish in the bottom." How in the world did he remember that? He was 13 months old!

Later this evening we were reading out of his Berenstain Bears' science book. It has probably been at least a month since we've read it. I was flipping through to see where we had left off. Zeke said, "Can we finish that part we didn't finish last time about energy?" I looked and that was exactly where we had left off. His memory really amazes me these days.

The blanket saga is over. . . maybe...

2010-08-27T23:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been keeping up with Zeke's blanket, it is gone now and the saga is over. Here's the video:

Yeah, he does have a replacement, though, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks, Holly for the new "blanket".

Hands...

2010-08-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

This morning, Zeke and I were talking and I told him that his hands were getting big. He said, "Yeah, but they're not as big as yours yet." I said, "No, they're not. That would be silly." He said, "Why?" So I decided to show him.

He thought it was silly.

Sierra is 2 months old and other fun things. . .

2010-08-18T11:00:00.001-07:00

Today, Sierra turned 2 months old! To celebrate, we headed to the doctor for 2 shots and some kind of oral vaccination! So far, we have a long, lean girl on our hands. She was a little over 12 lbs. and 62 cm. long. She is grinning and cooing, and becoming lots of fun!

On a different note, I decided halfheartedly to give potty training another try yesterday. I didn't expect it to be very successful, but Kaiyah has done GREAT! We've had a couple of busy days, so she has mostly just run around naked in the mornings, but both mornings she has gone several times on her little potty! We're so proud!

And for a Zeke story: today at lunch Zeke asked me, "Would you rather I die before you do or at the same time as you?" What in the world??? Dan asked him where he comes up with this stuff. Zeke replied, "Not from anywhere, I just make it up in my head."

Day at the water park...

2010-08-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

My friend and I decided to take our 5 kids, ages 5 and under, for a day at the water park. (Sierra stayed home with Dan.) There is a free service from the mall near our house out to the park so we showed up about 8:50 to head to the park! Now, we ended up having to wait awhile for the service bus to actually leave, and then there were a few adventures on the way, so by the time our non-air conditioned van pulled up to the water park we were READY to jump in that water! We had a blast. Zeke was all over the pool, went down the "big" slide, swam under the water . . . Kaiyah loved going down some of the smaller slides and jump, jump, jumped! We got to see a fun dolphin show, although the sea lion apparently wasn't feeling like preforming because they brought him out for a few minutes, tried to get him to cooperate, and then quickly took him back in and called the show done. We swam some more and then at 6 PM climbed back on another hot van for the ride home! Both kids were sound asleep as we were pulling out of the parking lot! I didn't take a lot of pictures since there were just two of us moms keeping up with five little kiddos, but here are a couple that I did take:

Click here to see a few more:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=267179&id=505342570&l=3e00b4656b

Say Cheese

2010-07-27T03:58:00.000-07:00

Here is Sierra's first smile captured with the camera . . .

Yay Sierra!

2010-07-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

Sierra slept through the night for the first time last night! 5 weeks old. Yea Sierra!!! Have we mentioned how much we love this little girl??? Have we mentioned what a precious, easy baby she is??? Dan got up to make sure she was still breathing around 3:00 AM. She was. She ate around 7:30 PM and then went all the way until 5:45 AM. Kaiyah probably had something to do with her waking up then, since they now are sharing a room. Let's hope she keeps this up! She is smiling a lot now. Hopefully we'll catch that in picture form sometime soon!

Zeke Dances

2010-07-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

Today after church Dan, Renee and Zeke went to Starbucks for a drink. Zeke started dancing to the music . . .

Recently overheard . . .

2010-06-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

Kaiyah trying to take the basketball away from Zeke: "Mine!"

Zeke: "No mine!"

Kaiyah: "Mine!"

Zeke: "We share it, that's the rules of Jesus!"

promptly followed by . . . "Mine!"

Zeke and Kaiyah Watching TV...

2010-06-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

Tami got this video the other day of Zeke and Kaiyah watching TV together. He loves his sister!

Beside lying in the floor, they also like to sit on the arm of the couch.

Zeke's Blanket....

2010-06-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been over two years since we divided Dan's former blanket into two for him and Zeke. If you don't remember, you can read about that if you click here.

Since then, we lost Zeke's little one and Dan got his own king size knit blanket, so Zeke inherited Dan's portion of the big blanket. And two years later, Zeke is just as attached to it, but we don't usually take it out with us anymore. Zeke says he will get rid of his blanket at some point, but not yet. We don't think he'll have a choice before too much longer. The blanket is in a lot worse shape than it once was, and Zeke likes to pull on its strings, so that doesn't help either. Anyway, here's a picture of all the strings Dan cut off of it today. That's Zeke in the background, lying on his blanket and sucking his thumb.

Happy Birthday, Kaiyah!

2010-05-31T05:38:00.001-07:00

Kaiyah's birthday was this past Saturday and we had a lot of fun celebrating. We had doughnuts in bed from Krispy Kreme, Tami made a beautiful Boots cake, and we had lots of friends come over and celebrate with us. Fun stuff! Here are a few pictures. For more, click here.

Yogurt Caper...

2010-04-26T11:14:00.001-07:00

Well, we have been a week or so in our house without yogurt, so today, while at the grocery store, Kaiyah and Zeke each picked out some that they wanted. After dinner, Tami and I were in the living room playing with the kids and Kaiyah disappeared for a few minutes. She came back later with a spoon, a yogurt cup, and yogurt all over her. She couldn't wait until breakfast. She was trying to get into the cup she was holding and upon entering the kitchen, I found that she had already eaten three more. She had gotten all the yogurt we bought out of the fridge and had eaten three of the kind she picked out. After I took a few pictures, I put the yogurt safely in the butter tray in the upper part of the refrigerator, so all should be safe for now. (-:

Easter Morning...

2010-04-04T21:28:00.001-07:00

Well, we have some interesting kids. Our 3 1/2 year old boy loves to dress up, but he doesn't like anyone to see him until he's ready. Our almost 2 year old girl HATES to dress up. She was okay once we got her in the dress, though. Enjoy this video. We'll get some pictures on the family blog a little later.

Kaiyah Has a Cold...

2010-04-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Kaiyah learned how to blow her nose when she got a cold this year. It was pretty cute.

Quote from Zeke...

2010-03-29T05:13:00.000-07:00

Dan: "Hello, Zeke."

Zeke: "Daddy..."

Dan: "Yes?"

Zeke: "Um, you call me buddy."

Zeke and Kaiyah Singing...

2010-03-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

Zeke and Kaiyah are really playing together a lot these days and it's really really fun. Here is a video of them singing together. Enjoy.

There's an Artist Among Us...

2010-03-01T00:08:00.001-08:00

Well, last blog today. There are two others below this one, so don't miss those!

Zeke produced his first people drawing yesterday. He went from random shapes and squiggles to piecing something together that looked somewhat human. Tami and I were very impressed. Here it is:

In the picture, we have Daddy, Mommy, Zeke, Kaiyah, and Sierra. Cool stuff.

Not Quite All Girl...

2010-02-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

So, Kaiyah doesn't appreciate dresses AT ALL. We thought when she was crawling that it was because they got in her way, but she's been walking for a long time now, and her opinion of them still hasn't changed. Looks like we might have a little tom boy on our hands. Tami promised her that soon she'll have a little sister to wear dresses with her. (-:

I just wanted to throw this picture in, too, because it was cute. She loves Chapstick.Look below for a short blog about Zeke...

All Boy...

2010-02-28T21:47:00.000-08:00

So, I came home the other day and Tami and the kids had been outside to play. I came in the kitchen and saw this on the counter:

I asked Zeke if he found some rocks outside. He said, "Yes. I got them from outside and put them on the kitchen cabinet for decoration to look pretty 'cause I thought you guys would like them. That's why I got them." He's funny.

"Zeke and Mommy time"

2010-02-17T11:52:00.001-08:00

In our 4 day attempt at potty training Kaiyah (a whole other story in and of itself), Zeke was starting to feel a little neglected. Yesterday I promised him that we would have some special Zeke and Mommy time today. This morning, Zeke requested a trip to "Starboks" to eat lemon cheesecake for his special date! The kid has good taste, what can I say! So, I told him to run get dressed and handsome. He came back a few minutes later wondering what kind of clothes I usually wear when I go on a date with Dan. Too precious. He ran and quickly picked out a pair of khaki pants and a shirt that he proclaimed would be handsome for our date! He was so excited! Several times on our way to Starbucks and while we were there he told me how much he like having Zeke and Mommy time. I'm thinking we will have to be sure and do it more often.Getting ready to leave. Kaiyah wasn't so crazy about the plan, but ended up having a great time with Daddy!Yummy cheesecake and Carmel hot chocolate!
After we ate we headed over to do our work stuff. Zeke started complaining that his belly hurt. Who's wouldn't after eating cheesecake at 9:00 AM. This is him relaxing, trying to help his belly. Unfortunately it continued to hurt all through the day and I put him to bed an hour early running a temperature. Hopefully this won't be characteristic of all "Zeke and Mommy" times!

Valentine's Day is Coming!

2010-02-09T07:02:00.000-08:00

The kids worked hard today to get their valentine cards made!

Fun with Daddy

2010-02-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

Today is a gorgeous day that is apparently going to be sandwiched in the middle of some not-so-nice days. The past few days have been rainy and tomorrow it is supposed to turn cold again. So, while I was off at a friend's home, Dan and the kids took advantage of the weather and headed outside for their favorite activities: feeding the birds, play in the park, and buying a special snack (no wonder kids love their dads). These first couple of pictures are of Zeke talking to the birds, "Don't run away birds!" He's a funny one!

And here is one of Kaiyah just because she's cute!

Fun kids

2010-01-30T04:50:00.001-08:00

Today I realized that Kaiyah is the age that Zeke was when Kaiyah was born. Wow! I think I'm grateful that we still have another 5 months or so before little girl #2 gets here. That said, I LOVE having my kids close in age. I know a lot of people think we are crazy, especially over here where it is a very uncommon thing to do, but it's just so fun to see that best-friend friendship develop between our kids. They are close enough in age that they find the same things funny, they like to play with the same toys, they love dancing together and singing together. It's just been a fun thing the last several months to watch as they have really started interacting with and enjoying one another! Here are a few pictures from the last month:

We've been playing a lot of legos lately . . .

and a lot of baby dolls . . .

Christmas Cuties

2009-12-21T05:50:00.000-08:00

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 . . .

2009-12-21T05:35:00.000-08:00

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 . . .

2009-12-21T04:53:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

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 . . .

2009-10-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Zeke is Three!!!

2009-09-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-31T01:06:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-08-12T11:16:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-08-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

"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...

2009-08-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-07-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

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 . . .

2009-07-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

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

Kaiyah Walks Around...

2009-06-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

Kaiyah is ONE!!!

2009-05-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Video Catch Up!

2009-05-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-05-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Glasses, anyone?

2009-05-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

So, do you think our kids will need glasses? Just so you know, we are trying to teach them not to sit so close.

A picture is worth a 1000 words . . .

2009-04-10T23:53:00.001-07:00

Lunch

2009-04-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

Today we were eating lunch and Tami asked Zeke what his favorite part of the meal was. Zeke thought for a second and responded, "Umm, salt!" He's a mess.

Fun at the park!

2009-04-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

We had a picnic in the park with some friends of ours yesterday to celebrate the end of their New Year's holiday. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, the kids had fun playing. Here are a few pictures!

Zeke Saying Hi to Memphis...

2009-02-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

While Dan's brother-in-law, Zach, was here, he took a video of Zeke talking to the people back in Memphis. Dan's sister, Elizabeth, put it on her blog. Click here if you want to see it.

The blanket saga comes to an end . . .

2009-02-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

Well, a couple of days ago Tami randomly decided to take a picture of Zeke with Blanket 2 just to remember this time in his life. It's a good thing she did because the very next day, Blanket 2 was lost somewhere between a bus and tram exchange. Yesterday Zeke experienced his first day with no blanket, although he did 'borrow' one of Kaiyah's for a brief nap on the way home! He still has Dan's big blanket to sleep with at night, but we refuse to make a new small one to drag around anymore. Thus the era has ended . . .

Kaiyah Pulling Up...

2009-01-31T11:19:00.000-08:00

If any of you remember when Zeke started pulling up, you remember we had a hard time getting it on film. Not so with Kaiyah. She is completely mobile and getting into whatever she can. Her favorite place to pull up is by the TV cabinet while it's on so she can get a better view of the show. She's a cutie!

Sleepy Boy...

2009-01-24T01:38:00.000-08:00

Tami was gone to her language helper's house. Kaiyah was sleeping. Zeke and I were sitting at the kitchen table. Zeke was coloring and I was making flash cards for language study. Then Zeke said, "Kheki all done coloring," got down from the table and walked out of the kitchen. I finished my flash cards about 5 minutes later and came into the living room to find this:

He was a sleepy boy!

Silly Daddy...

2009-01-21T23:03:00.001-08:00

I was washing dishes earlier today and Zeke came in and said, "Oh, Daddy got bubble on hand." I said, "I do," to which Zeke replied, "Silly Daddy!" It was really cute.

Pacifier Baby...

2009-01-18T04:47:00.000-08:00

So, Tami is at church helping a lady get ready for a reception-type thing they are having tonight. Kaiyah has been running fever, so I'm at home with the kids. I had just gotten them bathed. It was nap time for Zeke and Kaiyah was hungry. The kitchen was a wreck because we'd been cooking all morning. So, I put Zeke down. He went really easily because I let him use "Daddy own blanket." He's funny. I put Kaiyah in the bean bag chair in the kitchen doorway and propped her bottle up with a wadded up sheet so I could clean the kitchen b/c I didn't know what time Tami was coming home.

I got about halfway through washing the dishes when Kaiyah finished her bottle. I took the bottle and she immediately began screaming and trying to get out of the bean bag, so I went really quickly to her room to get her pacifier to hopefully appeal her at least until I got through with the dishes. As soon as I put it in her mouth, she laid back, slightly on her side, as this was her formerly attempted escape route, and there she slept for an hour and a half, allowing me to finish the entire kitchen and take a couple of pictures. She woke up with the afternoon call to prayer, after which she transitioned very easily into her bed, where she has been sleeping now for just about 10 minutes. She's a cute little girl. You should see her videos in the post below if you missed them.

Kaiyah Sits Up, Claps, and Crawls!!

2009-01-16T22:58:00.000-08:00

All in two videos! Kaiyah's been doing all these neat things the last couple of weeks and we've been too lazy to capture them all on film until yesterday. So enjoy these videos and don't miss the post below with a video of Zeke singing the alphabet song. We were busy yesterday.

Zeke's Alphabet

2009-01-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

Zeke got a refrigerator alphabet set from his Aunt Amy for Christmas and he loves it. It plays the alphabet song and he is already starting to sing along. Here's a video. Enjoy.

Teeth

2009-01-12T04:02:00.000-08:00

I wrote and posted this blog a few days back, only I'm just now discovering that it didn't post for whatever reason. Anyways, Kaiyah's bottom two teeth came in last month and here is the picture to prove it. Sorry, it's a little blurry. We had our new lens on and I guess it thought we wanted the whole picture nice and blurry ;)

New Camera Lens...

2008-12-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

Dan's sister and brother-in-law gave us a new lens for Christmas for our camera. We've been playing with it for a couple of days now. Here are a couple of pictures of Zeke and Kaiyah. There are more on our family blog if you want to see.

Kaiyah Jump!

2008-12-06T21:20:00.001-08:00

Kaiyah is doing lots of new things these days, so expect lots of video clips in the next few months! She loves to play in the johnny-jump-up, so here is a little clip for your viewing pleasure!

Potty training funny . . .

2008-12-03T00:34:00.000-08:00

As you know, Zeke is potty training. He has done a great job going on his little kids potty. This morning we upgraded to sitting on the big potty. I told him if he went on his big potty he would get TWO treats. Very exciting stuff. Well, he went and got his two treats. I left the bathroom briefly and when I came back in Zeke had his hand down in the toilet water. I said "Zeke we don't put our hands in the potty. That's dirty water, " and quickly flushed the toilet. Zeke looked at me with a very concerned looked and said "TREAT!" He had somehow dropped his treat down the toilet and was trying to fish it out! Yes, I gave him a replacement treat!

Kaiyah is 6 months!

2008-11-29T06:38:00.000-08:00

My how the time flies. Our little Kaiyah turns six months old today! She has been such a fun addition to our life. She is sitting up like a pro, smiling and giggling (and screaming, she has found her voice and likes it a lot!), and just this week she has started getting up on all fours. She'll be into everything before we can blink! Here are a few of her 6 month pictures for those of you who haven't seen them.

"That bro-king!!!"

2008-11-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

Zeke's new thing is to come up to us with various things (his bike is the most popular) and say, "That bro-king!" We reply with the desired response, "Well, you better fix it." And he runs off to get a toy hammer, saw, or screwdriver and goes to work. When he finishes, he says "That not bro-king now!"

We have a problem...

2008-11-26T21:36:00.000-08:00

For those of you who remember the blanket saga, we have another small problem. You see, Kaiyah is now becoming attached to it as well. Whenever she's in the vicinity of the coveted blanket, she edges her way over to it to grab it. However, Dan's told Tami that Zeke long skinny blanket will cut in half more easily than cutting another strip out of his own.

And yes, that is Zeke's hand in the picture. He's still quite protective of both his and Daddy's blanket.

Tall Blocks...

2008-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, we find many ways to entertain ourselves while Mommy is gone. Here's one of them. Blocks all the way to the ceiling! And they didn't even fall!

Zeke makes Kaiyah laugh...

2008-11-21T02:44:00.000-08:00

Kaiyah really loves Zeke and Zeke really loves Kaiyah. He gets so excited when she gets up in the morning and she gets so excited when she sees him. It's really sweet. We got this video the other day of Zeke making Kaiyah laugh. Enjoy.

Aunt Amy...

2008-11-15T05:21:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Zeke's Aunt Amy sent him a video of her reading some Curious George books. We put it in for him to watch this morning and he watched it through at least 3 times before we had to leave to go take some pictures. As soon as we got home, he ran to the television and said, "Kheki watch Amy!" (Kheki's what he calls himself.) He watched it several more times and then pitched a fit at nap time because he wanted to keep watching. He loves his Aunt Amy!

Hard at Play...

2008-11-12T00:10:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's good to be back online. Some of you know that Tami's been in language class five days a week this month and Dan's been keeping the kids at home for 6 hours a day. Well, the other day, Dan left Kaiyah playing in her Johnny-Jump-Up to go get something for Zeke. He was only got a few minutes and when he came back, this is what he found:

She was tired!

Trick-or-treat . . .

2008-10-31T06:11:00.000-07:00

There is no such thing as trick-or-treating where we live, but we decided it would be fun for Zeke and Kaiyah to dress up anyway. Before Tami's parents left, we did a little room-to-room trick-or-treating. We had planned to do it with some of Zeke's friends as well. But, one of them got sick and is currently in the hospital. So, after she gets out we'll do a little more "treating"!

Grandma and Gran'dad are here!!!

2008-10-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Gran'dad are here and we've had a fun couple of days. Tomorrow we're leaving for a week to visit with Tami's brother's family. When we get back we'll have lots more pictures, complete with photo albums and all. Here are a few in the meantime.

"No, Hayır!"

2008-10-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

We have always been a big proponent of Zeke learning multiple languages. However, we didn't expect it to manifest itself in the way that it has! Recently, being two and all, Zeke has begun to say "No!" about everything. However, instead of just doing it in one language, he now does it in two! So, now we are hearing "No, Hayır!" about everything!

Kaiyah say, "Er!"

2008-09-30T22:31:00.003-07:00

The other day, Zeke ran up to Dan and said, "Kaiyah say, 'Er!'" Apparently Kaiyah had been making noises in the other room. It was really cute. The picture is of him telling.

4 month pictures of Kaiyah and Zeke

2008-09-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

Zeke

Kaiyah

Happy 2nd Birthday, Zeke!!!

2008-09-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Zeke turns two today and he's one of the biggest blessings in our life. He's full of energy, funny, sweet and lots of fun to play with! We had a party for him last night. Here are a few pictures. If you want to see the rest, click here.

Almost Two...

2008-09-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

Zeke's gotten into a habit lately of throwing fits from time to time. Here's a picture of what his latest one was about...

That's right! We finished dinner and didn't wash the dishes right away! How dare us! Anyway, he does like everything in its place, which is something that will hopefully last into his teenage years. When Dan finally did the dishes, Zeke was right in there to help. He's fun!

Our Cutie Pie...

2008-09-09T11:04:00.001-07:00

Here's a video of Kaiyah doing some cute things today. Zeke's also in the background in the last clip helping Tami know who is in the shot. Enjoy!

Make sure you don't miss the post below as well. You Sooner Fans are in for a treat!

OU!!!

2008-09-09T10:28:00.001-07:00

Zeke was showing his OU pride today and we got a little of it on video. Enjoy!

And Dan even picked out the shirt for him to wear. :)

Pizza Pizza

2008-09-05T06:19:00.001-07:00

I walked out of the room for just a minute and this is what I discovered when I came back in:

That's right. Kaiyah licking her chops over her first taste of pizza! Who says you have to start with mashed peas and prunes? Not Zeke!