New Camera Lens...

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!

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 . . .

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!

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!!!"

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 . . .

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!!!

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!"

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!"

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

Zeke

Kaiyah

Happy 2nd Birthday, Zeke!!!

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...

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...

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!!!

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

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!

First Day of Preschool...

Today was Zeke's first day of preschool. We took him bright and early this morning. The happy smile on his face in the picture below didn't last for long I'm afraid. When we got there he started to cry, and that increased as they took him out of our arms and hurried us out the door. It was quite sad. Around noon they called to see if he could go to sleep because he was tired. So, we hurried to pick him up so that he could get a long nap at home. When we got there they said he had cried pretty much the whole time. Sad. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

On a side note, Zeke has started saying some cute things lately. For one, he is very protective with his sister. Whenever someone else tries to hold Kaiyah, Zeke says "Kaiyah mommy back. Kaiyah mommy back!" Yesterday we were making brownies and Zeke said "Keki need that. Keki need that bowl. Keki need that." Ha. I'm sure he thinks he does! Today Dan and Zeke were out getting lunch and a man came in the restaurant with a bag of bread and Zeke said, "Man bread gone gone. Man buy bread." He's a cutie.

Week in the mountains . . .

Last week we got to spend some time up in the mountains with some friends. We had a great time during the day, but decided sleeping in the same room with a 2 1/2 month old and a 2 year old isn't very restful! Here are some pictures from our week.

The hotel required swim caps in the pool. Watch out world, here is the next Michael Phelps!

This pony was the same age as Kaiyah!

Daddy and daughter managed to get some Olympics watching in.

On the bus ride home.

Excellent Big Brother...

Two posts in one day! Make sure you look below this one for the first one we posted.

Lately, Zeke's just been a really good big brother. When Kaiyah cries, he tries to talk to her or rock her and it's really sweet. Here's a video of him helping in another way. Pardon the messy bed. It was still early. I think.

Zeke's Latest Trick...

Hey, here's a video of Zeke's latest trick. Enjoy!

Oh the Things You Find...

So, Zeke is getting bigger and really starting to play more on his own. Today, I went to get in the shower and this is what I found:

Turns out Zeke was giving his tiger and bear a shower at some point this morning. I'm just glad he didn't turn on the water. It is lots of fun watching him grow.

Also the other day, I asked him to go get some tissue for his nose. He left and came back a few minutes later with an arm full of toilet paper, and a stream of it following him down the hall. He managed to get it out of the bathroom, all the way to living room without tearing it at all. I was impressed. Unfortunately, I put it up before I thought to take a picture, but here's a picture of the roll after it was cleaned up:

Fun stuff!

Zeke drinks tea!

We have raised a very culturally appropriate child in that he LOVES to drink tea. Now keep in mind we generally only give him apple tea which is a lot like hot apple juice, I'm not sure if there is any real tea content in it. But this is the child who a few months back walked up to some random man on the street who was drinking his cup of early morning coffee. Zeke looked up longingly with his big blue eyes and the man GAVE him a couple of sips of his coffee!!! Thank goodness we've never been overly paranoid first-time parents. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures of Zeke enjoying his apple tea.

Kaiyah's first smiles, and a relaxing Saturday morning...

Kaiyah has been giving a few grins out the past couple of weeks, and we finally got around to capturing them with the camera! Here they are along with a couple of pictures from this morning.

A Visit from Mawmaw and Pawpaw...

Well, Zeke and Kaiyah had lots of fun this week with Mawmaw and Pawpaw. Zeke has been walking around all morning asking about Pawpaw b/c he had to go back home early this morning while Zeke was still sleeping. Here are a few pictures of the fun we had, and here is a link to more. It's different from the link that's on our family page, so don't miss out. It also includes the story of how Zeke romanced this little girl:

Mawmaw, Zeke, and Kaiyah on the boat.
Pawpaw and Kaiyah

Baby Shower #2!!!

So, my wonderful sisters-in-law came up with the idea of having a cross-continent baby shower for Kaiyah. Fred and Renee (Dan's parents) came to visit (we are having a great time FYI) and brought gifts from people back home. Saturday night we opened the suitcases and had a great time looking at all the gifts! My goodness, Kaiyah is going to be one well dressed little girl!!! Thank you everyone for the beautiful gifts!

Here we are opening gifts . . .

Kaiyah got SO many cute things. I don't know if you can see them all very well from the picture, but I'm sure you'll get to see her modeling in future blogs!

Check out all these precious shoes, and I think there were a pair or two that hadn't been opened when we took the picture! Isn't it fun to be a girl!

Kaiyah's First Bath...

Kaiyah lost her umbilical cord about a week ago and the next day, she had her first bath. We took a video of it and left in all the sounds so you can enjoy it like we did. Have fun.

Baby Shower

Some of our friends here gave Kaiyah a baby shower yesterday. It was so sweet and thoughtful of them and we had a good time! Kaiyah slept through her party for the most part, and we were all grateful!!!

Kaiyah and Mommy leaving for the shower

Yummy Food!

Fun Presents!