Visit with Grandma

This past weekend we took a trip to Grandma's house!  As soon as we got there, Kira began exploring, taking advantage of her newly-expanded mobility.  Bodhi became a pool shark and we could hardly tear him away from the table all weekend.

We spent Friday night there and, the next day, we went to a Bugseum located in a small town about 20 minutes away.  The directions to get there said "Take Lerdo Highway to Shafter.  Turn south on Beech Avenue and look for the gigantic insects!"

They had displays of lots of bugs: butterflies, ladybugs, scorpions (okay, technically an arthropod), Madagascar hissing cockroaches, ants and beetles.  Kira seemed most interested in the giant ant farm (the farm was big, but so were the ants!) and Bodhi seemed to like the ladybugs.

The main business of the place is selling live insects for kids for butterfly hatching kits, ladybug lifecycle kits, etc.  As such, there was a prominent retail store in the center of the bugseum.  It was cool, though, to see where they raise the insects and the many different kinds of insects at various life-stages.

My sister came down that afternoon and we all had dinner together at the local ice cream parlor.  Afterward we went back to grandma's to play and chat until it was time to drive back home.  Bye, grandma, see you soon!

A quick update

Wow!  It's been far too long since we've updated things here.  The kids are growing quickly and that probably has a bit to do with the tardiness of this post.  Bodhi and Kira are getting along very well.  They love each other and it really shows.  Kira will always greet Bodhi first thing in the morning with a "hi" (yes, she says Hi all the time now, along with Mama and Dada) and Bodhi will always greet her with a hug.

Bodhi is living up to his nickname, "Player 2", by gaining a serious interest in Mario.  A few weeks ago I refurbished and set up my old Nintendo system.  While I had it connected it was super-cute to see him sitting in front of the TV with a controller in had, playing Super Mario Bros.  It's not something I want him doing all day long, but it was nostaligic for me.  I eventually installed it on our computer as well and he plays it there along with finding Mario videos on YouTube.  He also likes to bring things to the physical world and we spend a lot of time playing "real" Mario Bros, as he calls it, which consists of running around and pretending to jump on each others heads.  He also likes to present me with Legos asking me to build Mario, Luigi and Bowser.  I think he overestimates my abilities.

The real news, however, is that Kira is walking!  She took her first steps last weekend and has been gaining more and more confidence walking between items and people.  I typically put her down a few steps away and she will walk right over.  She even walks to Bodhi when he's nearby and he cheers for her and gives her a hug.  I'll get a video of that up as soon as possible, because it's adorable.  Congratulations, Kira!  You're officially a toddler!

Angry Birds party

Bodhi decided that he really wanted an Angry Birds party.  He's been really into playing the game so we decided to go with that theme for his birthday party this year.

For decorations we started with Angry Birds plates, cups and napkins, all store-bought.  The goody bags were plain gift bags with printed face stickers of birds and pigs.  I found the free file online here: angry birds We filled the goody bags with chocolate eggs, light up yo-yos, mini markers and small notepads that i made with red cardstock and printed stickers. (another free file)

We had a ton of food.  We ran with the bird/pig theme and cooked up a bunch of fried chicken and had sides of potato salad, coleslaw, pigs in a blanket, deviled eggs, fruit salad, etc.  We also decorated sugar cookies to look like Angry Birds, eggs, and stars from the game.  These took a lot longer to decorate than i had anticipated, but they turned out pretty cute.  My sisters made the yummy cupcakes and we topped them with angry birds images. 

 For entertainment we had a couple of things for the kids to do. First, we had an egg hunt.  Easter isn't too far away and it wasn't too much of a stretch from egg-stealing pigs in the game to kids hunting eggs at the party.  I filled the eggs with small toys that I picked up at Party City.  We also made a "life-size" Angry Birds game made with some cardboard boxes and plush birds and pigs and the golden egg.  The kids set up their own castles and then would throw the birds to knock em down.  Lastly, I put up a giant piece of butcher paper with markers so the kids could create their own drawings.

artwork by Bodhi's cousin, Mason

A Day with the Fishes

Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer...

Bodhi's birthday party wasn't until the weekend, but we wanted to do something with him on his actual birthday as well.  So, I took the day off work and we all headed to the aquarium!  It's a pretty impressive place with two stories of exhibits both indoors and outdoors.  The kids really love to see all the fish, etc. and it's a pleasant place to just walk around and spend the day.

The rare Bodhi-fish

 Bodhi likes to run around and see everything.  They have little booklets that tell you more about the different animals and some of the pages have a place to emboss a stamp.  You can find the "stampers" in various places around the aquarium and Bodhi likes to try to get all of them.  It kinda helps to keep things a bit more organized as well.  Otherwise, he would be all over the place.

Fun for the whole family.

 Kira liked looking at the fish as well.  I think she just likes the colors and movement, but she also seems to understand that these things are alive and she'll laugh when something comes up and looks at her.  I think she liked the shark tanks the best, though also liked watching the sea lions swim around.

Don't feed the sharks!

We had a really fun day with the kids.  They both had a great time and we got a little cake for Bodhi when we got home.  It was just a simple, store-bought cake, but it was just to let him blow out some candles, so I don't think he minded much.  Next up, the party!

Way too much going on

Well, as you may have noticed, we haven't been keeping up with the blog lately.  There's a very good reason for this: Kira is officially mobile.  She's mastered crawling and can also pull herself to standing and cruise around the room holding on to tables, bookshelves, couches, just about anything she can get ahold of.

Of course, with all this cruising around there is a fair bit of falling down, too.  She's not used to getting hurt and, even if she just falls on her butt, she gets frustrated and starts to cry.  She's getting better every day though, and soon I'm hoping she'll let go and take a couple steps over to me.

I suppose I can wait, though.  After all, once she gets through that door there'll be no stopping her.  She's getting bigger so quickly I think I'll just enjoy each little step as it comes.