First Day of School

Well, it's finally happened... Bodhi started school.  We've been preparing for this moment for what seems like years.  He didn't seem to have too many concerns about what, to us, was a huge step in his life.  I think that Jen and I were more nervous about it than he was.







We got up early, made pancakes for breakfast, got lunch ready, got everyone dressed, and headed down the street for the school.  Fortunately, it's only about 3 blocks away so our habitual slowness in getting ready wasn't really an issue.

By the time we got to the school Bodhi seemed a bit more excited.  We had a little time to get things sorted out before his class started so we got his backpack hung up and his lunch in the right spot and got him settled in.  The school allows parents to stay for a bit until the kids feel comfortable so we hung around and tried to get him involved in some of the activities that the teacher had put out.  They had puzzles, games and legos and even a puppet theater.
 















Eventually, though, we had to leave.  We said our goodbyes and left him in his new classroom.  There weren't any tears on the first day (from him or us) and things went really smoothly. His first couple days are short days so he's only there for 4 hours anyway, but it feels like a big weight is off now that it's begun and it went so easily.

Congratulations Bodhi!  Another chapter awaits!!

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.

Christmas rehab.

We are slowly getting through the pile of presents, etc. left over from Christmas.  It's taking a while to find a place for everything and Bodhi keeps taking out toys that I've already put away.  I think that it'll probably be a while until our place returns to something resembling normal.  Until then, we're taking a relaxed attitude about the mess.

Christmas time!

Bodhi knows exactly what to do...

Christmas went over pretty well at our place.  We had our little family Christmas at home first where the kids opened their gifts from us and Santa, then we went to Sherry's house for the bigger, full-family Christmas.

... Kira seems a little uncertain.

After opening even more presents and having a huge Christmas dinner we got to hang out with the family and chat for a while.  Some of us ended up staying the night, partly to extend the festivities and partly to help clean the amazing mess we'd managed to make.  The next day, after breakfast, we headed up north to visit my family in Bakersfield. 

Better than rolling in a pile of money, when you're a kid.

Unfortunately, we ran into traffic that turned a 1 1/2 hour trip into a 3 1/2 hour trip.  The kids were super good though: Kira slept most of the time and Bodhi played with toys, read books and talked with us for the whole ride.  We really are lucky in that respect.

How are we going to fit all this stuff in the car? 

We had yet another big meal and opened even more presents at my parents' place then stayed to chat with my family and then headed back home.  The only further difficulty we had for the ride home was trying to find enough room in the car for the gifts for the kids from Jen's family and my family.

Kira had a great first-Christmas!

Of course, once we got home we had to try to find room for all the loot at our place, too.  Oh well, if you've got to have problems at Christmas, I suppose having too many presents is a good one to have.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Party Animals!

A good time was had by all...

We've been attending a lot of parties lately.  It's affected the kids a bit because they have been out past bedtime a lot lately.  Bodhi likes the parties because he gets to play with the other kids but Kira isn't so sure about all the noise and activity.

... and Bodhi was doing... uh, whatever he's doing.

One party was the extended family holiday party / dinner party / gift exchange.  We had a nice dinner, talked a lot and then had the gift exchange.  It's the kind where you draw a number, open a gift of your choosing then the next person either opens a gift or steals one.  It's highly entertaining for the adults and the kids get to run around and play all night.

Mmmm... Christmas cookies...

The next party was a cookie party.  One of Jen's friends has the party annually where they exchange recipes and cookies that they've baked.  They vote on a winner and eat a lot of cookies.  Since Jen takes the kids, I get a day off, yay!

... and Bodhi made a ... uh... whatever that is...

Next stop, Christmas!!

We forgot the crackers, Kira!

I was doing some dishes in the kitchen and came back to find the kids building a rocket!  I think that Kira is playing supervisor... either that or she's just eating the tools, I'm not sure.  I do know that Bodhi has been really into Wallace and Gromit lately and I think he may be planning a moon expedition.  It is so cute, though, when the kids are playing together.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This month has been really busy with all the things to do for Christmas.  Bodhi is really enjoying it this year.  He’s learning Christmas carols and counting down the days with an Advent calendar that Jen made. 

He also helped with the tree shopping, though he was more interested in some gardening clippers he found than the trees themselves.  And he’s been helping to cook and bake all the various dishes for all the holiday events.

Kira is only 8 months old (only!?) but she seems to like all the new lights, colors and decorations around her.  Our biggest challenge is keeping her from getting ahold of any of them.  She’s very good with her hands these days and quick to get things to her mouth, too.

A Long, Long Weekend

 Gobble, gobble!

Thanksgiving was a four day weekend for us and we made the most of it.  First was Thanksgiving dinner at Christina's house with the family.  After some turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, etc. etc. etc. we watched a little football and a little Charlie Brown and settled in for the evening.  

 Baby's first Thanksgiving

I watched Bodhi and Kira that night while Jen went shopping with her sister.  The sales started early this year so they wanted to get a head start.  It took a while to get the kids to wind down but at least they were both asleep by the time the girls got back.  

 Double-decker birthday cake!

The next day was another day with the kids for me as Jen had to go to work.  I spent most of it cleaning because I knew that Saturday was going to be busy again.  We had a friend's birthday party to attend.  It was a double party for two little girls.  So off I went with both kids to see what kind of damage we could do.

 Wait... who thought giving him a bat was a good idea?

The birthday party had two cakes, a giant bounce house with a slide and two piñatas.  Some of the kids were a little iffy about the piñatas but Bodhi thought it was great fun.  He would swing the bat as hard as he could and say "Hi-ya!" when it would connect.  Once they broke open the piñata a little chaos ensued in the mad dash for candy.  Bodhi had a great time and didn't want to leave, but we had to get back home for dinner.

Hanging out in the man-cave with my mates.

It was nice to get back home and spend a relaxing Sunday with the family after all the excitement from the previous three days. We spent it playing and cleaning and goofing around.  It was a very fun, but long weekend.   Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

More pictures by Bodhi

Self portrait

We have an old digital camera laying around that we haven't used in years so we've designated it as Bodhi's camera. He likes to take shots of the carpet and the TV but sometimes I take a look at what he's got saved on the memory card and find some really cute shots. In the picture above, I feel like I'm getting a preview of teenage Bodhi, for some reason. He's just got that look in his eyes...

Baby sister
Bodhi also took this one of his little sister.  He has better luck taking pictures of Kira because she always smiles for him.

Seven months and two teeth

Kira is seven months old today and she's got two new teeth to prove it!  She's definitely feeling those teeth, too, because she chews on anything she can get her hands on.  She's sitting up by herself pretty well now and is learning to move around on her own, too.  She can't get very far yet but it won't be long now.

Halloween weekend

Happy Halloween!

Well, this year Halloween was almost a Hallowasn't.  Bodhi came down with a fever Saturday night just before we were going to leave for a party.  Needless to say, our party plans that night were cancelled.  Bodhi was still too sick to attend a kids' Halloween party the next day, too.  Fortunately, by Monday, Halloween night, Bodhi was feeling much better and was able to go to a Halloween carnival and out trick-or-treating.

The Pirate Captain and the Princess

Bodhi was a pirate this year and was really excited about trick-or-treating.  Last year he was a little nervous about the whole proposition, but this year he had a blast.  He would go up to the door, knock, yell "trick or treat" and hold out his bag.  I was also very proud that he would say "thank you" each time.  What a good kid!

Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluffies...

Kira didn't really understand what was going on, but she was having a lot of fun staying up late and walking around the neighborhood in the dark.  We dressed her up in a little Winnie-the-Pooh costume and she looked super-cute!

Look at me, I'm sitting!

In other news, Kira is also now sitting up almost unaided.  She can do it without any help, but she tends to fall over after a few minutes.  She also grabs ahold of the bottle when I'm feeding her and can practically do it herself now!  She's getting so big!