From the giant to the peanut...

....the cousins are here...the cousins are here!!!! echoed through the house when Kiira awoke on February 15. They got in late on the 14th. Jonah (aka Pony) and Isaac (aka Bear) and Auntie Ann. After months of asking when they'd come and days of the countdown, Kiira could finally subject her 14 yr old and 12 yr old cousins to "pee pee" games, playing on her rings, silly songs and plays and endless 5 yr old chatter. You would be in awe of the patience these boys showed (although as you can see by the photo, I think they secretly got into the plays...). Evan was the official tour guide in the car, pointing at even the most remote, abstract attraction ("attraction" to a 20 month old being a relatively loose thing). Many hours of playing later, they left Sunday night on the red eye. Kiira moped around and, break MY little heart, even starting crying when she said she missed them so much. Luckily we had taken many a good video and have watched them over and OVer and OVER!!! Perhaps I'll figure out how to get the darned thing on the blog (yeah, likley story I know...). Well, we got some photos of tallest to shortest while they were here. There was a bit of discrepancy there....

Rain, rain go away Evan needs to cure his diaper rash

Evan took matters into his own hands. He was tired of the rain and needed some fresh air to heal a wicked diaper rash he's had. Although he donned his rain boots, he forgot a few other parts....didn't seem to mind though.

Feb 2 - Cal's 16th bday

YES! We made it. So far so good. Calvin is on 5 pills a day, but he is doing pretty well. So, we had a sweet 16 party for him. Cupcakes for all!

"oops we did it again"

Well, oops..."we did it again" to quote a now infamous singer. We got another fish against my better judgement. But, to be fair, Kiira did do the requisit # of deeds in the potty so she does deserve this. The longest we have had one live is about 4 months. It is a beta fish and they are supposed to live about 2 years. Although the lady at the pet store has had hers for 4 years. Imagine, 4 years!
Well, not only did we get the new fish but mommy got a new bowl with a filter, thinking that would make my life easier, having to clean said bowl once a month vs. once a week. Well, no sooner had I installed the filter before Rainbow was sucked right up it. Luckily I am paranoid enough of dying or jumping fish that I check back regularly. I dislodged our new loyal companion and the hearty little gal swam away unscathed. Well, after that fiasco I put an attachment on so she couldn't get sucked up. Still, the poor little thing was in constant swim for your life mode so I've since abandoned the idea of this "make mommy's life easier" filter. I have however gone and bought her some live plants to add some extra oxygen to her life. She loves to hide behind them and does swim around quite spunkily (if that's a word). So, needless to say, I now have high hopes for this fish. But, I AM taking bets...you now know the full story, how long do you think this one will last?

These boots are made for walkin....

...nuff said.

A nap gone wrong

Evan's been teething and, for a few days, did not like his nap. Poor horsey got the brunt of it. He doth protest....

Cooking with Kiira

Ok, it is always a challenge at the end of the day to try and pull together dinner. This is when Evan decides he MUST be held. Which, of course does NOT work when trying to do the kitchen triangle of RF/sink/oven. Every now and then we rally. This particular day we did quiche followed by tarts (the best part). I let Kiira do all the tarts as she is the master dough roller. She does, however, get quite liberal with the flour. Destruction elsewhere in the kitchen is thanks to Master Jebberfield (aka Evan - don't ask how Kiira came up with that name for him?) I am inspired by my good friend and neighbor Mona Helen, who with 4 kids seems to always have some sort of gourmet (in my opinion) meal on the table. AND, a clean house! So, this is what the non-super mom's house looks like after, what I call, total inclusion of the kids....:-)
Also, I am aghast to say, I only just now noticed that Kiira had her shoes on the entire time she was on the counter cooking. I can already see my germophobe friends cringing....sorry guys....

Big shoes to fill

Don't know what the fascination is, but the little one seems to have gotten my mother's shoe gene. He loves going into our closet and trying on all of Alan's shoes. In this photo - he's got mine on but really, he's not picky.