Kiran is 3 Years Old! Happy Birthday!

Kiran turned 3 on Sunday! He is such a blessing to us, and we are so thankful for him every day! Kiran is growing and learning and exploring, and he is busy, busy, busy - just right for a Preschooler!

What Kiran has been up to lately:
- more pretend play
-much more intentional play with friends
-adventurous play
-muddy play
-helping Mommy and Daddy
-still loves reading
-loves, loves, loves MUSIC!
-of course, he could be outside 24/7 and not get tired of it! (unless it's too cold out, that is)
-loves any riding toy that exists and goes super fast!
-likes helping Ellery learn new things
-asks to watch BOZ and Bob the Builder just about every day
-does not like Ellery to cry "because it makes me sad that she's sad"
-likes trying most new foods now without prompting from Mom and Dad!
-enjoys school a lot!
-he can eat and eat and eat!
-he asks lots and lots of questions
-he likes to run with us, and he asks to exercise (When we walk, he has to be in the stroller so Mommy can get some exercise, but as soon as we let him, he jumps out and practically runs all the way home!)
-he's doing great with counting

We have had lots of fun celebrating Kiran's special day! We had a party on Saturday which was a blast! All of Kiran's friends from playgroup came as well as some of our family's close friends. We had lots of people here, but thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to have the party in the backyard as planned! Our house is small, but the backyard is perfect for large gatherings! Kiran had so much fun with all of the activities and with everyone!

As you can see, Kiran got a bike for his big day!






Always picking flowers for Mommy or Ellery (who was asleep for the bike surprise)! Ellery and Mommy both LOVE this!



Our smiley girl on Kir-Kir's birthday.
Opening presents from Granna and Grandad and other TX family
Having a birthday on Easter is a little confusing, but here our cuties in their Easter outfits.
Daddy and Ellery at the big birthday bash.


The theme for Kiran's party was "My (Kiran's) Favorite Things," so we incorporated a little of all his favorites into the day. Here is the Favorite's List (not in any particular order except #1):
1. Dan Zanes Music (the kids danced and sang to 2 songs and played instruments)
2. Remi "Little Chef" from Ratatouille (the kids made ice cream sundaes using big kitchen utensils as though they were little chefs)
3. Simon Says
4. Soccer (We played a game of "Simon Says Soccer")
5. Gardening (We let the kids play in one of our squares for our square foot garden)
6. Tools (We put out a big box and Kiran's tools and let the kids work on a project)
7. Strawberries (They were one of our ice cream toppings.)
8. Ice Cream
9. Cookie Monster and the color Cookie Monster blue (We had some Cookie Monster napkins)
10. Singing, playing guitar/drums, and dancing!!!

An unforgettable party - so much fun to watch Kiran and everyone else having a great time! My friend, Laura, offered to bring their "Bounce Around" blowup bouncy thing. So, we ended the party trying to work out some of the sugar by kids bouncing all over the place.
Kiran dancing to "Malti!"








Singing "Happy Birthday to You"
Little Chef and Family
Birthday Breakfast

Thanks for coming to visit, Cookie!

We had a wonderful time with Cookie! We enjoyed taking our LONG walk, our time outside, our time at Sprout Studio, bath time, reading books, playing inside on our rainy day, and all of the other fun things we got to do together!


Celebrating Kiran's birthday with chocolate-covered strawberries!
Cookie and Ellery had some good time getting to know each other this week - and lots of time "talking."

Kiran playing in the backyard

Kiran just before he gobbled up his yummy strawberries!
The Fam

Ellery is pulling up now - and as usual - one sock on, one sock off! Kiran is working on a big project!
Fun time after work with Daddy
Playing soccer with Daddy after work.
One of Kiran's birthday gifts from Cookie and Papa was a basketball goal - what fun! We all tried a few shots!

Ma and Pa sent Kiran a cowboy outfit - vest and chaps for his imagination box! Yippie ki-yay!


Kiran loves playing his recorder from Cousins Addie and Doak!
Bath time with Cookie!

Listening to birds just before Cookie got back on the plane.



Cookie, we miss you and can't wait to see you in June!

As you can see, a strange thing happened with the pictures from our last blog. They were there for a few days, then disappeared. I'll try to get at least a few of them back up. If any bloggers have an idea about what happened, please share your knowledge!

Our 8 Month Old!

Ellery is such a sweet girl. She was sick while Daddy was on travel so we went to the doctor and while we were there we got some new stats. As of Feb 28th, she weighed 16 lbs. 3 oz. and was 25 and 3/4 inches. However, it seems that she has gone through a huge growth spurt in the past week so we'll be curious to know how much she's grown at her 9 month appt. And, oh yes, she is feeling much better now.

Ellery has her first 2 teeth! They are super cute! She has started eating little bites of bananas and bread.

Over the past month, she has really started communicating well with us. She said Ba-ba first, then Ki-Ki (for Kiran). She can now say Mm-ma and Da-da. She can say "hi." She can sign "more." Otherwise, she babbles and has a happy baby language that we attempt to interpret. I'm sure she thinks we are very silly! She still growls at us which we all love. Her laugh is so fun! She loves to give us five and kisses!

She has been doing the army crawl, but in the past couple of days she is sort of crawling sitting up if you can imagine that. She can get around pretty well, and it can be a challenge keeping her out of Big Brother's little toys sometimes. Ellery also enjoys standing these days and practicing "walking."

Her favorite things to do are playing with Kiran, carefully checking out new objects, grabbing for new objects (usually something she isn't supposed to have - a favorite is my cell phone), playing in the bathtub, running around to chase Kiran with Momma, and she likes sitting in her highchair at mealtime and snack time.

Tonight, Daddy got out the guitar and played while Momma gave baths. Jeff hadn't played in quite a while. Ellery was mesmerized by it! She got out of the tub first, and Jeff kept playing guitar and watched her while I finished with Kiran. Ellery had figured out how to make music and was picking each string by the time Kiran and I were finished with bath time!

Yea for Spring! It was a gorgeous day today! I took the kids to the park, then Kiran and I danced outside to a Dan Zanes cd while Ellery napped (we played a cd in the car, had the windows rolled down , and the music up loud - we're not ashamed!)! Kiran loves the song, "Malti." Then, the whole family took a nice walk around town. At The Commons, kids were playing soccer, so we stopped to watch, and Kiran played with Baylan for a few minutes. After we walked home, we had a picnic on the deck (grilled PB&Js - yum, and grilled tofu sandwiches and fruit)!

As you can see, Ellery loves her new ride around town!
Ellery loves the chance to grab one of Brother's tools.
Yes, our very happy girl has a few grumpy moments, usually at bedtime! Here, she was trying to crawl to Momma and was probably thinking, "Please, no more pictures - I need my beauty rest!"