3rd Birthday and ear infections

For their 3rd birthday, we decided to see how they would do in a real restaurant.  So we figured it would be a good experiment if we took them on their birthday which was a Wednesday night so it wouldn't be to crowded.
Siam Lotus is a Thai restaurant that we haven't been to since before the kids were born.  Everything went really well, about what I expected.  They were well behaved until dessert.  The 5 min we had to wait for the fried banana was a bit much at that 7 pm.  But we had fun and the kids love shrimp pad Thai.

The other 2 pics are from today when we took Aidan to the doctor.  Of course as soon as we get home, Kira starts saying she isn't feeling well either and she has a temperature, so back to the doctors office tomorrow.  They've been sick a lot this winter, which apparently is the norm.  Seriously been to see the pediatrician 5 times in the past 3 weeks.

Kira like to sing and for some reason she likes for me to sing a lullabye.  I'm assuming she's tone deaf, because she seems to enjoy it.

missed the moment

Since our construction is on hold until my contractor is out of the hospital,

here's video of the kids playing at the local mall play area. They are helping each other up on the bridge, but it's very slippery. Kira trys to help Aidan up the slippery side. Of course i stopped recording just before he actually gets up on top. The second video is just after she helped him get on the bridge.



And here's the payoff:





One other of Aidan not quite judging the balance point while trying to help Kira up onto the bridge, although if you look really carefully, Kira is just pulling Aidan down. She then runs away...little stinker!:

The renovation ills

So my contractor came down with pneumonia and was in the hospital for a week. He was making great progress, and now i know why, at the expense of his health.

Either way, before the pause in the construction, we were just starting the painting, and the tiles. Let me say that picking out colors was more arduous than i expected.

Here are a couple pics i took a few weeks ago, after a snow storm.

Let it snow

Here's a quick pic of the kids playing in the snow a couple weeks ago. 

Construction makes progress.

Sorry about the lack of updates lately.  He whole family has been sick for past couple weeks.

I do have some photos and videos ill be posting over the next few days.

Here's one of Mandy anxiously awaiting the completion of the renovation project.  As a city dog, she really doesn't like dirt or grass and she really does prefer being indoors.

You better....or else! Now I know what the else is.

So this is part2 of the video with the pop on pals. Kira shows what the else is, if she doesn't get her wheels.

We did eventually get her another set of wheels so this won't be happening on a regular basis.

You better....or else?

To set this up, the kids got these Pop on Pals toys as an early Christmas gift.

It came with 2 truck bodies, but only 1 set of wheels. This allows for the child to change the vehicle by switching out the body. However, as we have often found, its very difficult to get 2-3 year olds to share anything. Especially when its a new toy.

Kira immediately started playing with the extra vehicle body, but started asking for wheels in a very specific phrasing.

I'm not sure where she gets this language from, but i'm just going to blame the pre-school.

yea...thats it.

Also, she did name the little girl doll right after this to 'Mila'.

Candy? Candy!

I'm not going to post any photos of the kids first Halloween where they trick or treated.  Mainly because I want my parents to see them in costume, for the first time, face to face.

But I will post a photo of their "haul" since it was pretty impressive for their first time out.

They got the hang of it at the first house.  Our lovely neighbors across the street gave them several treats and that seemed to click that they get candy if they just show up at he door.  After that it was Kira who refused to stop.  Aidan seemed to be satisfied after the first 20 or so houses.  Both of them were exhausted and Aidan gave me his bucket to hold after a while.  But Kira would not let go of her treasure even with it dragging along the ground.  And when asked if they had enough, Kira would always respond with an emphatic "No" although Aidan seemed not to care after he filled his bucket.  Kira seemed to realize that more houses means more candy.
I'd like to think that this stubbornness is something she gets from her mother,  but I suspect that she gets her tenacity from me.  At least in regards to candy.  I remember being particularly obsessed with candy at an early age.  Probably part of the reason why I was so hyper active as a child.  I'm sure my mom could tell some tales.

Either way.  I think my parents, sister and brother in law will enjoy their costumes when I see them for the holidays and I look forward to posting some pics of them in the near future.  In the meanwhile I have a number of photos and videos that I will post shortly.

Butterfly butterfly

Here's a video of Kira at the library that I took a couple months ago.

What's not quite apparent is that there is a blue butterfly on the fake plant that she is looking at.

This is her pretending to be the butterfly.

cutest chicken dance...

The public libraries around us have been a great source of fun. The kids love going to the library and playing with the toys. They usually pick out a few books for Inessa or I to read, after which they will play with the toys.

Here's a video of Aidan playing with a barn toy. You'll see him moving a chicken on a slide back and forth. When the chicken is to left it clucks, but when its to the right, it plays this chicken dance song, to which he'll start doing this sort of dance. Its really cute.

This should be sufficiently embarrassing to Aidan when he gets older. Can't wait to show it to the first girlfriend he brings home.

hope you enjoy.

quick video...need to get them a driver's license

so they can ride tricycles on smooth surfaces.. they have difficulty on the street.

But here is a small video of them riding around in babies r us.  I have alot more footage but, its mostly just them riding around.

And thus it continues...a little order to the outside

Progress was slow over the last couple weeks. It rained for 2 weeks. Crazy.

But now the house is sealed. The roof is on, the windows are in, and the siding is going up.

Here is a picture from last weekend.
It shows the windows just being installed.

This is one from today.  They had a couple days to start the siding

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Pumpkin picking at the fall festival

We went to the fall festival by by our house and they got to pick and decorate a pumpkin.

Kira picks the smallest and Aidan picks the largest one he can carry.

Counting... pullups

I took this video just before they started school. It was just before bed so the lighting is poor, but it shows them doing some counting.

I wonder what they are going to think of these posts and videos when the get older. Right now, they are very interested in seeing themselves. I showed this video to them and they love pointing to themselves and each other on the computer monitor.

Second Floor, Gone Up.

Here's a couple pics i took today.

Second floor is up and we were walking around on it.  Its looks really high up when there isn't a window stopping you from falling.

Staircase needs to be added, and the garage still needs to be re-built.  But the roof goes on next week, and the windows and siding after that.  The house should be sealed by in the next couple weeks...at least we will be prepared for the winter.

week old construction

Been rather busy with the renovation.  Haven't had a chance to post anything.

I'll make up for that over the next couple days.

Here are a couple pictures of the second floor being framed.  This was taken last weekend...so this is the framing progress after a week.

There are lots more photos on our picasaweb album.  you can get to it from the Other Links menu above.

I'll post some recent photos later to show the progress.

Pre-School photos

So the kids started at the local Montessori school.  We had to provide photos to the teacher, figured I would post them here.
They are growing well, but they are skinny just like mommy and daddy (when i was a kid).  Doctor's appointment this week shows them at 26 lbs. and 24 lbs. for Aidan and Kira, respectively.
And Aidan is officially 3 feet tall.  Kira is 2 inches shorter.

Here are the portrait closeups...

Look ma! No roof!

Or alternate title would be "Raze the roof".

Quick picture I took last week.

Roof has been replaced by a large blue tarp.  Of course it rained the day after and we had water all over the floor.

Ugh.  If we ever do this again, shoot me.

I think Aidan is left-handed...

Proof!

Gutting the insides

Well there goes the fireplace...the kitchen, the living room, a bedroom and the pantry.

demolition is amazing.

A look at the kitchen, or where it used to be:

You see the fireplace?

Now you don't.

Just a small hole in the roof:

Its amazing the amount of space thats there now.