David Britt Wedding Video

David Britt Wedding Video  ('nuff said)

Stop growing!

Whenever they ask why they can't drink alcohol we tell them it is because it stunts their growth.  Semi-truth.  That's why only adults can drink it, because we are already all grown up.

Some days the kids are just so amazing.  

And they seem to grow so fast.

So when we realized that Kaia was almost SEVEN we said.. 

'Stop growing!  Stay six forever!!'

Kaia replies:  OK, no problem.  I'll just drink alcohol.  

Ha ha.  Clever one she is.

Kisses

So for a while now, when Carl and I are leaving for school, the kids give us kisses. 

From Kaia we normally get 'one million hundred thousand kisses' or even 'two hundred thousand million kisses'. 

From Theo we normally get 'the same as Kaia'.

Today from Theo we got 'fourteen kisses'.  FOURTEEN!!  Wow!!!

One Year Later

Life continues.  We now live in Kuwait.  Everything is different.  If I tried to fill in all the blanks I would feel too overwhelmed to ever begin.  So instead I will just tell you about today.

More and more the Corniche is becoming our favorite place to be...

Kaia roller blades

Mommy runs

Theo gets pulled on his skateboard by Kaia

We play at the parks

Kids ride the zipline

They run along the huge rocks that line the coast

They run along the concrete benches that line the rocks

We stop for coffee

They play in the sandy beaches

We have picnics in the grass

They play at the bouncy castle play park

We count cats

We rescue cats

We watch the fishermen

and now... they climb trees

Kaia-ism

Kaia:  Can we climb a tree?

Me: Sure, of course

Kaia: Do you have some gloves?

!!!! When did this lady get prissy!!!!

Theo-ism

In runners stance at an imaginary starting line.  

Theo: I'm FASTman!!! 

He takes off down the Corniche.

(He can actually run faster than Kaia these days!)

Theo is four!!

Does anyone know how much of an awesome party planner and birthday cake maker my wife is?  She is AWESOME.  Theo's first birthday in Kuwait was a smash hit, and it came together in just a few days ...  Of course the usual problem with Theo's birthday is two-fold; it is just before Christmas and it is just about the time that (a crazy period of busy busy busy) school ends.  Not a problem for the Love Family!  No excuses!  After a month or so of 'Theo - what sort of cake do you want for your birthday? - he finally decided on ... 'Santa'!  Yes, true true that Theo's birthday fell on a Saturday this year - 2 days after staff had been let out for holidays but thank goodness there were still a few good families/friends around to make it a party!

 Our family woke up with a 'bang' that Saturday as three of us (not Theo) woke up a bit earlier and madly blew up balloons for his awakening.  We decorated the living room with a 'Happy Birthday' letter banner (see below) and many many balloons.  Then we put his one (from us anyway) big present on the couch.  When he woke up he was very excited - he tore into his present and played with it for a couple of hours with his big sister.

 

Later that morning before we got ready for the party we had a very nice walk down the Corniche and listened for birthday greetings from the kitties cats along the shoreline.

 One of Theo's favorite presents of the party - candy 'Nerds'

 Is this a remarkable cake or what?  A 'base' of chocolate cake, plenty of frosting, and PLENTY of baby marshmallows to complete the beard and hat!

 It took a few slobbery puffs and huffs but he managed to blow out the four candles ...

Look at this proud 4-year old.  Why do I know for a fact that our kids strongest memories of their birthdays will be AWESOME cakes ... ?

Theo is Three!!

Three years has got to be one of the best years for a birthday!

 The waiting in advance is torture!!

They finally GET it, more than last year anyway.

They know EXACTLY what they want their cake to be.

EXACTLY what games they want to play.

The uncontrollable excitement...

 and endless giggles are the most precious things in the world. 

Can you ever remember being so happy about a cake or about candies in balloons?

Thank you Theo for the reminder of what is most important in life.

My heart is full and overflowing.

 As the kids get older it is getting so much easier to throw parties!

Kaia helped with some of the food preparations this year... here are her egg mice.  

Biggest hit at the food table, completely gone!!

 Lots of bubbles.  

 Never ceases to amaze me how much kids love bubbles!!

 The box bump game.

Objective... to knock down boxes.

Also another shockingly huge success.

Kids are so funny!!

 Our cutest onlooker was just a bump in mama's belly last year!!

 Parachute game is another HUGE success!!

This one makes more sense to me.

This parachute was so huge it almost filled the yard!!

 Theo can't remember what it is called but keeps talking about it anyway.

 We all got turns under it.

 My favorite game was cat and mouse.  

One mouse under the parachute, a cat above chases him.  All the people at the edges fluff it up and down... so the cat cant see anything.  Absolutely hilarious!!

 Kaia's favorite was 'Mountain'.  We fill it with air so it looks like a mountain and then someone gets to trample all the air out of it. Funny funny funny.

 Theo's was the popcorn game!!!

He has been excitedly anticipating the balloons filled with candies.  His utmost favorite game.  You jump on them to break them and then eat candy. You see the draw.

This year we bought cheap balloons, it was all the store had.

We put them on the parachute for popcorn and they they were so cheap they started popping!!!  Kids went crazy!!!  Best popcorn ever!!!

 Kaia was pretty proud of the gazillion candies she scouted out in the aftermath.

And the finale... 

Finally that promised cake!!!

Spiderman, just as ordered.

I was definitely a little nervous at moments that this wouldn't work out... but I am a pretty proud mama!!!

So there it is again for you...

made with love (and a little sweat and just a few tears).

(minus the hands which weren't much to look at)

And now my littlest angel is three.  How can it be?
He has a Spider man backpack and is all ready to start school with his mates, sister, and Daddy in January.  I know these years fly by, but no matter how tightly I try to hold on and cherish each minute they are slipping through my fingertips.

 The two's have been awesome!!

My lil' man... I love you more and more every day.
Bring on the threes!!

St. Nikolas

Guess who got to be St. Nikolas this year!

The main reason was to get photos of him in this dress!!

I absolutely love that our kids don't bat an eye if Santa...

is dressed in a big red suit with fat belly surrounded by reindeer...

is clearly a girl and arrives on a horse...

comes in a purple gown and awful white gym shoes... 

 We figured Kaia would recognize him and didn't want to spoil her belief in Santa so we had some preparation to do... we decided to talk to her in advance.  She already knows that not every Santa we see is really Santa, he is way to busy for that!  Many are elves dressed as Santa and we are very lucky when we do get to see the real Santa.

So we explained that not only was Santa busy this year, but the elves were too!  So this year they asked Carl for a special favor.  We explained what an honor it was to be asked and how important it was that it was all kept secret.

As we packed ourselves in the car to head off to Melanie's Carl and I were scrambling around doing last minute chores.  When we came back to the car Theo told us how DADDY was going to be Santa this year!!!  Oh Kaia!!  How could you!! 

Luckily Theo's memory is as short as he is.  When St. Nikolas walked in the gate Theo commented how much he looked like Daddy, but that was his last comment on the matter.

 Lots of kids.  

 Theo was so brave and went to get his present and compliments all by himself.

 Kaia too... but even though she knew it was Carl... she was still shy!

 Theo got playdough cutters and his very first ISM tshirt for EC.  He is VERY excited about starting in EC after the break!!

Kaia got a few necklaces, some fancy lotion, and a new bath scruchie.  

Not bad for two parents that had zilch at 8am and both worked all day.  Kudos to our creativity and Carl's newfound wrapping abilities!

Afterwards... when Carl came back... Theo told him all about how Santa had come and dragged him over to show him where Santa had sat... etc.  I think our secret is safe for this year :)

Here is another blog with photos.  He has a great camera and I am even in some of them :)