Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

If Kaiya takes an afternoon nap, she gets to stay up a little later that night. One of the things she loves to do during that time is play games on the computer with daddy. Some of her favorites are found on Starfall, Up to Ten and PBSkids. The computer games and maybe an occasional video or You Tube clip, pretty much sums up Kaiya's knowledge of using a computer. That statement in and of itself makes me chuckle because she isn't even three years old yet. Anyway, when Kaiya sees me on the computer she almost always drops what she is doing to come over and check out the screen. Right away she asks if I'm playing computer games and my typical response is that I'm checking my email. After she sees for herself that I'm really not engaging in a riveting snail race or an intense matching game, she will return to whatever it was she was doing.  (Read more …)

A few weeks ago my dad was invited along with one of his best friends to go on a weekend long fishing trip. Fishing just happens to be one of his favorite things to do, so he proposed the plan to my mom. At first she wasn't too excited about spending a weekend alone, but it didn't take long for her to cook up a plan of her own. She got a decent deal on a plane ticket and came to spend a few days with Kaiya and Tobi. It was so much fun to have her here for a spontaneous visit. (Read more …)

Well, in our house it is more along the lines of letters and sticks and cameras…oh my! Kaiya is a champion sleeper. We rarely hear a peep out of her from the time she hits the sheets at night until 8:30 or 9:00 the next morning. However, the other night around 3:00 am, I was jolted out of a deep sleep by the loudest shrieks, screams and cries I've ever heard. It took me a moment in my sleepy-eyed state to figure out that it was Kaiya making all the racket and not Tobi. As I ran into her room, I was expecting to find that she had fallen out of the bed or something worse, but instead found her sitting up in bed screaming, "My letters are falling! My letters are falling!" (Read more …)

I'm not sure what I find funnier in this video:

1. Kaiya's self-styled '80s Olympic runner hair style
2. The fact that she calls her Mr. Potato Head, "Tomato Head". (This is even funnier due to the fact that her father also frequently calls potatoes tomatoes and tomatoes potatoes)
3. Her placement of Tomato Head's body parts.

All three had both Andrej and I in tears from laughing so hard at our silly girl. She does have a cold so you'll have to ignore her stuffy runny nose, but we couldn't let those things stop us from sharing the video. Turn the volume up and enjoy!

We recently received a package from Babka that included a box of Hello Kitty Valentine cards and stickers for Kaiya to decorate. A few days ago we got to work making valentines for family and friends. Kaiya colored on the cards with crayons, added stickers and then told me who the card was for so I could write the recipient's name. Unfortunately, I forgot to mail them. This is partially her fault as she wanted to play with the valentines after we were finished by stuffing them into her purse and carrying them all over the house. Anyway, to make up for not having the actual card in your mailbox on this Valentine's Day, I'm including some pictures of Kaiya, hard at work making cards for those she loves. Happy Valentine's Day! (Read more …)

Desperately needing a fun way to get Kaiya's energy out during these long, cold winter months, we decided to sign her up for a parent/child pre-ballet dance class. We go once a week, along with Kaiya's best friend Lucy and her mama, to learn how to dance "like real ballerinas." One of Kaiya's first words was tutu and she truly believes you must be wearing one to dance, so this class has been perfect for her. Even the daddies are getting into it, and last week Andrej took Kaiya and Lucy and met up with Lucy's daddy, so they could see what their daughters have been learning. However, clever Andrej was able to get out of participating in many of the dances because he was hiding behind the camera taking pictures. Somehow I figured he would manage to avoid dancing around the room like a butterfly. (Read more …)

The other day Kaiya was spinning in circles around the kitchen. After quite a few rounds she stumbled over to me and started frantically crying. I bent down to see what was wrong and in between cries she said, "Mama, get me! Get me! The house is falling over." I was laughing so hard I could barely explain to her that the house wasn't falling over, she was just dizzy. At 2 1/2, our sweet Kaiya definitely keeps us laughing and makes us so proud to be her parents. (Read more …)