Friday Night Fun

Our middle school got together this past Friday for a little holiday party at a restaurant with several outdoor venues on one property. We had a nice time socializing, but the highlight was after the party. We took the girls over to playground area with some friends and hung out while all the kids played. Then our girls crashed the party next door as we were headed back to our car. There was quite a bit of dancing at this party, and the girls couldn't get enough of it. They ran to the middle of the dance floor and both started busting some moves.

Here are some videos to recap the night. The first one is of the girls bouncing in the bouncy castle at the playground, the second is of the girls sliding down the slide, and the last is of the dancing extravaganza. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

The girls had a great time trick-or-treating this year, and they had some friends join them for the occasion too: Rafi and Arianna.

The night before, we had the girls open Halloween presents to get them into the Halloween spirit. They got some great goodies from both sets of grandparents and a Fancy Nancy sticker book from us. The presents were the perfect start to the excitement that was to come.

On the night of trick-or-treating, Taelyn came dressed as a penguin and sported her infamous waddle throughout the night. Kaelia was a butterfly because "bu-bye" is one of her favorite things to point out these days. In terms to getting candy, Taelyn was a pro after discovering the magic of trick-or-treating last year while Kaelia was completely new to the whole fiasco. Taelyn did a great job at saying "trick-or-treat" and then "thank you" once she got some candy. Kaelia, however, froze up a bit whenever it was time to say something. Despite all of her practice saying "tica tee" in the car, she did not manage to say it at all during the actual event. She did enjoy all of the other kids and decorations, though. In fact, well in to the night we realized that she took a plastic spider from one house to play with. We don't really know where she got it from, so it became a new toy for the play room.

By the end of the night, both girls were thrilled to come home and empty out their new stashes of candy - which did not last long before they ate everything!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

We had our first visitors here in South Africa as the girls' Grandma and Grandpa Walker made the long trip to stay with us during our October break. After a couple of days to get over jet lag, we all headed up to Pilanesberg for an African safari game drive. We saw the typical zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, elephants, rhinos, and springboks as well as a couple of rare finds. First, we witnessed some hippos fairly up close (from the car, of course). In the past, we have had to use binoculars to make out a hippo's face, but there was no need to this time. Then later on, we were driving along a deserted road far off the main road of the park when all of a sudden a leopard walked out right in front of us. This is an extremely rare find in the park - something that you may catch once in a lifetime! We ended up driving right behind the leopard for about five minutes. It was pretty awesome to be that close.

Next, we all hopped on a flight to Capetown where we spent a majority of our vacation. We stayed in the city for a few days to see the Aquarium, Boulder's Beach with the penguins, and to enjoy shopping and eating along the Waterfront.

Just up the road about an hour from Capetown is where he headed to next to a small town called Hermanus. Justin and I went there last year as well and knew that Bob and Karen would enjoy it during their visit. We rented a cottage on the beach where we could see whales in the ocean from the front door. One day while in town, we even saw the whales jumping out of the water. They were amazing. Hermanus is also a great destination to visit vineyards, so we went for a couple of drives to enjoy the gorgeous scenary of the winelands and stop in for a wine tasting from time to time.

After Hermanus, Justin and I returned to work while Bob and Karen took their own little trip to the Drakensburg Mountains for some hiking. They left South Africa having experienced three drastically different experiences but that all come together to define the landscape of the country.

We had a wonderful time and are grateful that our visitors came out to see us. The girls especially liked the time with Grandma and Grandpa. The only downside of the trip was that we got robbed in Hermanus, but everyone is okay and doing well.

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Family Movie

We had our first outing to the movie theater as a family a couple of weeks ago. The Lion King 3-D was playing, and we figured it would be a great first movie for Taelyn since she has already seen it and we know she will sit through the movie. But we decided to go at the very last minute and did not have time to get a baby-sitter for Kaelia, so we attempted to bring her to her first movie too!

As soon as we walked in to the entrance way of the theater, the girls ran over to some larger than life chipmunks from Alvin and the Chipmunks as Justin bought the tickets and I waited in line for snacks. Taelyn got her very own kids' snack tray full of popcorn, a Slush Puppy, and some candy. Kaelia and I got a smoothie to share, and we were ready to watch.

Once in the actual theater, the girls were even more excited. We all had 3-D glasses to wear, and Taelyn screamed and reached out the grab the "snow" and other particles during the 3-D previews. Both girls did a great job watching the movie as well. Then Kaelia and I took a little walk outside for a while at about half-way through the movie. Taelyn needed a short break a little later, but then both girls came back in to the theater to finish the movie.

We had such a nice time at our first family movie and are looking forward to the next one. Apparently Happy Feet 2 is coming here in 3-D, so we will have to put that one on our calendar!

Kaelia - 12-15 Months

At Kaelia's 15-month check-up, she measured 21.8 lbs., 29.5 inches tall, and had a head circumference of 17.7 inches. Her little body has been very busy with teeth lately! She got three new teeth in the last few months with more on the way.

Kaelia has also been working on her physical coordination. Now only did she learn to walk at 12.5 months, but she can now "jump" on command by bending her knees to move her body up and down. She especially likes to do this on a trampoline. And she has discovered a new form of dancing where she alternates lifting her feet and legs up and down. She has been pretty proud of herself with this move.

Just within the last couple of weeks, Kaelia's language has really started to take off. She is now saying two word sentences such as "hi mama." We are excited to see where this new development is headed and what words she will pick up next. Kaelia is very verbal for her age with well over 30 words in her spoken vocabulary.

Some of Kaelia's favorite activities over the last three months has been playing with blocks and reading books. She will often go off in to a room by herself to do one of these tasks. She will pull book and book off of her bookshelf and flip through each page. This can actually keep her entertained for quite some time. When we are playing in the kids' playroom, Kaelia will head straight toward her blocks shelves and pull all of the colored shapes off of a rod. Once she has finished, she will then put all of the shapes back on the rod. She goes through this process over and over.

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Conversations from Today

At Breakfast:

Taelyn: Kae-ya, I'm so angry with you. I'm so angry I want to spank your bottom right off!

We have no idea where she got this phrase or idea from.


During Playtime in the Yard:

Justin: No, no Kaelia. Don't throw rocks in the pool.
Taelyn: Just (short for Justin), don't talk like that to Kae-ya. Don't talk like that to big sis. Wait a minute... Kae-ya's itta (little) sis.

It's funny how both conversations show the ups and downs of sisterhood!

Taelyn - 2 1/2 Years

At 2 1/2 years old, Taelyn is now busier than ever. She loves to play - no matter where or what the activity is. The outdoors are always a hit so she can go hiking, swimming, play in a sandbox, climb rocks and trees, and just jump around (a skill that she has officially mastered now without keeping her feet on the ground). Inside, she likes to play in her tent, play with whatever toy is her favorite of the week (Toy Story toys, "dina-suddas" (dinosaurs), Wall-e, and her cars to name a few), make forts out of pillows and furniture, sing and dance to kids' songs, read books, and color and paint. But if anyone were to ask her about what she likes best, she will enthusiastically say that she loves movies. Some of her absolute favorites include Toy Story (any of the three), Shark Tale, Walle, Cars, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., and The Incredibles. She also has discovered the Mickey Mouse Club recently and looks forward to that show quite a bit during the week.

Taelyn's vocabulary and sentence structure has taken off over the last six months. She is incredibly verbal and understands basic reasoning now. This is seen quite often when she applies the lessons that she learns from us to her sister. Any time Kaelia dumps her food on the floor or gets in to the camera drawer, Taelyn is quick and eager to point her finger and say "No, Kae-ya. Don't ever do that again. Now it's time for time-out!" And once we explain that Kaelia is too little to understand time-outs right now, Taelyn will repeat that back to us and say "Kae-ya's too little for time-outs... have time-outs later."

Speaking of time-outs, Taelyn is certainly learning her boundaries these days. She loves to test authority figures to see what she can get away with, while she also lets her excited emotions get the best of her as she performs some sort of act that she knows she shouldn't do. It's a pretty exciting time in her life for us to witness her strong emotions and how she battles with controlling them versus running wild. In the end, though, she is such a sweetheart and wants to be a good girl. She loves to snuggle with us and try to get Kaelia to laugh when she is upset.

Taelyn and Kaelia have been forming a special bond as well. They love to tickle each other and chase one another around the house. Just recently, Taelyn started holding Kaelia's hand while they walk from one room to another.

For the first time in her life, Taelyn is in the 75th percentile in height at 37 inches. Her weight has certainly trimmed down in percentile since she was a baby. Whereas she used to be in the 75th and 80th percentiles, she is now in the 25th-50th percentile at 28 lbs.

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