Nina Nina Ballerina

Nate's wondering if I can possibly do this later after kids go to bed. I suppose I can. I begged to rest my swollen ankles for a bit longer. Here are pics from Nina's ballet class, video to follow.

monster mash

We had a very nuclear family weekend. Took Kai to piano. Bought a minivan. Took the kids to Monster Mash at the local park. Grilled burgers. Had a 3-year-old keep us company til 9:30.
We're excited to have a new car, we'd be more excited if it wasn't a minivan. But we plan to drive this Odyssey til Kai graduates from high school.
Monster Mash was great. Nina's favorites were sitting in a race car and watching "Soul Revival" play motown hits. She loves to boogie and rocked out on the haybales. Kai's favorites were climbing the rock wall and the scavenger hunt, which he did with his friend Lainey.
Friday night Cammie visited, from Huntsville en route to Nola for the weekend. It was great to see her, I miss girlfriends. We dropped Kai off at a karate halloween party, then the adults + Nina strolled the Covington block party - old cars, booze on the streets, and trick-or-treating. It's a great little town.

from the archives

The girls in Nola, Father's Day, on a trip down the Mississippi

more from trip to WI

From Mom's iphone...
nina at the gorgeous apple orchard, the kids with Grandpa Fud at the Field museum in Chicago

kai's first race

From a fun run in WI a few weeks ago. This kid likes to compete!

and speaking of...

Now that I'm into trimester three, and grunting as I pull up my underwear, and finding it quite hard to sit on the floor rather than a chair, I'm getting very sad about losing time with my little chitlins. I treasure my quiet time with Ninsies. We have a great routine - I pick her up from preschool with her bike (and a treat and water and if I forget either I'm in big trouble), we ride home, chatting and exploring on the way. We make lunch, have a picnic outside (always outside, she's my nature girl), sometimes do a project, read books, cuddle, and she often naps. I'm trying to figure out how I can maintain these blissful early afternoons when Switchblade accompanies us. And Kai, I miss my time with Kai! Between school, karate, and tennis I feel like I hardly see him, and I certainly rarely see him when he's not tired from a full day. He has been so extremely affectionate lately, very outwardly affectionate, wrapping his strong little arms around me when I lay down next to him, wanting to be carried (and darn it! my belly's starting to prohibit that!). I have to figure out a way to spend more alone time with Kai. So getting very nervous about juggling my precious alone time with my babies.
And what I never want to forgot - how Nina wants me to put my arm around her belly at bedtime, "tighter!". How she says "wok" instead of "watch". How Kai runs into our room in the middle of the night for company while he pees, and he walks so quickly back to bed but always turns around and asks me to carry him the rest of the way.

projects with Nina

Like her brother, Nina loves projects. But whereas with Kai I had the whole house turned upside down with materials to accommodate Kai's short attention span, and his demand for multiple projects in a morning, Nina is pretty content to sit for long periods of time just painting, or scissoring, or playing with playdough. It's a little easier! I'll never forget the days with Kai in Michigan where we would have finished five or six activities before breakfast.

Kai earns a stripe

Kai was beyond thrilled to earn his first stripe in karate last week. He still loves it, and we still love watching the joy and concentration in his face. Nate bought two dvds and practiced with Kai before class to make sure Kai was ready!