Hodge podge

Daddy loves barrettes!


Father's Day. Jared picked out K's outfit and did her hair all up.


Swimming and hanging in the back yard on a hot day.








Last weekend the family went on a 1.5hr hike on Grandma Circle's property in Athens County. These are pics from our destination, her cave! Very cool. Kira had a great hike; she slept the last half hour. Only one of us got a tick (me).




Kira has finally learned to clap! She claps every time she takes a bite of food.

Backyard pool play and Kira's animal sounds

Kira has 3 animal sounds, all of which she makes in the video:
1. Cow (or dog, or horse) says "moo" (which sounds like "mmm")
2. Lion (one of her toys) says "rrraarrrr" (sounds like "aaaa")
3. Bird says "chirp chirp" (sounds like "chpchpchpchpchp")

Kira got mail...

And here's what happened when I opened the box (the entire series in order).





Trying to bite the keys...
























Thanks Aunt Claudia and Uncle Eric!! Kira loves her piano and has been walking over to it every five minutes to jam out. Miss you guys!

COSI visit, June 4

This is my second time writing out this post. Hopefully this one will not be lost!

Kira's birthday was a pretty normal, busy day for all of us, so when I got out of class earlier than expected on Thursday, Kira and I went to COSI. Here are some pics from our visit.

In this picture, you can see a good portion of the kids' area behind Kira.




Kira didn't really want to play in the water; I had to keep putting her back up there.




I'm not sure what K was crying about here... I think she was feeling too lazy to navigate the stairs and wanted me to come get her out of the little house.


There is one piece of equipment there that has several holes in the ground with air blowing out, allowing foam balls to hover above them. Kira's first thought at the sight of them... try to bite the ball.


It was on this visit that Kira decided to try walking up and down stairs instead of crawling. Gaaaah... death wish much?

Lil' Kira's First Birthday

So, Kira is one year old already. I spent most of this week looking back and trying to remember exactly what I was doing this time last year, and do a "then-and-now" comparison.

I was struck by how much I feel things have changed, but how, in actuality, many things are the same.

I remember clearly my 40 week pregnant wife going into labor watching "Sex and the City" at Easton AMC with the Erfles, who, oddly enough, we were able to spend time with this week as well.

We walked around the neighborhood enjoying the temperate summer night to pass the time when Kristin couldn't sleep, something I managed to do with Kristin and Kira this past week as well, although it was Kira who couldn't sleep this time.

I remember laying with Kira at 5AM immediately after watching her dramatic entrance into the world and my life. Which, I found myself doing the exact some thing 365 days later as well, minus the 30+ hrs or labor and delivery as a preamble of course ;) .

The birthday party details I will leave to Kristin to share (she has the pics) but I wanted to put up some of these thoughts. Seems "Wherever you go, there you are," stands true even when you bring your baby with you :)