ICE CREAM MAN!!!

Kasia loves ice cream.  She also loves the fact that there is a man who will drive through our neighborhood and sell it to her.  

Here is a quick video of her after she got her bubble gum popsicle.  I just missed the moment when she ran out the door shouting "STOP!  STOP ICE CREAM MAN!!"  But this captures her enthusiasm pretty well.

Congratulations Pat and Stacy

Congratulations to Pat and Stacy Lewis who are the proud new parents of Alexander Gregory Lewis.  Little Xander was born on May 28 at 6:13pm, and for awhile there it looked like he was never coming out.  He's very happy and healthy at 21" and 8lb 14oz.  Mom is doing great and recovering nicely.  Dad is still a little strange, but he's still my best friend (aside from Kara... naturally).  

Congratulations guys.  Now the real fun comes when you leave the hospital.  We can't wait to see all y'all at the end of June.

The Sky Fort

For her birthday this year, Kasia received a new swing set.  But not just any swing set.  She was given the behemoth juggernaut known as the Sky Fort.  This fully loaded play-set includes, two swings, a glider, a slide, monkey bars, a rock climbing wall, a clubhouse, and a crow's nest.  According to the instructions in the box it would take "two skilled men twenty hours to complete."  Wow.  Twenty hours?!  And where was I going to find two skilled me to put this thing together?  For weeks this thing sat in our pieces in the garage while I searched high and low for the aforementioned "skilled men."  Alas, I could not  find them and so it was decided that we'd have to put this thing together ourselves.  

We started on a friday morning with Kenny and Jeff coming over to help in the assembly.  For awhile there is was real slow going, as we stared at these boards trying to figure out what to do.  Then once we realized that not all of the holes are pre-drilled for us, and that we would actually have to drill some ourselves, things started to pick.  

Kenny takes a break from his "supervisor" role to help out

Jeff becomes the first casualty.  He got bit by a drill (get it?  Drill?  Bit?  Just a little drill humor for you)

By the end of the first day, after over eight hours of work, the thing looked like we had hardly even started.  The pile of wood still laying in the garage was still piled to the ceiling.  Those two skilled guys would probably be halfway done by now, but all we had was a picnic table surrounded by more wood.

By the way, during the morning as we were building this thing, Kasia was playing over at her friend Gabby's house.  This was when she discovered the joy of pancakes.

We started at it again bright and early on Saturday morning.  Saturday was a little more difficult because that wind North Carolina is famous for was in high gear.  Screws, nails, and boards were constantly flying out of our hands as the wind whipped down on us.  But we persevered, and made a lot of progress.  By the end of day two, it actually looked like we were getting somewhere.  Kasia finally had a little clubhouse that she could play in, if she could get up to it.

Sky Fort, end of day two

After the second day, Jeff decided that he'd rather go on a vacation with his friend to Kentucky and drink bourbon and beer all week instead of finishing the Sky Fort for his granddaughter.  That's fine.  I'm cool with that.  I'll keep working on the thing myself.  

After another day of work and hard labor, Kasia soon had a ladder in the back to climb to her clubhouse.  She also had a slide to get down.  And she had a rock climbing wall for another way to get to up to the clubhouse.

Another day later, and she soon had the  monkey bars to climb on.  If I could do this thing all over again, I would conveniently forget to put the monkey bars up and just leave a big empty space where they belong.  Kasia is currently too small to really use the monkey bars, but she is big enough to climb up the rungs and grab the first bar.  After she does that, it is usually followed up with "HELP! HELP!" and then someone has to go help her cross.  

By the following weekend, Jeff came back and we were able to finish the thing despite an on again/ off again rain storm that was designed solely to irritate us.  

From the crow's next, Kasia is able to spot approaching pirates from up to two yards away.  She has also been known to stand up there and laugh as golfers completely mess up their tee shot.  "It's a par 3!!!" You can hear her shout.  "Even I can hit the green from here!!"*

Kasia keeps the clubhouse neat and tidy

Now Kasia has a wonderland that is also called the Sky Fort.  She spends hours swinging and playing in her clubhouse.  We spend hours pushing her in her swing.  In the end, she loves it, we love it, and it was well worth the effort.  

* she doesn't really say this... she only thinks it.

Thank God for Best Friends

Take a look at this picture.  This is Kasia eating a pancake.  For over two years I've been trying to get her to eat a pancake, and I have failed miserably.  Now Kasia says with conviction that she "LOVES PANCAKES!"  So what happened?  Gabby.

Kasia has a new best friend.  Gabby.  Gabby moved in two houses down from us, and she and Kasia get along as though they've been best friends their whole lives.  One morning, Kasia went over to Gabby's house to play and Gabby was eating pancakes.  Kasia then said she wanted a pancake too.  Much to my surprise, she actually started eating it.  Now at home, she'll eat pancakes too.  Of course, we have to have them just like how she had them at Gabby's house.  That means the pancakes have to have chocolate chips in them, and she needs to have a glass of milk in a cup with a straw.  Whatever.  So long as she's eating them, I'll make them anyway she wants.  I'm just happy to say she now eats pancakes.  

Thanks Gabby.

Exhausted!

After a long and tiring day of playing outside in the sun, Kasia finally ran out of energy while taking her bath.  In fact, she ran out of it so quickly that she was actually falling asleep in the bathtub.  Now this could be a dangerous situation.  We should probably sit her up before she hurts herself.   But first, I need to take a quick picture.  She just looked so cute.

The Kids' Fest in Manteo!

With spring in full swing, and the weather getting warmer, it's time we started doing more things outdoors. Cupcakes and all are fun, but then so is playing in the sun. And here, when you think about sun, you thing the Outer Banks. And when I think the Outer Banks, I think of three other girls whose name start with K: Karlie, Kylie, and Kinzlie (or Kinzlie and Kylie... I'm not picking favorites, and I'm not sure who is older). Fortunately I got a call from Karlie and she told me that Manteo was having their annual Kids' Fest. We should all go together. Well, the weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, and so we got ready just a little earlier than normal and got out the door and headed on down to Manteo.

The entire trip down, Kasia sat in the back and asked one question over and over. "Where is Kylie and Kinzlie?" Again, and again she asked this question. For an hour and a half. "In their car," I would tell her. That was not good enough, so again she'd ask "Where is Kylie and Kinzlie?" With their mom? Eating breakfast? I don't know. Finally, I just told her that they were on their way to the park where we would all play together. She seemed quite content with this answer, so I let it lie with that.

The Kids' Fest was awesome, especially if you were a toddler. They had a whole bunch of different play areas where the kids could just go wild. They had an area full of the giant foam building blocks. An area with nothing but bubbles and bubble blowing stuff. An area for sidewalk chalk. There was a firetruck the kids could sit in. The Coast Guard had one fo their boats there that the kids could climb in. And there was a stage with live music playing the entire time. It was a lot fun.

When Kylie and Kinzlie (plus Karlie) arrived, the three girls took off and had a blast. They spent most of their time at the stage, dancing and chasing each other around.

Kasia and Kinzlie also spent much of their time at the stage, completely fascinated with the African musicians. I have to admit that they were a really good band, but Kasia and Kinzlie were in complete awe of them.

The one big problem I was having with Kasia all day was with getting on the Coast Guard boat. She wouldn't go on unless I could go on, and I wasn't going on. Kinzlie and Kylie went on and had a lot of fun, but Kasia just wouldn't do it. So we left, danced at the stage, and then Kasia told me she wanted to try the boat again. And again, she didn't go on. So we went and played some more, and then just before we left, she said she wanted to try one more time. This time she did it. In fact, not only did she get on, she didn't want to get off. Karlie and the girls were leaving, and Kasia said her goodbyes from the bow of the boat.

She would then end up sitting in the driver's seat for about fifteen minutes while I stood outside saying again, and again, "Ok Kasia, now it's time to go. Come on." I was afraid she was going to flip some switch and somehow set the boat's self destruct mechanism. She does the same thing in our van, and sits behind the wheel and flips levers and pushes buttons while pretending to drive. So I've got a feeling that when the Coast Guard puts this boat back in the water and powers it up, they're going to suffer through the same things I do after she's been playing in the car. The hazard lights will be on, the left turn signal will be blinking, and the windshield wipers will be on high.

She's Got Cupcake Fever

For Easter, Kasia received a really neat cupcake kit from her Grandma.  This was another time, much like dying Easter eggs, when the thought of making a huge mess dominated every thought that I had.  So we put off making the cupcakes.  Kasia then ripped open the box, and started walking around with the bag of cupcake mix, and the tubes of frosting.  For a week she did this.  Finally, after fearing that she'd make a bigger mess by breaking open the bag of mix, I succumbed to Kasia's version of peer pressure (screaming) and we decided to make some cupcakes.

Much like dying the Easter eggs, my fears were worse than the reality.  We both had on our baking aprons (mine was borrowed from Kara, but it's pretty gender neutral.. so I didn't look fruity or anything) and got to work baking.  Kasia mainly just loved mixing the batter for the chocolate cupcakes.  Then she'd have to lick the spoon to make sure it was ready.  It wasn't ready yet, so more stirring.  Then a quick lick.  Still not ready.  More stirring.  On and on this went for about twenty minutes.  Finally, with half the batter gone, she finally let me put the batter into the pan, and then in to the oven.

For the next fifteen minutes, Kasia lost all interest in cupcakes.  She broke out her Dora the Explorer figures, and played with them under the table.

Finally, when it was time to decorate them, she got all in to it again.  She did a pretty good job squeezing the tube of ice cream to make little blobs of design on the cupcakes.  

When it came time to eat, she really wasn't all that hungry.  She took a bite, and then was done.  I guess when you eat half a bowl of batter, that tends to fill you up.  At least the cupcakes looked good.