We Got Jokes

The kids have recently taken an interest in telling jokes. Really bad jokes.

We've Got Jokes from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Skip's Bike Skills

Skip learned how to ride a bike when he was two-and-a-half years old. He's a little bit small for his age, but extremely coordinated. Someone recently described him as being "very aware of where his body is in space," which is an interesting way to think about it.

Before it started getting dark so early recently, almost everyday when I'd come home from work Skip would be outside riding his bike on the sidewalk in front of our house. It's just a little strip he's allowed to do by himself, but he would madly pedal back and forth like it was a really important race or something. Of all the kids, he's the least interested in independent play, but riding his bike is definitely an exception.

So I'm posting these two photos in honor of Skip's mad bicycling skills!

More bicycling feats from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Skip's ramp skills from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Missing Child

Every night before we go to bed, we go into the kids' rooms and check on them to make sure they've got their blankets on them and whatnot (by "we" I mostly mean Tori!). This particular night when Tori went into the boys' room, one of the kids was missing...

Missing child from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Charlie Turned Three Years Old

Interview w/Charlie from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Our youngest child turned three years old a few months ago and I didn't even document the occasion. We had a nice birthday party for him in Manhattan Beach with friends and family, but instead of sharing photos from that day I thought I'd go ahead and post this video of me attempting to interview him (taken a few months before his birthday).

Someone recently started giving me the big talk about how you have to treasure these early years because they go by so quickly. But then right when I was starting to zone out from the conversation -- since it's one that I have so often! -- the person said something that stuck with me. She encouraged me to make sure and take videos when the kids are little so that we'll always be able to actually remember what they sounded like. I know this is not earth-shattering advice, but it was a good reminder since lately Tori and I have been absolutely terrible about taking photos and videos.

So I'm on a new kick not only to take more videos, but also to actually upload them off the iPad so that I won't permanently lose them.

One of the things I absolutely love about Charlie is the way he talks. Not only the way he sounds, but the funny stuff he says. I can't really capture much of that in a video (since he says all the funny stuff when I'm not filming), but I like this video because I think it captures his funny way of speaking.

New Addition to the Family

Don't worry, we're not adopting another child!  The newest addition to the family is something that Tori has been wanting for a very long time: a trampoline!

Tori always says that she can't imagine her childhood without a trampoline.  I can't prove this statistically, but apparently trampolines are disproportionately popular in Mormon families.  Tori says the trampoline was the babysitter in her family and, clearly, she has the same hopes for our trampoline.

It turns out one of the perks of moving to the exurbs (that means we're even beyond the burbs), is that you finally have space in your yard for a trampoline.  Skip and Zadie do actually know how to do flips, but our trampoline isn't stretched out enough yet to get a big enough bounce, so maybe that will be a future video.


Trampoline from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Skip on Harmonica

Remember my post a few weeks ago about Skip's total fascination with live music?  I just realized I have this video clip of him playing harmonica to share.  Clearly he isn't exactly rocking a real song, but I do think you can see a little of his understanding of how to work a crowd in this video, which was probably taken about six months ago.


Skip Playing Harmonica from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Double the Trouble, Double the Fun

Ever since Charlie was very small, Skip has made him belly laugh.  I don't know what it is about Skip, but when Zadie tries she can't quite get him to laugh like Skip can.  Now that Charlie is walking, the two boys have been having lots of fun chasing each other around the house and generally being boys together.

The only problem with this is that, at some point, Charlie's laughter typically turns to tears during the course of their play because Skip gets so hyped up that he ends up hurting him.  So it's kind of hard as a parent to monitor because you want them to play together like wild boys, but you're just waiting to intervene for when Skip takes something too far and accidentally hurts him.  Charlie doesn't stay upset long and hopefully as Skip gets older he'll be better about being more gentle.  Or, more likely, Charlie will get bigger and will start hurting Skip instead!

Anyway, hearing these two boys laugh and play together is definitely a fun part of our daily lives.  They were both giggling like crazy before Tori took out the video camera and then, like always, they get interested in the video camera and stop laughing quite so hard.  So watch the video and imagine the laughter times ten.

Skip & Charlie Jumping on Bed from Kate K. on Vimeo.

The Ranch Files: Charlie Starts to Walk

As I've previously written, I'm really excited for Charlie to learn to walk, and I have very high expectations for how our life is going to improve once that happens.  Well, it hasn't fully happened yet, but he definitely did more walking at the ranch than he's ever done before.  Maybe the fresh air inspired him to be more mobile.

This is a video of him taking a few steps.  I love the sound of my Aunt Dana's Texan accent in the background saying, "Ride 'em, cowboy!"


Charlie Walks! from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Our Little Swimmers

We've had some great trips to my parents' house recently, which unfortunately I haven't been documenting because I'm having a problem with our new camera and can't figure out how to get them onto the computer. I've resorted to reading the actual manual.

Anyway, this is a video we took of the kids jumping into the jacuzzi. Even though the weather was actually pretty cold and rainy, we can still have fun in the jacuzzi.

Skipper is kind of bonkers about jumping in the water and sometimes he doesn't give us any warning, so it's a good thing it's a small space and we can scoop him up really quickly. Zadie is a bit more cautious, but she still loves doing the big jumps. Her jumps are more like painful line drives, unfortunately.

Jumping in Jacuzzi from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Skip Takes His First Steps!

I'm way behind on my blogging, but I wanted to do a quick entry to announce that Skip has begun taking a few steps. I can't say he's really walking around just yet, but he's having a great time letting go and trying out his new skills. Very cute. I can't believe what an early walker he is!! Zadie better watch out because he's going to be running with her soon. Pretty good for 10.5 months!

Skip Takes a Few Steps! from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

Zadie Sings Hank Williams

Zadie Sings Hank Williams from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

My dad always sings "Hey, Good Lookin'" to Zadie (just like he did when I was a kid) and so now Zadie is pretty good at singing the lyrics herself. Hopefully you can hear her well enough here. She initally refuses, so you have to stick with the video for a minute, but I didn't want to edit that part out because in the very beginning of the video Zadie says her name and it is SO cute when she says her full name.

Oh, the background behind this video is that my mom was in Seattle last week as her dad was dying and she was feeling very sad, so we filmed this for her and then didn't actually get it uploaded in time to send it. This is why she sends it out especially to Mama Niece and Daddy Hal.

Giggling Skip

Giggling Skip from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

Last week Skip had a fever four days in a row (first time in his life) and this video was taken during that time. Skip is so good-natured that he gets a giggling fit even when he's sick and feeling awful. Either that or he was just delirious!

Skip Crawls!

Skip Crawls from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

I can't believe I haven't blogged in a month. My readership has been in uproar about the lack of posts. Ha!! But seriously, the longer I wait between posts the harder it gets to blog because I feel like I have too much to say in one post. Also, I've really been wanting to post this video of Skip crawling, but I don't like uploading the videos. But here I am!

This video was shot on the first day Skip learned to crawl, February 28th, a few days shy of his 8 month birthday. So I think that makes him a pretty early crawler. And he's not just an early crawler -- he has excellent form to boot!

On that note, I'm reminded of this hilarious video we took of Zadie starting to crawl. It's hilarious now because she moved about a total of inch but we, blinded by our love, were so proud!!

Skip is really enjoying his newfound freedom and is one happy guy.

She Walks!

Well, it's taken 13 and a half months, but Zadie finally took her very first steps last Thursday. Hank dropped her off at our office and, in front of several co-workers, she took three steps in a row. Everyone cheered and she got freaked out and started bawling.
She hasn't done much walking since then, but last night we tried to lure her to walk by holding the pacifier out for here. Here's a little video clip of her showing off her new talent.

Rogers Sing-a-long

Zadie spent her first Christmas with the Rogers family at my parents' house in Julian (thank you, Mom and Dad, for letting us use your home!). We had 23 people crammed into their house and we had a great time. Well, I think maybe Zadie had a bit of culture shock because this was her first full-on Rogers family experience and she wasn't quite prepared for the noise level. She's used to being an only child and living in a quiet, peaceful environment, but over Christmas there were tons of kids screaming and lots of cousins and other relatives who wanted to hold her. She's always been good about going to other people, but she must have gotten too frazzled and she didn't do so hot. But towards the end she got better and she's just going to have to get used to it -- she'll be having another sibling sometime soonish!

After Julian, Zach's family (5 kids worth) came to Manhattan Beach for the week and stayed with Aunt Susie. They came over for dinner last night (minus nephew Aaron, who had just gone home to San Diego). Here's a video clip of Zadie hanging out with the Zach Rogers family and loving their singing. One of my favorite things about spending time with the Rogers family is getting to sing so many fun camp songs. "I Am A Conductor" is my personal favorite, although sadly that one is not featured in this clip. Check out Zadie laughing -- I wanted to zoom in on her, but thought that would be too Zadie-absorbed!

Bathtub Video

I know this video is kind of long, but I just couldn't edit out any of her cute little laughs, especially when she does the crazy laugh at the end. Zadie only recently started taking her baths in the actual bathtub (she started in the bathroom sink, then progressed to the kitchen sink, and is now in the big bathtub). I've taken a few baths with her recently and it is so much fun. She has a grand old time and doesn't want it to end.

Zadie's new favorite thing is standing up by holding on to something like the couch. Her balance is really improving and I'm afraid she might be an early walker -- yikes! Then again, what do I know?

Mumbo Jumbo

Zadie's been doing some great talking lately and I caught a little bit of it on film. Tomorrow Zadie and I are going to Texas to visit family and my mom will meet us there. The plane ride should be interesting now that she's so squirmy and wants to roll all around. Hopefully the people sitting next to me will be good sports and will find her charming!

She Crawls (sort of)!

Our friend Sidney very kindly gave us a little video device that I used to take this video (instead of the 10 second snippets I was doing w/our digital camera). Unfortunately, I had to compress this video in order to upload it, so sorry for the grainy quality.

Yes, the big news is that Zadie is sort of crawling. You can see for yourself in this video. It's not pretty, but she's kind of pulling herself around. Maybe more of a scoot. Scary!

I kind of wish we could turn the sound off because Tori and I both sound like weirdos, but those (unfortunately) are our baby talking voices coming out. Okay, now I'm kind of embarrassed because I watched the video again and it's really not impressive. Not much of her crawling is captured here, but I'll get more on another day. Just take my word for it!

She WILL Eat Her Veggies!

I know I already posted one video of Zadie making bad faces while trying to eat zucchini, but this one was too funny. She's actually grown accustomed to the zucchini, but this is her trying avocado for the first time. We've also given her rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, which she likes, but we're pretty determined to make her like green foods. She's being a good sport and downing what we give her. Sorry for the poor video quality...

Zadie Tries Her First Food!

After six months of breast milk, tonight we gave Zadie her first try at solid foods. Tori made some zucchini with the food mill and we put Zadie in the high chair for the first time. Other kids have to use those fancy new high chairs that are all germ-free, but Zadie gets her very own vintage, 1950s high chair full of 50 years of germs. We bought it about four years in Texas and have been waiting for a little baby to appear in our lives and put it to use.

So check out the video of Tori feeding Zadie -- so far she's not a big fan of Tori's cooking!