African Men

Questions...

Oh park. What did we do without you all winter long?  Why do we not live someplace where we can go to the park year round?    

 How can my babies possibly be this cute?

 What is Meron practicing writing in the graffiti at the skate park?

 Why do they always want to play on the quarter pipe at the skate park instead of the perfectly good slides?

  Exactly what do Meron and Malakai hope to find peering through the cracks of the bridge?

 How crazy scared did it make me to see them at the top of that slide (considering Meron fell off of it when she was little and I had to catch her as she plummeted to the earth)?

 Where are Meron's beautiful close ups? (Actually, I know the answer to this one. She refused to sit in one spot and said she doesn't like taking pictures)

 Exactly how cute is Hana?  Notice anything about her ears?  (She apparently knows many more men than women with pierced ears, because she thinks she looks like a boy now that she has little tiny rainbow daisy earrings)

 Could he be any more charming?

 So many questions...

In which Mimi makes her Mama proud...

This girl right here?

She is going to be a force to be reckoned with when she grows into herself.  

She already is, but I can only imagine who she is going to be when she grows up.  

 The kids went to a big park with my mom recently and a kind of bad thing happened to Malakai.  He was climbing up a ladder when a big boy (like 12 or 13) kicked him in the head and knocked him off the top of the ladder.  He was really scared, and really hurt... in every sense of the word.

 My mom unleashed some wrath, which is no surprise.  She is little, but I would bet on her in pretty much any fight if she was defending her family.  She's pretty ferocious like that, although you'd never know it lurked beneath her gentle, patient exterior.  

What kind of surprised me, although it shouldn't have, was that Mer unleashed some fury of her own.  My little Mimi started yelling at this kid. "You DON'T hurt my BROTHER!" She started climbing the ladder to yell at him more effectively, and my mom had to pry her down.  A couple of minutes later, she went after him again, demanding explanation and retribution.  

I love how much she loves him.  How mama bear fierce she is in her devotion... even though he drives her crazy. And how's that for gutsy? Taking on some strange boy who is 3 times your age and probably 10 times your size? 

Mer and I were driving the other day and I talked to her about it.  She said she was so mad because it isn't okay to hurt her family.  I told her how proud I was that she stood up for her brother.  Mer said, "I'm going to put that in my brain so I know that you said that."  

I'm glad, because I really am so very proud.  Plus, she reminds me of my mom.

Roar on little bear. Roar on.

That time of year again...

Getting in a little marching band practice on the way to the park.  No offense to our local marching band... I mean, you guys are really good... but you don't march in circles, do you? I think they have set the bar a bit higher for you...

Just Pictures...

My mom took most of these pictures on Easter... I love them. And her.

Sentimental Sunday

This was our first ever glimpse of Malakai in motion... it was taken after he'd been at the care center for a couple of weeks, I think. Not long...
I couldn't hear the audio on our computer so I thought it didn't work; I sent the video to my mom and was on the phone with her when she opened the file.  She could hear it on her computer, so she turned it up really loud for me.  She asked me, "Are you ready to hear your baby cry, Kate?"  I'll never forget how sad he sounded... or how much I wanted to hold him.  He sounded so... little. Like a baby. Like he needed a mama.

Wordless Wednesday

Sentimental Sunday.

In an effort to remember to blog more often, I'm going to try some regular feature type things. This is mostly an excuse to show you old videos. Does this make anyone else LONG for babies? I need a video of changing disgusting diapers at 3am to counter act the siren call...

Eastered

 A bit of posing...

 Playing cousins

 Patty caking...

Some kite flying...

And my pathetic realization that Meron now has a definite 'girl' foot. Not a baby foot. A kid foot. When did this happen? 

It was a great weekend.  Now time to recover.