Nick Visits Nebraska 2019

Nick came to visit us all the way from Austen! We had so much fun eating, drinking, and giving him unsolicited advice. Haha, that's how we roll buddy. Thanks for coming and come back soon!

Delicious Reubens and beers at Crescent Moon

More drinks Krug Park, one of our favorite places

Hiking at the Hitchcock Nature Center

Omaha MNHS Swim Class- Spring 2019

The kids finished up their second swimming class in Omaha! James was promoted from level 3 to level 4 this time, but he won't be taking any swimming classes this summer because his coding camp conflicts with swimming. Miranda will be in level 2 this summer. These photos are actually from their birthday last week, not from the last class this weekend.

 

Jumping into 5-years-old like...

... well, like a belly flop, but little enough to catch still.

Jumping into 8-years-old...

... feet first! Wise.

Kindergarten Round-up 2019

Miranda had a practice day of Kindergarten last Friday, and I had ALL the feelings. I was surprised. I thought I would be immune since she's already been going to preschool, and I've gone through "first days" countless times with both kids. She had a great time though, and she's super excited to start Kindergarten! She thinks she starts next week, lol.

Class of 2032!

Lining up to go in with nervous parents looking on

Byeeee

Happy girl!

Sohan's Birthday 2019

Sohan had a fun birthday in the park with a cake and piñata fun!

Minecraft Cake!

These are the kids we hang out with basically every day

Sohan helping Shalini with piñata

James's turn

Preschool Tulips 2019

In early November, Miranda's preschool class planted tulips and hurray! they bloomed this Spring!

Miranda planting tulips

Miranda's classmate planting in November

Tulips have bloomed in April!

Easter in Omaha 2019

Kevin's former graduate student Julie invited us over for an Easter party. It was so kind since we don't have any family in Omaha and all our friends are new friends. One of James's classmates Anabelle was also there. They even planned a little Easter Egg hunt for James, Miranda, and Anabelle. It was so sweet!

Kids table at Easter supper

Other side

Easter Egg Hunt!

Looking....

Found one!

Hm, where else...

Annabelle cleaned up!

Checking their finds and swapping

Miranda's 5th Birthday and Interview 2019

Miranda is a pretty confident little preschooler. She's very different than James was at this age, she's still working on the letters of the alphabet and counting (though she's really interested in math) but she always knows what she wants and uses some of the biggest words to demand it.

She didn't have a party this year even though James did, in part, because James had to wait until he was 8 for a friends' party, so it seems fair that she wait until she's at least 6, and also in part because she won't be going to school with any of the kids in her preschool next year. So we promised her a party next year when she's in Kindergarten. She still got her very own cake, and a bunch of presents she wanted so she wasn't sad about it. She even got the Barbie camper she's been obsessed with for almost a year.

5 years complete!

Barbie Camper Joy!

Taking the new Barbie camper to the new Barbie supermarket

Birthday Interview, 2019
What's your name? Miranda.
Do you know how to spell it? M-i-r-a-n-a
What's my name? Ericka
What do you call me? Mama

What's my husband's name? Kevin
   What do you call him? Dada.
How old are you? Five.
How old do you think I am? Don't know.  (I am 40.)
How old is Dada? Eight. (He is 39.)
How old is Jame? 8. (Correct.)

What is your favorite animal? Panda bears
What is your favorite color? Rainbow

What is your favorite food? Tacos
    What's your favorite breakfast? Cereal
    What's your favorite lunch? Chocolate toast (toast with Nutella spread)
    What's your favorite dinner? Tacos.

What is your favorite book? They're all my favorite book. (I hear you! She seems to really like The Very Ugly Bug, The Monster at the End of this Book, and lately, Sneezy the Snowman.)
What is your favorite song? Heartbeats only happen. (She means Big Love, Small Moments by JJ Heller)
What is your favorite toy? I have more than one favorite. I think my Barbie camper. (It's probably her Barbies and drawing stuff. She uses both every single day.)
Do you sleep with any toys at night? Sometimes only.

What is your favorite show? Boss Baby (She's also been obsessed with this baking competition lately called Nailed It.)
Which is your favorite movie?  Boss Baby, and the Minions

Are you funny? Yes.
How do you know? Cuz you tell me that I'm funny.

Who is your best friend? Don't have one. (It's probably Sonya, Ava, Mollin, and Elle at PreK.)
Do you like school? Yes.
What do you like about school? I like that we make crafts together.
Who are your teachers? Miss Weaver, Miss Heidi, Miss Heather, I can't remember anybody else. 

Do you love me? Yes! 
Do you love Dada? Yes! 
Do you love James? Yes!

What does it mean that you love someone? It means that you like them and you take good care of them.
Do you want to get married one day? No.
Why not? I don't know.
Do you want have kids one day? No.
I thought you wanted to be a mama? I do, but I don't want to have kids, because kids are a lot of work.

What's your favorite thing about Grandma? She makes us treats and we go to the beach with her.

What do you want to want to be when you grow up? A scientist. I want to be an artist. I want to be everything.

How come? Scientists discover cool things, and I do a lot of art so it makes sense I should be an artist when I grow up and I also like art.
Do you know what's dada's job is? Writing books and being a dad.

What do you like better the park, the library, the Zoo, or the Children's Museum? Don't have one [I like better].
What do you like to do with Dada? Play with him.
What do you play with him? Barbies.
What do you like to do with Mama? Play with her.
What do you play with me? Barbies.

What else do you think I should ask? Nothing.
Tell me something about your ballet class. We do ballet there.
What do you like better, dance or swim class? Swimming.
Do you like Omaha? Yeah.

What do you think the meaning of life is? Meaning? I don't know what that means.
I mean, what do you think the point of life is? To stay alive.

James's 8th Birthday and Interview 2019

We threw James his first-ever birthday party with friends at SkyZone. Before this, we've kept it mainly to family and our friends. Partly because they were young, partly because we were often coping with Nana's (my mother) health issues and dwindling time, and partly because we're a little cheap. But he deserved to have some new friends come and enjoy his birthday this year as we moved him to Omaha between first and second grade which was not without pain for him. (We also got him a dog, Chekhov, in January to make up for this... so we're doing a lot of penance.)

Party kids!

Time to jump and throw things

Fun

Miranda and Sahasra partying it up too

Pizza time!

Other side (not pictured: Aquib)

 
Birthday cake! 8 Years Old!


Family picture with lots of orange socks

Birthday Interview:
What's your name? James.
What do you call me? Mama.
What do you call your other parent? Dada.

How old are you? Eight.

What is your favorite food? I can't decide.
    What's your favorite breakfast? Cereal.
    What's your favorite lunch? Ham and cheese sandwich.
    What's your favorite dinner? Spaghetti, I mean, pizza, I mean, a hamburger.

What is your favorite animal? Puppies
What is your favorite color? Turquoise
What is your favorite book? Harry Potter (He read the first 3 HP books and is currently working on the very long book 4.)

What is your favorite song? Doe, a deer, a female deer...
What is your favorite toy? My Kindle
Do you sleep with any toys at night? Fudgie, the Super Mario Brother one sometimes.
What is your favorite game? Mariocart (he was playing it yesterday at Holden's house) 
There's a game you guys play about zombies at the park, what is that? Infection tag- one main zombie can infect the people, if there's a survivor he can un-infect the zombies, there are also minion zombies, and the main zombie.
What's your favorite sport? Gymnastics

What is your favorite show? DanTDM videos (on youtube)
Which is your favorite movie?  Boss Baby

Are you funny? Not that funny.
Why do you think that? I don't think my jokes are that good.

Who is your best friend? All my best friends: Sohan, Holden, Brody, Nicolas, Avian, Andrew, Aqib, Albert.
Do you like school? When I'm learning something new unless it's super stressful.
What subjects do you like in school? PE
Who are your teachers? Ms. Crites, Ms. Zilke (music teacher) Mr. Mohning (PE teacher), Ms. Svacina (librarian)

Do you love me? Yes! 
Do you love Dada? Yes! 
Do you love Miranda? Yes.
  
What does it mean that you love someone? It means that you care about them, you like them a lot and a lot and a lot, it's way better than like. So if you love someone, technically you're family.

Do you want to get married one day? Yes.
What do you think the person that you marry should be like? Kind, definitely gonna be a good mom, good positive traits, besides traits on the outside like beautiful.
Do you want to have kids one day? Sure, I'd say about 3, no 2. And I want them to be twin boys. Or twin girls.
Why? Because if they're twin boys, they're the same age and they like to do the same stuff, and if they like the same stuff they can get along easily.


What's your favorite thing about Mama? That she loves me and she snuggles with me, and she takes care of us.
What's your favorite thing about Dada? That he is nice to us, does work, and he helps us a lot, he's really nice to us.
What's your favorite thing about Miranda? That she's nice, sometimes.

What's your favorite thing about Grandma? She's a really good cook, she loves me, she cares about me, she also helps other people that need help.

What do you want to want to be when you grow up? I'd like to be a ... chef.
How come? Because they have pretty easy jobs, and I'd like to have an average life and make food for people.
I don't think it's an easy job at all. Well, I'm still I'm fine making food for people.
Do you know what Dada's job is? He's a teacher at UNO.

What's your favorite place to go? Parties

What do you like to do with Dada? I like to hang out with him and play with him. Games I make up.
What do you like to do with Mama? Snuggle with her, hug her.
What do you like to do with Miranda? I like to fight with her, play games with her. Just kidding about the first one.
What do you like to do with Grandma? I like to sit with her, and hang out with her, and cook with her.

What else do you think I should ask to tell future you what 8-year old you was like? Chekhov.
What do you like about Chekhov? He's cute, he's fluffy, he's nice sometimes, he is a good dog, sometimes.

Okay last one, what do you think the meaning of life is? I think the meaning of life is to help Earth, and be part of Earth.

My Kids Have the Same Birthday 2019

I know we've been over this, but my kids are not twins, yet they have the same birthday. This makes blogging their birthdays surprisingly difficult. So I'm just going to have numerous birthday posts. That's okay because no one reads this blog anyway.

School birthday crowns

Miranda is 5 and James is 8!

When your kids have the same birthday, you buy ALL the cupcakes for school. All of them.

Color Run 2019

Our PTO does a Color Run fundraiser each year. The funds from the last two years have earned enough money for swings on the school playground.

James getting painted

Go, James, go!

Kids running around the school

Nicholas and James

Rainbow-colored 2nd Grade Class

UVA Championship 2019

We watched the UVA game with the UVA Alumni group in Omaha- isn't it wonderful that that's a thing?- and we won!! Woooooo!

We're happy

Kevin also went to the Final Four but I was home with the kiddos:

Miranda's Pe101 Field Trip 2019

Miranda went to Pe101, an indoor play area, with her class yesterday. Here are a few pictures.

Miranda jumping into the foam pit

Malin scooting around

Ava post-jump


Sonya and Turner on the bus