Milan's First Day of Kindergarten!

Milan attended his first day of school today!

But first - we celebrated his last day as a preschooler yesterday by playing hooky and doing some of his favorite things without being hindered by his little brother...

The days activities included the tech museum, his favorite pizza place, eating donuts for dessert, playing with silly toys, paddle boating, and more dessert (ice cream)

 Milan was very excited to start his new adventure in elementary school

 Kirin tried to take his spot but Milan had the enrollment advantage

 

Looking forward to seeing how Milan grows this year!

Kirin at 23 Months

One month shy of 2 years old

Kirin singing his ABCs (kind of)

 Chillaxin' with some oversized shades

While dad and brother were making a pick up at Home Depot, Kirin and mom were jammin' in the car with some tunes (only Kirin is featured in the video below, so you'll just have to trust me)

Using the flashlight to search for lost treasure

Here is Kirin "learning" how to play one of Milan's games

(mom was pleased to see them nicely playing while dad was traveling for work)

 

With their older cousin, who paid a visit from the east coast!

Milan at 5 Years

Milan is 5 years old!  And will in just about a month be a kindergartener!

We celebrated his birthday with lots of numbers - math expressions that equaled 5 on his cake (that then ran off the cake)

... and a pinata shaped like the number 5!

Kirin took one of the first few swings at the pinata

but it was our baseball-playing neighbors who finally cracked it open.

Feeding frenzy below

Milan sat down for his age 5 interview.  If you actually get through the full thing (it is long!) he will be consistent with his previous interviews, though a bit more timid and hesitant.  His brother also made several entertaining appearances.

Kirin at 22 Months

Here's Kirin playing a game that keeps him busy indefinitely
(we like it too because we can multitask)

Some new luggage for a cross-country trip and seeing the Shrek donkey who lives near us!

Milan graduated from Pre-K! The party had a luau theme.

Here he is with his "diploma" and here's Kirin hijacking his hula skirt

Kirin surprised us by counting to 10 one day - we had no idea he knew his numbers

Father's day present from Kirin

On our trip to DC, Kirin became a little unhinged on the Metro every time we went underground

Visiting the National Zoo and riding a paddle boat while in the DC area

Cousin time!

Milan, the sherpa
(Kirin was not as good at pulling his own weight as his brother was on his inaugural suitcase trip)

Kirin at 21 Months

Kirin is 21 months old!

He now asks for photo shoots without any prompting on a weekly basis :) 

Fun at Happy Hollow

During "Week of the Young Child," there were several fun activities at daycare.

One of the days involved a special guest reader in Kirin's classroom:  big brother Milan!
(It was also pajama day.)

Kirin also had a lot of fun during the paint slide... and his parents are glad that he doesn't come home quite this dirty every day.

Milan in front of our rose garden during peak bloom!

Kirin at 20 Months

Kirin is 20 months old!

New little brother-big brother gear :)

After taking everything (non-breakable) from the dishwasher, Kirin went for the full basket itself

And another project he was very proud of

Dusting off our bike trailer for the ride to daycare

Fun celebrating holi