february fun

brothers, keeping busy

made my friend maria's sunday sauce for the superbowl

we are not an american football family (we're more interested in the other football - soccer!), but that didn't stop us from feeling some excitement over the Super Bowl.  after a fun afternoon playing in the snow (while i worked on my sunday sauce), i bathed the boys & got them in their pi's in time for the game.  we spent the evening feeling totally american : )

kaanie didn't catch much of the game

maxin' and relaxin'

love those feet

good morning!

…the many faces of kaan

king of the hill!  playing in our neighbor's yard.

i love their parallel play

emre is loving gymnastics - and has really improved!

this kid keeps me laughing, all the time

so serious about his trains

somebody has started rolling his way around the house

lazing about on a snowy winter day - these are the days i love best with my boys

morning sunshine!

loving his paddington from auntie sawah

me & my boys

m&m cookies for emre - homemade cookies are a weekly thing around here, now that baking supplies are abundantly available

my sweet emre

such a good napper

watching the big boys play

brudders

my tito

one of our many sunday afternoon adventures

kid loves snow...

…and tiny shopping carts

a rousing game of 'who's under the blanket?' at school

just another afternoon nap in the car after falling asleep on the way home from school

working on his roll… i try to entice him by putting toys just out reach

ben & his boys

a visit from dede

ben's dad ('dede') spent just over two weeks with us.  he was so helpful with the kids, and he and i kept quite busy while ben was working with lots of fun activities.  we all miss him & are already planning our next visit!

dede's first morning:  getting lots of love from the boys

playing 'doctor' with the kit from dede's flight (the chapstick is the medicine)

watching one of the many turkish movies dede brought in his suitcase

dede was happy to take the boys whenever i needed to get something done (the only rule was that i had to be quiet & stay out of sight - or else kaan would freak out).  he kept them busy for me & one day, emre documented it all one camera!

bros, out to dinner

we decided to take a little road trip one of the weekends & ended up in philadelphia.  we stayed right next to the reading terminal market - which is amazing.  we ate breakfast there every day (incredible local coffee!) and will definitely be back.  we chose philly because of the kids activities - so we headed to the 'please touch museum.'  we were NOT disappointed - this place is awesome, with more than enough to keep emre busy for days.  a total success!  we're definitely going back once kaan's big enough to enjoy it with his brother.

operating a crane with daddy as dede supervises

driving us all on the city bus

probably emre's favorite part (along with the ambulance): somebody give this kid a job, because he could not get enough of the heavy labor.

shoveling coal

before heading home we hit the aquarium, where the coolest part (in my opinion) was the hippo theater.  you could stand right next to them - pretty cool!

after all that excitement, it was not surprising that he crashed on the way home

back home & chilling with dede

adding to the excitement of dede's visit, emre has started pre-school!  we found a small school that we absolutely love, conveniently close to our home.  i love picking him up to find all the children playing outside.  

movie night with dede

introducing dede to his favorite things at the discovery center

playing ambulance

giving dede a break!

we took a drive one afternoon to ithaca, where we met my mom at the science center.  i'm not sure who had more fun - dede or emre?  he loved putting his architectural expertise to use.

he was fascinated by the ball drop!

another favorite: building a dam

toward the end of his stay, we had a visit from fusun & fazil can, who came from boston to celebrate emre's birthday (a little early).

balkayas out to dinner

birthday party fun!

loving his cake (mostly just the frosting though)

still digging the trains

all partied out