"Dammit, Zombie" for your viewing pleasure

This was made by Brendan and his friends, Melissa and Ali. They wrote, acted, filmed, directed, and edited. They worked on it for 4 months and put a lot into it and I think it's awesome. Several members of the Modaresi-Beal family are extras, so keep your eyes open. It's in 4 parts about about 25 minutes total.

-Shirin

Home safely

We made it back home from a fabulous Thanksgiving celebration with Gabriel's family in FL. We're heading to bed early since we're a bit sleep-deprived (we chose fun over sleep several nights in a row), but I will post about it later.

I will say that I might even have a video to show soon of our first annual Survivor McAlpin challenge, which I didn't win but did place 4th in. More to come...

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

-Shirin

Funny things Cyrus says

I've been lazy and not written down half of the hilarious things Cyrus comes up with, but here's a sample of them that I have actually written down when I've remembered to.

-Shirin

Lazy:

Me: Oh man, one of our neighbors didn't clean up their dog's poop. Gross.

Cyrus: Why didn't our neighbor clean up their dog's poop?
Me: Because they are lazy.

Cyrus: What's lazy mean?

Me: It means they don't want to do anything.

Cyrus: I'm not lazy. I go poop in the toilet.

Marriage:

Cyrus: Are you and Mommy family?

Gabriel: Well, yes, we are, but we only are family because we got married. Then we had you boys.

Cyrus: Now we're a family?

Gabriel: Yes. One day you will get married too.

Cyrus: With Mommy?

Gabriel: No, she's your mommy.

Cyrus: With Tita?

Gabriel: No, she's your aunt.

Me: Cyrus, one day you are going to marry a man or a woman. Which one do you want to marry?

Cyrus: A man.

Me: A man? Why do you want to marry a man?

Cyrus: Because I love men!

Cannon=candle?

(at the park):

Cyrus: Run Mommy. We're pirates and we need to get onto that other ship.

Me: OK, let's go.

Cyrus (arriving at the "ship"): OK, now let's shoot a hole into the other ship with our candle. Boom! Boom!

Me: Ok, let's shoot a cannonball at the other ship. Kaboom.

Cyrus: Yeah, we hit him with our candle!

Cyrus already knows how to talk to women:

1) "Mommy, I like your hair. It's so soft."

2) "Mommy, you look cute."

3) "You're crazy. I like it."



Giraffes:
Cyrus (pretending): Look, there are three giraffes.
Gabriel: Oh, wow.
Cyrus: We should ride them. One for me, one for you, and one for Kai.
Gabriel: OK.
Cyrus: Well, Kai is too little. He'll ride a giraffe when he's older.



Friendly greeting:
Cyrus (to everyone at the park): Hi. My name is Cyrus. That's my mommy and this is my Kai.


View of Mommy:
Cyrus (to Gabriel): Look, I'm Mommy. (Then, imitating my voice): "I want coffee!"



Holiday confusion:

Gabriel: Cyrus, tell Mommy what you saw at Wal-mart.

Cyrus: I saw a Christmas tree.

Me: Wow!

Cyrus: Yeah, it was there for Halloween.

Question:
Cyrus: Daddy, I want to ask you a question.

Gabriel: OK.

Cyrus: My question is....." I want Mommy."

Neighborly conversation:

Cyrus (talking to some random neighbor): Hello.

Neighbor: Hello

Cyrus: What's your name?
Neighbor: "Jacob."

Cyrus: What's your last name?

Making it real:

Cyrus (grabbing a plastic blue spider): Can we take this downstairs?
Gabriel: Yeah, it's a cool spider.

Cyrus: Yeah, we should make it real.

Gabriel: How do we do that?

Cyrus: We have to go to the store and get something...like a wand!

Strong:

Cyrus: Daddy, you are so strong.

Gabriel: Yeah.

Cyrus: Are you so strong that when I hit you, you say, "Not ouch?"

What he thinks we do all day:
Gabriel: Cyrus, what is Mommy's job?
Cyrus: Veterinarian.

Gabriel: That's right. What is my job?

Cyrus: Taking care of computers.

Day:

Me: How was your day today?

Cyrus: Nothing.

Me: No, not what did you do today. HOW was your day today? Was it a nice day?

Cyrus: It was a mean day.

Mailman:

Cyrus: I got a letter from the mailman today.

Gabriel: What did it say?
Cyrus: Dear Cyrus, I want to play with you and have fun with you. I can't wait to see you. Love, The Mailman.

A few cute sayings:
1. (As I approach his feet with socks): Hurry, my feet are about to shiver.

2. (Before a meal): I'm hungry. My tummy is about to rumble.

3. (Waiting for water): My tummy is rumbling; I'm so thirsty!

What an imagination!

Cyrus: Daddy, I want to ask you a question.

Gabriel: OK

Cyrus: My question is, "Do you have a mommy butt?"

Gabriel: What is that?

Cyrus: It's a drink.

Gabriel: What kind of drink?
Cyrus: A drink that has a pelican in it.

A fun morning at home

I finally have a day I don't have to work. Yay! Gabriel and I actually just chilled out last night and watched a movie and, this morning, we all got up together and walked to Waffle House for breakfast. Then, we walked home and let Gabriel take a nap while me and the boys played outside and got dirty and wet and had lots of fun. It's exactly what I needed.

-Shirin

My sweet family.

In case we forget their names, they are on their hats.

Such a serious eater. He ate 2 scrambled eggs, 2 slices of wheat toast, a pile of grits, a tomato slice, and some orange juice.

Orange juice was such a treat for this happy little guy.

Mo' money, mo' money!

Kai doing sign language. This means "all done." He also does the one for "hungry" and "more."

My bench buddy.

Back home and into the big wet leaf pile.

Waist deep in leaves and loving it.

Kai kept getting stuck and asking for help. See that mud puddle behind the pile?

Kai got a little too muddy. He's not crying because of the mud. He's crying because I made him get out of the puddle.

He got over it and we rode around on bikes and tricycles and played hide and seek. Then, they pretended to eat berries.

And threw berries at the camera lady too.

I let Earl and Smootz out to play for a little while too.

My precious.

They got so dirty that I stripped them naked and gave them a bath right when we got into the house.

Ready for more food, playing, and fun!

Working like a mad woman

No time to blog. Heck, I didn't have time to eat lunch today. I sustained myself on doughnuts until 5:30 PM tonight, when I finally had a chance to sit and eat while writing on charts of some of my sick or emergency cases today. I'm finally home and about to go to sleep so I can get up tomorrow morning and drive back up there. I sure am earning my vacation. Hope I have some energy left for the Thanksgiving festivities in FL.

-Shirin

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

We're home again and back to the grindstone. This morning, Gabriel had to be at his conference early so I dropped the kids off at daycare and went to work a little late. Then, since we weren't too busy today, I got to come home a little early. Would that all my work days let me see my children this much.

Since I just got back from a 3 day weekend and plan to head back out for more vacation around the real Thanksgiving holiday, I am working a LOT this next week while my boss takes off some much needed time with her hubby in CO. Starting today, I will the only doc and will only have 1 day off in the next 8. Sigh...it'll be worth it when I'm off 4.5 days straight and having fun in FL next week. I'm keeping my eye on that prize.

Until then, I'll likely be working more often than not, but I can't complain. I'm happy to have a job and happy to be able to celebrate holidays with both my and Gabriel's families.

-Shirin

The boys were great for the return trip, which I did by myself with them, since Gabriel had to come back Sunday.

We had a good time waiting for Gabriel to get home (right before bath time, hence the naked bottoms).

I also played dress-up with Kai, just for fun.

He wasn't sure he liked it. (Check out that new molar on his bottom right). Poor crying little pea pod.

Tonight, we had a fruit picnic on the floor (pomegranates, banana, and tangerines) and got sticky and sweaty running around, hence more naked pics. I love Kai's curly blond hair.

Big bubsy.

Medium bubsy with Micro bubsy. (Gabriel was testing the camera).

Trying to feed Cyrus a banana...but he only had eyes for pumpkin raisin bread and Flinstone's vitamins.

Drunk on banana and water.

Cyrus claimed he had superpowers with his gloves on. He said his power was throwing balls at cats and that he didn't have to say goodbye to his neighbor, Lucy, because he was a super hero. He's having some mighty strong delusions of grandeur...I might have to hide those gloves.

Thanksgiving in RH with Ricardo, Daniel, and Shirly, et al

Another post today! (See the other one below). We've been very busy, so I've been busy posting pictures, like a true blogger.

Today some very good friends came to visit. Ricardo, Tita's ex and a great family friend, and (independently) my dear friend, Daniel, from college came to visit. Daniel's good friend Shirly also came along since she was down in Columbia with him for their business school reunion and the USC/FL game. She's so great with the kids and very interesting to talk to.

We met them while we were walking around the neighborhood and ended up playing in the leaves and with the football/soccer balls they brought the kids for a long time. Then, we headed back to my house for some Persian food and Thanksgiving leftovers. It was a great time.

-Shirin

We stopped by and saw Lisa and Dan as they were leaving to do errands while we were walking around the neighborhood.

Me, Tita, and Ricardo walking around the neighborhood, waiting for Daniel and Shirly to arrive. (Disregard the falling baby).

Loving the grass in Lisa's front yard.

Playing in some beautiful yellow leaves.

Burying Tita.

Roar!

Shirly and Tita getting acquainted.

Daniel and Kai playing soccer.

Cyrus took this picture as Daniel ridiculed me for getting my 3 year old to take the picture.

There he is. Some of my favorite people are in this picture.

Thanksgiving in Rock Hill with Lisa and Tita, et. al

We're going to be in FL for the real Thanksgiving holiday, so we are spending this weekend (plus Monday for me and the kids) with my parents and sister in Rock Hill. Lisa and her husband, Dan, and her baby, Josie, were also kind enough to come down the same weekend, so we've all had a lovely reunion and have been spending some time at one another's parents' homes (in the same neighborhood, conveniently enough).

Lisa has 2 little nieces that are the exact same ages as Kai and Cyrus, so it's always a kid-tastic time when we all get together. Yesterday, my mom, my sister, and I got busy with the cooking and had Thanksgiving dinner ready by late lunchtime. Together we've gotten very efficient and proficient at getting all the food cooked. Tita almost always peels the potatoes (and she let Cyrus help this year), I usually get the stuffing started by chopping the onions, celery, and bread, and my mom often does the sweet potato casserole. The tofurkey, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce are anyone's job. Then, my mom always makes the mashed potatoes and I always make the yeast gravy.

Gabriel heads home today and I will be driving home with Kai and Cyrus tomorrow. It's been so nice to have a few days of relaxation with my entire family, including Tita, all the way from San Francisco.

-Shirin

Kassidy came over with Lisa and played with Cyrus. They really seem to like each other.

Baby Josie looks a lot like her daddy.

Two of the Thanksgiving chefs.

The cranberry sauce guys.

Lisa's family and some extra family/friends went on a walk/parade around the neighborhood.

Me and Irysse.

Irysse and her three daughters.

Most of the kids (Cyrus and Kassidy in the double stroller, Josie in her stroller, and Camden in the single stroller on the right. Carl and Katie on the left are the kids of a close family friend, Mandy.)

The livingroom chaos with all the kids playing.

Back home with Nama reading books.

Tita reading books.

Baba and Kai talking this morning.

Recent videos of the kids

Kai saying "bye bye" to the cars on the highway.



Gabriel and Cyrus trying to feed each other (imaginary) gross things and trying to gross each other out.



Cyrus playing "Daddy" with his baby doll. I loved seeing him bathe, dress, swaddle, and kiss the baby doll good night. He has a good roll model with Gabriel.



Kai saying "pop" when Tita blew him bubbles.




Kai loves dancing and spinning in circles as much as his big brother does.

Cozy day at home

Yesterday was one of my cherished Wednesdays at home with my boys. It's a day of rest, snuggling, and catching up on cleaning for me. I just HATE it when my house is messy, which means I'm pretty much always miserable, at least when my feelings about my surroundings are assessed. I do let go of that misery to just enjoy play time with the kids, but I really really enjoy having Wednesdays to sweep, mop, disinfect all the crusted-on cereal pieces from the table, and vacuum the cracker crumbs out of the carpet. People tell me to get a maid, but I really actually need one every day if we're going to keep the mess at bay...and I don't have that kind of money. I usually try to go out and about on my Wednesdays with the boys, but yesterday, the only thing we did out was going to the playground. Otherwise, we were home, reading books, cooking, eating, and playing. Oh, and we all took a big group nap, which was awesome for me (once Cyrus decided to stop yelling and actually go to sleep).

After we got home from the park, we had a big family dinner with Gabriel, Brendan, and Melissa. I had put some black bean chili in the crock pot and had already made cornbread muffins, so it was easy just to steam up some broccoli at the last minute and serve the simple-yet-tasty dinner. The kids love Brendan and Melissa, so it was a good time for all.

Tomorrow, we head up north for a RH Thanksgiving with my whole family and some good family friends. I can't wait.

-Shirin

My two daily companions.

Along with these two kitty friends as well. They come home with me from the office and the kids love them, as do I.

Melissa reading to Kai.

My little shaytooni boy attacking his silly uncle.

Perfect day for chili and cornbread.