A Child's Smile

Have you ever noticed that sometimes a child's smile can make your whole day? I had one of those smiles today. I made Levi and William capes today, or as Levi calls it "his magic cloak". I told him yesterday I would make him one after I vetoed him wearing his blanket out into the dirt. When I finally finished it, his face lit up. It was one of those precious moments when you know you have made someone truly happy. It put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

Home at Last!

We took a three week vacation to visit our family in Wyoming and Washington. We were so excited to go. We ate a lot, played a lot, and visited a lot. Thanks to everyone who put up with us. It was fun to see everyone and for our boys to make friends with their cousins and aunts and uncles.

I love the feeling of anticipation you get when returning home from a long absence. We got it three times on our trip. Once in Wyoming, again in Washington, and then in Texas as well. When we woke up the following morning I asked William "Aren't you glad to be home?" He said "No! Want Grandpa's House!" He really loved seeing the family.

We all came home sick, except Patrick. I am feeling much better, but the boys are all nursing runny noses and coughs. (Thanks Valine!) I was hoping we were going to miss swapping sicknesses, but it is inevitable when you see that much family. :)

I decided not to enroll Levi in Preschool this year. I wanted to keep our lives as uncomplicated as possible. We have started doing some preschool type activities though, just to give him something productive and uplifting to do at home. I started him in on Piano lessons, (thanks for the books Mom), and we have also been working on penmanship. I also want to work on reading and math. If anyone has some good ideas, let me know.

For those of you who have done preschool at home, or homeschooling, how do you involve all the children at their different levels of learning?(without taking up all the hours in the day? :))

I would love to hear some of your thought and ideas.

I started feeling bad for Patrick because I realized the only picture of him on this blog is the tape picture. In case any of you have forgotten what he looks like, or just would like to see a family picture we took after Andrew was born, here it is. Thanks Leanna for being our Photographer.

Levi's Story

Let me tell you a story about little Peter Rabbit. He was a baby, then he grew up big and strong. He rode a horse to fight bad guys. Then he met a squirrel. "Hello Mr. Squirrel. You have little teeny tiny ears." "No I don't, you have big ears." Then the squirrel and rabbit went of to fight bad guys with their swords. Then a little baby rabbit was born. Her name was mother father brother sister rabbit. She grew up too and helped to fight bad guys ...... (Many rabbits later) ..... A shark was chasing the rabbit and bit off his sword. "Oh no!" Then a big whale swallowed the rabbit. And inside the whale was a ship. (Mom mentioned at this point that it was starting to sound like Pinocchio, Levi admitted that it did, but that it was different too.) There was also a worm and a fish in the whale......

He told me this story for probably 30 to 45 minutes. I wish I had been sitting at the computer when he started telling it because some parts of it were really funny. But sadly I'm writing about it a day late and can't remember half of the story. I must admit, he got tuned out a bit because Andrew was fussing and Levi was going on, and on, and on, but I still did enjoy his story and I am looking forward to many more.

interesting happenings

Here is a picture of some strangers I took pity on and brought home. Faces only a mother could love. I was laughing so hard when I was taking this picture, I thought it would turn out blurry. Dads are so much fun!

We have been having problems with our dryer. It takes a long time to get anything dry. Liz suggested checking the dryer vent for a clog. We found a bird nest! It had occupants, two baby birds without any feathers.  We were torn between having a functioning  dryer vent and letting the baby birds live. We came up with a great compromise. One of the baby birds died before it's parents came back, but we were glad to be able to save one little life and provide a new home for these birds. The bird house is next to the side of our house close to a magnolia tree that hangs over our fence and gives off an amazing aroma. I'm thinking of putting a bench next to the fence and making it our bird watching spot.

And last but not least......Andrew rolled over tonight, twice. I wasn't able to catch a pic, but I have two other eye wittnesses, Levi and William, who will testify. It made me excited and sad. Excited that he will be more moble soon and able to entertain himself and sad that he is growing up so fast!

Teammates

A great Family in our ward (The Bergquists) started a soccer group last fall for free! Levi played in the fall, and is also playing again this spring. He enjoys Soccer practice and games when Mom remembers to take him. :)
Here he is chasing down the ball. This spring they had enough kids to divide up into different age group. Levi has a lot more opportunity now to kick the ball and score. He is really excited about making goals.  I mentioned to him that he might want to pass the ball to some of his team mates and he was very offended!
At the games they let William and his buddies join in on the games. Usually he is chasing the ball with a big smile on his face.
Here are William and Levi, teammates chasing down the ball together.  Kids this age don't play by boundaries.  If they kick the ball past the goal, they just kick it around the back of the goal and try again.  It is really cute to see how far they run before they can figure out how to turn around and go the other way.    "Caution this vehicle makes wide turns" needs to be printed on all of their backs.

Sticker Attack!

I ran to grab my camera to take a picture, but by the time I got back, all of Williams stickers had  congretated in one spot.
My two silly boys!
 The Incredible Mr. Super Sticker!
William has the same problem with markers as he does with stickers. They turn on him and he becomes  the work of art instead of the paper. Notice the ink in his ear and hair.

Life is never boring with kids!

Little Men

A few people have requested naked baby pictures so here they are! Andrew hit 20 lbs at 3 months.

Here is a close up of those beautiful rolls!

Full body pose!

What Mom? William enjoys coloring....himself. Sometimes he will color a page, but more often than not the ink ends up on him.

Oh the terrible twos! William has been fully displaying his emotions lately. Gotta love him!(I think Pat took this picture so he could show Will what he looks like. :))

Beautiful eyes. Levi is growing up so big and he knows it. He likes to talk, and talk, and talk!

We had a bit of rain here. Who needs an umbrella when you have a bowl? Levi and his innovative ideas! Will was excited to wear a bowl on his head too, but he missed the whole purpose.

Are you talking to me? This is the face William gives me when I scold him. Do you think he is mirroring Me?

All in all we are doing good here and enjoying our family. Patrick has been busy with work and studying for the GRE, but he still finds time to putter in the yard and play with us. We are grateful for all that he does. Our Garden is up and we are loving it. Yesterday I picked some lettuce to use in our salad. Yummy! Patrick also planted some herbs for me. I have been enjoying cooking with fresh herbs. Oh the perks of living in Texas!

FHE

Andrew showing off!

The Few, The Proud, The CHUBBY!

My two little potato heads!

I thought I would post a couple of fun pictures of Levi and William and some new pictures of Andrew. He is getting so big all ready. He is 15.6 lbs and 7 weeks old.

At Family home evening tonight I experienced one of those moments that just make your heart happy as a mom. It has been a while I have to admit since we have had family home evening. Patrick had to work tonight, so it was just me and the kids. Levi and William were sitting at the piano with me as we sang the opening song. We sang "Love at Home" Levi knows some of the words, and william would get home in there at the right places, but they were both singing robustly the parts they knew. I guess they must have missed the singing together part of family home evening. William also repeated the prayer after me for the first time. He didn't make it quite to the end, but he got most of it in. We have been worried about his vocabulary, but now he is starting to talk so much more it is such a relief. It is also so sweet to hear my boys repeat the scriptures with us and pray too. Thank heaven for those little moments. :)