Preparing for Christmas

It’s been a long time since I blogged and I’m sorry for that. Things are so busy! Levi is changing so much – he is talking up a storm and to his sister’s mild chagrin he repeats everything she says at the dinner table. It is apparent to Eric and I that he is not trying to annoy her, but seems much more interested in being like his sister and in being part of the conversation. So he pretty much repeats each line she says. We’ve had to talk to Kaylee about coping with this, and understanding that she is like a teacher to him. She likes that idea and then when thinks of it that way, she’s less annoyed. Other times, though Levi really has his own thing to say.

He can be sassy

He can be cute

He can be sassy and cute at the same time (who does that sound like – his father!) – He knows how to be funny and how to capture the attention of the whole group

He knows the power of a smile

He loves to be chased, if you pretend to be a monster you are sure to have fun together

He loves to play hide and seek with Kaylee – they are learning to be quiet while hiding

He and she love to play in the fort under the stairs (new!) together

He and his sister loves flashlights

He loves his sister, even though he tries to tackle her often – they are best friends…I don’t know what they’d do without each other (something you think about after the tragedy at Sandy Brook)

He’s taken a bit of a break from the wildly ahead of his time athleticism he was showing, to make time for all this learning to talk. It is his main focus lately for sure. He can sing a lot of songs now, he can say four-syllable words, it’s apparent to Eric and I that his mind thinking faster than what his mouth can keep up with. His sentences are slow at times as he tries to get things out. But oh my, it’s an amazing thing to watch!

Kaylee is still loving school. She has told us she’s excited to have no daycare and only school next year. She cannot wait! She loves to dance and put on a show, she pretends better than I’ve ever seen (maybe similar to my sister Krissy in terms of imagination), she integrates much of what she’s heard and the minor drama of life experience / exposure she’s had into her pretend scenarios. She also has a wonderful singing voice – she got this from the Smith side of the family. She has been singing a lot of Christmas carols and in good pitch. 

What’s new with me? I have been very busy working – project came off hold and now it’s all (multiple projects) going forward at the same time. I continue an effort to have Fridays with the kids (I do have to make it a point to make it happen). It helps with my long commute to make up some face time with them. I’m trying to get ready for Christmas and it is a challenge – there’s so much to do! Finally got all the Christmas cards out and half the presents bought and none of them wrapped. Eric and I are partway done with the painting in the guest bedroom and hope to get the rest done soon in time for the Smith visit on the 31^st. I’m taking some vacation but available for meetings as they arise – so we will see how much time at work that amounts to.

Kaylee cannot wait till Christmas and is counting down. She does not want to count today in the countdown, anything to make it seem like it’s closer! I just want more time, on the other end, to prepare – would love time to just enjoy the season and make Christmas cookies, listen to Christmas music, to watch Christmas movies and to wrap…will have to try to make time for those things.  After all, it’s supposed to be about time together and not your purchases you made, right? 

Right now I’m thanking my stars for online shopping and buying groceries online – anything to make it easier!

 

I hope you have been able to enjoy the season (despite the bad news last Friday and the stresses of the season) and that a sense of calm can be brought to all of us.

Thanksgiving

Hope you had a fantastic thanksgiving! We were over at my parents and my mom put out a real nice spread, and the contributions by others were tasty! Thanks b for pecan pie, my fav! The kids were I think too excited to eat, they had a lot of juice from what I could  tell ( they don't get this at home or daycare) it was real good to see people we took the kids to the park near our house, set off memories from childhood playing with Krissy...Kay brought a baby doll with and spent the whole time wrapping and rewrapping her baby in blankets. Levi spent the whole time trying to get his daddy to chase him. Then because we think he was getting sick, Levi slept from 4 to the next morning (most ever?!)

Thankful for...
My nice and loving family growing up  - my mom, dad and 2 sisters...
My wonderful husband and best friend...
My two kids who are so delightful and fun...and healthy!
My considerate and welcoming loving in laws
My coworkers who treat me like a person and not a cog in the wheel,
My job that continues to be busy in our slowest season
Fridays with my kids to myself
A life that is not boring but is still predictable enough to  daydream
Holiday music!
Cooking yummy treats in our warm kitchen
You coming over to visit please?


Last night was my dads 60th birthday. Was fun to have pizza and hang out. Was worried about Levi because he puked at lunch but he held up fine since then. We were going to go swimming but had to make other plans since of the lunchtime incident. (kay had trouble understanding the change of plans) Once the ball came out, he became animated! Kaylee loved putting on a show and singing her teacher like songs to everybody. She sang , " the a says ah, the a says ah..every letter makes a sound the a says (look to Levi to finish)"...and on and on. Very cute! It turned out to be a fun night, better than any 15 year reunion would have been (blah! Missed it without one regret)

Sorry no blogging in a while! So busy all the time!
Hope you understand!
Take care all, love ya and give a call anytime to catch up!

Halloween and singing songs

Levi has been singing songs and it doesn’t do it justice to say simply that it is the sweetest thing I ever heard (besides Kay doing the same at that age). His voice is soft, so little, high while still being boyish. His words are trying to get it right but sometimes he messes up and says the wrong words or simply says something that rhymes and replaces the words but in the melody. His pronunciation is a bit off in spots… it’s so cute. Kaylee has told him a couple times it’s wrong, don’t sing it and I pipe in and defend him saying he won’t get it right unless he practices and that she should sing along to help him learn it. They sing together. He’ll start singing and get tripped up and she knows (more than anyone what he’s trying to sing) and then chimes in getting him to sing it a lot better…so super sweet!

 

Songs he likes:

“ABC’s”

“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”

“What do you do with a scurvy pirate?”

“Happy Birthday”

“I’ve got everything that I need” (not sure if this is a Kaylee-invented song or not)

10 little Monkeys swinging on the tree

 

I need to record and post a video of this super-cute singing. I tried to figure out how to record it this morning to no avail.

 

Update on Halloween:

Eric made a very scary (very tall) costume and the kids were too scared to go out trick-or-treating with him so he ended up leaving it at home by the door as a decoration. Tha trick-or-treaters liked it. I even think I saw a few not come to the door because they were too scared…anyways, it was Levi’s first time trick-or-treating and he did great. He didn’t even need to be carried! He said “trick-or treat” and then would take the candy saying “1” and look up at the person and reach in and say “2, please?” Eric said this made many a person melt a little bit for our little cutie. He was probably one of the youngest kids out there without being a carried infant. Last night was a nightmare in terms of sleep, I got (we got?) woken up at least 3 times by each kid and then at about 5ish I just gave up on getting any sleep and was up for the day. Thank goodness I have off from work tomorrow.

 

Happy Halloween!

Portrait Session Photos!

vacation to CO!

We had a great week with the Smiths in Colorado Springs. They were very hospitable and let us stay in their place. We drove down 15 hours straight and we very exhausted when we got there. But things went fine from there. Went to the zoo, hiking, playgrounds, saw E in choir, E and F do a church race, a pizza party, went bowling, then up to Vail for 2 days at a nice condo there (I felt spoiled J). The scenery was so beautiful! Eric and I got to have a nice night out with his sister and then in Vail, just the two of us while they graciously watched the kids. Kaylee and Levi had lots of fun with their couins. Kaylee was especially enamoured with the baby. But she spent lots of time following her older cousins around, dutifully. Levi just bopped around doing whatever he felt like, sometimes playing alone, with me or with his cousins. They were very sad to leave but were really glad to get home, they seemed esp. at peace with each other yesterday. Playing quietly together and sharing well – we think they missed each other. And they missed their toys from what we saw with their time spent in the playroom yesterday. Either that, or they were just really glad to be out of the car. It was really nice to see D and B again, as well as S and her kids! We really enjoyed our time and now it’s back to the grind (you know what I mean). S took a couple of great photos out there. Here’s some with our fam in them. Thank you so much to the Smiths for a great visit!

the countdown

So the kids went to have their annual photos taken this past weekend and it was a little crazy. They were very good before and during, but AFTER oh my goodness I guess they had had it with sitting/holding still!... Hope it paid off with some good shots, I think so…I’ll post them here soon.

 

We went to the apple orchard this weekend with my parents and my sisters. It was a lot of fun. We went on the tractor ride, got the kids some pumpkins, had treats (apple donuts – yum!) and got to taste test some apples. It was a good thing to do and Kaylee very cutely counted down the days until she got to do that. Afterwards we got to all go out for lunch and it was a great opportunity to catch up – it was fun. Afterwards the kids slept great (maybe too great because last night Levi thought 5 am was wake-up time).

Now she has started a new countdown to our vacation to CO on Thursday. We will be there for a week – can’t wait! Excited to see the Smith clan.

 

Levi said something cute this morning. 1,000 times more cute if you heard him say it himself but he smiled at me with yogurt on his nose during breakfast, with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Mom backetbol! I love it, I love it, I love it” as if it was some sort of revelation on his part, some sort of sweet epiphany.

 

The kids got to jump in a pile of leaves in our front yard yesterday. Though Kaylee and Levi were having fights over Levi wanting to tear the pile apart and Kaylee wanting to keep the pile a pile. You know, there has to be something! I tried to tell Kaylee that is what leaf piles are for and she had trouble with letting her brother do what little brothers need to do – JUMP/SQUISH/TRAPSE/DESTROY!

 

Eric has been working very hard this past weekend with organizing the laundry room, repairing a wall with newly discovered water damage, sorting through his aquarium stuff, constructing a real chute for the laundry (not make-shift cardboard boxes). It looks awesome in there now! He also primed the wall so the contractor can put on the wood cap in the guest bedroom.  Great work Eric! Between being sick and then kicking it into high gear – suffice it to say at the end of the day the poor guy is worn out!

 

Hope the Fall weather is treating you and your families well! Stay warm!

Halloween mask fun!

Happy almost october!

Cute things the kids said lately

Levi and I were sitting at the table at breakfast, Levi points to my coffee mug and says, "what's that ?" I say, "coffee" he points to his glass of water and says, "I got coffee too!" then raises his glass and says, "cheers!" he wants to cheers all the time. His cereal bowl, his spoon, etc. it's very cute! Btw, he knows the difference between coffee and water he ws just having fun being silly!

We just got back from a trip to the nature preserve and went on a walk/hike through the woods, kaylee had a little toy from rapunzel, she kept saying as she was scared we didn't know which way to go, "my little spike is not so sure of the path. Spike thinks we better head back!"

Yesterday we went to my parents and Kay and Levi had a lot of fun making Halloween masks with their grandma d. Mostly I made Levi's but Kay did hers all by herself. I'll post some cute photos here in bit! We also had fun at the park together and playing in their backyard!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Eric was sick and I notice I tend not to post while there's sickness IinThe house, things get too busy!  He's feeling better today and I am happy for him and relieved for  me!

More from trip to Cabin

 

 

 

 

Kaylee had her first day of preschool!

Levi's birthday, more Labor day, Rainy day and State Fair day photos

 

Levi had a lot of fun on his birthday. He enjoyed his Mickey Mouse cake. He enjoyed having his family to play ball with and the fun of having the neighbor girls there for gift-opening.

 

He had his 2 year appt:

He was 59 % for weight

He was 85% for height

He was 99.95% for head size. (along his own curve though).

 

They said developmentally he is "perfect." Their words - not mine!!! :)  He even bought into their claim that it was a misquito biting him at the lead test - and thought it was a funny bug. He is very brave sometimes!

 

Earlier in the weekend, we had fun with his friend neighbors playing in the yard, playing ball, playing playdoh and and dancing in the living room!