My cute kid!

For the last few weeks, Levi has been reciting The Lord’s Prayer at odd times. Usually, it is when one of us says a certain word from the Prayer. For example, we were in the van the other day and I said something about “on Earth” and Levi starts in with “on earth as in Heaven…..” It’s really adorable. Here is a clip of what he says:

“Our Fader, art in Heaven, How’did be dy name.
Dy kinggom come, dy will be done, on earth as in Heaven…”

He tapers off a little after that, but if you say it with him, he will finish it. Precious.

Eric bought Levi a new big boy bike a couple of weeks ago. Got some pics of him riding it last night! He’s getting so big! Gretchen brought dinner to Jill & her family last night, so they played outside with us for a while. Then we had some strawberry shortcake before they headed home. Thanks for playing with us, guys!!! Had fun!

Levi & Pierce...cute buddies!

Smile, Gretchen!!

Wanna race???

The weekend happenings

I’m sure everyone agrees – the weekends go by so fast! Friday night, I was able to go out and get some fun stuff for Levi’s Easter basket. I got him some dinosaur and Sesame Street stickers, a water color paint book, some gum (his favorite thing ever!), some Pez and a Tootsie Roll bank. This will be the first time he’ll get an Easter basket from us!! Isn’t that crazy? Not really, I guess. His first two years of existence, we got him a book. This year, he is more aware of special holidays and he knows about Jesus, so it will be fun to explain to him about Jesus loving us so much!

Saturday evening, my sister had a play date. It was fun as usual! She fixed spaghetti, garlic bread and a yellow cake with white icing and sprinkles. Levi LOVES going to Aunt Tricia’s. As I’ve said before, it’s pretty much like going to Toys R Us! My sister is so thoughtful and plans her play dates around what the children would like to do – movies, puppet shows, lots of toys and cake with sprinkles!! (I’m sure she’ll post pictures later, so check out Tricia’s Blog, listed under “Blogs I Read”.) The funny thing was all of the kids that were going potty – constantly! There were 3 kids who are potty training, so the bathroom was a revolving door!

Yesterday was fun and relaxing. Bob, Jill & the kids came over for pizza. Our new love is MaZerella’s. Their garlic bread is just about the best thing ever!After dinner, we went to see our nieces. Megan turned 8 yesterday!! I remember when she was born and now she is so grown up. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!! We love you!!!!!

I guess that is our weekend in a nutshell!

Not a baby anymore!

I guess I’ve been a little sentimental lately. I’ve been looking through old photos – get out the tissues! LOL It’s almost April, which means it’s almost May, which means my baby boy will be 3 years old! Where does the time go? I asked Levi last night “How old are you?” He responded “Four!” while holding up three fingers (and he’s actually only two!)…guess we need to work on that! :)

Here’s my baby on his first birthday.
I think this picture is hilarious because all of us were standing around with our cameras forcing him to eat cake! He didn't like it and wanted to be left alone! Poor little guy!! Man how the time flies!!

Poopie in da potty

Let me just tell you about our exciting night! Levi went POOPIE IN THE POTTY!!! I have been so excited tonight! He's practically potty trained, but he won't go poo in the pot. Very discouraging. I was determined tonight to stick to my guns and pretty much make him go! Finally, after several times of trying, he ran into our bathroom (holding his rear...so cute!!) He went and I screamed! He even got part of a chocolate candy bar for that!!!

Yes, it's sad that these little things excite me. :)

My sister dropped the girls off tonight so she could do some stuff at work. Gretchen called on the way home from her sister's and came by, too. The kids played outside for a little bit with our bubble machine. Got a few pics of them:

Pierce, Levi & Casey Levi & Casey

Bailey, Levi & Pierce

By the way, here's my plug for one of our best purchases ever! Eric bought "Peter Potty" for Levi when we started potty training from Walmart.com. Anyone bringing up a little boy should invest in this flushable urinal. :) It's great!

This and that

I thought I’d just catch you up on a few of the events in our household lately.

Last Wednesday, March 18th, Levi had surgery. He had tubes put in his ears. We ended up back at the doctor’s office on the Friday before that with another double ear infection…his 8th since July. We had already seen an ENT and had an appointment scheduled for his surgery on April 8th. I found another ENT that would do the surgery sooner, so I called to cancel the surgery with the first ENT. Tuesday night, to my surprise, Dr. K (the first ENT) called me at home wondering why I cancelled the surgery. At first, I was flabbergasted that he called me personally! He was very sweet, apologizing for the scheduling delay. (Evidently this is a problem he’s ironing out with his scheduling staff). Long story short, he asked if I could bring Levi in the next day and he would fit him in. It ended up being a great thing because I didn’t have to stew about it! I won’t go into detail about the actual surgery time…I’ll just say it was horrible until he got his “happy juice” (as Aunt Jenny calls it) and then very cute and funny seeing Levi a little loopy and then back to horrible until after we got home and got him down for a nap. After his nap, he was better, only complaining a few times that things were “loud” or that his mouth was sick (I assume he meant his throat hurt from the breathing tube). I’m very glad that day is over and look forward to not seeing his doctor every two or three weeks! Levi was a trooper. If anyone else wants to do surgery on my baby, I will take them out at their knees.

Last night, I got to thinking about how upsetting it was to see my baby boy go through this small amount of pain and emotional chaos. I started wondering how Mary must have felt to watch Jesus suffer. I mean, really there is NO comparison! It brought me to tears to think of the wonderful love that God has for us that He would allow His SON to DIE a cruel death, a humiliating death for people so undeserving. With Easter approaching, I automatically focus on the cross. We all do. But, the story doesn’t end there!! God is an awesome God! He fulfilled His promise and JESUS ROSE AGAIN! He is preparing a place in HEAVEN for all of those who believe in HIM! Hallelujah! I’m such a sinner! But, I’m a thankful sinner who loves Jesus and is so thankful for His love!!

I am thankful that my friend, Jill is doing better. :) She seems to be getting a little more energy every day. They came over for dinner last night and we all had a nice visit. Eric grilled chicken and veggies – very yummy! Here’s to a long, fun summer, Jill!!

At church, the choir has been rehearsing our little hearts out for the Easter service! Here’s my plug – if you don’t have plans on Easter morning, please join us!!! Graceland Baptist Church – two identical services, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Gretchen (Blog: Rather be shopping) and I are in the choir and my hubby plays drums! :) Ahhh!

One more exciting thing and then I’ll close this BOOK! LOL One of my dearest friends, Melanie (Blog: Watermelon Mama) asked me to be in the delivery room with her during the birth of their second child! I am very, very excited!! I get to take some pictures of “Baby A” upon his/her arrival and write a birth story for them. Thanks, Melanie for asking me. I’m just waiting on the call. Could be any time…I’ll post more about that later!

Sorry about the book! I just had a lot to say. :)

A little b-ball!!!

We went to a gym in Sellersburg last night to run off some energy! Bob, Jill, Reece & Janie joined us!!

Levi & Eric dribbling.
Bob playing "keep away" from Levi & Reece! No Fair!!!

Janie wasn't so much interested in playing ball. She just wanted to act like an ape!! LOL

Action shot: Reece shooting!!

I think Levi will play soccer instead!! He loved kicking the ball around the whole gym.

Thanks for going to play with us guys! We had fun and everyone slept great. :) Catch you out on the cul-de-sac later! :)

Outside play time

Here are some cute pics of the kids playing outside this week. :) Enjoy!!

Pierce on a pink scooter! (This one's for you, Paul!!)
I guess this one is almost as bad...Levi pushing the baby stroller! At least it is blue!! :)

Hopie looking adorable sporting Janie's helmet. She wore it all night!

Hopie looking like a cute little doll!! Gretchen, have you thought about "Toddlers & Tiaras"?

The boys at the end of the evening watching a movie. Aren't they cute?? :)

And, here is the sunset at the end of the evening! Beautiful. Thank you Lord!!

Sad day for Mommy...

It happened today. Every mom's worst nightmare. My two year old ran off to play with the neighbor kids instead of clinging to my leg. :(

At some point on the weekend, if the weather is pretty, we end up outside sitting on Jill's driveway watching the kids play. There are lots of little kids in our cul-de-sac and they are so cute when they ask if Levi can play. A little girl named Adley asked if Levi could play on her swing set. Levi looked up at me with those big brown eyes and said "please Mom!" I gave him the "be careful, don't hit, don't climb too high, stay in the backyard, no pushing, be nice" speech and off he ran. Not looking back once. I almost cried. He's growing up so fast! I kept peeking around the corner and Eric would say "Tracey, he's fine."
I'd reply "He's TWO."
"He's three in May."
"He's TWO."
"He's almost three. Leave him alone."
So, I did. And he did great. He fell once, hurting his chin and came crying, but when his MEAN dad asked if we needed to cut it off, he ran back to play some more. :)

Adley, Levi (on the slide) and Reece playing

Levi on the slide

Playing some baseball

Reece acting like a monkey!!

Up to no good! Eric and Bob, Jill's husband

Ta-da!!

Saturday night, my sister and her girls came over. She was bringing dinner to our friend, Jill, so they came by here to play. :) The pictures are of everyone working on a puzzle that Eric brought home to Levi when he went away on a business trip. Later, after dinner, Jill and her kids came across the street to play, too. We had a good time watching the little rugrats run around! Oh, the funniest thing was when we heard a loud "CRASH" from down in the basement. I went running down to see if everyone was okay! All the kids were standing around a broken piggy bank. Levi had thrown it down and broke it. I asked him why and he said "I wanted the money, Mom!" Oh my!

Aunt Tricia, Casey, Bailey & Levi

The finished product!

Batter's up!

On Saturday, Jami & Cooper invited Levi & me to go to the Bat's open house. We had a lot of fun! The season ticket holders got to go to the field and pick up their tickets. We got free hot dogs, sodas and popcorn. Levi loved seeing the baseball diamond!! Thanks, Jami for letting us tag along!!

Cooper looked adorable in his little hat!

The boys posing in front of the field

Levi by the field. He told me he wanted to "Ruuuuun, Mommy!!"

I am Free!

There's something precious about hearing your child sing songs from the backseat of the car. One of my favorite praise & worship songs is "I am free". Levi loves it. Here are the words my soon-to-be 3 year old belts out:
Through You the blind will see,
Through You the deaf will sing,
Through You the dead will rise,
Through You all hearts will praise,
Through You my heart screams, I am free...
I am free to run,
I am free to dance,
I am free to live for You,
I am free, I am free.
Wonderful words for Levi to be meditating on...

So, tonight was the first trip this season to the park. We met Gretchen and the kids at the park in Charlestown. FUN!! It was windy, but gorgeous out. The kids just kind of went wild!! So happy to be outside.

I took Levi to the ENT today. He has to get tubes. :( I know it will be good for him and will make his ear troubles go away. I'm just not looking forward to the actual day of surgery. I told the ENT that this was his 8th infection since July and he said, "Um, yes, it's time." I think he wanted to say, "Um, you over protective Mom, it's way past time..." but thankfully he was very nice about it. LOL

Not too much else going on. Oh, for those of you praying for my friend, Jill, she was admitted back into the hospital yesterday. Not sure what is going on...maybe an infection in her liver. I'll post more about that as I hear updates. Please say a prayer for her healing!!

Here are just some random cute pictures of Levi! Enjoy!!

His latest thing is taking his socks off before falling asleep and putting them on his hands. Go figure.

Daddy took this one when he got home from work. It won't be too much longer until he fits into daddy's ties!! Sad...

"Reading" Daddy's Bible and listening to a Christmas CD while I was fixing dinner tonight.

Looking at a book while Daddy works on the "puter".

Big boy!!

We took advantage of the "warm" weather and got outside a little tonight. Levi loves to ride his bike! He was very cute and stopped along the way to tell me about everything. "There's a rock" "oh, grass!" "there's a house" "that's a truck"...and everything else you can imagine that a two year old has to tell you about! His vocabulary amazes me these days. He's a constant chatterbox!
off-roading...

Levi & Mommy

We are very excited because Daddy comes home after being gone for 5 nights. Welcome home, Daddy!!!!!! (Mommy is the most excited! LOL)

Fun in ICU

Let's see...our weekend has been pretty uneventful. Eric left to go out of town Friday for business and won't be back until Wednesday. We are down to "3" more sleeps until Daddy gets home!! Woo hoo! I blogged yesterday afternoon about going to visit Jill. She's doing great!! Last night, my sweet sister invited me over for some girl time. Levi loves going to her house because it's pretty much like Toys R Us! She also invited Gretchen, Lisa and both Jill's to come. The kids all had a great time playing together. So much to explore. :) Thanks, Tricia for lots of fun. You are a great hostess.

Today was church, lunch with the fam and then nap time - our Sunday ritual. Brigette offered to watch Levi for me if I wanted to go to the hospital any. I took her up on her offer!! Thanks, B! Levi was so excited to come over and play. You are the greatest!!! Gretchen and I headed to the hospital to see Jill-O. It's crazy b/c I remember very vividly making the short trip to Jewish almost every day 14 years ago! While some things have changed drastically, some things remain exactly the same! We got to ICU, made our arrival known to the very sweet (ahem) ICU nurses, got buzzed through the doors, garbed up with our gowns and gloves and finally got to see Jill. She was sitting up in the recliner, minus even more tubes than yesterday and was sipping on some broth and juices. Amazing! Today, she was more alert and her talking was a lot stronger. I brought some nail polish and painted her toenails for her. :) I mean, if people are going to constantly be checking the swelling in her legs, the girl's toes need to look good! :)

Here is a pic of Gretchen, me and Jill


the pretty toes!