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!