Christmas with Nana and Aunt JoJo, Uncle Caleb and Peyton!

It's over a month late...but it's never too late to celebrate the holidays with family! On Friday, we packed up the truck and headed about 2 hours east to celebrate a belated Christmas with Anthony's family! It was a beautiful day outside (in the 50's) so we were able to play outside for a little bit. We got to see Sadie while we were there, and Levi enjoyed seeing her. Nana fixed an amazing Christmas meal....and we all got stuffed!!!! It's a neat thing to take Levi to the place where Anthony grew up...and while a lot of the house and yard has changed...there's still so much that has stayed the same about the place...the barn being one of them....

I love this picture of Levi and daddy in the barn!

Levi and Peyton!! They were best buds and had a BLAST hanging out with each other!

Levi and Aunt Jo!

Um, Levi that is Peyton's gift!! Peyton is so sweet..he's just sitting there allowing Levi to climb all over his new toy! But a few seconds later when Levi opened his gifts...Peyton loved Levi's gift...why is that?!?! haha :)

Please Uncle Caleb, can you open those up faster?!?!?

The 2 boys were hilarious on the futon together....Joanna has much better pictures than me, so if you have facebook, make sure you check out the pictures that she tagged me in. They were cracking up and having a good time together here. They also had bathtime together after this and that was a hoot as well!

Thanks Aunt Jo and Uncle Caleb for my trucks and my new Mickey tent...I LOVE them!!! Thanks also to Nana for the money....Mommy has already bought me a few things! :)

Weekend Update!

Today was the greatest day! It seriously was the best day that Levi has had in a long time..possibly ever! He was so happy today and laughed a lot and we had lots of fun together! Today Levi learned the colors purple and yellow...not how to name them, but how to say them. It is so cute to hear a one year old say the words yellow and purple! He also now knows if you ask him how old he is, he will put up his first finger and say "uh". We'll keep working on the "one" part! Another funny story is that we have a picture of George W. Bush on our computer screen and whenever Levi walks in and see him, he points to him and says "Papa"!!! This makes me laugh more than anything! Speaking of George W....today is his last day as President. We are so proud and honored to have named Levi after him (Levi Walker)! Maybe one day we could introduce Levi to him....wouldn't that be something!

Anyway...here's some pictures from our weekend and from today!

On Sunday we watched the Cats beat Georgia....Levi really has been getting into basketball games....basically he looks at the screen and says "BALL" a million times over and over again!

This was from this morning...he loves breakfast time! I don't blame him...I enjoy it too!

This is "Benny"...Levi's butt buddy. He sleeps with him everynight and likes to drag him around with him throughout the house. Sometimes he beats up on Benny...

...and sometimes he is really sweet to Benny (if you tell him to give him a hug, he will everytime!)

This was tonight at dinner time...he thinks he's a big boy eating with the big spoon.

Daddy blew up another balloon for Levi today..so now he has two....actually I think the yellow one popped shortly after this.....he loves balloons!

It's almost 7, Levi is in bed.....Anthony is at work...and I am finished with my blog! Goodnight :)

Bib-Overall kind of day!

Levi had a fantastic day today! I think he only threw a major fit one time!! It's nice that he is finally feeling better and it helped too that he got a great nap in today. That always makes a difference for him...here's some snapshots of our day!

We started off building a tent in the morning! He really enjoyed playing under it!

Levi reminds me of my father wearing this outfit. I remember my dad wearing bibs when I was little....and something about the red shirt underneath it too....mom, tell dad that it really reminded me of dad after dinner when Levi's belly was sticking out in his bibs! haha!

And of course, our day wouldn't be complete without the reading of Levi's entire library of books!

He points to the circle and says, "BALL"! I guess he's right!

A day in the life of a 1 year old...

I thought I would put some pictures on here of a typical Levi day....although most of the day he seems to be eating and I don't have any of those pictures! Haha!

He thinks he's pretty hot stuff when he climbs up in the rocker and bounces on his knees. It's pretty funny to watch. I have it sitting by his books to use as a reading chair...so far all he has done in it is bounce!

He does LOVE to read though...just not in the chair...but in my lap. It's a precious thing that he loves reading (although some days I go crazy reading the same books over and over again)....most of the time I enjoy this and I thank God for the precious memories in life like this.

I'm not sure what is under the armoire...but Im guessing he lost either a block, a ball, a truck, a book...ect.....he looks bound and determined to find it!

Getting ready to shoot the ball....I haven't figured out why he enjoys shooting the hard plastic small ball rather than the bouncy basketball....but I guess if it makes him happy...whatever! Notice his UK shirt he is wearing while shooting the ball....LETS GO CATS!! ;)

"Bob the Builder...Can we Fix It?!?!?!" YES WE CAN! Levi got this little tool set from my cousins Joe and Tammy for his birthday..it has a little tool box with singing and dancing tools and came with this tool belt....on this day, Levi thought it was funny....most days he rather watch mommy wear it on her head..and no..Im not putting pictures of that on here!

Our days are getting more and more interesting, fun and challenging all at the same time. Levi turned 1 last month, but I think his brain turned 2....and he hit the "terrible 2's"...wow, he likes to throw fits....if I take something away from him, he will throw himself onto the floor and bury his head into the carpet and throw a FIT!!! My family who knows me aren't surprised he is like this and say that he must take after me!!! I don't know why they would ever say that! Anyway...it's 6:30 right now and Levi is passed out...I guess maybe the temper tantrums wear him out!!

Levi is changing so much every day. Everynight I sneek into his room and check on him while he is sleeping. I thank God for allowing me to experience the kind of love like this. It's a special thing to see the innocence in my son and to know that my loving God created him just the way he is.....temper tantrums and all!

Albert Einstien look-a-like!

Levi is finally growing some hair. Too bad it's only right above his ears! We joke and say that he's got Albert Einstein looking hair. It's most of the times still managable....but on some days, it's just out of control.....e.i. this picture!

Christmas gift for Anthony's Dad

I try and use my creativeness (I don't know if that is a real word) as often as I can....and especially for gifts for my parents and Anthony's parents. This Christmas I was able to come up with something really special for Anthony's dad.....and here is a little taste of it.

I was able to take this picture and blow it up big, turn it black and white, crop it a little bit and with the computer program at Meijer's, I was able to write on the bottom of the picture in big letters, "3 Generations" I then framed it in a big black and white picture frame.

I then took another picture frame and used the same picture but put it in the background of the following poem.....Anthony and his dad both thought that I found the poem on the internet or in some book somewhere, but I promise I did write it myself.

3 Generations of Hands

Hands are what we hold onto,
when we are little and afraid.
Hands help hold us together,
and it’s with our hands we pray.

God made our hands for helping,
for working and for waving goodbye.
He too even made our hands,
for comforting a friend who cries.

What’s the significance of these hands you ask?
The generations: one, two, three.
The hand providing the foundation for my son,
were the very hands that once held me.

I wish I could have put the what the final 2 products looked like on here, but I can't figure that out...so at least you get the idea. I was so excited to give Anthony's dad this gift and I'm pretty sure he LOVED it:) So if anyone wants to use the poem, I won't be mad...in fact I would be honored....just let me know if anyone does it because I would love to know!!! Just make sure you have the grandpa's hand on the bottom, then the son, then the grandson...Im sure it could be used as well for 4 generations! Hope you all enjoyed a little insight to my "creative side!"

My apologies...

for not updating for a while...a lot has gone on these past few weeks, but I just haven't been up to writing about it! To sum things up, in the past week alone....Levi has been to the doctor's office once for the stomach puking flu and to the Clinic once for a double eye infection. Anthony has been to the ER once for the puking flu and had to get IV after IV to rehydrate him along with morphine a like a hundred other kinds of pain meds to help him. That was a fun 5 hours till 2 a.m. in the ER. And I myself have been to the clinic and tested for strep and mono, both which were negative thank the Lord, but was able to get 2 antibiotics to help clear up what I got. So for the past week and a half or so, we have not done anything other than lay around our infested diseased house and the only trips out we made were to the dr's! Not fun. I think we all are improving and only have a few more days of medicine to take. Please pray for us that we would all get over all of this stuff we have had..its really challenging taking care of a sick husband and sick child when you are sick yourself....Anthony has done a great job helping me out!

On a brighter note....here are some pictures of Christmas at my parents house....well, my family may tell you its not quite a brighter note (there were many sicknesses up there as well) but it was still time with family and it was still Christmas!

The tree on "Christmas morning" It was really the day after Christmas...but when you have 4 kids under the age of 5, you can still pull this off!

The cousins! Thanks Grandma for the PJ's!!

Reese did not want his picture taken!

While at the big family get together, we celebrated Claire's 1st Birthday. It's obvious from the picture that her and my brother did not feel well. I was at my parents for about 48 hours, and I think I saw my brother for maybe 4 of those hours! Haha...obviously Im exaggerating, but he did not feel good at all. Happy Birthday Claire :) We love you!

The amazing thing is that since that party, I haven't taken a single picture on my camera...and it's a good thing because all it would have been of would be a sick Anthony, a sick Levi or a sick me! Now that we are getting better, we'll see if anything more exciting goes on in our lives...don't worry I'll let you all know!