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Friday, April 29, 2011

There Are Juiceboxes in My Purse

When leaving the house with the kids, it obviously falls upon the Mom to prepare for the outing. Today there were snacks to gather, diapers to pack, and jackets to find. I made a grocery list and then rounded up the items needed for our errand at the bank. I cleaned up the kids and buckled everyone into the car. Away we went. Levi, having inherited his Daddy’s laid back attitude and inclination to live in the moment, just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It's not uncommon for him to pipe up from the backseat after we've driven several miles and say, “So, where are we going anyway, Mama?”


This is an excerpt from today’s entry in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:

“To be certain for God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time. When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about Him. Jesus said, “Except ye…become as little children.” Spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views; but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.”

"Mama, I am a puppy.  A puppy named 'Fritzy.  Ruff ruff."

Thankfully as we prepared to leave the house, Levi did not grill me with lots of questions. He did not ask, “Why are we going there?” or “Why are we going there now?” He didn’t suggest a different agenda or complain about the one I had in mind. He just went along, pretending to be a puppy, playing with his brother, obeying when I asked him to use the restroom and then find his sandals. He held my hand as we walked out to the car and sang me a silly song. While I buckled him into the carseat he asked me to make a popping sound with my finger in my cheek. I obliged and he laughed and laughed. Not once did he ask if I had remembered to bring him a snack. He just trusted I had brought what he needed.

I’m trying to be more like Levi- childlike and trusting. Also, I'm trying to be as good of a songwriter as he is.  He comes up with some really great silly song lyrics. “Twinkle, twinkle, little elephant” Hilarious!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter at Uncle Joel and Kiki's

It was a beautiful Easter Sunday.  After church we went over to Joel and Kelly's house for brunch and cousin fun.

Milo got muddy knees crawling around their backyard.

On the hunt for eggs!


Easter 2011 family picture.

can't get enough of these two.

trio of cuteness



Squeeze me!

They are such good buddies.

aww!  I imagine it won't be too many more years where they'll want to give each other big kisses.

Thank you for the Easter clothes, Nana and Papa!

We had some trouble getting Ben to smile.

There it is!

Joel and Kelly are fostering a brand new baby for a short time.  She's just 5 pounds!

Listening to the Easter story.

He adores Ruby.

All the celebrating wore this little guy out.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter at Gran and Grandpa's

We celebrated a day early with Gran, Grandpa, Grammie, Aundrea, Chuck, and Alison.  The Easter Bunny had made sure we all had baskets filled with treats.

Levi was most interested in his lollipop.  The younger ones really wished they could have one, too.

The temperature got a little chilly so before we went outside for Levi's egg hunt, Gran went and found an old sweatshirt of Luke's.  It was a bit smaller than she remembered it being.  I think Levi tried this one on, too.  Remember this photo?

Levi had so much fun finding his eggs.  He let out a big "Haaah!" whenever he spotted one.

Do you have any eggs in there, Mr. Gnome?

the little bunnies foo foo

He wasted no time getting at the treats contained inside.

Of course Milo had snacktime, too.

The little ones took egg decorating pretty seriously.  They really liked plopping the eggs down into the dye.

Alison's first Easter isgoing to be eggcellent.

This year Levi could maneuver the eggs in and out of the dye all by himself.

He's a pro.

Milo picks up just about anything that resembles a phone in the slightest (here he's holding a kitchen timer),puts it to his ear, and pretends to talk on it.  I promise I don't spend the whole day on my phone!

The little cousins had their own egg hunt inside.

"I found one, Mama!"

"Wha...did you know there were treats inside these eggs????"

I can't think of a caption that's as funny as this picture.

"Do you need to use my 'phone'?"

"Scuse me, make way, coming thru!"

The little cousins egg hunt aftermath: plastic egg shells and crumbs EVERYWHERE

"The Easter Bunny isn't real?  Whatchu talkin' bout,Willis?"
Easter last year  (I feel much more awake this year than I did compared to last)
Easter 2009 (Levi's first egg decorating experience)
Easter 2008

Friday, April 22, 2011

Flashback Friday - Grandma Great, 1926

I think she would be 18 years old here.

Back of the photo.  It reads: Nellie Meadows Corzine,  I have my hand bandaged but maybe it won't hurt the picture.  I had my thumb lanced 2 wks ago.  Dayton Ohio, 7/14 - 26.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Levi, Lately

It's hard to sum up this age and stage into words- there are so many surprises and I'm fascinated watching all that Levi is learning.  He is in the middle of an explosion in language and imagination.  Levi also asserts his independance in spurts.  Somedays he's as mindful as can be.  Some days, well, some days he is not.

He loves pretending to be an animal.  More often than not, the first words out of his mouth in the morning are, "Mama, I'm a little puppy."  Or a dinasaur, or a jaguar, or a kitty cat.  Yesterday he was pretending to be a kitty cat who was pretending to be a doggy.  I guess kitty cats like to pretend just like little boys do. 
He also loves to wear a cape and be "Super."  Sometimes he is Super Dog.  Sometimes he is Super Boy.  Sometimes he is Super Cat.  I think you get the idea.

Now that spring is here, he spends a lot of time playing outside.  He has gathered my daffodils into a bouquet for me several times.  Luke redirected his energy and now Levi picks dandelions for me instead.  He was so excited to see that the yellow dandelions had turned white!  The other day I looked out at him in the back yard.  He was picking up sticks and grass and bringing it over to the porch where a robin was building a nest.  I saw Levi holding up the sticks as high as he could, standing on tiptoes, trying to give them to the bird. 

He has developed a real interest in the Lord's Prayer and has taken it upon himself to memorize it.  My heart nearly breaks from the sweetness of  hearing him recite it. "And lean us not into temtason but deliber sus from evo..." He says that the Lords Prayer (or 'God's Prayer' as he sometimes calls it) is "not tricky but the Peoples Prayer is tricky."  The 'People's Prayer' is his name for when we pray for our family and friends.  He figured out how to memorize the Lord's Prayer but it's hard to memorize the other since it changes each time we pray.
This week Levi has been obsessed with Christmas songs, for some reason.  We've been singing carols throughout the day and talking about how Jesus came.  It's actually been quite a beautiful preparation for me as we approach Easter Sunday.  Joy to the world, the Lord has come!


Levi has started to spend longer and longer periods looking thru books on his own.  Sunday afternoon I took this shot.  He sat for the longest time looking at the 'Toys r us' advertisement insert from the paper. 

This was taken at Lynn and Marji's on Sunday.  After Levi went up to use the restroom he didn't return for quite some time.  We could hear the upstairs faucet running and running.  Lynn went to check on him and found Levi giving a small plastic toy a shower.  Lynn plugged up the sink and suggested that Levi give his toy a bath instead.  When I went back a little later to check on him, this is what I found.  Levi had gathered up all the bath toys (and other misc. items)  he could find and put them in the 'bath' for his toy to play with.

He said, "This is my Super Hat!  I'm Super Dog and I'm going to rescue the whole world!!"

Monday, April 18, 2011

Milo, Lately

Milo has started his second year of life with curiosity, intensity, and purpose, as is his style.  He can be a demanding little guy who has no problem making his wishes known.  Loudly.  Milo amazes me every day with the new things he's learning and how much more he can communicate.  My favorite new 'skill' is kiss-giving.  Sometimes he leans in with a wide open mouth but sometimes he does a little smack noise with his lips.

Milo loves exploring and new places and new faces.  He and Levi have recently started playing and interacting more like peers.  It works because Levi caters to his little brother and Milo thinks that he is a 3 year old trapped in a 1 year old's body.

It appears Milo is on the verge of another growth spurt, goodness help us.  Usually an enthusiastic eater, lately he's been ravenous and very vocal about you giving it to him QUICKLY.   The high chair tray must never be empty or heads will roll!  He's been eating large quantities at snack time and at meal time (often finishing Levi's portions for him.)

He enjoys rearranging the canned goods, etc, on our lower kitchen cabinets.  His very favorite, however, is when he can manage to sneak into the refrigerator.  Tonight I grabbed several things from the fridge and brought them over to the counter without shutting the door.  With my arms full and my back turned, Milo sprint-crawled over and managed to grab himself some hot dogs and cheese.  He tryed to gnaw on the hot dogs but they didn't taste very good inside their plastic bag, apparently.  He was successful in getting at the cheese, though.

"Is the coast clear?"

"The hot dogs were a lost cause but I've managed to break into the cheese.  Hooray!"

"No one feeds me around here."

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Dinner at Gran and Grandpa's

For the Milo superfans, here is a (sideways) video of him eating applesauce at Sunday dinner.  The past couple of weeks he has been putting away more than Levi has at meals.  This one is an eater!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Boys, Dirt, and Guns


It's nothing new to ponder the natural affinity boys have for guns.  Despite the fact that Levi has no toy guns nor watches any tv featuring gun play, he is becoming quite interested in the concept.  I remember my brother, at four years old, chomping away at his carrot until it resembled a gun.  He then ran around shooting things with it. 

Since Milo had tubes put in his ears, it's been obvious that his hearing has improved.   He's been more receptive to trying to say words.  The other afternoon while playing outside with his Kiki he said over and over, "Dirt!  Dirt!  Dirt!"

Yesterday morning I was trying repeatedly to coax Milo into repeating some words I was using.  Over and over I said, "Here's your milk.  Milk!  Milk!  Milk!"  or "Let's put on your shoes. Shoes!  Shoes!  Shoes!"  "Say 'hi' to Brother.  Hi!  Hi!  Hi!"  Yes, it was obnoxious.  Milo must have thought so, too, because he ignored my direction.

Shortly after that, I loaded both boys in the car for an errand.  As we drove I realized that Levi had managed to get a hold of the long ice scraper we keep in the car.  He was messing around with it and I heard him say quietly, to himself, "This is my gun now."  Breaking his silence, and as clear as day, Milo loudly repeated, "GUN!"

Monday, April 11, 2011

More Tubes

Milo underwent a minor sugical procedure this morning to get tubes put in his ears.  At his follow-up appointment with the ear/nose/throat specialist last week, they discovered that the fluid in his ear drums was still present after 4 months time.  He had a test that showed his hearing was definitely being impacted. 
  Milo was confused and concerned as to why his Mama woke him at 5:40am to head to the surgery center.  Once there, he did well and the procedure took less than 10 minutes.  He cried and thrashed around for awhile while he was coming out of the anesthesia but then has done fine the rest of the day.  The doctor reported that they removed "quite a bit of thick goo."  We could tell right away that he could hear better.  I think it has helped his balance as well.  Today he attempted standing and walking more than he ever has.

He enjoyed meeting all the different nurses and doctors and getting to explore a new place.

"Is there any food in there?  No one fed me this morning!"
 These pictures have nothing to do with Milo's morning.  They are from the hailstorm we had last weekend. 
Wouldja look at that! 

It sounded like a dump truck full of gravel exploded on our street.