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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Our Weekend

Milo and Levi stayed at Gran and Grandpa's for two days while we enjoyed ourselves on a date and worked at the house.  The boys were very glad to see us when we came to pick them up.  We've been enjoying lots of extra hugs from them.
Lynn and Marji got me Cubs tickets for my birthday.  Luke and I had so much fun at the game on Friday night.

Levi loves making brownies at Gran and Grandpa's.

Milo chasing after Alison at church.

Milo chasing after the camera at church.

Levi painted a special gift for me.

Here I am fresh from painting at the house. 

Levi wanted to show me the present right away.  He told me it's a house for a "teeny little bird."

Levi decorating the cake with his Daddy.

Milo helpfully swiffering for Gran.

Alison diving into Chuck's presents.

Celebrating the June birthdays- mine and Chuck's.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Care Package

A package came in the mail today from Aunt Kathy.  The boys were excited and curious to see what was inside.
"What did Aunt Kaffy send me, Mama?"

"There's one for me, too!"

He sure had lots of smiles for his new pillow pet.

Also included- craft paper, goggles, balls and more.

Thanks to their new special cups, both drank way more at lunch than usual.

Wrestling with each other and the new pillow pets before rest time.
Thanks, Aunt Kathy!

My Blondies

These are a few of my favorite pictures of the brothers taken this week.


Watching the landscaping crew work in the backyard.

Managing to sit still for a spit second.

Hooray- a picture where they are both looking at the camera- now if I could only get them to smile.

Well, there's one smile.

From here things descended into goofy wiggliness that, while fun, did not yield any pictures destined for enlargement. 

This was actually a big deal.  Usually Levi has to color somewhere out of reach of Milo.  Little Brother tends to try and sit where Levi is drawing.  He also tries to eat crayons and rip paper.

Today however he kept a wide enough berth that Levi was able to create in peace.  Milo was content to be near his brother and play.

While at Lowes (our second home), Levi grabbed a hose sprayer wand and said, "I'm going to give you a shower, Mama!  You are going to get all wet."  Then he wiggled it back and forth, laughing at his joke and at my pantomiming shampooing my hair under the pretend shower.

Milo was desperate to get in on the fun.  I let him hold one of his own.  This was the part that really made me laugh:  He mimicked Levi's shower attack motion perfectly and was quite proud of himself about it. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Fit to be Tied

Another one of Milo's molars is working its way through.  It has definitely put him on edge.  There were several tantrums this morning and I was glad to load up the boys and get out of the house.  Since the weather was quite beautiful we headed to the 'farm-park'.  I think all the other stay-at-home moms in Johnson County had the same idea.  It was pretty crowded.  Levi requested that our first stop be at the fish pond.  Grandpa's pond seems to have piqued his interest in aquatic life.


Milo seemed glad to see the fish as well.

"Mama, will you unstrap me?  I want to look at the fish like a big boy."

Levi studied the fish and was delighted to see the turtles sunning themselves.

Milo wanted to do what Levi was doing.

Wait a second, is he gnawing on the fence? 

I said, "Milo, no biting the fence.  Yucky.  Icky.  No."  He looked at me like this then opened his mouth and started toward the fence.  I stopped him.  He tried to do it again.  I stopped him again.

Then the lower lip stuck out and began to quiver.  We all know what that means- get your ear plugs ready.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WON'T LET ME GNAW ON THE GERMY, PEEL-Y, GRODY IRON FENCE!!!"
He continued on from here to stretch himself out on the ground and scream.  At this point, I put my camera away mostly because it was crowded and I was the only mother photographing her child's temper tantrum.  Also, it was time to move on to the praire dogs.  Milo calmed down quickly after that.

Oh Deer

This was taken outside the library while we were waiting for it to open.  Levi picked up the branch and put it to his head exclaiming, "Look!  I'm a deer with one ear!" 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Visit to Indy

Milo and I left late Thursday evening for a visit with the Johnsons.  I was sure he would fall asleep on the way as it was hours past his bedtime.  Apparently he was having far too much fun to think about sleep.  Finally at 10pm, just minutes before we landed he dozed off.

Friday we just relaxed and the kids played together.  Tricia and I went to get our registration packets for the Ronald McDonald House 5k that we had been planning to run together on Saturday.  Unfortunately, Milo got sick.  He started throwing up at 11pm and it went on all thru the night.  Thankfully on Saturday he was able to keep some liquids down and actually was acting pretty chipper.  I was a zombie from being up all night.  Obviously we weren't able to do the race together.  Next year!


"I've got my sippy cup, all kinds of people to watch, and Mama's undivided attention.  This is great!"

He enjoyed the time with the kids- especially Jake's attention. 

They are getting so big!  Jake just had his 8th birthday and the twins turned 3 last March.

These are a great bunch of kiddos. 

Katie was puzzled at Milo's size.  She told me that she thought I was going to bring a little baby.   Katie's shoe is only a half size larger than Milo's.

fast friends.

Levi's Fun Weekend

While Milo and I were out of town, Levi had all kinds of fun.  On Friday, Gran and Grandpa took care of him while Luke was at work.  He got to visit Cabella's, ride on a carousel, feed the fish in their backyard pond, and do crafts.  That evening they all went to see the T-Bones play.

Levi is the very proud new owner of his very own baseball glove.  You should have seen him beam when he showed it to me.  In the car when his Grandpa asked him if he had his glove he said, "Yes, I have my hand in my glove."  It was quite late on the drive home from the game but apparently he managed to stay awake. When his Gran was encouraging Levi to close his eyes.  Levi stated, "Gran, baseball players don't sleep, especially when they have their hand in their glove!"

Serious work continues on the Hemlock house.

The past three weekends my generous in-laws have come over to work for awhile on the house.

Here's Levi working on his special craft.

It was such a neat idea.  They set him up to make a stepping stone for the new house.  He put concrete in a mold then decorated it with colored rocks and items from the Hemlock house like nails and rocks.  It has his name and the imprint of his hand.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Odds and Ends

At Gran and Grandpa's skyping with Aunt Aundrea and Alison.

Living in suburbia with two little kids I feel I have the expertise needed to declare that this is the most ridiculous cart in existence.

This is my view.  The end of the cart is at least 8 feet in front of me!  Can you imagine how well I was maneuvering this thing around?