Date Night

Lynn and Marji watched the boys overnight on Friday so that Lucas and I could go out to a friend's wedding.  We had such a nice time!

Friday

They played for quite awhile in the laundry room Friday morning.

I let Levi man the camera and he took this shot.

And this one.

And this one.  What do you think?  Should I include it in our Christmas card this year?

We managed to get some time playing outside before the temperatures got too high.

My boys love their shovels, that's for sure.

Milo grabbed the snow shovel (thanks again Auntie L and Uncle R!) and tried to dig exactly in the same spot Levi was digging.

Levi said, "No!  That's the wrong kind of shovel for this job!"

Later in the morning I had a doctor's appointment.  The boys got to play with the phone, kindle, and Leap Pad as we were in the exam room for a long while waiting.

This was after I was done.  Covered in stickers and sucking on lollipops!

FarmPark and Friends

We met up with some friends and spent a couple of sweaty hours at the FarmPark this morning. It's summertime in Kansas alright.

Seth was a good sport about helping Milo out.  His little legs are not quite long enough to power the tractor on his own.

This was taken this evening.  They are using their badminton raquets to bounce balloons up and down.  Check out the matching open mouths!  Brothers.

They are Better Than TV

One of the many roughhousing games the boys love to play with their Daddy is 'Horsey'. It's pretty self-explanatory though here are some pictures for further clarification.

Levi in front.

Milo's turn to steer.

They take a lap around the carpet then get dumped off onto the couch.  Giggling occurs.

Levi playing the role of Horsey.  He giggled almost the whole time Milo rode.  I did too.  It was pretty funny.

Look at Milo's toes dragging along.

Milo and his tongue in the concentration mode.

Only one more combination to try!  It was the least effective of the bunch.

Go T-Bones

Friday night we met up with Gran and Grandpa along with some lovely people from their church and took in a T-Bones game. The weather was perfect and the game was something Levi had been eagerly anticipating all week.

Milo was trying to suck down as much cherry lemonade as he could before being asked to share it with Levi and his Daddy.  No time to smile for the camera- must drink quickly!

Prepared for foul balls.  The game started right at his bedtime and he was pretty sleepy from the get go.  We drove two vehicles and I took Milo home midway through to go to bed.

During the ceremonial opening pitch the crew was spraying down the infield.  Care to guess which activity was more enthralling to my eldest boy?  Last week he talked me into buying him two nozzles for our garden hose and he's been playing with them all week long.

We wanted to treat the kids and bought them a bag of cotton candy.  Levi eagerly dug in but Milo was very confused as to what this strange substance was.  He was very resistant to trying it.  I urged him on saying, "It's very yummy!".  Instead of tasting it he just offered me some.

He listened intently while his Daddy explained that it was very good and you were supposed to eat it.  When Lucas tried a few times to put some in Milo's mouth he turned his head away.  No way!

Marji and I got quite a laugh out of watching him.

He did finally try some.

Verdict: unimpressed with cotton candy. 

Little Fish

Levi has been taking some private swimming lessons- 4 sessions last week and 4 this week. It made me so happy to see him thrilled at his accomplishments and it made me very proud to see him gamely try new things and listen so well to his teacher. He has had so much fun with the whole experience.

Milo was dropping rings and goggles into the water for Levi to retrieve.

Working on diving.  He was very good at the knee dives and making progress on doing it standing up.

Floating on his back.

Practicing his freestyle stroke.  I was impressed on how far along he got with this in a relatively short period of time.

His teacher told him to make "big scoops in the water-  like you are scooping out ice-cream"

Doing his "super-man float".  I like his name for it better than the more typically named "dead-man float."

Showing off his certificate.  We went out to eat tonight at Chik-fil-a to celebrate his great efforts.

Summer Days

Junior Ranger exploring at the farmer's market.

Imagined conversations:
Milo: What are those?
Levi: I don't know.  Parslips, maybe?
Milo: I don't think that's a word.
Levi: No offense, but you don't really know a lot of words.
Milo: You do have a point.
Levi: Still, let's not draw attention to them.
Milo: Good idea, we'll avoid eye contact with Mom.  Otherwise, she might make us eat them.

This was what we brought home.  Levi peeled two of the carrots into nothingness then we played 'Farmer's Market' until lunch.  He pretended to be the farmer and I bought his produce and asked a lot of question about his farming methods and tractors.

Milo's legs are actually getting too long for this little car already but he still loves driving it around.

Levi says, "Mama!  We're playing 'Parking Lot.'"

Country kids they are not.

Soccer Update

This was at the start of Levi's scrimmage on Saturday.  Instead of a kick-off both teams race to the ball in the center from their goals.

I giant pile of kicking children soon forms.

The coach had just given them instruction as how to get open then yell to your teammates, "I'm open!"  Levi followed directions.  He seperated from the pack and  waved his hands in the air and said, "I'm open!"  It didn't work this time, tho, as everyone is over at his team's goal.

Happy Father's Day

I interviewed Levi about his Daddy.  Here's an unedited transcript:

What is your Daddy's name?
"Lucas"

What does your Daddy do at work?
"He works.  He looks on his computer."

What does your Daddy like to do for fun?
"I don't know.  He likes to go to the beach.  He likes to ride bikes with me.   He likes to get notes from me."

What does your Daddy like to eat?
"Hmmm.  He likes to eat meat."

Anything else?
"I think he likes to eat maybe chicken."

What are some of your favorite things about Daddy?
"I like him to come with me on the airplane.  I like going to the beach.  I like it when he colors with me with markers.  I like to color faces and paint and play with him."

What are some things you want to do with Daddy?
"I want to go camping with Daddy."

What are some of the nice things about Daddy?
"He gives me kisses and hugs!"

Do you think he is the best Daddy in the whole world?
"Yes!"

I couldn't agree more.

Posing with Daddy and his presents- an impact driver and compact drill.

This picture sums up life at the moment: love, cuteness, wiggles, and power tools.

Happy Father's Day to my dear husband.  One of the greatest joys in my life is watching you be such an amazing Daddy to our boys.