Flashback Friday- Clown Car Sledding

This is my mom, sister, and me in what I think is the winter of '87. My memories of that hill and the expression on our faces lead me to believe that the incline is much more steep than it looks in the picture. Probably not.

This picture was snapped at the only place people went sledding in my hometown. We lived in an exceedingly flat part of Illinois. How flat was it? Well, everyone went to sled here even though it was adjacent to a sewer treatment plant (the hill was called 'Poop Hill', no joke) and it sloped into the Kankakee River.

God Bless Us Every One

Do you remember this merry group from way back when?

Well, this year they helped celebrate Christmas in a household with a three year old boy and a nine month old boy and it shows. I'm renaming the reindeer-clad goose 'Tiny Tim.'

Ears

Since Levi outgrew his first set of tubes, he has been having some ear trouble. There have been infections and the resulting fluid in his ear drums has impacted his hearing. The doctor prescribed him a nasal inhaler to see if that helped. Yesterday, we went for a follow-up visit with Levi's ENT. He still saw quite a bit of fluid in the ear drum and had the audiologist do some hearing tests. As Levi walked into the sound-proof booth, the audiologist said, "Hi there, Levi. How old are you?" He replied, "Fine." She said, "Well, I think he failed the hearing test."

Sometime after the first of the year he'll have another set of tubes inserted as well as having his adnoids removed. It's not a fun thing but I'm glad that there is a solution to his problems. I certainly don't want anything negatively impacting his social interactions, confidence, and love of learning.

Today I took him to get his hair cut. The hairdresser said, "Hello. How are you?" Levi replied, "I'm three."

A Few Things We Did This Week:

Made lots of messes...

Rode a horse...

Rode in the cart...

Ate some burgers...

Is it Christmas yet??

Especially For Nana and Auntie Lea

Here are a few pictures to tide you over until you arrive for your holiday visit. We can't wait!

Ben showed a lot of imagination while he painted. I think I overheard him tell Kelly that he was making 'Transformers'.

Ruby brought a particular book over to our house this morning to read to Levi. She had the whole thing memorized. He loved it.

They are about the same size now but she repeatedly picked him up. There was much giggling.

Milo loves to feed himself finger foods now.

He always has special smiles for Ruby.

Cookie Time

Last week, in what has become an annual event, I met up with some girlfriends for an evening of baking cookies. Lucas, anticipating what I would be returning home with, said that he didn't think he had ever been so eager for me to leave and spend the evening out.

Flashback Friday - Grandma Dickson

This is Grandma Dickson as a baby posing with her mother. The picture was taken in 1931. I never met Great Grandma Unruh but I feel as if I have since there are so many in the family that favor her.

Net Catcher

While the baby takes his morning nap, Levi enjoys 'DVD time' (though in reality this is sometimes actually 'Netflix time' but no need to split hairs (and when I say 'split hairs' I don't actually mean...oh nevermind))

Anyway, Monday's 'DVD time' involved an episode of Dora the Explorer. In this one they go on an adventure. Such a surprise! Dora and Boots were assisting a little puppy who was being chased by a dog catcher and his nefarious net.

Since Monday morning's 'DVD time' I have played roughly 2,137 rounds of what Levi has named 'NET CATCHER.' It goes like this:

I play the part of the net catcher and I chase Levi (who is a little puppy) around with a mesh laundry hamper. As you can see, it is quite worn. The thing gets played with as a prop more often than it sees laundry duties.

Once he's caught, the puppy makes sad little whimpers and plots his getaway.

The escape is executed by the puppy and his cohorts!

Sweet freedom! Ruff! Ruff!

And then we repeat.

Milo at 9 Months

Milo had his 9 month check-up this morning. He weights 22# 5oz (78th%) and is 29.5 inches long (85th%). His latest projects are using a pincer grasp, feeding himself, pointing, and pulling himself up. As you can see, he has a wispy little half-mohawk (it's only present toward the back of his head) and extremely kissable cheeks.

(Big brother at the same age. Levi's 9 month check-up stats: 29" long and 21#13oz)

Sunday Dinner

We had Sunday dinner at Gran and Grandpa's house with Aundrea, Alison, and Grandma Dickson. The cousins had some quality time together. Thanks to Aundrea for letting us steal this pictures from her camera.

Check out their matching hairstyles:

Levi talks to baby Alison in a high pitched voice.

"Uhhhhhh...anybody gonna help me out?"

such a pretty little girl

this one is titled, "We're blonde, We're plaid, We're cousins"

heehee, their expressions here are so funny- individually and as a group.

Flashback Friday - Grandma Great

These are both photos of my great Grandma Corzine- or as we always called her, "Grandma Great." I believe the first picture was taken when she was around three years old, 1910ish. The second is picture is obviously more what she looks like in my memories of her. We got to spend lots of time with her while I was growing up and am blessed to have had her in my life so long. She passed away in 1997 but I still miss her.

What's That You Say?

Here are a few things I've overheard Levi muttering to himself recently from the other room. They all struck concern into my heart and after I went to investigate, I found it was for good reason:

"I just need to bam (his word for 'hammer') it really very hard."

"Yogurt can make a b-i-i-i-i-i-i-g mess"

"I will go get my scissors to fix it."

"Uh-oh" (followed by a large crash)

Mouth Wide Open

"AAAAAAH!!" "OOOOOOORGHH!"

"YAAAAAAAGH!"

"GAAAAAAAAAZSHRGD!"

With love from Milo.

There's Gonna Be a Wedding!

On Saturday Ryan asked Lea to marry him! It was a beautiful proposal with a beautiful ring. Lea told me she wanted to jump up and down and say, "YES!" but she was wearing ice skates at the time so she could only do the latter.

They are a beautiful couple and all of us are so excited for them!

Flashback Friday - The War on Drugs Edition

This is a scan of a poster I drew in 4th grade. The shady character on the left says, "Hey Kid, want some dope?" (I hope that tough street talk didn't offend any of our readers' delicate sensibilities.) and the character on the right (that's me with my yellow hair and three fingers on each hand) says, "No, thanks!"

The lesson here is: Say no to drugs but make sure to do it politely.

Thanksgiving Celebration

It was lovely to spend time with family during the Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to Aundrea and Chuck for hosting.

Levi, as always is intrigued and a little frightened of Flurry. Here he's pretending to be a puppy and Milo is trying to get his hands on that little soccer ball.

Milo tasted some (ground up) turkey for the first time and seemed to enjoy himself in cousin Alison's pretty high chair.

Smiling at his Grandpa:

Grandpa and Alison playing some Joker:

On Thursday afternoon, Mom, Dad, and Uncle Bob flew in for a visit. Right away Levi got to open another birthday present: a book with lots of facts all about airports with lots of flaps. It's perfect for him.

Milo is giving his big brother a kiss!

Levi recently has been quite interested in a story he was read from his Hi-Five magazine. In it, the family makes a pumpkin pie and decorates it with candles. Everyone takes a turn sharing something they are thankful for and then blows out a candle. It's called 'The Thank-you Pie." Now Levi calls all pumpkin pies "Thank-you Pies" and he wanted candles for the one his Nana made.

Milo can now pull himself up enough to get his belly on the bottom stair tread. Uh-oh!

We hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday. We are so blessed and very rich in family and friends.

Flashback Friday- Fashion Plate

This picture is from Joel's 2nd birthday, Feb 1982. I post this picture because I want to share with you how amazing my fashion sense was at a young age. Apparently I loved to wear this outfit all the time.

Good Morning

Here are my cutie pies in their footie pajamas this morning. Levi is playing with a small flashlight and Milo is chewing on my belt. Who needs toys with fun objects like these?

Odds and Ends

I think the Dickson headquarters is finally up and running at our typical pace. We've been passing around some bugs- first a cold and then a stomach virus. It's been a germy few weeks.

Here are some odds and ends pictures from the past couple of weeks:

our crew at the weekly soccer games. While Joel, Kelly, and Luke play their game, I hang out with this cute bunch. Here they are pictured in the only 3 minutes they all sit still: juice box and fruit snack time. I put Milo in his crib with some toys while I grabbed a shower. When I came to check in on the boys I couldn't see Levi but heard Milo giggling. Levi had crawled under the crib into the back corner to play peek-a-boo with the baby.

Here I am, Mama!

He's so wiggly that I've found it impossible to photograph him lately. Here I'm trying to hold him in place so I can actually snap a picture.

He is intent on grabbing the camera.

Four generations: Gigi, Daddy, Gran, and Milo.

No caption, just funniness.

Gran and Grandpa got Miles a piggy bank that oinks and wiggles when you put change into it. Hours of entertainment for all.