shoveling the ... water.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside today! The sun was shining and the sky was so blue...and it had to have been at least 40 degrees! Isaiah took a short nap today so while Jayda and Jonah slept, Isaiah, Levi and I went outside to enjoy the weather.

Our backyard is currently about half water half swamp which equals lots of fun for Isaiah! Levi and I sat together on the deck while Isaiah had a blast shoveling the water.

When he'd had enough of the water, Isaiah decided to shovel the snow off the slide.

We had another taste of the fun we are going to have this spring and summer...and we cannot wait for more!!!

Levi's first bump :(

Levi has been sitting up all by himself for several weeks now. He is getting pretty brave about reaching for things and grabbing onto things. On Saturday, Levi was sitting up and fell over right onto the bar of his jumperoo. Ouch!! He got his first real bump! Poor little guy...it doesn't appear to phase him any!! He's all smiles like usual!

You'll see it in these pictures if you look by his right eye.

St Patrick's day project!

When I got home from work on Saturday I was ready for some Isaiah time! :) So I decided to see if he was up for a "project." Of course he was excited to do one! So here's what we did...

The supplies:

I cut strips of both shades of green for Isaiah to cut into small pieces.

I have yet to buy safety scissors for Isaiah so I let him use the big ones!! He did really well and was very careful.

After a couple strips he was tired of cutting, so we worked with what he had done...and it was time to glue them on our clover.

Fun with the glue...

Look what he made!

The finished product.

Isaiah LOVED this project...I think it is one of the best ones we've done--he' really enjoyed it, he was able to participate in every step and completely create his very own art. We might have to do it again with Jayda!

binoculars

The other day Isaiah made his very own binoculars. He did a really good job and they turned out great....and he thought they were VERY cool. In fact, he thought they were so great that they HAD to come to Wal-Mart with us later that morning.

We used them to look out the window to see if there were any birds outside, to see all of the houses, and to look for anything exciting! And we did find something exciting!!! Dada getting home from school!

And by the way, don't laugh at Isaiah's shirt HA ha... it's an old shirt from somewhere my dad worked (I think). It was mine when I was in junior high...I'm not sure I ever wore it... My dad put it on him one night when he came over and Isaiah thought it was so fun to wear that he wanted to sleep in it that night so he did. He looked pretty cute! It was the next morning that we made the binoculars.

just another day.

Today is just another crazy day around here...The meter reader guy is coming somewhere between 8 and 10, the dishwasher repair guy is coming between 8 and 12 (yes again!) and the group of realtors is coming somewhere between 9 and 11. Whew!!

So I figured I'd better be prepared to keep the kids entertained (and out of the way) and our house clean (so the realtors will think we are serious!).

First thing in the morning, Mark and I tried to clean, clean, clean while the Isaiah and Levi were still asleep...then Isaiah woke up, Jayda and Jonah got to our house, and Mark had to head off to school. I tried to find ways that Isaiah and Jayda could help me clean... and in the midst of it all, a monster showed up!!!

Isaiah came up to me and said, "A monster's here!!" (this is a pretty regular thing for him right now)

"OH NO! We'd better hide!" I said to him, so we all hid for a minute and then...

Isaiah said, "the monster's gone." so we went back to cleaning....

"A monster's here!!!" Another monster came a couple minutes later.

"Oh no! Let's hide."

"No mama, this is a nice monster. He's a big boy like me!" (so cute!)

By this time it was close to 8:30 and we had our first visitor -- the meter man. He came and read the meter and left...2 minutes later.

Then Levi woke up and decided to do (one of) his daily blowout(s). Jayda and Isaiah helped me change his diaper, onesie, shirt, pants, and socks and wipe him down from hair to feet (yes it reached everything! Just ask Laura, I'm not exaggerating!). As I was wiping him down, Isaiah started chanting for me, "Go Mama Go! Go Mama Go! Go Mama Go!" I started laughing so hard that Isaiah and Jayda joined in. It was hilarious!

Shortly after Levi was all cleaned up, the realtors showed up. I was expecting like 3-5 of them to come look at the house and then leave... well, our realtor came in and said I'm bringing in the troops...and he wasn't kidding at least 15 people came in and looked around our house while Isaiah, Jayda, Jonah and I tried to stay out of the way (by this time Levi was back to sleep on our bed). The kids were pretty cute watching all of these people and I think they all thought I was the mother of 4 really small children (which I thought was funny) and a few even asked about the age difference between Isaiah and Jayda... I quickly explained that they were not all mine... Then the head realtor commented on our dishwasher--he said, "wow that's a really nice brand, I hear those are wonderful." I just said, "yeah." He then said, "my wife would really like one of those. they are supposed to be really quiet." "yeah, it is really quiet," I said. I didn't think it'd be appropriate to tell him that the repair man was coming for the 8th time today to fix it again.

So they left.... and just as the last one was out the door, the phone rang and the repair man was just around the corner and ready to come fix our dishwasher.

So he came... and worked on it. He had to run to his vehicle to get another tool...

and Isaiah says, "Where did that man go mama?" I told him he went to get another tool to keep fixing the dishwasher....and he said, "oh." and the man came back and Isaiah got down on his hands and knees to mimic the repairman. He was so curoius.

Then he left, saying that the wrong part had been ordered for us and the would order another one...and they'd have to come back... maybe I should give that realtor's wife our dishwasher?

Anyway, we had lunch and it was time for a nap...for the kids...

and that was just our morning...

the mess i wanted!

Levi's week of bananas was up on Sunday so yesterday it was time to try something new...peas! Levi hated them! He kept spitting them out and shuttering when I tried to feed them to him. He hardly ended up actually eating any of them...it was pretty funny. We'll keep trying, hopefully he'll get used to the flavor and like them!





They are so bright green because it is homemade baby food peas, thanks Laura!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mark and I gave each of the boys a balloon for Valentine's Day.
They both have been playing with them all morning.
I love how the little things are what they enjoy the most.

Happy Valentine's Day!

PS tonight I get to go out with my valentine!!!!
Thanks mom and dad!!

My little farmers :)

The other day I went to pick out something for Levi to wear and Isaiah came with me...I said to him, "we need to pick out an outfit for Levi to wear." I decided on a little pair of red overalls. I've never been a huge fan of overalls, I'm not sure why because they are pretty cute, but I'm not, so it was Levi's first time in overalls. Well, I'm not sure if Isaiah had ever really heard the word "outfit" before or at least he's never really picked up on it.

Later that day, Isaiah told me he needed an outfit to wear too. I told him he was already wearing an outfit, and tried to explain that a shirt and pants make up an outfit. After some more conversation with him (yes, we actually have conversations!!) I figured out that he meant he wanted to wear overalls too. So I dug through his clothes and luckily I had overalls in Isaiah's size for him to wear...

He really loved wearing them, and has worn them for at least a little while every day since... although he has spent the last few days naked because he is REALLY, REALLY interested in the potty! In fact, he's gone MANY times on the potty the last few days...this morning and yesterday morning he went poopy on the potty and has even told me out of the blue that he needs to go!! So I'll keep you updated on that!

Anyway, Here are a few pictures of my boys in their "outfits."

Levi eats!

On Monday night after work, I decided it was time...to let Levi eat food!! I knew he was ready...he watches me eat so intently and he grabs for my food. So I got the cereal mixed with a little bit of my milk and Mark, Isaiah and I sat down to feed him. Mark got to give him the first bite, and he was so excited, he never got to see Isaiah eat baby food!

Daddy feeding Levi his first bite!

Isaiah was SO excited too. He's helped me feed Jonah before, and so when I told him we were going to feed Levi, he REALLY wanted to help too. He was a little cranky that he didn't get to feed him first, but after Daddy had a turn, it was Isaiah's turn.

After he ate several bites of rice cereal, Mark said, "don't we have something that tastes good that we can feed him?" Because he was doing so perfectly with the cereal, I figured it'd be fine to feed him some baby food bananas too. So he got to try those too. He LOVED both. In fact he kept reaching for the food when we were getting him another bite.

And when we weren't fast enough, he'd try to eat the high chair.


We all had a lot of fun feeding him! And he did so great, I'm almost sad to say that I don't really have a good really messy picture of him--because he hardly got messy at all!


Here were Levi's first foods...


PS The bib was for you Grandma Michele!

Happy Birthday Grandma Irene!

On Sunday we went to Cascade to celebrate my grandma's birthday (my dad's mom). We went to one of the only restaurants in town, I think it was called the Bent Rim... It was fun...Just Levi and I went along with my parents--Mark was still at Camp Dodge, and Isaiah, well, he is Isaiah and doesn't sit still very well...and we planned to meet at 1pm (right at his nap time) so I figured he'd have more fun staying home with Morgan (the neighbor girl who babysits).

Levi keeping his great uncle Tom entertained :)

Levi helping his great aunt Sheri decide what to order

After lunch we went back to my grandma's house to visit some more and let the cousins play. Levi and Liahna are so cute together, Levi kept trying to touch her and she wasn't so sure about that!

my weekend with the boys.

This past weekend was another weekend Mark had to spend at Camp Dodge. We sure had a great time going with him a couple weekends ago, but one exciting weekend like that is enough for me for awhile, so we stayed home and had our own little weekend at home!

Friday Laura came over to re-trim our living room (because we are horrible painters and did a really bad job a long time ago!) Thank you Laura!!! It looks PERFECT! Friday night, Isaiah, Levi and I went on a mission to find some baskets to decorate these really awkward shelves that we have in between our living room and kitchen. We looked all over Wal-Mart and then Target. We also picked up a few other things...:)

The first one...water colors and brushes...so of course we had to paint when we got home...

Isaiah and the paint, brushes, and water...in his new pose that he does when I tell him to say cheese.

Singing while he paints...he had fun using one brush for a second, then another, then another, then back to the first...he'd say, "I don't want that one." and grab another...

I was surprised that he held the brush like a pencil...who taught him that?

The finished painting.

We also bought ICE CREAM CONES!! YUMMMMY! I knew it would be a fun special treat for Isaiah and me. Isaiah was so excited about the paint and the ice cream he couldn't decide what he wanted to do first... finally he said, "let's paint and then have ice cream." about 5 minutes into painting he said, "let's eat ice cream then paint." ha ha so we took a break to eat our ice cream and came back to painting.
yummy!

The other thing I bought special was a pair of shoes for Isaiah...I almost always go down the toddler shoe aisle when I go to wal-mart or target...and I always find LOTS and lots of adorable little girl shoes...and then a couple choices for boys--like white with navy tennis shoes or brown boots.... but this time I found these adorable little shoes for Isaiah--and they were on clearance for $3.00!

Saturday came and we hung around the house trying to clean up...and play...and organize our house...
Isaiah and I got outside to shovel for a couple hours while Levi took a nap... Isaiah's shovel was under the deck, so I had him go get it--he didn't really want to, but there was no way I would fit! Here he is trying to get it out.

Later grandpa and grandma came over for supper. While grandpa made super and watch the little ones, my mom and I ran to Hobby Lobby still looking for baskets. Thanks dad!

Isaiah and grandma snuggling while they watch Diego...shortly after this picture, Isaiah looked up at my mom and said, "I don't want to sit with you anymore." and he moved to the chair...he isn't afraid to speak what's on his mind!! poor grandma.

Also this weekend, Isaiah found a few of my old toys that are from when I was little...my parents have been bringing over boxes of my old stuff...they think it's time that I stored all my old junk instead of them...so I've been trying to go through it...most of it is ending up in the garbage...a little sad...but it's time...

my old pop beads...and my ET spaceship thing. Isaiah thinks they are both pretty cool!

We had more fun on Sunday...but that will have to be for another post!

fingers and toes

Levi is growing and changing so much! The first couple weeks of January he really found his hands...I'd catch him examining his hands, taking in every part of them. He'd rotate them around and look at every inch of them. Now he uses them all of the time! He likes to hold things, move them, and pick them up.

The end of January he found his feet and toes!! He now loves to have his socks off and grab his feet any chance he gets! He likes to hold them and use them as toys. He hasn't quite gotten them to his mouth yet--but I have a feeling that will be next!

What a happy chubby baby!

levi loves blocks!

In the past month, or maybe even couple weeks, Levi has gone from sitting up with a little help, to sitting up by himself really wobbly, to sitting up and playing! I can now leave the room with Levi sitting up with confidence that he will be okay for a couple minutes! Wow!!

One of Levi's newest favorites is sitting up and playing blocks. He loves to grab them, look at them, and put them in his mouth! It has been so adorable to watch as my two boys play blocks together! They are like little buddies...what's that saying, I know I'll always have a friend because I have my brother...it makes me think of that. It's especially great that Levi likes the blocks because it still is one of Isaiah's favorites too. I'd say the blocks are scattered across Isaiah's bedroom floor at least 2 or 3 times a day...and sometimes they make it to the living room too. Good thing they are quick and easy to pick up!

My boys playing blocks.

Levi deciding which one to pick up next.

Looking so intently at the block.

Happy baby playing with blocks.

All three of my boys playing blocks. (No, Isaiah doesn't have a black eye--it's purple marker--he likes to trace his hand and get marker all over it, and then he rubbed his eye. And pay no attention to the huge mess of Isaiah's room, but take a look at where the books are--Isaiah and Jayda thought that was pretty fun that day! And last, pay no attention to the book Isaiah is building his tower on--we don't like Barney here, it was a quarter at a garage sale, it's the only Barney thing we own. :) )