Wisconsin Trip Days 3 and 4

On Sunday we joined my parents at their outdoor church service and picnic. It was a beautiful day to be outside, a little chilly in the shade but not too hot in the sun. We had a little tiime before the service began and Levi had fallen asleep on the way to church, so we ran to get some gas and drinks beforehand so that Levi would continue sleeping. As we got back in the car from paying, he woke up with a silly grin on his face. My nephew Jadin was sitting next to him and he said "Jadin". During the church service, as we were sitting in the back, he said it again. He really likes Jadin.







After the picnic we hung out at mom and dad's house for awhile as Levi took his afternnon nap. Grandpa taught Rachel how to play golf on the wii. She did pretty good for the first time.

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Grandma and Levi played a little after he got up from his nap. Then, it was time to get in the car to head up north to see some friends. Levi did really well in the car, despite not sleeping. He even started nodding his head "yes". He is no longer a "no" man only.

We really enjoyed our short time with our friends. Of course it was too short.




We also got to meet Stephanie, whose blog I follow. She is in the process of adopting Mercy, a little girl from Ghana. We had a wonderful visit. I have always thought how amazing it is that adoption brings together not only children and their forever families but also people who may not ever have met before. There is a bond and a connection that is built because of the common highs and lows associated with adoption. I would like to ask that you pray for Stephanie and her beautiful family as they are waiting on a court date so that they can finally go and get their beautiful little girl. For those of you who have gone through the process, you know how difficult the time of waiting can be. There is hope that they could get a court date this week. That's what I am praying for them but also for strength and patience and peace as they wait on God's timing.



It was a nice weekend. We were all pretty well tired out. At least one of us got some sleep on the way home!

Wisconsin Trip Day 2

Today one of my cousins came over with her little guy who was born 2 days after Levi. Levi quickly found Ben's sippy cup, which is exactly like his, and wouldn't let it go. Both boys are really good at sticking out their lower lips when they are upset. At one point, we had both of them with their lower lips out at the same time. It was funny! Of course, they didn't really play together but rather side by side.




Rachel and Levi had this little game they would play. She would come up to the screen house door on the outside and pound on it and then put her face to it and then he would do the same. It was so cute! Boy does this boy love his sister!

We took Levi to ShopKo to get his birthday present from grandpa and grandma. He got a cozy coupe. While we were waiting for grandma to check out, he started playing peek-a-boo with me. I would say, "Where's Levi?" and he would cover his eyes. And then take them away and I would say, "There he is!" I'm definitely going to have to get this on video.

Yesterday was my parent's 45th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary mom and dad and congratulations! In this day and age, that is quite an accomplishment. We went out to eat as a family at a Chinese restaurant. Then we came back and had had ice cream birthday cake for Levi's birthday/mom and dad's anniversary. We sang to him again and he stood amazed once again.

First Big Trip

On Thursday night after Rachel was finished with work, we got in the car to travel to Wisconsin to visit family and friends. It was our first big car ride since coming home from the airport in Chicago. I thought that this would be a good time to leave because 7:30 is his bedtime and so I figured he would fall asleep and it would be a pleasant trip. Well, let's just say that my children have at least one thing in common. When Rachel was little, she was not a car sleeper. I used to envy the people whose children would fall asleep alsmost the minute they got in the car and sleep the entire time. That was not Rachel and it is not Levi either. For about the first 45 minutes, until I moved into the back seat, he screamed. After that he jabbered and played until 10:15 when he finally fell asleep. That is almost 3 hours past his bedtime. Then he woke up when we got into mom and dad's driveway and was up for about another hour.

Yesterday we spent the day hanging out and meeting people in the area that have prayed for or supported our adoption. The weather was beautiful and so the kids (Rachel, Levi and my nephew Jadin) spent some time in the pool after Levi got up from his nap. They really had a good time playing on the big blow-up toy and making waves. Levi is definitely not afraid of the water.


He loves his cousin Jadin.

Rachel and Jadin hanging out

We put him in his floater when grandpa got it blown up but he didn't like it as well as just standing up in the pool himself. While he was in here Jadin was making waves in the pool.


Rachel is blowing bubbles in the water and trying to get Levi to do the same.






Rachel blew bubbles and Levi chased after them. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the bubbles. He would go over and study them where they lay in the grass. Thankfully he didn't try to put any in his mouth.


Rachel, Levi and Jadin



Mom's neighbor let us play with their little yard playset. Levi loved it! All in all it was a good day!

My Wonderful Children

Jokingly yesterday morning on the way to church I said to Rachel that I thought I should get to celebrate both Mother's Day and Father's Day because I am both in our family. Well, later that night, when I was mowing the yard, Rachel went for a bike ride and came back with a bouquet of wildflowers for me for Father's Day. Wasn't that sweet?!






Who needs toys when you have bowls and wooden spoons? I gave Levi some bowls and spoons to play with while I was making supper. Rachel decided to join in and they got to drumming. When Levi tried to take one of the bowls off Rachel's head, he fell into the other bowl. So, Rachel decided to have a little fun with it.

Better Camp Pictures :)

Hey Everyone!
Mom didn't put the best pictures on here
So I decided to add my favorites....
Enjoy...these are the better ones!!

Camp and Swimming Pool Time

Rachel and one of her new friends from camp

Rachel and her two counselors

The three amigos in front of their cabin

Best of friends!

Hooray, Rachel is home from camp!!! And this year she is injury free, with the exception of quite a few bug bites (no cars hitting her this year). As you can see from this picture, she had a great time. She made some new friends. And she is planning on attending this camp again next year. As much fun as she had, she was also extremely glad to see her brother who when he recognized her had a great big smile for her (as he almost always does).





Tonight we got out the pool my parents bought for Levi. He got so excited watching me blow it up and fill it. I was holding him as I was filling it with the hose. He got so excited while I was filling it with the hose that I had to put him down because I couldn't hold him anymore. My intention was to add some warm water from the tap to it as the water from the hose was really cold. Well, he couldn't wait for that to happen and crawled right in the pool while I was still filling it. As you can see, he really loved the pool. But after awhile, he decided he'd had enough and crawled out.

Ramblings

I am so excited that Rachel will be coming home from camp tomorrow. We certainly have missed her. I know that I need to get used to this because in 2 years she will be heading off to college. That hardly seems possible!!

Levi has decided that he likes standing on his toys now, as you can see from the picture. The only problem is that sometimes he gets too far on one end and he ends up with the toy on top of him. Unless he is tired, this doesn't seem to bother him much.

Since Sunday he has started a new thing. When he wants me to look at something that he finds interesting but that I am not looking at, he will take his hand and push whatever part of my face is closest - chin, cheek, nose. It's rather comical!!

Yesterday afternoon when he got up from his nap, rather than crying because he wanted out right away, he started calling "mama". It was so cute!! That doesn't mean though that it happens every time he wakes up because we have had a few crying times since.

I am working on putting together a single parent ministry for our area as I am not aware of any available in this area. For a number of years I have felt the need for one and have tried to put the bug in the ears of others who might take it up, but to no avail. I believe that God is telling me it is time for me to step up and begin this ministry. I have found a number of resources on the internet but am not sure where to begin. If anyone has a good single parent ministry in their church and would be willing to share ideas, please let me know. I would also appreciate all the prayers I can get.

Funny Boy

Funny boy! Today as I was leaving to go do Story Hour at the library for the Summer Reading Program, Levi peeked up at me from where he was playing, waved and said "bye-bye". It was sooo cute and funny because usually I try to sneek out while he is preoccupied so he doesn't get upset and reach for me.

The picture is from his birthday. Because he was born on Flag day, Rachel decided he needed a flag shirt and we found this one at Walmart for only $3.00. Too cute!

Fire

Today there was a fire at the school I teach at. They had just begun working on replacing the roof when one of the pieces of equipment malfunctioned and caught on fire. . My father-in-law lives near the school and said the flames were 10-15 feet in the air and the newspaper said the thick black smoke could be seen in the town across the river as well as the town 10 minutes away. One of the workers' shirts caught on fire and he jumped from the roof and rolled in the grass to put it out. From what I hear, he broke both legs. We will see if that is indeed the case. I pray that he will be okay. Thankfully there were no other major injuries and the fire was contained to the roof area. However, there was definitely smoke and water damage to much of the building with the third grade wing getting the worst of it. One of the teachers was told that her room is a total loss. My heart goes out to her as she, like many of us, has invested a lot of her own money into her classroom. Please pray that there is no rain or very little in the next couple of days so that there is no further damage. They are predicting rain for the next 4 days and some thunderstorms are included in that forecast.

Happy 1st Birthday Levi!!

Here is my happy 1 year old boy. Yesterday we had his birthday party. It was definitely a full day. There was cleaning, baking, cooking and decorating to do in preparation for the big event. We did a frog theme for his party. Guests were greeted with lily pads leading up to the door and a sign on the door that said, "Hop on In!"




When they came into the diningroom, they found streamers hanging from the ceiling (to give the feel of a swamp) and a sign that said "Hoppy 1st Birthday Levi!" He was napping when we did the decorating and was completely fascinated by the streamers when he awoke.




For dinner we served frog legs(breadsticks), frog food (veggies and dip), swamp drink (punch made from lime sherbet and 7-up), fettucine with green alfredo sauce, Italian beef sandwiches, pistachio salad, grape salad, and chips and dip. For dessert, there was a frog cake and flies on a frog ice cream (mint chocolate chip). My mom always made us these great cakes in the shape of something for our birthdays and I have tried to carry on that tradition for my children until they got too old to want that kind of cake. I even have the book my mom used. Thanks for sharing it with me mom!



When it was time to have cake, we put him back in his high chair. He was fussing about gong back in until everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Then he stopped fussing and his face looked like this:



He really enjoyed the frosting on the piece of cake that we frosted for him. He was a little bit thrown off by the size of it and by the fact that I had put it on a plate. Once we took a smaller piece off and put it directly on the tray, he dug right in and squeezed the cake between his hands.






In between eating cake and opening gifts, Levi decided to sneak away for an excursion upstairs. He got as far as the landing and decided that he didn't like having anyone else around and started to let us know it. You would have thought that with all the people that we had for the party, someone would have seen him starting up the stairs but no one did. I could laugh about it because praise God he didn't fall down the steps in the midst of climbing up them.

After opening gifts, the kids played outside for a little bit before heading for home. Levi kept going to the door wanting to play outside with the kids. It was cute! Maybe next year he can join them outside.





He must have been really tired out from the party because he went to bed about 8:30 and slept until 7:50 this morning (and some of you thought he wouldn't sleep after having some swamp drink and cake with frosting)! When I went in his room he was sitting at the far end of is crib with the biggest smile on his face. I picked him up and started singing to him and his smile got even bigger (if that is even possible). All morning getting ready for church he was just so giggly and goofy and happy. Then, when it came time to go to church and we put him in his car seat facing forward, well, that was just the icing on the cake!!

After we got home from church he was so tired out because he didn't nap, so we didn't get to give him present number 1 until he woke up and just before taking Rachel and her friend Amber to camp. Of course, he loved playing with the ribbon. After we got home from taking Rachel to camp, we called grandpa and grandma in Wisconsin and they sang to him as well. When he heard them start singing, he started smiling. It was so cute! I'm not quite sure he understood everything but I certainly think he enjoyed his first birthday!!




Oh, and in the midst of getting ready for the party, we went looking at two cars for Rachel and ended up buying one. She is over the top excited about it. It has a sun-roof and cruise!!