Family Birthdays & Meltdowns!

The Labor Day weekend was spent with Papa J.R. and Mama LaLa and more of Wes's side of the family. While the weekend was packed full of activity, according to Jaidyn her favorite thing all weekend was the play house that Papa and Mama LaLa had been building and decorating the past few weekends. We also celebrated 4 birthdays as one family has 3 of their 4 family birthdays all on the same day and their son is only a week before. Crazy! Lots of family got to meet Levi for the first time so it was a very special weekend overall.


On your mark! Get set! Go! Jaidyn and her cousin both wore the dress-up dresses they have on all day long. Aren't they cute?


Levi kept trying to run in front of the vehicles, so I finally strapped him in beside Jaidyn and made her put her arm around him and promise me that she wouldn't go faster than the slowest gear. He loved the ride!


This little John Deere is just Addy's size.


I am not sure pairing the two of them is such a great combination. Addy is not the safest driver of the bunch. I write this as I remember a few month back her looking back at us while somehow managing to maneuver the Dora four wheeler between two trees.


Uncle Bear hung out with the kids while they swam in the hot tub.


Mama Lala gave Addy a bath in the sink after swimming in the hot tub. Papa J.R. gave Jaidyn a shower when she was done swimming. Getting out of bathtime with the girls was a nice little breal for me.


Aunt DeDe and Hudson.


Good morning! Look at the camera, Levi!


Levi loved spinning the toys on Hudson's exersaucer.


The girls playing in the playhouse...kitchen, chalkboard, manicure table, and babies. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the outside of the playhouse. It is darling! Every little girl dreams of having a playhouse like this.


Jaidyn taking a morning cruise around the yard before we loaded up and headed to the lake for the day.


They were so helpful around eating time and would fill the girls plates for me while I fed Levi and then Ashley would eat fast so she could entertain Levi while I ate.


The kids got in a picture with the birthday family.


Addy, quit blowing out the candles, it isn't your birthday.


Trying to wait patiently for a piece of yummy cake. I love how they stair step down in size.


We got the girls picnic baskets filled with little treats for their birthdays. I am the worst Aunt in the world. I am not good at keeping up with all of the nieces and nephews birthdays and we are just now getting Hadley a gift whose birthday was back in July.


Family Picture! Wes came for a few hours earlier in the day, but had already left for work before we had a group picture taken.


Pinata Time! Happy Birthday!


It was a little bit of a reach for Addy to hit.


No Mercy!


Jaidyn and her "jump and hit" approach.


Pulling the strings at the bottom finally allowed the candy to fall.


These boys are going to have so much fun together in a couple of years. The boys are all born within about 3 months of each other. In fact, Levi and Hudson are born only one day apart. It is crazy to think that Wes's brother had an addition to their family the day before we did (we just didn't know it yet).

So while we had a wonderful weekend and the weather cooperated it didn't come without cost. When Levi's bedtime rolled around Sunday evening Levi had decided that he had had enough. Levi screamed for almost 2 hours before finally falling asleep in the pack-&-play. I tried everything to get him to sleep and even tried standing and rocking back and forth. While this stopped the screaming he wasn't about to fall asleep. I am really surprised that he didn't go to sleep on his own as he only took a 1 hour nap earlier in the day and that is only because I put him in a stroller and walked him around the parking lot at the lake until he fell asleep. Finally, he had exhausted me to the point that I was ready for bed so I made the girls come to bed with me and all four of us slept in one bed. Levi did finally fall asleep and I placed him back in the pack-&-play, but he would wake up almost every hour through the night. So neither of us got much sleep. The morning wasn't much better as he wanted me to hold him all morning and then even when I did this he was trying to pull my earrings out of my ears and throwing them. He also was trying to hit me in the face. Yikes! We packed up fairly quickly that morning just so I could get him home. Our first few hours at home weren't much better, but by the afternoon he was almost back to good little Levi. So this week has been spent staying on a schedule and keeping what is familiar to him. I completely blame his meltdown on us as he had just had too much stimulation during the weekend...short naps, meeting lots of people, not sleeping in the same place. With the exception of a few nap times, he has had a wonderful week. He has played so well and is even starting to interact with the girls so much more as before he would just kind of parallel play with them. Of course, he is still eating very well and when he finishes his plate, he wants to climb up in our laps and help us finish ours. Just yesterday he picked up his spoon that I left on his plate and put little pieces of Spagetti-O's on it all by himself before putting the spoon in his mouth. Then at dinner last night I would place food on his fork and then hand it to him. He was easilty able to feed himself. I could be wrong, but I don't think he was doing any of this a few weeks ago as he wouldn't even pick up food with his fingers and place it in his mouth. I was thinking that at the orphanage he was just fed by the caregivers as this was so much quicker and less messy than if they would have let each child feed themselves.


Jaidyn pulling Levi around the house in my postal box.


We went out to eat for the first time as a family of 5 the Friday before Labor Day weekend. We had several people comment on what a nice family we had as we were leaving, so I guess we can consider our first dining out experience with all 3 kids a success.

Silly Boy!

~ Enjoying the Weather ~

Yesterday was gorgeous and the kids and I took full advantage of being outside. I pushed Levi and Addy in the stroller to story hour at the Library and Jaidyn ran along beside us. We then spent some time at the park before coming home to eat lunch and let Levi nap.


Levi eating a popsicle for the first time (or at least with us). His face was so funny. The cold of the popsicle would make him make one of those sour puckered face looks. He really liked it as he kept coming back for more licks.


I must have followed him back and forth across the bridge at least 10 times. I think he liked the sound that the bridge made when he walked across it as he would almost stomp across.


Me: "Come here Levi!" Great, I am already getting the "just a minute" finger. :)


He likes to push the mower, but only across the driveway or sidewalk. For some reason he doesn't like to push it in the grass...maybe that is a sign that Wes needs to mow.


Levi checking out his reflection in the glass door.





The girls had their babies Lizzie and Sara Bella rocking them in the tree singing "Rock-A-Bye Baby". They had just finished riding their bikes and forgot that they were still wearing their helmets.


I hit the jackpot today at a few yard sales in our small little town. I think Levi is ready and will be decked out for the winter months. Between the clothes that he has recently received as gifts, clothes passed down from one of Jaidyn's preschool classmates (thanks Sarah), and the outfits that I scored today, he is going to be one stylin' little guy. I also bought this toy organizer for Levi's room once we move in to a bigger home. Jaidyn helped her daddy scrub it clean, while also taking the opportunity to spray him a few times. :)

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

September is Here!

September is one of my favorite months of the year. I love that the weather is still warm, yet a little cooler. I am looking forward to the fall festivals and pumpkin patches (hopefully we will get to attend a few this year). Football and high school volleyball season is in full force. And my favorite holiday, Halloween is just around the corner.

Yet, as much as I like September, I am exhausted and am so glad to have survived the week so far. The girls had their first week of preschool as they only go Monday through Wednesday. While I knock out their preschool all in three days, it is somewhat hectic. Jaidyn goes at 8:00, Addy @ 9:00, Pick-up Jaidyn @ 10:30 and then Addy @ 11:30. I have one week down without forgetting to pick one of them up on time. In between time, I try and get errands done, groceries, and hopefully a walk with Levi in the stroller and my mom. On Tuesday, I also took Addy and Levi to story hour at the library and then the girls also started gymnastic lessons again that evening. My mom has been sooooo much help all week, as she kept Levi for periods of time, so that he didn't have to spend it all with me while I kept up with my taxi service for the two girls. Nana has him stacking toys, playing with puzzles, and talking on a play telephone. Won't be long and she will be pulling out the multiplication flash cards.

Levi has had a little bit of a rough week. I know much of it is due to the fact that our schedule is a crazy in the mornings and he is taking naps in other places besides his bed at home, so nothing still seems to be normal for him yet. He also has figured out how to climb stairs. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out how to get back down and did have a fall this past weekend. He has a few little scrapes (which are almost gone)and a bruise on his cute little face (thankfully it was carpeted stairs so it wasn't worse). I would have thought that this would have cautioned him a little bit with steps, but he still wants to climb them whenever he has the opportunity.

Levi fell asleep on Aunt Jill. He really took to her well last weekend. We kept wondering if he thought she was me. :)


This afternoon, instead of falling asleep almost immediately for his nap, he just talked to himself for almost 20 minutes. It was so cute to hear his voice babble about who knows what. This was the first time that I have really heard him babble for a long period of time.

Jaidyn and Addy have had a great week at preschool and love being back with their friends and meeting new little friends. Jaidyn told me today that a boy and girl (I won't use their names)in her class aren't in love anymore, but just friends. Seriously, she's only 4 and already having these conversations with her little friends. ???

I was also asking her today if she played with everyone in her class as she kind of tends to pair up with one or two people and she informed me that "there is only one Jaidyn" and she can't play with everyone. She does have a point, I guess.


Jaidyn's first day of preschool as a Bullfrog! The mornings were really cool (50's) so we had to wear jackets to start out the day.


Addy's first day of preschool as a Little Fish!


I had to run Addy down to get a hug and kiss before leaving as she didn't take anytime getting involved with the rice table in the play room.

~ Toddler Proofing the House ~

Yes, I love that Levi is walking already and that he loves to explore but that also means that I am constantly following him everywhere keeping him out of most of the drawers and picking up after what I like to call the "Levi Trail".

Yesterday morning while drying my hair in the bathroom, Levi found out how the toilet paper roll works. This was shortly after I picked up a tub of the small Legos that he dumped(over 2000 in the tub) in the bedroom. He found and dumped these and unfortunately some of them scattered under the bed and those will have to wait for another day to be picked up.




This is a bucket of Jaidyn and Addy's gourds that they picked and have played with all week. Levi thinks they look better dumped on our sidewalk. :)



What can I find to dump next?


Mama's Boy! Levi follows me everywhere and is usually perfectly content when I am holding him.


Levi likes bathtime once he is in the tub. He usually takes off in the opposite direction and makes us chase him to get him in, but once in the tub he has a great time.


All clean!


Addy had her preschool open house last night and she is so excited to start next week. This will be a nice change from last year at the beginning of the year when they had to pry her from my neck while screaming. Jaidyn will go three days a week and Addy will go 2 days.

We have a busy weekend planned and an Open House set for Sunday afternoon...still trying to sell our home.

The Lake

This past weekend I took Levi and the girls to the lake house. While the girls loved it as usual, I am not sure what Levi thought about the weekend. There was just so much to take in. He wore his life jacket, but it almost swallowed him. I left the upper portion unzipped just so he would have some more space for his little face. We went to Captain Ron's which has a beach area outside of the restaurant so that he could play more easily in the water. He didn't want to walk out in it, so we instead sat in the sand and played. Levi didn't want to wear his sun hat, but since he is lacking in a little bit of hair on top of his head, we kept trying to distract him to place it back on his head and also covered his head in sunscreen. He did conquer the stairs inside the lake house. He kept watching us go up and down them and it didn't take long before he decided to follow us. Now that he can get up them, we will really have to work on him learning how to get on his belly and slide down them.


Poor guy! His life jacket is just a little too big! It is so hard to find a comfortable one for his size.


Jaidyn thinks she is the Captain of Papa's ship. Jaidyn and Addy both fight to see who gets to sit on Papa's lap and drive. Jaidyn's getting very good and even knew our way home on the water the other night.


Levi did not want his picture taken, but I couldn't resist. They were all too cute in their swim outfits.


Sitting in the sand. Levi is once again trying to pull his hat off.




All the lake fun and sun will drain you...he is on his 2nd nap for the day. He did take 2 naps a day at the orphange, but since we have been home, we usually only do one early in the afternoon.