Friday, October 31, 2008

A very Levi Post and a Happy 6th B-day to you!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear Levi, Happy Birthday to YOU!!

there is no particular order to any of these shots.

"On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true!" ~Karen Carpenter, singer. (though you know I don't believe the angels created you, I just love the song!)

Levi, you were such a beautiful little newborn! chubby cheeks! poufy lips! dreamy!


6 years ago, RIGHT NOW, I was waiting for YOU! and hurting quite badly, too, might I add??

You were born at 1:00 pm, Thursday, October 31, 2002. We found out on July 4, 2002, that we'd welcome our third son. It was our first ultrasound EVER so it was quite neat to see you and give you a name, get to know you a bit before welcoming you so rapidly into the world. why is it that seeing the baby on the ultra. screen helps in this? you resemble a little baby bird here.


You. are a coffee thief.



you are the king of the pouty face. you have some big, red, puffy, pouty lips, my young son!


here u are with Aunt Beck and Miss P...back then, you weren't too sure about her. Now, you love her to pieces (mostly) and call her "honey"...ya know, since she's your "wife" and all. (we DO live in Deliverance)


First day of preschool.





Loving on Princess Leia, er, Melanie (I told you we had a Leia thing over here...Star Wars geeks. was not Mel's face the most perfect thing here? where did this beauty come from?)






Happy Easter, Magnum.





first day of Kindergarten, 2008





Tom, I don't know what happened to this shirt. I am so bummed!







You are a good big brother to Molly. mostly.






You are a Grandpa's boy...in fact, you fell asleep with him last night (I was out with B. and you, Mel and Moll were with Mom and Pa)...I think he said he tickled your feet and rubbed your puppy head...and bam! You were out!




Biker Babe




Last year, some of our friends got you the movie, "Meet the Robinson's" for your 5th birthday. how very nice of them.






Here you are with your "wife" Piper...you guys crack us up with your husband, wife, honey talk. (from what I hear, though, kid, Piper has a boyfriend at school and another at her Nana's church...be warned. :) )





school pix 2007







what have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this? name that song.








July 1, 2007...a few short days before your world, as you knew it, was rocked! but I looooooove your face in this pic, dude. you are so dang cute!







unadulterated glee.






Baby's first Christmas....you were a challenging baby. to say the least.







this pic above and the pic below were taken the same day...I miss these little snuggly, pacifier levi days. sometimes. he reminds me of Molly in this lower pic...must be the eyes.






Googly eyes #1 and Googly eyes #2.



Well, it's obviously Tiny's Birthday today! It kinda snuck up on me but I've been having a "week" so that's my excuse. Did these pix make up for it? hopin' so!
Levi, you are such an awesome boy! Some of our favorite things you say include the following:
"That was a close one"
"That's a great idea"
"Will you lay down with me in your bed?"
"I thought you were my best friend"...when he is up for a spanking.
"I need to play with the phome" (which is how he says phone, to no avail)
"shut up jerk"usually to Ethan, occasionally Melanie, never Will...I think he got this from a show..but we are working to correct this one!
You were my quickest delivery...though a planned homebirth...and the middy's almost missed it...yo' daddy almost got ya! Yikes. I remember with you, very vividly thinking that that was my last shot at childbirth...I was DONE! You were born at 1:00 pm on a lovely, bright, colorful Halloween day, under the watchful eye of Mary Ann, Julie, apprentice Holly, Grandma, Daddy, Becky, Jennifer, Will, Ethan, Melanie and Jeff, who remained outside till you got here.
Thank you for letting me relive this day. I think it's important to recapture each of your children's arrival on the earth, so you remember why you keep them here. tongue in cheek, people, I have teenaged sons. :)
Levner (horrible nickname), you had one scary moment after another right off the bat...spina bifida occulta? ultrasound on spine when 4-5 days old. no....just a hairy tuft at spine bash. whew.
circumcision on day 8? yeah, let's get cyanotic and have a harsh reaction to the painkiller. (I think I'd have a harsh reaction to a needle right "there")...Doc Countryman thought it was your ticker. Oops, let's have an ultrasound on that too....nope, heart is wonderful. Grandma Young finds out through kinesiology that you had an adverse reaction to the pain meds and we need to flush it outta yo' system FAST! glad your grandma studies natural health.
Just a generally fussy, challenging baby but it didn't last long...you started sleeping thru the night at 6 weeks EXACTLY. You stopped nursing at 3 months. sniff sniff. You chubbed right up and became such a contented, laid back little fella. so much so that you didn't crawl till you were 12 months and you didn't walk till nearly 18 mos. it's safe to say that you were completely pampered and spoiled by your big sibs. Grandpa was pretty partial too. I love you, Levi Taylor!
Can you believe that today is the last day of October? OMGoodness. you know what's up next? thanksgiving. but before that can even have it's day to shine, we start getting bombarded with Christmas. start breathing deep now...Embrace the holiday, embrace it. Choose JOY! I can already feel my chest caving in.
What are you dressing up as? Are you trick or treating? I think I may let the kids go for a bit with some friends of ours, in their neighborhood...just for the memory's sake of it...we've never really T or T'd so we shall see how this day progresses.
Until then, chow!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Hunter's Honey Farm

We went to a neat little Martinsville treasure today.





check out where the Queen Bee developed...there in the bottom right hand corner...she gets her own place in the "nest" to grow. special are we?


so many nifty things come from bees and all their hardwork...beeswax candles are way neat...so cool.





a big barrel o' honey





oooooo rich.




more barrels o' honey...






Mel getting smoochy on the freaky mannequin beekeeper out front.





Will, hanging with Brett S. and Levi...during the demo/talk





big piles of beeswax...





big jars o' honey....our family scored a couple o' these.





Kristin and Alexa N. showing us their crafty li'l candles...nice work, gals.





Levi's really getting into the candle-making process.

Levi and Brett at the hive....check out the little tube that leads to the outdoors...the bees could come and go. that is a cluster of bees behind the boys' heads...and all of the kids on the trip were trying in vain to find the QUEEN.....she was even marked...to no avail...don't think anyone could find her. kinda like "Where's Waldo?"


fascinating, to say the very least....

this is the tube window....there were um, lots of bees out here....kinda like an Alfred Hitchcock movie if you ask me...I felt like Tippi Hedren in "Birds"...



a closer look at the bee entrance...






my brood, sitting on this coolio branch...motley, aren't they?






Well, to change the subject from the previous post, here are some cheery, uplifting pix of my kids and some others at the Hunter's Honey Farm trip today!
It was a sweet time. hee hee.
In other news...if you are still reading my blog, anyways, not much here....Levi turns SIX tomorrow...so I'm off to dig up some pix of the little dude....I could say a lot here, but I will beat my flesh down...and avoid awkwardness...enjoy some pix of our sweet little man, who has NOT pooed in his pants all. week. long. isn't that a birthday present for his momma? I'd say.
G'night!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Happy Birthday to our Dads!

My Dad turned 61 on Saturday!! Happy Birthday, Grandpa!


David's Dad turned 62 on Sunday, so he and my dad were the same age for a day...or so.
Hope you two had lovely celebrations...Dad Y., we have your gift and it will be in the mail in the next day or two...
Dad G., we will give you our gift at your party this coming weekend! We are pretty sure you may like it....I'll blog it later!
Happy Birthday to our Dads!! We wouldn't be here without ya!
(that was exceptionally deep, huh?)

Well, thanks for everything! Hugs to each of you!


How very porchy of you...












these pix pretty much speak for themselves...David and John got a lot done on the upper porch over the weekend. I can't believe how different it seems up there, especially with the roof (plywood) on the trusses now...it feels like it belongs out in Colorado or somewhere rugged like that...it ROCKS!

The kids, David and I sat out on the new addition last night, watched Randy take off in his big rig...and recapped the previous days...it was so cozy and inviting out there...I wish you could be here to see it...it's really nifty! it's not finished yet but it's gettin' there!

Ok, just wanted to post those because I told Daveyboy that I would! maybe now he will look at the blog! just kiddin' deary. I know you've been bizzzeeeee on the porch and such!

Miscellaneous Harvest Fun.

glad that my brother got D. in this shot...I had no full on pix of him in the Indy garb. I'm such a picture taking loser. and there are too many photos of me in that twin outfit though. yikes.


who is the big-mouthed bimbo holding the sweet baby dino? yowza. Molly looked simply adorable in Levi's Dino outfit from his 1st Birthday (5 years ago)




My hunky Indiana Jones dude, manning the pinata festivities under Randy's watchful eye. So glad you made the effort to be here with us, Randy! We are so glad you were here. Thanks for all of your help! amazing!


Grandpa with our li'l cowboy




Levi kept this outfit on for a total of about 20 minutes.





Piper was a cheerleader





Melanie was Susan, from The Chronicles of Narnia...







grrrr!





Men in Tights...Will as Super Dude!








Ethan as a Spartan...



Just a few more random pictures from our Harvest Bash...Thanks, Tom, for snapping a few shots before you wilted for the evening! I appreciate it immensely.
I was supposed to go to the dentist today...and I did. They didn't have me on the books. I'd like to say I was really steaming mad but heck, when you have a chance NOT to go to the dentist, you should really praise the Lord. I took advantage of our day out and got some pressing errands taken care of and then we got to come home, enjoy our evening by doing our exercise, school work, laundry...just general catch up from a hectic week/weekend. I have lots, lots, lots to do and the kids need an organized mom...so that is my week. woohoo.
I'm really thrashed again tonight...what gives?
I think I'm going to start a weight loss tracking blog too...so I'm outta here. Hope this finds you and yours well and healthy, enjoying this chilly streak in the great Midwest!
One week till the election...who are YOU voting for?
O yeah, Levi turns 6 this week...guess I should dig out some cutie shots of that boy...can't believe he is that old. man! Happy Monday!