The Little Blue Stool

The other night I told Levi that I needed to swap the laundry before I could read to him.  As I left the play room this little voice called out, "my help you laundry? my help you laundry?"  and when I turned around there he was with his little blue stool ready and excited to work. 

He shoved in the wet clothes.

He wanted to help with the detergent,

and felt the need to get very close. 

The little blue stool is quite the companion. 

It gives him the boost he needs to find all kids of fun things that are out of his reach (for a reason).

Perfect place to enjoy a snack,

and rest after working hard on the laundry. 

"Now I see a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends!"

-The Little Blue Truck

one of our most FAVORITE books :) 

Mother's Day 2012

We are so blessed to have special Mother's to make crafts for.  Two grandmas: Bella & Gigi.  Two great-grandmas:GG Anne & GG Roberta.  And one Lyssa...she's really an aunt, but she likes it when we make things for her, so we always include her. 

We set out our supplies, and practiced having a happy heart and joyful attitude.

We only wore necessary clothing.

I should say THEY.  I took the risk of getting paint on my clothes.  :)

Levi did well keeping the pain contained. 

Mary Kathryn on the other hand looked like she had gone to battle. 

Mother's day started a little early for me.  My sweet Momma gave me Saturday morning off.  I was thrilled to go visit baby Hartley in the hospital and then spend some time working on Mary Kathryn's birthday party.  Yes, it is still 3 months away, but the most exciting part of the party is the planning!
I came home to find a note from Josh, a gift in and of itself. 

Josh and the kids picked out new earrings for me. 

Sunday was a very l-o-n-g rainy day.  Josh was on 3rd shift and needed to sleep, and Levi was FULL of energy.  So after nap Mary Kathryn and I hung out under the carport while Levi played golf in the rain.  We made rain drops into fun. 

He was so full of energy he kept getting distracted...he would go to hit the ball and then look up to catch rain drops in his mouth.  :)

Saturday Fun

 Two Saturdays ago we enjoyed our church family at the annual picnic.

 

We spent time with Mr. Greg & Mrs. Whitney sweet life long friends whom we do not get to visit with often.    

 

 This past Saturday we celebrated Tucker & Joey's birthdays. 

It was a special to see Mary Kathryn sitting with all her friends.  I just started thinking about these girls molding friendships...shopping, painting nails, and laughing together.   

 What a treat to see our friend Samuel. 

We all ate too much cake.

 This race track could have brought days, possibly weeks of fun.

And somehow Mary Kathryn ended up with permanent marker on her head, but no where else.  :)

Mortelly

It's been a rough two and a half weeks. All beginning with  Levi's 1st stomach bug at 1 am.  Mary Kathryn got it too, but it was in the form of diaper explosion during nap, which lead to everyone's 1st case of pink eye.  Then Josh and I both got something that included chills, fever, nausea, and quiet possibly the worst soar throat ever. And now I have no voice.  Josh keeps laughing to himself anytime I talk and saying, "I feel like I'm married to a smoker." 

But in these hard days the Lord has proven himself over and over again.  Teaching me how sin is sin no matter what it looks like.  So often I try to justify my sin, because it is in response to disobedience or selfihness in the kids.  I know there is no hope for their struggles when the example I give is one of selfishness.  It all came together at breakfast one morning when I gave Levi Nutella on his toast.  (Yes, I know Nutella is dessert and not breakfast food.  But I was tired and just wanted him to eat with out a fuss.)  He calls it "Mortelly."  I think it's a combination of Nutella and jelly.   

As I watched him delight in his breakfast and her joyfully scooting around with her goopy eye, it was a visual image to put with the struggles in my heart.  We can sugar coat and give sin a really cute name.  It will often taste so sweet, but the effects are nasty and rooted so deeply inside us. 

After breakfast we went upstairs to dress and put away laundry.  Immediately after confessing my sin of being quick tempered the Lord gave me a test.  I went to put away towels in the bathroom and when I walked back into their bedroom I found they had unloaded all the folded laundry and were scattering it everywhere.  I really wanted to scream!!!!!!  Like louder than ever before.   

BUT our sweet heavenly Father allowed me to see their sweet smiles and not all the work I was going to have to re-do. 

A few Happies I may not have noticed had we not been cooped up together... 

Mary Kathryn has the perfect diaper commercial crawl.  Levi wasn't much of a crawler, he rolled everywhere.  It's so fun to watch her go!

She now pulls up and stands anywhere she can.

She has learned to read books instead of eat them :)

Simba is our newest family member and Levi's side kick.  They read books, wrestle, and play construction site together.  I over heard Levi talking to him.  :)

Late night snuggle time

She can now pull books off the top shelf!

She FINALLY sat still and let me read a book to her!  

So thankful his love for books is rubbing off on her

Loving one another

I think we are back on the move! 

Levi rode his tricycle for the 1st time. 

T-H-A-M-E-S, Gooo THAMES!!!

Two weeks ago a dear friend, Britney, called in a panic.  "I have a crazy question.  You're the only one who will understand.  My colors for Saturday's party were red & yellow, but what do you think about orange & purple?"  Despite the fact that it was Thursday and changing the colors meant several returns and rethinking decorations, I confirmed that it HAD to be done.    It just suited the happy celebration.

So thankful this little chicky with her bazillion notepads will still be drawing me pictures at church.

And I will get to hear this munchkin call out "Aubba!" anytime she sees me or when I am on the phone with her Mama.

The Lord has been good to Levi, he's is hemmed in the middle of these two.  He follows Lillian and poor Cely Kay works with all her might to keep up with him. 

And, yes, I did dress Levi in orange & Mary Kathryn in purple :)

Psalm 139:5

"You hem me in behind and before, and You lay your hand upon me."

He is Risen!

The Lord was gracious and we had 5 "extra" minutes to get pictures before church.

 Levi was less than thrilled about his outfit and having to take pictures.

All during breakfast he kept asking me to take off is "tag"...I guess in his mind the tie looked like a tag and we always remove tags before wearing things. :)

Mary Kathryn was a very happy girl who got to sport two Easter dresses today. 

 This evening we enjoyed a wonderful time at Gigi and Papa's house.  Gigi made Josh's favorite meal - ham, macaroni, sweet potatoes, and rolls. 

 She was very sweet to invite Bella & Bear-Bear to join the fun.

 What a blessing for our children to have both sets of grandparents close by. 

 

Gigi planned an exciting egg hunt for Levi. 

He has become quite the pro at "hunting" as he calls it.