outside

This weekend brought lovely mild weather to these parts, and we took advantage by spending time outside. Levi was, for the first time, able to crawl around on the driveway (the grass is still wet) and managed to turn his orange socks completely brown. But he was happy as a clam!

While Levi was on the loose Camille and I took some time to plant pumpkin seeds. We're going to try strawbale gardening this year, so I thought it would be fun to start some of the seeds indoors until it warms up more outside. 

We used the bottom portion of an egg carton as our tray. Camille did a great job poking two pumpkin seeds into each section.

I asked Aaron to snap a photo of us, but Camille was too proud of her seeds to even look at the camera!

Meanwhile, Levi had discovered the bowl of dirt and was having great fun flinging dirt everywhere with the spoon.

I've got to keep my eye on that boy.

We did some other letter of the week P things today: Camille wore a pink dress with polka dots. And for dinner we ate pulled pork. 

this and that

My birthday yesterday was wonderful! This year my Mom had an extra set of hands helping her bake my birthday cake. Camille had the time of her life helping measure, pour, stir and taste!

The cake turned out beautifully and was delicious! Unfortunately, it's nearly gone now and I'm sure it won't last until tomorrow.

In other news, Levi has officially joined Camille for 'big kid' bath time on a nightly basis. He splashes at the water in front of him the entire time he's in the tub. I guess the kid doesn't mind having water splashing all over his face!

Tonight with our dinner Aaron made balsamic roasted root vegetables. Mmmmmm.

And when she was finished eating her dinner, Camille fed Levi baby puffs. He thought it was great, and would even automatically turn his head and open his mouth when he was finished chewing, silently begging for another.

Levi's nighttime sleeping has been horrendous these past few nights, so I'm praying for a good night's sleep tonight. We're going to give him a few days to shape up or ship out (of our room, that is).

the lord is good to me

(Perhaps you will remember the first verse from last year.)


I wake up every day,

As happy as can be,

Because I know that with His care

My apple trees, they will still be there.

The Lord's been good to me.

Amen
Amen
Amen Amen Amen
AMEN!

picnic

We enjoyed a delicious picnic dinner tonight in our front yard. The only thing missing was Levi. But that's just what happens when he goes to bed at six every evening.

these days

These days...

...have seen some pretty stressful falling asleep times for Camille. The Paci Fairy (actually known in our house as the Nukker Fairy) came on Sunday and Camille has (expectedly) been having a hard time settling herself down to go to sleep. We are seeing improvements though and I'm hopeful things will be back to normal soon.

...our little Levi sucks on his hands as if he was enjoying a refreshing ice cream cone.

...Aaron spends most evenings at our townhouse meeting with prospective renters.

...it seems as if my parents are going off on road trips every three days. Not only did they go to St. Louis two weekends ago, they also had a one-day trip to North Dakota for a family gathering. I'm pretty sure they're getting sick of us and just looking for excuses to get out of here!

...Camille has been busy spending as much time outside as she possibly can. We returned to our favorite park tonight for a Chinese food picnic and some water fun.

...I spend the weekdays busy with two babies and a two-year old doing lots of cuddling, feeding, diaper-changing, and reading to. I'm back to work full time now and am still adjusting to the exhausting nature of my job. But exhausting though it may be, we also have a lot of fun and are enjoying the summer. I feel so blessed to be able to bring in an income while still keeping my kids with me.

...bedtime for Levi has been around 6 pm. This usually means that if we're not home when he gets sleepy I pop him in our wrap and he drifts off to sleep wherever we are. This has really been an invaluable investment and I am so glad I discovered it before he was born. Rarely does a day go by that it doesn't get used.

...we've been going to church in the evenings so Camille can enjoy the opening music for the VBS program. She's too young still this year to stay the whole night, but next year she'll be able to join the preschool group. I'm so excited for her because I know she is just going to love it!


As you can see we're keeping busy. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to get done all that needs to be done. But I'm trying to slow down and enjoy my family. My mom will laugh when she sees that I'm posting this poem but I'm using it as my excuse...

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep...

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton, in Lady's Home Journal. 1958

So quiet down, cell phone. iPod go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

four bucks

Alternately Titled: Through Toddler Goggles

What can four bucks buy you these days?

Well, if you're shopping garage sales then four bucks can buy you a brand new still-in-the-package Little Tikes toddler digital camera!

Camille had a blast snapping photos outisde this morning...

It's definitely no Nikon, but for four bucks I'd say it's a pretty nice little camera. With a little practice I'm sure she will be able to take more photos of people than of the ground.

So without further ado I bring you...through toddler goggles!

I just love that last one! We promised her more camera time after her nap. And wouldn't you know, she actually went to sleep right away?!

Talk about incentive to sleep. I think we'll be keeping this little gadget around.

You know, until she loses interest.

Which will probably be within the week.

But still. For four bucks? It totally made her day!

fun-filled fourth

I am so exhausted and should definitely be sleeping instead of blogging. But I know some of you (you know who you are) get antsy for photos and don't like it when I dawdle.

Our day began much like any other Sunday. The kids got up early-ish as usual and we all got ready for church. The service was particularly enjoyable because there was a large musically-inclined family leading the special music. After church we ate lunch and had naps.

Ok, Levi took a nap. And so did my dad.

Camille did not.

And that's almost always a sign that the afternoon and evening will be rough.

After not sleeping for two hours I got her up, sunscreened her, and we went outside with Dowie (what she calls my mom) and Daddy to play on her slide.

Little did she know that Dowie was surprising her with a new (to her - thank you Craigslist) slide! The first thing she said as we were coming down the hill to the backyard and she saw it was "Thank you, Dowie!"

Talk about melting my mom's heart!

So time was spent climbing and sliding and swinging and sliding and climbing and swinging and sliding...

You get the picture.

Then we had to hurry to the front yard to make sure we got good seats for the big Maple Island Parade.

Good thing Boppa (what Camille calls my dad) had brought the lawn chairs out for us! We settled in and waited for the parade to come around. So did our neighbors.

Camille even went next door with our neighbor for a few minutes to visit with her good friend Shadow (the black lab next door).

The parade began with a fire truck, had a mini marching band, a king and queen of the island, several kids with water guns, an air band family, and a Smart Car.

We watched.

And clapped.

And had a very nice time enjoying it together.

Especially when my mom got hit with a water balloon! (I do have a photo of this but am using my better judgement in not posting it, lest my family be kicked out onto the streets.)

After gathering up all the candy that was thrown, Aaron and the kids and I scrambled into the car to make it to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and some swimming fun.

Camille had a great time in the water with Aaron and practiced all the things she learned in swimming lessons earlier this spring.

Levi, on the other hand, was less than thrilled to be in the big pool.

So after two dips into the water up to his knees we decided not to torture him anymore.  Ok, maybe once more. We tried putting him in the smaller and much warmer baby pool. Turns out he didn't think that was too bad.

Especially when big sister Camille is there to make sure everything is ok.

Though I'll admit I'm pretty sure he didn't exactly enjoy the experience.

But enough of this baby pool stuff. Camille wanted back in the big pool. This time Uncle Bryan was her excort.

After a yummy dinner we headed home, skipped Camille's nightly bath, and (miracle of miracles) had both kids in bed and asleep within 30 minutes.

Now if only we can keep the firecrackers from waking them up tonight.

Happy 4th of July!