Finally

For the first 12 months of Amelia's life, Levi was constantly in her face, kissing her, trying to tickle her, picking her up, just bugging her in general. For the most part she was pretty passive about it. Now that she has found her voice and can walk the roles have reversed a little. If Levi gets up close and personal with Millie we hear about it either with a scream or Nooooo Weeevi. Now Millie is constantly in Levi's way wanting to play with his Wii, or "coloring" over his picture or ripping his book, and trust me we hear about it from Levi with a "Moooooom will you please come and get Amelia", "No Sis stay away from my stuff", or "Aww man not again".

But every once in a while they work together in brotherly/sisterly love. One of those moments was this afternoon. We had a viewing to attend so we got the kids dressed and ready and were finishing getting ready ourselves when I walked into Millie's room to find them sitting quietly in her rocking chair with Levi reading to Millie. As a mother it was precious.

I love that my kids love to read. Speaking of reading Levi became the first student in his class to reach 25 AR points allowing him to receive a cow radio, making him very popular with the other students, and coming home to a super proud momma.

Last year we struggles to reach 15 points by the end of the year and already this year we have reached 25 before March!!!

AR stands for Accelerated Reader. The student bring home books and read them, when they are finished they take them back to school and take a computerized test answering questions about the book. Levi usually scores 100% occasionally he will miss one. Each book is worth .5 points so you do the math. It is quite the accomplishment for Levi!!!!!

One sick baby

This year we have been fortunate to have must viruses pass our house up, until now. I consider this a huge blessing seeing that she has been exposed to RSV, Croup, Whooping Cough, the flu, colds.....you name it we get it at CMO. Well this week Millie Bug got her first fever of the season, along with it came, a nice green nose, horrible cough, ear infection, and extreme fussiness. We are very thankful that she is getting better.
She was just too sick to hold her head up.

These pictures were taken at breakfast on day two of her sickness. Right after I got her out of the high chair, I rocked her for a little bit then asked her if she wanted to get down and play in her room. She climed down and walked straight to her bed and stood there. I layed her down and she fell asleep and slept for almost two hours until I had to wake her up to go to the doctor.

When we finally got to go back to school towards the end of the week, and everyone was happy to see us back. Especially the Japanses mom's. This is why I love working at CMO they miss you when you're gone and love you when you are there. It is a great place to work.

Baby......teensitting

Last Wednesday my neice Adrian came over to spend the night. She lives about an half an hour away. On Thursday morning I was to take her to North High School so that she could job shadow the music teacher. At 6:30 Thursday morning the teacher text Adrian saying that she was sick and would not be in, but she could still come and shadow her student teacher Mr. Potuck, yes Potuck.

Well this made Adrian a little nervous but bravely she went in (With her Aunt Leah and two little cousins leading the way to the office) Adrian's country high school has around 600 students, North has 2100. It was quite a shock for her. Well she made it to the music room and I went on my way to take Levi to school and go to work, leaving her instructions to call me if Mr. Potuck was some weird creepo guy. She called and asked if I could pick her up for lunch, I went and got her (My school is only a block from the high school). I asked her how her day was going and with no nervousness in her voice she replied that it was great. Mr. Potuck is young, has blond hair, nice jeans and a white and blue shirt, with really cool brown shoes, and is extreamly cute. To which I replied are you learning anything about being a music teacher? I don't know was her answer. : )

I must say teensitting is much more fun than babysitting.

That night Max, Chris, and Emily came over for dinner and to pick up Adrian and we had a great time sitting around the kitchen table talking for three hours. (we don't get to see the family as much since we moved to Columbus) I must say the girls are nuts. Here are a few pictures of the ever so popular Hunter Twins.

Adrian is curently single. (She created the magnificent hair doo in only two minutes)

This is Emily and Adrian's impersonation of turtles.

What a great time. The girls have already planned a summer party at my house for all the girl cousins. I wonder if this could have anything to do with the cement pond in the back yard???

Sunday School Petting Zoo

As most of you know I am the 4 and 5 year old's sunday school teacher at church. The best part about the job is decorating the classroom each quarter to coincide with the theme of the literature. Last time it was Bible Land (there is a blog about it) and this time it is a Stuffed Animal Petting Zoo. I just have to say that I love the Dollar Tree, I found so much good stuff there, like lady bugs for the picnic area, farm animal border for my bulletin board, stuffed bunnies that actually look like a bunny and not an Easter bunny, little chicks that actually walk and squeek, and much much more.

I have divided the room into three sections......

The Zookeepers Office, this is where the craft of the day takes place. In the office you will find, rules for the animals, bible memory verse chart, and supplies.

The Picnic Area, this is where our snack will be served. The picnic area is complete with trees, a pickett fence for attendance keeping, birds, and of course bugs.

And finally the Animal Display....what petting zoo would be complete without animals? We have horses, cats, dogs, ducks, bunnies, frogs, chicks, a handwashing station, bottles to feed the animals with, and of course food.

If any of you know anyone who is doing the Petting Zoo theme I would love to see pictures of their room.

Coooooookie

As many of you know Millie likes to eat (sweets that is). The other day I was playing the piano and she usually stays in the living room with me, but she walked out. I didn't think much of it, just figuring that she was just getting a book or toy and she would be right back. When she didn't come back and the house was a little too quiet I went investigating, and this is what I found.

Amelia had broke into the merry go round (or a lazy susan, as some of you call it) and pulled out the special valentine cookies dumping them on the floor. She was just having a little snack. Of course this all happened right after I had just cleaned and mopped the kitchen floor!

Take a look at Millie Bug's shoes. These are her new kicks. At school Millie has become a Croc thief. We have rented for the winter a bouncy castle, well all kids must take off their shoes to get in and jump. Well Miss Amelia sees this as her opportunity, she quietly sits down and takes off her shoes, then then looks around and if nobody is watching she will pick up a pair of fur lined crocs and put them on then run to the other side of the gym, leaving the owner of the shoes...shoeless. Well I am just not a big fan of fur lined crocs, but in order to not promote my daughter as thief I brokedown and bought her some.

So now everytime we get dressed no matter if it is for school, church, or bed Millie will bring me her pink crocs and say, "Deese." Oh it is wonderful. (I feel some of you laughing right now and I am just not thinking that it is very funny...especially when I love shoes and Millie has so much more cuter shoe options than crocs)

Sorry

Sorry that it has been so long, since my last update. I have taken pictures with good intentions, but something has come down everytime I thought about logging on.........mainly my eyelids. I had a little bug the past few weeks that just drained all the energy out of me and I wanted to sleep. I am better now so the following blogs are from the past couple of weeks at the Seniour House.

The Billy Bobs go to Target

Have you ever been at the store and there is this woman who looks like she has no business being a part of society, she doesn't smile, she can't stand up straight, she can barely keep her eyes open, and she has these kids that don't know how to behave in public. The little boy wants every toy he sees, and the little girl won't stop screaming at the top of her lungs because her brother won't give her the book he is looking at. When you see and hear these people you think to yourself, would that lady shut those kids up and smile for goodness sakes.

Well that was my family at Target the other night. I was so sick and tired that I needed to be at home in bed, but I had to get a gift at Target so I had to go and Scott was being nice to come along (he usually stays home with the kids). Levi was mad to begin with because he wanted to stay home and play his Wii, Millie only had a 45 min. nap so she was just a bundle of joy. We walk in and bless Target's heart they have this wonderful $1 section right at the front of the store that is filled with all kinds of goodies that kids want. Well Levi thinks that it is my obligation to buy him something because it is only a dollar so he is whining for a toy, Millie is trying to climb out of the cart and screaming / crying / fit throwing because she wants the book that Levi just climbed into the cart with. Scott is ducking his head with embaressment and I
look like death rolled over. People are staring at us and whispering to their friends, I am sure they are saying something like, "That is the pastor and his family of that one church." I just wanted to go home. So I got my gift and got out of there as soon as possible. We were walking to the car and Scott turns to me and says, "I am staying home from now on, we were like the Billy Bobs in there."

Sometimes folks, you just can't be perfect.
Leah

Pookie was here

If you know anything about me, you know that I am not the biggest fan of animals in my house. (Check out the post about our mouse). Well because we love our Aunt Toots so much and wanted her to come and see us we allowed Pookie to come too. Now Levi loved Pookie, he took him for his walks and played non stop with him. Millie on the other hand liked Pookie from a distance, but if he started to walk toward her she went running for the nearest parent.

Still Pookie left a lasting impression on my kiddos. Millie is still walking around the house calling for "Coo-Coo." and Levi came home from school and started crying because he missed pookie. The only thing that Pookie left me was a bunch of paw prints on my hardwood floor. But it was worth it to have Aunt Toots and mom here for an evening.

I think a trip up north might be in our future.

Hair bows

I got inspired the other day and decided to make Milllie bug some new hair bows. She has plenty, but I have been wanting to do a new doo on her and needed three mathching bows. What do you think? Pretty cute huh?

So now I am in the mood for bow making, If you happen to see any ribbon on sale for a really good price or you are at a garage sale and they have soom, buy it for me please.

Leah

Some big shoes to fill

Millie has a fascination with shoes, and if you ask my dad I am sure that he would say that she gets it naturally. The other night Millie, put on Matt's (our youth pastor) shoes and pranced around the kitchen. Then she threw them down the stairs, as she does every other pair of shoes that are left by the back door.

Guitar Lessons

Well Levi loves his guitar and loves going to guitar lessons, but he just does not love to practice. We have had some resistance to the whole idea of practicing. Levi did not want to practice at all and it was a fight to get him to. Finally on Tuesday, the day of his lesson, I was tired of fighting so I just told him that his teacher was going to be dissappointed in him. So Levi went to his lesson without alot of practice and I was thinking that we were going to do a repeat week. Well after lessons Levi come running into the house very excited and says, "Mom, Shawn says I did great this week, even without practice." To which I reply, "Wow, Levi just imagine what you could do if you practiced more." Without hesitation Levi says, "Ehh, I like being great."


So this week I have taken away the Wii. He is coming right along working on the G, C, and G7 Chords. Levi's problem is that he doesn't care about reading notes, he just wants to play music. I have been playing simple church songs with him and he is picking them up very quickly. He has an ear for music.

This is a little ditty known as indian drum that Levi has mastered. If you can't tell, Millie is helping me hold the camera.

Leah

PS we got Levi's hair cut the next morning after this video was taken. :)

Valentines Day Party

All week I have been announcing and making reference to the special party I was throwing for my three loves this weekend. I would not tell them what the surprises were going to be, and we have been counting down the days and finally the hours today. I banished everyone to the basement this evening while I prepared for our special evening.

I decorated the dining room with baloons, pink plates, a red tablecloth, heart napkins and special heart glasses (gotta love the dollar tree). When all was ready I called the family up and surprised them with a special heart shapped pizza and breadsticks, fancy drinks (as Levi called them) which were sprite with grenadine (cherry), and finally a DQ ice cream cake (Scott's favorite).

Having some fun with our fancy drinks. Cheers Dad!

No highchairs tonight!

Maybe we need that highchair after all!!

To top the night off I gave out gifts. For Levi - Madagascar 2 and some pez candy and dispensers. For Millie - a book and some pez candy and dispenser. And Scott just got a card and my love. Now the gift giving was not just one way, Levi made a heart card and wrote I love you Mom - XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX, Scott gave me a couple of cards (I guess he couldn't decide on one), and Millie - well she just allowed me to change her diaper a couple times today ! oh and Daddy also got her to say "Love you."

Has somebody been in the cake?!?!

Not me Mom.

After dinner, dessert, and baths we put Millie to bed and we watched Madagascar 2 and laughed alot. What a great evening - Love is in the air!

Happy Valentines to all

Leah

Valentines Day

This is just a friendly reminder to all of you out there that care to read my blog that Saturday is Valentines Day. Now for you guys, us girls we don't need a million dozen roses or fancy jewelry or any other expensive gift. (If you are willing to spend that much money then use it to pay a bill or pay down your mortgage...trust me your will be better of in the long run) (just throwing a shout out for Dave Ramsy, my financial advisor) :) Just do something out of the ordinary to let your loved ones know that you love them. We are having a special party at our house. You will have to stay tuned to find out what we are going to do.

Power Outage

So last night I started to update the blog and let all of you in on the happenings of our exciting lives this past week. I was in mid sentence on our Friday night at home posting when we lost power, due to the 40-50 mph winds. No internet, no computer, no nothing. So we had to go to bed. Well I actually played minesweeper for a while on my laptop until I got sleepy, and went to bed.

The power came back on sometime in the middle of the night waking us up with bright lights and a screaming television. We got up this morning got ready and went to work. I thought it was a little chilly in the house, but I just figured it was due to the colder air front that came in with the storm. But actually our furnace went out and didn't come back on when the power did. When Scott got home this evening he tried to light it, but it will not light. He has tripped the breaker or tripped the switch or something like that (it consisted of him pushing a hidden button) , but still will not light. So we turned the oven on, got the little electric heater blowing in the hallway to help the bedrooms stay warm, put on our socks and warm pj's, made levi a nest downstairs to sleep in (don't want him upstairs without heat) and are hoping it doesn't get too cold. Oh we also light the fireplace in the basement, which is keeping the house nice and toasty warm, but we can't let it go all night because it is making the wall hot above the fireplace. I just do not think that a hot wall, burning fire, and a sleeping family seem to make a good combination in my book.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some pictures and tell you about our special pizza and new hair bows.

trying to stay warm,
Leah

ps - I tried to capture my fireplace with my camera, but it just looked a little cheesy, so close your eyes and just imaging my a fire in my fireplace.

I know, I know

I am sorry for the delay in updates, but I have been really busy lately. I will try and put up some new posts tonight.

A little busy,
Leah

Bird Anatomy

Apparantly I do not know much about the bird species. In my post yesterday I stated that the RED cardinal looked like it was pregnant. I have received much feedback from this statement, because it is a MALE cardinal and not a female. So if this particular bird is pregnant, then "Houston we have a problem."

So what I meant to say was......I think he is checking out his competition and looking for a spring mate. Therefore he is strutting his stuff and showing what a big dude he is. :)

Still a beautiful picture.

Leah

Millie's usual reaction to the camera. Read previous post.

Animal Sounds

She also knows a horse, sheep, giraffe, monkey, and fish.

Millie Bug is talking up a storm these days. Usually when I turn the camera on she stops talking and sticks her thumb in her mouth, but today she actually went along with what I was trying to accomplish.

We have been working on animal sounds for a while, but it wasn't until we got the book "MOO, BA, LA LA LA" by Sandra Boynton that Millie started to pick them up. Nowadays all Millie wants to do is read. She will bring a book to you, push you to a chair or point to the floor and say, "down, down" tell you to sit down and read to her. Today while I was trying to get my pajamas on after getting out of the bath tub Millie came in with a book and said, "No, No, weed, weed!" pushing on my legs to ge me to sit down.

Leah

Happy Groundhogs Day

According to Punxsutawney Phil we will be having 6 more weeks of winter. Although this is what I saw from my kitchen window the other day. Spring can't be that far off. Right?

Levi and I looked at the Cardinal and discussed our state bird, and how she looks pregnant for about 10 min. until she flew away. Maybe she will come back.

Can you guess what Millie is singing?

Did you guess ABC's.

Lazarus Come Forth

Yesterday in Sunday School our lesson was about how mighty Jesus is. I illustrated with the story of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life. So to help the children understand I let them wrap up in toilet paper and come out of the tomb. They all enjoyed it....well all but Thomas. :)

Snowed in Cleaning

With school being closed for the fourth day in a row on Friday, I decided to do some deep cleaning. I took all of the furniture out of the living room to polish the floors and clean the baseboards. I guess Amelia decided to help me. She sat down right where I had just moped and then she started rolling around. I guess she wanted to dry it for me.

Hoping it will stay clean,

Leah