School Days!

Again, I know I am behind on this whole blog thing, but here it is anyway.

School has started!!! Yay, we are back in a routine....kind of. With bed rest and blood clots and a church remodel we are at some sense of normalcy around our household. The first day of school is always exciting for us! We love school, even Levi!

Millie is a big girl this year and is in her last year at CMO. She has made it to the Red Room with Miss Holli! Four years ago we started in the nursery and have worked our way up the hallway to the red room.

Here she is in front of her cubby.

CMO would not be CMO without her best friend Luka....yes they are the same age, he is just a little feller.

Here are Millie and Luka two years ago in the Orange Room on Pajama Day. They have always loved each other.

Levi started 4th grade yes that is FOURTH grade this year. He is super excited that his classroom is on the second floor of the school and he is one of the bigger kids.

Even though Levi started a day before Millie, my boss at CMO allowed Millie to come to CMO for Teacher work day because I was on bed rest. This is why I love my job and co-workers. They are seriously like family to us. We love CMO!!

She was super excited when the school bus came down the road!

I know, I have cute kids.

Have you ever seen a more handsome boy? He is growing up in many ways, he is now a pre-teen. He is leaving the toy era behind and is getting into sports, video games, and music. Where did my baby go?

Family Vacation

If you know my family even a little bit you know that we live life on the go. We are always busy and always have somewhere to go and something to do or get done. This summer has been especially busy with three weeks of camp, and a complete church remodel, then add the unexpected pregnancy, a company buy out at Scott's job, and numerous other issues, we were ready for a vacation!! With a blessing from our wonderful church and a week of paid time off we packed our bags, jumped in the car, and headed for Emily, Minnesota. A week of relaxation, no schedule, and fishing was what we needed!

To cut the driving time, for my pregnant self and the kiddos, we stopped in the Dells in Wisconsin for a few days. It is a small town with a population of 500 or less, but is a huge tourist attraction with lots of shows, activities, and swimming. Our first night there we found a nice hotel with a water park and rented a room. The kiddos swam for a little bit then it was off to the Moosejaw for dinner.

The Moosejaw is a pizza company with a laid back atmosphere with an arcade and fun hats to wear. The kiddos loved it.

I think we rock the hats!!

We also ate a Paul Bunyon's Cook Shanty. Which I think everyone needs to try at least once. :) It is a family style restaurant where they bring you platters of food and you dish it out yourself. We all enjoyed it, but Millie who didn't want to share what was placed in front of her. She thought it was only for her. Putt Putt was also a delightful evening. After a full day at the water park and a yummy dinner we headed out for a night of mini golf. It was wonderful evening full of laughs and good times!

Daddy tried to teach Millie the rules of the game, but she quickly got tired of trying to hit the ball into the hole. She prefered her method of hitting the ball from the tee and then picking up the ball and placing it in the hole. Worked everytime. Levi on the other hand took putt-putt quite seriously! At each hole he had to measure and study the "course." I don't think it worked though because he always had to hit the ball about 6 times before he made it to the hole.

After two days in the Dells we hopped back in the car and headed north to Ruth Lake. To me this was the best part of our vacation. We rented a cabin with Scotts parents and Millie and Levi could just run and play and have freedom and the beautiful outdoors. They spent their days fishing from the docks, swimming in the lake, going out on the paddle boat, kayaking, tubbing, and trying to croppie fish.

Levi proved to be quite the fisherman. He loved it and I loved it because he was so calm. There were times when he would spend hours fishing by himself. He caught quite a few nice size bass. Millie liked the idea of fishing, but wasn't quite patient enough for it. She would get super excited when someone caught a big one and wanted to touch it she also like to throw them back into the lake if they weren't "flobbers" as she called them. But they all proved to be "flobbers" and would flip and flop when she tried to pick them up.

This is how I spent most of my days...I sat in a chair with my feet propped up. My left leg had really been hurting and it felt better with my feel up (we later learned it was due to a blood clot), but I thought it was super cute when Millie pulled the mini chair and stool up next to me with her baby doll and told the baby they were going sit with Grandma for a while.

On Saturday we left the resort and headed home. Being in Minnesota we had to make a stop of the Mall of America. We let the kiddos play at the Lego store and ride some rides in the amusement park in the center of the mall. If my leg didn't hurt so bad and walking was not so much fun I could have done some serious shopping. But when the body tells you no you learn to obey.

This was Millie's first roller coaster ride. She was super brave while on the ride, but as soon as she got off she ran to Scott and broke into tears. She is like her Momma and does not dig rides.

It was a wonderful and relaxing vacation!

But now that we are back the remodel of the sanctuary must begin. So while I am at home on bed rest Scott is spending his days at work and his evenings at the church trying to get it all finished by Sunday.

Millie Turns 4, Levi turns 10!!!

As always our summers are time for birthdays. Both Levi and Millie are July birthdays. With camp season to work around it is always hard to plan a big birthday party. The kiddos don't seem to mind as long as there are presents and cake. Which I always supply.

Millie turned 4 this year....yes that is right 4!!! We had a small celebration on a Thursday morning at Chuck E Cheese with a few of her friends.

As I look at this picture I realized that most of Millie's friends are boys. Here she is with Rickey, Luka, and Jack. The one boy who is missing is Deacon (he couldn't make it to the party). I have asked her before about the girls in her classes and she just tells me they are mean.

Millie now loves Chucke. There was a time when she was terrified of him.

Here is Millie and her friend Brennen playing a game together. I love the looks on their faces...so happy.

And what party would be complete without cupcakes and presents.

It is hard for me to believe that my Millie Bug is not a baby anymore, but a sweet little girl. When the party was winding down, and her friends were leaving, she came up to me and gave me a hug and said, "Thank you for my nice party Momma." It almost brought tears to my eyes. She is a very thankful and affectionate little girl.

For Levi's birthday it was low key. I was going to have some friends over to the house to celebrate with him, but when we got home from camp a few days before his birthday, we had a leak and an issue of mold to deal with, so we did what Levi wanted to do. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and celebrated with Mamaw and Papaw. Of course I forgot my camera, but I did get one picture on my cell phone.

Levi is turning into quite the gentelman and is quick to open the door and pull out chairs for all the ladies. He is also very cute and good looking. I know I am a little prejudice, but I speak only the truth. :) Everywhere we go people are always commenting on his good looks. Now this is not to say that he is not a booger, because he is still all boy, and has a hard time following the rules. Even still he is my booger and has great things in store for him!

Wow, it has been quite some time since I have updated! Lets see what is new in our world that I should let you know about? Oh yes, we are going to be having a BABY!!! Yes that is right, the same person who declared a year ago that she was absolutely finished in the baby making department has had a surprise! Before you ask or say anything let me reassure you that we do know what condoms are, we do know what causes this, and we do know how to prevent such things. The rest is up to you to figure out. These are just the most common questions I get when people find out that we are expecting.

We have recently had our 20 week ultrasound and the doctor (not 100% sure) has declared my bump to be containing a baby girl. You can have a look for yourself, maybe you can see something that the doctor didn't.

Millie is very happy about a baby sister, Levi on the other hand had a breakdown in the ultrasound room because he wanted a baby brother to teach sports to. He is coming around to the idea of a baby sister. Last night while laying in bed with Scott and I after Millie had gone to bed he laid on my belly and sang and talked to his sister. Which made me cry...as do most things these days.

Therefore around October 15, 2011 Little Sophia Josephine Seniour will join our family and be loved with all the love we have!

Dress Up

I was fixing dinner the other night in the kitchen when I heard Millie stomping up the stairs. She finally made her way up and said, "I'm the mommy." I turned around and saw this...

Hey Wevi, Lets Play in the Snow!!

With all of the snow lately this has been Millie's favorite saying! It also helps that our school coorporation is canceling happy, so there is plenty of time to play. Thank goodness the snowsuit from last year still fit, because I never got around to buying a bigger one this year.


Millie's favorite snow activity is making snow angels!

Levi loves to have snowball fights....and it is always a great time when dad comes out to fight with him.

Of course when it snows it means that we must shovel the driveway. Both Millie and Levi love to help and of course we always let them! Not only do we do ours, but we always try to help out our single neighbor, Miss Anna. Here Scott and Millie are shoveling Miss Anna's drive.

After an hour or two of playing my little snow bunnies come in for some hot cocoa!

Remember Grandma's Dishes?

Well they are now at my house! Earlier this year I decided that my kitchen needed a new touch. I went with a yellow and blue theme. I remembered Grandma's old dishes and knew that they were in mom and dad's attic. So in June I asked Grandma McCoy if I could have them. She said yes, but I would have to wait until my birthday....October 1st! So finally over halloween weekend mom finally got them down from the attic for me and we brought them home. They sat in my garage for a couple of weeks until I had time today to unpack and wash them. There were a whole lot more than I remembered. Now they have a few cracks and chips, but I imagine that I made a few of them...you probably did too if you were in the McCoy/Smith family and ate at Grandma and Grandpa McCoys farm.

This is my favorite scene.....Four little children playing on the gate.

If you will notice there are about 30 small pie plates or saucers. I can have most of my family over for pie, but it will be a small piece because I only have one pie pan.

I feel that I now have a piece of my family history in my kitchen....See these plates were not only Grandma McCoys, but they were first my Grandma Joe's! Grandma Joe gave them to Mom and Dad when they were newlyweds and them later on Mom gave them to Grandma McCoy who grew the collection. But if you ask Grandma McCoy where she got them...she will tell you a story about how she found them at a flea market. They were in a corner in an old box wrapped up in dirty newspaper. She asked the owner how much he wanted for them and he said.."Aw, 2 dollars?" and Grandma quickly replied "Sold buddy!"

So whatever the story they are now a part of my little family story. Hopefully one day we can have a large family dinner and pull them out and enjoy eating and uncovering the Currier and Ives scene.