Fall in S.D.

For those of you that haven't seen this photo yet, here it is. I like how it turned out. Even a full moon in the background! Thanks, Andrew for making me look good! :)

These photos were all taken out at a nature preserve we sometimes walk around  in as a family. We were attempting to capture a nice photo for Jan & Alan's Christmas frame/Levi's 2nd birthday photo shoot/pregnancy pics. I love these couple of Andrew and Levi.

Carrying around these 43+ extra pounds is hard work! :)

Can you say "Seen mama do this one too many times this pregnancy?!" Hahaha. So much for "Potty training".

This is proof that we can have a nice fall day. Notice Levi is in shorts and a tshirt.

Levi sporting his almost too small cowboy vest from Mimi. He is attending his friend's 2nd birthday party and needed something that would pass for "Farm".

Levi's 1st horse back ride at friend's birthday. I had to get on with him (not an easy task) because he didn't want to ride alone.

Here is a photo of Andrew and I at this year's Spirit of Dakota dinner. I was wearing the same outfit 2 years ago to the same banquet but looked much different. :)

Each year I fill several boxes for the Operation Christmas Child donation. This year I had a little buddy cheerfully helping me fill our 3 boxes. Hint if your family does this: buy throughout the year when things are on clearance; i.e. after school is back in session school supplies are SUPER cheap. I did this as a child of about 10-12 and received a little package back from the girl that got my box. It was SO meaningful!

Levi and Andrew raking the leaves together.

Levi helped Andrew smash the leaves in the can by jumping on them.

Paint & Extra Sneak Peak Cranbaby Photos

Whenever I used to eat breakfast I'd sit at the table and look out (and up) our kitchen window.  Unfortunately that meant I was staring at peeling paint on our front soffits and fascia.  So, in late August I decided it was time to scrape, sand, prime and paint the soffits and cedar siding.  The paint on the siding out front wasn't too bad, but it was in rough shape in the back.  Of course, I found one soffit that wasn't worth painting and had to be replaced.  Believe it or not: a pastor and a pregnant lady were able to replace this soffit standing on parallel extension ladders.  (For the record: I do not recommend letting pastors work on your home. Or pregnant women for that matter.)

Scraped soffit.

Scraped and sanded siding.

Luckily for me our house had cedar siding, so I got to use oil-based primer.  I just love the smell of mineral spirits in the morning.  (And so does Alissa.)  At this point in the project the neighborhood consensus was that our house had leprosy or some other contagious disease of Leviticus 14.  Thankfully we didn't have to have the house torn down and the stones taken "outside the city to an unclean place."  But I digress.

The finished product!  (I know.  Same color.  Disappointing.  What can we say?  We like blue! However, if you look closely you'll notice the front door is now burgundy.)  The kids at church were a little bummed our house ended up the same color it started, but they'll get over it.  Our next-door neighbors were a true godsend; they helped me do the final step (painting) in one full day, which was wonderful, because it's too cold to do much exterior painting here now.

This is something much more interesting.  Baby 2.0.  (Alissa got another ultrasound no charge because the hospital forgot to measure something they were supposed to.)  In the above picture you can see the baby yawning.  Nostrils on left.  Chin on right.  Open mouth in the middle.

Another excellent example of the Millage toes.  Thanks, Mom!

Profile.

We thank God for this little one and can't wait to meet him in January / February!

 

 

The big 2 years!

Here is the cake I made for Levi's 2nd birthday. He picked this "tye dye" cake over Elmo and all other "character" cakes. The inside pretty much fell apart and was plastered together with lots of frosting but the outside turned out better than expected.

I printed off a free banner from this blog, and hung a few balloons with marbles upside down from our dining room lights. Levi is really in to balloons right now so I wanted to make sure and have plenty.

 10 adults and 16 kids attended (including ourselves). It was quite boisterous and fun.

Levi is enjoying his "Happy Birthday" song rendition.

Levi doesn't quite get blowing out candles so his friend Vera, and I , helped.

Here is Levi's room after a stray toddler disappeared in to it. I found him jumping on the pile of books. 

Here are the PJs that my mom's neighbor sent for Levi's birthday. They fit perfectly and he loves them!

"My 1st Tato-head."

On his actual birthday, we took Levi to the lake for a family day that was being put on. It turned out to be super cold. It was in the 20's over night and was only in the high 30's by this time. Stringing beads on pipe cleaner was a hit with Levi. He was really concentrating.

Levi played his 1st round of golf with daddy.

I know, I know, sweatshirts, winter hats, and ICECREAM?!? It was one of the last times to get S.D. ice cream for the year and we were celebrating Levi's birthday after all; what's a birthday without ice cream ;)

Daddy's ice cream looked better to him. We ate indoors to stay warm enough.

 

 

I love this photo of my guys. Levi loves the lake so regardless of temp, he wanted to go down and look at it. 

Here are the photos of Levi opening his present from Grandma & Grandpa Balsley. We talked with Grandma on the phone while he opened it.

 

Thank you, Grandma & Grandpa!!!!

 

This punch balloon was an instant classic hit from our neighbor next door, "Mimi Hunt". 

We Are Having A ...... !!!

 Levi helped me make some "Gender Reveal" cake pops. He was quite attentive and obedient in the kitchen. (Dare I say "helpful"? :) He dumped the dry ingredients. 

 Mixed up the blue and pink cake batter:

 He even put on the oven mitt when I wasn't looking. It made me laugh out loud and grab the camera because he pretty much had it on right.

 I will be going to see some friends later and wanted a cute way to announce it. (as we didn't know ahead of time with Levi) Here Levi is eating a cake pop as a reward for helping mama.

Can you tell my gender from this picture?!? As soon as the ultrasound tech put the wand on mama's tummy she announced "well, I can tell you what your having!" She actually did not know she had accidentally captured the gender in this photo until she handed it to us. Hope the photo doesn't offend anyone!

Here is a great shot of my spine! Oh and my head size is 2 weeks ahead of schedule! I guess mama is cringing and Big Brother Levi is rejoicing to have another big headed child in the family!

Here I am sucking my thumb!

So yes, future family, if you didn't gather it from the above photo, I am a ..... BOY !!!!

State Fair 2012

We went to the State Fair (held in our town) again this year. This was Levi's 2nd year and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I spent most of the morning/early afternoon browsing the fair and talking/strolling with a friend and our children. Andrew then joined us in the evening for more fun. Above, Levi is watching his 1st ever jousting tournament. Bad idea? Possibly! How do you explain to a toddler that just because "big men" hit each other with "sticks" does NOT make it okay for little boys to hit, poke and otherwise jab others (especially with sticks!)

We quickly moved on to gawking at the large elephants.

Here Levi and his friend David are watching the elephants. I thought it turned out well so I used sepia tone to enhance it. It reminds me of "days gone by".

Being allowed to touch all the big machines was every little boys fantasy.

Levi enjoyed two whole buildings dedicated to toddlers being allowed to poke (gently :) ), prod, feed, and otherwise generally harass all sorts of cool animals.

Here he is attempting to touch a piglet gone wild. It was running maniacally around the pen.

The biggest highlight for Levi and us was the corn box. Similar to a sandbox but somehow cleaner. He did not want to leave this box and enthusiastically allowed Andrew to bury him and then would roll around with pure toddler joy.

I just love his voluntary smile here as well as Andrew's wonderful smile in the following photo.

There was a tiny mini golf area where we attempted to introduce Levi to the sport. He loved dropping the ball in to the hole.

When I needed a rest, a stall worker very enthusiastically invited all of us to try out her vibrating back massage pillows. Levi was too light to work it on his back so he got to sit on it.

We have found the cheapest fair drink is the dairy stall where you can get unlimited chocolate/white milk all day for $2 a person. I am a big milk drinker so I am thrilled. (But not THAT big, that is not a milk belly :) ) Yes baby #2 is enjoying taking up TONS of space already :) (I was only like 17 1/2 weeks here)

Andrew and Levi enjoying a break from walking at the end of the day. My two favorite men!

Right before leaving the ride lights started turning on and Levi was thoroughly impressed. Next year little man!

Well that was our fair in review. There are tons more things to do but I just listed the toddler friendly activities we enjoyed. We welcome anyone to come some year to enjoy the fair with us! It is very inexpensive and lots of fun! (Plus the housing would be free :) ) It is almost always the first week in September or there about.