Christmas snow

We had our 3rd snowfall of the season today. It snowed a few inches, but it was all melted off the roads by 10:00am. I was SO glad we can both park in the garage. There was a little spot coming out of our street to the main road where I waited to pull out in some slush, but when I tried to accelerate, I just spun. I had to reverse and hit a different spot and try again. Once it all melted off the road and the sun came out, it was beautiful. Snow and 37 degrees... I think that's the same temp as Texas right now! Joe and I are known for messing with weather patterns... we bring warmth wherever we go. And when we leave... look out! Whatever natural disaster is common to that area has come in our place on several occasions after our departure. So I'm thinking there should be a blizzard here around the 23 of Dec!
My job is going great, and I'm finally busy enough to make the day go by quickly. I have a lot of variety in my tasks each day, locations I go to, kids I see... it's nice!
We had a lovely Thanksgiving break that started early for me with a snow day. We got A TON, and Joe had to use the snowblower. I can't remember if I posted about it, but we went sledding in the backyard, visited with the snowmobilers in the backyard passing through the trails in the woods, built a snow cave, made a snowman, made snow angels, and had intermittent snowball fights. Levi is doing great with his daycare location. We are looking at switching Caleb to a different pre-k. Caleb has started earning an allowance by completing a set of chores each day. It is going well, and I am appreciating the help around the house. Monday, he helped me vacuum and mop the entire kitchen, and Tues he cleaned his toilet.
Joe has a presentation and 1 final left. He told me that on his other 2 presentations, he felt very at ease and received lots of compliments on how "easy" he made presenting look. I was very proud, of course. I asked to see them, but he graciously declined ;) .
Guess that's about it for now. Just getting ready for some relaxing fun with family and friends!

Blessings...

I'm so blessed to have a job where I get to drive around a little nearly every day. At least I think so right now... when snow and cold hit, maybe not so much. Well, I"ll probably still want to get out as long as it's not blowing snow. The last couple days it has been 65Degrees and sunny. SOOooo nice. And even better, everything seems to be falling into place with the sale of our house. I'm a little sad to let it go. It's hard to leave a place with wonderful memories. Brother's keepers groups, Thomas the Train and Cars birthday parties, fellowship with friends, creating Levi's nursery and bringing that baby home to the only home he ever had. And it is hard cutting that final tie with Texas. While we had the house, it kinda felt like we still lived there, a little bit. But of course I know it's way better to be mortgage-free and not have to deal with renting it. I just feel so blessed that God has seen fit to help us sell it quickly and for a good price. And we even get to keep the mineral rights, which was a major blessing for us.
Joe once told me, when I was getting just a little worried about not having a home to rent yet, that he wasn't worried. I said, "Why not?" He said, "Have you ever seen the Blues Brothers?" "What?" He proceeded to explain that even though everything was going wrong, the Blues Brothers themselves could do no wrong, because they were on a mission from God. I must have still had a blank look on my face, because he said he felt like even though it was crazy for us to move to Maine, sell a house, get a new job (which usually is easy in my field, but n Bangor, was pretty difficult since there is a graduate program down the road), find affordable childcare, find a new house, and be able to afford all of it. And guess what, every single thing on that list (as soon as the house closes) will have been taken care of... in less than 3 months. All this is ever more unbelievable to me when I think about all the things we tried to make work and doors kept closing. I used to wonder how we were ever supposed to know when we found the path God wanted us on. Oh, me of little faith. I guess now I know. He makes it pretty clear. Things that seemed so "easy" were so hard when those doors slammed, and things that seemed impossible just worked out like it was nothing. That's God for you.
We also had wonderful blessings in our family this year... a new nephew, baby Zane, and my sister got engaged! So I will finally be able to say Uncle Jonathan. I've been trying to say that every time I referred to him since May when they joined us in Texas. It was way easier than saying, "Beth's friend Jonathan"...
The greatest blessing has been a church to worship with, classes for the boys to go to, and new friends to be a second family. It was so hard to leave our previous congregation and our wonderful friends there. But it is wonderful to be an encouragement to the church here, and to really feel the need to get out an evangelize a city. I'm pretty sure the church in Bangor is one of only 17 churches of Christ in the state. One of my members mentioned she thinks there might be one other church that has a young family with children in it. So, I guess that is our mission, to increase the church, particularly in the area of young families. Our first attempt was going around the neighborhood with the boys in the wagon, delivering flyers for our upcoming lectureship. People looked at us like we had three heads, but that was ok. I think they're not used to doorknockers around here! One of the little boys we met said he already went to church. He said, "We're Saints." I was thinking, "We are too, but not that kind (Go New Orleans)!". He was a very helpful guide and even volunteered to walk some flyers up to the doors and knock for me. Ha! Bet his mom would have loved that! I declined, since I figured it would be good for the kid to know which church this was at. Of course, it would have also been good to know where it's located, but since I use a GPS for everything and never drive to church (Joe does), I was stumped on that question at least 2x. I just made those lame excuses and said, "The address is on there." Doesn't everyone use Mapquest these days?? At least some did appreciate the gesture. Oh, and I found out this cool fact... the Ultimate Fighting Champion of the World lives at the end of my street. (Joe said he must not be in the heavyweight division since they are fighting this weekend and he was home. I saw him, and I agree... he looked like a middleweight to me). And a police officer and a sheriff live on the street, too. So I think we are pretty well guarded. Gotta run. The CMA awards are over now and I need to head to bed.

Acadia National Park

So, those of you who know us well, know that every year we go with our church on a camping trip this weekend. We were feeling sad about that, but actually camping was out of the question. In Maine, in November. But we packed up and headed out to Acadia National Park on the east coast of Maine.
Here we are on top of Cadillac Mountain. It's about 30 degrees. Took this with a tripod. all people looking remotely in the right direction. Including the 18 month old. Yeah, I'm good.
Climbing. The shot is a little off-kilter, but I had to snap fast to get all 3 in the same frame.
Town of Bay Harbor, ME right beneath him. Locals pronounce it "Baa Haabaa". (I feel like saying, "Can I pak my ca dan at Ba Haba?", but I don't think they would get it.)

View from the road. Ahh...
Love those leaves.
The cold is quite exhausting.
Levi and Caleb's 1st visit to the ocean. Cold water beaches aren't quite as fun as warm, but the boys don't seem to mind. They had a blast running from the waves. Mostly with success.
This one a couple took for us. She was from Toronto and he was from Amsterdam. We traded shots for each other and I think I got the better end of that deal.
Only shot Caleb willingly took with me all day. It was his idea to climb down these particular rocks, and since I agreed, he was feeling generous I guess.

This made me a little nervous, but Daddy seemed quite comfortable climbing over rocks with one kid on his back and one holding his hand.

Family fun night

Levi has decided that the only way to get a back is to lay down in the water. Maybe it's because it's so chilly up here that he wants as much of the water covering him as possible. At any rate, he will let the water get almost to his eyes and nose. Then he will sit up and stick his whole face, face down, in the water. Sometimes he holds his breath, sometimes he blows out bubbles. He hasn't choked on it yet, but it scares me to death. At the same time I can't stop laughing because it's so funny. Then he starts laughing and still trying it and I'm just sure he's going to take in water, but somehow he doesn't. Mind you, I spend the entire time trying to keep him upright!
The mean look on Joe's face is his attempt to be "shocked" by Caleb's schooling him at Candyland.We have spent the last 3 nights playing a game before bed. Usually Candyland, but last night we experimented with Chutes and Ladders. Caleb is learning a)how to lose b) how to win gracefully c) how to move backwards (i.e. do things you don't want to do because it's the right thing to do). Levi even helped hand out the cards to everyone. That worked better than letting him move a person, since all the people kept flying across the room.

One of the games Caleb won. After losing twice. Love Candyland.. it's easy to "help" things work out for the best. Not sure Joe agrees, as he was "stuck in the muck" for about 4 turns while Caleb jumped ahead of him. Hmmm...

Halloween night!

Usually, I attempt to coordinate my costumed kiddos, but this year, I settled for just getting Caleb something he would wear without clothes on over it! He was so pumped about his Iron Man costume. I think it was the muscles. No, I KNOW it was the muscles. I considered having him hold Levi in a bench press position as if showing he could lift "a ton", but considered I might have a screaming toddler on my hands and thought better of it.

Caleb's version of showing his muscles. Sheesh, you'd think he never saw his dad flexing in front of the mirror. Oh, did I type that out loud?
Yes, that is snow on the ground. Luckily, I was able to convince Caleb that he needed to wear some sort of pants under his polyester costume. Trick or treating was a little crazy this year. Not many lights on per street, and when the doors are a ways apart and you have a toddler, you get creative. Eventually, I figured out the best plan was to put Levi in the stroller, jog between houses with Caleb riding in the car behind us. This kept me warm, Levi from screaming every time we got in and out of carseats, and Caleb from complaining that it was freezing (which it was). And we covered ground a lot faster. Wish I'd figured this out before about 8:00pm. Oh well!
Levi checking out the ultra cool cat pumpkin.
Levi caught on quickly, saying, "Dee dee deeeee" at every house. Caleb, on the other hand, forgot he was supposed to say anything and just stood there holding his pumpkin out half of the time.
Levi wanted to take out all his candy, one piece at a time. Caleb emptied his and put it back in about 4 times during this process.
It took so long because Levi "tasted" every piece he took out. I think he had an idea we might try and sneak some, so he was "claiming" it. It worked.
Me checking out the booty. And trying out some negotiating skills.
There is NOTHING like Halloween!
Share? Not a chance, Mom.
Levi's ADORABLE costume courtesy of my good friend, Angela Redman and her mother, Alice Bennett, who created it for Noah Redman. Everyone said he was the cutest thing they'd seen all night. I was pretty proud that he wore the hood all night and trumpeted whenever I asked him what the elephant said. It's especially fitting since at birth he had fairly large ears for a newborn. I jokingly called him "Dumbo" once, as a term of endearment, and although he has grown into them, I still thought this was a sweet reminder of those days.

first SNOW (in Maine)

Ready for the snow! Finally, something besides shorts and a t-shirt!

Woke up last Sunday morning to about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. Huge flakes. Levi bellylaughed when he saw it. It was SO cute. They wanted to go out in it right away, but we had to get ready for church, and it wasn't going anywhere, so we postponed. Caleb and I went out first, had a real snowball fight and got thoroughly cold. After warming up with some homemade hot chocolate, Levi woke up, so we all went out again to let Levi have the experience. Levi just laughed as he fell in it, but he picked up pretty quickly what he was supposed to do. He tried making snowballs, but with mittens, it was pretty hard for him. So I made him the balls and helped him throw them at Caleb. We are going to have a fun winter!!! Can't wait to go sledding, skating, snow tubing, and snowmobiling!! Visitors welcome!!

Fall Happenings

Caleb's birthday breakfast, at his new favorite place, Dunkin' donuts. It was SO hard to take him there. Ok, fine. It's my new favorite place, too!
At the pumpkin patch/apple orchard/corn maze, petting zoo, hayride. Hey, around here, things are pretty multifunctional. No, the picture isn't great. I settle for having them in the same frame most of the time. Smiles and eyes open are just bonus.
Levi loved feeding the goats.
Caleb was also a fan!
Bonus pic... smiles, eyes open, and all heads looking this way! And the tractor one, well 4/5 isn't too bad! Levi was pretty irritated that he had to get off the little red wagon I was manually pulling to ride on the ultra cool tractor. Toddlers!!!
I know this one is blurry, but he goes so stinkin' fast, this one looked clear compared to all the others. I tried to take it with them coming down the little hill in the backyard, but it's a lost cause!
Levi posing for his Fall photoshoot. Do you like Fall, Levi??

cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox