A Chilly Adventure.. and Big News!

We got mom off to Chicago and somehow we survived the week. The boys did fabulous at daycare and preschool. Friday Caleb told us they were having a Halloween party and he needed to wear his costume to school. Since he usually detests costumes of any kind, I believed him, despite that the director told me explicitly that they only celebrate cultural differences (no American holidays, go figure). Joe showed up with him as the only costumed kiddo!! Luckily he had brought a change of clothes, which was important since Caleb had asked not to wear any clothes under his costume!
We thought there was a chance of snow, but since it didn't arrive, Joe found a fort in Bucksport, ME for us to visit. We stopped a cute little Grill on the river and then headed over the bridge to Fort Knox. Not the one that holds all the gold.. the "original" Fort Knox, which holds only grass and bricks. Caleb kept thinking it was a treehouse fort since that is what Granna calls her "fort" in the backyard. He was staring right at it and saying he couldn't see a fort anywhere. We decided to go up to the observatory which is the tallest one in America that is on a bridge, or something like that. I do remember that the elevator to take us to the top went 400 ft in 50 seconds, or something like that. My boys are definitely NOT afraid of heights. They were leaning on the class looking down at the bridge and down the handicapped accessible shaft that was glassed in. Good to know, I think. Of course everyone there thought we were the meanest, craziest, or least observant parents in the world since Caleb was wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts in 40 degree weather with a chance of snow. I have been fighting the clothing battle all week, and I decided on Friday I wasn't doing it anymore. So I brought a pair of jeans and a coat to leave in the car. He finally gave in after about an hour, for the coat at least! We didn't have any flashlights so the fort was a little creepy. The had decorated for Fright Night, so there were rooms with cobwebs, huge spiders, creepy clowns and baby dolls, a crazy doctor, cemetery, etc. It wasn't too bad in the daylight, but you couldn't pay me to go there in the dark. It was broad daylight and there were several areas that were pitch black.
Now for the great news... we got back to the car and I had a message from the realtor. We closed a deal on selling our house! It ended up being a pretty great deal for us, and we get to keep our mineral rights!! Hopefully it will all be done Nov 30.

Birthday Boy

Saturday we celebrated Caleb's 5th birthday. I can't believe it's been 5 year since that day when I unexpectedly became a mom. You were supposed to wait another 6 weeks! Well, we Toyes are not known for our patience, are we? I was definitely not prepared, but we have learned along the way. Caleb wanted to eat at Dunkin' Donuts, so we did that and afterward went to a pumpkin patch. We did a corn maze and picked apples from an orchard off the trees. Then we rode on a tractor and pulled the boys in a little wagon. They each picked out a pumpkin. There were some animals, and they got to feed the ducks. It did start raining a cold rain, so we headed back home. After a long nap, we ate at Dairy Queen (Caleb's pick) and then went to Target to spend some of his birthday money. He got another Hot wheels track, which I wasn't thrilled about since he has so many tracks already, but it's his birthday. He agreed to get rid of one he already had... we'll see if that actually happens.

From cj bday and ft knox

We have been really spoiled having mom here. Helps us get a lot more done in a day than we normally would. Not to mention the eatin' is good. It will be back to reality on Wed, when she leaves. We are all fighting little colds. Guess it's about time for the flu shot, too.
Today after work we drove down to the river and pulled the boys in the wagon along the trail by the river. There is a lot of color and it's very serene. The river has some rapids which the boys love to watch.
Last day with Mom/Granna tomorrow... the boys will have a hard time. She has been around them now for about a month most of the time... We will be really sad to see her go. Love you, Mom... Kelly

From Drop Box

A Great day

I was able to work out daycare for both of the boys today. I am going to have Levi go to a lady's house very close to the Head Start where Caleb will be. Eventually I'd like them both to be there, but there is a waiting list for Levi. Then today I went to double check on eligibility for a Maine healthcare program, and the boys qualify!! I completed a full day of work but it wasn't stressful at all, which is so nice. I have a long drive from work to a site where I do therapy. It takes about 45 minutes. It's on the highway, so it's easy driving but still very beautiful. And as an added bonus I drive it at a great time to call friends and catch up! Also today, Joe found out that the GI Bill is going to cover his entire school tuition. We thought there would be some we had to pay due to the cost being higher than the state schools in Maine, but it wasn't near as high as some state school tuition, so I guess that is why they covered it all. The house is slowly coming together and I emptied a couple more boxes tonight. I was so tired I fell asleep from about 8-10 tonight, so I have got to get to bed earlier tonight. Too many late nights and early mornings catching up to me. Joe had a couple of midterms today.

Catching up

Back to the world of blogging. I promised my friends that since I now live on the other United States border, I would be better about updating. That's right. The Toyes are now Mainers. Or Mainans. Whatever, we live in Maine now.
The 2nd week of August Joe found out that he was accepted to the University of Husson, in Bangor, Maine for the Occupational Therapy masters program. It was such a relief and yet life became chaotic in an instant. Since that time, we got our house in "selling" condition (which was harder than it sounds for a perfectionist like myself), put it on the market, I found a job and got a Maine license to practice, organized a move and packed ourselves off to the North. (Side note: Our new street is appropriately named "Yankee Ave"!).
Those last 6 weeks were crazy, as I relied mainly on my mom and sister to watch our boys while I worked, with the occasional help of some good friends. We are so grateful for friends and family who are willing to help out even when it's inconvenient for them. We crammed in as much as we could: about 3 last minute trips to 6 Flags on the season passes, lunches with friends, Caleb's impromptu early birthday party, a going away party, and sleepovers. It was difficult and tearful for all of us.
My sister got engaged the night we packed everything up, so we definitely had our excitement for the day. (Also forgot to mention I had a new nephew just a little before all this... Zane Scott Simmons was born!!)
Joe drove 2 trucks (that's right... we have WAY too much stuff) with my Dad all the way, while the boys and I flew with my mom. It was such a relief to have her help. The boys both did great on their first flight. 2nd flight was past naptime. Levi finally fell asleep but got woken up and started screaming a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream. Nothing would stop him (rocking, food, drink, sucker) and the stewardess was taking up the whole aisle with the beverage cart. After about 2 minutes I chased her all the way down the aisle so I could get away from all the daggers being thrown my way. Did I say we were on a plane to New York... not a lot of babies or people overly tolerant of noisy children. Although one man came up to me and said I was doing a wonderful job and of course I started crying. Great. Add runny maskara to my frazzled look. I managed to keep him relatively quiet until the descent. They wouldn't let me stand at the back, so Levi again got to scream his head off for the entire landing routine. It was not what I would call my most enjoyable moments of the day. I was seriously thinking it would be better to ride alone for 4 days with this than 10 minutes on an airplane. Then the real fun began. We were already prepared for a 3 hour layover. Time came, plane was there. No crew. So we waited. For almost 3 hours. Not quite 3 hours, because then Delta has to issue you vouchers for a free flight. 22 minutes shy of 3 hours delayed, we finally took off. We arrived at DFW at 8:45 Thursday morning, and we arrived in Bangor, ME at 1:00 am Friday morning. It was a pretty long day. The thing that worried me most was a guy on th plane said that when flights came in this late to Bangor, if the ground crew had gone home they would have to turn around. I'm still not sure if that was a joke or not!
Friday we unpacked some and did a little tour. Our little house is very cute and we back to some woods with walking trails that the boys love to drive the powerwheels around. The house living space is tight, but we are nice and cozy here. Sunday morning we went to church with about 30 other people. The boys were in the same class with one other little boy. They did well, but they will really miss their teachers and Ms. Charlene's curriculum. Went back Sunday night with about15 people and had a song service. Levi was leading from his seat. I asked Caleb what he wanted to sing and he said, "The Lord's Army". Maybe next time he can lead it! I started my new job today. There are about 20 ladies up there and a couple guys. Lots of new process, paperwork, and procedures to learn, but it will be good. Seems to be pretty relaxed.
Caleb and Levi seem to be adjusting well. Levi has entered the tantrum throwing phase/screaming at everything phase. So we are enjoying our little baby pteradactyl.
Guess I'll sign off for now. I'll post pics soon so you can compare the house before/after the snow starts. When we were looking at houses on the internet, Caleb kept telling me he didn't want to live in some because they had too much snow!

From cj bday and ft knox

From cj bday and ft knox

Camping trip (i.e. Caleb's most loved activity in the world)

We just back from another super-fun, and very tiring, camping trip with our family at NYA church of Christ. We went to Tyler State Park, in Tyler, TX. Although we intended to leave in the morning, we didn't make it out of DFW until about 12:30/1, so we arrived late afternoon. After about 30 min in the car Caleb announced that he was "done" (by this he means, "I'm done with riding in this carseat"). Uh oh. Neither he nor Levi slept a wink in the car. We were the only ones who stayed in a tent, 3 nights. You got it, we are good at roughing it when we have to. Though I did nearly have a meltdown when the raccons started a coon fight over the leftover food on the ground about 10 feet from the tent. And I was also not a fan of the daddy-long-legs crawling on me in the night, both of which were of no concern to our fellow "trailer" camp-mates. Both boys did remarkably well with the whole change of scenery/schedule, etc. That night we didn't do much, but Caleb was so tired, he wanted to go to bed around 7:30. Sat night he was in bed by about 6:30 I think.. they get SO worn out. We had gourmet breakfasts both Sat and Sun mornings, enjoyed playing in the very clear/soft sandy-bottom lake, and playing at the cool playground structure. Caleb's highlight was the paddle boat ride that Mrs. Jenny and Mr. Kevin took them on. That was his first boat ride, I believe. My highlight was signing around the campfire to real guitar and banjo music with all our good friends. We learned "If I Die Young" and Clay got Joe to play the guitar part while he played the banjo and it was great fun! I told him he got Joe to do in about 10 minutes what I'd been trying to get him to do for 10 years (pick up his guitar again and start playing). The park host we had set up traps the last night we were there and caught 2 raccoons, which he said might be sent to another location that needs raccoons. But if there's not money in the budget he would become someone's cap. I have to say I wasn't too sad to think of it, since they had me so creeped out that I safety pinned by tent zippers together so they couldn't get in (in case we had "food" smells on us or in the tent). Levi's highlight was the long naps he got as soon as he quit screaming once placed in his water float. He would rock about 20 seconds in the water and be out like a light. Sunday I covered his arms with Caleb's extra swim shorts so there was almost none of him exposed (maybe a knuckle?) and he loved it. Caleb jumped off this barge/float-thing in the water. It was about 3 feet off the water and he was so nervous, but he would jump in and let Joe catch him. Problem is, he just barely jumps out and it always makes me think he'll hit his head. And the best-dressed award went to the guy wearing swim trunks with cowboy boots...only in Texas! Joe's highlight was drinking Yoo-Hoo sitting in his chair overlooking the forest. (Boring for me, but to each his own). Worst moments: being scared out of my wits when a friend hid in the bushes along the road to the bathroom and jumped out to scare us, Caleb stubbing/busting open his toe just before we left (which "very hurted"), the trek to the bathroom that required a bike most of the time, and the humidity/heat of the tent. But the negatives pale in comparison to the rich memories we made and fun times we shared. NYA, love you guys!! We are really looking forward to going again, but I don't think we can wait until the NYA fall one in Nov.... maybe in July we'll go with some friends!!! YIPPEE!

camping trip nya

Levi's 1st birthday

Happy Birthday, sweet boy. He loves playing with his Little Tykes barn, so we did this theme. I got a lot of ideas from "Little Hands on the Farm" that they do at the State Fair of Texas (which is a great little spot for the kiddos, if you've never done it). My friend Anna and her mom Dianna (of A & D Cakery) made me these adorable and DELICIOUS cakes. We ate some lunch and then played our little farm games. First we planted seeds in the large dirt patch (left from a year or so ago when the utility people dug all the grass up around the line). Then we watered and moved over to where I had buried 3 vegetables and they dug them up and put them in their bucket. Then we went to the chicken coop and gathered all the eggs that the hens laid. After that we heed to the corral to do a horse race. All the boys took a kid and raced them on their back. Levi's "horse" won (thanks, Dad)!. Then we went fishing at the "pond". Finally, we headed to the barn and put the spots on the cow (variation of pin the tail on the donkey). Levi truly enjoyed his cake, as did we all. Then we did a quick back and opened presents. I'm SO blessed to have not one, but 2, healthy, happy boys and it is always my prayer that I will be the mother they need and deserve. Thank you, Lord, for your abundant blessings.

LEvi bday

Caleb's last day of preschool

For this year. He will go one more year to the 4 yr old class. I have no pics of this because we recorded his songs on our regular camera (since the camcorder batteries died as soon as we turned it on). Mom took some, so I'll get them and add them to the album. The funniest group was the younger 3 yr old class (maybe 2's when it stared in the fall?). We know the little boy with spiky light blonde hair (the one shooting at members of the audience the entire time), the little boy in the navy suitcoat (the one holding his hands over his eyes- yep, the whole time), and the little girl in the zebra striped dress. Priceless.
Caleb's class gave all sorts of facts about the Bible, then either sang or said all the books in the Old and New Testament. They did a song about flowers growing and all looked like flowers at the end. He has had such a great time this year and we (yep, both of us) are sad to take a break from the school routine.

6 Flags and the NEW Texas Giant

Joe and I took Caleb and Levi with Our friends, Chris and Angela, his sister, brother and girlfriend, to 6 flags, where my mom met up with us. (Did you follow that?) We did all the kiddie rides for the first bit, but then my mom and Chris' sister graciously took the boys and Joe, Chris, Angela and I headed off to ride the big-kid rides. It has been about 18 years to the day since I was there, at birthday number 14 or so (this was #32). I can still remember losing my sunglasses and my BFF losing her sun visor (does that date us??) on the Runaway Mine Train. I also remember waiting in line for hours to ride the neck-breaking, closed-head-injury-causing, but still very fun, old Texas Giant. We raced over and waited about 45 minutes to ride the new one. And boy, was it worth it. Not even a lap bar, more like a saddle horn, holds you in place as you take over 90 degree turns and an almost inverted drop. And it was LONG!! We still had about 15 minutes until the park closed, so we ran over to the Titan (also new to me), and there was NO line. Walked right up and waited one turn for the next train. Finished that and we were tempted to sprint over to Mr. Freeze or Batman, which I am ashamed to say I have also never ridden, but we were afraid mom would figure out we were not still waiting at the Giant, so decided to claim our kids. All in all, it was SO fun. How did I grow up in DFW, loving roller coasters, and never have a season pass? Distance is over-rated. You should definitely come see us and check it out!!

From 6 flags

Carwash

Finally, the insane idea to get Caleb a powerwheels jeep (on our tiny .2 or so acre lot) paid off. He has always enjoyed riding it, but we discovered he loves washing it even more. The boy spent about 2 hours outside washing and rinsing and getting soaked. The water bill maybe a little high this summer, but it will be worth it, I think!!!
Here is the link to the photo album.

From carwash

Mother's Day

We had a nice, relaxing Mother's Day. The boys gave me a card that we can put a picture in. I bribed Caleb with M&M's (1 per decent picture) to take some photos. Levi was so tired, so his eyes are almost closed in most of them. Caleb was so excited to wear his new tie. His was the same colors as one Daddy had on. Levi's present was a 2 1/2 hour nap, which NEVER happens. Caleb and I went to our friend Ethan's soccer game. It was hot, 93 degrees, and Caleb was headfirst into his snowcone. He did manage to see his friend score his first goal of the season!! He talked about their "teamwork" the whole way home! Oh, and I don't remember what night this was, but Caleb was SO funny. On the way home from church I was telling him what some words were in Spanish. He was adding his own, like, "Oh, and car is "washara". When we got home, he came up and gave me a mini gold trophy. Very seriously he said," You get a gold trophy for talking good Spanish tonight." And another Caleb funny, Monday is was raining very hard, and I was talking about driving in the rain. Caleb said, "Whatever you do, don't go on I-20. There's always an accident on I-20 when it rains." I'm pretty sure one of us has said that in the past... he is just a little parrot.
Today we had our neighbors over and what started out as a dry event ended up with everyone soaked. They decided to wash his Jeep Hurricane, using the power sprayer. I was really proud of myself for allowing the fun to continue even though we had not planned on water play... those of you who know me are not surprised that I was initially holding myself back. Of course, once they were wet, I quickly realized it was worth it to have them playing well together (there were 4 including Caleb).
Let's see.. Levi news. He is eating pretty much anything you put in front of him, or anything he can find on the floor. He LOVES the fridge, dishwasher (climbing INTO it), the washing machine/dryer, Caleb's slide, the toilet and the tub. And belly buttons, well, mine anyways. These interests have replaced his toys. Lovely. He is saying "Thank you" and "dada". He has discovered he can wiggle away during diaper changes. Again, lovely. So he has now learned what "swat" means. But since he is so adorable I have a hard time keeping a straight face, which means he is trying to decide if he's going to take me seriously. He is pulling to stand everywhere, even walking around the furniture, but at this point both of us are happy with that. He claps whenever we say "Yay" or "clap". He can drink from a sippy, regular cup, and a straw...I'm very impressed since Caleb took FOREVER to accomplish those. Oh, and he is already leading singing with the songleader (or without, anytime songs are played, really). It is too cute.
Guess that's about the extent of the happenings around here lately.
Here's the link to our album for Mother's Day.

From Mothers day

From Mothers day

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter Sunday. We were invited to Sunday lunch with some good friends, and it was like family. The kids even got to have an Easter egg hunt. Don't get me wrong, we would have hunted eggs at our house, too, but they would have been filled with "recycled" candy (all Caleb's stash he has had since Halloween). He was pretty thrilled. It is so funny to watch him hunt eggs. His philosophy is more like "How much distance can I cover between each egg?", or "Can I make it to an egg someone else is going for before they get there?" as opposed to how to obtain the most eggs. Levi was content to get one and suck on it the entire hunt. I have only one picture of them in the same frame during our egg hunt at home on Monday (no candy this time, just hunting for fun), since Caleb is like a little ping pong ball. He finally got the idea when he said, "I'll let Levi have the ones on the ground and I'll get all the hard ones". That would be the ones on the fence. We attempted to get some sweet shots of Levi with the eggs since I have some of Caleb's first egg hunt, but he was SO tired, his eyes are about closed in most of them.
here's a link to the album
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VdfHaGqRTV664NvXxw5XN6v3tfAfYCwG6vFCTVewKpA?feat=directlink

Sadness

For many reasons. The most trivial, but the one I notice every night when we had our TV date... we finished Alias. Now I have nothing to look forward to every night. Sigh. Huge sadness... we lost a dear sister in Christ on Sunday. Miss Linda, who used to watch Caleb (and Levi sometimes) for Ladies Bible class. When we told Caleb, he wanted to pray for her. So we prayed for her family.

Let's see... other happenings. Levi appears to be attempting to say real words. At 11 months. First one, I think, was Dadda (for Daddy), bye bye, down, up, all done, ball, amen. He is getting into everything... loves my purse, Caleb's ladder on his bed, all Caleb's cars, shoes/laces of any kind, paper, outside/grass, water/bathtime, and a new favorite, Easter eggs. Although he isn't the greatest hunter because once he gets one, he is satisfied to chew on it while everyone else runs around him. Things he dislikes: naps (after the first 45 minutes, he's done), waiting for any length of time in his high chair for food, sitting still for a diaper change, mama leaving the room. He's a little high-maintenance. Everyone said your second would be easier and not at all like the first... still waiting on that and wondering what went wrong. My friend Angie says I waited too long to have him. It took that long to recover from the first high-maintenance. I need one that looks like me and has Joe's personality... maybe #3? Course I keep telling Caleb (who is already asking when we can have another brother) that we won't have any more if he can't learn to share and play with the one he has. He says, "Agh! Mom, I'll play with him when he's bigger." He is constantly lecturing Levi to stay out of his things and is very frustrated that Levi cares not a whit what Caleb desires. He has been told that if he hurts him in any way there will be swift and painful punishment, so he never touches Levi, but he keeps saying things like, " Levi, I'm very mad at you for doing that. You are not allowed in my room any more. I'm very disappointed that you keep messing up my things." complete with sighs and grunts, while he picks up the mess. Hey, I think it keeps him occupied. The other day we had our first little ball game together, passing it from the bed to the floor between people. Levi got a big kick out of "throwing" it to Caleb and rolling it (with a little help) to Daddy. Oh, and tonight at church he watched the boys leading singing and started waving his arm around while watching. He is a cutie!

Caleb has become interested in magic tricks. His newest trick is making his food disappear from his plate at mealtimes. I actually claim this as my newest trick, since I got him to eat all his broccoli, sweet potatoes, and chicken in record time tonight, and without the promise of dessert when he was done. I was so impressed with us both, we gave him 3 M&M's.

Disney on Ice

Guess I never posted about our incredible time at Disney on Ice. Toy Story 3. If I did, I can't find it, so here goes. Granna, Poppa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Lindsay, Mia, baby (in utero), Daddy, Mommy, Caleb and Levi all went to see it at the AAC on April Fools Day. It was SO fun! My favorite part was at the beginning, when the army men parachuted in onto the ice, "marched" on skates, doing rifles in the dark. Talk about impressive. I have attempted rifles before... not easy, forget about it on skates and in the dark!! Caleb's favorite part was Buzz Lightyear entering from above on some contraption with fire/lights, etc. to defeat Zerg. That, and the cotton candy. (Side note: Gross. How can anyone like something that takes like a medicine-flavored cotton ball?) Levi loved it all until about the last 15 minutes. Can you blame him, it lasted 2 hours. All the men were ready to go at intermission!

Busy, busy, busy

It all started with a little flyer. "Dinosaurs and donuts" at the zoo... Caleb's 3 favorite things. Of course, when I planned it, I didn't plan on taking the boys by myself everywhere today. We arrived at the zoo at 9:15, only 1hr 15 min after I'd hoped to get there (when it opened, at 8:00am... who was I kidding right?). And guess what... no donuts. Silly me, why should there be any left. They only put that on the flyer as a way to get people to go, like doorbuster specials. They don't actually expect to hand out donuts until 10am. Sigh. Luckily, Caleb was so enthralled with the dinosaurs that he didn't even miss the donuts. (I have to stop typing that, because it's making me really want some). The dinosaurs were VERY cool. Spread out all over the zoo, they make noises, move, and even blink their eyes. Caleb insisted they were not robots, but were, in fact, real. And another discussion on the word extinct ensued. Levi was a real trooper; he didn't fall asleep until about 10:30 -- when we were ready to find our last dinosaur by the exit doors. So I decided to let him have a nap and we went through the reptile house. I need to note that CJ was SO into the dinos, he didn't even want to play in the barn. A first since he was 2. Didn't ask to ride the train or the carousel (gasp). Safe to say he really liked it. We made it home in time to throw together some lunch before heading to a birthday party for Caleb's friend from church. It was really great... a bounce house, playground, pizza, and the ultimate... an Easter egg hunt. This is the only hunt Caleb actually scores more than about 5 eggs, since there are SO many. I think he runs to a group, picks up one, then runs to another group. My competitive instinct is to teach him the proper egg-gathering strategy, but then my mother instinct kicks in which says, "This way, he'll have less candy to eat.". Mom won. Caleb left with about 20 pieces of candy as opposed to several I saw with probably at least 50 eggs! Levi even picked up one. I attempted to get him to get another one, but he staunchly refused to have anything to do with any egg that was not his bright blue one. Side note - Levi had potato chips and cake for the first time (with icing, of course... what is cake without icing???); first dessert of any kind! Welcome to the world of sweets, little one.
Joe, sadly, did not join us, due to a persistent little bug that keeps finding new ways to torment him. I'm not all that sure he was terribly upset at being left behind. The Detroit Tigers were playing.
oh, added the pic of the lady who must have missed the memo it was the ZOO today, since she wore silk shorts/top and 3" plastic Cinderella-heels.

Chuck E Cheese

We loaded up and took Levi (and Caleb) for his 1st Chuck E Cheese experience. He had fun and I let him join me in "Deal or No Deal". Probably should have let him push the buttons for the cases, since I have NO luck at all. I won 3 tickets... pitiful. This is why I never gamble. It's not a gamble for me, I know I would lose. I am not positive since I was pinching off bits and lost track, but I'm reasonably sure Levi ate at least one piece of pizza, maybe 2. And a whole jar of baby food. Caleb sweet-talked the prize lady into extras -- only to discover mom has a new rule that for everything that comes in, something has to go out. So we pulled out some unused items to donate. He wasn't amused, but he stopped asking for things!
Round two of medicine went much better than expected... apple juice and/or lemonade is the key, we have discovered. Along with M&M's and Girl Scout cookies. It's a good thing there are 15 cookies in that whole box (tongue in cheek), since we have 10 days of antibiotics left and Mommy has already helped a little with the emptying of said box. Caleb asked if we could buy more at the store (which he does with everything when we are getting to where he can see the last of the product). I told him, "No, they only sell these one time per year. You have to buy them from the girl scouts." (I did not add "it's their way of ripping you off and they know no one will continue to pay such outrageous prices all year long, so they make it seem so special that you won't notice your arm and leg leaving with the cute little girl in pigtails." I'll let him draw his own conclusions when the time is right. After I buy some from all his friends in the years to come).
Levi was a hoot tonight. He is truly mobile. He was chasing Caleb's remote control car around the laminate floor tonight, spinning all around on his backside. Even crawling and pushing it with one hand. He was very proud of himself for this accomplishment and kept laugh, grinning, and spinning all over the place.
Tomorrow... Dinosaurs and donuts... if we can be at the zoo by 8am...better hit the hay.

Antibotics...anti-kid-friendly

We finally took Caleb to the Dr to check his ears, which he ONLY agreed to do on the promise of a new lizard from his nurse, Miss Lisa. He had not seemed to be hearing us (WAY worse than his usual selective hearing). You know something is wrong when you whisper about Chuck E. Cheese and get no response. So we tried chewing gum, which he isn't very good at, blowing air out his nose and pinching it shut to "pop" them (also not very good at this), and taking decongestant. Nothing worked. He kept saying, "Say it again". Couldn't hear anything in the car or across the room. Sure enough, there was fluid behind his eardrum. Dr. said a lot, though it didn't appear to be infected. So we gave Caleb his first antibiotics in his 4.5 yrs tonight. We had to do antibiotics and steriods for the fluid and to keep out infection. Wow, that was a treat. giving nasty tasting medicine to a young 'un. I thought we would never find a way, but several drink concoctions, m&m's, and cookies later, success. For 1 night, anyway.
One fun thing, Caleb and Levi rode together tonight in the wagon for the fist time. They were a pair. Already having "kick fights" (Levi isn't even 11 months yet). I can tell he already wants to do everything Caleb does. He was happy as a clam when I put him in the swing next to Caleb... he kept looking over at him and laughing. Then he wanted me to put him down the slide every time Caleb went down. This is going to be a trip!! (Oh, I attempted to get a pic of them in the wagon, but Caleb is anti-picture right now, so I knew it wasn't going to happen.. so I just took a mental photo). I'll post Levi's 11 month pics instead. Should have been 9 months.. just a little behind. At least he still poses, sort of.

On the move

....finally. Levi has learned to crawl, although he is quite reserved about when he chooses to show off his newest accomplishment. He took four "knees" on Mon, a few yesterday, and then some more this morning and this afternoon. He'd still rather be carried. I'm not sure he even realizes he is moving. Maybe we should stop scooting backwards as he advances.... hmmm. He has also begun waving bye/hi, and accompanying those movements with babbling that sounds like hi/bye bye. On Sunday, he had turned himself around in the pew and was gripping the back. I was trying to turn him around, of which he would have none of. He kept looking at people, saying "huh". Joe says it's no wonder he is taking so long to crawl, since we apparently have another talker. Crazy Simmons' genes. I'll try to post a pic or video, but so far, all the ones I've taken occur after the fact, and he just rocks and whines (not entertaining).
Tonight was a crazy night at church. I blame it on the 5th Wed singing. I left Levi in the nursery and Joe, Caleb, and I sat up near the front, thinking we could since we didn't have the distraction of a 10-month old. Wrong. Caleb insisted he had to go to the bathroom (again) about 5 minutes into the service. I took him since Joe had to lead singing at some point. I barely sat down before someone informed us that Levi needed new clothes. I left to change him, but realized once out the door that I had removed all his extra clothes to put in summer clothes (not yet done). No worries, I had clothes in the car. Which would have worked out great had Ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif not left my keys in the car. As soon as I came up with the idea to go get Joe's keys, I heard his voice leading singing. So I traipsed back in to wait for him to sit back down, at which time I promptly left (again) to retrieve the clothing. When I came back to sit down, I realized Caleb was not in our seat. He had apparently felt abandoned when Dad was leading singing and gone to sit with friends. To top it all off, when I got home, ready to do my work notes, I restarted the computer and it died. Seems to need a new hard drive (again). Here's to a better day tomorrow, my last day of work this week!
Oh, and on the way home (after discussing our friend's new-to-them vehicle), Caleb informed us that for our next car, he wants a monster truck. Typical.
here's the link to watch Levi crawl

waiting game

I don't have anything amazing to post today. We both called UTMB (Joe first, then me, to get more details, of course) to check waitlist status. Turns out, they still have spots to fill and he is being considered along with another interview group. This group will interview April 1, I think, so it would be a couple weeks after that and we might hear if he gets moved off the waitlist. The lady I spoke with was encouraging and said he was a good candidate, so we'll see. I check a forum, so I know 4 of 53 spots have been filled. I also saw that one other school we haven't heard from yet is sending out stuff soon, University of Minnesota, so maybe that will be good news...keep those prayers coming, folks!
Speaking of prayers, I guess we do pray for it a lot with Caleb present, because last night he mumbled something about helping Daddy get into school so he can get a good job. At least this way, if we do have to move, maybe he'll take it as an answer to prayer. I don't even want to think about that battle...he has already said he is not leaving his friends. I know how he feels; we have great ones!

YUCK!

Not sure if it had to do with being out in the windy pollen-filled Spring air, but Levi's eye infection has returned with a vengeance. Poor guy... we toted him around all day to Firehouse subs, to Lowes to buy paint for the back porch, and to Target. I practically tossed him in bed when we got home and when he got up his eyes were puffy, red, and goopy. We did the eye drops for 8 days, but Caleb's also relapsed last week, so I guess we are going through this one more time (sigh). On top of that his two bottom teeth are still coming in. They have been coming in for a month... they are SO slow!

Farm fun

Sunday we went to our friend Grayson's birthday party at a petting zoo/farm. Caleb wasn't too keen on the animals... he could take them or leave them, but he loved the hayride, train ride, bounce house, and playground. It was extremely windy, and poor Levi looked like he was thinking, "You guys call this fun?!"

From March 2011

From March 2011

From March 2011

From March 2011